As part of a ‘Fireside Chat’ during Limerick’s monthly, Startup Grind networking event this week, Dublin Startup Commissioner and serial entrepreneur, Niamh Bushnell, shared insights on the two and a half years that she has spent in this interesting role.
Recently, Niamh announced that she will be moving on from this post at the end of March.
Niamh went on to share with the startup networking group at Workbench in the city centre her exciting plans for her next role. Niamh moves on to head up TechIreland a platform to map, track, analyze and develop insights into all innovation happening in Ireland.
Through this platform, complete data on Ireland’s tech and innovation ecosystem will be available publicly for the first time.
This not for profit will perform multiple useful functions. In addition to presenting Ireland as an innovation nation on a company by company, region by region and investor by investor basis, the platform will showcase key clusters, explore opportunities and trends in innovation in Ireland and engage with international media, partners and investors interested in learning more about Ireland.
Speaking at the event, Niamh Bushnell shared her top tips for early stage startups:
1. There are no shortcuts to building a great business. No one out there has the answer for you and your business - no mentor or investor no matter how experienced, can tell you exactly who to hire, how to spend your marketing budget, or what your pricing model should be. That's your job! As an entrepreneur you need to go through the discovery process in a systematic way and create your own light at the end of the tunnel. Seek great mentors, listen to their advice and then prove it out in the market painful or joyful step by step.
2. Tech is challenging. If your product has tech and your skill set is not tech, become an expert listener and communicator quickly. At my last startup I had a super smart and patient technical co-founder and yet we still struggled every day to communicate clearly on the roadmap for the product. To win, every day must be a successful team communication day.
3. The job of the entrepreneur is to be both poet and a plumber. Most of the time I was pretty good at telling a product and strategy story that inspired people and got them excited. I was less good at focusing on the numbers. Successful businesses love numbers - acquisition costs, lifetime value of customers, deal sizes, margins, cash flow, revenue, usage, retention, attrition - and more. So, before, during and after, to scale your business get up close and personal with the numbers and stay there.”
Source: www.businessworld.ie
