Eoin Redmond: Beware Of Your Own Optimism Eoin embarked on his entrepreneur journey back in 2008. He and his business partner developed a website that provided an online project management service for for small and medium sized projects. Their target customers base was the construction sector. At the beginning, everything looked promising; but this was to change.
What drove you to start your business?
At the time, we saw a gap in the market for businesses struggling to properly manage small and medium sized projects. These were mainly concentrated in the constructions sector. Projects were unnecessarily running over time and budget, and we were able to provide a tracking service that easily kept everyone informed on the current status of the project, and what measures to take to finish a project on time, and ultimately save customers money.
Did you receive any financial support?
Yes, we received financial support from the local Enterprise Office, Wicklow. They matched what we were putting in. Both my business partner and I were investing our own money, and they were willing to match that, which was great. However, there were limitations on how we could spend their money, which was restricting.
Was there any particular reason that led to the failure of the business?
There were two main reasons – bad timing and bad luck. We started the business in early 2008. The economic crash happened later that year, and almost overnight the constructions boom in Ireland at the time, came to a grinding halt. Our main target audience for our business was the construction industry, so almost overnight, all of our potential customers were themselves going out of business! The other reason, bad luck, was the launch of the smart phone. Our product was built for desktop only. We would have needed much more investment to develop a mobile version. At this time, apps were a very new thing. It was totally uncharted waters.
At what point did you realise that the business was no longer viable?
Our business model worked off customers who paid a monthly subscription for our service. With the crash in 2008, we were struggling to build a healthy customer base of monthly, fee paying customers. We reached a point whereby we said that if by ‘X’ date we do not have ‘X’ amount of customers, then it is no longer viable to continue the business. The only other alternative to keep things going was more investment. The date came, we didn’t have the customers, and we had exhausted all avenues of potential investment, so we made the tough decision to pull the plug.
What advice would you have for anyone about to start their own business?
Beware of your own optimism. You will be the person with the most optimism for your business, because it is you who believes in it the most. This does not mean that it will be a success. I learned that my own optimism/belief in what I was doing perhaps diminished my ability to be critical, even when facts and circumstances provided no reason to be optimistic.
Would you ever try again to start a business?
Absolutely. It was a huge learning curve. It was very disappointing both professionally and personally, to have to admit that it wasn’t working, and shut up shop, but it wouldn’t deter me in the future. The vast majority of businesses fail in their first year. We had a great idea, and good investment, but we could never have foreseen the property crash.
Do you have a story similar to Eoin's? Can you relate to her experience on your entrepreneur journey? If so, please let us know in the comments section below!