Today's entrepreneur: Conor O'Loughlin

Get the right people on board. The team you build will be the difference between winning or losing.

Today's entrepreneur is Conor O'Loughlin, founder and CEO of gym management software company Glofox.

O'Loughlin is a former Irish rugby union player for Connacht in the Celtic League. Following his rugby career he founded Glofox, a business management software development company that services fitness studios.

The software is used in hundreds of studios worldwide. In June 2016 Glofox announced that it had received funding from EI plus Growing Capital to the amount of €500K. It subsequently raised €2m funding from Notion Capital, Partech Ventures and Tribal VC in April 2017 following the setup of a New York office. It most recently raised a $10 million Series A round.

O'Loughlin has a Masters in Business Studies and Finance from University of Dublin.

I am a(n):

Entrepreneur

Companies I've founded or co-founded:

Glofox

If you are an entrepreneur, why?

I’m an entrepreneur because I saw an opportunity to build a company that solved a big problem that was not being properly addressed. I wanted to have a purposeful and enriching career and this seemed like the natural path to accomplish that.

My favorite startups:

Slack, Zapier, Stripe

Why did you start your current company?

I wanted to build something of purpose, something that had a meaningful impact on the world and do work that I had genuine passion for. Our company is helping shape the future of fitness and helping fitness business owners be successful. We are also improving worldwide health and wellbeing, so that is something I (and everyone at Glofox) really get behind.

What's most frustrating and rewarding about entrepreneurship/innovation?

The most rewarding thing is hearing about the impact our product and company has had on fitness business owners. I also take pride in seeing the passion that the Glofox team has for our company's mission. 

The biggest frustration of entrepreneurship is the sacrifices that you make outside of work in order to be successful.

What's the No. 1 mistake entrepreneurs make?

I wouldn’t claim to assume I know the answer to this as I make a lot of mistakes constantly and every entrepreneurs business is different, but to me there is nothing that kills a startup quicker than running out of cash. It's the oxygen in the room. Keeping an eye on your zero cash date and making sure you have healthy unit economics or can trend to profitability (dependent on the business) is crucial.

What are the top three lessons you've learned as an entrepreneur?

1. Be transparent. Surrounding yourself with a team of problem solvers and sharing your company challenges will help you uncover creative solutions. Being open, honest and transparent is very powerful for company culture. 
2. Always be learning. You can get dragged into the day to day so much it can be difficult to take a step back for a wider perspective sometimes. With a company that is changing so quickly, you need to invest time to scale at a similar rate so that you can be the person best suited to lead the company long-term. 
3. Get the right people on board. The team you build will be the difference between winning or losing. This was reinforced in my mind when we really started to dial up our hiring. People that share your company values can transform your trajectory. Get the right people and trust them to do their job.