Niall Kelleher, MD, Intercall; Jim McCoy, founder, Intercall; and Sean O'Sullivan, SOSventures
Sensipass, a digital security start-up that vows to make passwords history, has been awarded the SELR8R trophy and a €50,000 investment.
SELR8R is a mentor-driven accelerator programme that focuses entirely on sales and teaches founders how to best sell their own products before resorting to paying for sales teams and facing the risk and expense it incurs.
The programme, created by investment firm SOSventures and outsourcing specialist Intercall, held its very first graduation day in Dublin this week for the eight participating start-ups.
“The calibre of participants has been excellent and it was an extremely difficult decision to choose the winner of the €50,000 funding,” said Alan Clayton from SELR8R, who added that the start-ups in the programme have increased their sales and revenue.
On behalf of the SELR8R team, Sean O’Sullivan of SOSventures awarded Sensipass the SELR8R Rocket Trophy and the investment based on Sensipass’ performance during the programme.
Michael Hill, director of Sensipass, said SELR8R really accelerated its sales process and target market pitch.
“Working with great companies and entrepreneurs provided huge energy – that’s very important,” said Hill, who added that the €50,000 funding is great for two reasons.
“It brings us closer to the Irish investment community and it gives us an opportunity to prove that we know what we’re doing,” said Hill. “Secondly on a practical level, the investment means we can use it to leverage Enterprise Ireland and CIT to help build upon our product offering.”
SELR8R provides mentors, investment, tech back up, sales and social media training, telesales, and shared workspace at Intercall in Cork.
Jim McCoy from Intercall said, “The gift of sales is one that is vital for any firm to get off the ground. The SELR8R programme teaches companies the art of selling, which is the lifeblood of their business and it forces start-ups to either sink or swim.”
Disclosure: SOSventures is an investor in Siliconrepublic.com
