Throughout his time on UCL School of Management’s MSc Entrepreneurship programme, Berk Yavuz has achieved notable success, winning two major competitions: the annual MSc Entrepreneurship Pitch Day and the UCL Venture Builder initiative, both in recognition of his smart-cleaning start-up, Breezy.

Leveraging drone technology, Breezy offers a safer, more cost-effective solution for high-level indoor cleaning. With a background in electrical and electronics engineering, Berk built the product himself. We recently caught up with Berk to discuss his experiences at the School, the advice he has for incoming MSc Entrepreneurship students, and what’s next for Breezy.

Tell us about yourself

I’m from Turkey, and my background is in Electrical and Electronics Engineering. During and after my studies, I worked in the IoT space as an embedded hardware and software developer, and in the aerospace industry as an avionics engineer.

why did you decide to study msc entrepreneurship at ucl school of Management?

During and after my bachelor’s, I started a couple of businesses. Over time, I realised there were gaps in my business mindset. That’s when I decided I needed to study business. I chose Entrepreneurship for my master’s because I was quite sure I wanted to start something of my own. I didn’t want to manage or be the CEO of someone else’s company, so I ruled out an MBA.

I chose UCL School of Management because it has one of the best (if not the best) entrepreneurship programmes in the world. That mattered to me because it meant the best entrepreneurs would be here too, and they really are. I believe vision is fundamental, and it’s shaped by the people around you. So spending all my days (and night outs) with these amazing people has been a huge part of it.

have you always shown signs of entrepreneurial talent?

I wouldn’t call it talent, but when I look back, I can see the signs. As a child, I loved taking things apart, experimenting, and trying to understand how things worked. I also loved questioning everything (still do). Once I figured something out, I was fascinated by the idea of building a system around it or finding ways to improve it. I think that curiosity naturally led me to start creating things as I got older.

tell us about breezy - how developed is it?

Breezy is an autonomous drone designed for indoor high-level cleaning. It focuses on hard-to-reach areas, like high-up ledges in malls, theatres, and other large buildings, places where people usually need to work at height to clean. It’s not intended for exterior façades or windows, but specifically for indoor surfaces. The goal is to make high-level cleaning safer and significantly more cost-effective.

It’s somewhere between the idea and MVP stage. I’ve started developing an in-house drone, but I try to spend no more than 30% of my time on the product itself. The rest is focused on talking to future customers, validating the problem, narrowing down the niche, and making sure I truly understand the pain points before building too far ahead.

how did it feel to win both the msc entrepreneurship pitch day and the recent ucl venture builder competition?

Pitch Day was definitely one of the happiest moments I’ve had in recent years. Seeing my pitch resonate very well with so many people gave me a huge boost of confidence and helped me present even more passionately, which eventually led to the Best Pitch Prize.

My mum and my friends were there cheering for me, which made it even more special. After the pitch, dozens of people came to my booth, asked questions, and wanted to connect, and several of those connections are still in contact and helping me today. Winning the Venture Builder competition recently was also a big motivation, and I believe it gave me a kind of recognition that continues to help in various contexts.

what advice would you give to incoming entrepreneurship students?

Go out of the building. You’ll hear this phrase a few times during the programme, and it will make sense, but you still might not do it enough. I think its value isn’t obvious at first and may not seem worth the effort until you experience the results yourself. When no one replies to your emails or LinkedIn messages, or when someone says they’ll call but never does, don’t stop or even slow down. Just show up at their office and wait until you get to talk to them.

Maybe it takes 4 or 5 visits, and yes, you might get kicked out a couple of times (don’t ask me how I know), but eventually, when they finally talk to you, you often get insights you’d never access otherwise. As a bonus, next time they’re more likely to respond because they already know you won’t give up.

what’s next for breezy and where can people find you?

Talking to more future customers and continuing to develop the prototype. If you know someone responsible for indoor high-level cleaning, or someone who might know the right person, I’d really appreciate it if you could reach out to me. The location doesn’t matter.

Also, I’m always up for a coffee chat if you’d like to meet or catch up. You can email me at berk.y.yavuz@gmail.com or connect with me on LinkedIn!

Find out more about UCL School of Management’s MSc Entrepreneurship programme