Bizstartup.ie - NewsDediserve finds a market niche in server virtualisation

As well as serving the Irish market Dediserve has grown its customer base spread across Europe in countries such as the Czech Republic, Germany and the UK in a short space of time. The company has also just secured a €1m cash injection to fund its growth and is planning an aggressive expansion plan for 2010 to include local and European acquisitions, opening sites in additional data centres and increasing staff numbers.  

Researching and planning

At the outset, McCarron spent three months researching his business idea and the product and then another six months developing his own specialist software and putting in the hardware infrastructure for Dediserve, before launching the company in February of last year.

“I spent three months researching the business idea part time while I was working and then I went full time at it.”

With an IT degree and having worked in the IT industry for nine years, this meant McCarron could develop his own software without having to pay an external person to it.

He says he always wanted to be his own boss even back in his school days.

“I’ve always had the ambition to go out on my own.”

Experience at Hosting 365

Being in the right place at the right time also helped shape his eventual entrepreneurial direction.

Having worked as a senior account manager at Hosting 365 for nine years, McCarron witnessed first hand how a start-up could grow organically and he says it gave him great insight when venturing out on his own.

“I was lucky enough to start at Hosting 365 when it was a start-up itself so I was able to see it grow from nothing to where it was.”

And as reported on Siliconrepublic.com in September 2009, Dediserve aims to employ 30 people within the next three years.

“We’ve got two people working at the moment and we’ll probably bump that up to around the 10 mark this year, hopefully.”

He says he was lucky to have detected a niche for control panel software at the right time.

“There was a couple of others on the market but they didn’t do exactly what we wanted and they’re very expensive so we decided to build our own to give ourselves more control and flexibility and sell at a cheaper level than competitors in the same space.

“We looked at it from a customer’s point of view, asking: ‘If I was a customer what would I like?’”

The virtualisation route

McCarron says when the company launched the control panel software it was very bare, but they are constantly developing new add-ons all the time to try make it more unique.

“We can provide services for SMEs, sole traders as well as larger firms. Virtualisation gives you the functionality to do whatever you need to do.”

Depending on the client, services can include hosting your own website to hosting your own internal email.

Advice for other start-ups

In terms of his advice for others thinking of starting up, McCarron says simply: “Just do it!”

“A lot of people tend to put reasons in front of themselves about why they shouldn’t do it. I know I did it myself first. The key is just to do it and you realise it is not as hard as you think.”

Cash is king

In addition, he recommends getting a good accountant from the start.

“Remember cash is king and watch the cash flow!”

McCarron also got some helpful advice from Dublin County Enterprise Board, while he says the supportive environment at The Digital Hubis great for networking and sharing ides with other companies.

Photo: Aidan McCarron, managing director, Dediserve