Watch Leonora's 
Video Interview

My Funding Journey: Leonora O'Brien

Picture

Sector: 
How much raised:   Country:                     
Funding Level:     
Company:
About:

Pharma, e-regulation
845K€  (750€ seed round)
Ireland
Seed
Pharmapod
Pioneering software company promoting the safety of patients. International Incident Reporting & Learning System
for Healthcare professionals (more).
Cartier Women's Initiative Awards Winner,  Europe 2013

Women share the practical strategies that got them to the funded finish line


Key Challenges    How I Overcame Them   Practical Tips    Most Helpful Resources

My Funding Journey
“Value other people’s advice and listen to what they tell 
you – then make up your own mind. 

You learn so much and are less isolated, when you surround yourself with other people who are 
going through the same journey”.

Key Challenges

  • Surviving without funding. Software is specifically challenging in this regard because you do need a minimum investment before you bring your product to market. You also want good people on board and good people are expensive. It’s a key challenge for most startups: 'How do you build a great team with 0 money?'

  • Time it takes to close a funding round – Raising finance is a full time job (between meetings, building relationships with investors, projections, financial modeling, preparing presentations, attending pitches, waiting for investor board and committee dates, customer testimonials, updating investor documents such as deck, Investor memo, and platforms such as Gust, etc). Closing a round early may be the difference between being able to compete or missing an opportunity. The challenge is how you continue to grow the business with very little resources when you are focused on finance. 

How I Overcame Them

  • You have to be more creative in the early stages about how you are going to make the company work until you do get funding.

  • We focussed on the customer first, to gain traction to become investor-ready.

  • There’s no simple solution to overcoming the challenge of juggling so many tasks. Until you are financed it is difficult to have a team to delegate responsibilities to therefore you must prioritise your own work effectively and keep calm under the pressure. Looking after your health is key.




"Keep visualising how your company and team look like 
post-investment and soon enough, 
you will realise your vision."

Practical Tips
to Help You on your Funding Journey

  • Be patient, keep talking to people. It takes at least 100 conversations before you get funded.
  • Persevere. The more determined you are, the more likely you are to make it happen. You need to build resilience and to know how to pick yourself up when obstacles come your way. Surround yourself with positive people.
  • Follow your gut instinct about people’s abilities and what they can bring to the table. During a due diligence process, an investor might want to see older, experienced personnel, but when you’re working day in day out on the project, you become the expert in who is delivering the most for your business - and business is all about deliverables at the end of the day. If someone is adding a lot of value then that is who you want on your team, regardless of how they might look on paper.
  • Surround yourself with good advisors – legal and financial. Get 2nd and 3rd opinions on Term Sheets. Pay special attention to clauses on IP, anti-dilution, etc.
  • Keep your investor contacts updated. Keep sending them updated investor memorandums when you have won a big new client, achieved more traction, new partnerships, etc.
  • Have a clear idea of how your company is valued. Be sure to get your valuation right at the start.
  • Try to keep as much control of the company yourself, while at the same time leaving enough space for a future round of investment.
  • It’s ok to be a sole founder. You don’t have to have a full team of promoters to secure investment. Investors will still invest in a sole founder if you are a strong leader, have started building a strong team and have a clear vision for your product, company and exit. Never take on a team and split equity with people that you have not worked with for at least one year, even if you are advised to do so by mentors or investors. Trust your own instincts. Rushed decisions about team and equity in the early stages are likely to have serious consequences for the company and future investors will not invest if you have a messy capitalisation table and if you have made bad equity decisions. 
  • Don’t take anything personally - Don’t let the process knock your confidence. Always believe in yourself and your product.
  • Value other people’s advice and listen to what they tell you – then make up your own mind. You learn so much and are less isolated, when you surround yourself with other people who are going through the same journey.
  • Keep visualising how your company and team look like post-investment and soon enough, you will realise your vision. 
“Don’t let the process knock your confidence”.

Background

When started business:      Launched November 2012             
1st time starting business: Yes
Size of Team:                           6                             
Professional Experience:   16 years in sector

“It takes at least 100 conversations before 
you get funded”.

Most Helpful Resources

  • LaunchPad Accelerator programme in the NDRC, Dublin. They provide ongoing support and mentorship and it is invaluable to be part of their alumni community.
  • Official Mentors and Advisors.
  • Advice and inspiration from general business community – strong relationships built in, for example, legal and service organisations.   
  • Enterprise Ireland (EI) – Government organisation responsible for the development and growth of Irish enterprises in world markets. EI is the largest investor in Europe. EI are not only shareholders, but they provide invaluable support and connections in other markets.
  • The Going for Growth network – network for female entrepreneurs at growth stage of their business. The organisers and our lead entrepreneur are pro-active connectors and experts in what they do.
  • Startup Community - I get a lot of support from other founders and I enjoy learning from their experiences. There is a very active startup eco-system in Ireland.
  • Winning awards is useful for visibility and credibility – cash or service-based prizes are very valuable when you are in startup phase.