Donagh Kiernan, John Ogie Sheehy, Hrvoje Smolic and Pat Lucey pictured at Tech Industry Alliance’s TechBrew which was held at the NSC, Cork.7th Dec 2022: What do you get when two physicists and an engineer take to the stage at our latest TechBrew ? A lot of philosophy, some interesting formulas but mainly a huge spattering of passion and perseverance, traits which they all exude in their drive for success.
Taking place at the National Software Centre and MC’d by CEO of Tenego and Vice Chairperson, Tech Industry Alliance, Donagh Kiernan, the theme of the event was ““Successful Tech Entrepreneurs don’t make mistakes 😊” and our speakers didn’t disappoint as we were treated to some very frank and insightful stories about the trials and tribulations of building a business from:
- Hrvoje (Harvey) Smolic, Founder at Graphite Note
- John Ogie Sheehy, CEO European Business and Global CIO at ViClarity
- Pat Lucey, Co-founder and formerly CEO and Chairman of Aspira
We’ve rounded up some nuggets of advice that may help those of you about to embark on the entrepreneurial journey or perhaps comfort those already on the steep learning curve that comes with the territory!
“ Persevere”
Starting out in the field of physics, Harvey Smolic veered off in the direction of software development and business intelligence, an area which inspired his first company Qualia Data Sciences over 10 years ago. Now on a journey with new start-up Graphite Note, Harvey says that perseverance has been vital in surviving the day to day as a founder! He explained that as humans we have convinced ourselves that huge success is underpinned by a massive effort when in fact it is the tiny daily improvements that we can make, that can accumulate into something greater over time. Using a little maths lesson, he said if you aim to get 1% better each day over the course of one year, you’ll end up 38 times better at the end of the year! So persevere, keep striving, even when the improvement may be barely noticeable, it is building into something bigger!
“Don’t sit alone in a room hypothesising all day”
Having years of experience managing people in roles across Hewlett Packard, IBM and Dell, Ogie Sheehy said that while it was daunting going it alone, he learned quickly to lean heavily on the network around him. So instead of “sitting in a room alone hypothesising about what was needed” he pounded the pavement meeting people, including former colleagues, friends and local businesses talking about his idea and the technology so he could take it from being an idea into a product needed on the market. That was 2008, now ViClarity is an award winning global RegTech organisation headquartered in Tralee, Co Kerry and with offices in Des Moines, Iowa and Boston in the US.
“Hard work puts you in a place that luck can find you”
Pat Lucey believes that sometimes luck has a lot to do with the success of one start-up over another but equally, if you don’t put in the work, it is harder to catch some of those lucky breaks. After being made redundant in 2007, Pat and his co founder Colum Horgan set up Aspira, a consulting and technology business. In the 15 years since, he has learned many lessons, but believes that there are some fundamental ingredients that can help you on the journey and advises everyone taking the leap to:
- Be resilient.
- Be authentic
- Be a giver
- Build a team
- Build a network
- Build a positive risk culture
So, there you have it – 3 Ps to takeaway: Perservere, surround yourself with the right people and finally, be positive, especially in the culture you build in your company! Missed out on this event? Follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn for news and events and sign up to our newsletter for all things Tech Industry Alliance.
Thanks to all our speakers, our sponsor and host National Software Centre and Tenego, our members and wider community for supporting TechBrew throughout the year! We look forward to bringing you more great networking and knowledge sharing events in 2023.
