Google has opened applications for the fourth round of its Adopt a Startup programme.
Thirty positions on the programme are up for grabs the full list of companies selected for 12 weeks of hands-on mentoring and access to lectures and workshops with a dedicated Google support team, culminating in a Dragons Den-style competition final.
“This is a hugely beneficial programme for Irish start-ups. The types of start-ups we are looking for, and who will benefit the most from participation, are those in business for more than one year, with a strategy in place for acquiring new customers and already generating revenue. They will be thinking globally and rapidly scaling their business, or planning to enter into new markets over the first six months in 2017,” said head of Google Ireland’s start-up engagement programme Paddy Flynn.
“This is an intense programme so participants also need to be available to participate in a hands-on three-month mentoring programme and be willing to embrace change and take action on feedback given. Since we launched our Adopt a Startup programme 2014 we have worked with almost 100 high-potential Irish start-ups and many have gone on to raise significant capital funding and greatly increase their employee numbers.”
Overall winner of the 2016 programme Ian Harkin, managing director of Donegal toy maker Arklu, said that since taking part his business has already exceeded targets compared to previous years of business: “We are well on track to double our turnover this year compared to last year and since winning the competition our sales have tripled compared to the same period last year.
“In addition, we have signed a worldwide book deal with Penguin publishers, one of our Lottie dolls returned from space having spent 264 days on the international space station, and we are close to signing off on a major new investment. By this time next year we also hope to have doubled our current workforce to employ 20 people in Donegal.
“We were a little hesitant about entering the Adopt a Startup programme because we are a product based company. We thought this programme would only suit IT based businesses. But we quickly understood that Google is helping all types of businesses every day to be found online and to find new customers, in every part of the world, no matter how remote, so it was a golden opportunity for us to learn from the them.”
The Adopt a Startup Programme forms part of Google’s commitment to supporting the start-up community in Ireland through mentoring events such as Ireland’s Best Young Entrepreneur and hosting community events with partners like Startup Weekend and Enterprise Ireland.
Start-ups should submit their entry at https://events.withgoogle.com/adoptastartup/apply/ by 1 December. Successfuly applicants will be notified in early January.
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