Hothouse Summer Session - Starting Your Own Internet Business
This was one piece of advice from leading Irish Internet entrepreneurs at the Hothouse Summer Session held in Aungier Street this week. Getting customers to pay for anything online is extremely difficult, especially if at the beginning you have enticed them with freebies/or cool stuff, even the big shots like Skype are experiencing this now. Two entrepreneurs who charged their customers from the start are Ivan Mac Donald of Dial2Do and McKeagney of IQ Content, who came to DIT to talk about their experiences in the online business world.
l-r: Leading Internet Entrepreneurs Morgan McKeagney IQ Content and Ivan Mac Donald Dial2Do join Hothouse Summer Sessions 2009
l-r: Tom Flanagan Head of Commercialisation, Morgan McKeagney IQ Content, Ivan Mac Donald Dial2Do, Annie Gatling Business Adviser BOI
Annie Gatling Business Advisor from Bank of Ireland gives general banking tips to entrepreneurs.
Ivan is a serial entrepreneur who founded eWare.com which he built to profitability and sold to US public company, Computer Associates (NSDQ:CA). His newest venture Dial2Do sells mobile services online. He maintains that people have this fickle perception that it is easy to make money out of an online business but nothing could be further from the truth. The fundamentals of business stay the same and you have to value your online product or service the same bricks and mortar businesses.
Morgan who completed the first Hothouse Venture Programme in 2001 has built a core business and become one of Ireland’s leading internet consultancy services with high profile clients like Vodafone, Deloitte, and Global Voice. His company recently ran a nationwide competition for the best business plan for an internet start-up, with a prize of €10,000. ‘The competition has been flooded with entries from all over the country, testimony to the upsurge in activity and the vibrant internet startup scene that is going on in Ireland right now’ commented Morgan.
Both speakers have very different products but share similar experiences in the online world. They offer the following key advice for aspiring entrepreneurs;
- Value your product/service
- Revenue model – figure out from day one how exactly you are going to make money
- Capital – don’t fall into the trap where online entrepreneurs underestimate the amount of capital involved in setting up and running the business
- Have a compelling core proposition – give value to the customer
- Understand your customers.
One well known problem with internet start-ups is raising finance. While Morgan maintains that the self-fund organic way worked for him and his focus was on acquiring customers, Ivan on the other hand had to raise equity finance fast in order to expand fast and succeed in the US. The type of finance really depends on the company and the individuals involved.
The bottom line summed up from both entrepreneurs is that ‘you have to value what you do and give value to your customers. That way, they don’t mind paying for it and you don’t have to give it away for free.
Further information contact;
Ruth Kearney
Marketing Officer
Hothouse
Aungier Street
Dublin 2
01 402 7144
