Secondary Research

Sources of Secondary Market Research

Marketing Research is hugely important for the promoters of new business endeavours to include: new products; geographic or market expansion of an existing product; or start-up businesses. Secondary research is hugely important for both consumer and business-to-business (B2B) market research. Secondary research lays the groundwork and primary research helps fill in the gaps. By using both types of market research, business owners get a well-rounded view of their market and have the information they need to make important business decisions.

Grants and Supports for Business

What ‘grants’ and other supports apply to my startup business in 2025?

If you have ever wondered what supports that you and your startup business could and should apply for, read on:

This blogpost and the accompanying presentation will categorise the supports depending on the stage of development of your startup company: pre-enterprise; early stage; and established startup

ATU Galway New Frontiers Enterprise Ireland

Organise ATU Galway New Frontiers One 2 Ones with Phase 1 Participants

As part of the New Frontiers Phase 1 programme in ATU iHubs Galway and Mayo (formerly GMIT), Donncha Hughes, an independent business advisor will meet participants in person for a One 2 One session to review their draft applications prior to the final Phase 2 application submission deadline of July 24th, 2024 (12 Noon). New…

Finance Banner

Finance for Startups Part II : Accessing Finance

Figuring out how to access finance for your business is a key business planning activity – both before you start your business and on an ongoing basis particularly if you want to drive growth. This blogpost will outline the options for accessing finance in Ireland for startups. The funding staircase is a graphical representation of possible steps on the journey from starting to scaling and Exit.

New threshold for Public procurement in Ireland

Increased Tender Threshold great for SMEs in Ireland

At the end of March 2023, the OGP (Office of Government Procurement) published Circular 05/2023 : Initiatives to assist SMEs in Public Procurement. The Circular, designed to foster SMEs participation in public procurement contracts, increases the thresholds for advertising on eTenders to €50,000 for Goods & Services and to €200,000 for Works – both thresholds…

CSF Masterclass 2021 by Donncha Hughes Independent Business Advisor

CSF replaced by Pre-Seed Start Fund

Enterprise Ireland launched the Pre-Seed Start Fund in October 2022 effectively replacing the highly successful Competitive Start Fund (CSF). The Pre Seed Fund provides funding of €100,000 – former recipients of CSF can apply for €50,000. Over the years, CSF has been tweaked and this latest change resulted in a new name along with increased…

SaaS financial projections - online training programme

SaaS Financial Projections – online programme published

I am delighted to published my 7th online training programme. This will be my second one focusing on Financial Projections. It is called ‘Creating Financial Projections for your SaaS business‘. It is aimed at owners and senior team members who are bringing a SaaS product to market. The Excel template will facilitate you to create…

Executive Summary of Business Plan

Writing Business Plan Executive Summary – format, example and guidance

I write business plans for some startup and SME clients. I review business plans for Enterprise Agencies. I also provide training on business plans. A question I am often asked is, ‘what content goes into a business plan’, with the follow up being, ‘how much information should be included in an Executive Summary‘. Most people…

Banner for New Frontiers Blogpost 2

What Enterprise Ireland are looking for in a New Frontiers Phase 2 Application in 2023?

Are you participating on one of the Enterprise Ireland New Frontiers Phase 1 programmes being delivered by the Incubation Centres in the Technological Universities in Ireland? If yes, you may have started completing your Phase 2 application form (download pdf) As a trainer over the years on the programmes in SETU Waterford and Carlow, ATU…

Writing your Business Plan Online Programme with Donncha Hughes Business Advisor

‘Writing your Business Plan’ Online Training Programme now Live

I am delighted to announce that my latest online training programme, ‘Writing Your Business Plan’ is now live. To publish this online training was an early goal for 2020 as it was on my ‘to do list’ for a while as I regularly deliver one day workshops on preparing business plans for New Frontiers, IBYE…

Seedcorn Business Planning Tool

Business Cube updated by InterTrade Ireland – SeedCorn Competition 2019

I have said for years that the best investor ready business plan preparation guide is the Business Cube Methodology published by InterTrade Ireland the organisors of the SeedCorn Investor Readiness Competition. So I was delighted to see that a modernised edition, now referred to as Business Cube, has been published in 2019. It is a…