December 2011
3 posts
4 tags
The Startup Cooperative - Sean Blanchfield
I read this post by Sean Blanchfield and here is what I posted as a comment:
Great reading Sean, and a topic I believe will be of interest to all entrepreneurs out there.
I can’t help think upon reading your post that this co-op follows a structure similar to an “accelerator” or “incubator” such as YCombinator, 500startups, TechStars or Startup Bootcamp.
This...
9 tags
Chris and Liam bring getHealth to America: Part 1
On Wednesday 12th October, Chris was doing a Google search on the US wellness industry and he came across the Annual Corporate Wellness Conference which was being held in Chicago in two weeks time from the 26th to the 28th of October.
The conference was the largest corporate wellness conference in the world bringing together 1500 attendees from all over the world as well as many of the experts in...
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Chris and Liam bring getHealth to America: Part 2
Following a relaxing weekend with a visit to friends in Miluakee, Illinois, we travelled to San Francisco on the Saturday evening. Arriving in the city, we were greeted by locals taking full advantage of the Halloween season and at our hotel we marked our arrival in the city with a pint of the familiar black gold.
After an all American breakfast the next morning and casually breaking the shower...
November 2011
4 posts
4 tags
Learn about Product Development at Facebook
I just found a free course you should take time to watch. It’s a 9 lecture course (2/3 minutes each) taken from an interview with Mark Zuckerberg discussing product development and how the product has evolved with the growth of this company.
The interview is chaired by Jim Breyer from Accel Partners: the first investors in Facebook with a $13Million fund back in 2005!
You can find the...
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Growing a Company - Iain Mac Donald,...
Last night I attended the 2011 Campus Company Development Programme Awards Evening in Nova UCD, the Innovation and Technology Transfer Centre for spinout companies from college research.
While the judges were deliberating on the final presentations, the audience was treated to a presentation my Iain Mac Donald, the founder of Skillpages.com (Iain was the founder and CEO of Perlico that was...
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Getting your writing done, fast!
A couple of months ago, I discovered the website, Copyblogger Media. The site is all focused on how to generate more traffic, inbound links, subscribers, paid customers, and how to grow your profile through the content you have on your site.
Without thinking, I signed up for their free 20-part internet marketing course focused on the above that is delivered one by one via email each week. It was...
2 tags
The Colours of the Web
I think it’s fair to say that colours are fascinating. Colours can change how we think, how we feel, how we interact with others. They can be described as light or dark, busy or calming. On the mention of a colour, it will strike a feeling and thought for you. Red!….you’re thinking about a stop sign yea? Or perhaps the feeling of caution, yea?
I don’t know much about...
October 2011
2 posts
4 tags
Cash Flow can win you the Champions League
In life, money isn’t everything, but in a start-up, it is. Many entrepreneurs, investors and business analysts have written and talked extensively about this topic and, having developed our first business to the point it is now, only now can I truly appreciate why.
Tracy Eden, National Marketing Director for Commercial Finance Group recently summed up the importance of cash flow in a blog post...
August 2011
8 posts
3 tags
Trademarks for Startups, what you need to know!
Understanding the area of Intellectual Property (IP) is very important for any new startup. You must understand what IP means, how it can be beneficial to you as a new company, and in particular for the purpose of this post - what a trademark is.
It took me a long while to really get my head around it when I applied for my first trademark, and to be honest I’m still not fully certain....
2 tags
Coffee: Strategically Speaking
I found this really interesting read from Kevin Purdy. I have to admit that I am a sucker for a cup of joe when I feel like I’m hitting a slump, but I still haven’t figured out if it helps to boost my energies…apparently not!
So whether you’re a coffee connoisseur or an absolute novice like me, perhaps this post will be of useful insight.
Caffeine is a trickier...
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“Imagination is more important than knowledge”
– Albert Einstein
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Getting the legals right
If I have learnt anything in my 18 months in business, it’s to make sure you get the legal’s right! One only has to watch the Facebook movie to realize how sticky an amicable relationship can become. A metaphor immediately springs to mind as to how I would describe the importance of it:
Between the ages of 8 and 12, all I wanted to do was play football. Everyone remembers the days of throwing down...
6 tags
Two of the Worst Elevator-pitch Mistakes!
Here are the first two of the worst elevator-pitch mistakes entrepreneurs make — and how to avoid them. (Entrepreneur.com) - these are very cool lessons to learn in my opinion!
Mistake No. 1: You don’t explain what the problem your business solves.
Some entrepreneurs spend too much time talking about how his or her product or service works and not enough time explaining what...
3 tags
The Co-Founder Mythology
I discovered a great post by Mark Suster over at his website tonight, there’s even a video summary too that the boys in Stanford spliced together.
Mark speaks about the real early stages of new startups delving into the business responsibilities of shareholdings for founders/partners/tech co-founders.
Interesting read!
I spoke at Stanford last year about starting a tech company. I...
2 tags
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Advice from Paul Graham, Y-Combinator
I just discovered a great post by Paul Graham, a founder of Y-Combinator in Silicon Valley, from October 2006. Paul talks about the 18 Mistakes That Kill Startups but one in particular stands out for me:
In a sense there’s just one mistake that kills startups: not making something users want. If you make something users want, you’ll probably be fine, whatever else you do or...
July 2011
8 posts
2 tags
Born before technology was invented!
While conducting some research for a new product I’m working on, I came across this quote by Ian Calvert of Instant Grass and I blind posted it on Twitter last night:
“We only call it technology when we were born before it was invented”
This particular quote caught my eye within the MobileYouth.org presentations as it stood out, in my opinion, as a true and striking statement. I...
I'm heading to Google HQ! [Update]
UPDATE - It was great to attend the event last night and a big thank you to Jane Murphy and her team.
I thought it would be good to share some insights into what I learned at Google:
Google are one of the founding partners of the Undergraduate Awards.
Google purchased the Montevetro Building, the tallest building in Dublin (15 floors), for ~$136M back in early February of this year - and they...
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Freemium Is Dead
I discovered Jason Tryfon the last night, the CEO of @vital_insights. He had a number of really cool and intersting posts on his website, but one in particular post from June 2010 stood out in my mind.
Jason explores the link between the venture capital market and new emerging companies with a freemium model gathering users. Is it sustainable, is it investable and is it the right way to build a...
3 tags
“I just discovered the cofounder of YCombinator, @paulg and his website. One day...”
– Liam Ryan via Twitter on July 14 2011. Update: Make sure you know how to answer Graham’s all time favorite question: “What’s your long-term plan to take over the world?”
3 tags
Questions you should ask a potential investor!
I came across this post by @cgarb over at bostinnovation.com and he highlighted some key questions you should be asking any potential investors.
Raising money will take much longer than expected, but if your intention is to raise capital (and let’s not beat around the bush, it is your intention if you’re meeting with VCs even though you’re not saying so much) you should always state this to...
3 tags
Being in a StartUp is a lot like being in a Band! →
I just discovered this great presentation by @eamonleonard. He takes us through the similarities of being invloved with a startup and being in a band and on how we can learn for it!
Check out this presentation he gave at the Dublin Web Summit (June 2011).
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Starting an online startup?
Are you looking to start an online venture? Perhaps you have an idea and need to figure out how best to get it going, how to get started from the blocks?
While working on SafeText.com, I had to figure out how the software development industry worked, how to work with a design team and more importantly, how to put it all together into some sort of vision.
I took time this evening to reply to an...
2 tags
A Response From Dropbox
As you know, Dropbox are changing their policies and like many, I was concerned over the section marked “Your Stuff & Your Privacy”. There you will find these paragraphs:
By using our Services you may give us access to your information, files, and folders (together, “your stuff”). You retain ownership to your stuff. You are also solely responsible for your conduct, the content...
June 2011
7 posts
2 tags
Google vs. The Dictionary: Where’s the trade-off?
The greatest thing I find about being a semi-technophobe is that I believe I can look at new technology through the eyes of the average consumer. I say semi-technophobe because although technology still bamboozles me as to how it works, I am not the sort to be staging protests outside Apple’s headquarters waving a copy of the Illiad and complaining how the iPad has ruined the delivery of the...
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Runner Up - College Entrepreneur of the Year!!
Update (19.00, 16/6/11): Great news, we came runner up at the College Entrepreneur of the Year awards! What a lovely prize too. We heard some great feedback from the judges and overall they were very impressed with how myself and Chris presented our business, how be worked together and in our enthusiasm for what we’re working on.
Thanks to all involved in the Think Outside The Box Awards.
...
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“To have a great idea, have a lot of them.”
– Thomas Edison
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Facebook Event Response Rate
I am very intrigued by the numbers of people who respond to event requests which are put up on FB and, I think there are a number of key factors at play which will affect the success of the response rate.
Being an avid musician I frequently receive invitations to various musical events and, these days, those event are often the final year recitals of my musical acquaintances. On Saturday just...
1 tag
Grinds My Gears!!
It really grinds my gears when people on LinkedIn do not write a personal introduction when requesting to connect networks!!
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How do people find out about ya when you ain't got...
Since we are a start-up and being sales and marketing manager I have to try and come up with cost effective initiatives for promoting SafeText. I’ve had a few ideas to date:
Busking bonanza - Attention Bebe busked out 90’s tunes on the top of Grafton Street on Saturday 22nd January. The purpose was to raise awareness for SafeText and raise money for our sexual health affiliates: Irish...
4 tags
“What separates successful startups is not necessarily starting with a better...”
– by Ash Maurya over at Running Lean HQ
April 2011
1 post
4 tags
Climbing the Giraffe
Hello Blog,
My name is Chris Rooney and I am an entrepreneur. Now already I feel like I have told a lie; let me explain from the beginning.
In September 2009 my house mate came to me with a concept which he wanted to turn into a business. The idea was that he wanted to create a reminder service which sent text messages to women to remind them to take their contraceptive pill. I thought it...
March 2011
1 post
3 tags
“Are you making life better for someone?”
– Quote: @DesTraynor, Contrast
Congratulations to the Dublin Web Summit for a great event today. It was my first summit, and I loved it. A great resource of talks and panel discussions all day, steeped in technology, innovation and success!
I’m honestly wreaked since we’ve been going...