Quarsh took up the unique challenge of sourcing and screening applicants for the cohorts. This was previously advertising-led, but Launchpad needed more to hit its targets. This meant we had to go out and find candidates to apply for a Masters programme, often people who are already early or mid career. Presenting people we found with a unique opportunity to create and grow their own business was an exciting challenge. We initially focussed on filling the cohorts, a target we quickly hit. We’re now focussed on ever-improving the quality of cohort applicants.

One of our biggest hurdles was attracting high calibre candidates to a location that is quite far from traditional tech and innovation hubs such as London and Manchester. Key to this is a focus on the uniqueness of the candidate offering, highlighting the multiple proposition of a MSc degree, incubated company and external partner involvement to create an investment-ready business. Developing the processes for assessment have been key to improving candidate quality, and so Quarsh and Launchpad make use of specific aptitude and skills testing for candidates, alongside multiple competency interviews and a portfolio analysis. The result has been 1,081 entrepreneurs screened, 192 assessed and 37 candidates secured for the cohort.