Evidence from Ed Hendrick, CEO of Sonru, to the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Business, Enterprise and Innovation. The full debate is available here.
I call Mr. Hendrick, CEO of Sonru.
Mr. Ed Hendrick
Yes.
I ask him to inform the committee of his experience. The more we hear on all of this, the more that will help us to make our submission.
Mr. Ed Hendrick
I will go back a number of years to give some context. We are a Wexford technology start-up. We started building a product in 2007-08 and we launched in 2009 in the Irish market. At the end of 2010, we raised some seed funding to expand into Europe. Our first port of call was to go to the UK market. It sounds easy to just go into that market and start winning business. First, we presented at a trade show in Birmingham and were lucky to meet the CERN head of recruitment at that conference. A few weeks later, CERN staff started trialling our software and became our first export customer. We would never have looked at Switzerland in the early stages of exporting but it has become one of our strongest markets now in Europe, purely because of that first client, CERN, which we started working with in 2011.
One of the major advantages of working with CERN has been their willingness to share what they learn. We found it a significant plus that they have been so willing to share with other companies in Switzerland and around the world their experience of using our product. In 2011, they had been using our product for six to nine months. They invited the recruitment team at Nestlé who are based and headquartered in Vevey to CERN and meet the recruitment team and to learn how they were using this new interview product that they had been working with six to nine months. As a result of this Nestlé quickly became a customer. There was a massive networking effect from working with them.
Something else that has made a great difference to us has been the willingness of CERN to speak at conferences and promote the different products they are using and to explain to peers at conferences how they are using Sonru. This has also led to many new customers coming our way based on its recommendation.
From a business perspective, we have experienced significant benefits from working with CERN. Building credibility is one of the toughest things a new company has to do launching a new product into any market, let alone an export market, and to have that stamp of approval from such a wonderful organisation makes a great difference and can accelerate the process of winning business, which is what we are all about. From our perspective it is a no-brainer as well.
One of the challenges we have had has been that Ireland not being a member of the organisation has made it more difficult to become a supplier to CERN. Back in 2011, we had few competitors because we had a new, innovative product. CERN did not have too many options but to work with us. As that market has grown and matured, more competitors have come into our space and there are more options for CERN, particularly in its member states and associate member states. This is a threat to us and it would be a huge challenge for us not to work with CERN and not to benefit from all that it brings.
Does Mr. Hendrick believe that this association with CERN led to an increase in the number of staff his company employs?
Mr. Ed Hendrick
Of course it has, yes. In 2011, we employed ten people. We now employ approximately 60 people. We have grown a lot in six or seven years. James Purvis, who is head of recruitment at CERN, has taken calls from potential clients in Australia at awful hours of the morning. CERN has been willing to do this. It has been an incredible advocate for what we do, and that makes a great difference. It is hard to buy that. One can spend millions of euro on advertising and one will still not get that effect that a reference customer like CERN would be able to provide for a company."