Wow, we’re overjoyed to have our teeth into another year, our 12th in business. Year upon year we have seen growth in the company, so 2014 is looking to be another exciting year!
However, perhaps the biggest leap into 2014 has been made by British neuroscientist Demis Hassabis and the company he co-founded – DeepMind Technologies.
Despite not actually producing anything commercially, Google has purchased Mr Hassabis’s company for a whopping £242 million! Such is Google’s confidence in the pioneering work DeepMind are undertaken in the artificial intelligence field that it marks Google’s biggest ever European acquisition.
DeepMind was set up just two years ago yet such is their progress in breaking down and improving algorithms and allowing computers to think like humans that Google stole a march on their rivals and paid out such a huge sum.
However, despite the obvious financial gain involved in the purchase what really struck me was the fact that the 37-year-old was comprehensive educated. This is truly inspiring. I too attended a comprehensive school and I never once gave it a thought when I decided to set up Comms Express. The press reporting on the sale have made his schooling into the headline, the meaning seems to be that if you have not been privileged enough to have a private education then doors will be closed. However a double first in computer science at Cambridge University put paid to any such doubts and now the sale of his company has cemented that.
To me, this is a success story on so many levels. Demis Hassabis shares a common bond with so many British success stories, a willingness to succeed no matter their background. We need to harness and champion those who chase after their desires and dreams.
I am not entirely sure what makes an entrepreneur. Seizing upon a good idea, of course, helps as does being in the right place at the right time, luck and sheer perseverance but perhaps the main ingredient is just good old fashioned hard work. You cannot beat that. I know it is a much-used saying but it is true – the harder you work the luckier you get!
So I take my hat off to the Demis Hassabis and his team and look forward to reading about the next big thing to take the tech world by storm!
