Profiles
Dr John Viney, Venture Capitalist
"I started making money and building businesses from a young age," says Dr John Viney, a venture capitalist, and co-founder of Board advisors, The Zygos Partnership, who finds top executives for major companies worldwide. "Most of my family was in business so I grew up with discussions about cash flow and growing businesses. I also started getting interested in astronomy when I was about ten or eleven. I had a telescope and can remember going to a planetarium. I knew a lot of the stars were and what their names were, so that was my way into physics. I then got interested in electronics and began building things like amplifiers when I was playing in bands," he recalls.
These interests led John to read physics with a minor in music at Sussex University from 1971-1974. "Music is my other life," says John, who composes and plays piano and guitar. He is now a Trustee of the London Philharmonic Orchestra, and says he part-funded his way through his physics degree by playing in rock and 1930’s Dance Music bands. After graduating, John took a PhD at King's College Cambridge studying the behavior of astrophysical Masers. "As part of my PhD I spent nine months at the University of Bonn. It was at Cambridge that I really learnt physics because I had to help with undergraduate tutorials," he says. John also furthered his knowledge of music while he was taking his doctorate by studying music theory and the history of music.
In the late 1970’s John became a member of the Institute of Physics and then a chartered physicist and chartered electrical engineer while he was in his first job, working as a development engineer with Philips. He subsequently moved into their marketing department, but left the company after 3 years. "I wanted to become a broader businessman, and I joined a recruitment company called Hay-MSL who wanted somebody with a background in technology to work with finding technology executives," he explains. John spent the next 20 years building his career in the recruitment industry, eventually becoming International Chair of Heidrick and Struggles. "I was involved in advising boards of big global companies and finding them new chief executives, finance directors, chairmen and board members," he says. John left to co-found The Zygos Partnership in 2002 which has been a major success.
Since the late 1980's John has also built up two property companies, and now invests some of the money they make in early stage businesses, most of which are in the technology sector. "My background in physics enables me to look at a variety of technologies and know more about them than the average non-scientist," says John. "Physics training also makes me able to analyse things well and find the weaknesses in people's arguments. I think it is an excellent discipline and first rate training," he adds.
John, who has written several books on how to succeed in business including ‘Drive – Leadership in Business and Beyond’ and 'So You Dream of Being a Chief Executive', feels physicists can do well in business if they really want to make it. "You need to take some risks, measure the risks well and not be put off if you don't make it first time. Get good mentors and people who can assist you," he advises.
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