A Cork “mentoring weekend” managed to cram in some realistic and honest advice for start-ups who were teamed with established companies and given guidance
BUSINESS mentoring is not new. It’s a staple approach of Government support organisations and a plethora of consultancy firms out there willing – for the right price – to give advice to anyone who will listen. But in the case of 23 well-seasoned entrepreneurs volunteering their time and putting themselves up in Kinsale to work with a group of budding start-ups, the CorkBIC event might be a little different.
Mentoring of this nature can run the risk of turning into a buzz word extravaganza about “setting goals for yourself” or “aiming high”. One participant said before the event that – based on attendance at previous gigs like this – he wasn’t holding out much hope.
But there was an air of transparency at the session. Companies at every level were encouraged to lay bare their entrepreneurship experience, warts and all.
Grainne Kelly, chief executive of Bubblebum UK, recounted how she’d been squeezed by manufacturers and suppliers everywhere from China to the US but still made her company a global success in 21 countries with a staff of just six.
John Flaherty who, until recently, was living in a caravan with his wife, now heads up CF Tooling, which employs 1,800 staff and whose client base includes Apple and IBM.
Emerging entrepreneurs had to apply to CorkBIC, the local branch of the European Business and Innovation Centre Network, to get involved. Three categories were created to suit start-ups at various levels of development – the ideas group, the investor-ready group and the scaling group. Successful applicants would be paired with a mentor for the event which addressed their current business issues.
Technology start-ups were the dominant force among the 23 chosen to participate. That group included successful social entrepreneur 19-year-old James Whelton, co-founder of CoderDojo. This is a not-for-profit computer code training programme. Whelton was in the scaling group and was hoping to get more volunteer computer programmers on board worldwide.
Those with physical products, which included candles, a range of eco-friendly cleaning products and an audio speaker stand manufacturer, stood out simply on account of having something tangible to present.
While solutions to some problems faced by emerging entrepreneurs were universally sought – such as sourcing investment – others had more specific issues. The investment pitch was a serious learning curve for many of the participants.
Given the large number of tech businesses in the room, learning how to cut though the excess jargon and speak in a language investors would understand was a useful lesson.
Developing a product in co-operation with major suppliers, tapping into international markets, or knowing how to hire good staff, were also hot topics. Believing there is a place for your product/service in the Chinese market is one thing; successfully entering that market is an entirely different issue. Solid relationships have to be made with trustworthy people on the ground and due diligence of the local market must be taken.
Hiring staff for a new start-up is another area fraught with problems, particularly if it involves an equity offer. Giving up some of your company to someone new can be very difficult for a young entrepreneur.
Yet many participants said they often felt a sense of isolation and loneliness and realised that scaling up the business would be fruitless without sharing some of the responsibility.
As was made clear by serial entrepreneur Kevin O’Leary of Qumas Solutions, if you always have to be in the room in order to sell your product, then it probably isn’t a very good one. The experts all echoed similar advice on how best to hire the right staff: empower them with a sense of responsibility.
They must be made to feel as if they have a stake in the company’s success. Otherwise they have no reason to share your vision. If they still don’t perform, it will become obvious and they will either quit or be fired.
Lessons learnt, the 23 firms now venture out into the marketplace again, hopefully wiser than before the process.
GROUP 1 THE IDEAS GROUP
Emerging entrepreneur:
Titta Jones, Lillys Eco Clean Ltd
Product/service: Manufacturer of non-toxic, environmentally friendly and effective cleaning products, including surface cleaning and laundry detergent products.
Mentor: John Flahavan, chairman of Flahavans Oats, the centuries-old Irish brand which sells porridge and other breakfast products in supermarkets countrywide.
Key challenge: "Establishing relationships with the main supermarket suppliers to get product from niche to mainstream in a highly monopolised sector," says Titta Jones.
“There is no other product like ours on the market. But does that mean there is a gap we should be exploiting or that there is no demand for what we are manufacturing?”
Outcome: "I have learnt that I must keep the goals of the company narrow at this point and maintain my focus on trying to establish the Lilly's Eco Clean brand in supermarkets.
“This is where the majority of people buy their cleaning products so that’s where I need to be. I also need to go back and revise my marketing approach and look at how best to open communication links with the big supermarket chain suppliers. Simply put, I’ll keep ringing suppliers, and trying to get appointments for meetings where I can pitch my product to the right people.
“In order to get cash flowing in the short term, I should be simultaneously looking at new sales avenues and increasing marketing in other areas of my business model, such as a web-based shop.”
GROUP 2 THE SCALING GROUP
Emerging entrepreneur: Michael Barrett, St Killian's Candle Company
Product/service: Innovative patented church candle system for cathedrals, churches and shrines. One of its selling points is its safety.
Mentor: Dave Ronayne, chief executive of Irish Mainport Holdings, an integrated marine services company providing global shipping services to offshore oil and gas exploration companies.
Key challenge: "While already using established distribution systems in Europe and the US for the product, we are unaware of how much time and effort is being put into driving sales of our product outside Ireland," says Barrett. "We believe we have a market of approximately 400,000 cathedrals, churches and shrines worldwide. We want to learn how to reach them."
Outcome: "The main outcome for us was to narrow our focus down to one or two important projects over a three-month period. "We know we have a great product but we need to concentrate on exactly where we see ourselves three months from now. So we are going to build up an international sales office, starting in the US, where we will hire four international sales staff who will be permanently based there."
GROUP 3 THE INVESTOR-READY GROUP
Emerging entrepreneur:Michael Byrne, Conceptworx
Product/service: Web-based solutions development. The main project is FolioFourOne, a web-based platform to enable publishers to create a package for digital magazines, which can be uploaded to a host system, allowing the magazine to be readable on any device or web browser.
Mentor: Declan Fox, serial entrepreneur, technologist, digital marketer and business coach. Co-founded Comnitel Technologies in 1999, which was bought by IBM in 2007.
Key challenge: "Conceptworx needs investment," says Byrne. "I am working alone so I am the Conceptworx' CEO, sales team, marketing department and everything in between.
“With 15 years experience in the software industry, some at management level, I understand the technology side of things very well, but I need to get advice on how to improve my sales and marketing pitch.”
Outcome: “I learnt a lot about putting together an investment pitch, how to value my company and the types of funding to go for. We even went into the detail of changing my phraseology to make pitches more commercial.
“We also looked at how to structure requests for certain amounts of funding from groups like Enterprise Ireland and the effects of that down the road.
“Working alone, I need to be in a position to upscale. Empowering people to take on responsibility is important. I’ve been in senior management before so appreciate this point but I learnt more about how to make people self-accountable.”
