Financing
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. continue reading
Finding a Business Angel Investor in Ireland
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. continue reading
The Role of County Enterprise Boards – Starting A Business In Ireland
One of the most frequently asked questions that we get on Startups.ie is what support and grants are available for new businesses. continue reading
Hothouse – www.hothouse.ie is here to help start up businesses! It is funded by Dept of Education and Science and is run by Dublin Institute of Technology. The main points of note are:
* Free incubation space for 1 year
* Ten sessions with a business mentor
* Workshops on key topics
* Access to funding
Hothouse Venture Programme, is a year-long comprehensive support and incubation programme for entrepreneurs with technology based business ideas. The programme offers a number of supports including:
- Incubation space
- Management development training
- Strategic business counselling
- Access to an enterprise and investment network
- Access to funding through Enterprise Ireland CORD grant which could provide you with up to 50% of your previous years salary paid to you on a monthly basis over the course of the Programme The guideline requirements for CORD are…
* Potential to have turnover of €1million and 10 employees within three years
* Have strong export potential.
* Have some new or unique technology
Note you can still come on Hothouse without being eligible for CORD.
The workshops are run once a month for 12 months on a Friday and Saturday 10am – 5pm. They are generally very practical in nature. Lots of collaborative work, case studies and active participation. The cover topics such as Business strategy, Legal, Market research, Finance, Pitching to customers and/or investors, Sales, time management, and HR. So a broad range of the relevant topics in setting up a successful business.
We also organise mentors. These are professional people most often from the industry relevant to your business. They have great experience and often great contacts.
You can apply by emailing info@pdc.ie with a description of your business, what stage your service/product (e.g. proto type, trial customers, trading etc). Also any market demand feedback. A copy of your CV is also useful. More details on the Hothouse brochure www.pdc.ie/pdf/Hothouse.pdf
So we are looking forward to hearing from all you intrepid entrepreneurs…
NDRC now accepting applications for “LaunchPad”
NDRC is now accepting applications to January 2011 three month Accelerator Entrepreneurial Internship Programme “LaunchPad”
NDRC (National Digital Research Centre) today announced that it is accepting applications to the January 2011 “Ideas to Income” LaunchPad programme. LaunchPad is a three month accelerator programme that is targeted at emerging start-up entrepreneurs with strong research links; applications will be accepted from small groups or individual entrepreneurs with ideas for new businesses in the digital space.
A number of applicants will be invited to NDRC to pitch their concept to a panel of judges. Successful applicants will be provided with a dedicated working environment within the Digital Hub for the 3 month period, a hands-on mentoring programme from industry experts; weekly workshops and networking opportunities; plus an investment of up to €20,000 per project. All projects work towards a product or service launch, on completion projects will take part in “LaunchPad Lift-off” where they will network and pitch to investors in a battle for funding.
A number of projects have achieved successes through the LaunchPad programme to date. One company that has emerged from LaunchPad is Point The Way – offering an advanced GPS navigation system for the visually impaired. While taking part in LaunchPad Point-the-Way secured an advisory team that includes the National Council for the Blind. Point-the-Way are currently in discussion with the Royal National Institute of Blind People in the UK, technology companies and other partners on the potential to improve the independence of blind people. Glidesys Technologies Ltd joined LaunchPad with their product Glidebooks, an instant activity sharing service that addresses the cost and complexity of managing a mobile workforce, back-office operations and customers. During their time in the LaunchPad programme, Glidebooks secured follow-on funding, built an advisory board from academia and industry and is currently testing their product with a user base of 250 people.
Reflecting on the successes of past programmes Ben Hurley, CEO, NDRC said “We have seen impressive results from the LaunchPad programmes to date with 82% of projects launching prototypes within the 3 month programme time period, 27% of projects that have taken part in LaunchPad have successfully raised finances to proceed with their business and 91% of projects have met with potential investors”. Mr Hurley continued “These figures reflect the potential that can be achieved within a short period of time when the right people collaborate and focus on progressing ideas to income. NDRC is positioned between industry, academia and venture investment, bridging the gap between research, and investment with a bold approach to progressing concepts from idea to investment”.
Closing date for application to “LaunchPad” is 5pm on 17th November 2010. Selected applicants will pitch for entry into the programme to a panel of evaluators and the programme start date will be 5th January 2011. To apply for a place on the LaunchPad programme visit http://www.ndrc.ie/submit/launchpad/
Ryan Academy Announces New Venture Accelerator Fund
Dublin City University’s Ryan Academy for Entrepreneurship announces the establishment of a seed venture fund of 1 million for early stage technology start-up companies. continue reading
Cash Is King – Starting a business in Ireland
Brian Larkin is a qualified accountant who previously spent several years in practice specialising in growth strategies for SME’s and start up companies. He tells us why more than ever cash really is king ….
continue reading
Looking for an alternative source of investment capital? Check out first step microfinance.
The goal is the creation of enterprise through self employment and they provide loans of up to €25,000 to start up or expanding new businesses.
First-Step provides loans to people who want to create their own enterprise and who cannot access funding, or sufficient funding, from other sources.
The core goal is to help finance start up and expanding Small and Medium Enterprises (SME’s) to provide job opportunities. They have an application and screening process which evaluates the applications received and stress tests them for likely success based on information received.
First-Step is a private not-for-profit company. First-Step receives funding from Enterprise Ireland through the EU Seed and Venture Capital Fund and the Social Finance Foundation. First-Step is the beneficiary of an SME Guarantee Facility created within the framework of the Competitiveness and Innovation Framework Programme (CIP) of the European Community.
So you have a great idea, now all you need to get going is some lovely money. The main sources of finance for startups are:
1) Friends & Family
2) Government support agencies
3) Angel Investors
4) Banks
1) Freinds & Family
Tapping friends and family for investment may seem tempting as quite frankly it is easy, people who know and trust you may be willing to back you to help you get started. However be very aware that you will now be compromised (whether you like to admit it or not) to this investor. If the business fails you will be in a very embarassing situation until the money has been repaid. Try not to mix business and pleasure for everyone’s sake. If you cannot resist the temptation to take the cash on offer (which is perfectly understandable) then please be very careful to frame the exact terms of repayment out from the start and also what the investor will receive in return for the investment. It is very easy to be casual at the start of a business relationship, time and time again when money is involved things turn sour. What if the relation becomes hard pressed (probably from throwing money around on startup companies!) suddenly they want their money back!. What wait a minute I presumed I would repay you at a later date shock horror. Consider an alternative scenario and your business starts taking off, suddenly the investor is eager to get more involved with his 50% stake, what? who said anything about 50%?, I thought we said we would see how things went!
Copperfasten everything in a written framework and hit the roof at the first suggestion of deviating from the agreement. Better still get them paid off ASAP and hold on to as much equity as possible (Make sure you never do a 50% 50% deal, these just don’t work and lead to a legal quagmire)
2) Government support agencies
People automatically presume that they are entitled to all sorts of grants and funding, God dammit I am creating employment am I not? I am helping the economy to recover! I am opening a coffee shop!. This is not how it works do not expect any civil servant to get excited about the fact that you are opening a run of the mill business. The amount of applications they get for the resources available are astounding. Unless your business has the potential to create significant employment (i.e. Manufacturing) or has export potential, the main support offered will be discounted training courses, some small employment grants (5K), web development grants (2k) that sort of thing.
Look at it from the other side of the table, application 1 = a website for stag & hen trips in Kilkenny or 2 a private label cream liqueur plant in Cavan. Now which is of more interest?
Local county enterprise boards offer basic support and the training courses are generally worthwhile and often great value (I am just about to start a Accountancy for small businesses course which cost €100)
Enterprise Ireland are the big guns and they have ‘Business bouncers’ at the door rejecting 100′s of business each year. A good route into the system is the hothouse scheme (www.hothouse.ie). Enterprise Ireland are really interested in high potential startups mainly in technology, pharmaceuticals etc. They have huge investment funds at their disposal and are prepared to invest in the right businesses.
3) Angel Investors
Angel investors were very popular in the dot com era. Basically successful individuals who probably founded and sold their own business and now have both time and money to get involved in startup companies. Try www.businessangels.ie for further info, according to their site they were involved in completing 36 deals totalling 6 million of angel investment in 2009 – not bad. The angel networks try to match suitable angels with the right business, so if your business is in retail they will try to find you a Theo Paphitis type etc. Again I would not be approaching these guys with a plan to run a local babysitting service.
4) Ahhh the Banks
Where do I start? Firstly, despite the fact that you opened your first bank account in AIB at UCD and got a free USIT card to boot does not mean that your bank will lend you any money. The banks spend a small fortune promoting their support for small businesses and new business packages, they do want to have new business accounts for the simple reason that they are very lucrative, between cash lodgement fees, cheque book fees, overdraft fees etc you would be very surprised at how much your bank charges will be every year (this is often totally underestimated on business plans where people put down €1000 bank charges, a shrewd bank manager will have more respect for a biz plan with realistic charges).
In Ireland we tend to forget that banks are businesses, for the same reason our families vote for Fianna Fail / Fianna Gael etc for generations despite their varying levels of ineptitude, we tend to see ourselves as being owed something by our banks for years of custom.
Banks in general only want to lend money to people who do not really need it, at present they will expect you to be putting up about 50% of the money required. If you are not prepared to risk your own money then why should they?. You need to be very confident and well prepared and don’t be afraid to play one off against the other “ulster bank have offered me €30,000 at 3.0% can you match this? has a better chance of succeeding versus please sir can I have some more?
