Emerging finalists
Innovalight Inc
CONRAD BURKE
Dublin-born Conrad Burke founded Innovalight as a solar energy company in 2005. Headquartered in Silicon Valley, California, the company manufactures and sells a proprietary nanotechnology-based silicon ink and licenses a printing process to solar cell manufacturing companies.
The Trinity College physics graduate received the technology pioneer award at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, in 2006, and the company has been profiled in Timemagazine and by CNN in recognition for developing one of the most revolutionary semiconductor materials of the past 50 years.
Innovalight has hired engineers and chemists from leading solar and materials companies with the objective of lowering the cost of solar energy. The team has filed more than 60 patents and presents at solar conferences.
The company is backed by investors from Norway, Singapore and the United States. It has raised more than $50 million and been awarded $3 million from the US Department of Energy.
The plan is to become the world’s largest provider of silicon ink and processes.
PRODUCT
Innovalight has developed a portfolio of patented technologies and materials that allow crystalline silicon cell manufacturers to produce solar cells with higher conversion efficiencies. Its commercially available Cougar Platform allows cell manufacturers to quickly break through the efficiency ceiling.
CUSTOMERS
Innovalight advances solar cell design architectures for licensing to solar cell manufacturers, pushing solar cell efficiencies toward theoretical limits and at the lowest manufacturing cost. The company’s technology was recently installed in the first major installation of solar cells with silicon ink technology with Chevron in California.
WHAT VISION PROMPTED YOU TO START IN BUSINESS?
This is my second start-up and I have to admit, it is addictive. The earlier part of my career was spent working for large multinational corporations in Japan, USA and Germany. That gave me the experience and confidence to build something from scratch. I like being in control of my destiny and being very hands on.
DESCRIBE YOUR PROGRESSION FROM START-UP TO CURRENT STATUS?
I am a sucker for technology, and particularly stuff, which is on the far edge of the laws of physics, that can serve big unmet market needs. Leaving Ireland, I started out in the late 80s as a research engineer in Japan. I quickly moved my career more into marketing, sales, product management with a number of large US corporations. Equipped with the skills I thought I needed, I jumped into start-ups and never looked back since.
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DoneDeal.ie
FRED KARLSSON
Fred Karlsson realised he had an entrepreneurial streak early on when he began designing and selling video games at the age of 15 in his native Sweden.
After completing a degree in computer science at Lund University, he worked for several well-known organisations including Dretech, Sony Ericsson, Sun Microsystems and IBM.
He and his Irish wife, Geraldine, moved to Ireland in 2004 and founded DoneDeal.ie the following year. The company provides an online marketplace for people to buy or sell items.
In December 2005, five months after the website was launched, it carried more than 2,000 advertisements.
Now the site facilitates the advertisement of, on average, 40,000 new items a month. In April 2010, deals to the listed value of about €50 million were carried out on the back of the DoneDeal.ie website.
The company is now Ireland’s biggest classified website.
DoneDeal.ie employs six staff at its offices in Co Wexford and is actively recruiting.
PRODUCT
DoneDeal.ie facilitates the purchasing and selling of items under multiple categories, including motor, animals, farming, house and home, electronics, sport, fashion and health, wedding, music and education, and property.
CUSTOMERS
The website attracts 4.4 million visits a month with 1.1 million of these being unique visitors, according to independent website metrics company Ireland Metrix.
WHAT VISION PROMPTED YOU TO START UP IN BUSINESS?
The idea for DoneDeal.ie came about when my wife and I were moving from Sweden to Ireland in 2004. When leaving Sweden we put up our furniture on a Swedish website and found it really easy to sell our stuff. Some pieces sold within 15 minutes of putting them up.
When we came to Ireland we were on the other side: we wanted to buy things but we were stuck with the short back-of-the-paper advertisement with no photo. So we realised there was a business opportunity here.
WHAT ARE THE BIGGEST CHALLENGES YOU FACE NOW?
Keeping up with the quick growth of the website has definitely been a challenge. DoneDeal.ie has expanded beyond my wildest dreams but the downside of this means that we have twice as much to do and usually half the time to do it. We are in the process of hiring new people, but because we are such a small organisation it is often difficult to find the right people to hire.
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Jolt Online Gaming
DYLAN COLLINS
Dylan Collins is the founder of leading game publisher, Jolt Online Gaming. After founding three companies that were successfully sold, two of them to leading Nasdaq companies, he is considered to be one of Europe’s leading online gaming/media entrepreneurs. As founder and CEO of DemonWare in 2003, he led the company to become the leading provider of online gaming technology to the global video games industry. DemonWare technology was used to connect players on Xbox and PlayStation consoles in some of the biggest games in the world such as Call of Duty, Splinter Cell, Guitar Hero and many others. In 2007, DemonWare was acquired by Activision Blizzard, the world’s biggest video games publisher. Collins is now leading the revolution in the way online games are played and experienced by more than half a billion gamers following Jolt’s recent acquisition by GameStop, the world’s largest video games retailer. As GameStop’s online gaming division, Jolt is now spearheading its digital media strategy. The owners of traditional businesses frequently approach Collins for advice on moving their operations online. He offers insights and strategies that work across numerous sectors.
PRODUCTS:
Jolt Online Gaming is one of the leading publishers of browser games in North America and the UK. The Jolt Online Gaming Network owns and operates a wide variety of persistent online games and related websites. Their most popular games include Legends of Zork, Utopia Kingdoms and FarmVillain.
CUSTOMERS
Jolt is one of the top online games publishers in the world providing free-to-play games to millions of players every week. Jolt has signed deals with some of the biggest brands in the world including Playboy and Activision. The company works closely with traditional media companies to develop their brands into free-to-play online games, as well as developing standalone titles.
WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE ENTREPRENEURS STARTING OUT?
Look for things that people will pay you money for. It’s not a fashionable thing to say at the moment but don’t be afraid to grow slowly. Venture capitalists criticise the “lifestyle business” but frankly, I think it’s because they’re just jealous. Big companies are not “better” than small companies, just different.
WHAT ARE THE BIGGEST CHALLENGES YOU FACE NOW?
Attempting to explain to companies in North America and Asia why we stay in Ireland. Trying to hire really good people. Trying to fly around volcanic ash clouds. Trying to convince Aer Lingus (or any other airline) to reopen direct flights to the West Coast of the US!
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MacNean House and Restaurant
NEVEN MAGUIRE
From a young age one of Neven’s favourite pastimes was to shadow his mother in the kitchen watching her cook. His pastime soon became his passion as he began experimenting with ingredients in the home kitchen at the age of 10.
In 1992, he enrolled in Fermanagh College, Enniskillen, to study catering, where he received a student of the year award. Even then his vision was to share his love and passion for food with as many people as possible.
In 2001, Neven took over the family business, and turned a local restaurant into a national phenomenon. Located in the village of Blacklion, Co Cavan, MacNean House and Restaurant has become one of the most talked about restaurants in the country.
Before this Neven trained in some high profile restaurants, including Roscoff, Belfast (Michelin Star winner), Grand Hotel, Berlin (Michelin Star winner), The Léa Linster, Luxembourg, and Arzak, San Sebastian.
While not overtly commercial in his approach, Neven has become a household name, and has succeeded in appealing to all ages. His recent TV show and launch of his seventh cookbook is testament to his appeal.
MacNean House and Restaurant is experiencing a steady 30 per cent business growth year-on-year. Such is the draw that table reservations are booked six months in advance. MacNean House and Restaurant remains the anchor business for Neven Maguire yet his TV shows, books and DVDs allow him to interact with a wider audience.
CUSTOMERS
The MacNean House and Restaurant experience is such that customers come from all parts of the country. Neven has had the pleasure of serving such people such as Mary McAleese, Gay Byrne and Mary Kennedy.
WHAT ARE THE BIGGEST CHALLENGES YOU FACE NOW?
Ironically, the biggest challenge I face now is that there are only so many tables in the restaurant and only 10 rooms in our boutique hotel in Blacklion. I am very fortunate that the restaurant is continually booked six months in advance. However, demand exceeding supply also brings challenges – our challenge is to extend our capacity yet maintain our very high standards and reduce the waiting.
WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE ENTREPRENEURS STARTING OUT?
While business is all about profitability and growth, the best advice I could give to any entrepreneur is that it’s not just about money; If you are driven by something deeper than financial reward you love what you do. If it’s all about money you will lose the true value of what you are trying to achieve, and your business may not succeed.
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