engineering-in-the-world

How To Make Your Business More Lean, Green and Digital

Wed, 15 May 2024 14:27:24 GMT

I spoke today about how to make your business more lean, green and digital with Local Enterprise Office Cork North and West and then moderated a panel with Stuart Nelson , Jigsaw , Marion Crowley , West Cork Biscuits, Brendan Neary , CCMatting and Susan O'Flaherty , RetroKit .

Here is a summary of insights:

��think about and articulate your competitive advantages.

��️ ask your customers why they buy from you and ask for their opinion as you build new products or services.

↩️ you might lose a competitive advantage and you need to think about how to regain them. Be hungry to find new ones all the time.

��we’re finding that we have a new “customer” now from a sustainability lens. We needed to get ahead of this and really understand what our customers need in this area and applied for a “Green for Business” support from LEO Dublin City to help us with this.

��we use RICE (Reach, Impact, Confidence and Effort) to help make decisions.

��”what’s really annoying you?” is a good place to start when considering how to engage with Local Enterprise Offices .

2️⃣ there is a “twin transition” happening now with digital transformation and sustainability. Consider using dedicated canvases to help you navigate through the challenges and opportunities.

�� I’ve started recording a “Vault of Evidence” each week to help us determine our sustainability KPIs and to highlight the trends internally for our team.

��‍�� I spend time looking at webinars of the companies who form our tech stack (eg ClickUp and Airtable ) so I can learn from other use cases etc.

⏰ the return of time, on the time investment you make, can be huge when it comes to becoming more lean, green and digital.

Thank you Lisa Finn and Jamie Cuthbert Dindabure for the opportunity to work with you all today in Clonakilty.

InterTradeIreland Venture Capital Conference

Wed, 15 May 2024 14:18:43 GMT

A summary of my key takeaways from today's InterTradeIreland Venture Capital Conference:

�� Deirdre O'Neill highlighted the importance of multiple revenue streams in business at every stage. Bootstrap for as long as you can and crowdfunding can enable the people who love your brand to be part of the company's journey.

�� Sinéad Crowther , Suzanne Moloney and Aine Kilkenny talked about the different metrics associated with running a "direct to consumer" business including customer acquisition cost, churn and digital marketing analytics.

�� If you have a "business to business model", you may need additional hires and to spend more time nurturing relationships and onboarding.

�� Take the "free" money that comes from government grants and competitions (e.g. Seedcorn) to build the business before approaching VCs.

�� Andrew O'Neill , Barry Brennan , Faye Walsh Drouillard and David McCurley talked about how VCs differentiate themselves by levels of experience, how far into the journey they're willing to go, sector, connection, impact investing, cheque size and exit plan.

�� In terms of approach, be prepared, ask for advice, talk to other investees in their portfolio and follow through.

��‍�� In the deeptech panel, Brian Murphy , Jason Lynch and Orlaith Ryan noted that "specs don't get cheques" i.e. the tech will get you so far as you need to focus on the business opportunity.

✅ You need to show how your assumptions are validated, the execution capability of the team, have "multiple shots on goal" and both prepare yourself and your team for a long journey.

�� John W Cassidy and Declan Kelly demonstrated that a well written cold email can get a VC's attention and good communication is critical for a well-functioning relationship.

�� Share your problems so that you can get actionable solutions from the sounding board wisdom around the table.

�� Your VC may want to influence the long term outcome of the business and it's important to want that input.

�� Gary Davidson led a panel discussion with Andrew Sheffield , DC Cahalane and Beth G. where they talked about how Landscape.vc is like Glassdoor for VCs, the importance of cross-border collaboration, how "growth at any cost" is being replaced now with "path to profitability" and persistent follow-up is a good thing!

�� Laura Haldane highlighted the importance of repeatability into your business model. You don't delegate because you're lazy but because you're empowering others and growing your own capacity. Love what you do and your work can be a source of personal sustainability.

�� With a larger team and greater ambition, you need more HR and marketing structure.

�� If you're nervous about taking on VC money, talk to a VC's portfolio company about their experience. Investment brings money, but also connections, wisdom, collective responsibility, challenge and an adventure!

Thank you Drew O'Sullivan , Gary Stokes , Shane O'Hanlon and Jane Watson for the opportunity to work with you.

Entrepreneurship Ecosystem

Mon, 04 Mar 2024 06:37:20 GMT

Do you think about how you cultivate and contribute to your entrepreneurial ecosystem? Here are a couple of questions to think about:

��Are you availing of the financial supports available to you? At the Local Enterprise Offices they offer the Trading Online Voucher, priming grant, business expansion grant and several others.

✅Have you applied for non-financial grants e.g. a consultant who can work with your business to help it become more lean, minimise it's carbon footprint, put automation in place or have some sessions with a mentor?

��‍♀️How are you getting exposure to new customers? The TAME grant can help you with the costs of exhibiting at a trade show, #EnterpriseEuropeNetwork can help you find companies in other parts of the world to distribute your product and a trade mission can help you explore an export market.

��How are you building connections? Growing your network helps with ideas, facilitating introductions, resolving problems and is enjoyable! What events are you going to? Do you follow up (with substance) on LinkedIn afterwards? Do you share updates and insights on social media along the way? For example, the InterTradeIreland Venture Capital Conference is free to attend on Wednesday 5th March at the Titanic in Belfast (and the link to register is https://lnkd.in/e6u9qpMS). Check out Network Ireland, your local Chambers Ireland and IIBN - Irish International Business Network for more ideas.

��‍�� How are you connecting with universities? For example, we have an Innovation Partnership with ADAPT Centre. If you're interested in meeting researchers, check out Knowledge Transfer Ireland (KTI), Ulster University Business School and TU Dublin Enterprise Engagement.

��How can you expand your ecosystem with your other interests? For example, I was in Dubai two weeks ago and attended the CFA Society Emirates Annual Forecasting Dinner, an Irish Business Network Dubai event and delivered an online SavvyTeenAcademy event from Haibu Space at Abu Dhabi Mall. I'm also an AwakenHub Big Sister.

�� Are you aware of how the government is helping you build your ecosystem? The Department of Foreign Affairs, Ireland has Embassies and Consulates all over the world (with incredibly helpful people like Peter Ryan ☘ leading them) and Enterprise Ireland has offices dotted all over the globe.

��️How do you let others help you build your knowledge through podcasts and newsletters? I turn to Helen Thompson for geopolitics and Sahil Bloom for productivity and mindset.

��How do you turn to your ecosystem to solve your problems? If you want to raise money, sell your business or figure out how to implement AI in your processes.

⛓️Do you leverage how your supply chain is evolving? Airtable, ClickUp and Slack all form part of our tech stack and our business improves as they do all the time.

��How do you connect your dots within your ecosystem to make it better for everybody?

New Location, More Products

partners@onlinepartners.online (Snap Websites) — Mon, 28 Oct 2019 13:42:32 GMT

This is a subtitle for your new post

Write about something you know. If you don’t know much about a specific topic, invite an expert to write about it. Having a variety of authors in your blog is a great way to keep visitors engaged. You know your audience better than anyone else, so keep them in mind as you write your blog posts. Write about things they care about. If you have a company Facebook page that gets lots of comments, you can look here to find topics to write about.

Seasonal shopping guidelines

partners@onlinepartners.online (Snap Websites) — Thu, 24 Oct 2019 10:51:10 GMT

This is a subtitle for your new post

Boost loyalty and engagement

partners@onlinepartners.online (Snap Websites) — Thu, 24 Oct 2019 10:51:10 GMT

There are so many good reasons to communicate with site visitors. Tell them about sales and new products or update them with tips and information.

Here are some reasons to make blogging part of your regular routine.

Blogging is an easy way to engage with site visitors

Writing a blog post is easy once you get the hang of it. Posts don’t need to be long or complicated. Just write about what you know, and do your best to write well.

Show customers your personality

When you write a blog post, you can really let your personality shine through. This can be a great tool for showing your distinct personality.

Blogging is a terrific form of communication

Blogs are a great communication tool. They tend to be longer than social media posts, which gives you plenty of space for sharing insights, handy tips and more.

It’s a great way to support and boost SEO

Search engines like sites that regularly post fresh content, and a blog is a great way of doing this. With relevant metadata for every post so search engines can find your content.

Drive traffic to your site

Every time you add a new post, people who have subscribed to it will have a reason to come back to your site. If the post is a good read, they’ll share it with others, bringing even more traffic!

Blogging is free

Maintaining a blog on your site is absolutely free. You can hire bloggers if you like or assign regularly blogging tasks to everyone in your company.

A natural way to build your brand

A blog is a wonderful way to build your brand’s distinct voice. Write about issues that are related to your industry and your customers.

Quality wins, every time

partners@onlinepartners.online (Snap Websites) — Thu, 24 Oct 2019 10:51:09 GMT

Write about something you know. If you don’t know much about a specific topic that will interest your readers, invite an expert to write about it.

Speak to your audience

You know your audience better than anyone else, so keep them in mind as you write your blog posts. Write about things they care about. If you have a company Facebook page, look here to find topics to write about.

Take a few moments to plan your post

Once you have a great idea for a post, write the first draft. Some people like to start with the title and then work on the paragraphs. Other people like to start with subtitles and go from there. Choose the method that works for you.

Don’t forget to add images

Be sure to include a few high-quality images in your blog. Images break up the text and make it more readable. They can also convey emotions or ideas that are hard to put into words.

Edit carefully before posting

Once you’re happy with the text, put it aside for a day or two, and then re-read it. You’ll probably find a few things you want to add, and a couple more that you want to remove. Have a friend or colleague look it over to make sure there are no mistakes. When your post is error-free, set it up in your blog and publish.