Fire, Failure, and Funding: The Realities of Building a Startup Brian Mullins shares the driving forces behind his work at Mind Foundry, how to embrace failure, and why success demands resilience and passion.

When Brian Mullins took the helm of Mind Foundry, an artificial intelligence (AI) company, he left behind sunny California for the historic halls of Oxford. But for the entrepreneur, leading a spinout from the University of Oxford's AI research was an easy choice. "When you work 18-hour days and are more energised at the end than you were at the beginning, you know you're involved in something good," Mullins says.

What inspired you to start your business?
Mind Foundry was founded by Professor Stephen Roberts and Professor Michael Osborne. Both of them are AI pioneers renowned for the work they've done on the fundamentals of AI and Machine Learning at the University of Oxford. I knew of their work long before they reached out to me to lead the company, so it was an easy decision for me to make, even though it meant moving from sunny California to Oxford. And it's been worth it. I wouldn't trade it for anything. When you work 18-hour days and are more energised at the end than you were at the beginning, you know you're involved in something good. That's absolutely the feeling I had when I began working at Mind Foundry.

What was your biggest challenge, and how did you overcome it?

I love complex problems and so it's something I end up facing over and over again. To be successful, you have to figure out how to simplify big ideas so you can build them, refine them, and eventually sell them. Simplification needs to be constant and recurrent so it shouldn't be thought of as something you do once and overcome. It's an ongoing challenge and one I love.

How did you secure your initial funding?
Mind Foundry was spun out of the University of Oxford, and it received direct financial support to take the innovation that happened inside the university and commercialise it. The spinout mechanism is really powerful and it's not just good for the universities but also for the companies, the entrepreneurs, and the country overall. After that initial seed round, we secured $13.6 million in Series A funding led by Aioi Nissay Dowa Insurance Co., Ltd. (ANDI) of the MS&AD Insurance Group and includes funding from existing investors Parkwalk Advisors, Oxford Sciences Innovation, the University of Oxford, and the Oxford Technology and Innovations EIS Fund. In 2023, we raised a further $22 million in a series B round, bringing the total amount to $44 million to date.

There are lots of different ways to secure funding, but my key advice for entrepreneurs is to avoid accepting investments from people for whom the amount is significant. It doesn't matter how big that investment is, if it feels big to the person or organisation it's coming from, they will worry about it so much that they will probably become your worst, most troublesome investor. It's much easier to manage relationships with investors who are comfortable with the risks involved.

How do you handle failure or setbacks?
Transforming your relationship with failure and setbacks is critical for personal and professional growth, and most successful entrepreneurs understand that setbacks are inevitable. The key is moving forward without being paralysed by self-doubt. You need all your strength to deal with what's happening now rather than spending time doubting your past failures.

Changing your relationship with failure is essential. Failure always has an impact, and even if it's just time and resources, it can affect your team. By learning to accept risks, understanding potential consequences, and being comfortable making low-information decisions, you can turn failures into lessons.

What advice would you give to someone starting their own business?
When raising funds for the first time, entrepreneurs must understand two important rules: not all money is equal, and funding is merely the starting line, not the finish. Firstly, the truth is that it's more important who invests in you than how much. If you network and you have a great idea that you're passionate about, you'll find the resources that you need. There isn't a shortage of capital; there's really a shortage of good deals to invest in. If you're not finding that money right away, it's a sign that you might need to work on your pitch, idea, execution, or team. But if you can get your business to the right place, you'll find the money you need. And when you do, it's much more important to find the right partner to help you navigate the next stage of company growth, connect you to potential customers, or get you into a new geography. The second rule is that when you finish your fundraising, you must remember you haven't won yet. That's not where you stop. That's where you start.

How do you stay motivated during challenging times?

The Ancient Greeks had this expression: the fire that burns no wood. The flame kept going and didn't consume any fuel because of the passion. Any entrepreneur knows you're on the right track if you feel this internally. When you're truly aligned with your purpose, you'll be energised by your work and resilient during tough times.

If your deepest motivation is to make money, I bet that tough times might overwhelm your ability to keep going. However, if you want to change the world, improve people's lives, and have a clear vision of how this could happen, then there are very few tough times that could ever stop you.

Share your tips for achieving success.

First, ignore the critics, especially the ones who've never done anything. Ignore what good social norms tell you is possible or reasonable. You need to be the judge of what's possible and what's reasonable. And hopefully, you're willing to be unreasonable because that's what it takes to be successful. A less obvious one is this: starting a business can be surprisingly lonely. This typically happens when things are going well, you're getting busier, and you're interacting with people more than you ever have. You then realise that even though everybody wants or needs some of your time, you feel alone and isolated - it's counterintuitive.

The reason this happens is because the type of interaction changes. People constantly need things from you, but you're not truly connecting on a human level. One of my mentors said to me, "You've got to actively seek out a network of other entrepreneurs so that you can break bread together and share stories so that you're not alone and you can connect with people who have been there, too." This is super important and something I encourage other entrepreneurs to do.