NESTA Going Digital - challenges faced by established charities when creating new digital products
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Some challenges faced by established charities when creating new digital products NESTA – Going Digital Launch Event 15 October 2014
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Slides to accompany a talk given by successful tech entrepreneur and angel investor Mary McKenna on 15 October 2014 at the NESTA HQ in London. The purpose of the talk was to outline some of the challenges charities face when launching new digital products as a way to diversify revenue streams and reduce dependence on government grants and subsidies and fundraising activity. The key messages in the talk were around some of the challenges that charities and social enterprises need to be aware of when incubating digital startups with a view to subsequently liberating them & taking in investment funding from social investors. It covers the risk averse environment that not for profits operate within and the "fear factor" in the sector that engenders excessive monitoring and governance of projects. We look at the differences and similarities between a charity digital startup and a private sector startup and we examine the reasons why 80% of tech startups fail within the first 18 months of trading. The talk was delivered as part of the launch event of NESTA's brand new "Going Digital" report and there were a large number of charities and social entrepreneurs in the room. Afterwards a charity CEO came to me and said she wished she'd recorded my talk so that she could play it back to her own trustee board.
Transcript of NESTA Going Digital - challenges faced by established charities when creating new digital products
Some challenges faced by established charities when creating new digital productsNESTA – Going Digital Launch Event
15 October 2014
A bit about me …
• Started in local government as a new graduate• Was person number 5 in a tiny team that’s now O2• Left CIPFA to become a Silicon Valley dotcommer• Became an entrepreneur later in life than most• Co-founded Learning Pool in 2006 – and built an online learning
community of one million people• Have founded 4 startups of my own … so far!• Just joined Northern Ireland Science Park as Entrepreneur in
Residence• Have been a charity trustee for over 10 years
So how did I end up as part of the Task
Squad team?
Some advantages for charities
• Larger charities are resource rich compared to SMEs and startups• Tech projects can access existing infrastructure – finance,
marketing, etc• Lots of goodwill from others for projects to succeed• Deep and unique insight into the sector• Charities have easier access to politicians although with
recent experience not always an advantage! (cue laughter…)• Best of all – a real willingness to engage with innovation
For charities…digital can be alien
…and there’s tons of baggage
…but no-one has any skin in the game when you need them to be hungry like a wolf
There’s a lot of meetings and governance…
… and conflicting drivers make it hard to focus on the right things
Your people are your most valuable asset
…and no-one knows what’s going to happen next
Top 5 reasons 80% of tech startups fail in the first 18 months (Forbes)
• Lack of deep market knowledge – know your audience!• Insufficient USP or inability to fully articulate it – market test
your idea & work on your messaging – some ideas are just bad…• Failure to communicate & lack of clarity about your niche• Leadership issues• Business model is wrong or underdeveloped – finesse,
finesse, finesse!
Final thought …
“In my experience, the most successful tech startups are the ones that get to revenue at lightning speed – for a whole raft of reasons. Money qualifies market appetite for your product. The rule for charities is no different.”
• Email address [email protected]• Read my blog at www.kickingassets.co.uk
• Connect with me on Twitter at @MMaryMcKenna
