When David Hunter observes the audience from the stage of this year's Startup Summit, he will recognise the faces looking back at him.
Perhaps not by name, but he will know the look of ambition, drive and hunger of early-stage entrepreneurs, keen to learn from someone who has succeeded in making an idea fly.
Just seven years ago, David, Founder and CEO of Shot Scope, was one of those bright-eyed entrepreneurs in the Startup Summit audience looking for that same advice on where to go next and the inspiration to persevere.
"I had the desire to start a business for about ten years," says David. "It took me a while to get there, but I was learning all along the way."
From his home in Bathgate, David went to study at Heriot-Watt University. "My degree was focused on electronics software. After I graduated in 2005, I started work as a digital design engineer for an American company. Eventually, I became involved in end-to-end design solutions, and I did that for seven years as a senior consultant."
Working for a relatively small company didn't offer David as many opportunities as he would have liked. He needed a big challenge and decided to go back to university - this time to Moray House to become a teacher.
"When I was at university in 2012, I started to look at the possibility of developing my own technology company. I contacted an organisation called LAUNCH.ed. They recommended that I go to an event called Startup Summit.
"By this stage, I was in my 30s. I had given up an excellent career in technology, and I had come back to study with the full intention of being a teacher. But one day, I skipped class and went to Startup Summit."
David went to his first Startup Summit in 2012 with an idea he was developing - but it wasn't Shot Scope. It was a mobile charging gadget.
"I bumped into the people from LAUNCH.ed at the Summit, and we carried on our conversation. They gave me the push to enter the Innovation Award at the University of Edinburgh that year, which we won."
David says the networking available at Startup Summit, as well as access to support systems and potential investors, is invaluable.
"It gives you the opportunity to see how people ten years ahead of you are operating," he adds. "Everyone has been through the process of having an idea and going to an event where they were inspired by hearing someone's story."
David will be at Startup Summit on October 30th to tell his story and reveal how Shot Scope has become the market leader for wearable GPS in golf. The technology is currently on the market in 50 countries, outselling much larger competitors and doing particularly well in the USA.
"After winning a couple of awards in Edinburgh for the charging gadget, I started to pitch some of my other ideas out. One of those ideas was Shot Scope, which went to win the Sports Innovation competition at Innovate UK in London in 2013. That came with a £25,000 grant.
“At the time, I was working as a teacher. The award gave me confidence in the product to leave my job and focus on the technology.”
"Shot Scope is wearable technology - a GPS watch - worn on the wrist," says David. "You put sensors into the end of your golf grip, and as you're playing, you can track your entire game. It allows the golfer to see the game in a way that they have never seen it before."
The data empowers golfers to make decisions based on how they have played. The technology doesn't tell the player about how they strike the ball but shows them how they can manage their game strategy to suit their ability.
"We have found that within 30 rounds of golf, the scoring average improves by 2.7 shots - but we've seen some users improve by 8.5 shots."
To date, Shot Scope has raised £8.5m in investment, with £6.5m through the Scottish Investment Bank, Old College Capital and individual angel investors. The £2m has come in grants, the majority of those through Scottish Enterprise.
David adds that angel groups around Scotland will invest at the earliest stages of a business, the riskiest time when other Venture Capitalists might not be so eager.
"There's a lot more to that than the financial injection too. It can mean having very experienced business people advising you."
Shot Scope V1 launched in 2016 and sold about 2,500 units. "The first version was about proving the technology and getting it out to market. Shot Scope V2 came at the end of last year and has sold 30,000 units.
David says deciding to go to Startup Summit might be the first step of 10,000 for a new business, but the event is also worthwhile for a company further into its journey. "Anyone who runs a successful business will tell you that every single step is valuable, and each needs to be taken to understand what it means to run a thriving and sustainable company."
Startup Summit is at the Assembly Rooms, Edinburgh on Wednesday, October 30. www.startup-summit.com
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