THE FINAL!!

Unlike the last round, I didn’t have the luxury of time to wait for the results with coffee and an impatient trigger finger on the inbox browser. This round of results came in while I was coming to the end of some serious project deadlines and was being pulled in five different directions at once.

Phones a ringing, texts a bleeping, emails a dinging and there it was! “Congratulations on reaching the FINAL round”. Eeeek!!  

When I let my people know that I was through to the final, the reactions varied from formal phonecalls/ handshakes to a happy dance video message (by the parent of a child who could benefit from the business) to the expletive filled congratulations text from someone who has been there from the very beginning (and knows just how much this all means).

I should at this point mention that my business idea will improve services for adults and children with speech and communication issues….AND…the competition just happens to be coinciding with Autism Awareness Day and "Light it Up Blue Celebrating World Autism Awareness" for the month of April. 

If the result went the right way, it would be brilliant timing to let people know that new and innovative help from an IRISH startup is imminent. Just saying!  J

 

The excitement around all of this is extremely infectious and has caused a mini epidemic of smiley faces in my world!  I have never had so many people say "fair play to you" and "you are brave". 

Personally, I think being brave was not entering this competition but making sacrifices to go back to college last year to be the best that I can be. I just wish that more people had the opportunity to access a return to education. Hopefully the government will officially recognise the number of 30 and 40 somethings who are being held back from leadership due to a lack of digital skill set. Maybe the first year of graduates from  DIT MSc Digital Marketing and Analytics  (my class) will pave the way for the future. J

So here we go…the promised land of the development days. Expectations were set high by the Accenture team and they did not disappoint.

Development Day 1 took place in the NDRC, which is based in the Digital Hub.  Deja vu moment ahead as this was where I had training for my first part time job as a promoter for Guinness. Funny old world and what a transformation! The offices are now open plan, exposed brickwork and very trendy in the tech startup way that you might expect.

The finalists- Norma & Owen (UCD), Michael (UCD), Peter (UCC), John (UCC), Nubi & Alex (Smurfit) and moi (DIT).

The day started with a presentation by the NDRC Director Gary Leydon where he outlined what makes a great business idea and how to pitch.  After this we broke out into workshop mode.

Lights, Camera, Action…it was time to do our pitches (yes, both days were filmed). This pitch was mainly an introduction to the other finalists, as we didn’t know what each other’s ideas were. Once we got past that initiation, we each split into individual teams with an Accenture consultant. This was to work on our business model canvas and pitch our ideas with more clarity. 

At this point, my business idea pivoted and completely changed direction from B2C to B2B.  The second pitch wasn’t quite as difficult since it was a game changer.

Affirmation came from Gary who had recommended the new direction and questions were taken from the floor. The questions confirmed that the new thinking was correct. Happy days…and a lot of work ahead!

The afternoon was filled to the brim with a presentation on venture capital that was followed by another presentation on user experience. Great insights and notes firmly on board!

To round off the day, NDRC introduced us to companies that have gone through their LaunchPad programme. A place on this programme (in case I hadn’t mentioned) is the main component of the prize. 

If you don’t already know of them, check out SockMonstermedia.com, GoBramble.ie, Bizimply.com and Adyuka.com. We got the opportunity for a Q & A session with the creators of each of these businesses and to ask about the highs and lows of the startup process. 

One thing that became very apparent from all of the stories is that while the startup road is clearly a tough one, it is definitely worth embarking on!

Development Day 2

Just when you think it can’t get any better………it does!

Time for Accenture to bring out their expertise and they did not disappoint. The day was opened by the Accenture “presentation guru” John Morrissey who went through the dos and don’t of and impressive on screen presentation. 

This was followed by a session with the Director of the Gaiety School of Acting (Patrick Sutton) to hone our pitch skills. Patrick asked us to use our hands to describe where the past was when presenting. If you are finding yourself pointing over your shoulder, stand corrected! The past is to your left, the present is in front of you and the future is very firmly to your right (as illustrated by all of us below). 

I must have taken more on board than I realized as I have found myself using the very gestures he taught us at an important meeting the next day. Extremely effective! 

After a great lunch in Ely, we had a session on leadership with Ryan Shanks. Ryan explained the differences between management and leadership and the need for companies to address these differences for a sustainable workforce.

Ryan Shanks

Ryan is the type of person who can command a room and encourage engagement without a lot of noise. He has great presentation style and inspiring insight that leaves you thinking.

The final session was on digital marketing with Nina Gallagher, the Digital Consulting Lead within the Management Consulting Practice for Accenture. 

Nina got us to to apply the Accenture digital  strategy framework to our own businesses before pitching to the room again at the end of the session. I spent the time picking the brains of Nina and another manager (Niall Corrigan) on all aspects of my new pivot. This provided a logical path process that allows me to pinpoint exactly where my business needs direction and work. The framework is a really useful tool and I will be saving the slide for use in the future. 

The Dragons

To close the day off, we were given the long awaited list of judges for our Dragon’s Den pitch.

 If I could have picked the companies myself, the list would have been very similar. Well done Accenture and NDRC. This is going to be one seriously great event! Six of the top industry leaders in Ireland will be sitting around one table waiting to hear our ideas. Fantastic. 

The countdown to the April 10th final is officially on. It is time for the gloves to come off and to come out swinging….. Bring it on!!!

Well I think I have hogged the limelight on the blog for long enough. It is time to introduce you to all involved and hear from some of the other finalists competing for the big prize in the video below.

Forgotten what the big prize is? Let me remind you….The overall Accenture Leaders of Tomorrow winner(s) will receive a specially commissioned trophy by Seamus Gill Silversmith, Framed Certificate, the Leaders of Tomorrow Tour to an Accenture global innovation centre and the option of pursuing the business idea as part of the NDRC Launchpad programme or an internship with Accenture. Not so shabby!

If you have been following my journey to entrepreneurship story, please feel free to connect on Twitter @taraljustin or hit the buttons for Linkedin and Google + to the right of this page. Looking forward to hearing from you. J

 Press play and enjoy!