A DECADE AGO, Romanian entrepreneur Silviu Preoteasa found himself in Ireland by chance.
After selling his data centre business Soliber Net for a seven-digit sum, he was approached to join Dell’s sizeable operation in the Republic – and he jumped at the opportunity.
But despite joining the payroll queue, Preoteasa remained deep in the startup scene, using part of the sale proceeds to put nearly €200,000 into seven young Irish companies over the years.
Shortly after a move to Hostelworld, where he eventually took charge of the £300 million firm’s marketing technology, Preoteasa also became chairman of Entrepreneurs Anonymous (EntAnon).
While the group operates on a non-profit basis, the 39-year-old says his involvement wasn’t exactly motivated by altruism.
“It was an extremely selfish move. I was on the angel investment scene and working on a way to get into companies as early as possible,” he tells Fora.
“There were only a couple of meet ups where you could see budding entrepreneurs – not the usual ones already in Enterprise Ireland programmes – and I wanted very raw entrepreneurs with ideas.”
After more than three years at the helm, Preoteasa this week announced he was stepping down from the role he took over from the group’s founder, John Muldoon, as the Romanian native dives into a fresh business idea. He has also given notice at his day job.
In a sign of EntAnon’s growing profile, a dozen candidates have put their hands up as replacements – a far cry from the one rival Preoteasa says he had for the role.
“The chance among 12 people of finding someone else who is better at me than doing this is huge,” he says.
“I don’t think it’s possible to be both the mentor, and at the same time to be at the forefront of a startup making horrible mistakes, as we will, unavoidably.
“Besides, there needs to be a fresh take. I’ve been doing this for three years now, and I feel comfortable talking about what we’ve done because I’ve made all my mistakes.
“EntAnon is not about ego. It’s going to be massively rewarding for me if the next chairman brings membership to 50,000.”
Growing memberships
Since Preoteasa took the reins, membership in Dublin grew from 900 to 5,000, while worldwide the group has 15,000 in its ranks.
EntAnon’s core events, where experienced entrepreneurs tell members their own startup lessons, usually in the familiar surrounds of an Irish pub, have increased in frequency, hitting about 150 last year.
But Preoteasa says engagement in the group really shot up when it launched startup workshops. Recently EntAnon held an event in Manchester, ran a hackathon in London and organised a splinter event at a German marketing summit.
“I think 15,000 members is the threshold in Ireland. Now we feel we can we have multiple cities as successful as Dublin outside Ireland.”
Friends and enemies
By Preoteasa’s own admission, the group has made some “friends and enemies” as it expanded and took on added responsibilities.
Some startup groups weren’t so keen on forming partnerships, while he says state officials also needed convincing of some its schemes – particularly when EntAnon launched its own investment programme to help startups to get access to Enterprise Ireland’s Competitive Startup Fund (CSF).
Preoteasa now accepts that investment programme, which involved €100,000 of his own money being put on the table for members’ firms, ultimately didn’t work.
“I thought we would be flooded with requests, but in the end we only funded two. I couldn’t understand why some of the applications we received had been elected as CSF winners because I couldn’t see myself putting €5,000 in them.”
Next idea
Nevertheless, the remaining €90,000 has been put to good use, according to Preoteasa.
“I know it is selfish, but I’m delighted it didn’t work because I decided to start my own company and we already have a working model.”
He says his idea, put simply, will use travel data to predict when someone will travel next, where will they go and if they will enjoy it.
“I could have stayed comfortable in employment, but it’s 10 years this week since I sold my last company, so it’s time for a new business.
“What I knew when I was in my late 20s and selling in my 30s is different from what I know now. For example, I only learned what VC stands for in 2009 after selling my last company, so I think I can do better this time around.”
And in Preoteasa’s mind at least, he has a huge potential money-spinner on his hands.
“Travel science can be turned into a billion-euro sector because travel itself makes a multi-trillion contribution to global GDP. It’s easy to be a billion-euro business in that kind of area.
“Right now, around half of travel bookings are made online. We assume that travel is digital, but half still isn’t. So half of a multi-trillion business is there to tap into.”
Next up
So far, there is only one other person involved with Preoteasa in his new concept – Portuguese travel-tech guru Nuno Valinhas, who formerly worked for Leading Hotels of the World, a firm that promotes five-star hotels.
But Preoteasa has been busy getting as much feedback on his idea as possible, meeting with the likes of CarTrawler’s Bobby Healy to test the concept.
“One thing I have learned is you are delusional if you think you’re coming up with a new idea. You might come up with a new angle, but if you think it’s new, that’s because you didn’t talk to enough people.”
While he promises to keep his distance during the EntAnon appointment process, Preotasa does have a strong opinion on who should be tasked with filling his shoes.
“Applicants can say they know the Irish scene really well, but we are already the largest non-profit entrepreneurs group in Ireland. That’s been done. If you focus big on Ireland you are missing the point.
“My secret hope is we get another chairman who is Irish, who is committed for three years and interested in bringing the group international.
“Leveraging this Irishness could make EntAnon stand out and show others the benefit of a tight-knit startup scene.”
Written by Killian Woods and posted on Fora.ie
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