Colin Keogh, engineer, designer and innovator, talks to us about solving problems, why he likes to get stuck into stuff he knows nothing about and what happens when you say yes to everything

 

Key takeaways

[2:45] Ideas, innovation and people are what solves problems

[4:35] Expert ignorance: Coming into a project that you know nothing about and applying what you’re good at can result in better solutions

[5:00] Use what skills you have, you can always contribute something in someway

[6:20] Hammers see everything as nails

[7:25] Don't let lack of experience put you off from working in a technical field

[8:10] Real life experience can be more valuable than theoretical knowledge

[16:10] Just say yes to everything

[20:10] You are always only ever one step away from whatever you need

[20:40] Try ideas out quickly. Prototype a product early and get it into people's hands as soon as possible

[22:10] A major challenge in building a social enterprise is finding a suitable legal structure

[26:05] Investors often invest in the person rather than the idea. It's all about building relationships

[28:00] Be cautious about taking advice that is offered too freely and unasked for. The advice that is really valuable often comes from people who don't want to give it

[29:20] Avoiding common startup mistakes:

Make a prototype and get it out quickly, don't spend too long in the thought phase

Don't waste time arguing about ownership in the very early stages of an idea

[32:45] When you have a startup you can afford to undersell yourself or your business. Plant your own flag

[33:40] You need a deadline, don't get stuck just going from grant to grant

[34:35] If you are no longer interested in an idea, walk away from it

[34:50] Trust your gut

 

Links to things mentioned in this episode

therapidfoundation.com

twitter.com/ColinJ_Keogh

colinkeogh.eu/

Lewize Crothers, founder of the online platform ExitEntry, chats to us about how not having a tech background shouldn't stop you from starting a tech based business, the importance of listening to your customer and what investors are really looking for.

Key takeaways

[1:10] Outside interests, teamwork, communication and leadership skills are as important to multinationals as academic results and qualifications when employing graduates

[7:30] Its not about the obstacles but how you look at the skills you have

[9:50] When you get out of your comfort zone and talk to people, incredible things will happen

[10:37] Everything is possible, it’s about having the drive and belief

[12:10] Asking the right questions and being a good listener is key

[13:40] At the beginning it’s about getting out there, speaking to people and building your network

[15:05] Tell the world about your idea because it will become nothing without people  knowing about it

[16:40] Everyone has good ideas but it’s all in the execution

[18:35] Investors look at the founder and the team more than the idea

[19:00] You need to surround yourself with people better than you

[19:45] When building your team, find people with the same vision, who will be there long term, add value and have expertise that you don’t

[26:40] Lewize's top three tips for startups:

Listen to your customers and know who they are

Get out of your comfort zone

Look at your competition and what they are doing

 

Links to things mentioned in this episode

exitentry.com

twitter.com/exitentrygrad

facebook.com/exitentrygrad

instagram.com/exitentrygrad

DCU Ryan Academy Female High Flyers

Innovation Academy

New Frontiers

Web Summit

Build Your Dream Network by Kelly Hoey

Jim Hughes, founder and CEO of Innovate, talks to us in our first Founder Friday fireside chat at The Hatch Lab. We chat about surviving recession, creating a positive work culture and planning for growth.

Key Takeaways

[7:00] A lot was learned from the recession, like how to be efficient and innovative.

[9:00] Business strategy is built on four pillars: your financial objectives, value proposition, business processes and how you drive organisational capacity into your business.

[11:45] Building relationships is about relating to people and connecting with them.

[12:50] Positive work cultures come from the top. It needs honesty on a consistent basis.

[14:15] You have to recruit primarily on character and a set of values. Diversity is also hugely important in an organisation.

[17:30]  The one thing that determines a business’ success is good management.

[21:47] Resilience comes from challenges you've faced in other areas of your life.

[22:52] Have a growth mindset - the ability to be able to take on failures, understand where you made the mistake, learn from it and move forward from it.

[23:20] If you’re not making mistakes you’re not learning.

[23:20] Don’t wait for the perfect situation to make a decision. Make the decision and move on.

[25:15] Three pieces of advice for new entrepreneurs: surround yourself with great people, listen to your customer, be true to yourself.

 

Links to things mentioned in this episode

thehatchlab.ie

Founder Friday Gorey

innovate.ie

Innovate on LinkedIn 

Innovate on Facebook

Innovate on Twitter

Innovate on YouTube

Peter Mangan, founder of The Freebird Club, talks to us about social entrepreneurship, the importance of the double bottom line and creating a global community with a platform offering social travelling and home-stays to mature adults.

 

Key Takeaways

[0:47] By 2025 one third of Europeans will be over the age of 60

[3:27] Starting a business is a creative process

[3:50] Initial challenges include getting the right people around you, finding the money to get started and getting the first few customers

[12:25] It’s important that investors are also interested in the vision of the company

[14:00] It's essential to be adaptable and flexible when things are progressing rapidly

[14:50] Planning for growth is important, you need to be able to service the business properly as it grows to keep customers happy

[15:45] There are increasing opportunities to get grant funding for social enterprises, which give credibility as well as early stage finance

[16:10] The number of investors looking for a double bottom line is growing, having a social impact as well as being profitable is increasingly important

[17:00] Top three tips on on starting your own business:

Talk to people who know that industry or sector

Believe in yourself and have the conviction to do it.

Find the supports on the way, it can be a lonely journey

 

Links to things mentioned in this episode

freebirdclub.com

The Freebird Club on Facebook

The Freebird Club on YouTube

The Freebird Club on Twitter

European Social Innovation Competition

European Social Innovation Tournament

Impact Hub Fellowship For Longer Lives

Ronan Lynagh talks to us about handling uncertainty, building resilience and being entrepreneurial in your career in this week's podcast. We chat about growth mindset and how we measure success as well as the evolution of his own career.

 

Key takeaways

[12:05] Having constants outside of work, like hobbies and friends, can help you cope with change, uncertainty and times of transition.

[16:45] The benefit of not being too narrow with your focus is being open to opportunities you might not have even thought or known of.

[19:00] Ronan’s advice for people who want to change career path:

You can be entrepreneurial about your career

Expose yourself to your passions and interests in ways that challenge you

[22:35] Tips on building resilience:

Think about what you expect of yourself

Know your own moods and states and how to recognise when you need support

Have things that you enjoy doing for yourself and recognise their benefit

Its not just about how quickly you get back up but being okay with not being okay

Keep things in perspective, don't get too caught in the moment

[26:30] Growth mindset - the idea that it’s not about what talent you're born with but the effort you put in and that you can always improve. How we measure and value success.

[28:45] Outputs or results can be out of our control in some respects. But you can control your effort you put in and that can’t be taken from you.

[30:50] Three pieces of advice on using a growth mindset to help you achieve your goals:

Progress over perfection

Be kind to yourself

Surround yourself with good people with values similar to your own

 

Links to things mentioned in this episode

Young Social Innovators

Suas.ie

Shine.ie

Innovation Academy: Entrepreneurial Educators 

Washington Ireland Program

Carol Dwyek on growth mindset and the power of yet

Briony Somers of FRANC Magazine talks to us about mixing business with creativity, disrupting crowded markets and how page views are the subprime mortgages of the internet. 

We discuss how women as a market are misunderstood, the resurgence of print media and the importance of talking about failure.

 

Key Takeaways

[6:25] There is a deep confusion around businesses targeting women. Fashion is often seen as superficial.

[7:50] Fashion is a 1.7 trillion dollar industry worldwide, the second largest sector of consumer spending in the US under groceries.

[8:40] The best opportunities are found where people say the market is crowded, yet customers are unhappy.

[15:50] Print media is seeing a resurgence as a luxury consumer product in itself.

Page views are the sub prime mortgages of the internetClick To Tweet

[22:15] Online content can tend to focus on quantity over quality.

[23:30] It’s about delivering an experience and connection for people.

[30:05] Business and creativity have always gone hand in hand, you get into difficulties when they aren't aligned and come into conflict.

[35:00] On maintaining the vision:

Ground yourself in the moment and the joy of what your’re doing

The feedback you get from customers is very inspiring and hard to walk away from

[38:50] Gilded Failure: people talk about failure but skip over it very quickly to a following success.

[39:35] Sometimes it’s important to do something for its own sake not just for what you think it’ll give you.

 

Links to things mentioned in this episode

francmagazine.com

FRANC on Instagram

FRANC on Twitter

FRANC on Facebook

Alex Calder, social media specialist and creator of Between Two Ears, talks to us about safaris, storytelling and how to be sound on social media! We talk about common mistakes brands make, what metrics really matter and how to stand out in the infinite scroll.

GDTT is now on Instagram! Come follow us @godothething_podcast as we put into practice the advice in this week's podcast.

 

Key takeaways 

[4:15] Social media is now more important than traditional advertising

[4:25] The things to think about as a brand on social media: What's your story, message, tone, and who are you talking to. 

[5:05] We scroll 300 ft on our social media feeds every day, up from 8 ft a year ago. How to stop people scrolling to see your content is hard. 

[8:00] The most common mistakes companies and brands make:

Using the personal pronoun in brand communications, it's very unprofessional

Typos - good grammar and perfect spelling are a must

Knowing your tone and who you are gives you the parameters to work within

[10:00] To have a good Instagram account you need to curate your posts and post beautiful images on your grid. Instagram stories is where you put things like photos of trade shoes. Stories can have massive reach.

[12:00] Alex's advice on how to make your Instagram account better:

Look at competitors that are doing it well

Personal projects can benefit from having an angle or theme

Employ a professional photographer to make content if you need to

Do filter your images and use the same filters all the time for visual consistency

[14:40] On what metrics should you be measuring, it's not about followers but about engagement.

[16:10] Micro-influencers often have more engagement than bigger accounts and advertisers often prefer them.

[17.55] Alex's top tips:

Have a story, know your messages, know your tone of voice and who your brand is.

Micro-blogging on Instagram works well using long captions. Nurture and create a community. Respond to meaningful comments.

Respond to problems, if someone goes public with a problem bring them off the public space and use direct message, email or phone to resolve it. 

The more you post the better the algorithms will treat your content. Post once a day or every second day for Facebook and Instagram, Twitter you can do a bit more. Be judicious, don’t just throw anything up.

Most of all, be sound!! Be a nice person online.

 

Links to things mentioned in this episode

Alex on Instagram

Alex on Twitter 

Between Two Ears on Instagram

Between Two Ears on Facebook

VSCO cam

Go Do The Thing on Instagram

Jake MccGwire, Kevin Murray, and Zachary Diebold from TicketChain, a digital ticketing platform, talk to us about the start-up ecosystem in Ireland, how to expand your network and make new connections, and why the perfect time to launch a start-up is when you’ve just left college.

 

Key takeaways

[5:17]  It’s important to know that you have to adapt as you understand the market better

[8:17] Advice on reaching out to people: use direct message on LinkedIn, providing you have a valid reason for wanting to meet them and asking for their advice most people are very helpful and will give you 15 mins of their time

Every meeting you go to is a possible second or third connection made. It’s all about making those small warm connections.

[10:09] You need to carefully prioritise the things you can achieve in a certain amount of time. You have no one sitting over your shoulder telling you what to do next.

Being open to changing your idea is really crucialClick To Tweet

[22:15] If someone who has no idea about your product can understand your pitch then it’s good, if not then you need to look at it again.

[26:35] It’s great to have the support of startup programs but also important to keep focusing on the customer, your market and your product

[27:44] There is never a better time to try a startup than when you’ve just graduated, there is nothing to lose.

[29:08] Top 3 pieces of advice:

Talk to as many people as possible and find out if your idea is actually any good, including potential customers and people in the industry, not just friends and family. 

You need to be open to changing the idea once you get the feedback and new information.

Having a team is hugely important.

Many VCs will only ever invest in a startup if it has a team of at least two people. Having a team fills skill gaps, shares the workload and pressure, and gives you a bigger network.

People invest in teamsClick To Tweet

 

Links to things mentioned

TicketChain.ie

TicketChain on Twitter

TicketChain on LinkedIn

LaunchBox

New Frontiers

NDRC

Google Adopt a Startup

Startup Grind

Ciara Sheahan and Ian Walsh from Seymour 360 Photography talk to us this week about the power of VR technology, from disrupting the property market to changing the lives of kids with autism. We talk about the challenges of being first to market, dealing with the slow no and the importance of listening in business.

Key takeaways

[3:00] Began with presenting properties for sale using 360 degree photography which developed into using it for venues such as pubs and restaurants, for weddings and other events.  

[7:20] The challenges of being ahead of the curve include having to educate your customers about the technology and what it can do. Have to be an evangelist.

[11:25] You have to believe in your own insanity. 

[17:15] To get through the dark days, do one small positive thing every day. Celebrate the little victories.

[20:35] VR and 360 photos saves memories and moments in time, will allow us to be with our loved ones and relive memories long after they are gone.

[27:40] VR gives insight into and help sufferers of alzheimer's disease and dementia. It is also being used to help autistic children feel calmer. 

[38:55] Ciara's three tips: Believe in yourself, be realistic, think about the person on the other end of the phone or table. It’s not about you..it’s about how you can help them thrive. Address your product in terms of their needs.

Everything in life is a saleClick To Tweet

[39:55] The key word in business is “listen”. If you’re talking you can’t listen.

He who holds the silence holds the powerClick To Tweet

Dont be afraid to ask for the order or to charge for the order. Dont undervalue your proposition

 

Links to things mentioned in this episode

Seymour 360 Photography

Seymour 360 Photography on Facebook 

Seymour 360 Photography on YouTube

New Frontiers 

Neil Curran, improv teacher and performer, and Anna Wilson, improv performer, join me to discuss how improvisation skills could help you nail your next pitch and unleash the potential of your team. And the good news is, you were already doing it as a kid! 

We talk about banning the “but” word, team making vs team breaking and embracing your mistakes.

 

Key takeaways

[1:53] Improv is usually associated with comedy but really it is something we all are born doing but tend to lose as adults. It is how we react and how we listen. Its about spontaneity, how we respond in the moment.

[3:27] Improv skills are life skills. As children we just want to play, kids don’t have the constraints we put on ourselves as adults. Fear of punishment shuts down playfulness and creativity.

[5:39] 'Mistakes are just a new way of doing things' - Jill BernardClick To Tweet

[7:55] How Anna came to improv. Discovered it's not about being funny and witty but about being supportive of your partner on stage.

[11:34] Team building days usually mean being sent to a competitive environment or activity - not necessarily the right approach to build a strong collaborative team. An effective team is people working together.

[17:37] As a techie, Anna came from a “no but” approach to working on ideas but through improv has changed to a "yes and" approach. You build on ideas rather than tearing them down.

[22:41] 'The edge of your comfort zone is where the magic happens when it comes to learning'Click To Tweet

[28:04] Within the corporate environment, improv is a tool to help you achieve what you want. Used in sales training, for communication skills, negotiation and conflict resolution.

[37:53] Mindfulness through improv as an alternative to sitting in a quiet room, breathing in and out.

[43:29] Improv teaches you to care less about what you think other people think of you

[44:14] Neil on confidence when speaking in public: Perception is reality, fake it til you make it and over time you will turn it into real confidence

[47:50] Neil and Anna's top 5 tips on public speaking and presentations:

Your audience is already on your side.

You’re already the expert

Find what you're passionate about in your topic. That is what will sell it to your audience and make it engaging

Understand what the audience needs

If you're having fun, your audience will have fun

[56:00] Neil's biggest tip: Do something that scares you every day!Click To Tweet

[57:19] Anna's biggest tip: If you want to do it, you have to do it!Click To Tweet

 

Links to things mentioned

lowerthetone.com

@improvneil

Speechless Live

@yesitsanna

Zenprov