Jeff O’Brien – Zoidii – Alumni Business in Focus
- Years attending Terenure College?
1991 – 1996
- Current company and position?
Co-founder at Zoidii
- Tell us about your business… [20] words or less
Zoidii is Maintenance software…. used to plan, track, and optimize maintenance on buildings, equipment, and vehicles. Anyone that has buildings, equipment, or fleet should be using maintenance software.
- How did you get your idea or concept for the business? – (Need to tailor slightly for employees)
This is the second maintenance software start up I’ve been involved with. I started Zoidii as existing systems are cumbersome and difficult to use and many organizations pay for them, but don’t use them. I have designed Zoidii to have just what is needed. It’s the maintenance software solution an 8-year-old could use!
- Favourite Terenure College memory?
Probably my first week at Terenure in 1991 – meeting new friends, playing rugby and Gaelic football on the pitches.
- Have you found the Terenure College community was a benefit to you inyour career? Example?
Absolutely. I continue to tap into the Terenure College community whenever I can as its good to work with people you know. I recently had a Zoidii demo call with Brendan O’Brien, a guy I sat beside in 1.4 back in 1991. Brendan was able to connect me with a bunch of prospects in his network.
- If you were Minister for Finance for a day what change would you make?
Incentivise the construction of “affordable, good enough” houses. They over did it on building regulations after the crash in 2008 but now we have too many people in social housing or on housing lists. You know something is wrong when bankers, IT consultants, architects, teachers, and Gardai cannot afford housing. I believe everyone should be able to buy their own house and the only way to do that is to increase the supply of affordable housing.
- What’s an interesting fact people may not know about you?
I lived in Canada from 2010 – 2019 and gained Canadian citizenship.
- If you had one piece of advice to someone just starting out, what would it be?
While working in my first maintenance software startup in Canada, the company grew from zero to 200 employees and raise almost $60m in funding. The key to success was not a great product, good timing, product market fit, technical skills, or rockstar employees etc…. the key to success was resilience. We could have abandoned ship so many times but kept pushing through the difficult times. My advice would for anyone starting out is to be resilient. Push through any crisis or challenge, believe in the vision, and make it work…. in business or in life.
- How can people best access you and your business?
Connect with me on LinkedIn or via phone on the Zoidii.com website