An organisation exclusively for start-ups...

Darragh29

I threw this idea out there before but this forum was a bit quiet when I did, so I'll do it again, with the economy as it is, there might be a different perspective on it now...

Here goes... We have the IDA, County Enterprise Boards, ISME, The SFA (Small Firms Association), IBEC, FAS, I could go on and on and on but lets just say that within all these organisations, there isn't one that effectively specialises in supporting an entrepreneur on every level. I'm just thinking loosely here for the moment but imagine if you had an organisation you could join that had different levels of activity. Say you join up and you are assisted by other more senior members of the organisation, you work on your business plan and refine it but you are coached within this process by proven entrepreneurs, not unlike how Dragon's Den works, obviously the senior members would not typically be as successful as these indivuals but they would have their own badges of success.

Also imagine that this organisation operated a private Credit Union within the organisation, (loads of organisations have private Credit Unions for their members, like the Gardai, Nurses Unions, PDFORRA, etc), basically this organisation would provide venture capital for members who met normal start-up criteria, you lodge shares and you can borrow a multiple of your share balance, just like the Credit Union.

Ultimately if this organisation was sucessful, it could buy premises and provide additional services such as office space, warehouse space, admin services, etc, etc, etc.

Most importantly, what I think is missing for entrepreneurs now is support that you effectively cannot buy. Say for example the type of questions you see being asked here very regularly, from marketing to cash flow management, how to effectively hire staff, managing overheads, capital expenditure, borrowing, dealing with banks, it is what I would describe as experience that people who have been done it the hard way, can give to others who are going down the same road. Simple trouble shooting that can often leave an entrepreneur feeling isolated, I'm not saying that this organisation would provide a councilling service, but more a very "hands on" mentoring/coaching service on a "per request" basis, meaning if someone has a problem, they can go to a meeting once a week or once a fortnight (not unlike how BNI operate), and flag the problem and someone can buddy up with them straight away and support them with that problem until it is resolved.

I'm just thinking out loud here, but I think there couldn't be a better time for an organisation like this to be set up and to be honest I'm thinking of setting it up myself. This organisation would be a not-for-profit operation, it's remit would be to help and assist in every way that is conceivable, entrepreneurs who want to start up a business...

I was reading on other fora here that people think that this is a job for the government or the IDA or some other body.

Like all good entrepreneurs, I think I've spotted a gap!

Just looking for thoughts on this, does anyone see the logic of what I've described above, is there a demand for it or is there some obvious reason that I'm not seeing why this hasn't been done already???

I described this idea before as "Freemasonry for Entrepreneurs", which is how I see it when I picture it up and running, (I'm not a Freemason by the way!), but I see this as being at its core a kind of fraternal organisation, supporting your brothers kind of thing...

I left out one bit, which is that members would naturally progress higher within the organisation through time and when they reached a certain point in the organisation, they would then assist other newer members...

Culchie

Nice post, but why is it a not for profit organisation ....who pays you?

Think it's a brilliant idea. Like a body representing and supporting entrepreneurship. Where fellow entrepreneurs can meet up and discuss and help one another. Throw in a confidentiality agreement to prevent people robbing ideas and you have something going on. Could also provide a social touch to it and allow people to mentally support each other.

A good website I found recently is: http://irishbusinesswomen.com/forum/

Basically a website for female entrepreneurs to support and encourage one another and exchange ideas.

Culchie

Culchie wrote: »

Nice post, but why is it a not for profit organisation ....who pays you?

I'd like to think because it's for supporting and helping one another where possible. Why charge for it when you can get a mentor in enterprise ireland who can do the same thing for 75euro per hour?

Darragh29

Culchie wrote: »

Nice post, but why is it a not for profit organisation ....who pays you?

Well I think some of the best institutions in the country have operated on a voluntary basis, for example the GAA (not a huge GAA fan but I do admire their sucesses) and The Irish league of Credit Unions. I think people who are givers are in the best position often to receive. The way this organisation would work would be that through everyone giving, everyone is receiving. This is one of the cornerstones of the BNI concept, "that givers gain". I think people who participate in things like this and can bring the best, do so for reasons other than financial reward. When you see people helping you because that is something that is central to who they are as a person, you can trust them. The people who have given me the most help on my path, have never taken a cent from me.

My vision for this organisation might be hard for some to understand, it is for people who want in the first instance to "give".

Recently I went to a few BNI meetings and I used to love the informal bit before the meeting kicked off proper... This was where people ended up talking to you "one on one" and usually they would open up and tell you about their problems, the same people who 20 minutes later would be pitching for business in front of everyone, would be telling you before the meeting that they nearly went to the wall the previous month! I had my own problems and I felt a hell of a lot better for being able to discuss these problems with people who I came to understand had the same problems, sometimes on a bigger scale...

Often people there would say to me, "I know a lad who can help you get that sorted out"... The next thing you'd be introduced to someone who was across the room and something that had been wrecking your head for a fortnight was immediately resolved or was certainly a lot closer to being resolved.

Just thinking out loud again so again, nothing is in or nothing is out yet! But I am going to go ahed with this, I think it is long overdue.

Also, I think the only incentive for people to make money from this organisation should be from putting their business idea in at one end and watching a sucessful business come out the other end. That would incentivise people to understand how the organisation works, to understand the procedures that it would adopt to faciliate success, to assist people to be disciplined in relation to the procedures, etc...

I also think (I got this from the Freemason approach as well!), that if you are in you are in and every aspect of how the organisation operates should be kept secret...

DefenseSoapEire

sounds like a great idea :pac:

Deadwards.com

Hey Darragh29 sounds like a very good idea. Can you keep me up to speed with this and obviously if I can help out in any way just PM me

Gareth37

Darragh29 wrote: »

I threw this idea out there before but this forum was a bit quiet when I did, so I'll do it again, with the economy as it is, there might be a different perspective on it now...

Here goes... We have the IDA, County Enterprise Boards, ISME, The SFA (Small Firms Association), IBEC, FAS, I could go on and on and on but lets just say that within all these organisations, there isn't one that effectively specialises in supporting an entrepreneur on every level. I'm just thinking loosely here for the moment but imagine if you had an organisation you could join that had different levels of activity. Say you join up and you are assisted by other more senior members of the organisation, you work on your business plan and refine it but you are coached within this process by proven entrepreneurs, not unlike how Dragon's Den works, obviously the senior members would not typically be as successful as these indivuals but they would have their own badges of success.

Also imagine that this organisation operated a private Credit Union within the organisation, (loads of organisations have private Credit Unions for their members, like the Gardai, Nurses Unions, PDFORRA, etc), basically this organisation would provide venture capital for members who met normal start-up criteria, you lodge shares and you can borrow a multiple of your share balance, just like the Credit Union.

Ultimately if this organisation was sucessful, it could buy premises and provide additional services such as office space, warehouse space, admin services, etc, etc, etc.

Most importantly, what I think is missing for entrepreneurs now is support that you effectively cannot buy. Say for example the type of questions you see being asked here very regularly, from marketing to cash flow management, how to effectively hire staff, managing overheads, capital expenditure, borrowing, dealing with banks, it is what I would describe as experience that people who have been done it the hard way, can give to others who are going down the same road. Simple trouble shooting that can often leave an entrepreneur feeling isolated, I'm not saying that this organisation would provide a councilling service, but more a very "hands on" mentoring/coaching service on a "per request" basis, meaning if someone has a problem, they can go to a meeting once a week or once a fortnight (not unlike how BNI operate), and flag the problem and someone can buddy up with them straight away and support them with that problem until it is resolved.

I'm just thinking out loud here, but I think there couldn't be a better time for an organisation like this to be set up and to be honest I'm thinking of setting it up myself. This organisation would be a not-for-profit operation, it's remit would be to help and assist in every way that is conceivable, entrepreneurs who want to start up a business...

I was reading on other fora here that people think that this is a job for the government or the IDA or some other body.

Like all good entrepreneurs, I think I've spotted a gap!

Just looking for thoughts on this, does anyone see the logic of what I've described above, is there a demand for it or is there some obvious reason that I'm not seeing why this hasn't been done already???

I described this idea before as "Freemasonry for Entrepreneurs", which is how I see it when I picture it up and running, (I'm not a Freemason by the way!), but I see this as being at its core a kind of fraternal organisation, supporting your brothers kind of thing...

I left out one bit, which is that members would naturally progress higher within the organisation through time and when they reached a certain point in the organisation, they would then assist other newer members...

There are loads of these mentor schemes funded by EI.

Why would a proven entrepreneur do this work? Its more likely that the mentors will end up being failed entrepreneurs

Culchie

Gareth37 wrote: »

There are loads of these mentor schemes funded by EI.

Why would a proven entrepreneur do this work? Its more likely that the mentors will end up being failed entrepreneurs

Nail on head IMO.

As a small business I'm more likely to take on board advice (real bone crunching, eye watering, no nonsense advice) than if I receive some watered down, politely put, politically correct scripted reply from a state agency.....or an employee of same.

My immediate thought when I read the OP was 'Hold on a minute, why doesn't this guy just get out there and make a load of money himself' ...or words to that effect.

Is the OP (and proposed group) promoting himself as a consultant, an advisor, a coach, a fund raiser? ... if so there are people who do this already.

Is it a network/social/business community network that refers business to each other .... if so there are groups that already do this ...BNI, Chambers of Commerce, Rotary Clubs etc....

I don't want to cause offence to OP, but it strikes me that OP wants to get involved as a mentor/consultant (which is fine) .... but I can't see any 'entrepreneurs' having the time to dedicate to this.....they are too busy doing their own thing.

Now a retired businessman is different..... this may suit him/her, maybe there's a role their for a job for the over 65's as a mentor ..... but still, the really successful ones are probably on a yacht in the Caribbean 10 months of the year, or down the golf club drinking G+T's.

You can't have too many support mechanisms in my opinion. No such thing as "He gave me too much support". As Tesco would say (****ing Advertising) "Every Little Helps"

Culchie

Deleted User wrote: »

You can't have too many support mechanisms in my opinion. No such thing as "He gave me too much support". As Tesco would say (****ing Advertising) "Every Little Helps"

You can have too many layers of fluff though.... especially if the fluff is not of high quality. Also known as beauracracy/jobs for the boys.

That's a bit negative. Support from people who have been successful would be welcoming to me.

Darragh29

Culchie wrote: »

My immediate thought when I read the OP was 'Hold on a minute, why doesn't this guy just get out there and make a load of money himself' ...or words to that effect.

Well here's the thing... When I started out on my own, I had an excellent idea. Without getting into what that idea was, and was it or was it not a good idea, I think it was a very good idea and others have told me that it was a very good idea. What I lacked though, was experience in starting up a business. When I made calls to other people who had more experience, literally looking for a lifeline, I was already in trouble territory. I was amazed when these people told me that they made the same mistakes, one guy called it "the university of life..."

Two of the most sucessful business people that I personally know and talk to regularly, (one guy has just sold a company that is turning over around 20 million Euro a year, the other guy I'd rank as being up there with him in terms of achievement, is still running his company but is turning over around 13 million Euro a year), both failed twice in previous business ventures.

To reply to your query above, it's one thing having an idea, but it's an entirely different thing turning that idea into a credible profitable operation.

I think in this country, it is unnecessarily difficult to be an sucessful entrepreneur. There isn't a culture of entrepreneurship in Ireland. There is almost a notion that if you start up a business and are sucessful, that you are in some way rising above your station. In order for me to free myself from this type of influence, I had to learn that I had to immerse myself in contact with people who had a positive attitude with regard to entrepreneurship.

Culchie wrote: »

Is it a network/social/business community network that refers business to each other .... if so there are groups that already do this ...BNI, Chambers of Commerce, Rotary Clubs etc....

I don't think any of the above organisations aim to directly support an entrepreneur. BNI to a certain degree might do so but the primary focus of BNI is to create sales leads amongst members. They won't be able to help you if you have some problem within your business that can't be fixed by directing more sales leads in your direction, outside of the informal talk before the BNI meeting takes off proper. Chambers of Commerce in my opinion is more about political lobbying and from looking at their website, there isn't much there that would be of any help to someone in the preparatory stages of a business start-up.

Culchie wrote: »

I don't want to cause offence to OP, but it strikes me that OP wants to get involved as a mentor/consultant (which is fine) .... but I can't see any 'entrepreneurs' having the time to dedicate to this.....they are too busy doing their own thing.

Culchie, I posted here to get some constructive criticism which is what I'm getting so there is no offence taken! I'm trying to defend an idea here, so criticism is appreciated!

I don't want to get involved in mentoring or consulting, but I am in contact very regularly (lets say on a daily basis), with a small number of people who are in the early stages of starting up a business, and basically we help each other out in any that we can and there is huge comfort in the knowledge that when the sh*t hits the fan, I have an option of contacting these people, even just to get something off my chest, or if you have a bad few days and start to wonder why you started, sometimes you need to engage with someone just to keep positive, but also we help each other out in practical ways every day.

What I'm suggesting is that there is a gap there for a group like this to be put on a proper footing, a group that you join, that has a structure to it, that can first of all avoid you making expensive mistakes by encouraging members to adopt proven methods of (A) avoiding a problem in the first instance and also where that cannot happen, (B) identifying a problem when it cannot be avoided, and (C) approaching a problem and resolving a problem. I'm not saying that I have the answer to everyone's problem, I'm not that arrogant, I'm just thinking that in a group context, there are clearly learning opportunities. I think if you put 10 sucessful entrepreneurs into a room and asked them were they unsucessful on a previous occasion, you would get a yes from 80% of them. I also think that if you asked them why they failed on a first occasion, you would find you would be listening to fairly similar stories...

I hope this makes sense, again, I'm just thinking out loud, like BNI or Chambers Ireland, this wouldn't be for everyone...

MB74

Hi Darragh29,

I don't tend to read posts so long (sorry) but I did yours.

I do believe there is a gap there too even if for just the 'simple stupid I really should know the answer to this one' questions or to help someone get off the ground.

I bought my own business two and a half years ago, big step. Had never ventured into the 'other side' of operations before and had so much to learn. What may have seemed obvious to others wasn't obvious to me. Examples: we use to get our stationery from two doors up, nice friendly guy, till I realised we were paying twice the going rate, we now source our stationery from three suppliers and save a couple of hundred a year on not a huge outlay, similar with our phone line. I could give other examples to for things like advertising, etc. Hey I'll even hold my hand up and say it happens for my industry too (I'm in insurance, again sorry:rolleyes:!).

Yeah I like the concept, I would like to see how it develops and if I can be of assistance then great let me know.

There are opportunities out the and they don't all arrive from blatant advertising or self promotion, I believe in the concept of 'pay it forward' and I've seen it work. Again another example: three years ago we were in Holles St before the arrival of our first bambino, we went to the classes and all that first time parents do. One class was given by Tony Kealy (of Tony Kealys Shop - prams, buggies etc), he gave a talk on buying the right buggy, car seat etc for you, not once did he try to sell his own product, very impartial and very good when it came to talking about competitors, said nothing bad about anyone, he was simply there as a non-paid safety spokesperson, but I bet he got more business that way than from any radio, tv or paper advertising he has ever paid for. Not once did he mention his own shop only when he introduced himself. People could take this advise with them to any shop they so wished. Again sorry for diversing but I thought it wasn't a bad example.

Darragh29, again would really love to know how you would like to develop this further.

Michael

sdm

I want to be updated on this topic also as it sounds as it could just get an edge on the suits+get down to nitty gritty. I tried to start on my own + find it really difficult to actually move forward.

kyper

I also think this is a good idea and would like to be kept informed

Obviously I do too!

Darragh29

Hi all,

I'm designing up a website for this idea at the moment and I think the best thing I can do is just stick the link up here and we'll take it from there. I want to point out from the outset that this is ENTIRELY open ended at the moment. I'm not saying that I have all the answers, not by a long long shot and I although I have my own views as to what direction this should go, I feel that ultimately this is up to members so to begin with, I'm suggesting I post up the link when it's ready and from there anyone who is interested can express an interest and when we can gauge that, we can meet up and explore this whole idea in more detail in a group forum where we can discuss and maybe identify more clearly what our needs are as entrepreneurs and how we can maybe organise ourselves in a way that helps us meet those needs.

Thanks again to everyone who posted here, for and against...

I'm extremely excited about this and I have a friend who is already an entrepreneur who would definitely be interested in this idea too. Trust me, if word of mouth is what this needs, I'll do my utmost.

Darragh29

I should have the website finished by next Monday, to any readers, please feel free to make further suggestions here, or for or against arguments in the meantime...

MB74

No wasting time there!

Culchie

Who are these 'successful entrepreneurs' that are going to give up their time to provide all this support/advice/coaching for nothing?
Contrary to something said earler in the thread .... You can have too much advice. If you had to listen to every Joe Soap who has an opinion you would never do anything.
The advice you take on board should come from a trusted credible source/s, with proven track records. Selling 13 million euros of gear is only impressive if his business is profitable. Turnover is vanity, Profity is sanity.

Your whole business model is based around this principal, so who are these credible sources?

Or is it simply to create a website portal of some sort that can sell advertisment space to companies to promote their products to start up businesses?

I watching with interest (Good Luck by the way) ..... but I'm sceptical.

betonit

sounds good, Im trying start something small. Also I think brainstorming on how to get things goings , identifying opportunities etc would be worthwhile excercises.... what happens next? Also need to be cautious about spam artists, protecting ideas etc

Axwell

Is the website up yet Darragh?

Darragh29

Axwell wrote: »

Is the website up yet Darragh?

I've the menu and page layouts done, just need to add some meat to the bone now and add my content! Will be tomorrow before I get it finished, hopefully!

Axwell

Looking forward to seeing it, keep us posted.

Cheers

jetsonx

Culchie wrote: »

Who are these 'successful entrepreneurs' that are going to give up their time to provide all this support/advice/coaching for nothing?

The most important question on this thread has still not been answered...

Why exactly should it be answered now? I'm sure it will be answered if and when Darragh29 chooses to. It's his idea, he will call the shots.

IrlDigi

Daragh,

Excellent Idea, I'm interested in getting involved....however, whatever....

ntlbell

Deleted User wrote: »

Why exactly should it be answered now? I'm sure it will be answered if and when Darragh29 chooses to. It's his idea, he will call the shots.

Because it's the core of the idea without the answer to this we have nothing?

MB74

Wow it's amazing how quick judgements have been handed down. It's a good thing we weren't the jury for OJ trial no.1, he might have been convicted by us when he was clearly innocent:rolleyes:

Let's wait and see, and even if the first draft isn't conclusive then perhaps with all the offers of help it may just get there eventually.

Culchie

Darragh29 wrote: »

Here goes... Say you join up and you are assisted by other more senior members of the organisation, you work on your business plan and refine it but you are coached within this process by proven entrepreneurs, not unlike how Dragon's Den works, obviously the senior members would not typically be as successful as these indivuals but they would have their own badges of success.

Also imagine that this organisation operated a private Credit Union within the organisation, (loads of organisations have private Credit Unions for their members, like the Gardai, Nurses Unions, PDFORRA, etc), basically this organisation would provide venture capital for members who met normal start-up criteria, you lodge shares and you can borrow a multiple of your share balance, just like the Credit Union.

Ultimately if this organisation was sucessful, it could buy premises and provide additional services such as office space, warehouse space, admin services, etc, etc, etc.

Most importantly, what I think is missing for entrepreneurs now is support that you effectively cannot buy. Say for example the type of questions you see being asked here very regularly, from marketing to cash flow management, how to effectively hire staff, managing overheads, capital expenditure, borrowing, dealing with banks, it is what I would describe as experience that people who have been done it the hard way, can give to others who are going down the same road. Simple trouble shooting that can often leave an entrepreneur feeling isolated, I'm not saying that this organisation would provide a councilling service, but more a very "hands on" mentoring/coaching service on a "per request" basis, meaning if someone has a problem, they can go to a meeting once a week or once a fortnight (not unlike how BNI operate), and flag the problem and someone can buddy up with them straight away and support them with that problem until it is resolved.

I'm just thinking out loud here, but I think there couldn't be a better time for an organisation like this to be set up and to be honest I'm thinking of setting it up myself. This organisation would be a not-for-profit operation, it's remit would be to help and assist in every way that is conceivable, entrepreneurs who want to start up a business...

I was reading on other fora here that people think that this is a job for the government or the IDA or some other body.

Like all good entrepreneurs, I think I've spotted a gap!

Just looking for thoughts on this, does anyone see the logic of what I've described above, is there a demand for it or is there some obvious reason that I'm not seeing why this hasn't been done already???

I described this idea before as "Freemasonry for Entrepreneurs", which is how I see it when I picture it up and running, (I'm not a Freemason by the way!), but I see this as being at its core a kind of fraternal organisation, supporting your brothers kind of thing...

I left out one bit, which is that members would naturally progress higher within the organisation through time and when they reached a certain point in the organisation, they would then assist other newer members...

Just thought all you 'supporters' should read the OP again.

I'm starting to think this is a bunch of college kids pushing a new website to be launched.

Why none of them has any interest in who are going to the advisors/strategists/supporters/coaches/everything under the sun to new companies .... is beyond me.

It as afterall the business/organisation that is being proposed.

MB74

Culchie you sceptic:D

Darragh29

Culchie wrote: »

Just thought all you 'supporters' should read the OP again.

I'm starting to think this is a bunch of college kids pushing a new website to be launched.

Why none of them has any interest in who are going to the advisors/strategists/supporters/coaches/everything under the sun to new companies .... is beyond me.

It as afterall the business/organisation that is being proposed.

Hardly likely Culchie. The whole website will be password protected and for the moment, I'll only be giving out access on a one to one basis. Hardly the approach that would be used by people who just wanted to drive traffic to a website. :rolleyes:

Axwell

Darragh29 wrote: »

I'll only be giving out access on a one to one basis. Hardly the approach that would be used by people who just wanted to drive traffic to a website. :rolleyes:

Whats the point of that, why not just give access as a beta version and let people have a look around, having to wait for a turn just to have a look would just put people off to be honest.

Culchie

Darragh29 wrote: »

Hardly likely Culchie. The whole website will be password protected and for the moment, I'll only be giving out access on a one to one basis. Hardly the approach that would be used by people who just wanted to drive traffic to a website. :rolleyes:

OK, so you don't want to make any money out of it, and you don't want anyone to know about it, and you haven't said who the 'dragons' are that are going to give out their advice for free.


Fair Enough, I'll get me coat.

Darragh29

ntlbell wrote: »

Because it's the core of the idea without the answer to this we have nothing?

I'll try to clarify this idea a bit better, because I think some folks might think that I'm trying to research an "Entrepreneur for Dummies" book here...

What I said in earlier posts was that when I started out first, I had little advice or support, in fact I'd say I had none. I learnt some extremely costly but also what I would consider to be completely unnecessary lessons along the way. Eventually when I contacted people I knew for advice, I found that not only had I, but other people had learnt the exact same ideas along their particular entrepreneurial journey.

What I found was that even though I had failed, I had learnt extremely valuable lessons along the way, the same lessons other people had learnt, and this was part of what I was told was the qualification process of becoming an entrepreneur. I didn't accept this however, that in order to be successful, you must first fail, although it was certainly true in my case and it was also true in relation to the folks who were giving me advice.

The idea I have here is at a very basic level, in the first instance, a forum for entrepreneurs. Before all else, it is that.

What I am suggesting in terms of the mechanics of the organisation, is that you join at one level as an entrepreneur with an idea and once you launch your business and meet clearly defined success criteria, you progress into a higher degree of membership. As you start, you are supported, as you progress, you become a supporter. Obviously a group that starts off like this only has an entry level membership without advanced members and that is the way I think it should be and remain.

I've made some incredibly fundamental mistakes when starting up, other people I know, made even more fundamental mistakes. This isn't rocket science folks, what I'm proposing in the first instance is a group of people with a marketable idea and drive to implement it, who want to work together to help everyone in the group to achive their goal, which is launching and running a profitable business operation. What I'm particularly interested in, is people who have previously failed and want to try again, because this is where the real secrets to becoming an entrepreneur actually are.

As we achieve that objective, we populate a new tier of membership with people who have accomplished the first objective, which is to bring a business from a concept to a functioning and profitable business,meet crealy defined success criteria and introduce new members to the entry layer of membership as members leave to progress into a higher degree of membership.

These are just my ideas, what I'm proposing is entirely open ended and fully open to discussion and change.

Ultimately, I'd like the organisation to be self sufficient in it's support people, as you move higher up the organisation, you are in a position to support and possibly invest if you want, in people who are joining the organisation.

What I'd like to see down the road is an organisation that has discussed through a group forum, and then documented for members, best known methodology for starting up a business. There are no fool proof ideas when it comes to business but I know that the lessons I and others learnt are not rocket science, but very much down to following simple principles and understanding that discipline is involved.

Again, I'm not saying that I am the enlightened one that has the answers, but I do believe that a group of people with the same vision and drive, along with some suuccessful people who have overcome hurdles and some people who are still trying to do so, can come up with the answers and put in place some sort of formula for being successful with regard to a small business start-up...

As previously discussed, there is the possibility of a credit union style facility within the organisation if members wanted to pursue this, giving entrepreneurs seed capital secured against shares. There is also a BNI type benefit to members as members can inter trade with each other, I think this should be hugely encouraged.

I hope some folks can see what I'm trying to achieve here, it's a bit different, I accept that... When I tried to describe this idea here before, I called it Freemasonry for Business! Again, I'm not a Freemason! But I have studied their organisation and admire in certain respects their fraternal approach to what they do, brothers supporting brothers and all that stuff... I'm not into funny handshakes though and bizarre initiation ceremonies!

MB74

Definitely the concept sounds good, there is an element of pay it forward, I believe the success of such a conept will be down to the simple mechanics of how it works and the genuine willingness of those involved. Roll on.

ps Was so looking forward to spilling goats blood on an alter in some weird initiation ceremony, but it looks like that's not going to happen:P

Darragh29

MB74 wrote: »

ps Was so looking forward to spilling goats blood on an alter in some weird initiation ceremony, but it looks like that's not going to happen:P

That's for the highest (third) degree of membership!

mountainyman

Culchie wrote: »

The advice you take on board should come from a trusted credible source/s, with proven track records. Selling 13 million euros of gear is only impressive if his business is profitable. Turnover is vanity, Profity is sanity.

[1] It is not his business why are you unable to understand this?
[2] 13 million in turnover is not impressive? Let's get real.

Culchie

mountainyman wrote: »

[1] It is not his business why are you unable to understand this?
[2] 13 million in turnover is not impressive? Let's get real.

Hold On MountainyMan ..... let's do get real.

(1) I'm asking Darragh29 (which in fairness he has done) to further expand on the core principal of the concept ... i.e The 'Dragons' who are going to provide the advice, and why/how are they going to do this for 'free'. Everything alse is 'fluff' ... this principal is the foundation of the exercise, otherwise it is just fresh air, or something straight out of a youth club brainstorming meeting. The advisors/coaches quality will underpin the whole credibility of the project to all prospective 'freemasons' so if Darragh29 is looking for constructive feedback for his project (as he is) .... I can't think of anything more relevant ... can you?

(2) Is the 13 million .... 2 houses a property developer sold in Ballbridge in 2007, or is it 5 million units of 'widgets' ..... you see there is a difference, and of course, the question if he made a profit.

If Darragh29 is going to take offence to these questions (which he hasn't) or if you do, then I'm afraid you'll need a thicker skin for business.

builder34

hi

think its realy good idea hope the site ready soon...
cheers

Darragh29

builder34 wrote: »

hi

think its realy good idea hope the site ready soon...
cheers

Sorry about the delay with the website for this folks, should be ready for the end of this week...

corkie

Darragh29 wrote: »

Sorry about the delay with the website for this folks, should be ready for the end of this week...

Just wondering how this is progressing?

John

Axwell

corkie wrote: »

Just wondering how this is progressing?

John

+1

Axwell

Any update on this site Darragh, it was supposed to be ready 3 weeks ago

CathalMc

If I might make a recommendation...

I'm involved founding a biomedical start-up in southern California, and a great source of help we've come across is the Tech Coast Angels (TCA) through their partnership with my university UCLA. The TCA is obviously a group of angels investors, and their on-campus relationship with the university is through an organization called the Techncial Entrepreneur Community (TEC).

What they do is organize occasional seminars on start-up business elements such as business plans, incorporation, intellectual property etc.. The composition of a panel might include a serial entrepreneur, a IP lawyer and a TCA representative. That is the first thing.

The second element is the TEC/TCA mentorship programme. Business proposals are submitted for review and depending on the quality of the proposal, candidates are given a mentor: a business investor with experience in advising start-ups and sitting on the boards of multiple businesses in the field.
The fledgling businesses can leverage the all of the TCA resources such as free legal advice, and business expertise. In return, the TCA investors get introduced to large numbers of new business groups, get to advise and mold them into successful investment opportunities for them.

I present this, not as a methodology to run your community, but hopefully as a source of ideas for attracting experienced advisers. There's some merit in the complaint made earlier that this community as it is suggested will be burdened by wanna-be hangers-on. In any case, I believe you would want to make your plan very clearly to distinguish between having it be a general business support community embracing all who tag along, or a focused entrepreneurship community for, e.g., businesses with high-growth potential.

Another little anecdote - again from Southern California - is quite like you suggest, communities of like-minded entrepreneurs in similar fields coming together once or twice a month to exchange ideas and offer support. In particular, low barrier-for-entry businesses such as web 2.0 systems are very popular groups.

Darragh29

Axwell wrote: »

Any update on this site Darragh, it was supposed to be ready 3 weeks ago

Sorry about the delay with this folks, no sooner had I sat down to get the website done and I got hit with a wall of other work that in the current climate I couldn't put on the back burner...

Darragh29

Folks,

I've been discussing this idea with people I know who are successful in business and one thing that has emerged as a question, is why would people join such an organisation??? Given that I said previously, just to open up the discussion a bit, that the idea of such an organisation would be to do the following:

Document and share learning key experiences on the path to breaking even and profit.

Being a source of capital for businesses, (something along the lines of a Credit Union).

Being a source of support for making & executing business decisions.

Assistance with book keeping and Revenue and CRO compliance.

Documenting and sharing marketing and sales strageties. Apparently failure to properly grapple with the marketing end of business and sales lead generation, and then converting leads to sales is one of the main reasons for business start-ups failing.

Just to get a bit of discussion going again, I see a fe wfolks here have sadi that they think this is a good idea, but I'd be interested in discussing this further to investigate what benefits potential members would expect or look for in such an organisaton....

Ideas welcome!

Darragh29

Right lads & ladies, webite almost ready to view, but you'll need a funny handshake to become a member!

Axwell

Let me know how I can get a look at it please Darragh.

Cheers