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IOM


what might you do differently? Osborne: Lots of things! I am best classified as a


technical entrepreneur. Running an e-gaming software business needs such a broad range of skills I would definitely bring in more experienced commercial and operational people earlier into the business life cycle.


CIO: If you could go back in time and give


yourself one piece of advice right at the start of all this, what might that be?


Osborne: Remained focused. One of the great things about Iforium is the team’s collective experiences allow us to quickly turn our hand to most things. We’re very good at getting to the heart of a problem and coming up with great innovative solutions and delivering them working first time. However, in the early years this was also our downfall. We would get too easily side-tracked into different areas and the lack of a detailed business plan with a clear strategy didn’t really help. We now have that and it’s making a big difference.


CIO: What do you think is the toughest thing for companies starting up today to deal with?


Orborne: The e-gaming industry has evolved so


much since I started. Software products have become so much more sophisticated and the complexity has gone through the roof. The regulated markets have also raised the bar higher and this all realistically makes the time to market for a new software platform company go from months to years. This isn’t the most attractive commercial proposition to most start-up businesses. The toughest thing is finding the correct


60 NOVEMBER 2011


CIO: What’s the best thing about starting up a company?


Orborne: I’ve probably worked too many 80+ hour


weeks than I care to remember. However, the sense of achievement when you win a new customer or a new customer’s site goes live is an amazing buzz - something that money can’t buy. Alex Ferguson always says that the only way to replicate the buzz of winning the league is to do it again. I agree.


Profile: GOALDASH CIO: How was the company started?


Jeremy Bourke, CEO, Goaldash (UK) Limited: The company was started in January 2010 off the back of a unique idea conceived over the previous year. Initial seed capital was invested to build a concept game and development website. This formed the platform for further growth through additional investment with the business receiving its OGRA licence in Jan 2011 in the Isle of Man. There was a proof of concept launch in April 2011 for the last two weeks of the UK football season. This was preceded by months of beta testing where both the game and software received exhaustive internal


niche and marketing to it correctly. Concentrate on this and there’s enough business for everyone. You also need to spend your marketing money wisely. I would recommend that most start-ups think of a marketing budget and then treble it. I would also say don’t spend it all in one go, start gently in the first three or four months, work out what works and what doesn’t, and then hit the second wave hard.


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