At the IOEE we're always keen to find out what challenges are facing new business and what kind of support is helping them on their way. This month we caught up with Liam McGinley, who has recently joined the IOEE, to find out more about the business that himself and his business partners have recently launched and their plans for growth.

Why have you set up a business?
The Wibbu team consists of five passionate young innovators from Spain and the UK with a background in language teaching, software engineering, web/app design, and marketing: Dean Jacobs, Benjamín Romero, Liam Ginley, Jonay Suárez and Patrick Armstrong.

The inspiration for our business came from the life experiences of our native Spanish speakers Jonay and Benji. They have first-hand experience of the Spanish education system and the lack of quality English language-learning content available for Spanish speakers and when they arrived in the UK back in 2011 they were hit with the harsh reality of being insufficiently prepared to find a basic job in an English-speaking environment. This is despite completing studies in English to a high level back in Spain.

They subsequently met Spanish language expert and part-time teacher Dean and they instantly bonded over their mutual love of all things Spanish. They began English lessons with him and very soon found employment. The Wibbu jigsaw was complete shortly after when Dean’s friends and software enthusiasts Liam and Patrick mooted the idea of turning his lessons into something digital and more globally available.

Why is Wibbu different to other language learning tools?
Wibbu offers a totally fresh approach that teaches English from the perspective of the Spanish native through app and web applications that focus on real situations and real language. Our first is product Wibbu English for native Spanish speakers available via smartphone (iOS/Android) and web applications.

What challenges are you facing?
As a young business made up of creative individuals we have a lot of ideas and a clear vision for our products. However, to build a successful sustainable business we need to ensure the market potential of our product. We have put together an initial projection for our business model and are currently doing additional research whilst searching for a suitable business coach to help validate our forecasts. We are also transitioning from part-time to a full-time business. This is not only a big step for the business but also a significant stride on a personal basis too.

We are also on the hunt for initial investment to help the business grow. As we stand we have a team capable of creating the products and generating the sales, but to be able to scale the model worldwide we require a larger support team and a wider marketing knowledge base. Trying to balance all this work while also creating a product is difficult, but having a highly motivated team with a clear end goal is truly helpful, and it has been a very enjoyable experience so far.

What sort of support have you needed the most?
To be honest, in the initial stages it has just been great to have so many people reassuring you that you are not crazy! We have taken the time to engage lots of people with our business idea and it gives us great confidence that when we discuss our plans with financial advisors, business experts, marketing analysts, technical consultants and investment managers we are able to provide sound evidence for our ideas and can back it all up with our own knowledge. It has given us the impetus to continue along the slightly scary path of running our own business.

Have you been able to find the support you need?
So far we have been surprised with the amount of support that is available to small businesses. The local council run drop-in sessions for SMEs to have the opportunity to talk to business advisors, banks offer sessions to look through financial plans and discuss investment opportunities, our financial advisor has given contacts with the government and the EU to try to gain their backing, and the IOEE network has offered the opportunity to find mentors with specific skills to help us along the way.

What brought you to the IOEE?
The chance to get friendly advice from experts in our field of work. We have spoken to various business advisors before, but prior to joining the IOEE we hadn’t had any feedback from someone in our line of work (smartphone and web applications). The variety of mentors on the IOEE gave us the opportunity to find the right person to guide us on our way.

How has it worked for you so far?
I have only worked with one mentor so far (Jason Conway) but I have been buoyed by the enthusiasm he has for offering help. He has been very positive and supportive and he has offered plenty of valuable feedback that we have now worked back into our plans and proposals.

How do you see any mentoring relationships developing?
We are currently looking for a more hands-on coach who is able to commit a few extra hours to our business to help us validate our plans and transform our ideas into a successful business. We are also keen to find mentors with expertise in marketing in the South American market. Communities like the IOEE offer the chance to connect with individuals who are able and keen to offer their advice in the areas where we need it the most. We plan to continue using the site to build relationships with advisors and are open to progressing from receiving friendly mentoring to working on a more permanent basis with these experts.

What aspirations do you have for the future of your business?
In the short term the first step is to finally go full-time with the business, which will be happening over the next month or two. We are then looking to finalise our initial investment to ensure we launch our first product in Spain within the next year. After that we will be launching our products in Hispanic America and creating a Portuguese version to be released in Portugal and Brazil. Longer term we plan to release more products including tablet applications and potentially expand our reach to other native languages like Chinese, Indonesian and Russian.<!--

What words of wisdom would you share with someone about to start up a business?
My first piece of advice would be to stick to your strengths. There is a lot to learn when it comes to starting your first business and it is a fun ride, but if you can offset the skills gap in your team with a business idea that suits your core capabilities you’ll be giving yourself a headstart. From our point of view the Wibbu team consists of an English language teacher, a software application developer, a graphic designer, and a Spanish marketing executive. The business idea we came up with is a graphical smartphone and web application packed full of English lessons, created and marketed for the native Spanish speaker.

My second piece of advice would be: do your research and then get talking. There are lots of avenues out there to get advice from, whether it be from family and friends, universities, local councils, consultancy firms, or the IOEE network. Once you start doing this you’ll notice you get asked similar questions over and over again. If you’ve done your research you’ll be able to answer the majority of them.

I don’t think I could write a section on advice without using the word ‘plan’, so there we are - I’ll keep this one short. Make sure you plan. It might seem pointless and distracting at first, but you’ll soon learn how important planning is. If you plan from the start you’ll find it easier to continue planning as you go on and you’ll get better and quicker at it too.

Find out more about Wibbu and connect with Liam in the IOEE.