TRINITY BUSINESS SCHOOL

Trinity College Dublin

INDIVIDUAL ASSIGNMENT COVER SHEET

MSc Entrepreneurship

Module: Technological Entrepreneurship Date Due:9th

December 2018
This is my individual assignment. Any material taken from other sources has been fully
referenced in the text of the work. All sources used in the preparation of this work have been
listed in the Bibliography.

I have read the statement on plagiarism in the College Calendar, p.H18-H.20

http://www.tcd.ie/calendar/ and understand that plagiarism is an offence that may result in
expulsion from the University.

Student Number Student Surname Signature

(BLOCK CAPS)
18303434 KHEDIA

Record of Assignment Extension

IF AN EXTENSION IS DUE TO ILLNESS PLEASE ATTACH A COPY OF YOUR
MEDICAL CERTIFICATE. IF AN EXTENSION IS DUE TO EXTENUATING
CIRCUMSTANCES AND AGREED WITH YOUR LECTURER, PLEASE
FORWARD PROOF OF SAME (e-mail from Lecturer will suffice)

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Table of Contents
INDIVIDUAL ASSIGNMENT COVER SHEET .............................................................. 0
Introduction ...................................................................................................................... 2
Mission ...................................................................................................................................... 2
Strategy ..................................................................................................................................... 2
Vision ........................................................................................................................................ 3
Product and Services .................................................................................................................. 3
Key individuals ........................................................................................................................... 3
Technology Focus .............................................................................................................. 3
Business Model Canvas ...................................................................................................... 6
Value proposition ...................................................................................................................... 7
Customer segment ..................................................................................................................... 7
Customer Relationship ............................................................................................................... 8
Channels ...................................................................................................................................10
Key activities.............................................................................................................................11
Key Resources ...........................................................................................................................12
Key partners .............................................................................................................................12
Cost structure ...........................................................................................................................12
Revenue ...................................................................................................................................12
Technology Organization & Delivery ................................................................................ 13
Digital Presence ............................................................................................................... 15
Mobile Presence .............................................................................................................. 18
Social Media .................................................................................................................... 18
Social media Sentiments ...........................................................................................................19
Conclusion ....................................................................................................................... 20
Appendix ......................................................................................................................... 21

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Introduction
Cainthus is an Irish start-up headquartered in Dublin and has its offices in Ottawa, and San
Francisco. It was found in 2015. Cainthus uses Computer Vision and Predictive Imaging
Analysis to monitor the health and well-being of the livestock.

Mission

Cainthus uses various types of imaging equipment to monitor livestock operations. Their
artificial intelligence and custom algorithms detect behaviour in individual animals. This
helps in monitoring their health. An alert is sent to the concerned person when any physical
attention is required.

Strategy

Cainthus installs sufficient CCTV cameras on dairy farms. Within seconds Cainthus imaging
technology can identify individual cows by their features. After identifying the software
registers their unique identity and record individual patterns and movements. Dairy staff do
not need to enter into the barn unless the system suggests an intervention. This leads a
peaceful atmosphere for the animals due to less patrolling by dairy workers.

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Vision

Their vision is to provide effective insights and data driven solutions, with the purpose of
reducing inefficiencies in food production and facilitating more effective, sustainable uses of
environmental and agricultural resources.

Product and Services

They install CCTV cameras in the barns. A software is provided to the users, which forwards
daily notifications to their portable devices about their livestock and provides real-time
access to detailed analytics that can inform the actions they need to take to improve
milk production and animal well-being.

Key individuals

1. David Hunt – Co- Founder (CEO)

2. Ross Hunt- Co- Founder (CFO)
3. Brian MacNamara- Product Owner
4. Guilherme Lucio- Head of Design
5. Matheur R- Lead Software Engineer
6. Barry Sweeney- Marketing
7. Alan Molloy- SVP of Engineering
8. Isha M- Administrative Assistant
9. Jane Cumming- Head of product Science
10. Cesar Hiersemann- Data scientist

Technology Focus
Cainthus is a technology driven company. To qualify as a tech company, they have to make
new technology, add values of innovation and collaborate.

A technology driven company must fulfil the following criteria:

1. The product or service can only be used digitally.
2. New technology needs to be invented/improved in order for the business model to
succeed.
3. The value created or delivered is technology.

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Cainthus is a technology driven company because they are into selling technology. That
means, their service consists of applied scientific knowledge that solves concrete problems
using technology.

Their value proposition is a simple and easy to use technology that will reduce human
attention of its customers and facilitate more effective solution to monitor the health of
livestock. They combine unparalleled expertise and cutting-edge innovation by using
technology to address the biggest challenges that the global food system is facing.

Frequently, companies that are heavy users of technology are conflated with
technology companies. Celebrated companies such as Airbnb and Uber are often confused as
tech companies as they heavily rely on technology, but they would not qualify as tech
companies. They are very much tech-centric, but their primary industry is hospitality and taxi
service.

Cainthus is the only company that uses facial recognition of the livestock to provides data
about the health and food requirements of the herds. But they do have four main competitors
who also use advanced technology and offer multiple options to ensure smooth functioning of
dairy farms.

1. Smaxtec ( founded 2010) offers its customers a unique integrated monitoring

system for the recording, evaluation and diagnosis of physiological data,
enabling them to take targeted corrective action in real-time. They are the
current market leaders in providing technological assistance in dairy farms.

2. SCR by Allflex ( founded 1976) provides advanced cow monitoring systems

designed to collect and analyse critical data points, from activity to rumination, for
every individual cow. These systems successfully deliver the heat, health and
nutrition insights farmers need, when they need them. They have recently been
awarded for their technology in the world dairy expo.

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3. Keenan’s ( founded 1978) live review and support service with skilled nutritionists
using innovative technology ensures your animals get exactly what they need,
consistently, every day.

4. Dairymaster ( founded 1968) has attained international acclaim for manufacturing

superior, hi-tech dairy equipment. Our product range incorporates Milking
Equipment, Feeding Equipment, Automatic Manure Scrapers, Milk Cooling Tanks
and Health & Fertility Monitoring Systems.

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Business Model Canvas
Cainthus is a company that specialises is building of advanced technology for the dairy
farmers. It can be said that they operate in either farming or Industrial technology sectors.
Below picture 1 is a brief frame work of their business model and recommended
technological tools to facilitate their business model.

( Picture 1 ) (Kindly Zoom in the picture for image clarity)

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Value proposition

Cainthus is “ Easy to use technology to monitor your cattle activities and enabling you to
gain vital knowledge to improve your farms overall profitability and productivity.

• Technological tool- To deliver their value proposition they need to build a in house
cutting edge software technology which can be updated regularly and is easy to use.

Customer segment

Cainthus has a B2B model and therefore they have a niche customer segment. Farmers
and Dairy industry investors are their key customers.

• Technological tool- There are plenty of online customer search recourses like:
a) Google Trends (Below picture-2)
b) Consumerbarometer.com
c) Market finder (Below picture-3)

For example by using google trends they can find out in which countries there are more dairy
farms. In which area people are looking for new dairy technology etc. They can also use
market finders to find out which are the best international markets for their business.

(Picture 2)
(Kindly Zoom in the picture for image clarity)

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 ( Picture 3 ) (Kindly Zoom in the picture for image clarity)

Customer Relationship

In order to build a positive Customer Relationship, Cainthus have to provide Direct

Personal Assistance and one to one relationship with their customers. They should also
connect their customers from all over the world to grow their community and also provide
continues maintenance services.

• Technological Tool
Cainthus needs a very good CRM software as they have customers from all over the
world. They should use Base Software for their CRM as it the most suitable one for
them. The picture 4 below gives an overview of the Base Software. Cainthus is selling
technology and most of their customers are not used to using technology for the kind
of work they are into. So, they can use helpdesk software like Zendesk Help (Below
picture-5) to build a good customer relationship, as they have to be always available
for their customers.

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( Picture 4 )

( Picture 5 )

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Channels

Cainthus can reach their customers through their website, social media and marketing.
They can also deliver their value proposition by ensuring quick and easy installation of
their hardware and software. For this, they will need a team of experts who will do the
installation.

• Technological tool
Digital marketing through google ads and keyword strategy resources like:
a) Google keyword planner (Below picture-6)
b) Moz keyword explorer
c) Ubersuggest

The right keywords will help their customers to easily find them. Google’s paid search ads
can be their best source to reach their potential customers as their company will appear on the
top of the search engine which will drive more traffic to their website.

( Picture 6 )

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Key activities

Building the technology is the primary activity of Cainthus. Their other equally important
activities are building the website, buying the hardware technology CCTV cameras,
marketing and establishing office space in three different countries.

• Technological Tool
They need technology for Marketing, Web-Design and Project Management.
Following technologies can help them with their activities:

a) ZOHO is a web-based online office suite containing word processing, spreadsheets,

presentations, databases, note-taking, wikis, web conferencing, customer relationship
management, project management, invoicing, and other applications developed by
ZOHO Corporation. (Below picture-7)

b) Use Content Management System such as wordpress or wix to develop their website.

( Picture 7 )

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Key Resources

Cainthus’s key resources would be their software, technicians and hardware.

Key partners

Investors, similar companies that provide technology in agriculture sector.

Cost structure

The major expense will be in developing the technology, salaries, hardware and
marketing.
• Technological tool- They can use the LivePlan software which is very handy and a
perfect tool to create a business model. This software helps to breakdown the cost
structure concretely.

Revenue

Their source of revenue are the sales, future scaling into various countries and expanding
their technology into other agricultural areas.

• Technological tool- They can use an accounting system as their revenue will vary in
every sale depending on the farm size. Xero software will be perfect for Cainthus.
Below Picture 8 is a screenshot of Xero software.

( Picture 8 )

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Technology Organization & Delivery
In a technological driven company, it is very important to have a diversified team who can
work with various technology. Cainthus is building a cutting-edge technology through which
they will be able to deliver their value proposition effectively. Cainthus should do Beta
testing and then make it generally available. They can also focus on integrate their
technology with other technologies that the other agricultural companies are using so that
they can expand their customer base and use the new technology in its full potential.

Cainthus has a team of approximately 20 key members. They have hired people from
various technical backgrounds but have not included few technicians who are very important
for their company. I would recommend the following job titles and positions as absolutely
necessary for Cainthus:

1. Cloud computing engineer

a) Software Application Developer
b) Senior System Software Engineer

2. Computer Support Specialist

a) System Administrator

3. Information Technology Analysts

a) Senior System Analyst
b) Back End Developer

4. Information Technology Leadership

a) Chief Technology Officer (CTO)

5. Web Developer
a)Front End Developer
b)Senior Web Administrator

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They have hired only the cloud computing engineer. They have not yet employed the
remaining technicians mentioned above. For Cainthus to create, capture and deliver their
value proposition they need employees from different technological fields. They are only
focusing on building the technology. But it is equally important to maintain, update, simplify
the existing technology and continue to develop new technologies to meet their customer
needs.

For successfully defining customer segmentation, customer relationship and customer

channel, Cainthus needs to use the technologies discussed above. And to effectively use those
technologies they need experts in Information Technology Analysis, particularly a Senior
System Analyst. IT analysts are responsible for designing and implementing organizational
technology for businesses.

They also need a CTO who would manage their key resources and give guidance to
all the technological staff. CTO has experience in creating and implementing policies and
systems to meet IT objectives and the ability to budget the time and funds.

They also require a system administrator who is responsible to look after all their key
activities and ensure the smooth functioning of the software. They support computer
networks by testing and evaluating network systems and ensuring smooth functioning of day-
to-day operations.

Finally, they need a new Web Developer. The Web developers design, create, and
modify websites and social media which clearly communicates the value proposition. The
current digital presence of Cainthus needs improvements from all the fronts. Web developer
will be responsible for maintaining a user friendly, smooth web performance and maintains
social media which will offer the necessary functionality for their client’s needs.

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Digital Presence

Website- https://khedian.wixsite.com/website-1
(Modified Website)

Their website is very disappointing and is not user friendly. I checked their developer tools
which shows that they have used content management system Square Space to build their
website. The cover page of the website just shows the name of the company and there is no
visual call to action on the website. There is no clear information about their services or
technology. (Below picture- 9&10)

( Picture- 9)

( Picture-10)

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There is no search bar, login option, countries they operate in, site map, subscription form,
feedback option.
• The menu bar is also very unimpressive.
• There is no team page on the website.
• They have to many images with no purpose.
• The image type and colour scheme is inconsistent throughout the website.
• The graphics have no intent and aren’t consistent with their service.
• Affordance is very poor on the web page. There is no user journey on the page. It is
not at all clear what they want their customers to do on the website.
• Their customer purchase funnel is very extensive as the customer’s needs to contact
them, know about the technology, share their farm and herd size to finally get a quote
from Cainthus. They want their customers to understand the technology through the
website and contact them. Therefore they should have added the functions like live
chat and free call buttons for assistance of their customers.

Their competitors have much better websites with a clear call to action. Dairymaster’s
website have multiple call to actions which are very explicit and clear (Below picture-
11). Keenan has made their affordance very clear as the customers exactly know what
they are supposed to do on the website (Below picture- 12). SCR by Allflex’s website
is little complex but they are selling themselves really well by making their website
very interesting (Below picture- 13). Dairymaster and keenan use hotjar which gives
them the 'big picture' of how to improve their site's user experience and
performance/conversion rates. Cainthus should also use hotjar to enhance their user
experience.

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( Picture 11 )

( Picture 12)

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 ( Picture 13 )

Mobile Presence
The company doesn’t have any native app and they don’t need one as they have their own
software. The call to action is same as is their on their website which is not clear and doesn’t
guide the customer to the next step. There website is skinned to fit the mobile screen and is
not a hybrid/responsive mobile website. The mobile website looks very clumsy as there are
too many images which have no purpose. They should make their mobile page as a
responsive mobile website to make the user journey easy and friendly.

Social Media

They have a very poor social media presence. They are present on all major platforms like
Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Youtube. There is absolutely no call to action on any of
their social media handle and there is no uniformity in the appearance of different media
channels. Their posts are very irregular with almost negligible engagements. The most
important channels for them are youtube and facebook. They can connect with their potential
customers on facebook and use youtube to showcase their technology. But they have only
two videos on youtube and very few followers on facebook.

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In contrast their competitors have many followers on facebook and many videos on youtube.
They keep posting at regular intervals and have good engagement level on the posts. All their
competitors have a very clear call to action displayed uniformly on their social media
handles. (Excel sheet is added in the appendix with a detailed comparison of all social media
handles).

They really need to work on all their digital presence. Digital platform is the best way for
them to reach their customers. I would recommend them to use Hootsuite.com to manage all
their social media handles. They need to keep posting relevant material on regular intervals
on all the platforms. They should use youtube more as it is more relevant for their business
and their customers can get a clearer idea of their technology through the videos.

Social media Sentiments

They only have 97 posts across all their social media handles. They mostly have a neutral
sentiment from their viewers and some positive sentiments as well. This shows that if they
manage their digital presence well then they can build good customer base through social
media. (Below pictures-14, 15 & 16)

( Picture 14 )

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 ( Picture 15 )

( Picture 16 )

Conclusion
After a thorough analysis of the company Cainthus, I have come to a conclusion that they
need to improve in all the technological fronts. Their competitors are way ahead of them in
using the technology to grow their business. Cainthus specifically needs to make a good use
of technology to upgrade their digital presence and have a proper team of employee’s who
have expertise in different technological areas.

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Appendix

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