Don’t wait to be perfect, get to market quickly

VSware has simplified the often complex task of timetabling and internal communication for schools and teachers. Patrick Barry, co-founder, says new companies should get to market early with their product and let their customers help them refine it.

Waiting around until your product is ‘perfect’ is not, according to Patrick Barry, the best strategy.

“Success can be built on releasing your product early and getting customer feedback straight away,” he says. “In our case we released the product to schools and no better people to tell us the correct direction of our product roadmap.”

What’s the best advice he can give other companies? “One of the best pieces of advice I can give is to focus on the largest opportunity possible. If it’s a small market or a small opportunity, the same amount of work needs to be done. You may as well aim for the largest target market you can.”

As for work-life balance? “In the hyper growth days of the company, growth is the focus, but I look forward to the day when I achieve a work/life balance.”

Barry believes there are a huge number of supports in Ireland for companies. “We went through Enterprise Ireland. The support networks are there and they want you to succeed.”