EPISODE 110 posting21st October 2022Ciaran O'Mara and Dan Hobbs, founders of Limerick based Protex AI, have completed the Y-Combinator programme (though they'll explain why they didn't make it to San Francisco) and have gone on to raise $18 million for their 18 month old (yes, fewer than 600 days!) company. They're going BIG in Canada and now heading for the US, to take on the US, from their 26 person HQ in Dublin. Their company all grew out of a terrible accident. That led to chats with 200 health and safety experts to see if their software, that can help avoid accidents, had an application. They say 'it's easy to think outside the box if you've never been inside it'. How do they find potential clients? LinkedIn. (They took the 'free trial' to another level!). The two lads explain how not to have your thinking curtailed to Ireland. What they learned from Y-Combinator was view the entire world as your market - 'Why not?' they say. It forces you to think BIG.Their 'hire in a heartbeats'? - Both their dads - Brian O'Mara, Leonard HobbsDr. Mary-Liz Trant, Director of the National Apprenticeship Office on why she wanted to be a carpenter but was never offered that apprenticeship. She explains all about the 66 national programmes, including an apprenticeship in tree surgery - a growing business! There's also an apprenticeship that leads to a PhD in engineering (awarded by University of Limerick). Construction apprenticeships plummeted from 8,000 to 1,000 post the Big Financial Crash. Mary-Liz explains how SMEs can benefit from apprenticeship schemes. There's an online form that she says will respond 'immediately' and there are financial benefits. New apprenticeships being launched soon, will include immersive technology (AI etc) and another in cybersecurity as well as data analytics. There's also talk about an apprenticeship programme in clothes manufacturing.Her 'hire in a heartbeat'? - Vera PauwPlease SHARE this podcast.Find all episodes at www.ThatGreatBusinessShow.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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