Joe Drumgoole, CEO and founder of Putplace.com, which provides lifetime storage of home users’ valuable digital content, has launched the latest NovaUCD “Entrepreneurs Live!” seminar series.

This current series will focus on fund raising as a start-up and each of the guest speakers will highlight the different ways in which they have raised finance. The aim of the “Entrepreneurs Live!” seminar series which is organised by NovaUCD in association with the Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Enterprise Board is to promote a spirit of entrepreneurship among the academic, research and student population at UCD.

Joe Drumgoole is a member of the ‘Paddy’s Valley’ group of Irish business and technology entrepreneurs who formed their own delegation and recently visited Silicon Valley to create closer bonds with companies and people, including venture capitalists located in the Valley. During the visit Joe had an opportunity to take part in a power-pitching competition with four local venture capital firms.

Joe Drumgoole (centre) with UCD students Eimear O'Herlihy and Enda Gallery

The three other guest speakers in the current series are John O’Shea, zamano (February 12th); Jamie Jenkinson, Cush’n Shade (February 19th) and Fabrizio Memon, Delta Index (February 26th). zamano, a leading provider of mobile services raised €6 million via a listing on the London’s Alternative Investment Market; Delta Index, the financial spread betting firm has raised over €4 million from private investors and Cush’n Shade which has developed the patented and award winning Cush‘n Shade sunbathing accessory has successfully raised £100,000 on the hit BBC TV programme ‘The Dragons’ Den’.

Speaking at the launch of this series, Joe Drumgoole said, “There is a strong appetite in Ireland amongst the venture capital community for a host of start-up companies but VCs don’t just invest in an individual with a good idea.” His advice to young entrepreneurs who are seeking funding is to “Develop an initial product or prototype, generate real customer interest, put together a balanced management team and to have a reasonable market opportunity.”

At the “Entrepreneurs Live!” seminars these leading Irish entrepreneurs will also talk about their experiences of setting-up and running their businesses emphasising the highs and lows encountered along their entrepreneurial journey and will share the secrets of their success. During each seminar attendees have the opportunity to ask probing questions of the guest entrepreneur.

The seminars take place each Tuesday lunch time (1 pm to 1:50 pm) until February 26 in NovaUCD, Belfield, Dublin 4 and attendance is open to all.

According to Dr Pat Frain, Director, NovaUCD, “The “Entrepreneurs Live!” seminars continue to attract a large and diverse audience and stimulate a lively and enthusiastic debate on issues relating to entrepreneurship and innovation and the establishment and development of technology-based companies.” He added, “The continued interest in these seminars is evidence of a growing culture of entrepreneurship at UCD and this augurs well for Ireland’s ability to generate the new knowledge-intensive and innovative enterprises which are critical for the ongoing development of Ireland’s knowledge-based economy.”

Speakers at previous “Entrepreneurs Live!” seminars include, Anne Heraty, CPL Group; Oliver Tattan, Vivas Health and Ray Nolan, Web Reservations International.

According to Michael Johnson, CEO, Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Enterprise Board, “The “Entrepreneurs Live!” seminar series enables the attendees gain an insight into the commercial and personal challenges that entrepreneurs face in developing their enterprises.” He added, “These guest entrepreneurs draw from their own experience and offer invaluable lessons and reveal their secrets on how to sell a proposition to the marketplace, how to raise funding and how to hire the right people.”ENDS5 February 2008

For further information contact Micéal Whelan, NovaUCD, e-mail: miceal.whelan@ucd.ie, tel: (01) 716 3712.

Editors Notes

NovaUCD is University College Dublin’s €11 million Innovation and Technology Transfer Centre. NovaUCD is responsible for the commercialisation of intellectual property arising from UCD research and for the development of co-operation with industry and business. NovaUCD as a purpose-built centre also nurtures new technology and knowledge-intensive enterprises. NovaUCD has over 40 incubation units, including bio-incubation units, and provides innovators and entrepreneurs with the necessary support and knowledge to take their ideas from proof of principle to commercial success. Twenty-three knowledge-intensive companies are currently located in NovaUCD. NovaUCD has been funded through a unique public-private partnership that includes AIB Bank, Arthur Cox, Deloitte, Enterprise Ireland, Ericsson, Goodbody Stockbrokers, UCD and Xilinx.

The Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Enterprise Board is a State Enterprise Development Agency offering support to individuals in the county of Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown who are thinking of starting a business and to those who are looking to grow their small business. There are 35 City & County Enterprise Boards in Ireland and the role of each is to help the development of micro-enterprises (i.e. businesses with up to 10 employees.

Speaker Profile

Joe Drumgoole is CEO and founder of Putplace.com. Putplace.com provides lifetime storage of home users’ valuable digital content. Joe has than 20 years experience bringing engineering teams together to build innovative software products from scratch. He had a hand getting LeCayla started and also ran engineering teams at Cape Clear and CR2 before spending a couple of years with Oracle's European Development Centre.

John O’Shea is Managing Director of zamano. zamano, which was founded in 2000 is a leading provider of mobile services in the UK, Australia and Ireland. John too has a strong track record with eleven years experience with multinational telecoms companies, followed by 10 years working with growing SMEs. In 2000 he sold the Webfactory to Horizon plc for €10 million.

Jamie Jenkinson is a UCD Commerce graduate and is a Director of Cush’n Shade. Cush'n Shade Ltd was founded in 2002 when designer Joan Bree invented and designed a portable sun shade that would protect an individual’s face and allow one to sunbathe more comfortably. The award winning Cush‘n Shade sunbathing accessory is patent protected and the company now ships thousands of units to customers around the world every year.

Fabrizio Memon is Head of Sales (Ireland) and a Director of Delta Index. Delta Index is Ireland's leading financial spread betting company which was founded in 2002 by Conor O’Neill and Michael O’Shea. Fabrizio joined Delta Index from a consultancy background where he specialised in helping smaller businesses to develop their client relationship skills. Prior to this Fabrizio had a successful career in London operating in marketing services, principally as Sales & Marketing Manager for Aspen Specialist Media. He also lectures in entrepreneurship.