NECESSITY IS THE mother of invention, or so the saying goes.
This was certainly the case for Conor Lyden. The CEO and founder of Trustap couldn’t find a way to purchase football match tickets safely on classified sites – so he designed his own, and built a business around it.
Trustap was founded formally in 2018 and now offers a way for buyers and sellers to safely exchange funds for goods online. When you want to purchase something from an online seller, Trustap holds the funds until you’ve received and are happy with your purchase.
The application has the ability to integrate into buy-and-sell websites like, for example, Cars.ie in Ireland, or the UK site Preloved, which is in the process of integrating Trustap into their interface.
Alternatively, individuals can use Trustap on their phones or laptops to safely send or receive funds for items they’re buying or selling on classified sites like DoneDeal or Adverts.
Not everyone would have the gumption to solve such a large transactional problem themselves, but with financial help and business advice from the Local Enterprise Office (LEO), Lyden founded a startup that not only solved the problem for him – it now offers the solution to the greater public.
Trustap employs eight people in Cork, and the company is hoping to expand to twelve employees by mid-2020.
Entrepreneur from the start
Lyden has a long history of exercising his entrepreneurial spirit; as a kid, he would order bulk items from China to sell to his friends. During summer J1 trips to Newport, Rhode Island as a teenager, Lyden ran a sailing programme, managing teams of people and taking responsibility for several hundred children. Growing up, his parents owned their own dental practice, so he was able to see first hand the challenges and benefits of self-employment.
I always had an itch for it, and I guess that’s kind of where the business side came from. I had a lot of interest in technology and entrepreneurship in general. I followed some of the successful Irish start-up stories, like Stripe, and some of the people who made it work from Ireland. I’ve always been kind of keen to get involved in that world.
Lyden decided to embark on a college degree in his home county of Cork, “I did engineering because I didn’t know what I wanted to do and I was good at maths.” Little did he know it would set him up for success with Trustap several years later.
Scammed one time too many
While Lyden was studying at UCC, he would often travel to Liverpool to watch football matches, attempting to purchase last-minute tickets through sites like DoneDeal, Facebook, or even Twitter.
“I kept encountering the same problem. They’d say, sure, the tickets are still available, but you’ll have to send me the money first, then I’ll post you the ticket.” That posed a risk, in that he might not receive the ticket after sending payment, and Lyden said he experienced that problem several times:
“Once I got scammed a few times, I thought, there must be a better way to do this. I looked into it and there really wasn’t a better way.”
Using that entrepreneurial streak and his engineering knowledge, Lyden decided to take on the challenge. He took the idea with him into the Ignite Programme at UCC, “I went through the stages of starting the business there, and once I was able to validate the concept and get a viable product together, I took it to the Local Enterprise Office.”
Help and support
Trustap’s initial growth was spurred in large part with help from the Local Enterprise Office, the business support network designed to be a hub of expert advice, and to provide information and practical support to those looking to start businesses in Ireland. Lyden said his local LEO in South Cork gave him financial and practical help at a pivotal point:
I first started engaging with LEO in 2017, mainly through the Ireland’s Best Young Entrepreneur competition, that’s how I first got exposure to them. Then I received a couple of grants from them, including the priming grant. The financial support that was very helpful at the time to get to the next iteration of the product.
And Lyden’s experience working with the Local Enterprise Office was able to help get Trustap off the ground, said Lyden, “They were very good to deal with. They believed in me. At that point, there was not much to show for in terms of revenue or a team, but they believed in me and I’ll be forever grateful for that.”
Due to its massive success, Trustap is now considered by Enterprise Ireland as a High Potential Start-Up (HPSU) client, meaning it will receive additional support as a start-up with the potential for employment and revenue in the next few years.
So, what’s next for Trustap?
Lyden reports that Trustap is now growing steadily, “We’re hoping to be live on ten sites by halfway through next year, and those sites are just one route to market. The platform has been growing week on week, with people independently using it. We’re hoping that being on these larger sites will help the general platform grow as well.”
So next time you’re hoping to buy football tickets, or a used car, or just about anything on a buy-and-sell site and find yourself getting nervous about a potential scam, don’t worry. There’s an app for that.
Do you have a brilliant idea for a startup? The Local Enterprise Office will help you get it off the ground, providing expertise and financial support and enabling your business to grow and thrive. If you have a good idea, they can help you to make it happen. Check out the new Local Enterprise Office site with resources to help you get started.
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