Under the glare of theatre lights on a stage, 11 start-ups set out their businesses at the finale of the 2015 AIB Start-up Academy. They were undertaking what has become a ritual for entrepreneurs: the pitch. The word "pitch" here is shorthand for the five- to six-minute presentations normally directed at prospective investors. When done right a pitch convinces listeners not only of the need for the product being pitched, but also describes the prevailing conditions that render the pitcher's business success inevitable.
Although a pitch is just one more item of salesmanship tipped in to the average day’s advertising pile, the best ones can elicit the occasional shiver up the spine.
The presenters at the Start-up Academy finale were different from the norm. They kept it simple. Their products are simple. The best were wonderfully ingenious ideas and virtually all have already proven their value in the hands of customers. In other words, hot air was in shorter supply than one has come to expect at start-up pitches.
Innovative approaches
One was a handy app for finding cheaper phone contracts, appropriately named KillBiller. But there were plenty of non-tech start-ups too. Two,
Wyldsson
and
Everest Granola
, were food companies that have taken innovative approaches to their product. Another, Worldbox, promised a more convenient parcel-sending service.
Near the end of the evening Conor Murphy dropped what in the world of start-ups qualifies as a bombshell. His company, GymChef, had sold healthy ready-meals at outlets across Dublin for several months and appeared set for growth. Murphy told the audience that he had encountered a catastrophic production issue and would be starting again from scratch.
Murphy's pitch was a brave anti-pitch, and it marked a personal highlight of the Start-up Academy programme. Entering the start-up world is a huge learning curve. The start-ups do not have to be the next Facebook, but need to be able to grow sustainably. GymChef will probably not be the next Facebook, but Murphy will return with a better production system and his company will grow.
Broad focus
Working with AIB broadened the scope of the programme and enabled hundreds of entrepreneurs and would-be entrepreneurs to network at a dozen Start-up Nights across the country. There has been an undue focus on technology start-ups, and to a lesser extent on life science ventures, in Ireland in recent years.
Together, The Irish Times and AIB decided to take a broad focus, seeking out all kinds of entrepreneurs and reaching beyond the narrow confines of Dublin.
It was fitting that amid the customisable books for kids, the smart waste disposal bags and the indie beer supplier, the start-up that took the prize at the finale of the Start-up Academy – Herdwatch – was based outside Dublin and straddled the world of agriculture and app development.
Herdwatch is “CRM for cows”. CRM – or customer relationship management – typically refers to software systems that maintain profiles of customers so that a company knows what and when to sell to them. In the case of cows, Herdwatch gives farmers a way to keep tabs on the status of each cow and to cut down on paperwork by sending this data to the Department of Agriculture directly from their smartphones.
What won it the prize more than anything else was that its founder started not with an idea for a product but with the search for a solution. Fabien Peyaud started to ask farmers how they managed their herd. Some used the built-in Notes app on their iPhones, while others used Evernote or similar apps for note-taking.
There was no mobile app specifically built for farmers to manage their herds on the market, and Fabien realised farmers needed one. Its users say Herdwatch is a big deal. Herdwatch is probably going to have a big impact, and let’s hope the 2016 AIB Start-up Academy will too.
