Getting Busy Again

In the past week or so we've really felt things beginning to buzz again here at Synergy as the summer lull draws to an end. With our Enterprise Launch Programme starting on the 4th September and being in the midst of recruitment for the Synergy Enterprise Platform Programme we are looking forward to welcoming a new crop of enterpreneurs to Synergy Centre. In the meantime Jos, Onray and myself are planning the coming year in terms of "The Juice" speakers, Brown Bag topics and book club reads - all suggestions gratefully accepted. Synergy centre is also leading the iFactor - a competition for Dublin incubation centres which challenges them to come up with the most innovative product or service. The Student Synergy Awards for 2009/10 are also looming on the horizon and Onray is working hard to have everything ready to kick that off when the students start back in September. In the meantime we are all reading "Who Moved My Cheese" ready for book club on the 25th August - everyone welcome.

Seedcorn: Effort & Reward

Synergy Centre will host a presentation and Q&A from Intertrade Ireland on Monday lunchtime as part of our Brown Bag series. The topic will be the agency's Seedcorn Competition which offers decent cash prizes and much kudos in the business start-up/investor world. The competition mimics an investment decision-making process: It demands a succinct (25 pages), believable, goal and growth oriented business plan in the first instance. This presents a challenge for many entrepreneurs - even those who have a solid business plan. Whittling it down to a useful 15 pages can be difficult - particularly for those who are technology focussd and want to describe in detail the nuts and bolts of their massive invention. The trick is to focus on the outcomes - for the clients, for the company, for the investor. The next step, having been shortlisted (hopefully), is regional rounds of presentations and, following that, national rounds. These presentations are tough - the Q&A sessions are incisive and challenging and those who emerge from the room are inevitably exhausted. So the question is - "Is it worth it?". And the answer? Yes it is - not based on the prize sums involved, but rather the prestige of the competition, the access to potential investors, and the discipline of the process itself. Come along on Monday for more info or visit www.intertradeireland.com/seedcorn .