Access to Finance: Ambition to Scale - Day 1 Accelerating Your Network

After MCing Day 1 of “Ambition to Scale” conference, here is a summary of insights thus far:

1. “Network well. Communicate succinctly. Turn goodwill into a post-equity contract actions. Give granular thought to your “Total Addresable Market”. Think and listen.” Piers Linney

2. “Who is your customer? What can you do for them? How do they buy your product? How do you make money? Define an MVP.” Stuart Harvey Datactics

3. “If we’re going to move forward, we need to do it together. Give first rather than ask what’s in it for me. Tech Nation have a Slack group for IT founders. Build deep relationships and social capital”. Gary Davidson

4. “A support network is the foundation of business. Take care of your reputational capital. AwakenHub has just welcomed its 1000th woman. Your primary role as an entrepreneur is to fund resources for your company. Northern Ireland is awash with supports for startups”. Mary McKenna

5. “You need to give evidence that there is an opportunity to solve a problem that customers will pay for and show high growth potential. Northern Ireland needs to see the potential and drive the potential - you will attract funding and talent. Catalyst offers exposure to world class input.” Elaine Smyth Catalyst NI

Thank you Susan Nightingale (British Business Bank), Shane O'Hanlon (InterTradeIreland) and Patrick Dewar (Invest Northern Ireland) for putting this highly insightful event together and giving me the opportunity to work with you. A sincere thank you to Corinne Weatherup and Rachel Quigg for their superb management of logistics, execution and admirable planning.