In 2018, Harvard Business Review analysed data on the average entrepreneur to validate a widely held belief that most successful entrepreneurs are young. When they compared TechCrunch award-winners and Inc. magazine’s lists of founders from high-growth companies, findings seemed to support this belief. The average age was 29 and 31, respectively. But when analysing US census statistics on small businesses, a different picture of the ‘real’ entrepreneur emerged. Founders were typically in their early-40’s at the time of founding. Even in high tech-startups and those in the top 0.1% in terms of growth, results remained the same.
What makes a successful entrepreneur may have less to do with youth, and more to do with a refusal to quit. The story of ChirpyPlus is a testament to the reality of success. ecentre’s Special Projects Manager, Dorian Scott, has worked with ChirpyPlus founder Carol Mahoney for over four years. To Dorian, her journey demonstrates the importance of resilience in entrepreneurship.
Because when something’s not working, you can always pivot.
Out of Retirement and into Entrepreneurship
Retirement was just not working for Carol Mahoney.
Carol has a background in IT, and even after retiring, found herself returning to the workforce as a consultant. Her son, Shaun, worked as a mortgage broker for 14 years in the US before moving to the Sunshine Coast to work as a bank manager. His particular experience had shown him the value of newsletters for small businesses. However, he noticed that it was often difficult for smaller companies to produce newsletters regularly and to a high standard.
Carol and Shaun began working on a business idea. In April 2015, ULetters was born.
The business model for ULetters was simple. Carol and a team of writers would write newsletters for small businesses using a template that allowed for a customized introduction by the company’s CEO. A chance meeting with a Callaghan Innovation representative put ecentre’s accelerator programme under Carol’s radar. Soon after, she entered ULetters into ecentre’s Sprint Foundation programme to quickly validate and develop their business idea. Both Carol and Shaun benefited greatly from the connections made here. In particular, they formed strong relationships with the other founders, whom they remain in contact with today.
In October, ULetters sent out its first newsletters.
It wasn’t until November 2017 that the company finally reached breakeven. They estimated a potential revenue of $1M, which did not meet their aspirations. ULetters was a service business, and therefore, not scalable. Moreover, ULetter’s reliance on its third-party newsletter software made them vulnerable if they were to change their business model.
On top of this, getting thousands of 100% accurate emails out every month was stressful. Not being able to scale and adapt quickly, plus not enjoying the work, led Carol and Shaun to let go of ULetters in August 2017.
When One Door Closes...
Choosing the life of an entrepreneur involves riding these ups and downs. Fortunately, failures tend to be our most significant opportunities to learn. Resilient entrepreneurs know that the only way to go is forward.
Shortly after ULetters closed, Carol and Shaun took what they had learned and began working on a new business, The Sticky Handshake.
The Sticky Handshake was born from an increasing need for small businesses to network and grow customer referrals. This time around, Carol wanted to ensure scalability and refine an MVP – a minimal viable product – where she wouldn’t need to spend on software development until it was necessary. The Sticky Handshake was a platform helping businesses connect, using a SaaS business model with both free and premium membership options available for its customers.
Marketing began in March 2018. Carol and Shaun wanted to capture online sales without a sales team and to spend 50% of the budget on marketing to gain traction quickly. By June, they had 750 members. Although they had an impressive customer base in only three months, they struggled with customer engagement and moving customers into the premium option.
Same Product, New Market
Around this time, Carol and Shaun received feedback that their business may be better suited for an older age group, where the networking capability had the potential to reduce loneliness in an overlooked market.
Both Shaun and Carol knew this was a genuine need. In his early 40’s, Shaun received multiple neurological surgeries due to a significant injury. Recovery made connecting with others, face-to-face and regularly, difficult. Carol, who is now 70, was also highly aware of the challenges faced by those within her age group to find the same thing.
Ready to pivot where the opportunity was, Carol and Shaun began researching the 55+ market. Research showed that the market was huge and increasing. Plus, their MVP (a platform where people could connect to meet up) was unmatched in this market. What Carol and Shaun could offer was more straightforward than what existed.
It was also scalable and could be taken outside of New Zealand and Australia. Validation from proposed customers showed that their concept resonated and could make a difference in people’s lives.
ChirpyPlus was born.
Becoming Investor-Ready
Carol and Shaun continued to refine their business model using what they learned from The Sticky Handshake. ChirpyPlus initially used a subscription model where users paid $5/month or $49/annum.
In December 2018, and with a customer database of 300, Carol and Shaun brought on an investor. They also partnered with Genesis, New Zealand’s largest electricity and gas retailer, who saw value in the ChirpyPlus database. Although they were bringing in $1,000 in monthly sales, numbers on the site were not growing as quickly as planned. And, potential investors wanted more customers on the platform before they would be interested.
Carol and Shaun were also getting feedback from existing members that they wanted to see more members on the platform. In response, they moved to a free model to build member numbers. With a focus on marketing, the numbers quickly grew to 20,000.
Now, future investors were asking for 100,000 customers, along with an improved revenue model and financial forecast, by the end of 2019. In July, ChirpyPlus changed its subscription model to $8 a month with a 7-day free trial and credit card details upfront. Their market was particularly risk-averse and highly aware of credit card scams. It was a risky move. However, if successful, ChirpyPlus could bring in revenue much faster.
In August 2019, Carol built on a relationship made while she was at ecentre and gained a local investor who was excited about the business opportunity. The new investor brought on board funds, expertise, and experience.
The Fastest Growing 55+ Community in New Zealand
Today, ChirpyPlus is a service for those 55 and over and seeking companionship with other like-minded individuals. ChirpyPlus offers networking for travel opportunities, events, and even Bingo. Carol has brought up-to-date and easy-to-use technology to meet a need in a growing market.
Carol and Shaun’s newest ambition is to grow ChirpyPlus to 1,000 new members every week and has plans to launch in the UK in late 2020. They continue to build on their MVP, feature by feature. Now a team of 15, ChirpyPlus is growing a sales and support team in Australia where media interest is growing quickly. After a feature in the Sydney Morning Herald in November 2019, the Australian morning talk show, Today Extra, invited Carol and Shaun on to share their mission.
The Real Elixir for Success
What’s most striking about the people behind ChirpyPlus is their continuous persistence and adaptability. Along with keen awareness for the needs of the market, entrepreneurship requires a fearlessness to problem-solve. It is a unique ability developed from experience. In this way, the elixir for success has nothing to do with youth. Instead, those who succeed are brave enough to take failures in stride. With experience, entrepreneurs know there is always another way.