For our June Spotlight Series post, we spoke to Shott Scale Up Accelerator awardee, Alan Mosca, co-founder and CTO of nPlan. Alan started out as a computer scientist in high performance computing, spending a few years as a technologist and in quantitative trading. He juggled this with a part-time PhD in theoretical machine learning, where he developed the skills to create the idea of nPlan. He met his co-founder by chance at an incubator programme and together they built nPlan into the business that it is today.
In your own words what is nPlan?
nPlan is an AI and machine learning based platform for forecasting the outcomes of construction, engineering and infrastructure projects. We use principles from decision-making combined with deep learning to help project teams work out what are the most robust strategies to execute a project.
Engineering is all about solving problems. What problem is your innovation solving and what makes it ground-breaking?
The problem itself is quite easy to think about: most projects are late, over budget, or both. What we found is that there is very little quantitative analysis going on in these project teams which is actually geared towards making the outcomes of the projects better in a proactive way. Anyone who’s ever worked on a project will tell you that they are fire-fighting issues and reacting to external problems all the time. We’re bringing AI and forecasting science to the decision-making process of project teams. Our input is the schedule, so we can be very precise with pinpointing where to focus the attention of our users. We’ve worked on projects lasting one year to 12 years - regardless of the lifespan of the project, we can turnaround a detailed schedule within 30 to 45 minutes.
What was the moment that made you think “I can turn this into a commercial opportunity”?
We started in an incubator called Entrepreneur First, so we were always clear that this would be a commercial endeavour. However, we tried lots of different things that didn’t work before getting where we are. What really made it click was when HS2 gave us a paid pilot withing the first six months of the company existing.
Wading into unknown territory can be unsettling – what were you most excited by and what was most challenging for you when starting out?
I found it personally very exciting that we had to build capability that did not exist at the time. We’ve always been a research-led organisation, and our advances have always been backed up by strong technical foundations.
Can you share a time when failure mattered in your business journey?
There was a big client that wasn’t happy with the service we provided when we were just starting out. We took two days to review what happened and the lessons we learned from that have led us directly to our products of today. We didn’t see it that way at the time, but it was great that we got the wake up call we needed to get.
What has been the most surprising aspect about your entrepreneurial journey?
How much of it is about people: marketing, sales, product development, user management, customer research, and even partly the technical developments are all about people. Not to mention growing a team!
What impact has the Shott Scale Up Accelerator had on your business so far? What are the most valuable lessons you’ve learnt?
Lots of new connections is the first thing that comes to mind. We even hired one of my fellow cohort members, Leonie Mueck, as VP of Product! The mentoring is also fantastic, and there are a lot of things that I took back to the team so that we would focus more on product/market fit.
And finally, have you got any tips for potential applicants?
In the interview, just let your passion shine through for the problem you’re working on. I know you have lots of it, or you wouldn’t be doing this. Don’t try to change what you do for the programme - I’ve seen people try that in many programmes so they could “get in”, and it doesn’t come across as genuine. The programme itself is also more focused on you personally as a leader than on your business. You have the job to make that translation for your teams and it’s a skill that stays with you.
Quick fire
Who is your role model? My mentor Tim Davey.
Tell us a random fact not many people know about you. I used to be a very good golfer - for a long time I thought that would be my career.
When I was a child, I wanted to be… on the PGA tour.
Best piece of advice you’ve ever received? “It’s never about you, it’s about them”
Conversely, what has been the worst piece of advice? “You can do anything you want”
Who would you invite to your dream dinner party? Carl Sagan, Richard Feynman, my grandfather, and my uncle.
If you were an investor, which Hub Member would you invest in? Brittany Harris of QFlow.
Is there something you know now that you wish someone had told you when you started? Invest more in marketing correctly and positioning early.
If you had to start all over again, would you do anything differently? Yes, I’d probably pay more attention to how powerful language models could be.
The Royal Academy of Engineering Enterprise Hub supports the UK’s brightest technology and engineering entrepreneurs to realise their potential.
We run four programmes for entrepreneurial engineers at different career stages. Each one offers equity-free funding, an extended programme of mentorship and coaching, and a lifetime of support through connection to an exceptional community of engineers and innovators.
The Enterprise Hub focuses on supporting individuals and fostering their potential in the long term, taking nothing in return. This sets us apart from the usual ‘accelerator’ model. The Enterprise Hub’s programmes last between 6 and 12 months, and all programmes give entrepreneurs lifelong access to an unrivalled community of mentors and alumni.
Our goal is to encourage creativity and innovation in engineering for the benefit of all. By fostering lasting, exceptional connections between talent and expertise, we aim to create a virtuous cycle of innovation that can deliver on this ambition.
The Enterprise Hub was formally launched in April 2013. Since then, we have supported over 350 researchers, recent graduates and SME leaders to start up and scale up businesses that can give practical application to their inventions. We’ve awarded over £11 million in grant funding, and our Hub Members have gone on to raise over £1.3 billion in additional funding.