Ciara Walsh, Co-Founder & CMO, JustTip
22nd July 2024
Launching a business can be daunting and exciting in equal measures. Our Women Who Launch candidate this week is Ciara Walsh, Co-founder and Chief Marketing Officer, JustTip. This month the company turns 3, so there’s plenty to celebrate.
THE ELEVATOR PITCH
JustTip is a cashless tipping solution that allows customers to tip employees directly without the need for cash. JustTip provides a tipping platform separate from your business, with end-to-end transaction reports and complete transparency for employees and customers.
A seamless, robust, and scalable digital payments platform, JUSTTIP™ allows employers to help their staff earn more while keeping their business compliant with all new legislation.
THE OPERATION
We are now a team of 13 people, based in Dublin but trading in Ireland, the UK, Portugal and soon Malta.
THE FINANCIALS
Myself and my co-founder James put every cent we had into it at the beginning, which was not much for two 19-year-olds. We were then lucky enough to get a small bit of capital off friends and family round, and from there we just bootstrapped our way to our current round. This wasn’t the best approach for our stress levels as it often came down to the wire, but we made it here now. It was all private equity through angels and current investors.
TARGET MARKET
We work with the hospitality industry, so we are a B2B business. We work with business owners and managers across hotels, restaurants, and coffee shops; and with businesses of all sizes, from mom and pop to enterprise clients. We also have a strong foothold in the charity collections and micropayments sector here in Ireland, and we are looking to expand this as well.
WHAT BRANDS/ COMPANIES DO YOU LOVE?
I think there are so many amazing start-ups out there at the moment. One I really love the idea behind is Riley, but they are in a completely different sector to us. In terms of tech companies, there are so many amazing ones, SQUID is very cool and ID-Pal is another amazing company.
BIGGEST ‘WIN’ TO DATE
I think our biggest win is actually turning three this month. We have had so many huge setbacks and close calls, that getting to this stage and still growing rapidly after picking ourselves up from the bottom a few times is probably my personal win.
However, closing the most recent round of funding was also a huge win for us.
BIGGEST SLAP IN THE FACE
I think in business as a startup you get a slap in the face every week, so to think of the biggest would be hard as they often come in groups, and you almost get nervous if it is all going to well. The worst time in the business was probably just surrounding ourselves with the wrong people, with the wrong attitude. It is a hard pill to swallow when you turn out to be wrong about someone.
ARE YOU SOCIAL WHEN IT COMES TO MEDIA?
As a B2B business, people often write off social media except for LinkedIn, but we have actually found it invaluable. We target hospitality which is a consumer-facing industry so social media is a huge part of their strategies so they are easy to target. However, getting through to decision-makers can be a bit trickier. We have found social media very helpful for smaller clients such as M&P and SMEs, but we don’t use it for enterprise clients.
WHAT PART DOES TECHNOLOGY/ INNOVATION PLAY?
Technology and innovation is the heart of our business, as a fintech business we rely on technology and finding new ways to use it every day.
IS THERE A BUSINESS MODEL THAT YOU WOULD LIKE TO EMULATE?
I think from a marketing perspective an E-commerce model seems like a no-brainer. However this is definitely more of a consumer-facing tool rather than B2B – to go completely software-based would be a goal of ours.
IF YOU HAD A BLANK CHEQUE
If we are just talking business here, the funds would definitely go to building out the team, as your team is your biggest asset and growth driver;
and then also I would heavily increase the marketing and sales budget.
I may be a bit bias here, but sales and marketing drive revenue and revenue is the bottom line. Lastly, I would definitely look at acquiring some really interesting businesses in our space whose offering would complement ours massively.
YOUR TRAITS – BEST & WORST!
I would say my worst traits would be a lack of trust in others when it comes to business – I think this is often a hazard of the job. I also struggle to delegate – I’ve learnt how to do it now, but it didn’t come easily at all. Lastly, I have often been described as having no poker face whatsoever, which in business (and life) can be a nuisance.
I would say my best quality would be my emotional intelligence – I am brutal with numbers and graphs but I would like to think I can read people’s emotions pretty well.
I am a great listener as well, and I would like to think I am a very driven individual which can sometimes be negative, but I would still list it as a top quality.
BEST LUNCH DATE
I would probably say Grace Beverly, founder of Tala. She is just incredible at what she does and her take on things resonates with me a lot. So I would love to pick her brain as she also started a business in university and decided to finish her degree, just like James and me.
BEST BUSINESS ADVICE
I would say failure is part of the journey and you can choose to dwell on it and give up, or you can choose to take everything you learned from it and be better next time. Don’t ever let it sway your self-belief.
