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So happy to have worked with the The Irish News to proudly feature the inspirational top 40 performers in the 2024 NI Environmental Benchmarking Survey. We've had some scary climate news this week with reports of levels of carbon dioxide - the most significant planet-warming gas in our atmosphere - rising more quickly in 2024 than ever previously recorded, and President Trump pulling the US out of the international Paris Agreement on climate change. It's important to be reminded that there are great companies in Northern Ireland doing their bit to make a positive impact on the environment. Read more about our 16 featured top 40 environmental champions at https://lnkd.in/eWVW6vGQ

Struggling to bring your business idea to life ? InterTradeIreland can help you access funding and technical expertise to: 💡 Transform your ideas into actionable solutions 📈 Boost operational performance 🚀 Accelerate your business growth Many of our clients have already leveraged this support to: ✅ Validate new concepts ✅ Enhance operational efficiency ✅ Drive meaningful growth Don't miss out. If you'd like support or advice with an application, contact us on: +44 (0) 20 3920 6933

The VC Playbook, Ep. 1: Is Venture Capital (VC) Right for Your Business? 💭 Raising VC money is often seen as a success, but it's just the beginning of the hard work. Few start-ups achieve the exits VCs need to deem an investment successful. Before pursuing this path, ask yourself: is it the best choice for you and your company? Do we need VC funding, or can we bootstrap to profitability? This often depends on the industry, as deeptech and AI typically require high CapEx before earning revenue, while others can reach break-even much faster. Do we want to give up control of our company? Taking on VC funding often means giving investors significant influence over key decisions. Do we believe our business can achieve the exit potential required for VC success? This includes considering whether we, as founders, can avoid excessive dilution from clauses like 2x liquidation preferences, which could impact our compensation at the end of the road. This isn't to say that going down the venture route is a bad decision, it's the right choice for a select group of high growth potential companies. However, it's crucial to ask these questions and carefully assess the risks. — 👋 Hi I'm Hugh, a strategy consultant turned founder. 🗓 I post about entrepreneurship, creator economy & fintech 🔔 Drop me a follow to come along for the ride

Wondering what AI agent tools are making waves and being adopted by leading product and development teams ? Check out the list below for the cutting-edge tools that are shaping the future. We've successfully used many of these at our HackTheHub® hackathons and in building client prototypes, proving their value first hand. Special thanks to Om N. for curating this exceptional list.

Humans have a natural bias towards adding rather than subtracting when solving problems. It's why In Prototype and MVP development, the bias towards adding features can lead to bloated products, in contrast to focusing on subtraction to ensure simplicity and what's essential. But... It's also a double-edged sword. Because of this bias, it often tries to make connections to potential problems where there aren't any. This could be "Scalability" problems, when you don't have 1 customer yet. This could be considering doing a 3 month integration, when just embedding a iframe for the short-term could meet the same needs to validate. Resulting in overthinking. So how do you stop? Write. This will apply critical thinking and bring the perceived problem to be challenged with assumptions and arrive at a conclusion. 𝗧𝗮𝗸𝗲 5 𝗺𝗶𝗻𝘂𝘁𝗲𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗮𝗻𝘀𝘄𝗲𝗿: 1. 𝗗𝗼𝗲𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗳𝗲𝗮𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝘀𝗼𝗹𝘃𝗲 𝗮 𝗰𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗯𝗹𝗲𝗺 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘂𝘀𝗲𝗿? 2. 𝗖𝗮𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗠𝗩𝗣 𝗳𝘂𝗻𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗳𝗲𝗮𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲? 3. 𝗪𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗳𝗲𝗮𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗻𝗶𝗳𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗻𝘁𝗹𝘆 𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗰𝘁 𝘂𝘀𝗲𝗿 𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗼𝗿 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁 𝗴𝗼𝗮𝗹𝘀? 4. 𝗜𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗮 𝘀𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲𝗿 𝘄𝗮𝘆 𝘁𝗼 𝗮𝗰𝗵𝗶𝗲𝘃𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝗮𝗺𝗲 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗯𝗹𝗲𝗺? These 4 questions will save you hours of worry.

We’re thrilled to join forces with Comotion, a pioneering social change agency that’s reshaping how change-makers drive impact. Together, we’ll create innovative solutions to amplify their mission of shaping strategies and curating campaigns. As their technology partner, we’re ready to bring our expertise in product development to help make an impact ! 🚀 #NewPartnership #SocialChange #Innovation #Collaboration

Attn: #Entrepreneurs, #Businesses and #Enterprise students in #NorthernIreland Re: £5K #innovation vouchers I cannot recommend this support from Invest Northern Ireland highly enough. Shareit biz has been fortunate to secure two vouchers to date which has been everything in getting us to ready to launch the new Shareit biz platform over the coming weeks. Additionally, this opportunity is shared on the Shareit biz platform where we are connecting entrepreneurs and businesses to resources, support, and opportunities for innovation, growth, and success . Take the time to complete the application form it's #worthit 🙌🏻

It's impossible to go on Linkedin without hearing about "Agentic AI". But what is it? Agentic AI represents the next paradigm shift in AI, were it's no longer just about automating tasks—it’s about using next generation AI agents to perform a wider array of tasks than ever before possible. Moving from complex workflows to intelligent systems that can adapt accordingly. 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗺𝗼𝗻 𝗠𝗶𝘀𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀: 1. "𝘈𝘨𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘤 𝘈𝘐 𝘳𝘦𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘦𝘴 𝘩𝘶𝘮𝘢𝘯 𝘥𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯-𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘺." 𝗧𝗿𝘂𝘁𝗵: Agentic AI will free up humans to focus on strategic and creative decisions. It doesn’t eliminate the need for human oversight but works as a powerful partner. 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗺𝗼𝗻 𝗠𝗶𝘀𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴: 2. "𝘈𝘨𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘤 𝘈𝘐 𝘪𝘴 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘶𝘵𝘰𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘰𝘰𝘭." 𝗧𝗿𝘂𝘁𝗵: Unlike traditional automation, which follows predefined rules, Agentic AI is dynamic and adaptive. It learns from interactions, adjusts to new conditions, and makes decisions autonomously, resembling human cognition. 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗺𝗼𝗻 𝗠𝗶𝘀𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴: 3. "𝘈𝘨𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘤 𝘈𝘐 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘰𝘰 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘹 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘤𝘤𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘮𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘣𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘴." 𝗧𝗿𝘂𝘁𝗵: While implementing Agentic AI may seem daunting, many platforms and tools are designed to simplify the process. Businesses of all sizes can benefit from it, especially as solutions become more user-friendly and scalable. Like anything, start small and limit to solving 1 problem to achieve a quick win. P.S. What do you think about Agentic AI ? 

4 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁𝘂𝗽 𝗠𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗸𝗲𝘀 𝗧𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗞𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗠𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘂𝗺 (𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝘁𝗼 𝗙𝗶𝘅 𝗧𝗵𝗲𝗺): 1️⃣ 𝗖𝗵𝗮𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗣𝗲𝗿𝗳𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 Launching too late? Your competitor is already learning from users. 💡 𝗙𝗶𝘅: Start with ONE core feature. Think Instagram (photos) or Dropbox (file sync). 2️⃣ 𝗢𝘃𝗲𝗿𝗹𝗼𝗮𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁 𝗥𝗼𝗮𝗱𝗺𝗮𝗽𝘀 Too many features = missed deadlines + burned-out teams. 💡 𝗙𝗶𝘅: Prioritise ruthlessly. Use tools like RICE to stay focused. Keep it simple. 3️⃣ 𝗦𝗸𝗶𝗽𝗽𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗨𝘀𝗲𝗿 𝗙𝗲𝗲𝗱𝗯𝗮𝗰𝗸 Building on assumptions? 🚨 Post-launch regrets ahead! 💡 𝗙𝗶𝘅: Test early. Learn fast. Airbnb did it manually before scaling. Set a target for X amount of user interviews before building. 4️⃣ 𝗜𝗴𝗻𝗼𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗧𝗲𝗰𝗵𝗻𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗗𝗲𝗯𝘁 Rushing today can cost big tomorrow. 💡 𝗙𝗶𝘅: Balance speed with quality. Automate testing + review code regularly. 💡 𝗣𝗿𝗼 𝗧𝗶𝗽: Simplify. Nail the 𝗢𝗡𝗘 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 users need most—and grow from there. Have you any more to add? We'd love to hear below! 👇

🚀 𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗱𝘆 𝘁𝗼 𝗹𝗮𝘂𝗻𝗰𝗵 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗻𝗲𝘄 𝗯𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝘃𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲, 𝗯𝘂𝘁 𝗳𝗲𝗲𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘂𝗻𝗰𝗲𝗿𝘁𝗮𝗶𝗻 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗮𝘁𝗵 𝗳𝗼𝗿𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗱? Before committing significant resources, let's talk about 𝘃𝗮𝗹𝗶𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗮. Think of it as running an experiment to assess the 𝘃𝗮𝗹𝘂𝗲, 𝗳𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗶𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆, 𝘂𝘀𝗮𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘃𝗶𝗮𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆 of your solution—before going all-in. 🔍 5 𝗪𝗮𝘆𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗩𝗮𝗹𝗶𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗕𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗜𝗱𝗲𝗮: 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁 𝗜𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄𝘀: Talk to customers, stakeholders, and partners to gather insights. 𝗔𝗻𝗮𝗹𝘆𝘇𝗲 𝗗𝗮𝘁𝗮: Review product analytics for patterns and trends that indicate potential. 𝗖𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗠𝗼𝗰𝗸-𝘂𝗽𝘀: Design prototypes or wireframes and collect feedback from potential users. 𝗦𝗼𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝗠𝗲𝗱𝗶𝗮/𝗘𝗺𝗮𝗶𝗹 𝗖𝗮𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗶𝗴𝗻𝘀: Build awareness, spark conversations, and test interest. 𝗟𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗣𝗮𝗴𝗲𝘀: Set up a simple webpage to showcase your value proposition and capture leads. 🚀 Bonus Tip: These strategies not only validate your idea but also create early momentum, building a foundation for long-term success. 👉 What’s stopping you from validating your next big idea?