Insights from another student entrepreneur…

Published: Monday, 23 February 2009

Kieran O’Neill started up holylemon.com, a sight that shows funny videos, funny movies and funny videoclips when he was 14, and sold it for US$1.25 million while studying at the University of Bath, during his exam period. He was 19 at the time. Now 21, he’s working on PlayFire and PlayStation Universe, while finishing off his degree. He spoke at Imperial College recently, and dispensed the following advice:

 

(1) If you’re starting a technical company, have at least one technical co-founder. Have someone great.

(2) Raising capital from equity is the most expensive source of funding. It’s way better to bootstrap or borrow.

(3) Finding the right co-founders is essential to the business.

(4) Figure out what your key business metrics are, and measure obsessively.

(5) Get onto the feedback loop as soon as possible. I.e., launch as soon as possible.

About Me

Marita ChengForbes named me a world's top 50 woman in tech & 30 Under 30. I founded Robogals and Aipoly and was Young Australian of the Year 2012. Currently working on robotics company Aubot. I'm the youngest Member of the Order of Australia (AM) and I give speeches around the world.

I tweet @maritacheng and I'm on Facebook.

Subscribe

Enter your email address to receive my latest blog posts: 

 

Random Articles

  • Where are you not looking?

    You’ve brainstormed and tried all the keywords that you could think of in Google, you’ve asked Jeeves, you’ve spoken to your lecturers and you’ve...

  • Choose Maths

    Choose Maths is an exciting 5 year, national project designed to empower and encourage Australian students (in particular girls) to pursue...

  • Think more

    All men's miseries derive from not being able to sit in a quiet room alone. Blaise Pascal One of my favourite things to do is to sit there and...

  • Shell Eco-marathon Asia Wrap-up

    It was a whirlwind of a week in Malaysia at Shell Eco-marathon Asia. The air was constantly buzzing with intense excitement and anticipation, mixed...

  • TEDx Aipoly

    Alberto and I gave a speech about Aipoly at TEDxMelbourne, where we showcased Aipoly Vision being used via glasses.  Aipoly has now been downloaded...

  • Škoda - Brilliant Not Famous

    Car company Škoda decided that I am "brilliant not famous", and created this content piece video to show the strength of their convictions.  :P...

  • G20 Brisbane Global Cafe

    Spoke about my robotic arm at the G20 Brisbane Global Cafe.

  • Do what's hard

    In Robogals, I always looked for the hardest possible thing to do.  And then I did it. Because I knew that if I could achieve that, then I would...

  • BigSpeak Top 10 Female Speaker

    BigSpeak named me one of top 10 female keynote speakers and one of their top 10 technology keynote speakers! I am utterly delighted! I only...

  • InStyle and Audi Style Scholarship

    On 13 May, I was named the InStyle/ AUDI Style Scholarship recipient.  Here’s my spread in InStyle magazine.  Thank you to AUDI and InStyle magazine...