WBS Founders Hub

The WBS Founders Hub is Warwick Business School’s start-up incubator and accelerator programme, headquartered on the 17th floor of The Shard in London.

It brings founders into the heart of one of the world’s leading financial ecosystems, with the space and support to build their ventures.

The Hub goes beyond providing a place to work or a route to becoming investment-ready. It brings together founders, investors and expertise in one connected environment, where ideas can be tested, strengthened and taken further.

At its core, the WBS Founders Hub places Warwick Business School at the centre of a growing network of founders and investors. It is also where new approaches to supporting student and graduate entrepreneurs are developed and shared, opening up access to opportunities across London and beyond.

The WBS Founders Hub has four strategic pillars:

  1. Founder development: Supporting founders through structured programmes designed to build the skills, confidence and capability founders need to grow their ventures
  2. Investor engagement and education: Events and experiences that connect founders with investors and support more informed investment decisions
  3. Ecosystem leadership: Collaboration with universities, partners and founders to strengthen the wider start-up ecosystem in the UK and beyond.
  4. Standards and best practice: Developing and sharing practical frameworks that improve how founders are supported.

The WBS Founders Hub is open to all Warwick University students or graduates who are building a business, following a successful pitch to our expert selection panel. Successful candidates are allocated specialist mentors from within the WBS Founder Hub network, are granted access to the WBS Hub at the Shard and participate in workshops and events with our growing range of investment partners.

Meet the team

The WBS Founders Hub is led by Professor Simon Barnes, Assistant Dean at WBS and Alexander McLeod at Warwick Enterprise. Together, they are embedding a Silicon Valley mindset into the WBS Founders Hub with a goal to create outstanding student and graduate start-ups.

Simon Barnes is an Assistant Dean and Professor at Warwick Business School. He has 25 years of experience in the venture capital industry in the UK EU and US and is a published author in the field of venture capital.

Alexander McLeod has more than 20 years’ experience working at the intersection of start-ups, investment, and higher education, helping founders build scalable ventures and supporting universities to strengthen their entrepreneurial ecosystems.