Shane Ryan of healthy food startup, Feed, talks about tenacity, creating a mental health toolbox, and how giving back can be good for the bottom line.

 

Key takeaways

[1:42] Shane started young, planning businesses at the age of 10 and selling things from stalls on match day.

[5:15] Gave up his career in hospitality, having managed some of the top hotels in the world. Saw how healthy food affected his well being as well as a shift in people's attitudes to food, with healthy food coming to the fore.

[9:40] Spent nine months writing an elaborate business plan that on reflection was totally unnecessary which resulted in missed opportunities.

[10:55] Came up with the first idea of 'a restaurant in the cloud' delivering healthy lunches. Learned a lot through that process even if it didn’t work out.

[15:27] Had a lot of positive press, looked like a great success but the reality was that the business was crumbling. Affected his mental health.

[19:25] Decided to leave the business. Moved back home, focused on himself and his mental health. What ever you do with your career is not as important as you making sure you’re in a good place and have the internal tools to deal with things.

[22:20] Wasn’t giving up on his idea. He knew there was an opportunity around healthy food. Came up with meal pots, ready meals that were incredibly healthy, good for you and well branded.

[24:50] Taking the leap for the second time round. A lot more confident. Learned from previous mistakes.

[28:05] Shane's toolbox for mental health: Eating right, exercise and fitness. Finding things that you know clear your head and make you feel good. Having interests outside of your business so you can switch off. Mindfulness.

[35:35] Every time you buy a pot, Feed donates the cost of a meal to child thorough the charity Mary’s Meals. Mary's meals feed 1.2 million children every day in places like Malawi and Aleppo. The meals are provided through schools so that they not only get fed but also get an education.

You can still be a for profit company and make good margins and be very commercial while also having a socially conscious element at your core.

[39:20] The future is bright for Feed. Scaling up 4 fold and jumping from 25 to 90 listings in next few weeks. Having gone through the process of iteration with the previous business his product was exactly what the buyers wanted.

[41:35] Shane's three main pieces of advice:

Don’t do it on your own. Have a co-founder if you can

Just do it. Whatever you do it’s better than doing nothing. Progress is better than stagnation.

The next step is the best stepClick To Tweet

Don’t get into food! Food is great but comes with challenges. If you do, look to extend your shelf life.

 

Links to things mentioned in this episode

Feed's Website: eatfeed.ie

Feed on Twitter

Feed on Facebook

Feed on Instagram

Supervalu Food Academy 

Mary's Meals

Innovation Academy, UCD

Pamela Newenham, one of the three founders of GirlCrew, tells us how a secret Facebook group for women to make friends has turned into a platform with over 100,000 members across the world. We discuss the power of networking, meeting Mark Zuckerberg and their move to Silicon Valley.

The GirlCrew App Hootenanny is happening from the 17th - 20th August, with 19 events over 4 days, including tech talks, brunch, parties and speakers including Microsoft's MD Cathriona Hallahan and much more!

Find out more by clicking here

 

Key takeaways

[1:56] How not being able to find people to go on a girls night out dancing resulted in hacking Tinder and forming a secret Facebook group. How founders Elva Carri, Aine Mulloy and Pamela Newenham came together.

[4:34] Pamela's journey from being a journalist interviewing entrepreneurs to becoming one. 

[7:05] How having defined roles means they work well together as a team. They have specific areas they specialise in and there is no overlap which helps to keep things harmonious. 

[9:40] The challenges they came across including having no experience in tech or coding and wanted to bring out an app. Having no experience hiring was also challenging, it was harder than they thought to hire developer.

[12:25] High points have included being selected, from 220 entrants, to represent Europe at the SXSW festival in Texas. GirlCrew was filmed by Facebook as one of their success stories. They met Mark Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandberg. Yes, he was wearing a grey t-shirt!

[17:30] Pamela's advice around growing and scaling a company would be to talk to people who have already done it. Trust your own gut instinct when you get conflicting advice. If you’re a tech startup, go to Silicon Valley

[19:04] What helps make Silicon Valley a great place to do business and grow is that everyone is keen to help, to put you in touch with people and introduce you. Although soon moving there, GirlCrew will always keep a development team in Ireland.

[22:40] Everything is about networking and talking to people. Real connections are made offline whether friendships or professional networks. Girlcrew are all about meeting people offline and making real friendships. 

Get out of the buildingClick To Tweet

[23:43] Launch of new app. Pop up shop starting Thurday 17th in Temple Bar, Dublin. GirlCrew are having an 'App Hootenanny' with 19 events over 4 days

[25:45] Advice to people thinking of starting a business:

'Jump in, just do it!'Click To Tweet

 

Links to things mentioned in this episode

GirlCrew.com

Girlcrew App Hootenanny

GirlCrew on Facebook,

GirlCrew on Twitter

GirlCrew on Instagram

SXSW Festival

Enterprise Ireland

Teamer

Omer Keser, founder of curasy.com, talks about understanding your customer, creating company culture and how it took almost losing his life to give him the courage to leave a successful career in Google to start his own business.

Key Takeaways

[1:40] Where the idea for Curasy.com came from, realising that there was a problem that he could address, helping independent luxury designers to reach their customers.

[2:45] The most important thing is clarity of purpose. However clarity can also come through taking action.

[4:25] How Omer deals with self doubt and keeping the vision. He recommends entrepreneurs really understand what they want to get out of their life. 

[5:50] The hurdles Omer has encountered, including financial and hiring challenges.

[6:37] How he got the financial resources together. Advice on saving beforehand, giving yourself a year's runway. Funding from start up accelerator programmes like NDRC, an early stage startup accelerator.

[7:35] The value of mentoring and networking and the credibility being in the programme gives you.

What unique value do you offer?Click To Tweet

[12:40] Letting go of your original ideas, letting it change. The people who are succeeding are open to adapting as they understand their customer better.

[13:45] Not falling in love with your “baby” too soon in case there is a better solution to the problem you’re trying to solve

[15:40] The moment that made Omer take the chance and pursue his idea. Almost losing his life and the realisation that you have to do it. Life is too short.

[14:35] Get out of the building and talk to people 

Identify a problem that is worth solvingClick To Tweet

Are you trying to build a vitamin or a painkiller? Click To Tweet

[17:40] Being in business reveals your personal weaknesses and strengths. He discovered new parts to himself, new weaknesses and new strengths.

[19:55] Once caught, the entrepreneurial bug, will always stay with you whether as an entrepreneur or intrapreneur in a corporate environment.

[20:40] How the company replicates the culture of the founder. It’s important to understand that early on and build a strong culture early on in the business.

[21:30] Knowing when to ask for help.

[22:50] "Life is too short, just go and do it. What matters is the journey you go through."

 

Links to things mentioned in this episode

curasy.com

Twitter @omerkeser

facebook.com/curasy

instagram.com/curasy/

NDRC

Guinness Enterprise Centre

Innovation Academy

Entrepreneur, Sharon Keegan, and author, Dan O'Neill, reflect on taking the leap, picking yourself up after failure and not holding yourself back in this mini Innovation Academy alumni reunion!

Key Takeaways

[2:00] Reflections on the Innovation Academy post-graduate course on Innovation, Enterprise and Entrepreneurship

[7:20] Don't be afraid of failure, it's all part of the process. Coming up with an idea, trying it and it not working. Dealing with negative thoughts and feeling disheartened. Recovering from that and moving forward. 

[9:09] Balancing entrepreneurship with having children

[13:35] Self publishing through “Create Space” from Amazon and what’s involved in that

[14:30] "Don’t have to be the wolf of wall street or a certain personality type to be an entrepreneur” 

Dan's tips to himself looking back - small goals and small steps help you achieve your bigger goals

[18:56] Going Dragon’s Den with the Seed fund challenge - Selling bananas!

[21:54] Play to your strengths

[22:25] You’re the only person stopping yourselfClick To Tweet

Put one foot in front of another and take the first step, or it’ll never happenClick To Tweet

[25:07] There will always be people who don’t like your idea

[27:00]Find what your passion is, make the decision, take one step and then the next. It'll all come together

[28:10] Just startClick To Tweet

[29:49] It'll never go anywhere if it’s just an idea in your head

 

Links to things mentioned in this episode

UCD Innovation Academy

Dan's Book "The Arc of History: Politics in the O'Bama Years"

Create Space Amazon self publishing

Sharon Keegan instagram

Peachylean.com

Peachylean facebook

Guinness Enterprise Centre

Wind-Up Merchantz comedy sketch videos

Seán Greif talks to us about how his experience living with a tribe in the Amazon rainforest inspired him to create an innovative approach to teaching the Irish language to kids. His award-winning startup, Moontour, combines his passion for the Irish language with adventure learning for an Irish class like no other.

(In case you were wondering, "Is maith liom cáca milis” means "I like cake"!)

Key Takeaways

[1:49] The problem and Moontour's solution

[6:14] The advantage of having the flexibility to test and try things out quickly. Test something as cheaply as possible and learn from it. 

[8:14] The challenges faced along the way, including forming a team and creating a culture in line with the vision

[10:39] Building a team and supporting them to enable them to deliver

[12:00] What he would like to have known at the start, about handling uncertainty and the unknowns

[13:16] Winning the European Language Label Award 

[14:33] Advice for would-be entrepreneurs, how you can test your market 

[15:39] Developing an online teaching model

 

Tweetables

Go for it and try it out on a small scale..then scale up from thereClick To Tweet

Minimize initial investment to test the watersClick To Tweet

 

Links to things mentioned in this episode

Moontour.ie

Moontour on facebook

Moontour on YouTube

Moontour on Twitter

Moontour on Google+

European Language Label Awards

Lisa Ruttledge and Peter Harte tell us about their digestive health app, FoodMarble, which brings hospital technology to your mobile phone to solve a problem affecting 1 in 8 people.

We talk about the highs and lows of startup life, how to maintain the vision and the importance of building a team around you.

 

Key Takeaways

[2:10] How FoodMarble came about and what problem it's solving

[6:20] Forming the team

[10:25]  "I got a taste of what the start up life was like and just found it a bit addictive. I experienced the highest highs and lowest lows in my life but it felt very real and that I was completely engaged with what I was doing, possibly for the first time ever"

[15:05] What some of the lowest lows were like, how Lisa recovered from them, turned it around and what she learned.

"That passion and excitement gets a battering. When you take that first step things are really hard to do. Being prepared for that and knowing that you’re tough enough to take those hits"

[24:20] The important of building a team around you and how it increases your enjoyment, shares the load and helps you cope with the challenges

[26:00] Maintaining the long term vision and excitement

[27:30] The importance of talking out your worries, how social media doesn’t always reflect what people or startups are really going through.

[33:05] How you shouldn't be be afraid to share your idea. How the idea is just the very start.

[35:45] The highs they've enjoyed

"To see people all around the world in a couple of hours pre-ordering the device, I couldn’t get over it… all the work was coming to fruition"

“Seeing potential users who have been suffering with those problems...and them saying this would change my life”

“The highs that come from the feeling of being part of something that is bigger than just you”

[47:30] Lisa and Peter's advice for would-be entrepreneurs

“Nothing worth doing is easy”

“Just do it and be ok with whatever the worst is that might happen”

Tweetables

There’s no better time than nowClick To Tweet

'Don't judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds that you plant.' - Robert Louis StevensonClick To Tweet

You need to be creative like an artist but disciplined like a soliderClick To Tweet

 

Links to things mentioned in this episode

Website https://foodmarble.com/

Social: https://www.facebook.com/foodmarble

https://twitter.com/foodmarble

https://www.instagram.com/foodmarble/

HAX Hardware accelerator 

In our inaugural episode, Gary O'Toole and Andrew Turner talk to us about turning their passion for 5-a-side football and the problems they had with finding players into a successful mobile app.

They went from tiling and teaching to tech startup and are here to tell us how they did it and how you can too.

 

Key Takeaways

[01:45] How they got the idea and the problems they want to solve

[02:46] What to do if you want to develop an app without having coding knowledge yourself

[03:38] On making the transition to entrepreneur "I tiled during the day and read business books at night"

[06:45] Dealing with the lows and how to keep the faith "we love proving people wrong"  "take every little win you can"  

[13:00] The importance of recognising and celebrating the victories and wins

[16:55] Focus on sales, marketing and the actual product, not just funding, when starting out

[18:05] Find the right mentors

[19:30] The advice they have for anyone wanting to become an entrepreneur

[20:20] On worries about competition "don't worry about competition, it's healthy, it means there's a market, and there's a lot you can learn from it"

Tweetables

'Make sure you're solving a problem' Click To Tweet

'If you don't have customers, you're nothing'Click To Tweet

Links to things mentioned in this episode

Enterprise Ireland

New Frontiers Programme

Email: [email protected]

Website: https://www.kickaboutapp.com/

Facebook: facebook.com/thekickaboutapp/

Instagram: instagram.com/thekickaboutapp

Twitter: twitter.com/kickabout_app