Business Mentor required

Fionn101

Hi All,

I'm looking to hire the services of a business mentor for a web based applications company,and I'm wondering if people will know where to find such a person.

Ideally I need someone who can do two tasks for me :

1) Be the business face for this new startup and contact the producer of the product we wish to purchase. someone used to business meetings , sales etc.

2) guide us on the non-technical aspects of this company , i.e. everything else aside from the programming !!

I'm wondering if this is really a task for two people ? as in hire a pro as a business mentor and hire another sales exec to do all the liasing with both the producer and potential companies employing this technology.

lastly, where could I find someone who is able to patent an API based around this new technology , again I'd need someone who understands patents well enough to lodge a successful application but also know enough about computer programming to make sure we don't get ripped off on our patent by someone just tweaking the original code sufficently to avoid payment.

I guess looking back over this post it could turn out to be 3 people that I need.

One important note is that I would like to hire the services of professional mentors, I'm not keen on using the local enterprise board for two reasons

1) I don't want someone else setting the pace of when and where I can meet my mentor , even if they are a free service.

2) I don't want to have to go on some business startup course,nor prove to someone that I meet their criteria for business incubation.

Hours are valuable , and I hope that paying for pro's will speed up this process.

All or any advice is of course much appreciated ,

ta in advance

Fionn

Trojan

Hmm, what about looking for a hands on investor? Saves money, raises money, means they're emotionally invested, etc.

yop

BusinessAngels are an option for you I would suspect.

jerryob

OP, have you taken advice on whether you can patent the API. It is notoriously difficult to get a software patent, and I would be cautious on over-relying on it.

There are other ways to protect your API, as I'm sure you know; make sure you copyright it; develop your market to accept your API as a 'standard', even by giving it away for free, under a tight SLA (i assume your main revenue streams are coming in from elsewhere).

Regarding your mentor question; talk to EI; get on to an EPP; rethink whether you can grow the business; approach successful business acquaintances - they'd be only too happy to help to startup. You need to start on the non-techie side anyway, by gathering the market requirements, talking to prospective customers, figuring out the business model, pricing, etc. etc. and only then start on the tech stuff.

I was planning on starting a business last Christmas and started talking to ex-colleagues about fronting it. They all said that I should have a go myself. I did, and haven't looked back.

Trojan

A guy you could talk to re: patents etc is Liam Birkett. Reckon paying him a couple quid for an hour or 2's advice on that would be well worth it. He's also a DCEB mentor

Darragh29

What you are looking for there OP falls far outside the scope of a mentor. It sounds like you need to research your own idea a lot more.

Here's my advice, if you can't front it, forget it. You don't pay people to front a small business, you are the front...

Fionn101

thanks for all the replies,

I had a look at business angels but I don't require an investor, and wouldn't want to hand away a portion of my company.
What I would really like is a business mentor who can roadmap out the steps I need to take to get the business setup,and also to help secure the technology project we wish to licence.

I reckon I'll hire someone to do a bit of market research for us and see what the competition is like, but from preliminary web searches there is only the main creator of this tech and no real competition (yet!) So first to market is a biggie with this idea.There are other flavours of this product but honestly ,they are a pale comparison to this breakthrough in the field (guess you'll have to take my word for it).


The API is a completley seperate idea, not core to the business but what jerryob says seems to make so much sence that I'm just not going to bother , it could easily be ripped off and released for free , so maybe that's what we'll do with it.

Darragh , not so sure I agree with you , also this isn't our only revenue stream and I like the idea of having someone dedicated to sales and meetings , I am a techie after all , it would be somewhat of a diversion for me to go out on the road.

so still I'm looking for a few recommended business mentors for the technology sector , has anyone ever paid for a mentor ?

I'm wondering who provides this sort of service, I doubt it requires Accenture to help out like !

Really appreciate the comments , and the humourus business ethos lines

Fionn

amen

I've read you post a few times and I have some limited experience in what you are trying to do and I have to say
1: you need to be your own sales person/point of contact at least initially. You need to understand what you customers want and what you are trying to sell them. You need to be able to respond to customer requests when you meet them not have a sales guy in the middle causing confusion. When you a stable product with some reference sites then its time for a sales guy but choose carefully.
2: Business meetings etc, Always have an agenda before hand, note down who is there, note what was agreed on and send a follow up email after wards on what was agreed. If at all possible always bring someone else with you to record the details and also to act as a sounding board. If the meeting gets heated never be afraid to ask for a 5-10 minute break to calm down and get your head back in the game.
3: Contacting Producers. At the start you really need to do this and be your company.
4:All of the non technical aspects. Initially you need to understand (or are least have an idea) of how VAT, TAX, Rent, ESB etc is paid from your company and the incoming/out goings work. You should have a business plan and know it like the back of you hand. If you are Ltd Company then I assume you will be a director and thus there are certain things you will have to sign off on such as end of year returns (which an accountant will complete) but if you haven't been keeping an eye on your business how will you really know whats good/bad?
5: Technical stuff. Whats you role? Project Manager, Lead developer, Architect etc? You need a schedule of goals and deliverables and then work back from there. The deliverables should of course match your business plan.
5: Banks/Accountants/Phone Providers/Landlords. Initially you are much better talking to all of these people your self. In the case of the bank for a small company you don't really want anyone else accessing you bank details anyway.
6: Target Markets? Which country are you targeting? Be careful of payments in foreign currency and changing conversion rates.

Really as a start up you have to be a Jack of all trades.

If I can be of any help then pm me

Fionn101

thanks for that Amen,

The technology I am persuing is specific to the area of work I'm involved in.
I hope that this will be a business to business venture and we will provide the transaction services and initial technology. so as such I won't have Joe public contacting me.

Agree on the next two points, guess I'll have to contact the producers of this technology and sell them my passion for this product and secure the licence.

thankfully I have the worlds greatest accountant from my other company so I'll be hiring him from the start to manage all that side of things(met him on boards actually).

I'm still having trouble trying to locate someone to guide me in the steps I'll need to perform though to bring this to market , ie : secure licence, stock , premises , marketing , customer services, realtime order system , business plan etc.

As for my role, it's most likely technical lead , I realy like your idea on deliverables and working back from there,I guess roadmapping these deliverables into realistic timeframes is where I require help. I know what needs to be done, it's just a matter of when and where on the map they get done.

Thanks again for the reply, very insightful

Fionn

Sent you a PM Fionn

Fionn101

pm replied , thanks

Fionn101

wondering are there anty companies in Ireland who provide this service ?

or any other budding business mentors out there?

Fionn101

so I've now had a few mentors contact me , and they are of excellent quality I have to say.

I'll be reviewing them over the next week or so and I'll keep the thread updated. I have to say the amount of info some of these people posess is unreal, certain aspects I would never have dreamed of.Worth every cent.

Fionn

jerryob

Would EI's new Business Partner Programme be applicable to you?

semibluff

ive dealt with, and would stand by the service i got from Getbusy.ie

They are based in Bray, and have years of experience in numerous fields. they help in setting up businesses and giving direction and advice.

Pm me if you would like a contact number or anything else

Fionn101

Thanks for that semibluff, I'll send you a pm now in a mo if thats cool , just want to hear your account of them.

Fionn101

Update: Well I've a meeting tomorrow evening with the Business mentor I've gone with, feels like a milestone has been passed having someone else on board now, even though it's early days.

With a few people now looking at the overall plan it certainly reduces the stress of managing/thinking of absolutley everything and I wonder how quickly we'll progress from here .....

I'll keep the updates coming.

One other question is where on the Northside can I get an incubator office, being based in Clontarf and working in the city it would be nice to get somewhere between O'Connell st and Clontarf.

Fionn

flash harry

Fionn

Have you had a look at the Guinness Enterprise Centre

http://www.guinness-enterprisectr.com/

I know an IT company in Tallaght with spare office space (own floor(s)) with a very good cost if location is more flexible. PM me if want more info.

Good luck

FH

Fionn101

thanks flash , I'll give the Guiness site a look.

Tallaght is a bit far away really, but thank you for the offer.

I will need some office space soon though , and a CORD grant !

Fionn101

I don't suppose anyone has any prices for the Guiness enterprise centre?

although we will contact them in due time, just wondering roughly what the fee's would be for office space to accommodate 3-4 developers.

Thanks in advance

Fionn