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Defining Moment

I was studying physics in Dublin City University and absolutely loving it. What I really focused on was my work in the physics lab. One of the things I found was that you can set up an experiment and write a computer application to manage that… read more

Defining Moment

It is a risk to set up your own business; to jump away from that monthly pay cheque that lands into your account and pays the bills for you, and it’s a big jump to go from there to actually running your own business. It’s also quite comfortable to be… read more

Lifestyle Story

Success to me is not money, success is lifestyle. I believe that as a result of running my own business, I have lifestyle that I like. I can do what I want when I want, and I can run my business the way I want to run it. I’ve always felt that’s what… read more

Lifestyle Story

In my business, I come out with an idea and I get really excited about it and start bashing out code, and out comes a service that is 90% ready. At that stage I start talking to potential customers. Everyone using it knows that it’s not finished yet,… read more

Lifestyle Story

When I meet friends of mine who have normal, full time office based jobs and I describe my day to them and all the different things that I’ve done, they’re gobsmacked and they say they would love to have my lifestyle. The reality is, when you work 9-5… read more

Mistake To Avoid

I’ve made heaps of mistakes; I think I’ve probably made every mistake possible. One mistake cost me £180,000 so it was a pretty serious one. We had an email management product which we spent two years developing and was quite an expensive process. We… read more

Secret

While you’re building the concepts behind your ideas, whether it’s a new product or a new service, or whatever you want to base your business around, get out there and meet potential customers. Say, “Hi, I’m a nice guy, I’m thinking of this new service,… read more

How I...

Rozmic is a high cash burn business, so the risks involved are very very high. In order to cover those risks we’ve taken on quite a few different investors. Managing investors and managing their expectations is a completely new skill but quite a… read more

How I...

Each of my businesses has resulted in a trade sale. An unfortunate problem with a lot of internet companies is that unless you have venture capital funding, the quickest and easiest way to exit from them is through a trade sale. A trade sale is quite an… read more

How I...

It’s really important to protect intellectual property. We have incredibly secure employment contracts and we’re also an active member of the Federation Against Software Theft. To date we’ve been involved in three different actions against people who… read more

How I...

A lot of people ask me how I value intellectual property. It’s our most important asset; the only item of stock that we hold so it’s very hard to value as it’s only worth what somebody’s going to pay. In a trade sale, what we do is we prove that we own… read more

Pearl Of Wisdom

When I speak to friends who are sitting in jobs but perhaps have aspirations to run their own businesses, they often come to me and say, “I’m not really sure about this. The risks are too high.” I say, sometimes as a joke, “Perhaps it’s because you’re… read more

Pearl Of Wisdom

A lot of entrepreneurs analyse a situation and make a pragmatic decision to go one way or the other, and that decision is usually made very quickly. There’s no point sitting around for weeks and months trying to make it. I’m not saying that you have to… read more

Pearl Of Wisdom

Without a doubt, I wouldn’t have had any of my businesses without strong mentoring, and I hope in a couple of years time I’ll be able to return the favour and be a mentor to a budding entrepreneur.… read more

Challenge

Taking on staff has been a big challenge, mostly on a personal level. Your first and primary responsibility is that you’ve got a wage to pay. That wage, should it not be paid, has implications on other people’s mortgages and lifestyles and so on.… read more

Challenge

I’ve had four businesses before Rozmic, but I always wanted Rozmic to be a lot bigger than my other companies and it’s my first business that has actually taken on proper investors. Previously, whilst we had investors, they were somewhat relaxed,… read more

Support Story

I have a number of different mentors who have really helped me to run my own business. I have my Dad who I ring quite regularly and he gives some incredibly apt advice- the sort of advice along the lines of “Just do it. Find a way of shoving that square… read more

Support Story

When I came to the North East, I fell in love with it. Setting up a business in the North East is one of those things that are incredibly well supported by the different support agencies. There’s people who will provide you with subsidised office space,… read more

Support Story

We’re looking to grow Rozmic, from around one hundred thousand in turnover a year to several million. The Entrepreneurs Forum will be very useful for that. They can put you in touch with people who taken businesses from a couple of hundred thousand a… read more

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