Start-up businesses can fail for a large number of reasons. It goes without saying that the fewer mistakes made the less likely failure will occur. People provide many tips on how to start businesses successfully but perhaps it would be easier to actually look at what not to do. By overcoming the below common mistakes you will give yourself every possibility to launch a successful business.

1) Capital: Lack of funds can be a major obstacle in starting your own business. It is hugely important to launch your business with the right amount of money. Starting with too little cash is not advised and can be a big mistake. If seeking investment be realistic in terms of the amount required, the money should be enough to at least take you to the next step of the business plan, whatever that may be. Typically this may be simply building a prototype. Money must be carefully managed in its early stages, and start-up companies must look for the most attractive deals from suppliers. It is now cheaper than ever to start a business with many online companies expanding from a simple website. One early expense that can be avoided is the immediate hiring of staff. It is not suggested to hire staff in abundance before the business has really taken off. If you do require help perhaps look to friends, or family, however if hiring someone is unavoidable look into paying them in equity as opposed to salary. Believe it or not it is also possible to raise too much money. Changing the direction of a business may be needed in the early stages and if there has been a significant financial commitment, changing the business direction may be very difficult. Looking for huge investments is also time consuming and may delay the launch of the product or service.

2) Timing of the launch: Getting the timing of the launch of the business wrong is another common mistake for start-up businesses. Launching too slowly is possibly more damaging than launching too quickly. If the launch is delayed you run the risk of another start-up business introducing a similar or identical business concept. Some common delays for not launching on time include working too slowly, not truly understanding your target audience, working on too many different projects, and the fear of actually having to deal with the users of the product or service. On the other hand launching too early may ruin the reputation and may discourage people to ever use the product or service again. Getting the timing right is crucial to early success.

3) Relying heavily on one supplier: This is particularly important during times of recession. With the huge number of businesses closing down, relying on one supplier only is a silly mistake for a start-up business. Let’s assume a company is starting up and uses one supplier to source their raw materials. They may have favourable terms of trade with this supplier and the supplier may understand what exactly the company requires, however if this company goes sunder so does the start – up in question. It is recommended to have a variety of suppliers to lessen the risk involved. For business to business start-ups it is advised to have a number of different customers. If you only have one major customer and that business fails you too will be in serious trouble. Starting a business is in itself a massive risk so any opportunity to minimise risk is advised for small businesses.

4) Not identifying a specific user: Having a great innovative product or service is not enough. You cannot adopt the attitude of “people will like this”. You must ask yourself who will like this and who will purchase this. A clear target audience must be identified. Start-ups that are unsure about their target audience are far more likely to fail. All future marketing efforts should be aimed at your specific users. These people need to be understood in quite some detail.

5) Not being fully committed: Many entrepreneurs looking to start new businesses have other business interests and are often employed elsewhere. Some talented entrepreneurs have the ability to manage a number of their businesses simultaneously however for most people this proves to be a very difficult task. Statistics show that many founders of failed start-ups have other jobs and have not devoted their full attention to the new business venture. If you want your business to be really successful other work commitments must be questioned. If you are happy to just try your hand at starting a business and are not overly concerned about whether or not it fails well then I would recommend hanging onto your day job.

Entrepreneurs looking for an investment in their new business venture must have the ability to deliver an effective pitch, and in a sense they must be good salespeople. Having a good idea with a solid plan in place may not be enough. Pitching your idea to a potential investor is no easy task and many entrepreneurs struggle with this. Nerves can often get the better of you and at times the value of the business idea can decrease following a weak pitch. RTE’s Dragons Den provides us with evidence of business people, often with excellent ideas, that simply cannot communicate them effectively for whatever reason. Hopefully the following tips will make the daunting prospect of making a business pitch a little easier.
Like any business or professional presentation pitching your idea should involve the four P’s planning, preparing, practicing, and of course presenting. These rules almost go without saying. We all know the importance of speaking clearly, making eye contact, and using attractive slides; however what is really going to make you stand out from the crowd to the investors are the following.

1) Know your audience: Before entering the room in which you will make your pitch you should know exactly who will be facing you. Surprises on the day can throw the entrepreneur off. Potential investors should be selected carefully. It is not a case of just getting anyone to invest in your company. They must fit well with the start-ups business culture as well as the product or service being provided. You should know as much as possible about their interests or other business activities or involvements. The presentation style may have to be altered depending on the audience so this is something else that should be kept in mind.

2) Be passionate – sell the idea to them: Perhaps start the presentation with a one minute elevator pitch and include only the important details. Do not immediately ask for money or come across desperate. Make it feel like they would be lucky to invest in a product or service. Most of all be passionate, enthusiastic, and genuinely excited about you new business. If you are not excited about it you can’t expect others to be.

3) If appropriate use props, prototypes or demonstrations: This may be particularly important for new start-ups that are highly technical or complex to explain. Perhaps showing the investor how the product works may be more effective than trying to explain. If your business is a website it may be a good idea to have some screenshots of the site within your slides. If an investor is going to part with his/her cash they will want as much details and knowledge of what they are buying into as possible. At the same time don’t over complicate things. For a simple product or service that can be easily communicated, including props may actually over complicate the pitch.

4) Back everything up with numbers: I can’t emphasise this point enough. At the end of the day investors are looking to make a return on their investment for the most part. They are results driven and knowing your figures for sales, profits, costs etc is absolutely essential. There is nothing wrong with having a small page or record card with your figures on them. Pitching an idea is an extremely difficult task and if you feel that remembering all figures is too big a task don’t do it. The worst thing you can do is forget a certain figure, panic and then be thrown off for the entire presentation. Your projections in terms of profits, sales etc should be realistic. By all means aim high and be optimistic but he numbers must be backed up.

5) Learn from mistakes and rejection: Securing an investment is no easy task! Don’t be disheartened if you do not succeed. Take the advice on board and make the relevant changes. Think about which questions you could not answer or answered poorly. The more experience you have at pitching your business idea, the easier it becomes.

Most successful entrepreneurs will tell you that conducting a feasibility study is vital in that very first stage of developing a business. But if we’re honest, how many of us actually understand what a feasibility test really is? Not all entrepreneurs are experts on research and market analysis, so here is a quick guide to the importance of verifying the validity of your start-up.

A Business Feasibility Study is an integral part of the start-up stages of a new company. Without conducting a feasibility study you could be walking blind into a market with a product or concept that is just not commercially viable. According to Women in Business, Feasibility studies contain comprehensive, detailed information about your business structure, your products and services, the market, logistics of how you will actually deliver a product or service, the resources you need to make the business run efficiently, as well as other information about the business.

The reality of entrepreneurship is that some ideas just won’t work no matter how passionate you may be about it. Starting up a business means risk, and it is not advisable to walk into that risk without assessing the viability of your idea first. A feasibility study looks at the viability of a business, and really focuses in on any issues that present themselves. Can the issues be dealt with? Is there a place for this product in the market? Can I make my product/service stand out from the crowd? Is it logistically possible to build and maintain? These are all areas that need to be addressed, ideally before the start of product development, or in the deliberation stage.

To break it down, a feasibility study consists of different components, all vital in the success of new business. These generally are:
• Market feasibility which looks at the industry and consumer base
• Technical feasibility which predictably looks at the technical delivery etc
• Financial feasibility looks at return on investment, capital needed to begin, source of income.
• And Organizational feasibility which encompasses the entire structure of the business from corporate to legal to staff. This can also cover the skills present in the entrepreneur or founders as the grounding of the whole start-up concept.

Remember, the aim of a feasibility study is to find all the issues early on so they can be dealt with, so don’t shy away from acknowledging what your start-up lacks. This honesty early on could be the difference in the probability of success. Look at a feasibility study as a tool, not to be confused with a business plan, which is formulated only after positive feasibility results. The business plan will be drawn up based on the most positive scenario laid out by a feasibility study, and carry on into financial projections and more details on the business.

Enterprise Ireland offer feasibility research grants to those High Potential Start-Ups aimed at exporting. For this particular grant your start-up must be:
• Based on an innovative technology or service offering;
• Likely to achieve significant growth in three to four years (sales of €1m per annum and employment of 10 or more);
• Export orientated;
• Led by an experienced team, with a mixture of technical and commercial competencies.

A feasibility study can be as in-depth or as simple as you want it; but be mindful of the issues that can arise if this step is ignored. As well as finding potential tricky areas, a feasibility study will help you evaluate the most cost effective way to move forward, and if you’re thinking of looking for funding for you business, a feasibility study is an absolute must for credibility.

This is the second instalment of our advice on country selection. As we said last time when it comes to exporting it is always crucial to have done some homework before committing. The first part of the blog focused on the first two stages of the process of selecting relevant countries for export. If you missed that blog, don’t worry you can read it again here.

This week we will focus on the final three stages of the process. To refresh your mind here is the process again.

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At this point you should have carried out the first two stages and narrowed your target countries somewhat. You are most likely now in talks with EI or CEB’s about your potential to export and they are assisting or giving guidance. What can you do yourself though?

STAGE 3:      Examine the Industry Market Potential

The next stage for you is to examine the Industry Market Potential. In other words the total amount of ‘cake’ on offer by the given countries you have left remaining. When we say you are examining the market potential the reason for this is in order to estimate aggregate demand. So we look at market size as a factor. As mentioned in the previous blog in most developed countries, fairly accurate estimates for many products are available from public or private sources. In emerging markets data may not be available, and even when it is quality may be suspect so beware of this. Your agency should be supportive in this area with resources. You can calculate this using a number of techniques but we will focus on just four simple ones. They are as follows:

• Related Market Size Model
• Analogy Method
• Trade Audit
• Chain Ratio Method

1. Related Market Size

Related markets’ size and related environmental factors can help determine the size of the market you are looking at. You can try finding different statistics on each of your remaining countries and apply them accordingly.

Example:

In 2009, there were more than 1.9 million passenger cars in use in Ireland, up from less than 1.6 million in 2004. In Ireland we have 437 cars per 1,000 – the equivalent EU figure is 463 per 1,000 (2007 figures). If the population rises from 4.2m to 5m between now and 2021 and we reach EU car-ownership norms then we will have at least another 750,000 cars to add to our crammed roads.

2. Analogy Method

The best way of describing this method is where you start by picking a country at the same stage of economic development as the country of interest and for which the market size is known. The method is based on the premise that the relationship between the demand for a product and a particular indicator (e.g. the demand for a related product) is similar in both countries.

Example:

Let’s say Phillips/Sony wants to estimate the market size for DVD Players’ in Russia (r)

For the base country (relative country) we take another Central European country, say Bulgaria (b), for which we know the sales of DVD players. We also choose a proxy variable that correlates highly with the demand for DVD’s e.g. color flat screen TV sales.

In this example, we assume that the ratio of DVD Player ownership to color flat    screen TV ownership is roughly equivalent:

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Since we are interested in the demand for DVD’s in Russia, we can derive an estimate based on the following relationship:

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For this specific example the following information is available (from Euro Monitor 1999):

Fill in those numbers we get:

Estimate VCR Demand Russia

(Sales per ‘000 inhabitants) = ???

17.1(2.9/19.5) = 2.5

However, it is important to note that when using this technique you cannot, as with all techniques, assume it is gospel and that’s it job done. This technique in particular may produce misleading results under certain circumstances as consumption may not be comparable across countries due to cultural disparities, competition or trade barriers may interfere with sales figures and technological advances may allow use of product innovations in a country at an earlier stage of economic development (“leapfrogging” to Blue ray or latest technology).

3. Trade Audit

The trade audit is possibly the easiest to explain as it is simple math. The total market volume per year for a certain country / market can be calculated as:

However for many emerging markets (and even developed countries), such data is missing, outdated, or collected at a very aggregate level so make sure your data is up to date. As recommended Global edge, EI, GMID, Data monitor and CSO.ie are all great sources of this data.

4. Chain Ratio Method

The Chain Ration method is in simple terms an analysis of industrial growth patterns for various countries, to gain insight into relationship between consumption and industrial growth. This method starts with a very rough base-number as an estimate for the market size (e.g. the entire population of a country).

This base estimate is systematically fine-tuned by applying a string (“chain”) of percentages to come up with the most meaningful estimate for total market potential.

Example:

• Consider a firm that makes baby monitors and is considering expanding into China and/or India.
• Firm wishes to focus on urban areas (easier to access)
• As you can see below although China has a higher population and urbanization, India has a greater birth rate per 000’s making it a more valuable market.

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STAGE 4:      Examine Company Potential (I.E-Your Slice of that cake)

After you have examined each country you will now have a better idea of the markets available to you. You should then take the markets and examine the players operating in those markets already and their positions/power. This will give you an idea as to the level of investment and entry mode choice you will require. Say for example our India example above, as I can see the market is valued highly at 7.8m I should enter. Not necessarily. Perhaps Sony, Phillips and Samsung are in there already and already control 90% of the market. How many other small firms are there competing for that 10%?  Will it be worth my investment? It’s all about looking and estimating how much of that market you believe you can gain. Agencies should be able to help you with this and Enterprise-Ireland in particular has Market Advisors all around the globe who can inform you of the market shares and big players in certain markets to help your decision. You can then remove remaining countries that are not attractive.

STAGE 5:      Best Countries Remain

This is the final stage of the IMS process. Here you will have carried out all steps and your pool of countries will be limited. You select the best 2 or 3 depending on business plan to export and proceed with your plans.

Although this article covers a range of techniques we recommend you do not use it solely as your guide to export. For more advice you should speak with Enterprise-Ireland about your potential to export and ensure you have the plan in place and contacts in place abroad. This article should provide some help and education to those considering exporting. It may prove helpful to those wanting to apply for grants as it can show you have done market valuations.

Best of Luck with the exporting!

We can wait for that moment of epiphany when the most amazing business idea will suddenly enter our heads, out of the blue. But let’s face it – business ideas don’t grow on trees and sometimes you simply have to go looking for them.

So where do you start? Before you start generating ideas, a certain amount of preparatory work is advised:

Define the Problem: You may have already established a problem that needs solving but if not, you only have to open your eyes and easy to spot them. Listen to your friends, your colleagues and your customers in your last workplace, read the paper, watch the news – be all the time on the lookout for problems and difficulties that people are having. I’m sure you yourself have plenty of complaints to make about services or products you’ve used in the past – these are a great source of inspiration for new business ideas.

Analyze your customers: Who is having the problem? Is it a localized problem or more mainstream? Is it specific to a certain age bracket or gender?  You can start to figure out who your target market might be. You can go to them for feedback but just don’t depend on them to come up with your business idea for you. It is not enough to simply ask potential customers what they would like. As Henry Ford once said, “If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses”. Henry Ford considered the need which was faster transport and went about satisfying the need for that. Look at customer habits, lifestyles and behaviours. Ask yourself ‘Why are they having difficulty with that? What is the root of the problem?’

Look at what is out there already: What is currently out there to satisfy this need? What are people currently using and what is the problem with that? Look at competitor products and services and learn from what they do well and do not do well.

Idea Generation Techniques

Now to the creative part! We’ll now take a problem and use some idea generation techniques to come up with a business idea.

The Problem: Your friends work in a busy town and you have heard them complain about the queues they have to face when they go looking for good coffee on their lunch break….

Brainstorming. This is the most well known idea generation technique and is best used in a group situation. The aim is to generate quality over quantity and  there is one critical rule which much be followed: never criticize other people’s ideas – instead try to build on them or try combining them with your ideas. Some of the more obvious business ideas for this problem are to open a new coffee shop in the town, or provide a catering service to some of the local businesses. But don’t be afraid to be a bit wacky!

Scenario Building. Look at the problem from the point of view of your customer and create a ‘day-in-the-life-of’ scenario. For example:

“Joe leaves the office at 1:00pm in search of a hot cup of coffee. Sometimes he gets delayed and when he does, he gets stuck behind a long queue as it is very busy during lunch-hour. The coffee in the office isn’t up to much. By the time he gets to the front of the queue, order, receives and pays for his coffee and returns to the office it is 1:30. If only there was a way he could get quality coffee as soon as he wants it so that he could really enjoy his lunch-break…”

This scenario provides context to the problem and therefore it is much easier to understand and associate with the customer’s experiences, problems and frustrations. This will help you to come up with solutions that really satisfy their needs. You might think of ideas such as a web-based application which lets him order his coffee and alerts him as to when his coffee is ready….

Preventative Brainstorming. This is where you try to prevent the problem for happening in the first place. For example:

The problem is that I spend a lot of my lunch break queuing for coffee. How could I prevent the need for having to leave to get my coffee in the first place? What if I had my coffee with me but could heat it up in the office. I think of an idea for a coffee drink product which will self-heat at the touch of a button.

You can also use this technique to apply it to your current business problems. For example, try it from the café owner’s perspective:

The problem is that there is a sudden rush between 13:00 and 14:00 in the café and it is hard to deliver a quality service to so many customers in such a short period of time. How could I prevent so many people coming in within that one particular hour? What if I could provide incentive for customers to come in earlier or later. I think of an idea for an incentive scheme for local businesses involving reduced rates for the 14:00 to 15:00 slot.

Remembrance. This is a technique which works by thinking about a problem as if it is already solved and then ‘remembering’ how it got to be that way. For example:

I have a problem about getting coffee during lunch hour. I think about the nice hot coffee I used to drink on my lunch hour and how I used to get it. I remember that I used to know the Café owner and she used to have my coffee waiting for me when I arrive. I think of an idea into for a pre-paid and loyalty based ordering system for regular customers.  

Reversal. Using this technique, you reverse the problem that you are trying to solve:

I am queuing for coffee. I am looking for ways to get my coffee faster. But instead of looking for ways for me to get to my coffee, I look for ways to get my coffee to come to me. I think of an idea for a coffee delivery company, which brings coffee directly to your desk.

Some of the companies featured on www.startups.ie tell us about how they came up with their business ideas. For a bit of inspiration, check them out!

Struggling to find that all-important funding? Irelands growing network of angel investors may be the way to secure the future of your start-up.

As most of you will know it can be notoriously difficult to secure funding for a new business, now more than ever with people watching the pennies and bank loans almost impossible to get. But there is a growing network of Business Angel Investors in Ireland still looking for that next big project to put their money in. The ideal Angel Investor will have a strong commercial track record; excellent business credentials; capacity to invest; ability to identify commercial opportunity; time to invest in the creation of a new company; vision to transform new technologies into solid businesses; established links and relevant industry contacts. There are a lot of time wasters out there who for some reason pose as investors but in fact have no money, (weird I know..) so if you can tick these criteria you know your dealing with a credible investor.

According to ‘Business Angels in Ireland’, Business Angels are private individuals or groups that invest their capital into start-up companies and entrepreneurial ideas in return for partial company management and/or a return on a set amount of the company’s profit (known as an “equity stake”). They often have other benefits for a company, such as experience in the particular sector and often a wide range of industry contacts that can help get your business up and running. So think of the Dragons Den and you’re on the right track.

The Irish Investment Network operates as a ‘dating site’ for entrepreneurs and potential investors. The website features a running track of the latest investors with details of location and amount of finance available, as well as a brief introduction of the investors experience and interests. This makes finding your ideal investor a lot easier, and takes the stress out of searching through countless sites and directories.

You should also look Halo Business Angel Partnership This is a joint initiative between Enterprise Ireland and InterTradeIreland and is managed by Dublin Innovation Centre. Entrepreneurs can find a guide to the process of finding an Angel Investor, from forming and submitting a Business Plan along with an application form, to securing a match. The Partnership also hosts seminars and networking events to increase your chances of finding an investor.

Halo Business Angel Network or HBAN is another Dublin based network. HBAN operate as an ‘all-island umbrella group for business angel investing in Ireland’ focused on creating Angel Investor syndicates across the country which aims to streamline the funding process for the entrepreneur. To get funding with HBAN you need to have:
• A product that is ready for commercialisation.
• Pre-revenue is considered however some early market traction via revenues preferred.
• A management team with relevant experience.
• An identifiable market opportunity.
• An internationally scalable business model.

Candidates with some or all of the above are invited to get in touch, if there is an interest in your start-up you will be invited to pitch the business, and hopefully secure that investment.
National director of HBAN Diane Roberts was reported in March 2011 as saying that syndicates are most effective as resources are pooled and the possible risks of investments are spread out. As well as this Roberts stated that investing in early stage companies is also considered to be an attractive prospect by many investors following the fall in stock market and property values.

Just by researching some of these sites you can see there are investors out there willing to fund a new project. It is no surprise that Angel Investors are growing in popularity in Ireland as a method of getting a business off the ground, as well as finance they can provide vital business knowledge and support. So if your idea is ready for investment, consider the Angel Networks as a significant advantage for your business.

When it comes to exporting it is always crucial to have done some homework before committing. Although exporting may not be specific to every start up it is good to have some knowledge on the area. The case happens to be that most start-ups with high potential will have sought financial assistance from CEB’s and Enterprise-Ireland already but for those of you awaiting approval or ineligible for support we hope that these tips can help you.

One of the best exercises your start up can partake in is ‘IMS-International Market Selection’.

The main focus of IMS is concerned with isolating the markets with the biggest opportunities. You should never just assume you know that your product is suited to a market without doing the background research. As mentioned it’s a very important decision to take time over as when you choose a market it is also counts as a choice of:

• Customer
• Competitive Environment you are entering to compete in e.g. technical, political, social, competitive etc

For these reasons you’ve got to get it right as the decision is not easily reversed after you’ve committed to one market. Many successful entrepreneurs say that a firm’s ability to choose the right countries for entry and investment should lead to significant competitive advantages once entry has begun. It is a tedious process but valuable in the long run. The saying “fail to prepare, prepare to fail” springs to mind!

How To:

The exercise itself must be taken as a systematic approach. If you decide to skip steps or be lazy it will affect the end decision and the overall business decision. It is also important to note that the availability and comparability of international market data should be taken into account when carrying out the exercise. Why? Here’s an example of how the comparability of data can deceive one’s anticipation of a market.

Example:  Firearms Statistics

In Ireland a proxy for the legal number of firearms held may be gauged by the number of licenses issued.  I.e. – A license is issued for each firearm. Whereas in the UK using a similar method would yield an inaccurate picture.  In the UK the individual is licensed to hold firearms.  Thus a person could hold several firearms on the one license. Confusion for gun producers looking to export quantities.

This blog entry will cover the first two stages of the process and next week we will continue with the final three stages. Ideally if approaching the like of Enterprise-Ireland being able to show you have least carried out the first two stages will ensure your application is more credible and well grounded. Generally the latter three stages would be covered with the agency as more resources will be widely available.

The Systematic Approach Guidelines:

See the diagram below.

Stage 1: As you can see you begin by pooling all the prospective countries together. For this example let us say there are 100 potential countries.

Stage 2: In the second stage you carry out what is known as ‘coarse grained screening’ or preliminary screening. You should imagine the system as a filtration process and each step is removing undesirable countries. This will allow you to narrow your potential country pool to about 50 countries or less.

This coarse grained screening can be carried out in two ways:

1. Country Clustering

Clustering seeks to group countries with similar commercial, economic, political and cultural dimensions. For example Portugal and Spain have similar commercial and cultural dimensions so markets may be alike. After spending time clustering you can even go as far to map them out to illustrate your plan of action for identifying the most valuable clusters.

2. Country Ranking

Country ranking as the name suggest involves ranking your targeted countries. An excellent resource for start-ups looking for low cost research on all this is Global Edge online. At this site you can rank and compare countries by their statistics. However there are some serious drawbacks with ranking such as the lack of product specificity in the indicators e.g. how much can you tell from Population figures if you’re selling cars etc and there is also a lack of current data in all countries, especially African and underdeveloped economies. Nonetheless it is still a very valuable resource to be aware of.

When ranking you should carry out four steps:

1. Identify relevant evaluative criteria for your product/service

2. Assign importance weights to the various criteria identified

3. Collect specific information about the foreign market reality or performance related to the relevant criteria

4. Apply a decision rule to the information collected to identify the best target market

Country ranking (Detailed)

1: Criteria Selection and Data Collection

• First need to pick a set of socioeconomic and political indicators you believe are critical.
• The indicators that a firm selects are to a large degree driven by the strategic objectives spelled out in its global mission

Examples

• Colgate – Palmolive views per capita purchasing power as a major driver behind market opportunities
• Nestle views population and buying power growth as key to market opportunity
• McDonald’s starts with countries that are similar to the US in lifestyle, with a large proportion of women working, and shorter hours for lunch

2: Determine importance weighting of country indicators

• Importance weighting need to be allocated to each indicator identified in Step 1.
• One common method is the “constant sum” allocation technique – where 100 points are allocated across the set of indicators according to their importance in achieving company goals (the more critical the indicator the higher the points allocated). Follow Worked example below.

3: Rate the countries in the pool on each indicator

• Each country is given a score on each indicator, you could use a 100 point scale (0 meaning very unfavourable, 100 meaning very favourable)
• The better the country does on a particular indicator the higher the score awarded

4: Commute overall score for each country

• This simply involves multiplying the country score on each indicator by the weighting for that weighting and summing up
• Countries with the highest overall score are the ones that are most attractive

Example of Workings:

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This is brings us to the end of the second stage and your potential countries should have decreased significantly. Some great sources of finding the market data and research information for screening can be found online as mentioned on Global Edge or GMID Databases.

GMID is a seriously undervalued resource by many companies these days. Many are unaware of its existence! The database has more than 3 million country statistics ranging over 205 different countries as well as dating back as far as 1977. Some of the reports include country profiles, region profiles, future demographics, lifestyle insight reports, customer behaviour studies and many more.

Hopefully there is enough in the above tips to help you with identifying suitable countries for your product or service. Tune in next week to read about the more detailed screening that takes place after preliminary screening.

Experienced entrepreneurs, successful start ups, industry experts, and investors will all tell you that a detailed business plan is essential before starting a business.

Obviously the journey to business success is not straightforward or predictable, however having a plan will allow you to have an objective or target for the business as well as helping you make early business decisions and help you move forward. For the most part the more detailed the business plan is the better. Companies seeking investment tend to develop more in depth plans to show potential investors. From an investors point of view a very detailed plan is normally required. If we take RTE’s Dragons Den for example the range of questions thrown at the entrepreneurs is incredible. They are not willing to part with their hard earned cash unless they know the exact business plan for the foreseeable future. An excellent unique idea on its own is simply not enough to expect any form of investment. Providing a template for a business plan is therefore a difficult task, although the below highlights some of the key components which should be included.

Coversheet/Title Page: It is recommended that the front page comes across as extremely professional as it is the basis for first impressions for the reader. It should include name, address, and phone number of the company, the logo, and the date on which it was prepared.

Table of Contents and Executive Summary: Page numbers of all content of the report. The executive summary should be a condensed version of the report in its entirety.

The plan for the organisation: I suggest providing a clear summary of what the business does in this part of the document including the business model that is being followed, the strategy being adopted, the mission statement, and all details of the products and services being provided. Any intellectual property rights such as patents or copyrights should also appear here. They must be 100% true and any false claims being made may come back to harm the future credibility of the business. The part of the business plan should also provide details on management, personnel, accounting, insurance etc. This section should be the main body of the plan. As mentioned it will vary from business to business but the more detailed the information the more likely an investment will be secured and also the less likely it is that the business will fail.

Financial Plan: This part of the plan will be of particular interest to investors as it provides details of turnover and profit projections. At the very least the financial element of the business plan should contain the following; cash flow statement (budget), 3-5 year income projection plan, balance sheet, break even analysis etc. These figures should be realistic and based on genuine market trends and market research conducted. Most investors will see through any false claims or inaccurate figures so projecting very high impressive figures is not the advised approach. Be optimistic yet realistic at the same time.

Marketing Plan: The final element of the business plan is the marketing plan which is based around the four P’s; product, price, place, and promotion. It will include an in depth analysis of the market in which the business is entering in terms of market trends, competitors and the target market.

Having an effective business plan should come before the purchase of business materials, office space, vehicles etc. It will differ depending on what it will be used for. For example some lending institutions and banks have certain criteria for a business plan. They may require detailed monthly forecasts and projections where as others may require a slightly less detailed version. Either way it is important to know who the plan is being presented to and it can be altered depending on who it is being sent to. It is recommended that you keep a record of the number of plans being sent out and where exactly each one is going. It is also essential to keep you business plan up to date and it should be frequently updated to reflect on any business developments. It is suggested to measure your projections against the actual figures and make changes to strategy where appropriate based on the business plan.

Many start-ups are moments away from success but we all know that for most of us the first years of any successful business are the toughest. They test you mentally and physically and often become too much for some people.

What are the solutions? Should you hire extra help? Should it be full-time or part-time? Each case is different but I hope to offer some friendly advice and tips that you may find helpful.

Before making that big decision you need to sit yourself down and look at the questions. Why? Who? What for? How Long will I need them? Do you actually need someone?

Below is a list of questions you should be able to answer regarding the new hire. You may find it helpful to write down the answers to help you draw up a job specification.

• Why are you hiring this person? As a source of direction for the business? A source of support? A source of ideas?
• Who is it you are looking for? Is it a specific skill? Is it administration support?
• What for? What will their role involve? How long will they need to spend per week at these tasks? Do they require experience or training?
• How long will I need them? Is the contract part-time or full-time? Do I require them to be present with me? How much will I pay them?

After answering these questions you should be able to identify if you require the hire. You will be able to weigh up the costs vs. spending more time yourself on your venture. You are now ready to hire.

Your first hire, whether part-time or full time should be recruited, selected and managed in the same way, start as you mean to go on. You should take the answers from the questions above and use the answers to populate the job specification. It is very important that you yourself compile the job description for the role, as you and only you will know the exact person you are looking for. Do note however that you shouldn’t be overly specific, we’d all love that technical expert who’ll go above and beyond, has every qualification and a wealth of experience and will work for €10k a year!

Compiling the job specification

Everything needs to be clear when describing a job. Many business owners use job specifcations to simply outline the duties, tasks and responsibilities for the job- in other words what you want the employee to do from day to day. However if you take the time and put detailed effort into the spec you will in turn be rewarded with the best, most qualified candidates for the job. Below are three tips a good job description should include:

Skills

First you must assess what competencies and skills the employee must possess in order to actually do meet the objectives you set.  The majority of skills are transferable from job to job and industry to industry.  Some simple examples could be verbal and written communication, team player, attention-to-detail, leadership, problem-solving, analytical, and planning.  By specifying the skills you may find that the candidates might bring something extra to the table that you could use in another area of the business.

Education & Experience

There is a huge difference when recruiting to what is required and what is preferred by the employer.  When specifying what you need it is crucial not to eliminate candidates for no reason. Where you may want the best candidate with MBAs MBS’s etc you may overlook those with the practical real-life experience. This is why when composing the education part of your job spec set a minimum e.g. undergraduate and state “Masters may be preferable” or “relevant experience will be considered”. After all you must remember as start-ups we want to keep expenses at their lowest so we are all not going to be able to offer high salaries and packages, therefore it would be a pointless task for example to specify masters education/5 years experience or above only and only offer a standard graduate salary.

Work Environment

This section is not just about explaining who/where the candiadate will be reporting to/working but an opportunity to sell your company. You should describe the work environment, the company and working atmosphere. This can be very effective in getting candidates to apply.

Good job descriptions keep you focused on what you want and communicate your expectations to your future employees. They will also help you set targets, KPIs and measure the success of hiring that extra person.

Start-ups Recruitment Tip

There are many sources of recruiting new hires out there with so many agencies, job sites and the likes but our tip for start ups if on a shoestring budget would be to look to the universities. For years now the country has been investing in these educational institiutions and many of us are not even aware of what we can get from too. Every year several universities around the country have students seeking work experience both paid and unpaid for 3 month to 12 month placements. It is reported that from DCU alone over 800 students per year are hired for placemnt.

Some universities also have MBA/MBS/MSC students looking to complete area specific 3 month/6 month projects and these could actually fit with exactly what you’re looking for. Examples of some of the projects can be SEO reports, Social Media Marketing, Charity Fundraising, Google Adwords and Summer Practicum Projects. The students come in an array of subjects ranging across Science, Maths, Computing, Electronic & Mechanical Engineering, Business Studies, Marketing, HR, Finance, Accounting & Journalism to name a few. These placements and projects are a great, economic and time saving way of getting a certain piece of work completed and also of a step to recruiting a long term employee. They also free your exisiting staff from time consuming but essential jobs so they can work on the more immediate or growing areas of your start up- a problem we all know to well!

All start-ups should try call their nearby university to ask about these placement programmes and projects. Some sources we are aware of are DCU INTRA and DIT placements, both Dublin based. If you are interested why not enquire and email maeve.long@dcu.ie (DCU) or stacy.maccarthy@dit.ie (DIT).

Best of luck with your recruiting!

Making the transition from full-time employee to full-time entrepreneur is no mean feat. Keeping on top of a full-time job, while starting up a new business, is exhausting work. For those of you who find yourself in this situation, pour yourself a glass of soya milk, pull up a yoga mat and consider these ancient (although somewhat altered) proverbs to help you restore your inner harmony / sanity.

A penny saved…is a penny you can invest into your new business. One of the big advantages to working while starting up a business is the ongoing inflow of income, some of which you can pump directly into your start-up or save as a cushion for your first while as a full-time entrepreneur. It can take time to get a business up and going – this is quality earning and saving time for someone setting out on a new business venture.

All work and no play…makes Jack a pain to live with and unproductive at both his job and start-up company. Granted, it will seem there are not enough hours in the day to get done all you want to get done as you juggle the new company, work-life, home-life and social-life. ‘Social-life’ you say? Remember when you had one? It is important to take some leisure time out for yourself and get back to interacting with other human beings, before you forget. If not, you will drive yourself, as well as everyone else, up the wall. It’s also good for business to maintain your contacts. Taking the plunge from full-time employee to full-time entrepreneur can be a lonely time when you don’t have your support network in place. Get out and meet people – you never know how they may be able to help you and your business at a later date. If you feel the guilt, it may make you feel better to consider it a work meeting. If you work meeting happens to be over a few pints…so be it!

Don’t bite the hand…that pays you. It makes sense to maintain a good relationship with your employer, particularly if they could be of use to you at a later date. You will be the best judge of whether or not you tell your employer of your plan for your new business. Depending on your business idea, your employer could be a potential competitor, partner or even customer. Just make sure that when you leave, it’s on a good note and that they don’t see after a month of you leaving that the phone bill has reduced drastically. It’s best to use your own time and your own resources to get your business up and running, but if you have an agreement with your employer, get it in writing! Furthermore, make sure there are no implications as a result of employment agreements which restrict you from working in a certain field once your employment has ceased. Matters regarding IP and trade secrets can be a little tricky so check this out.

Look before you leap. Another advantage of working full-time while starting up a business is that you can test your idea in the planning stages without jumping in with both feet. Get feedback from potential customers on your business before you pack in the day job. Better yet, secure agreements and orders, or measure to what extent you have been able to meet a certain goals that you have set for yourself. Ask yourself some hard questions and get others to ask you hard questions. This is all about minimizing risk and making sure you’re going to be happy as a full-time business owner as opposed to full-time employee.

Nothing ventured, nothing gained. When you do take the leap from full-time employee to full-time entrepreneur, you will no doubt find the new responsibilities, risk and independence daunting. But this, mixed with the excitement of running your own business will make you all the more committed to it. And the more committed you are, the evermore likely the success of your new start-up company.