# # # # Foreword ##### # Startups are adventures you undertake without a map. As a founder, it's your job to navigate your company through a treacherous and shifting landscape. Who are your customers, where can you find them, what features do they want, how much will they pay and where will you find the talented staff you need? Being a founder means picking a quick but careful path through these endless unknowns, hoping to reach a profitable destination before you run out of cash. As a founder, you know this already. It's the mission you signed on for. What you find frustrating is getting mired in the funding maze before you even get started. We live in exponential times, where it's possible for a lone programmer to create a useful app in days and get it into the hands of millions of people before a venture capitalist has time to return an email. The capital required to start a business has dropped, and in the case of digital businesses, has plummeted. Nonetheless, getting your hands on that initial capital can be a major hurdle. We're lucky in Ireland to have so much startup funding available, relative to our population. However, much of it is ultimately public money, and accessing it involves dealing with some inevitable bureaucracy, essential for public accountability if nothing else. Unfortunately, many young startups end up lost in this grant funding landscape, instead of the market landscape where they belong. There are too many companies surviving from grant-to-grant, focusing their energy on unlocking the next drip of public funding. Although they feel like similar challenges, working 2# # # # # # # ##### to please a grant administrator instead of your customers is in fact a path to failure. This guide, and perhaps its future editions, is a map through the grant funding landscape, so that you can get on with the business of bringing your products to market. You can use it to get as much capital as possible, or to weigh the benefit of a grant against the opportunity cost of pursuing it. Play the generous grants system to take your business to the next level, whether that be seed funding, venture funding or profitability. Grants are there to be used by entrepreneurs, who will be truly responsible for bringing wealth and employment back to Ireland. - Sean Blanchfield, CEO of Scale Front. Scalefront.com 3# # # # # # # ##### Introduction What we want you to get out of it When myself and John started Bullet, we wanted to share our experiences from the outset, warts and all. We launched Bullet with a total spend of about в‚¬1,400 and about a year and a halfвЂ™s hard work, really hard work. Some of the new skills we learnt in that year were: regulatory tax, UI & UX, design, PR & marketing, not improved them, learned them from scratch. From the outset we wanted to bootstrap the business. It made us focus a lot on the customer, and weвЂ™d also learned how constraints make for a smarter startup. In that time weвЂ™ve managed to automate accounts, something people have tried to do since the abacus. We created an application that thumps SageвЂ™s 50 million вЂ�Sage OneвЂ™, and easily out-dances XeroвЂ™s 100 million bookkeeping tool. The key constraint we encountered in the early days was time. Even in leanest bootstrapped companies you need money to keep the lights on and the credit card companies at bay and ideally that money has to come from a source that wonвЂ™t distract you too much. Without the money from the government would we be here? Of course, weвЂ™re determined to take on one of the biggest industry incumbents in Europe. Would it have been more stressful? Certainly. That being said, we think the whole funding process could be executed in a simpler way, and the purpose of this e-book is to fix itвЂ™s biggest problem: fragmentation. 4# # # # # # # ##### If you think filling in some forms to get money from the Government is painful, wait till youвЂ™re raising money. Wait till youвЂ™re trying to convince customers to hand over their hardearned cash. Wait till you find out that amazing product you built doesnвЂ™t fit the market youвЂ™re selling it to. ThatвЂ™s hard. As Dylan Collins says: вЂ�Man upвЂ™. WeвЂ™ve spent about a month putting this little book together with the help of many, so weвЂ™d like to thank all those involved. There is a great community of people out there happy to help with any kind of question, and itвЂ™s a community all of us here at Bullet are proud to be part of. We hope this document takes some of the stress out of navigating the grants scene, and helps you to keep focus on your customer. Always question, always learn, and donвЂ™t die while there's music inside. The landscape, and assumptions weвЂ™ve made This e-book is tech focused. The calendar infographic is based on data we have obtained from direct correspondence with the Dublin City Enterprise Board, Enterprise Ireland and the New Frontiers programme, as well as our own (and the communityвЂ™s) experiences. While some of these bodies havenвЂ™t set exact dates for future application deadlines, we worked from past deadline dates and ballpark predictions from the bodies themselves. This means that we can be 95% all dates are correct, but itвЂ™s impossible to be sure when exactly each deadline will be set. 5# # # # # # # ##### We also worked under the assumption that displaying the quickest possible route through the grant landscape would be more useful to more readers. This means that the infographic shows how fast you could max out grants if you wished to fund your business asap. That is obviously not to say that all grants must be spent immediately, but for instruction purposes it is clearer to present the information in this way. Due to length constraints we havenвЂ™t been able to include details for all the County Boards, so some info will only apply to startups in Dublin. We do have all this info available, so anyone based outside Dublin can contact us and weвЂ™ll set you straight (peter@bullethq.com). When picking dates we anchored everything around the New Frontiers Programmes, they offer by far the best cash flow for bootstrapping (sadly, less than 50% of what it use to be). WeвЂ™ve kept away from R&D, and BES (or whatever itвЂ™s called now) schemes as theyвЂ™re complex, and youвЂ™d be better offer working with a consultant on these. WeвЂ™ll tackle them at a later date. WeвЂ™re looking at putting together community meetups to explain some of the things we canвЂ™t in this doc, if you think that would be of interested let us know (peter@bullethq.com). About Bullet 6# # # # # # # ##### Bullet is an online company that focuses on automating task to insure startups focused on growth can focus on exactly that: growth. Bullet was founded in 2010 by John Farrelly (@johnnyleitrim) and Peter Connor (@peterconnor). BulletHQ comprises two products; Bullet Online Accounting and Payroll (a fully automated accounting and payroll system for growth focused startups) and Bullet Formations (a free online product that allows companies get their formations documents complete in 3 minutes). Bullet has grown to a team of 6, all active in helping founders to be smarter at starting up. 7# # # # # # # ##### Funding Checklist Here are some of the things you need in place to before you can apply for some/all of the grants. Set aside about a month or month and a half to look after the 4 points below (WeвЂ™re in the top 5 easiest countries to set up a company - so stop cribbing). Do in this order 1) Registered as a limited company. You can get your free company formation documents here. 2) Be registered for all taxes - HereвЂ™s simple guide to that. Yep, I said simple. 3) Have tax clearance certs for all founders getting a grant. See link point 2. 4) Have a corporate bank account setup. Give this 1-7 weeks. YouвЂ™re getting money for free, donвЂ™t ever forget that. If you think dealing with agencies is hard, wait till you have to deal with VCвЂ™s (who are gambling their careers on you). If you hit a wall with someone or have a personality clash, just look for someone else in the organisation. They donвЂ™t like you pivoting mid programme, so if your business pivots donвЂ™t tell them unless youвЂ™ve got traction in that new pivot. Crazy I know; the beginning of your journey into business should be 100% focused on product market fit. IвЂ™ve yet to meet anyone that has hit that nail on the first go. If you donвЂ™t get your fit right, no amount of funding or marketing is going to help you. So stick to the original business plan that they like, and donвЂ™t budge. As 8# # # # # # # ##### you get higher up the ranks this will change. Think of it as a good thing, you can keep the same business plan and pitch. Focus on job creation, youвЂ™ll get asked a lot about this. Remember this is so the politicians can defend the spend, so itвЂ™s just part of the agencies repвЂ™s job. Sure itвЂ™s a ridiculous question to ask a startup, so answer it with great plans for hiring 20 people from the Gaeltacht (joke). DonвЂ™t piss people off. A lot of the grants are connected to each other. If you have a go or annoy someone, youвЂ™re closing the door on everything else. So bitch at your co-founder, not at your co-funder. 95% of our experiences have been good ones. As always, if you keep hitting a wall then the problem is you. YouвЂ™re not meant to be working while you're claiming grant money, but seeing as we donвЂ™t live in Poundland and your customers donвЂ™t work to EIвЂ™s timeframe you might have to do a bit of consulting. Keep it to yourself. вЂ�I canвЂ™t believe they wonвЂ™t let me spend 20k on marketingвЂ™. Good, you're a muppet if you think thatвЂ™s a good idea. If you canвЂ™t learn to build traffic then youвЂ™re never going to succeed. And if you think some marketeer can, then remortgage your house and pay for it yourself. Marketing is hard to learn and youвЂ™ll fail a lot, but it can be learned. WeвЂ™ll be writing a lot about early stage growth and demystifying some of the nonsense out there on the web (like these posts on вЂ�How Lockitron made millions with their own crowdfunding platformвЂ™, or вЂ�DropBox: the viral lie sold to every startupвЂ™. 9# # # # # # # ##### WeвЂ™ve left the contacts generic, in case people leave or move. In the workshops weвЂ™ll drill into this a bit more. 10# # # # # # # ##### List of Funding Activities Dublin Business Innovation Link: http://ow.ly/iURV1 Funding source: Enterprise board Grant type: Help with business plan BulletвЂ™s Tip: вЂ�The feedback is that you shouldnвЂ™t hold your breath when dealing with DBIC. Bullet hasnвЂ™t used them so we canвЂ™t speak personally. EI pay to have you business plan vetted by DBIC, so if you're looking to go the whole yard with EI the sooner you can get the вЂ�EI Trust StampвЂ™, the better. So use them, but donвЂ™t wait. Feasibility Study/ Innovation Grant Link: http://ow.ly/iURZs or your local council Funding source: Enterprise board Total amount receivable: 50% of costs excluding VAT capped at в‚¬7,500 Timeline & Key dates: All costs must be claimed within 4 months of approval which is 1 month after application for decision. The board meet once a month (9 times a year). Claims must be made within 4 months of board approval date BulletвЂ™s Tip: вЂ�We hear great things about the feasibility grant, itвЂ™s approved fast and doesn't have a lot of the crazy restraints some of the other grants have. There is zero payback, so great to prove a concept. Due to the way EI run their funding 11# # # # # # # ##### in a concurrent manner, a lot of people jump over Feasibility Study and are then too far gone to claim it.вЂ™ Refundable Priming Grant Link: http://ow.ly/iUS3c or your local council Funding source: Enterprise board Total amount receivable: 50% of costs excluding VAT average amount в‚¬15,000 Employment Grants: 7k per employee (you donвЂ™t have to pay back) Timeline & Key dates: Claims must be made within 6 months of Board approval date 1 month after application for decision. Board meet once a month (9 times a year). ItвЂ™s for businesses less than 18 months old. Costs covered are capital and or salary costs. Where a priming grant includes salary costs the first installment is made within 2 months of board approval date and the second installment along with all other approved expenses is paid 6 months later from the date of the cheque from the first installment. There must be a break of a minimum of 18 months between the drawdown of a Priming Grant/ Loan and an application for a Business Development Grant/ Loan BulletвЂ™s Tip: вЂ�This grant ain't too easy to get and has a lot of rules, but the 7k per employee is good although you get half the 7k up front and the rest at the end of 6mts which is crazy, employees have to be full time. YouвЂ™ll need to register yourselves as employees with tax clearance certs of the company so donвЂ™t forget to look at our checklist above. There are lots of rules in this grant that donвЂ™t make a lot of sense. For example, as a tech startup you really just need runway for yourselves, so itвЂ™s 12# # # # # # # ##### probably more suited to traditional businesses (вЂ�shifting stuff in boxesвЂ™), but the employment grant will give you runway. Innovation voucher Funding Source: Enterprise Ireland Link: http://ow.ly/iUS6M Total amount receivable: в‚¬5,000 Timeline & Key dates: applications from March to September 2013 (maybe again). Decision process usually 4-5 weeks. 50-50 co-funded Fast Track applications: may be submitted anytime. Decision process 10 days. BulletвЂ™s Tip: вЂ�We love these guys, a quick two pages application and you get 5k to spend with a 3rd level uni. WeвЂ™ve had (and heard of) some terrible experiences with lazy colleges. The best two in our experience are DCU (http://www.dcu.ie/) and Dun Laoghaire (http://www.iadt.ie/en/). You can get about 3 innovation vouchers, we used all of ours. I canвЂ™t speak highly enough of the DCU crew, you should also check out their seminars. Top class. http://techspectations.org/.вЂ™ New Frontiers Entrepreneur Development Programme Funding source: New frontiers Link: http://ow.ly/iUSac Total amount receivable: succession to phase 2 includes в‚¬15,000 grant 13# # # # # # # ##### Timeline & Key dates: 2 programmes run per annum start dates 6 months between (usually March, September). Application decided on within 2/3 weeks of the closing date for applications. Phase 1: Group of 25 for 2 months 14 get through to Phase 2 which runs for 6 months (you get your money here). Phase 3: 10 participants from Phase 2 get picked for the last 3 month phase. BulletвЂ™s Tip: вЂ�This is by far the best way to get money. You do a 2 month intro course and then 10 get picked to go to phase 2. From there you get 15k over 6 months (last phase you donвЂ™t get money). ItвЂ™s a huge lifeline for a startup. You attend school (youвЂ™ll know what I mean) once a week and youвЂ™ll get some training around everything from sales to accounts. Seeing as market fit is the most important thing for a startup, itвЂ™s a shame they just donвЂ™t focus on that. Have the sales trainer and marketer work with you for the 6 months till you get it nailed. Could you imagine how much value it would give you as a founder if you spent a day a week with someone coaching your selling technique on live sales calls. If would force you to find out about product fit faster, build up your confidence and get you customers. Refundable Business Development/ Expansion Grant Link: http://ow.ly/iUScI or your local council Funding Source: Enterprise board Total amount receivable: 50% of costs excluding VAT average amount в‚¬20,000 14# # # # # # # ##### Timeline & Key dates: Claims must be made within 6 months of Board approval date. 1 month after application for decision. Board meet once a month (9 times a year). For businesses older than 18 months. BulletвЂ™s Tip: вЂ�We put out the word to get some feedback on this grant, but didnвЂ™t hear anything so, donвЂ™t have much to add. Any tips shoot them to peter@bullethq.comвЂ™. Competitive Start Fund Funding Source: Enterprise Ireland Link: http://ow.ly/iUSfo Total amount receivable: в‚¬50,000 for a 10% ordinary equity stake Timeline & Key dates: applications will open each quarter and close one month later BulletвЂ™s Tip: вЂ�This is a really popular fund to go for, and the feedback is that you need to apply about 3-4 times (with pitch) to get a spot. ThatвЂ™s not always the case, but itвЂ™s what weвЂ™re hearing. The form (online) which you have to fill out is a pain in the ass. It times out and messes up all your formatting. Also, the scoring and feedback isnвЂ™t very consistent. So say you get rejected on attempt one, the feedback (which is a great idea) will be вЂ�...Change X to YвЂ™. So you pitch again and get rejected, the feedback will be вЂ�...Change Y to XвЂ™. I know itвЂ™s silly, but itвЂ™s a great deal 50k for 10% of ordinary shares with no crazy rules, and all for relatively little work. *I know technically this isnвЂ™t free money, as youвЂ™re giving away equity. 15# # # # # # # ##### What the experts say In order to make the smartest funding decisions itвЂ™s always good to get some impartial expert opinion on board. We asked some of the wisest and most battle-hardened figures on the Irish startup scene for their input. We came up with four questions we think would be most useful to startups - what we wish we had known. We based our questions around how much money is needed and how best to deal with equity holders, Angels and government bodies. Michael Birch @mickbirch Bio: Computer programmer and entrepreneur. Co-founder of Bebo and Birthday Alarm. Cash strapped startups often use equity as a means to get other people on board. This can lead to terrible problems when you realise the person is the wrong fit. What would be your advice to get around this? вЂ�Getting the right investors is critical. Do everything you can to get to know investors before agreeing to investment, ideally they should add value in addition to the capital, but at the very least they should not prove difficult. Ask about other investments they've made and reach out to the CEO's / founders of those companies yourself to understand what role 16# # # # # # # ##### they played post investment. If you can arrange to speak with them on the phone it's surprising how honest they'll be.вЂ™ With up to в‚¬100,000 available from enterprise boards, should you go with Angels after obtaining this funding or wait until you need more money? вЂ�It's best to obtain money when you don't need money. Waiting until you're out of money again is not a strong position to be in, unless you've really proven the product in the meantime. Product development always takes longer and requires more money than you expect.вЂ™ Sean BlanchField @seanblanchfield Bio: Technology founder, investor, mentor and startup community organiser. Cofounder of DemonWare, Front Square and Scale Front. With up to в‚¬100,000 available from enterprise boards, should you go with Angels after obtaining this funding or wait until you need more money? вЂ�Yes, for most digitally-based ideas в‚¬100K is loads to get it to the next level (seed funding in the 500K-1M range). An ideal team is 2 people, which isn't much to cover. There are generally minimal fixed costs. We do this a lot at Scale Front, and probably find that it takes about в‚¬30-в‚¬50K (although we are very efficient about it).вЂ™ 17# # # # # # # ##### Cash strapped startups often use equity as a means to get other people on board. This can lead to terrible problems when you realise the person is the wrong fit. What would be your advice to get around this? вЂ�A good shareholders agreement/articles of association will mean that non-voting share options can be given out, with a vesting schedule (including a cliff). Alternatively, a special class of non-voting shares with a reverse vesting schedule can achieve the same economic effect. This means that if someone doesn't work out, the board can vote to eject them, and they leave with only what they've earned in so far. For advisors, the equity amounts should be minimal (1-2%), and this should really be for key folk from the target industry, who can help drive sales or channel partnerships. Expectations of what help they should provide should be made clear from the outset, plus it should be clearly communicated that failure to significantly help may result in their shares being reclaimed to be put to better use elsewhere. Other kinds of advisors will often help for free, out of philanthropy, or for a chance to invest later on.вЂ™ Mike Butcher @mikebutcher Bio: European Editor for TechCrunch. Co-founder and shareholder of TechHub. With up to в‚¬100,000 available from enterprise boards, should you go with Angels after obtaining this funding or wait until you need more money? 18# # # # # # # ##### вЂ�Startups in Europe are typically underfunded compared to their ambitions. US Startups are typically per-funded. So raise as much as you can within reason, while remembering that too much money can also kill a company- scarcity can be the mother of invention. But give away as little of the company as possible at the early stages.вЂ™ You can raise about 100k from the Irish government through various schemes. Do you think 100k for the average tech startup is enough to prove the product concept, or should you look to raise more? вЂ�This amount should be enough to build a "minimal viable product" - depending on what it is of course. That could be enough to prove the concept and build interest amongst investors for follow on funding, but is rarely enough to last beyond that stage.вЂ™ Eoghan McCabe @eoghanmccabe Bio: First and foremost, an aspiring inventor. CEO at @intercom. Cash strapped startups often use equity as a means to get other people on board. This can lead to terrible problems when you realise the person is the wrong fit. What would be your advice to get around this? вЂ�All smart startups share ownership with staff, not just cash-strapped ones. And this is very much a solved problem: 19# # # # # # # ##### standard vesting provisions will make clear what happens when someone needs to leave the company. The lesson here is actually: 1. involve a lawyer from the very start, 2. work with lawyers who work with startups.вЂ™ A lot of startups get frustrated with government bodies, do you think thatвЂ™s a fair sentiment or just startup impatience? As a rule of thumb, if you expect anything of a government, you will experience a feeling of intense frustration. That's why capitalism was invented. So startups, of all people, expecting anything of a government, are doing it wrong. Very wrong. In fact, opposing the establishment is generally a great strategyвЂ”think Uber and Airbnb. If we're talking about the tax and regulatory institutions that businesses need to work with, Ireland should know that they have it easyвЂ”city, state, and federal taxes and regulations in the United States are a minefield. I miss the Revenue and the CRO. If we're talking about Enterprise Ireland and other governmental business development institutions, I would say that free money in and of itself is great, and I'll take it any day of the week, but it's approaching the problem in entirely the wrong way and may even be counter-productive. If it was my call, I would take the entire Enterprise Ireland budget and invest it in schools and colleges to help them teach computer science to more people and to do it better. This way, we'd have an environment where technology could get made, which is the genesis of a startup, rather than the other way around, 20# # # # # # # ##### where people can get funded to make startups with no technology, and then get frustrated at the government for their failure. Bill Liao @liaonet Bio: Entrepreneur, mentor, investor. Co-founder of XING and CoderDojo, CEO of Finaxis AG, Partner in SOS ventures With up to в‚¬100,000 available from enterprise boards, should you go with Angels after obtaining this funding or wait until you need more money? Simply put, if you are spending more than 100k on your tech startup you are probably doing it wrong. I recommend 50k to start and try to get cash flow and traction as soon as possible. If you run into an actual constraint that requires more cash then try to find the money you need from the fewest sources you can. More investors is not better. Gone are the days when it really mattered that you had a big name angel on your board. People only really care about traction and real traction is expressed in cash from happy customers and so real traction is accretive investment is always dilutive. Also, many Angels and other bodies do not follow on their investments if you need to raise growth capital at a later stage 21# # # # # # # ##### and so they stop delivering value after one investment This means that subsequent investors can be put off because the original investors are not stepping up. When you raise capital spend as little as you can to get as much traction as you can and do not fret about the valuation of the company so much as stability of your investor base and their ability to stay with you as you make mistakes. Lots of smaller investors do not necessarily make for more stability.вЂ™ Cash strapped startups often use equity as a means to get other people on board. This can lead to terrible problems when you realise the person is the wrong fit. What would be your advice to get around this? People should work for a startup first and foremost because they love the idea and the difference it makes in the world. It is an amazing life experience to be part of something that dents the universe and grows success on success and it is the one place you can really learn how to become a talented entrepreneur. Startups are also a dangerous game with huge risks and so are not suitable for people who need huge rewards or have large mortgages. If you are joining a startup to get rich then 95 times out of 100 you are delusional. People who sell others on the potential upside of the equity are selling snake oil without realizing it, and those who join for dreams of fortune are there for the wrong reasons. 22# # # # # # # ##### Startups are hugely rewarding and super stressful and no one really knows who generated the most value at the end, so as long as you have enough cash to keep the lights on and to keep everyone from eating cat food that is all the remuneration a cash strapped staff member in a startup should reasonably expect. Equity based rewards have one purpose and one purpose only and that is to reward loyalty. I repeat, to reward loyalty. Nothing more, nothing less. The more loyal a person working for you is the more equity they deserve over time. Longer terms of service, greater productivity, outstanding work output are all examples of loyalty. Now, any equity grant needs to have features that claw it back if the person is disloyal. Novel forms of disloyalty are: not working effectively, not putting in the effort and not getting along with the team. Leaving the company early is also not loyalty. There need to be agreed provisions in any equity agreement that result in vesting over time and clawbacks for bad leaver scenarios. You may also wish to consider nonvoting stock with explicit exclusions of minority shareholder protections that convert if the company gets acquired to ordinary shares. Whatever the arrangement is make sure that you do not get stuck in a "bad marriage" because itвЂ™s probably illegal to kiss and makeup. 23# # # # # # # ##### Harry Largey Bio: Startup mentor. Cofounder of CloudMover. Cash-strapped startups often use equity as a means to get other people on board. This can lead to terrible problems when you realise the person is the wrong fit. What would be your advice to get around this? вЂ�Firstly, no business will get off the ground without the right people on board. Any investor will be keenly interested in the core team and their ability to come up with the right business offering and execute against it so itвЂ™s important that the core team has the ability to deliver on this. Given the importance of having the right people on board, it is vital that the role you want to be filled is thoroughly defined, and that time is spent making sure that there is the right cultural and business fit within the team. As a good rule of thumb, if you have any doubts, donвЂ™t make the hire. Using equity for an early hire or a co-founder may be the only way to get them on board if there is no cash available. If this is to happen, make sure the equity agreement covers all eventualities e.g. what will happen if there needs to be a subsequent parting of the ways. It is natural to avoid talking about nitty gritty situations because everyone is optimistic at the start, but the time spent writing the right equity agreement to cover all eventualities will be priceless further down the line if things donвЂ™t work out.вЂ™ 24# # # # # # # ##### With up to в‚¬100,000 available from enterprise boards, should you go with Angels after obtaining this funding or wait until you need more money? вЂ�Customers are much more valuable than investment. After spending в‚¬100,000 wisely, a business should be sure about its opportunity to engage a specific market sector with a specific solution. Too often, the вЂњinvestment cultureвЂќ creeps in and distracts a business from proving out its core reason to exist. More money should only be taken when its needed to avoid wasting it, or taking on an unnecessary level of founder dilution. Focusing on early customer traction will ensure money is spent wisely and will convince canny investors that this culture will ensure that their investment money is also well spent. That being said, a business will need cash to grow. Investors should be picked as wisely as co-founders or early team members, as they will be critical to the businesses success.вЂ™ Dylan Collins @MrDylanCollins Bio: Irish GovernmentвЂ™s Startup Ambassador. Founder of DemonWare, Jolt Online Chairman of Fight My Monster With up to в‚¬100,000 available from enterprise boards, should you go with Angels investors after obtaining this funding or wait until you need more money? 25# # # # # # # ##### Depends on what else you need. Some startups need a type of expertise which enterprise/govt funding can't provide. If it were me, I'd chase all of it and see what the term sheets looked like (there's a difference between promises and actual cash materialising). Bear in mind you'll probably need at least twice the amount of capital you think you do right now. A lot of startups get frustrated with government bodies, do you think thatвЂ™s a fair sentiment or just startup impatience? A bit of both. But to be fair to govt bodies, startups get pretty frustrated with other investors too. Frankly, if you can't work through the paperwork to secure grants or low-hanging funding, then you've little chance of dealing with any serious problems which you'll face. So man up. John Egan @iamjohnegan Bio: Irish GovernmentвЂ™s Startup Future of Banking expert. CEO at Archipelago. Irish Ambassador at Sandbox, World Economic Forum and ICUE. Cash strapped startups often use equity as a means to get other people on board. This can lead to terrible problems when you realise the person is the wrong fit. What would be your advice to get around this? 26# # # # # # # ##### My advice is never marry your first girlfriend. If it's your first time raising money, take it from whoever you can get it from, build something and get out of there. The experience you have, the network you create and the skills you accumulate will be vital when you go back to start your next company. The next time you raise money, know who, when and where your principal investor will come from. Understand what your obtainable market is and what size investor that makes you relevant to. Establish who invests in your space at series 1 & 2 stage and establish why any potential angels would be an adequate fit with them in mind. A lot of startups get frustrated with government bodies, do you think thatвЂ™s a fair sentiment or just startup impatience? Governments shouldn't orchestrate enterprise, only facilitate it. So long as they're not in the way of enterprise, start-ups shouldn't be concerned with them. 27# # # # # # # ##### ThatвЂ™s all folks Well thatвЂ™s a wrap on that. WeвЂ™ve tried to make the grant process as clear as possible. WeвЂ™re planning on running community workshops to answer all your questions and give you some information that we canвЂ™t publish here. If youвЂ™re interested in this drop me a mail peter@bullethq.com and IвЂ™ll let you know dates. We hope that helps you some what donвЂ™t forget to tweet this out under the hashtag #bullethq and let youвЂ™re fellow founders know about it. DonвЂ™t forget to check out our guide and calculator on how you can get the tax man to pay for a sales guy. YouвЂ™ll find this out our www.bullethq.com or ask to speak to one of our growth team. Thanks Pete & John No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the author. Requests to the author for permission should be addressed to peter.connor@bullethq.com. Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty: While the author has used his best efforts in preparing this book, he makes no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this book The author shall not be liable for any loss of profit or any other commercial damages, including but not limited to special, incidental, consequential, or other damages. For general information, please visit our website at https://www.bullethq.com 28# # #