Tag: case studies

My two babies: being a parent and running a business

11th December 2014

gail-condon-new-frontiers

Someone in this world calls me Mummy (well not quite yet, she is only one year old). Being Rosie’s Mummy is the most wonderful and most important role of my life. And the toughest. I also have a business – a new business. People refer to it as my other baby, and they’re right.

Becoming a parent and starting a business are similar experiences.

1. Sleepless nights

It is a given that when you become a mother, you are never going to sleep again. Never, ever. The same thing happens when you start a business. They both need your attention, your time, your patience… and, of course, you worry about them at all times. People ask me if I sleep when she sleeps, I don’t. When she naps, I go back to my desk and work. There is always work to do.  I will sleep when Rosie is an adult and when my business is where it needs to be, i.e. the successful children’s publishing house that I know it can be. Slumber is over rated anyway, isn’t it?!

2. If I don’t do it, who will?

My daughter Rosie is glued to me at all times. She is a mummy’s girl and although she has an amazing dad and we both have supportive families, sometimes she just wants me and no one else will do. My business is the same. It needs me all the time and delegating is tough when you have nobody to delegate to! You have to be a master of all trades to run a startup.  If I’m not working, the business isn’t working. It is normal to be stretched in the early days of a new business and it is often easier to do things yourself rather than explain what you need done to somebody else. Prioritisation is the key! My daily to do list is my best friend.

3. Social life

Obviously, I mean the lack of of a social life. Although I wouldn’t say that I have no social life, I would say that it is a whole new social life. Two new worlds of socialising have opened up for me: with Rosie I see my friends much more in the daytime, which is lovely, and since starting a business I have been exposed to a huge secret start up world and culture. You learn a new start up language, eat start up food and suddenly you have new idols and new friends. It really is an adventure.

4. The future

The worry! I worry about Rosie all day. Most of the time it is sweating the small stuff: her next bath, what I have in the fridge, if she’s getting a varied diet, if she’ll behave for my mum when I go that meeting… On top of that, I worry about the world. I am not just worried about my little bubble, but the whole world. I feel so vulnerable in it. I want the world to be a better place for Rosie. I worry about pollution, waste, war, child and animal rights much more now than I did before. The future needs to be carefully planned when you have a child, Mick and I must select schools, save up, look ahead.

That is similar to the worry and planning involved in a business. I worry about the business every second; again, most of the time it is the small stuff, but I worry nonetheless. The future is a little hazy in the startup world, I plan as much as I can, but every day there is a new opportunity, or a new disaster to fix. So my plan is to plan as much as I can!

My advice to a new start up is to try to embrace the unknown. It is exciting to steer your business in your chosen direction, but there are icebergs, storms and sharks waiting for you. Plain sailing it ain’t. But there are also sandy beaches, calm seas and glorious sunshine ahead.

5. Love

Love, love, love! As the Beatles said, “All you need is love.” This song also has some other inspirational messages, they could be words of encouragement to new mums or to new businesses:

There’s nothing you can do that can’t be done.
Nothing you can sing that can’t be sung.
Nothing you can say, but you can learn
How to play the game
It’s easy.
Nothing you can make that can’t be made.
No one you can save that can’t be saved.
Nothing you can do, but you can learn
How to be you in time
It’s easy.

OK, it isn’t easy. You’ll need a lot more than love, but it is a good place to start. I love being a mother. I could not love my daughter more. She fills me and all those around her with so much love. You also need to love your startup, which I do. It is a childhood dream to do this – to write children’s books. Like a baby it can be challenging, tiring and all-consuming. Nevertheless, you need to be passionate about it and to believe in it. If you don’t believe in it, who will? Without love, you cannot survive in this start up world or in the parent world. No, it is not easy, but nothing worthwhile ever is.

About the author

gail-condon-new-frontiers-writingfortinyGail Condon

Gail is a New Frontiers participant at DIT. Her startup, Writing for Tiny, creates personalised books to help children understand important life events and situations. The inspiration for her business came from Gail’s experience as a pediatric nurse, when she would draw illustrations to distract patients from unpleasant procedures or explain their condition to them… [Read Gail’s profile]

Past participants: Dorothy Creaven / Element Software

4th December 2014

InterTradeIreland

Dorothy Creaven was a 2012 New Frontiers participant at Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology. Dorothy has a degree in Electronic Engineering and worked at Google and Abbott before co-founding Element Software, an award-winning developer of mobile engagement software.

Dorothy and co-founder, James Harkin, created Element Software in 2011. The company began life as a mobile app development services provider, with clients such as Ericsson and Sage. However, Dorothy and James soon realised that a major failing in the industry lay in client engagement – lots of apps are downloaded, but very few are successful in terms of longevity of use, which means that companies are missing opportunities to build relationships with their users:

We wanted to come up with a solution to specifically tackle this problem and so developed our mobile messaging platform, Element Wave – an online customer retention and conversion tool for brands who have published mobile apps.

I was very impressed by Dorothy’s potential as an entrepreneur when she applied to the programme. Element Software had already built apps, so she understood the weakness of the offer being presented to brand managers by apps, which was great validation of the new idea.

The pivot from service to product as a service

Before commencing New Frontiers, Element Software built apps to order. This is essentially a contract software development service model which can be difficult to scale. The team realised that the key to growing the business centred on developing their own intellectual property, which they could scale using SaaS (Software as a Service) though mobile and cloud. In essence, the major change was transitioning the company from a service to a product as a service business model.

The New Frontiers process puts market intelligence-building as a first priority. Dorothy followed the processes and advice from our consultants to prove market appetite for the idea before investing in the software application build. Mapping out all stakeholders for their solution indicated a need to include other parties in their value proposition (other than paying customers). The route to market and customer acquisition strategy was also developed on the programme and the sale to Element Wave’s first customer (RTE) was developed and secured.

Industry recognition and new funding

Element Software won €50,000 as the Best New Startup company in the 2013 Seedcorn competition. Its application to Enterprise Ireland’s Competitive Start-up Fund was also successful. The company has received awards from industry organisations and been acknowledged in the press for its innovation and business kudos.

Participation in New Frontiers was an important catalyst for us to set our company on a better path for future success. I would highly recommend anyone thinking of developing a new business to apply for the programme.

In 2014, Element Software has secured investment, expanded its team and increased functionality of the product to encompass push notifications, geo-location targeting and mobile analytics. It has also expanded its support services to developers seeking to embed these service in new app releases. New customers such as SAGE, Granda Bus (Spain) and GAA have signed up and significant contracts are likely to be announced in 2015. Today, Element Software technology is installed in over 4 million mobile devices.

Though the seeds of the idea were in place before New Frontiers, the demands of the app-building business did not afford Dorothy and James the time to pivot their business in a new direction. New Frontiers provided structure, expertise and funding to allow them to plan their new direction and to de-risk the new business plan to optimise opportunity for success.

About the author

GMIT School of Business New FrontiersPhotograph by Aengus McMahonTony O’Kelly

Tony is the New Frontiers Programme Manager in Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology (GMIT). His main expertise lies in finance, manufacturing, sales and procurement across a wide range of business sectors. He has experience in automating business processes and managing projects from conception to delivery; skills he brings to the structure and delivery of New Frontiers in GMIT…  [Read Tony’s profile]

Finding your feet as an entrepreneur

30th October 2014

find-feet-entrepreneur

The reality of business is that you have to make money. If you’re in it for giving back to the community, helping others or world peace, then you’re just not a business person. Making money is the first thing on every entrepreneur’s mind. What they do with it and where they spend it is up to the successful entrepreneur. But first, you have to generate revenue to be a successful entrepreneur.

Becoming an entrepreneur looks easy from the outside. I mean, how hard can it really be? At the end of the day, surely it just comes down to:

  1. have a good idea;
  2. people will want to buy it;
  3. make money and give back to the community!

Easy, right?

WRONG!

There’s a difference between doing something, and doing it well

Becoming an entrepreneur is easy, becoming a successful entrepreneur is hard! Lots of people call themselves entrepreneurs; for instance, I’ve been an entrepreneur since I was a child. From selling my old toys at age 5, organising a community cycle at 7, making bathroom soap holders from building site wood and beach shells at 12, distributing sport supplements at 19, experimenting with a multi-level marketing company at 21… and many other endeavours along the way.  The only problem was that I wasn’t doing one crucial thing – making money! Yes, I paid for some trips to the cinema, funded a car and a holiday, but really they were all just steps on the journey. A journey that I’m still on – becoming the best entrepreneur I can be.

In business, as in life, we often talk about your ‘slice of the pie’ – It often relates to money and how much you’re getting in a deal. I want to show you what the P.I.E. represents for to me. Each aspect of the P.I.E. determines the success you have/will have (or in other words, your slice of the pie).

Passion

Do you care about the industry you are entering? Is it in an area you would spend your time in, even if you weren’t getting paid? Do you really love it?

Personally, I love sport. I train well and I want to run as fast as I possibly can. This passion gives me an understanding of the sporting world and I have set up a company that makes it easier and cheaper for sport enthusiasts to enjoy their sport and achieve their goals. There are a number of elements to this: corporate sponsorship, crowdfunding and community building. The aim is to make athletes at the top of their sports more attractive to sponsors.

Having a passion for what I do makes it easier to make things happen. Because I’m on a quest to create change that I believe in, it means that when it comes to putting in the extra hours, I get stuck in and get it over the line.

Intensity

So now we know you care and you’re passionate about it. The next thing you must bring is the intensity. Imagine you’re playing a match; you go out on the pitch all guns blazing, full of enthusiasm and ready to win, but in the first minute you get winded and now you have two choices:

  1. Whimper away and let the game slip by.
  2. Suck it up and dig deep for the rest of the game – grind out a winning performance.

In business, this is the point at which you’ve had 10 rejections in a row, but you continue to pick up the phone and make calls. It’s easy to look at a person who has made it and think “Sure, they have that great client who brings in loads of sales for them.” Or, “They have it easy – their product/service sells itself.” The reality is that they have taken the hits, sucked it up and kept making the sales.

Paul Kenny sold cobone.com for an estimated $40 million and he made a great point. Once you have a customer, you have a business. It’s then your role to find more people like them who want to buy from you. To me this is the intensity. Keep doing the right things and you will get the breaks.

Expertise

This is a vital part to any business. Are you the best at what you do? If you were in the buyer’s shoes, would you buy from you?

It’s your job to know your industry inside out. Stay up-to-date with the latest trends, evolve, pivot and be the best at what you do.

At an ITLG (Irish Technology Leaders Group) event in Limerick, John Hartnett made the point that Nokia used to have the mobile market, now Apple have it, but maybe Samsung could win it next? If you’re an expert in your field, you can compete and win, but if you become stale and allow others to catch you then you will lose the battle. And it is a battle. You must use your passion and intensity to make sure you become – and remain – an expert in your field.

So how much P.I.E. do you have and how much of the pie will that get you?

About the author

David O’Sheadavid-o-shea-new-frontiers-2

David is an international sprinter and entrepreneur. He represented Ireland in the 60m and 100m sprint (with a personal best of 6.95 and 10.78 respectively). Having experienced the difficulties of funding an elite sport, David saw a gap in the market and created a platform for raising money for training and equipment needs: nTrai.com… [Read David’s profile]

Past participants: Emma-Jane Power / PR Slides

6th October 2014

Emma-Jane-Power

Emma-Jane Power was a New Frontiers participant at Waterford IT in 2012. She started a business that offers a way for brands to connect with the media by putting high-quality imagery in an easy-to-use hub for journalists.

Emma-Jane joined the programme after seeing an advert in a local Waterford newspaper. Her business was already trading at the time, with a few clients on board, but she needed help to bring it to the next level.

“I had completed some Enterprise Board courses, but they were fairly basic and I had heard great things about New Frontiers”.

I met with Emma-Jane several months before she joined Phase 1 of New Frontiers. During our first meeting, I recognised from my own industry experience that Emma-Jane’s business concept had potential. Having worked as a journalist and a model she was familiar with her target users – journalists and brand owners – but she needed guidance and support in developing a business model.

Following our meetings, Emma-Jane started working on some of the ideas that we generated before even making an application for New Frontiers.

“I probably wouldn’t have applied if it meant travelling to Dublin,”

One important factor that made Emma-Jane decide to apply to New Frontiers was that it was local and she wouldn’t have to travel. “I probably wouldn’t have applied if it meant going to Dublin,” she recalls, “I could give up the time in Waterford to do it, but if I had had to commute to Dublin as well, it would have been impossible.”

Phase 1: Testing the business idea

Once on Phase 1 of New Frontiers, Emma-Jane put in a lot of work and effort in validating exactly what her target customer base was and what market problem she was solving. Emma-Jane had collated a significant amount of market information by the end of Phase 1, which allowed her to prepare a very strong application for one of the limited places on Phase 2 of New Frontiers.

Phase 2: Business planning

On Phase 2, Emma-Jane used every opportunity to accumulate knowledge about her target market and its customers. This meant that she was able to develop a clear customer value proposition that she then communicated to the market. Emma-Jane tested and tweaked her customer value proposition with live customers from early in Phase 2. By engaging with real customers, she was able to establish the value of the service that she was providing, her pricing structure and her route to market.

Phase 3: Business development

Emma-Jane exited Phase 2 of New Frontiers with a clear customer value proposition, a tested business model and an investor-ready business plan. All the work done by Emma-Jane on New Frontiers paid benefits and she secured private investment and Enterprise Ireland High Potential Startup (HPSU) funding within months of completing Phase 2.

“I was 100 per cent ready from their help and input,” she says, noting that the result was €500,000 in funding and €250,000 from private investors, with Enterprise Ireland matching this. Since then, PR Slides has raised a further €250,000 in investment from Kernel Capital and is turning over €24,000 a month, recently launching in the UK, employing nine people and recruiting a further 20 people in 2014.

“I’m certain that, without the programme, PR Slides would still be just a one-woman business. I needed the funding to advance to the next level,”

Power also teamed up with her business partner, Niall Harbison, through New Frontiers. She met him at the annual New Frontiers networking event at Enterprise Ireland’s headquarters in Dublin.

“I’m certain that, without the programme, PR Slides would still be just a one-woman business. I needed the funding to advance to the next level,” she says.

Emma-Jane has kept her links with Waterford; and while the company’s sales office is now based in Dublin, she continues to work out of Waterford.

About the author

Eugene CrehanEugene-Crehan

Eugene manages the New Frontiers Programme at Waterford Institute of Technology’s Centre for Enterprise Development and Regional Economy (CEDRE). He  is highly experienced in working with startups and delivers workshops on marketing, business model design and strategy to New Frontiers participants… [Read Eugene’s profile]

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