SUCCESS STORIES: Losing your job in the middle of a recession can be frightening – but, as Mary Ryan found out, it can also open up a world of opportunity and even lead to the start of your own business, she tells CARL O'BRIEN
MARY RYAN thought she had survived the blood-letting. Her employer, Iona Technologies – one of Ireland’s most successful tech ventures – hit the stock market with a bang a few years earlier and had rocketed in value. But it suddenly come down to earth with an almighty thud as the dot.com bubble burst.
Returning to the office after a holiday, she feared the worst. The colour had drained from the faces of her colleagues who’d received their marching orders. The morning came and went. After lunchtime there was still no word. Just when she thought she was safe, she got a phone call from the human resources department.
“I knew then,” she says. “I was just told my job was gone . . . I was shocked and upset. I was wondering, ‘what will I do next?’, ‘where will I go?’” Ryan had typified the young, talented recruit at Iona. Work had been a blur of extensive travel, six- and seven-day weeks. Suddenly, she had to stop and think about an uncertain future.
“The more I thought about it, the more I began to feel a sense of relief. It began to dawn on me that, ‘hey, now I can do anything, I can head in any direction I want’. The idea of working for myself was appealing – but it was also a bit terrifying.”
THESE ARE SENTIMENTS familiar to many people over the past few years. Ryan’s story, however, is instructive in how to pick yourself up, dust yourself down and persevere with a new business idea.
Today, she is founder of the successful Dublin-based Product Innovator, which helps companies bring their products to the market place.
She uses the experience she gained as a “product manager” at Iona, which had involved identifying the right software product, finding out if there were potential customers for it and making sure it was priced competitively. In summary, it meant liaising with all parts of the company – production, marketing, legal – and making sure it was delivered on time.
These days, she’s drawing on those skills to do a similar job – except not just with software companies. She’s helping artists, telecoms firms, universities and IT firms to establish if there’s a market for their new products, and how best to sell them and maximise their revenues.
In addition, Ryan is teaching industry professionals in Product Innovator’s training courses on product management, including employees of firms such as IBM and Google, as well as dozens of smaller companies. On the way, she has picked up industry awards such as the Dublin City Enterprise Board’s female entrepreneur of the year.
But the journey to where she is today was difficult, involving self-doubt, failures, successes, self-questioning and more than a few dark nights of the soul.
AFTER SHE LOST her job, Ryan wondered what her options were. The timing wasn’t great: the IT sector had collapsed and the market was flooded with people of similar experience. She also had a mortgage and keeping a roof over her head was a priority.
“I wouldn’t have chosen to take a leap in the middle of such a horrible economy. But the idea of a setting up a product management consultancy came to me and wouldn’t go away,” she says.
“I knew my job inside-out. I knew the market, the customers. It had gone from being a steep, challenging curve to plateauing. So I wondered, could I apply this to another industry, another company?” She had the idea and a vision of how it could work – but the biggest obstacle to setting up the company was herself.
“I was terrified of failing. I was thinking, ‘If I screw this up, then I’ll never work again!’”
After drawing up a business plan, she was accepted into Dublin’s Institute of Technology’s Hothouse programme, which assists entrepreneurs to start and develop their businesses.
“That was brilliant – I’d recommend it to anyone starting out,” says Ryan.
“It’s a hugely supportive environment and the emotional support was brilliant. If you had a good or a bad day, you could share your experiences. There were great workshops on marketing, sales and presentation.
“At the end of it, you have an investor-ready business plan and a post-grad diploma in business development.” Networking and word-of-mouth proved the key to getting clients. The first night she attended a networking event, she won her first client, a software company. Shortly afterwards, Enterprise Ireland began to hire her, followed by others.
While there were highs, there were plenty of lows as well.
“That first year was a complete emotional roller coaster. The highs and lows were so extreme. You might think to yourself, ‘Maybe I’m no good at this’, or ‘I don’t have what it takes’. I remember saying it to another entrepreneur buddy, who knew what I was going through. He said: ‘Look, it passes.’ And he was right. You have a bad day, but then something good happens and you pull through.”
As many people find with new businesses, her toughest year wasn’t her first – it was the third year. She says she was working flat out, mostly for a key client, and not putting enough time into finding new business.
Following personnel changes at that firm, the work dried up. Suddenly, she had to build up a new client base.
“That was a big shock. It was scary. I had smaller clients – but not enough to be a viable business. Again, I was asking myself, ‘Is this viable? Is is what I want to do?’ Despite all that, I could see there was still lots of potential.” Her renewed determination led to a change in the focus of the business.
As well has providing expert advice to business on how to bring their products to the marketplace, she began training professionals in other companies to do the same.
“The idea for setting up training came from listening to a potential client who was the chief executive of a firm. He said: ‘If you give us advice, you leave after a few months, and you take away all the expertise.’ Clearly, consultancy didn’t work for him – so that’s where the idea for training came in. That underlined the need to keep listening to your customers.
“Markets change all the time. What you did six months ago? You need to review it, and make sure you’re going in the right direction. The more connected you are with customers and their trends, the more likely you are to serve their needs.”
THAT EXPERIENCE HAS paid off. These days, Product Innovator is gaining more and more new clients and providing training to high-profile companies, Oracle and BT to name just a couple. Business is growing so much so that Ryan is hiring other professionals to help with the training courses and devolving more and more work to new staff.
She’s also exploring the potential of online training, which could expand her customer base significantly.
As the mother of two children, Ryan rarely has a spare minute, but says managing her time is crucial. Through Dublin City Enterprise Board’s network for women, she’s in touch with many other women who are making a success of starting their own businesses. She laughs at the suggestion that you need to be a no-nonsense, hard-hearted chancer to become a successful entrepreneur.
“You mean like Alan Sugar? Look, they’re just hammed-up stereotypes, they really are. I work with lots of entrepreneurs and everyone’s different. There are different personalities, approaches, values. If there is a common theme, it’s seeing an opportunity and believing you can achieve it.”
Eight years on, she’s in a very good position to reflect on the vital attributes for any aspiring entrepreneur. “Do something you love. That way, you’ll be more likely to be successful and when you hit the rough patches, you’ll be more likely to stick with it. Get all the support you can – whether from Enterprise Ireland or hothouse programmes,” she says.
“Ask for help. Talk to other entrepreneurs – there’s no shame is seeking advice. Fear is fine – you will get used to it and it’s all part of the learning experience. And have fun. Celebrate your achievements and mark your successes. You deserve it, afterall.”
For further information, visit productinnovator.com
