AIB Start-up Night showcases local success stories in Cork

The AIB Start-up Academy travelled to Cork for its start-up night this week.

The keynote speakers were two successful Corkonians – Donal Cahalane of Teamwork. com and industry expert Frank Hannigan, who shared their insights with a packed crowd at the Crane Lane Theatre in Cork City.

Cahalane is VP of growth and marketing at Teamwork, a software company with a project management tool used by 300,000 companies including Disney and SpaceX. The low-key Cork company is poised for rapid expansion.

It attracted media attention last year when it bought the domain name “Teamwork.com” for $675,000, the most expensive domain name ever purchased in Ireland.

“When you have an amazing product, you can go where the customer is by staying exactly where you are,” said Cahalane. In his case, that means staying in Teamwork’s offices in north Cork.

Hanningan spoke about an eclectic range of topics, including how we are working in a completely different way than our parents’ generation. We can no longer expect to be in the same job for our entire careers.

“Our parents’ generation were terrified to fail. We need to change that attitude,” he said. “If you want certainty in life, then build your own certainty.”

Hannigan ended his talk with a message to would-be entrepreneurs: “What are you waiting for?”

AIB Start-up Academy alum Gail Condon pitched on the AIB stage once again.

Condon, founder of bespoke children’s book company Writing for Tiny, is working with the HSE to develop a book to help children understand vaccines, and she is in the process of developing partnerships with several high street shops.

There were other pitches from Robbie Skuse of upChore, a company that connects customers with elite home professionals, cleaners and painters, and Cathal Doorley of recruitment platform Rezoomo.

Skuse said he went to last year’s Start-up Night in Cork with a different idea. After a productive year, upChore has gone live, he has a four-person team and is looking for funding.

Niamh Dunlea and Janice Miller, founders of children’s entertainment company Bounce Box, said listening to local business people was refreshing and inspiring.

“[THE SPEAKERS] are so inspirational because…they started at the bottom, they’ve tried so many different businesses and now they’re working in multi-million dollar organisations and still sitting in Cork being humble,” Dunlea said.

Miller added: “They gave really good advice for start-ups: don’t be afraid, just go for it. I thought it was really inspiring. It was definitely worth coming.”

Sebastian Schneider, originally from Germany but living in Cork, also has a start-up. Spotlight Events is a music event management company that is preparing to launch in the next few weeks.

“I wouldn’t have believed that AIB would have set up something like this. As a hub to meet people, it’s fantastic. I think they should do events like this more often to give the possibility for businesses to meet,” he said.

“We find it difficult to meet other businesses, but we have to. You can’t go knocking on doors, so something like this is brilliant to meet people and get ideas.”

The purpose of the AIB Start-up Academy is to create an environment where businesses can succeed. The next AIB Start-up Night is in Galway on Wednesday, June 17th.