Nicholas Darby is President of Darby & Associates, a consultancy which provides strategic and tactical advice in the creation of new businesses from basic sciences. Clients include start-ups, established corporations and venture capital funds. Associates comprise an informal network of varied and deep skills, including academic research, strategic planning, change management, and finance. Darby is also a Venture Partner at Rho Capital, New York; and part time Executive-in-Residence at ARCH Venture partners in Chicago, and Artiman Ventures in Palo Alto, CA. Before starting D&AC, Darby was a founding member and Director of Physical Sciences for Dow Chemical’s Corporate Venture Capital Group, where he was responsible for numerous investments in university-based start-ups and corporate spin-outs. Dr. Darby holds a PhD from the University of Alberta and BSc with Honours from Queen’s University; he was a Royal Society Research Fellow at University College London, and received post-doctoral training at the University of British Columbia. He has also studied Finance and Marketing in executive courses at Wharton, Sloan and CalTech. He has lectured on technology and entrepreneurship at the University of Toronto, MIT, Cambridge and Queen’s. Darby is currently a member of the Board of Directors at MaRS Innovation, a Canadian government sponsored business development company; and on the Investment Review Board of the Michigan Pre-Seed Fund.