A guide to winning the Seedcorn competition – Part 1

Posted by Ronan on Aug 23, 2010 in Seedcorn, comment, innovation, ireland, startup | 0 comments

In a series of blog posts I’m going to share what Cauwill put into the Seedcorn Business Plan.  I (there is no I in team!!) didn’t write the business plan alone nor have I  put this guide together without a great deal of help from Ian. As ever Ian – a big thanks goes your way.

Don’t worry about cutting and pasting from the blog – with the last blog of the guide (Thursday)  I’ll be attaching a complete word document version of the guide with extra comments from InterTradeIreland. Feel free to ask & post questions – I’ll be happy to respond to them.

At a later stage I’m going to do the same for the regional and final presentations for fortunate companies that make past the business plan evaluation section of the competition. Let’s hope it’s you!

DISCLAIMER TIME: There is no guarantee that if you follow the guide exactly that you will win the competition.. quite the contrary this business plan worked for us because it is OUR business plan. Your company business will be different to ours so your business plan will be different also. Things we left out, you may need to include. With that, we wish the best of luck.

Mountain Biking with Ironmen

Posted by Ronan on Aug 10, 2010 in Limerick, a bit of fun, comment, ireland | 0 comments

I did something daft this weekend. I headed off to the Ballyhoura mountain bike trails with a guy who just completed the ring of Kerry on a bicycle (Iano), a guy who also completed the ring of Kerry by bicycle and THEN proceeded to cycle home (which is Galway btw!) and another guy who does Ironmen competitions. My 16k (back and forth) commute pales in comparison to what these guys do! Needless to say they were all fitter than I and very used to cycling. The only other person who hadn’t done an ironman or a ring of Kerry was the ironman’s girlfriend but she was super fit nonetheless – she was to pass me out on several occasions

We arrived nice and early and got very cool rented Cube bikes from the centre for 40 yoyos. We were joined by another keen mountain biker who had done the Ballyhoura trails before so he was our lead and suggested we take the White trail – just 35km. The bikes were top class, very new, well serviced and well up to the task at hand – I therefore can’t blame the bike on nearly keeling over on some of the hills. I was wrecked after about 20km! Cycling up mountains is tougher than you’d think!

Apart from some steep climbs, the white trail is amazing! Some very fast parts, dark and spooky forests, long wooded boardwalks and fantastic views. The climbs might be tough but the downhill sections are just amazing and make up for the hard work getting up the hills. Speeding down a narrow track avoiding rocks really gets the adrenalin going

Because the scenery is so spectacular you might be lured into looking around but this is the biggest mistake you’ll make – it will only result in a crash – which will hurt! I came off a few times the worst when the pedal caught a rock and sent me flying! The other thing that will hurt like mad will be your ass! So here is my top-tip for mountain biking – wear shorts with (extra) padding!!

I’ll definitely be going back again – once my ass has recovered!

Iano brought his super-duper GPS watch which produces a map of of the trail.. (very cool). Note the steep climbs!

Enter Seedcorn 2010

Posted by Ronan on Aug 8, 2010 in Seedcorn, comment, startup | 0 comments

InterTradeIreland All-Island Seedcorn Business Competition 2010 ONLY 6 WEEKS TO GO! The countdown begins… take action and REGISTER NOW! Are you an early stage/high growth company?  Do you need new equity funding to help your business take off?  Then this is the competition for you. Don’t miss out on the chance to win a share of the €280,000 cash prize fund.  InterTradeIreland’s Seedcorn is the largest business competition for early stage/high growth companies in any sector on any part of the island. Click here to register for the competition.  After registering, entrants are required to submit their business plan by1pm on Friday 17th September 2010. For more information visit www.intertradeireland.com/seedcorn or contact us on 028 3083 4113 (048 from Ireland).