IT IS NOT HARD to find an Irish businessman who simply cannot roll through a bad patch by drawing on a line of credit from his local bank. Sometimes the process feels like a garda lock-up. What may surprise some people is learning that many Irish bankers are poor sources of advice about business matters. While working with three different Irish start-ups, I watched and listened to better advice coming from accountants and family members, not the local bankers. And not much has changed, according to Business Link in the UK. Business Link conducted a survey of high growth businesses and during the Delta Economics interview of 2,120 businesses, a league table of "useful sources of advice" emerged. Profiessional advisers were the most widely used, both during the start up stage and later in the company's development. They were also ranked among the most useful, slightly behind family members, other entrepreneurs and mentos.
According to a Business Support item in the Financial Times [1], events like OpenCoffee offered places to chat with anybody but bankers. Rebecca Harding, the Business Link survey author, explained the value of those casual meet-ups. "People tend to use different types of advice as the business grows. They go to networking events to be part of a business community and see if things are the same for everybody else."
And the Business Link report underscores another important fact. Experienced entrepreneurs are often a good source of advice because they do not expect anything in return. In my experience with OpenCoffee Ireland, the business founders with the experience don't mingle to sell, they come to meet interesting people. You can connect to more than 1000 members of OpenCoffee Ireland on LinkedIn. Just don't expect to find a banker there. Many cannot use the internet during the business day from their desktops.
1. Jonathan Moules -- "Families trump bankers as best advisers" in FT Weekend, 21 Fev 10.
2. OpenCoffee Ireland is free.
