Support from readers like you keeps The Journal open.
You are visiting us because we have something you value. Independent, unbiased news that tells the truth. Advertising revenue goes some way to support our mission, but this year it has not been enough.
If you've seen value in our reporting, please contribute what you can, so we can continue to produce accurate and meaningful journalism. For everyone who needs it.
I GOT MY first taste of entrepreneurship in my 20s when I stumbled across an opportunity in the mobile phone market.
I saw that the excess second-hand mobile phones in the UK were worthless unless you took them out of the country.
So I established a business that imported used mobile phones into Ireland at a time when your doctor and solicitor were the only people who had a mobile phone. It was just the crest of the wave basically.
I opened some mobile phone outlets in Sligo town and ran them up until the early 2000s during a time when the independent retailer controlled the market.
But it got to a stage where the networks were able to say “jump” and we had to say “how high?” Eventually I had to make a decision to expand or sell up.
I went for the latter option because growing wasn’t as feasible for me. The problem I had was people came to me, not the shop, to buy the phone.
They wanted my advice and assessment of what their needs were and not from anyone else. It meant I ended up talking to lots of customers before passing them over to my assistant to sign them up because I would have to move onto the next person.
It became all-consuming, and I wasn’t able to step into the background or even take time off. If I was away for a week, people would come in, but they would wait until I came back to buy a phone. It meant less business got done when I was away.
It was very time-consuming and virtually anywhere I went in the town I was stopped. If I was buying something at a counter, people would ask how to send a text message or how does the phone signal work.
That’s one mistake I made. You need to be able to separate yourself from the business and delegation is the one key lesson I’ve carried through my career.
As a chief executive, you need to be a jack of all trades, but also need to be able to leave the responsibility for sales with someone, trust the marketing with someone else and the tech development with another.
The KudosHealth team James Connolly
James Connolly
Hunting for another idea
I took an offer from another independent retailer in Cavan that had multiple outlets around the country and got out of the mobile phone business.
I took some time after that to reassess my situation and explore if I had a business idea worth pursuing or if a career opportunity was available.
During that time I’d wake up during the night thinking about ideas here and there, go off and research them a bit and find it’s a non-runner or that I couldn’t do it any better than what was already being done.
After the six months, I took a position with the Bank of America which ran a call-centre operation in Carrick-on-Shannon.
The company was relatively new in Ireland, so you could move up the ranks quickly, but I also thought that credit cards was a global enterprise to tap into. I figured if I wanted to do that or find something to explore in that sector I should really be in it.
I planned to do the job for 12 months, but I ended up staying for eight years. I didn’t hit on another good idea – also the money was good, so I got comfortable.
In Bank of America I got onto a scheme that was developing future leaders of the organisation, so we moved around various areas of the business to get to grips with the company.
Then the financial crisis came along in 2008 and the company announced a freeze on positions. It meant we were left in an awkward position – we knew we weren’t actually vital to the business, we were a bit of a luxury at the time.
We knew the axe would come down pretty soon if we didn’t get out of the jobs, but we couldn’t get out and there were no jobs being posted internally.
Focusing on positives
We managed to keep our heads above water until 2011 when we were eventually made redundant.
First thing you do is panic. Since I was in the north-west of Ireland, you’re thinking, “There’s not many opportunities out there.”
Advertisement
But coming up to my last day, I got a job in another company and started two weeks later in a marketing and merchandising company that was two minutes from my house. I took a cut in money, but I landed on my feet.
I was at that company two years until it started to downsize a little bit, and it was a case of last in, first out.
I was on the block again, back in the jobs market and it took six months again to get my foot in the door of a new place – this time with a startup company in Sligo IT which had an idea for a business around rewarding young drivers for driving safely.
I felt like I had landed on my feet again. I was tasked with building a global sales team, but within two months the company ceased trading and I was back out on my own again.
At that point you do start to think, “Is it me that’s the problem?” But you have to keep looking at the positives in that situation and think how you can get something out of it. In this instance, the positive was meeting my latest business partner, Mario Gheghici.
He was in that Sligo IT-based startup for four or five months and moved his family from Malta to take up the position – his scenario was a bit more bleak than mine.
So I told him about an idea I had that was similar to what he came over to Ireland to work on, except this new concept focused on rewarding fit people with cheaper health insurance instead of car insurance.
That’s where my latest company KudosHealth has spun from – a negative experience that we made the most of.
We set that business up around the end of 2015, started fully researching the idea and met with some of the main health insurance companies.
From talking to those companies, we figured out that a model with the big health-insurance providers as our main customers wasn’t the right approach – we were a bit ahead of the game.
So we went after another aspect of the idea in our heads, which involved targeting corporate health. We spun the company on its head and developed a tool that helps firms engage employees of various fitness levels in long-term health initiatives.
We learned a lot from the mistakes the car insurance startup we were in made when we were tweaking our model as well. I’m a big believer in not only learning from your own mistakes but also picking up on where others slip up as well.
Declan Trumble KudosHealth
KudosHealth
Long-term goals
In a short time, we have secured some big corporate clients and it hasn’t been a difficult pitch. These big corporates are already out there spending lots of money on health initiatives and are always looking for new tools.
In the near future, we’re obviously looking for more big customers but are mainly focused on developing additional features that existing customers would like to see.
We want to start securing some sales in the UK as well, and within the next three years we would also like to be running in other European markets and also the US – and there are a few other countries we’ve highlighted.
Our long-term goal, however, is to develop a score that companies can use to get a rating on the level of their employees’ health, fitness and overall happiness.
We see it as another number that could be included in a company’s annual report or could contribute to an organisation’s valuation.
There are a number of medical and health applications we have to work into our system to get to that point, but it’s one of the main goals we have written up on the wall.
Achieving that would hopefully put us in a good position for a trade sale in the next five years – we won’t hold onto this business forever.
We will look for some large investment next year, push it out to a huge scale and then target some kind of takeover.
And if that day comes, I have a few other ideas spinning around in my head that I would like to try some day. But for now, this is my focus.
Declan Trumble is the co-founder of KudosHealth. This article was written in conversation with Killian Woods as part of a series on business mistakes and what can be learned from them.
If you want to share your opinion, advice or story, email opinion@fora.ie.
Readers like you are keeping these stories free for everyone...
A mix of advertising and supporting contributions helps keep paywalls away from valuable information like this article.
Over 5,000 readers like you have already stepped up and support us with a monthly payment or a once-off donation.
150 rounds of drinks ordered at the Dáil's bars on the day TDs failed to elect a new Taoiseach
36 mins ago
674
11
Dublin
What exactly is 'affordable' housing ... and how much should it cost?
6 hrs ago
2.2k
Darndale
Discovery of human hand in yard of Dublin primary school not thought to be malicious
Updated
12 hrs ago
54.2k
Your Cookies. Your Choice.
Cookies help provide our news service while also enabling the advertising needed to fund this work.
We categorise cookies as Necessary, Performance (used to analyse the site performance) and Targeting (used to target advertising which helps us keep this service free).
We and our 152 partners store and access personal data, like browsing data or unique identifiers, on your device. Selecting Accept All enables tracking technologies to support the purposes shown under we and our partners process data to provide. If trackers are disabled, some content and ads you see may not be as relevant to you. You can resurface this menu to change your choices or withdraw consent at any time by clicking the Cookie Preferences link on the bottom of the webpage .Your choices will have effect within our Website. For more details, refer to our Privacy Policy.
We and our vendors process data for the following purposes:
Use precise geolocation data. Actively scan device characteristics for identification. Store and/or access information on a device. Personalised advertising and content, advertising and content measurement, audience research and services development.
Cookies Preference Centre
We process your data to deliver content or advertisements and measure the delivery of such content or advertisements to extract insights about our website. We share this information with our partners on the basis of consent. You may exercise your right to consent, based on a specific purpose below or at a partner level in the link under each purpose. Some vendors may process your data based on their legitimate interests, which does not require your consent. You cannot object to tracking technologies placed to ensure security, prevent fraud, fix errors, or deliver and present advertising and content, and precise geolocation data and active scanning of device characteristics for identification may be used to support this purpose. This exception does not apply to targeted advertising. These choices will be signaled to our vendors participating in the Transparency and Consent Framework.
Manage Consent Preferences
Necessary Cookies
Always Active
These cookies are necessary for the website to function and cannot be switched off in our systems. They are usually only set in response to actions made by you which amount to a request for services, such as setting your privacy preferences, logging in or filling in forms. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not then work.
Targeting Cookies
These cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.
Functional Cookies
These cookies enable the website to provide enhanced functionality and personalisation. They may be set by us or by third party providers whose services we have added to our pages. If you do not allow these cookies then these services may not function properly.
Performance Cookies
These cookies allow us to count visits and traffic sources so we can measure and improve the performance of our site. They help us to know which pages are the most and least popular and see how visitors move around the site. All information these cookies collect is aggregated and therefore anonymous. If you do not allow these cookies we will not be able to monitor our performance.
Store and/or access information on a device 104 partners can use this purpose
Cookies, device or similar online identifiers (e.g. login-based identifiers, randomly assigned identifiers, network based identifiers) together with other information (e.g. browser type and information, language, screen size, supported technologies etc.) can be stored or read on your device to recognise it each time it connects to an app or to a website, for one or several of the purposes presented here.
Personalised advertising and content, advertising and content measurement, audience research and services development 136 partners can use this purpose
Use limited data to select advertising 106 partners can use this purpose
Advertising presented to you on this service can be based on limited data, such as the website or app you are using, your non-precise location, your device type or which content you are (or have been) interacting with (for example, to limit the number of times an ad is presented to you).
Create profiles for personalised advertising 78 partners can use this purpose
Information about your activity on this service (such as forms you submit, content you look at) can be stored and combined with other information about you (for example, information from your previous activity on this service and other websites or apps) or similar users. This is then used to build or improve a profile about you (that might include possible interests and personal aspects). Your profile can be used (also later) to present advertising that appears more relevant based on your possible interests by this and other entities.
Use profiles to select personalised advertising 77 partners can use this purpose
Advertising presented to you on this service can be based on your advertising profiles, which can reflect your activity on this service or other websites or apps (like the forms you submit, content you look at), possible interests and personal aspects.
Create profiles to personalise content 37 partners can use this purpose
Information about your activity on this service (for instance, forms you submit, non-advertising content you look at) can be stored and combined with other information about you (such as your previous activity on this service or other websites or apps) or similar users. This is then used to build or improve a profile about you (which might for example include possible interests and personal aspects). Your profile can be used (also later) to present content that appears more relevant based on your possible interests, such as by adapting the order in which content is shown to you, so that it is even easier for you to find content that matches your interests.
Use profiles to select personalised content 33 partners can use this purpose
Content presented to you on this service can be based on your content personalisation profiles, which can reflect your activity on this or other services (for instance, the forms you submit, content you look at), possible interests and personal aspects. This can for example be used to adapt the order in which content is shown to you, so that it is even easier for you to find (non-advertising) content that matches your interests.
Measure advertising performance 127 partners can use this purpose
Information regarding which advertising is presented to you and how you interact with it can be used to determine how well an advert has worked for you or other users and whether the goals of the advertising were reached. For instance, whether you saw an ad, whether you clicked on it, whether it led you to buy a product or visit a website, etc. This is very helpful to understand the relevance of advertising campaigns.
Measure content performance 60 partners can use this purpose
Information regarding which content is presented to you and how you interact with it can be used to determine whether the (non-advertising) content e.g. reached its intended audience and matched your interests. For instance, whether you read an article, watch a video, listen to a podcast or look at a product description, how long you spent on this service and the web pages you visit etc. This is very helpful to understand the relevance of (non-advertising) content that is shown to you.
Understand audiences through statistics or combinations of data from different sources 75 partners can use this purpose
Reports can be generated based on the combination of data sets (like user profiles, statistics, market research, analytics data) regarding your interactions and those of other users with advertising or (non-advertising) content to identify common characteristics (for instance, to determine which target audiences are more receptive to an ad campaign or to certain contents).
Develop and improve services 82 partners can use this purpose
Information about your activity on this service, such as your interaction with ads or content, can be very helpful to improve products and services and to build new products and services based on user interactions, the type of audience, etc. This specific purpose does not include the development or improvement of user profiles and identifiers.
Use limited data to select content 38 partners can use this purpose
Content presented to you on this service can be based on limited data, such as the website or app you are using, your non-precise location, your device type, or which content you are (or have been) interacting with (for example, to limit the number of times a video or an article is presented to you).
Use precise geolocation data 43 partners can use this special feature
With your acceptance, your precise location (within a radius of less than 500 metres) may be used in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
Actively scan device characteristics for identification 25 partners can use this special feature
With your acceptance, certain characteristics specific to your device might be requested and used to distinguish it from other devices (such as the installed fonts or plugins, the resolution of your screen) in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
Ensure security, prevent and detect fraud, and fix errors 86 partners can use this special purpose
Always Active
Your data can be used to monitor for and prevent unusual and possibly fraudulent activity (for example, regarding advertising, ad clicks by bots), and ensure systems and processes work properly and securely. It can also be used to correct any problems you, the publisher or the advertiser may encounter in the delivery of content and ads and in your interaction with them.
Deliver and present advertising and content 96 partners can use this special purpose
Always Active
Certain information (like an IP address or device capabilities) is used to ensure the technical compatibility of the content or advertising, and to facilitate the transmission of the content or ad to your device.
Match and combine data from other data sources 68 partners can use this feature
Always Active
Information about your activity on this service may be matched and combined with other information relating to you and originating from various sources (for instance your activity on a separate online service, your use of a loyalty card in-store, or your answers to a survey), in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
Link different devices 50 partners can use this feature
Always Active
In support of the purposes explained in this notice, your device might be considered as likely linked to other devices that belong to you or your household (for instance because you are logged in to the same service on both your phone and your computer, or because you may use the same Internet connection on both devices).
Identify devices based on information transmitted automatically 84 partners can use this feature
Always Active
Your device might be distinguished from other devices based on information it automatically sends when accessing the Internet (for instance, the IP address of your Internet connection or the type of browser you are using) in support of the purposes exposed in this notice.
Save and communicate privacy choices 64 partners can use this special purpose
Always Active
The choices you make regarding the purposes and entities listed in this notice are saved and made available to those entities in the form of digital signals (such as a string of characters). This is necessary in order to enable both this service and those entities to respect such choices.
have your say