Twitter conversation that led to creation of six new jobs
A chance Twitter conversation is responsible for the creation of six new jobs at the online business directory Whatswhat.ie.
Paraic Hegarty, a Cork-based investor and managing consultant has been appointed Director of Strategy and Innovation at the company. Hegarty ended up investing in the company as a result of chatting over Twitter with Sian Phillips, Financial Director of Whatswhat.ie and an active Twitter user.
His investment is to result in five new jobs as well as his own hands-on role in the business and the opening of a new office base for the company.
Phillips explains that the conversation started because herself and Hegarty were following each other on Twitter, most likely because they were both involved in Business Camp Limerick last year – though never met at it.
“Whenever I chat to somebody for the first time [on Twitter] really I always look at the bio to see who they are and probably follow them back. I noticed he had in his bio angel investor. We were looking for an investor at the time,†she explains.
Because both were following each other they were able to exchange DMs (private direct messages via Twitter). Phillips sent Hegarty a DM asking what an angel investor is, he replied and within a few weeks this resulted in further email exchanges, a phone call and a meeting between Whatswhat.ie Managing Director Barbara Gordon, Phillips and Hegarty. “We kept it under wraps until we signed,†explains Phillips.
Hegarty’s investment has resulted in the opening of an office in Bray, Co Wicklow. Prior to this the two directors had worked from their respective homes, Phillips on the Cork/Waterford border and Gordon in Bray.
As well as appointing Paraic to the position of Director of Strategy and Innovation, the company has hired two salespeople and an admin person who will be based from the Bray office and is seeking a further two salespeople.
Phillips adds that you can get a good feel for people on Twitter, if they are honest with their tweets. She says that she thinks Twitter is a brilliant place for matching potential employers and jobseekers, but the problem is people don’t know enough of the time that people are seeking work.
“I think it’s just a fluke that I looked at his bio and thought ‘angel investor, we need one of those’,†she concludes.
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