#FollowCyberPie Q&A: “Being a jack of all trades was a positive and the best skillset for an entrepreneur”
#FollowCyberPie Q&A
AwakenHub is a community of and for women founders, entrepreneurs and start-ups across the island of Ireland. Each week we feature a new #Follow on our social media channels to encourage others to follow and support eachother. This week its #FollowCyberPie with Andrea Manning of CyberPie. Below are a few questions we asked her so that you can get a better insight into the woman and the entrepreneur.
Q1: How would you describe yourself in 6 words or less?
Andrea: Unconventional, brave, pragmatic, late starter, born again millennial
Q2: What prompted you to start your business?
Andrea: Nobody understood my CV - I didn’t fit in any particular category. I had loads of business experience, a recent degree in Information Systems, was over 50 and looking for a tech role. There were no jobs for me which made me determined to prove that I wasn’t ready for the scrapheap I realised being a jack of all trades was actually a positive and the best skillset for being an entrepreneur. I saw a real gap in the market where the microbusiness owner was either unaware of the security risks of trading online or just didn’t know where to start. The small business owner is so vulnerable when it comes to cybersecurity - they’re likely to go out of business within 6 months of being hit by a cybercrime. CyberPie was borne out of the idea to give businesses that sit outside of the corporate bubble a piece of the cybersecurity pie - and in a way that speaks to their unique needs.
Q3: How has being part of the AwakenHub community helped your business?
Andrea: The value of learning from those that have gone before. I’ve just embarked on New Frontiers - hearing from Karena at Content Llama how she began her journey here is reassuring and inspiring. Larissa from Accountant Online targets the same market I’m after. She generously gave me an hour of her time and the wisest advice. She teased out some absolute nuggets of wisdom and they were instrumental in helping me win my pitch. The energy that’s coming out of the group is hard to describe but its powerful!
Thanks Andrea and if you haven’t done so already then #FollowCyberPie and get in touch with Andrea if she can help you with any cyber security needs for your business.
