Bizstartup.ie - NewsThe organic growth of Henparty.ie

“I had no spare cash at all. Literally. There was nothing in the pot at the beginning, so I couldn’t afford to go renting a premises,” she explains. “So instead I just worked from my bedroom in the evenings after coming home from my full-time job in Waterford.”

That spare bedroom was about as far as you could get from some trendy space in a posh office block.

“My husband ‘treated’ me to a desk from Tesco,” she laughs, “and I also had this huge box where I kept all of my products, and, of course, my computer.”

There Hyde would toil away, sometimes until 2am, trying to move her website up the Google rankings in order to entice potential advertisers.

Hyde says she was ruthless about not blowing excess cash on what she regarded as wasteful things at the beginning, including premises and anything connected with that.

“I found it really hard to get funding at the start, so I was ploughing everything I earned into the business. That meant I did not blow it on fancy premises or leather chairs or stationery or any of that stuff. ”

However, as the popularity of the website grew – during this time she appeared on the popular show ‘Nationwide’ – and customers began to order more stock, Hyde realised that existing from her small spare bedroom, where her merchandise was steadily mounting, was not going to work for the long term.

She found her ideal location at Dunhill Enterprise Park, which is just 20 minutes outside Waterford City. “It was originally a community project – a place where local businesspeople could come to establish themselves. Although it has received grants along the way, it’s very much self-sustained. The great thing was the rent was low, but the support was excellent.

“The first room I rented there was only about 10ft by 10ft,” says Hyde. But by January 2009 the business was doing so well that it necessitated the move to a bigger unit within the business park where Hyde’s company is based today.

In February of this year, Hyde scored a massive coup when she appeared on ‘Dragons’ Den’ and managed to get funding from two of the Den judges: Gavin Duffy and Niall O’Farrell. And she says even the recession hasn’t damaged her business too much.

“I know this is a strange thing to say, but in a way the recession hasn’t done us any harm at all. Previously, the term ‘hen party’ was a bit of a dirty word, but that’s not the case any more. Restaurants and hotels are actively seeking those kind of group bookings these days.”

And now that she has the benefit of hindsight, Hyde says it’s a blessing she couldn’t get finance at first, because it meant she couldn’t blow the budget on things she didn’t need. Instead she grew her business incrementally, meaning she moved from premises to premises as the success of the business dictated. “I had to cut corners, and I couldn’t spend money I didn’t have, but it meant I wasn’t left with a €20,000 Visa bill before I’d even established the company, which was obviously a good thing.”

Questions we ask every start-up entrepreneur:

If you had one piece of advice for someone starting a business, what would it be?

Don’t listen to all the naysayers who tell you you’re mad to start a business and that you’re going to fail. These people tend to be the kind of people who would never take such a risk themselves. I think if you have an instinct about what will work, you should go with it.
 
In your view, what book should someone read when starting a business?

To be honest I don't really read much material on starting a business, but I did thoroughly enjoy Duncan Bannatyne’s autobiography and he is an entrepreneur I admire greatly as a result.

What software would you recommend to a new business owner?

If you’re online, you need a good content management system. I started off with an open-source version, Joomla, which was free. But I’ve since upgraded to Kentico, which I pay for, but it allows me to add content very easily.
 
What is your favourite website?

A website I aspire to is Facebook because it started so small in the US and is now one of the most powerful websites in the world but isn't blatantly commercial in its nature. I admire the business model behind it.