Hi All,

I would like to take this opportunity to wish you all the very best for the year ahead! 2011 was a bit of a howler for a lot of people so we can only hope that 2012 will be a little easier for us all.

I actually had quite a good year last year with deals done on 2 new shops and good progress made online, the highlight was the success of the beer club which had a fantastic year culminating in a really successful participation at the Taste of Christmas event in Dublin’s convention center in November. All of the above made it quite difficult for me to be as active on Startups as I would have liked however I have been very fortunate to have had great support from DCU, Graham @ Exist.ie. Dave @ Hiddendepth.ie, John @ Complex.ie and many other contributors so many many thanks to you all.

2012 has had a great start for me already with the birth of my first child Isabella on New Years day, I thought I was busy before….

I as ever remain positive about the year ahead (what is the alternative?) at Startups we have two major announcements coming which I am really excited about, both have been cooking for a while but it has taken me until now to get the right team together to make things happen..watch this space both initiatives will be launched in the next few weeks.

To those of you considering starting a business this year I would like to wish you the very best of luck, as ever I would urge you not to listen to the doom and gloom, a good business is a good business! if you have done your homework, are honest with yourself, and have protected the downside as much as possible then you will be ok. If you can survive in these times then you will thrive in the upswing. During the Celtic tiger businesses borrowed to plaster over the fundamental flaws in their business, throwing good money after bad. That will not be an option for businesses in the current climate – thank god. Your business will have to stand up to tough tests but look on this as a good thing…

As ever we are here to help if we can, if you are a new Startup and would like to be profiled on the site please get in touch. If you would like to contribute to the site we are always grateful of any help – as usual you can get us on info@startups.ie

I will leave you with three quotes at the start of the year and once again wish you all well,

Kind Regards,

Stephen

‘Feeling sorry for yourself and your present condition, is not only a waste of energy but the worst habit you could possibly have’ – Dale Carnegie

‘Many Intelligent adults are restrained in thoughts, actions and results. They never move further than the boundaries of their self-imposed limitations.’ – John C. Maxwell

In this blog entry we will take a reflective look on how the digital revolution has impacted on what we know in marketing our products. The purpose of this entry is for you to get a better idea and education of how each of the 4 P’s have changed since digital became an integral part of business. Having been at recent conferences I’ve noticed that there is a few people out there that are unaware of how digital has affected marketing. Some seem to think Facebook’s/Twitter’s etc when the word ‘digital’ is thrown around and hopefully this post will make Start-ups think about the other areas digital can affect their business.

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Price:

The influence of the internet on global marketing strategies is principally seen in respect to price with the free movement of information from country to country. A large contributor to this is the advances in search technology and SEO/ SEM making prices easier to find online as well as the online irrelevance of previous competition issues such as location. This is also supported by the emergence of third party search engines which scan the international landscape for the best price: For example Skyscanner.com which searches for the most affordable flights between destinations. Previously national boundaries played an important role in the global marketing strategies whereby companies could exploit national differences in consumers’ price sensitivities by charging different prices across different national borders for the same product. Differential pricing strategies become more apparent and companies risk being exposed as exploiting customers in different countries.

These factors have all lead to greater transparency which results in a customer’s changing perception of value. The results of this, as is common in the legacy of Web 2.0’s is that the customer has increased control. Some companies have responded to this power shift by relinquishing further price control and allowing customers to haggle as seen on Enterpriseonline.com or EBay. Furthermore, pricing has become more dynamic and fluid as a result of the digital revolution. As successfully exploited by Ryanair pricing now has a significant response to Supply and demand which forces prices up and down with increasing speed. The only way companies will be able to stay ahead of the competition and keep up with the customer is to develop a flexible pricing structure that allows them to move with the dynamic digital pricing terrain.

Product:

However, the digital impact is not restricted to price. Products themselves have been altered as a result of digital’s imposing presence on the global marketing scene. Product strategies have been impacted by deconstruction whereby internet operations have become companies in their own right whereby the messenger has become more important than the message. It is difficult to imagine Ryanair without its internet offering. Similarly American Airlines internet wing “Sabre” is now worth twice that of the original business. American Airlines originally created its SABRE electronic ticketing system as a means of selling seats. Under legal and regulatory pressure, American Airlines was forced to partially spin off SABRE and operate it as an independent business. But this “navigator” business is now valued by the stock market at nearly twice the value of the airline it was originally created to support.

Mass customisation is also reshaping a company’s product strategy. Again, following Web 2.0’s placement of the customer at the centre of everything this now includes a customised product. Levi’s and Nike, two of the biggest mass producers ever, now have services for customers to have products customised specifically for them. Long gone are the days of Henry Ford’s “any colour as long as it’s black” to a specifically built personalised product. Customers are further invited into the production process as crowd sourcing becomes increasingly popular. A veritable global think tank is created by customers being invited to submit their ideas for t-shirts and (Threadless.com) to creating chocolate bars with new recipes to Cadbury’s.

Location Awareness technology has also reshaped product strategies. Facilitating layering of additional information based on location offering a heightened real time real place customer offering. Many products themselves have been altered through digitization with music mp3’s now being the common platform and books following suit. A company’s product strategy must be reviewed to see can production and cost saving opportunities be realised through digitization.

Place:

With the movement from physical offices to offices in the cloud, a company must review their distribution strategies almost annually at this stage. The digital revolution provides companies with the opportunity to augment traditional channels of distribution reshaping customers shopping habits. The Financial Times revealed a while back that Donatello’s Pizza orders are now 36% via mobile, online and social networking. The rapid development of app’s is facilitating this with Paddy Power similarly reporting 10% of their revenue comes via mobile, 50% of this number being attributed to the Paddy Power iPhone App.

Of course with the shifting boundaries of distribution channels becoming more streamlined this implies that some supply channel partners will fall victims to disintermediation. Ryanair and Dell are advocates of this removing travel agents and computer wholesalers alike via disintermediation and selling directly to the consumer.

Promotion:

Communication is central to the theme of Digital Media. The adoption rate of Social Media has seen a growth like no media before it. Facebook now has a global audience of 750m with 50% of users logging on every day and people spending over 700billion minutes per month on the site. This has dramatically changed the promotional strategies with 92% of businesses (2011 Social Media report) now employing a Facebook strategy, 84% on Twitter and 71% using ‘Linked In’ for digitally influenced promotional strategies. The rise of Geo-location promotional strategies is set to continue with companies now employing Facebook places and Foursquare to give Social Media promotion a real time, real place solution. Seth Godin, business guru, argues companies can no longer rely on “interruption media” to get a customer’s attention. Social Media has reframed the promotional landscape which implies permission needs to be sought to advertise to the customer. The customer can choose whether they receive a message which is the basis of Irish success Empathy Marketing company “Pigsback.com”.

However, companies’ promotional strategies must involve a contingency plan for to deal with the new voice that the consumer has and their new found power to amplify and broadcast their views. Social media has granted consumers power to dictate companies actions: P&G were recently embarrassed into recalling their Pampers Dry Max diapers due to mounting complaints over Twitter and Facebook. Social Media enables customers to communicate their anger, organise themselves more efficiently and recruit others to their cause however; similarly the digital media revolution has seen the implementation of derogatory websites. Sites such as Dell hell, Murderking and Mcspotlight have cast Dell, Burger King and McDonalds in a hugely unfavourable light demanding change to their operations.

Digital impact on Research:

As most start ups are aware the internet provides an efficient means of conducting market research. Now you can see what your competition is doing in just a click. But it doesn’t end there. Previously focus groups interviews and questionnaires need to be conducted to obtain such valuable research information but the internet has created communication links through emails and corporate websites facilitating collaboration with a range of customers from different national, regional or cross cultural backgrounds. The advantages of digital to the research sphere include increased cost effectiveness through online surveys, interviews and observational research. Digital media also allows greater access to secondary data online, CD ROMs and is more easily distributed if purchased or ordered. Consumers are giving out all kinds of information via Twitter, Facebook and Blogs if companies choose to listen to it.

The internet’s impact on the global marketing landscape has changed everything from companies’ relationships with their customers and even companies relationships with their competitors.

To conclude on a topical note former Global Media Giant Rupert Murdoch said

“The world is changing very fast. Big will not beat small anymore. It will be the fast beating the slow.”

Digital has helped make so many Irish start-ups successful, understand it and embrace it!

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!

There will be a free Start-Up Breakfast for Entrepreneurs and New Businesses in DCU Business School (3rd Floor), 27th July 2011 at 7.45-9.30am. This networking breakfast is in association with “McInerney Saunders Chartered Accounts” and includes

successful entrepreneur speakers such as Pearce Flannery; Author and Business Advisor and Jill Hincks; Entrepreneur and Managing Director for Passion for Creative, a successful award winning marketing agency. AIB will also be offering information on their new “Job Creation Fund for SMEs. For more details click here.

Calling all Start-ups …. We need your help and feedback. We have generated a sample of successful Irish start up businesses in an attempt to gather some insight into the effectiveness of our website

 as well as looking into the motivations of why entrepreneurs or start-up businesses would use such a service. We hope that you can help us to provide a superior service that will be truly beneficial for both new and existing users.  After spending 2-3 minutes on our site we would ask you to complete the questionnaire by following the below link.

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/startupsireland

Should you take the time to complete the questionnaire we will enter you in a draw with a chance to win 1 of 2 €50 all for one vouchers, as a token of our appreciation.

Thank You

Introducing – The Beer Club, Ireland’s online Specialty, Craft & International beer store.

Company: The Beer Club
Website: www.thebeerclub.ie
Founders: Stephen Dillon
Age: 35
Based: Dublin
Staff Number: 10
Date started: April 2011

Tell us what your business does?

The beer club was founded in response to the growing demand and interest in Craft, Specialty & World Beers in Ireland. Our aim is to make practically every beer in Ireland available to anyone in Ireland, not just the lucky few with great independent off licences on their doorstep.

Where did the idea for your business come from?

I have two off licences one in Santry Dublin 9 and one in Kimmage Dublin 12. I noticed the growing demand for good craft and international beers in both shops. More and more people were asking me to get them one beer or another i.e I used to live in Australia/ Germany/ USA etc, can you get me Coopers Pale Ale/ Anchor IPA etc etc. I figured that these conversations were probably taking place all around the country and that there was a need for this service.

Have you always wanted to run your own business?

Oh Yeah!

What planning did you do before you started up?

I contacted all my suppliers to see what they thought of the idea, they were very enthusiastic about it and offered lots of help, promotional material, glasses etc.

What challenges have you faced how have you overcome them?

The main challenge was listing all the beers, I have about 200 on the site now with probably the same again to come.

How have you promoted your business?

Through shameless self promotion on the Startups.ie website , I am launching a PR campaign in the coming weeks and have set up a blog www.hopstarsblog.com to promote the site and keep club members informed of new beers and tasting events taking place at beer club HQ. I am in the process of building a purpose built tasting room in Beer Club HQ Kimmage, we will be able to seat about 40 members for beer talks, tastings and club events.

What has your growth been like?

Just Launched but lots of interest and initial orders have been placed by thirsty beer lovers around the country!

What’s the impact on your home life been like?

Home Life? Please explain what that is…

www.thebeerclub.ie

There has been a lot of talk recently about enterprise initiatives, creating growth in the economy etc., unfortunately I think the current government are grappling with more pressing issues (like keeping the country from going under) than focusing on supporting entrepreneurship in a meaningful way, I hope that they will get there but so far no dice.

Why though is supporting entrepreneurship so important?? Well anyone who has a business will know the answer to this, it is simple we are the multipliers!!

It kind of goes like this…

I set up a business, I open a bank account (bank charges, Cash handling fees, Credit card payment facilities etc), I do the deal (legal fees), I set up the business (stationery, business cards, website, auctioneer fees, rent, advertising), I get going (Hire staff, Paye PRSI – 1/2/3 etc less people maybe on the dole?? I pay eircom to get the phones up and running, braodband, office furniture, new coffee machine, Council rates, ESB bills, supplier purchases, waste collection, packaging etc etc.

I am up and running, VAT, Corporation Tax, More employees more Paye PRSI less people on the dole, more supplies more services. My employees go out and spend their wages on groceries, holidays, dog grooming, cinema etc.

Starting a business is like throwing a stone into a pond the ripples just keep going and going and going..

There is a saying in business that a lack of profit is like a cancer – it will kill you slowly, a lack of cash is like a heart attack it will kill you instantly. The Irish economy has effectively had a heart attack and we need to get it pumping again and guess what it is up to us to make it happen…

That should come as no surprise to you as that is what entrepreneurs do, they make things happen, the motivation may be different (mostly it is to make money but not always) but the result is certain, activity, expenditure, motion, momentum..

Now lets look at the ugly truth, we who do have to use our multiplier effect to help compensate for the many who won’t , don’t or can’t….harsh but true.

An economy is effectively an ecosystem, those who provide must not outweigh those who need feeding or else the result is starvation..

So what can the government do to help promote a culture of entrepreneurship in a meaningful way?

For a start they can remove the ridiculous penalty on entrepreneurship that goes something like this:

Mary sets up a business, She becomes a director of said business, despite her best efforts things do not go as planned, the business fails. Mary is now on her ass, presumably with business debts and to boot with the punitive removal of any access to social welfare benefits as a punishment for dabbling in the dark arts! By her nature she will probably survive but maybe only just.

Let’s compare this with Joe (not his real name) who is out of work. Joe takes money from the system week in week out and has access to all state benefits. Joe feel sorry for himself and wishes he had a job, unfortunately Mary is not in a position to employ him..

The current government strategy vis a vis entrepreneurship is to only support export driven tech companies in any meaningful way (Enterprise Ireland) or Local Manufacturing (Ouch – China!). Small local businesses (SME’s) are pretty much left to fend for themselves which is both wrong and short sighted as we are in effect the bedrock of the economy. This negligent approach is a hangover from the Celtic Tiger when we were the darlings of Europe and Silicon Valley. Yes the multinationals are essential to our economy but I for one am getting pretty nervous about the amount of heat surrounding our corporation tax rate given our current negotiating position!.

I am not asking you to open a business in the national interest but if you do please be aware of the importance that you play in the ecosystem. I think that this is a great time to get in to business, prices are reasonable, everyone is open to negotiation and the tight borrowing environment will force us all to prove our business models as realistic rather than being able hide behind borrowings until the model is exposed as a failure.

Keep the faith,

Stephen

I read this simple little book years ago and just thought of it today, it may be useful for anyone struggling with change at the moment..

In the turbulent corporate world it is important to anticipate, recognize, and understand change. Who Moved My Cheese? is a book which describes how to deal with change.

Who Moved my Cheese? is a story about how two mice and two little men look for cheese in a maze. The cheese pictures what we want to have in life, whether it is a small income or a life of luxury. The maze pictures where we spend our time looking for what we want. Some people are content with what they have and resist change, while others are constantly looking for new opportunities.

The mice are named Sniff and Scurry. Sniff sniffs out changes early and Scurry scurries into action. The two little men in the parable are Hem and Haw. Hem denies and resists change because he fears that something worse will happen. Haw learns to adapt in time when he sees that change can lead to something better. Throughout the book these four characters search and jog through the maze, occasionally getting lost.

On their journey the four characters barely survive until they finally see the “light at the end of the tunnel” and proceed to eat lots of cheese and are very happy. Then things begin to change. Sniff and Scurry soon notice changes in their environment. Hem and Haw, however, think they are “out of the woods” and take the cheese for granted. These two develop a comfort level in their newly found stash of cheese. Gradually the cheese begins to dwindle. Sniff and Scurry are not concerned. They see that the cheese is not going to last forever so they put on their running shoes and search for new cheese.

Meanwhile, Hem and Haw do not notice the dwindling supply of cheese. They are not alert to what the future holds for them. When all the remaining cheese is finally consumed, Hem and Haw throw two huge fits like little babies. This does not bring the cheese back, yet they remain unwilling to search for new cheese.

Change occurs and Hem and Haw are left behind. Hem is bitter and reluctant to leave the cheese station in order to find new cheese. He is very stubborn. He is too set in his ways to make the necessary changes. He thinks he deserved the cheese, and wants the cheese to be returned. He is not interested in searching for new cheese. His old cheese is the only cheese he wants and he refuses to leave the empty cheese station. Many people stick with old ways of doing things because it is too frightening or difficult to change with the times.

Haw begins to be concerned that they are spinning their wheels. For a while he hopes that the old cheese will return. He is afraid of venturing back out into the maze, so he waits with Hem. Finally, after being very hungry from the lack of cheese, Haw, out of desperation, decides to go search for new cheese. This takes a great deal of strength for Haw to face his fears and to leave Hem behind. On his journey Haw leaves several notes on the walls of the maze as he learns new truths.

A few of the writings are:

-The more important your cheese is to you, the more you want to hold on to it.
-Smell the cheese often so you know when it is getting old.
-Movement in a new direction helps you find new cheese.
-The quicker you let go of old cheese, the sooner you find new cheese.

Haw eventually finds his way to the new cheese. There he discovers Sniff and Scurry, who have already found the fresh cheese and have been enjoying it for some time. Haw is sorry that he had not set out in search of the new cheese sooner. However, he misses his friend Hem, who took himself too seriously.

This entertaining little parable is a quick read which illustrates that sometimes we get too accustomed to our cheese being in a particular place and fail to notice when the supply gets smaller or is about to disappear. Then when we finally notice, we are often too frustrated to look for alternative sources of cheese, or else we eventually start looking while losing valuable time.

Some people, of course, are more astute and prepare themselves for the inevitable after observing a dwindling cheese supply. This book illustrates how some people foresee that they are going to need to make major changes in their lives. Therefore, they start searching for new alternatives before the change actually has to be made. When the change finally must be made, they are already prepared to take the appropriate actions.

This story is simplistic, but there are good philosophical points made throughout the book. It points out these basic concepts:

§ “They keep moving the cheese.” (Change happens.)
§ “Get ready for the cheese to move.” (Anticipate the change.)
§ “Move with the cheese.” (Actually make the change.)
§ “Enjoy the taste of new cheese.” (Enjoy the fruits of change.)

Many reviews give Who Moved My Cheese? great marks and compliment its easy reading and brevity. The book is very simple and makes a great point. As you read this book you will probably start relating the different characters in the book to people that you know, and how they react to change. Who Moved My Cheese? is not just for business professionals or organizations, but can be very helpful for everyday life.

About Stephen Dillon

My main business interests are in the drinks industry. I own and operate two Off Licences one in Santry Dublin 9 and one in Kimmage Dublin 12. I also own the Corkage Group which has a portfolio of Drinks Industry related websites including Corkage.ie (Ireland’s leading wedding wine website), Simplygifts.ie (Online Gift & Hamper Company) and have just launched thebeerclub.ie as Ireland’s speciality and craft beer online store. More sites are currently under development in the group.

I have been interested in business and entrepreneurship for many years and have always wanted to run my own business. My experience of setting up my businesses over the years prompted me to set up Startups.ie, I felt that there was a need for real and relevant information for people facing the scary world of going it alone. I wanted to create a website that would let people see other Startup stories at an early stage to show that it can be done!. Providing Information & Inspiration has been the motto from day one..

Since our launch Startups.ie has grown from strength to strength, we now receive thousands of visits each month and a constant stream of questions, offers of help and contributions from far and wide. We have big plans for this year so watch this space.

If you would like to contact me please do so at info@startups.ie

I was watching a you tube video of an interview with Mark Zuckerberg – founder of Facebook, and I noticed the words ‘Fail Harder’ scrawled on the Facebook office walls in the background.

There has been much talk and analysis of the culture in the USA (and silicon valley in particular) as to why this area is so successful at generating world class entrepreneurs and businesses. The attitude to failure has been identified as one of the major reasons that Silicon Valley (and the USA to a lesser extent) has been so successful. In the US having a number of ‘failures’ under your belt is seen as nearly essential to success. If you are starting a new business or joining a hot new startup, more often than not investors or founders will want to know all about your previous failures and what you learnt along the way.

Ireland alas is a different story, whether we like to admit it or not we are still held back by our traditional parochial culture, we have not left ‘the valley of squinting windows’ that far behind us. Anyone who was born in Ireland pre celtic tiger and not from an entrepreneurial family is probably damaged from the mindset of this era to a greater or lesser extent.

This mindset says, go to a good school, get good points in the leaving cert, take the college course with the highest points (regardless if this is what you want to do!), get a secure job in the bank/ civil service/ accountancy or law firm etc., buy a nice house etc.etc. Which is fine if that is what you want to do but not so great if you try to break from the mould and do your own thing!. Your concerned / jealous family and friends will try to herd you back into the comfort of the fold and it takes great determination to break out. We are not the only culture held back by this type of mindset, Asia is plagued by a culture of ‘honour’ and ‘Shame’ – to fail at a business would bring great ‘shame’ to the whole family (no pressure!).

Things have gotten a little easier for the Irish entrepreneurs ‘in the closet’ as I call them as in recent times as the world has been turned on its head. No longer is the bank / civil service job considered safe, anyone can justifiably now say ‘ I am going to take my chances on my own thanks!’.

The reality is that failure is part and parcel of being a successful entrepreneur, you will fail! probably many times before you are successful. As you fail you are constantly learning and tweaking and gaining experience that will lead you to eventual success if you persevere. This is what ‘Fail Harder’ means – learn from your mistakes, cut your losses and move on to the next phase of the journey. If you read any entrepreneurs story you will see this pattern of repeated failure leading to success, your journey will probably be no different so take it on the chin and keep going…

(PS The ‘Fail Harder’ Image above is made of 150,000 clear push pins and took 351 hours to complete…this mural is in the lobby of a US business)