Benjamin McClure

Takeoff manager

Benjamin McClure. Photos: Jason BorgBenjamin McClure. Photos: Jason Borg

What are the main foundations of a knowledge-based economy?

Knowledge-based economies are founded on ideas and innovations. I’m pleased to say that a new generation of bright, technically-skilled graduates here in Malta possess plenty of great ideas with business potential. What we need is a well-connected entrepreneurial community to support and fund these budding entrepreneurs and to help transform their innovations into knowledge-based ventures that will prosper and fuel economical growth.

Aspiring technology entrepreneurs usually have a lot of ideas but little resources. What is the role of the Takeoff Business Incubator in bridging this gap?

Our job at Takeoff is to help narrow the knowledge, skills and funding gaps that entrepreneurs face as they set out on their start-up adventures. We coach entrepreneurs and offer them training to build businesses that will attract customers and investment. We actively help them connect to people with know-how and with partners, suppliers and sources of funding. Takeoff also offers office and co-working space with room for entrepreneurs to build and launch their new ventures.

How can the risk element in launching a start-up be minimised?

Start-ups are risky endeavours with a high failure rate. To minimise risk, we encourage Takeoff-based entrepreneurs to experiment, seek customer feedback, and change their plan or product repeatedly. In other words, if a new venture is going to fail – as many do – then entrepreneurs should fail fast, learn from that experience and improve on the next try. This approach helps innovators and entrepreneurs create products in the most cost-effective way possible, saving them thousands of euros in wasted upfront expenditures.

What determines the market promise of a start-up?

There is no magic formula for determining the start-up promise, but some things can improve the odds of success. The strength of a founding team is the most important factor. Teams with passion, talent and commitment to execute their business plans are most likely to succeed. Their products should be designed to solve real, burning problems that haven’t been solved before by other companies. Finally, it needs to be crystal clear that plenty of people are willing to pay for a product or service: the bigger the market, the greater the start-up’s promise.

How successful has the Takeoff Business Incubator been to date?

We are delighted by our achievements. Takeoff is now home to 20 knowledge-based start-up ventures that are helping to get ready for the market and investors. In June, five of our members received Takeoff Seed Fund Awards ranging from €5,000 to €18,000, that will be used to move their ideas forward. One of our members recently raised more than €150,000 in private investment, offering solid evidence that Takeoff is on the right track.

Pamela Baldacchino, 43

Start-up: Sanctuary

Pamela BaldacchinoPamela Baldacchino

What made you launch your start-up with Takeoff?

I’ve taken my time to launch my start-up. However, the accumulated years can work in your favour when they add up to give you more drive.

My project name, as well as my start-up name, is Sanctuary. It’s been brewing for over a year now and it’s the product of my past experience as a nurse. In fact, my first degree is a BSc in Nursing Studies, and my recent post-graduate degree is a Master in Fine Arts (Digital Art). These are two diverse fields of care and art practice that, when examined through the process of synthesis, have yielded an interesting, new approach to art in relation to empathic dialogue.

What is Sanctuary?

Sanctuary is an audiovisual tool that allows its viewers to look at digital artwork that is a metaphor of the self. This triggers off an empathic reaction and facilitates the viewers’ connection to their life story. At this stage, our team is working to create a prototype that is practical to use as a way of viewing such artwork within the clinical and hospital setting.

I’m interested in liaising with professionals who engage in therapeutic dialogue within their clinics or areas of practice. In this way, Sanctuary can be used as a way of sustaining such dialogue.

What business model have you adopted?

Our team’s in the process of exploring potential business models with the help of Takeoff. We are considering a licensing model, in which healthcare organisations will pay us an annual fee in return for a menu of audiovisual therapeutic content that they can offer to their patients. A licensing model will generate steady, predictable revenues for the company.

At this stage, however, the business model is far from being set in stone. By working with healthcare providers while we develop the product, letting them use the tool and getting their valuable feedback, we can try out different models and figure out which ones best suit our market and which will generate enough sales to make Sanctuary a commercial success.

What inspired you to launch your own start-up?

It’s a desire to keep doing what I’m doing. I do not want to shelf something I’ve worked so hard on. An artist thrives on exposing the work created. I look at art as the creation of possibility and thus if a possibility presents itself, in the form of a start-up, then I will be the first to jump on the bus.

Getting funding will allow me to carry my work forward and allow it to be used where it’s intended to, by people who are in need of support. This is my vision: that art, as a symbolic language, transcends the boundaries between our past, present and possible future. It allows us to reach within and without to others so as to create understanding and awareness in our lives.

What, in your opinion, defines an entrepreneurial spirit?

What brought me to this point is a love for what I do that is backed by research and work. I would also like to think that I have a sense of adventure and a go-for-it philosophy. Another thing which defines me is that I have a chronic condition myself, called fibromyalgia. So simply because I do not know how I will be feeling tomorrow, I have this tremendous urge that pushes me to make the most of what I have today.

What support does a start-up need to make it to the marketplace?

I have joined Takeoff where I will get help to develop a detailed plan for taking my product to the market, making use of the mentors there. I will need to identify potential licensees, obtain their feedback and move towards licensing the artistic product.

In a way, this experience is opening up an area of enterprise that was previously foreign to me. I seek a lot of advice. I’m also aware that one must tread with care and that ventures such as these necessitate a certain amount of shrewdness. At the end of the day, it’s a learning curve.

Tyron Lloyd Baron, 23

Start-up: InboundMuse

Tyron Lloyd BaronTyron Lloyd Baron

What made you launch your start-up with Takeoff?

At 23, I originally gravitated towards the hard sciences after which I went over to the other side to complete a BA (Hons) in Classics. Now I’m CEO of InboundMuse.

What is InboundMuse?

Our main focus is building a potentially revolutionary software solution that leverages the best of artificial intelligence to find valuable marketing insights in big data. InboundMuse also provides various training programmes on data-driven digital marketing, geared towards marketing teams in SMEs and delivered by experts in the field.

Neville BezzinaNeville Bezzina

What business model have you adopted?

We’re currently in the early stages of development but we envision our solution to be brought to market as a software as a service model. With regards to training, we offer master classes to Maltese leaders of industry as well as bespoke consulting on a one-on-one basis.

What inspired you to launch your own start-up?

The world is full of opportunities. I guess I’ve always wanted to branch out and do my own thing, so when I was reunited with Neville Bezzina, he sold me the dream for better inbound marketing and an idea he had years ago.

A few weeks later, we retreated to Pisa and over many long train rides, the idea began to take shape. We came back full of energy: we couldn’t stop talking about it and we could barely sleep. We quit our jobs and dedicated everything we have to our idea. Along the way, there have been some changes to the original idea, but its beating heart remains, exciting everyone who sees its scope.

What, in your opinion, defines an entrepreneurial spirit?

I’m convinced that it’s nature not nurture. In my opinion, an entrepreneurial spirit is a mix of intense curiosity, ambition, the ability to be truly passionate about something and you have to want to do it yourself. Not many entrepreneurs would admit it, but to an extent you must also have a certain arrogance that you have the solution that in some way makes the world better.

Everything else notwithstanding, the entrepreneurial spirit is all about taking calculated risks. You have to be ready to jump off a cliff and build a plane on the way down.

What support does a start-up need to make it to the marketplace?

You need every kind of support. Luckily we found a lot of it at Takeoff business incubator, whether it’s financial, legal or emotional, mostly emotional. As a founder, you’ve basically decided that you have a better idea than the established giants in your industry and each day comes with that nagging voice that reminds you just how irrational everyone on your team is for following you. Then again, that’s part of the entrepreneurial spirit.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.