Have you dreamed of quitting the 9 to 5 in favour of becoming your own boss? The reality might be slightly more challenging than the fantasy (for example, your working day will probably lengthen, not shorten).
We spoke to a few entrepreneurs from Enterprise Ireland’s high-potential start-up class of 2014 about the difficulties they faced when trying to get their businesses up and running.
Raising funds
The most oft cited issue was finding the financial resources needed to start up.
"Trying to get funding from the banks is a waste of time," says Simon Lynch, co-founder of Wicklow Wolf Brewing Company. His business eventually secured Enterprise Ireland and private equity funding.
“In order to raise funds, you need to have built something that has traction, so you need to have spent time on it to create income,” says Emer O’Daly, chief executive of Love & Robots, a design brand that uses new technology like 3D printing to make custom products.
O’Daly says you also need money to live on while not making sales. She calls finding cash a “chicken or egg” problem: you need to have funds to raise funds.
Affordable office space
Another challenge for O’Daly was finding workspace that she could afford. After much searching, she found a landlord who needed help with a 3D printing project and entered into a barter arrangement for office space.
“It worked out very well. We were lucky with the space because people are finding it hard to find appropriate space in Dublin, even though there are a lot of empty buildings. There is a disconnect between resources and people,” she says.
Finding expertise
Ciara Donlon
wanted to find an Irish lingerie designer when starting her company
Theya Lingerie
, which makes lingerie for women who have had breast surgery.
She says the Irish lingerie industry “died back in the ’90s”, and there are no full-time courses in lingerie design.
Donlon looked abroad and found a designer with 20 years of industry experience in the UK, who has worked with brands like Marks & Spencer and Victoria’s Secret.
Wicklow Wolf Brewing Company hired an American brewer after its Irish search was unsuccessful.
“As a brewery, trying to get the right personnel is a challenge. Because there have been no small breweries in Ireland for quite a while, there just wasn’t the knowledge there. Not many people in Ireland are qualified brewers,” Lynch says.
Having a plan B
Donlon says she learned a valuable lesson when she underestimated how long it would take to receive funds for her lingerie start-up from a private investor.
There was a two-week period during the wait where she did not have enough money to pay wages.
It was a stressful time.
“I was lucky to get a private investor so fast, but I was a bit naive and thought I would get the money next week. I’m wiser now,” she said.
“I’m looking for a second round of investment now, so I’m going about it in a different way next time. Have a plan B for everything just in case plan A does not work out.”
Hiring the right staff
Cash-flow issues can make it difficult to hire the right people. “You don’t have much money when you’re starting, but you need the right team,” Donlon says.
“You could hire someone not suitable or spend the extra five or 10 grand to find someone who would really have your back. I thought I could mould someone, but it didn’t work out like that. Make sure from the start you have the right people around you.”
Knowing where to look for help
Another challenge is knowing where to look for help.
A mentor who can answer questions is a valuable resource, be it someone from the local enterprise board or a fellow entrepreneur.
“It’s so important for start-ups to have someone to go to for advice on all the different aspects of starting your business, before you actually dip your toe in, to get a clearer picture of what’s involved in general terms, from taxation to accounts to marketing,” says Lynch.
“It’s a bit like planning permission – having someone to tell you whether your idea is viable or not. A bit of talking and the right conversations before embarking would save a lot of time and money and heartache for a lot of people.”
