It is always wise to look ahead, but difficult to look further than you can see
SIR WINSTON CHURCHILL

Specialist Business Areas – Donncha Hughes, Business Advisor

I specialise in working with technology and professional services SMEs and startups. I provide training and one to one mentoring to help promoters to start up and grow their businesses. For more see my Client Services overview which is broken down into Training, and Mentoring & Consultancy. My areas of expertise include:

Business Plan Preparation
Financial projections
Funding applications and enterprise agency grants – LEO, Enterprise Ireland and Leader
Business Strategy
Business Model decisions
Guidance on Sales & Negotiations
Working with startups on Investment Pitch Decks
Applications for Competitive Start Fund
Goal Setting
Market Research – Feasibility / Market Validation
Marketing advice to include online and web design

How I can help you?

If you are thinking about self-employment, starting a business, or are managing your own business, I can provide you with an independent view. I can help you to ‘plan’ and ‘implement’ how you:

Clarify your Business model* …. work with you to figure out how your business will make money.
Plan for growth … assess new products, new markets and how to target new customer segments as well as build on success to date.
Work with you to write a business plan which may be required by the banks or Enterprise Agencies. We can discuss what ‘grants’ your business could apply for. I also review business plans (ideally in advance of being submitted to Enterprise Agencies or potential Investors)
Approach your marketing …. decide on a budget and how to spend your limited resources with the best possible results. I would use my One Page Marketing Plan.
Manage your Sales process …. organise how you go about getting Sales to include developing a lead management system and brainstorming your message to potential clients.
Develop a Tender Management process …. organise how you go responding to tenders in terms of: Bid/ No Bid Decision; tender submission document development; and project management.
Set SMART goals for your business …. and discuss Time Management, project planning and task prioritisation so that your business planning pays off in terms of execution and results.

* Feel free to check out the Downloads available on this website to include an Editable Business Model Canvas.

My approach

A significant proportion of my work is repeat business both from Enterprise Agencies for training and mentoring and also from private clients. I like to think that this is because of the quality of the process followed and outputs delivered.

I work with a small number of clients – both startups and microenterprise – on dedicated projects for defined periods to produce specific results. This helps me to manage my diary and ensure that I can deliver on commitments to customers. I feel that I can work with one client on many aspects of their business – I like to keep track of how they are getting on after we finish our work together.

Covid-19 update May 2020

The business is successfully delivering our full range of services online – I always worked from my home office. Remote online training has been delivered for LEO Clare, GMIT New Frontiers, WIT New Frontiers, NUIG BioInnovate and LEO Galway to date using Zoom and Teams. Mentoring has been undertaken online for LEO Galway and LEO Mayo – it works very well.

Next Steps

Feel free to contact me for a free confidential chat to see how I might be able to assist your business. You can use this email form or email me directly: