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Column From idea to reality, the story of a young Irish start-up

Gary Fox took a business idea from college classroom to young company. Here he describes how he did it.

IN JUST SIX months I went from kicking around a business idea in a classroom in Dublin City University to pitching the idea to a room of over 200 investors, entrepreneurs and industry experts from Ireland, UK and Europe. Here’s how I did it and how you can too.

Starting your own business in Ireland has never been more accessible. Suddenly being an entrepreneur is sexy thanks to Dragons’ Den and the Apprentice. Barriers to entry have dropped dramatically and as more and more people find themselves unemployed, the opportunity is there to take the leap and create your own job. Why wait for a job? Go out and create your own.

What do I need?

First and foremost you need an idea. Something you are passionate about and believe can really make a difference and be successful. While the idea is important, the real key factor is the entrepreneur and the team behind the idea. Find people who share your passion and who won’t shy away at the first suggestion of working over the weekend. Tensions will flare in the high-pressure environment of business start-ups, so treat it like a marriage. Be sure they are right for you and the business otherwise it’s going to be a messy and costly divorce.

If you watched the Social Network or read the headlines of multi-billion dollar valuations of Facebook you would imagine starting a tech company is the quickest and sexiest way to become a millionaire almost overnight. In truth, its endless days of hard work, staring at a whiteboard seeking a solution to a technical problem, juggling finances and trying to figure out how to make the elevator pitch sound interesting after you’ve delivered it a thousand times. But not for one second would I swap it for a traditional 9-to-5 and a secure pay check on a Friday.

Where do I get my idea?

All three founders are graduates of the Masters in eCommerce course in DCU so naturally our background in tech led us in that direction. Jennifer Murphy from Dublin is the technical lead and John Walsh from Mayo is head of business development. If possible, try to work in an area you have knowledge of or at least have a burning passion for. Putting in 80 hours a week is much easier if you really have a love for the idea.

The raw idea for VideoScamp was created during our final masters project and we began commercialisation after securing a shared office space in the DCU Invent Centre for three months. Finding somewhere to work is key as sitting at your kitchen table will offer too many distractions and being in a shared spare offers new connections and opportunities with other entrepreneurs.

As much of a genius as you think you are, all ideas are going to need that little bit of luck. Ours came early one morning in August 2012. Less than three months after starting work on the company and just two weeks before we presented our idea to college examiners, we secured a place in the best accelerator programme for young tech companies in Ireland.

You don’t know everything

The more you begin to learn, the more you will realise that you have so much to learn. Our team is relatively small and we are all first time tech entrepreneurs so it was crucial for us to get outside help. Securing a spot on the NDRC Launchpad programme ensured we got three months’ intensive mentoring from some of Ireland’s leading experts in the areas of PR; from Paul Hayes of BeachHut PR, Harry Largey for commercialisation, finance mentor Johnny Harte and Nicola Riordan in marketing. Twitter and LinkedIn will give you access to anyone you wish to seek advice from.

Through Twitter alone, I’ve secured meetings with company CEOs and industry experts who will gladly spare you 30 minutes for a cup of coffee if you approach them correctly. A little bit of flattery and ego stroking never did any harm either. They are successful people, but they still like to be told how brilliant they are.

Alternatively meet-up events are the ideal place to learn from other entrepreneurs and experts; check out Startup Digest for a list of upcoming tech events in Dublin. Notable events include Dublin Beta and Pub Standards.

Talking to experienced entrepreneurs can avoid costly mistakes and offer much needed external perspective. Every entrepreneur believes their idea is going to change the world and make millions but this passion can often blind you from seeing obvious flaws or roadblocks ahead.

If it’s good enough for Google

The Irish tech scene is gaining international recognition. In September 2012 Fortune Magazine named Dublin as one of the best new global cities for start-ups.

Right now there’s arguably no better place in Europe to start you own business, especially in the tech sector. The leading tech companies from all over the globe are located right here in Dublin. Google, Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter have all chosen Dublin as their European base. With Ireland now recognised as a good place to do business, largely because of favourable corporate tax rates, it means easy access for entrepreneurs to some of the world’s leading industry figures.

The ecosystem surrounding startups is booming. Tech accelerators such as the programme we took part in, NDRC Launchpad, along with DCU Ryan Academy’s Propeller programme and the newly established StartupBootCamp Health XL and Wayra Ireland (backed by O2 Telefonica) offer the perfect starting place for young tech startups.

Money

The source of most sleepless nights are “what if” scenarios for potential entrepreneurs. There is never going to be a perfect time so use the lack of certainty as a motivator as you have less to lose.

With bank lending at an all time low, entrepreneurs must get creative to secure investment for their business. Securing a spot on an accelerator programme will net you roughly €20,000 funding and give you a runway of six months to get your business up and running. Enterprise Ireland also offer a number of excellent supports including the Competitive Start Fund worth €50,000 and Innovation Vouchers which will partner you with a university for research projects worth €5000. Angel investors are another source of investment but they are unlikely to take a gamble on an unproven idea so you will need to at least have the product to market.

Read: Small and medium businesses could* deliver 20,000 jobs>

Read: 4 stupidly simple but successful new inventions>

Gary is co-founder of VideoScamp, a young Irish tech start-up based in the NDRC Launchpad programme in the Digital Hub, Dublin. VideoScamp is the first video content marketplace exclusively for online retailers. You can follow Gary on Twitter @garethfox, add him on LinkedIn, or email him at gary@videoscamp.com or visit www.videoscamp.com.

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31 Comments
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    Mute Dearbhla O Reilly
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    Aug 28th 2020, 12:15 AM

    Covid is really highlighting the cracks in the system.

    181
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    Mute Paul Gorry
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    Aug 28th 2020, 12:52 AM

    @Dearbhla O Reilly: covid is a curse always going to be a crack in the system, whatever system that maybe

    20
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    Mute Graham Manning
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    Aug 28th 2020, 8:05 AM

    @Paul Gorry: yes but specific to our education system we’ve the highest pupil teacher ratio, smallest physical classrooms, highest percentage of overcrowded schools, spend the smallest percentage of our budget in education and a lack of teachers. All things, thanks to decades of underinvestment that were there pre Covid. Just a damn sight more visible now.

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    Mute Dan
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    Aug 28th 2020, 1:59 AM

    Garda stations closing, schools with no teachers, hospitals with no beds or doctors, no money for that kinda stuff. Plenty of money to build broadband infrastructure that we wont own, or ministers that we dont need, or to rent space so TDs can adequately socially distance in their job.

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    Mute Adam Conroy
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    Aug 28th 2020, 3:22 AM

    There’s no extra teaching positions. Just a big campaign to recruit casual subs.

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    Mute Graham Manning
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    Aug 28th 2020, 8:05 AM

    @Adam Conroy: that vast majority of whom don’t exist.

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    Mute Proinsias Ó Fearghail
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    Aug 28th 2020, 7:21 AM

    We have the exact same situation. 150 children and 5 mainstream teachers. 39 in senior classroom. Dropped numbers last year but as we had a huge surge in numbers this year,I thought an appeal would succeed. I was wrong. Back in April,when these decisions were being made,Department was behaving as if all was normal. They only seemed to realise there was an issue at the end of July,and since then they have been sending us email after email…but no surrender on teacher allocation.

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    Mute Woolly
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    Aug 28th 2020, 8:02 AM

    @Proinsias Ó Fearghail: 39 in a class isn’t normal or acceptable in any situation

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    Mute EvieXVI
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    Aug 28th 2020, 12:21 AM

    Enough already!
    Teachers are head done by, we get it!
    Just let our children be children- there is no perfect solution, and stop this scare- mongering and focusing on problems that can – and need – to be solved, just not by next week.

    37
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    Mute Michael Purcell
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    Aug 28th 2020, 6:06 AM

    @EvieXVI: read the article again.
    Pupils in large classes are educationally disadvantaged!
    Pupils.
    This article us about the welfare of pupils.

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    Mute TheHeathen
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    Aug 28th 2020, 7:56 AM

    @EvieXVI: Ah there she is with her big chip. This has nothing to do with teachers and everything to do with students, yet you couldn’t help having a go at teachers like in all education articles you seem to always comment on. Years of underinvestment has left our students at a disadvantage, largest class sizes and one of the lowest investment per GDP in the OECD. All areas of education need investment, not just a one off splurge of money for hand sanitizer, prefab and subs. Well funded education gives back many multiples on its investment to society and the economy. We are punching so far above our weight when it comes to educational investment, ad can be seen by our international scores.

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    Mute Graham Manning
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    Aug 28th 2020, 8:06 AM

    @EvieXVI: not a word of that was about “hard done by” teachers. Reading and understanding are two different things.

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    Mute Sean O' Donovan
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    Aug 28th 2020, 12:21 AM

    ‘No zero-risk scenario’: Hiring 1,000 extra teachers to be a challenge, accepts Minister.

    Someone’s having a great laugh at all the panic and fear being spread.

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    Mute Lorraine Mac Rory
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    Aug 28th 2020, 7:13 AM

    @Sean O’ Donovan: none of those teachers are for primary

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    Mute Saorlaith
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    Aug 28th 2020, 7:21 AM

    @Sean O’ Donovan: where are they pulling the 1000 teachers from? They don’t exist!

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    Mute Woolly
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    Aug 28th 2020, 8:00 AM

    @Saorlaith: Fair share of them in Middle East, getting good pay and conditions maybe we should do another Irelands call, it worked so well last time………!!!

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    Mute Seymour business
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    Aug 28th 2020, 12:51 AM

    No doubt it’s going to be difficult and require a lot of hard work and concentration which may not suit a lot of teaching staff for various reasons.. But best of luck to all..

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    Mute Graham Manning
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    Aug 28th 2020, 8:08 AM

    @Seymour business: well there’s a sneaky nonsensical dig that has no relation to the article itself. You know the one about students being disadvantaged?

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    Mute Criostoir Mac Ranghaill
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    Aug 28th 2020, 1:15 AM

    Kids the future of our country now are becoming a serious liability because of inept management by government.

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    Mute Padraic Tuffy
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    Aug 28th 2020, 1:08 AM

    Let’s just all sit at home, sure it will be great. Absolutely let’s be careful and controlled. The kids will loves us for it, and love us, and love us……they will know no difference. They have to grow, pandemic or no pandemic and any any state employees with strong unions really need to consider the bigger picture.

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    Mute Graham Manning
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    Aug 28th 2020, 8:09 AM

    @Padraic Tuffy: decided on your silly post before reading the article huh?

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    Mute Gareth Murphy
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    Aug 28th 2020, 8:21 AM

    @Padraic Tuffy: You dont think overcrowded classrooms fits into the bog picture?

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    Mute Colette Kearns
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    Aug 28th 2020, 1:01 AM

    Where is the 375million going that’s been granted to schools in Ireland? I for one want to know, one school going to use an old woren out garden shed ( used to have one & it cost 199£ & yes ££ that’s how old they are) to put a sick child into!! Ahh seriously!

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    Mute Eddie O'Neill
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    Aug 28th 2020, 1:15 AM

    @Colette Kearns: They released a partial breakdown of the costs a few weeks back, you are right to want to know, I was curious if the €50m for deep cleaning is arranged by each school individually or was a contract awarded to a company to cover all schools. All staff and pupil areas cleaned daily, so all chairs, desks, handrails, doors, toilets etc etc, seems a tall order that would require a full time team of people. My cynical thinking wonders if this cleaning will be half a55ed, that if its not fully done there is little point in half cleaning, and that some contractor(s) will share €50m of taxpayers for doing nothing useful. Gov doesn’t care as along as they can say we did something about it.

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    Mute Paul Gorry
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    Aug 28th 2020, 1:21 AM

    @Colette Kearns: collete give over the scaremongering will you. The child will be taken out off class and put into whatever is available until the appropriate action is taken. Your assumption of putting a sick child in a garden shed doesn’t help parents fears. Haven’t said that I totally understand your frustration.

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    Mute Colette Kearns
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    Aug 28th 2020, 1:29 AM

    @Paul Gorry: Catch up Paul . There was a school principle showing the garden shed yesterday on national tv!

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    Mute Paul Gorry
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    Aug 28th 2020, 1:45 AM

    @Colette Kearns: collette as I said they will be put somewhere until the appropriate action is taken. I seen that news article on rte if its a garden shed so be it, but your putting a sick child in a garden shed comment is all wrong. The child is taken away from the rest of the class, iam 100%sure they won’t be in that shed for too long. So no need for me to catch up.

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    Mute Joe Toner
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    Aug 28th 2020, 4:42 AM

    @Paul Gorry:
    Are you for real? The child will be put in a garden shed whether you decide to change the language to suit your way of thinking….. It is a Garden Shed!!! Open your eyes and come into the real world. When, in your opinion, is a shed not a shed????

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    Mute Eileen O'Sullivan
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    Aug 28th 2020, 1:46 AM

    @irish govt f f S.

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    Mute Chris Mc
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    Aug 28th 2020, 9:42 AM

    A country of moaners. No matter who does what people complain.

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    Mute Nigel Barlow
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    Aug 28th 2020, 10:04 AM

    Whinge whinge whinge. In my day classes of 40 plus were the norm – not 25 for gods sake. It seems whinging about anything and everything these days has become a national trait.

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    Mute Zmeevo Libe
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    Aug 28th 2020, 10:45 AM

    @Nigel Barlow: A shoe box?! I wish we lived in a shoe box!

    2
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