We gathered once again in the jam-packed Mahony Hall for the third much-anticipated mini conference. Multiple inquisitive, keen listeners united together to discover all the trade
secrets and to avail of insider knowledge from industry experts on how to successfully set up a business. Whether you were aspiring students, budding entrepreneurs or merely someone with an idea there was an array of tips, insight and advice to be gotten from our esteemed guest speakers. Without delay, lets get started!
Niamh Bushnell, the Dublin Commissioner for start-ups, kick-started the event with charisma and enthusiasm, enticing us much like hungry fish discovering a worm in the water and latching on. There’s no doubt, we were hooked.
After spending sixteen years in the States, pouring her heart, soul and tears into her own start-up business ( Orbiscom), Bushnell came back to Ireland with an aspiring conviction to put Dublin on the map in terms of start-up businesses. Promoting our capital city as a great place for operations became her drive and motivation for success. Hearing her talk with such passion and love for her job was truly inspiring, and I like to think it may have been the push some audience members needed to open themselves up to new ideas including their own! I fully believe that everybody has the capacity to be an entrepreneur, they’re not some special breed of people born with preconceived ideas. They are normal, ordinary people like you or me who see the world with problems that need solving. To some, the prospect of starting a business is terrifying but Bushnell advocated the importance of taking that leap. She didn’t deny that there’s work involved: ‘The emotion you put into your start-up is massive’. I’d have to fully agree with this, but I don’t think it’s necessarily a bad thing! Emotion means passion, and is there anything greater than having passion for what you do? Personally, I know that in the future I’ll want a job I don’t need a break from, I don’t want to hate what i do for five days a week anticipating the weekends as an escape. I want to be passionate like Bushnell!
Our speaker revealed that ‘despite all the experience [she] thought [she] had, [she] was making all the same mistakes as everyone else’. Bushnell was a very humbling speaker and her willingness to bare-all about start-ups (both the positive and negative aspects) was truly refreshing and inspiring. She left us all with some truly motivational advice:
‘Seek diversity in your experiences’
For more on the first commissioner for start-ups, check out the video below:
Next up was David McKernan, founder and CEO of Java Republic. He was just what we needed. He was energetic, humorous and grabbed 
everyone’s attention through his no-nonsense manner. He started off with an anecdote about two students he had just heard talking in the bathroom. One exclaimed that he hoped the speakers wouldn’t ‘bore the shite out of us’, and McKernan, being as good-natured as he was, solemnly swore he wouldn’t do that. His speech was short, sweet and to the point. I was enamored by him from that moment on, as were the others gathered in the audience.
His story of success is truly admirable and again like Bushnell, he didn’t gloss over the difficult issues he had faced, for example he put his house on the line for the sake of his business. He had borrowed money from his brother and he warned us against doing this if at all possible: DON’T TAKE FAMILY MONEY! Sometimes you can’t come back from that and you’re family might not forgive you, tensions will rise and grudges will stick. So for any of you budding entrepreneurs out there, if you can take one thing away from this, take that!
He admitted to the hundreds assembled in the Helix that starting up your own business is ‘a brutal, brutal story. But you forget’. There’s something so empowering and encouraging about this, as though the good always overcomes the bad, you just got to be hopeful! He’s always been a huge lover of coffee and this is what drove him on. In a way, like many other entrepreneurs he wanted to share a piece of himself with the rest of the world. He never stopped believing in either himself or Java Republic.
The place that had become the motivation to build Java Republic into what it is today, fell apart. Instead of wallowing in sadness or disgust, McKernan vowed to let that be his drive once again, that he’d never stop reinventing his company. Not long after that, he decided a change was needed and the once beloved yellow packaging was tossed aside and a complete re-vamp was in store. The new sleek sliver packaging transformed the brand into a modern, sophisticated, much more sought-after product. This, this right here is what being an innovator truly means: not being afraid of change, to be open to it!
McKernan doesn’t see himself as a success, not yet anyway. He still sees everything he has to do in order to improve his business. Java Republic doesn’t do a lot of publicity, they let the brand talk for themselves. They must be doing something right because it’s still on the map!
For those avid coffee-enthusiasts , I’d strongly recommend you to go to the Roastery, not far from D.C.U, in Ballycoolin. Where every process of the roasting process can be seen, how fascinating?
Check it out!
For details on how to get here, click here!
Some of our very own, wisest and brightest joined us for a riveting panel discussion in which the audience took part. Before that we had a brief encounter with the three panelists who discussed their roles within and without D.C.U.
First up was CEO and director of the DCU Invent Center, Richard Stokes. To be honest, I had no prior knowledge of the Invent Center except that it can be easily seen from the first floor of the library. But I must admit the work they do is quite exciting!
Its mission is to work with external companies as well as their own researchers to promote, yep, you guessed it: innovation, knowledge transfer and commercialisation… well, on second thoughts, maybe you didn’t guess it, but at least you now know! In simpler terms their primary objective is to combine inventors with no idea of enterprise with entrepreneurs with money. Clever, right? Our college is vastly becoming the home for innovation, providing opportunities for both post and under-graduates, both students in DCU and elsewhere.
Speaking of opportunities, Stokes mentioned the student competition ‘UStart‘, which is used to guide and assist students with their newborn ideas and help them nurture these notions into growing, successful enterprises. What’s not to love?
DCU is truly a leading source of innovation in Ireland, last year there were 35 spin-out companies from the Invent center , however there are now only 11 in existence! The startling fact remains, not all businesses survive! Is this the reason why fledgling business men and woman are reluctant to dip their feet in the water? Too scared of the biting cold feeling of failure?! But whatever the prospect of failure there’s always the chance of success, is it not worth the risk?
Following Stokes was the lively Eoghan Stack, Executive Director of the DCU Ryan Academy. He offered plenty of interesting information for the hundreds of attendees at the event. Opened since May 2014 the Ryan Academy caters for many different company needs, their aim being to share their information with other people ( they don’t want to keep it to themselves!). The Ryan Academy is a non-profit organisation who want to be the catalyst in helping developing an entrepreneurial mindset through-out Ireland. Stack’s vision for a nation in collaboration with each-other and others is a true eye-opener. Honestly, to me, he seemed to be the most hopeful for the emergence of new companies, saying that the Ryan Academy is there to help all prospective business-people. But he was not naive in thinking that all succeed.
Stacks briefly mentioned TechShop which entails DIY workshops and fabrication studios across the States, aiming to unify and facilitate entrepreneurs, innovators, university students, indigenous firms and many more. Many pleased, nodding heads could be seen around the crowd of people who would greatly consider utilizing the many benefits on offer on the DCU Invent campus.
Ronan Furlong, Executive Director of DCU innovation campus began where Stacks left off, presenting the services available here in DCU for the highly sought-after potential business men and woman. Furlong appealed to the audience once again imparting some needed advice on those budding-entrepreneurs in the seats.
Furlong enlightened us all with the Propeller programme, who contained both the first female and first student accelerator! The Female High Flyers Programme is an accelerator programme for female led start-ups. It addresses the challenges facing female entrepreneurs. Exciting stuff, huh?
He can be quoted by saying that ‘entrepreneurship looks more like an archetypal Hero’s Journey.’ I think this is a very good definition of entrepreneurs. For the most part they start out struggling in the world of business (like those heroes fighting crime), they meet obstacles (such as their evil-counterpart who strives for world domination…) and although there’s a period of difficulty that doesn’t seem to be easily overcome, they strive and eventually succeed (save the world, win the girl..). I think this is when you become an entrepreneur (no, not when you win the girl!) when you overcome that bump in the road and keep moving forward.
Wise words, Rocky, wise words…
Our esteemed panelists gathered together to answer some eager questions from an array of people; students, lecturers and budding-business people who profited from these industry experts and their extensive knowledge.
1. How do you handle the different people who come to DCU, be it start-ups, MNC’s etc?
Stokes: ‘Business ideas may be in early stages and it may be easier to tell them to get a job, but I disagree, this should be nurtured.
Furlong: ‘The average age of an entrepreneur is forty, this gave me hope that i could still do it. You must approach everything with an open mind and enthusiasm. Support comes in different ways, the ability to support them is amazing.
2.What’s the mechanism for becoming more involved in the programmes? What’s the first step?
Stack: ‘There are some fantastic opportunities. It’s never too soon to look at application forms!
Stokes: ‘Come to ‘Invent’ and you’ll be steered to other areas. We’ll put you in the right direction.
Furlong: ‘the Innovation campus relatively new, so that’s why it may be a secret. We’re not singing it from the rooftops.’
The audience really got involved and everyone benefited from our intelligent panelists!
After a short intermission, we were joined by Sean Ahern, CEO of ThankFrank. He was what was needed to wake up the fatigued audience and it wasn’t long before we were immersed and listening carefully to what he had to say.
Personally, I found the concept of ThankFrank completely endearing and such a change to the normal petty, penny-pinching companies that we see today, too invested in market share, profits and bargains to appreciate the work that gets done for them. Let me shed some light on what i learned. ThankFrank is a platform of human research for savvy social shoppers and building an economy based on gratitude. Aherns gave a basic summary: ‘In a nutshell, ThankFrank.com provides a cool way to say thanks for frank and honest advice’. So, the idea is to put a like button on webpages, and if people like what they see all they have to do is click a button. Easy, right? There’s a double benefit to be earned here, those consumers who like pages can reap the awards, and believe me they’re pretty great! From vouchers to discounts and even the opportunity to give to charity, ThankFrank is certainly a pathway to a brighter future with more thoughtful and considerate generations. Pretty great, huh? What’s the catch, you say? That’s the beauty of it, there is none!
Ahern seemed to me to be a very down-to-earth, genuine kind of guy who emanates goodness (very rare in today’s world much like the concept of ThankFrank!). He stated that trust is very important to him, that in fact, he loves it! He strongly believes that money should go back to the people he trusts. How much humbler can he get?
He imparted some wisdom on what to expect when you begin our own business, he used an apt analogy of working in the trenches and the necessity of planning for three or more years of rainy days (I found this advice particularly helpful as it suggests a brighter, dryer future awaits, rain doesn’t last for ever!). Ahern insisted that it isn’t always easy, but the really good things in life rarely are!
Ahern’s skillfully used quotations throughout his presentation really captured the essence of what it means to be an entrepreneur. In my opinion Henry Ford’s quote was remarkably powerful and accurately depicted Aherns main thesis of the day:
Honestly, this quote grabbed me, and my attention was held throughout Aherns’ speech. The crucial point to take from Fords interpretation of success is that you must keep trying, learning, growing. There is no other way!
I certainly took a lot of valuable advice away from Aherns speech and I think he’s a true inspiration. I look forward to hearing more about ThankFrank in the future, and wish them success.
Kealan Lennan, CEO and founder of Clevercards, was the next person to bring his experiences to the stage. Although yawns were stifled and concentrations were waning Lennan sucked us back in with his inventive company so that you never miss a birthday again!
Clevercards is an Irish greeting card app company that utilizes media to connect people all around the world. Once you’ve set up an account or simply downloaded the app it makes remembering birthdays easy! It uses running algorithms to select the photos you actually want, for example if you’ve the intention of purchasing a card for your sister you don’t necessarily want random photos of friends cropping up. The algorithms prevent this and in a sense they do the selecting for you! Pretty neat? What’s even better is that any card can be sent anywhere in the world for €3.45! Want them sent directly to the house of said person? Clevercards does the hard work for you! Great news! Personalizing cards has never been so easy. Lennan saw a gap in the market for this kind of business and he jumped at it, as he said ‘Nothing ventured, nothing gained’. Like many of our other guest-speakers, Lennan provided us with even more insightful knowledge on how to go about starting our own businesses.
‘Share moments in minutes’
He’s clearly a strong believer of passion and urged us to be passionate about our ventures, that we will face failure many times but that comes with being an entrepreneur . Look where his passion got him… a successful company he can proudly say he built through dedication, consistency and -no doubt about it- hard work!
Lennan left us with a unique gesture. Everyone in the audience was given a promo code that would allow them to get a free card! Laughter enveloped Mahony Hall when he advised us to remember that Mother’s day was coming up and what better opportunity to us use Clevercards? How very enterprising of him!
For more on Clevercards check out the video below. I have a feeling we’ll be seeing much more of Lennan’s company in the future!
The final speaker of the evening was entrepreneur and investor, Paul Kerley. Kerley shared with us some of his successful ventures as an entrepreneur and like our other esteemed speakers I can honestly say I learned a lot from him.
Being CEO of Norkom (a financial and technological firm) since its birth in 1998, has fueled Kerleys ambitions and what motivated him to succeed in future endeavors. Kerley highlighted to those of us in attendance in the Helix, that the real lesson we must learn is that sometimes you have to make hard decisions so your business survives. He unabashedly admitted that he had fired friends before, something that thoroughly shocked me to the core. I guess that’s something they don’t tell you about business but Kerley made us stronger by not shielding us from its harsh reality. For that, I thank him.
Kerley has had a successful career to date and he’s not finished yet! He has worked in many other diverse areas in the business world and is constantly reinventing himself and aiding companies around the world. Working both on boards of various companies (ie Fenergo, SmartBin etc) and having a more hands-on approach, Kerley is quiet accomplished. In 2009 he was named Technology Person of the Year by ISA and Norkom has won critical acclaim from global analysts and industry publications throughout the years. This is one successful entrepreneur! What Kerley had to say was very insightful and I undoubtedly learned many beneficial entrepreneurial lessons.
Each of our speakers enlightened me to such an extent that I feel much more tuned in and aware of what being an entrepreneur truly means. It’s anything but easy and tough choices must be made constantly and consistently.But above all else you must have passion for what you do! Our guests are testaments of that. I don’t think any of them, would be here today were it not for their drive and devotion. I fully believe that entrepreneurship can be taught, I don’t agree with William B. Gartner’s ‘Trait Approach’ which states that an ‘entrepreneur is assumed to be a fixed state of existence, a describable species…’. Although this may be true for Bushnell, Kerley and others, there are those out there, such as McKernan, who had very normal lives before entrepreneurial instinct took over. So the question is, is this spark ingrained in certain people? Does it remain dormant until suddenly it erupts, bringing with it ideas, notions and a yearning to create? Personally, I believe that spark is inside us all! The only thing we need is the motivation and inspiration to succeed….. and a lot of hard work!
Thanks for reading, I hope you gained some insight in how to Get Started! I hope to see you next time! Oh and don’t forget to check out some photos from the conference! Until next time and remember…
The Para-DICE! 