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Resident in Focus: John Doherty, Founder of TrueStock
John joined the Ormeau Baths community as part of the IgniteNI Propel Pre-Accelerator earlier this year. At 21, John felt there was no better time to take the leap and start his own tech company, TrueStock.
We caught up with John to find out more about the story behind TrueStock, his entrepreneurial story so far and the inside scoop on what people would be most surprised to know about him.
My Name & Role:
John Doherty, Founder of TrueStock
50 Word Elevator Pitch:
TrueStock predicts the future for retailers and manufacturers. We use the latest machine learning to accurately forecast sales and inventory requirements for businesses. We take into consideration a huge number of factors such as the weather, seasonality, promotional periods and many more. We reduce waste and help business become lean.
Goal for 2019:
My goal is to launch TrueStock before the end of the year and to integrate it with services such as Shopify, iZettle etc. I’m also planning to expand out the TrueStock team in the new year.
If you could take one person out for coffee who would it be and why?
I would like to take Rick Rubin out for a coffee. I think he is a creative genius, a great businessman and I want to learn how to grow a beard as good as his.
If you had to enter into a talent show what would you do?
Not only am I a businessman, creative genius, life saver and artist (all round great guy) I’m also no stranger to a dance floor. One time I had a night-club fine me for ripping up their dance floor, still haven’t paid it.
What inspired you to start your own business?
For me the biggest reason why I wanted my own business was to learn and gain more experience about the reality of running a business. I didn’t always want to start my own business but when the opportunity of TrueStock presented itself, it was both a combination of hard work and luck. I felt that if I ignored this opportunity it would be a massive life regret. Plus, now is the perfect time in my life to take the risk. I’m only 21 and I don’t have a mortgage, kids and I’m unmarried. I’m not Daoist but I think it’s important to always have one foot in “order” and the other foot in “chaos” in order to grow as a person.
What's the biggest lesson you've learned as entrepreneur so far?
I’ve been running my company for a year now and have had so many lessons already through making mistakes. It’s difficult to pick which has been the most important but the one that sticks out for me right now is social capital and ensuring to leverage the network of your current customers. Warm introductions go a lot further than a cold email.
What's one thing people would be surprised to know about you?
I’m currently building an IoT air-raid siren as a “home project” so if you are ever in Belfast and think the world is about to end, don’t panic.
Name one resource (book, podcast, newsletter etc) that has impacted your approach to business.
I’ve just recently finished 12 rules for life by Jordan Peterson and found it fantastic. I think big dreams ultimately depend on your daily routine and if your daily routine is sleeping in late and not treating yourself right your dreams will always remain dreams.
If you could pick up a new skill in an instant, what would it be?
I would love to learn to be able to play the guitar properly, I think it’s an amazing life skill being able to play an instrument. At the moment I can play Wonder Wall and Riptide by Vance Joy but that is as far as I go unfortunately.