A hunt for the most renegade idea

As a startup, what would be your Golden Ticket to propel you towards success? Workspace expenses covered? Invaluable mentoring and guidance?

The Modern Cheesemonger

An idea churned out of the frustration of seeing good cheese go to waste and cheesemakers’ reputations spoiled, one man set out to save the future of dairy delicacies.

What is ‘brand’?

When you’re keen to win more customers, you turn to marketing. And more often than not, you look at advertising, PR, or anything else that you think that will make a change quickly.

 

Less lip service, more action: Wellbeing at work

Over the course of a year, I spoke with hundreds of employees, employers and HR professionals. In those interviews, I learnt about wellbeing at work, the challenges in keeping people healthy and happy, and why wellbeing packages offered by businesses are falling short.

AO Innovation Lab calls for digital disruptors

AO, the online electricals store, and L Marks, leading advisor in applied innovation and experienced investor in early-stage technologies, have partnered in a global search ‘for the next digital disruptors who will make online shopping easier and faster for its customers’.

The next nation to be at the centre of startup innovation

When one thinks of countries with a focus on innovation, the true global leaders – USA, the U.K., Canada and Israel – traditionally lead the way based on the strength of their startup ecosystems. Not surprisingly, the next country to gain a foothold is Australia followed by no fewer than a dozen of the top industrialised nations in Western Europe.

Understanding your market

Last week’s article focussed on Business Plans; what should be in them and why you should write one. One of the key pieces of information required is of course sales figures, both actual numbers for historic sales and those forecast for the future. It is also very important to include the assumptions and how you market your goods in order to achieve those sales. It is those subjects that I am going to focus on this time.

Always the cold side of the pillow

Created by two former insomniacs in 2016, Moona is the first smart product to not only track your sleep habits, but to enhance them by regulating head temperature to help the user get to sleep faster, deeper and wake up naturally.

Business planning with the Business Model Canvas

Over the last five articles I have tried to set the scene in terms of outlining what help is available to early stage businesses, and certain aspects of finance, including a valuable but often overlooked tax refund. In this article and the next I wanted to focus on two fundamental issues that will determine how your business develops and how you grow sales.

The IoT Entrepreneur

The Internet of Things is an exciting and expanding market. It’s one that many large organisations are already actively involved in, with competition mounting rapidly as a result; but it’s also a market ripe for innovation, with countless unexplored opportunities – across all industries – almost too compelling for an ambitious entrepreneur to ignore.

The Launchpad Awards

Subcon is introducing the Launchpad & Launchpad Awards to this year’s event. The Launchpad aims to propel startups and entrepreneurs by giving them a platform to share their innovations with thousands of engineering and manufacturing professionals with the power to influence and guide them to future success.

Resilience and the ‘Dark Triad’

Director, Founder, Business Psychologist and Business Coach at DH Coaching & Consulting, Dannielle Haig, headed a personal development workshop powered by C&C, PA recruitment agency, teaching the importance of ‘resilience’.

Understanding R&D Tax Credits

In the last two articles in this series I have looked at various aspects of finance and this time I am going to stay with the financial theme but from a very different angle – tax. But tax is a very broad topic and I wanted to focus on one unusual aspect of the UK tax system, and that is R&D (research and development) tax credits, and it is unusual in the fact that this time it is HMRC giving you money rather than taking it.

South-By-Southwest celebrate startups with innovation awards

South-By-Southwest is an annual assemblage of conferences and festivals that takes place in Austin, Texas in early March to celebrate the convergence of film, music, interactive and other industries. Created to foster both professional and personal growth across multiple levels, the ten-day event prides itself on truly being all things to all people.

Ground Control to Major Tom

The audience at the Dublin Tech Show 2019 fell silent and slipped into awe as it listened to the man who broke into Mir using a Swiss Army Knife, flew into Earth orbit three times, was Commander of the International Space Station (ISS), has spent 166 days in space and was the first Canadian astronaut to walk in space: NASA Colonel, Chris Hadfield.

Fireside Chat: How to succeed with a startup

Moderated by Graham Hussey, Co-Founder of The Startup Van, this panel at the Dublin Tech Show 2019 (DTS) made up of celebrity companies in the startup arena, Expon Capital, 500 startups, Valor Ventures and Techstars, broadly discussed the ways in which a startup can succeed.

Positioning your team and brand for international scaling

On the ScaleX stage at Dublin Tech Summit 2019, April 10th, a panel comprised of: Andrew Lindsay VP Corporate Development and Business Development at Hubspot; Alan Costello Venture Investor Leader at NDRC; Niall McEvoy Manager of High Potential Startups at Enterprise Ireland; and moderated by Graham Hussey co-founder of The Startup Van, discussed how to position your team and brand for international scaling.

Let’s stop glorifying failure

On the ScaleX stage at DTS 2019 (Dublin Tech Summit) Willie Morris got real in his talk about startup failure.

Life’s a Pitch

Sachin Dutta, Growth Hacker and Founder of Tractionic, shares a growth hacker’s perspective on why humans fail and how to succeed at crowdfunding.

Hello, is anybody home?

It all started when husband and wife John and Avril wanted a new doorbell, and there was nothing that suited their home.