Painting the Road to ValArt – Elliot Riley-Walsh’s Resilience Masterstrokes

Once Upon A Time, in a land called WhatsApp, I discovered that Elliot Riley-Walsh's founder story is about resilience.

Professionally and personally, Elliot is fundraising for ValArt and has learnt to slay a few fiery problems along the way.

With FounderCatalyst's guidance, acting as the bearded wizard in this fairytale, Elliot is well on his way to finding his fully formed and precious ValArt. (Too much storybook imagery? I promise it will stop soon).

While chatting with Elliot, I realised we have similar experiences about persevering despite adversity and stigma that are super relatable.

At FounderCatalyst, we understand that resilience serves entrepreneurs well.

So, hopefully, you're inspired by this interview that covers Elliot overcoming experiencing school discouragement, loneliness, and living with disability to create ValArt while working with FounderCatalyst.

FC: Could you summarise your business and tell me about your background?

ERW: ValArt is an art valuation and art portfolio management platform.

ValArt will be an app and website-based platform which will track the value of your art portfolio/paintings automatically, giving you an indication of what your collection/portfolio is worth, allowing you to maximise the return on your investment.

It will also allow you to inform your insurance company of its value, making it easier for you.?

The platform will have a section called the Vault. This will allow users to upload and store all the valuable documents and certificates of authenticity all in a safe and secure space.

Users will never have to worry about losing those documents or misplacing them ever again.

Further down our development line, ValArt will turn those documents into an NFT (Non-Fungible Token) and store those documents on the blockchain.?

Further down our development timeline, ValArt will provide its users with RFID tags which can be placed on your artwork so all your documents will be located on the RFID tag, securely stored on the blockchain as an NFT and within your Vault on the ValArt platform.

My background is working in Security and Facilities Management as part of the Management Team, helping to grow, direct and manage the company since 2018.

This role has helped prepare me to be a Founder by having to have a strong level of grit to keep moving forwards no matter the opposition you have to face.

FC: What professional achievement are you most proud of and why?

ERW: I am most proud of obtaining a Law degree from Bangor University.

I was told throughout school I would never achieve anything in life and would never make it to university as I was too stupid. Achieving a 2:1(Hons) is one of my proudest achievements.

Furthermore, during my degree, I was diagnosed with degenerative disc disease and suffered from multiple prolapsed discs, which has left me in daily chronic pain and, at times, so debilitating I cannot move around the house without assistance.?

FC: What are the upsides to being a founder compared to working for an employer?

ERW: Being a founder gives you the power to create an amazing place to work.

As a founder, you can create the atmosphere you want for your employees to be in, make it positive and help those people become the best they can be by giving them the tools and assistance.

Whereas working for an employer, it is difficult to make changes without permission of the owner or senior management, meaning you are stuck in a vicious cycle.

Furthermore, being able to see my idea come to life is just an amazing experience!?

FC: What’s your biggest challenge as a founder?

ERW: Loneliness - It’s difficult bringing an idea to life, and being lonely means you struggle when you are stuck or need your idea validated along with your thoughts.

You can end up down the rabbit hole, and it’s very difficult to bring yourself back without the ability to speak to other people.?

FC: What’s the best part of working with FounderCatalyst?

ERW: The community, help and the ability to ask for advice!

From the first moment I met Sam via Zoom, he was incredibly helpful and insightful in providing information on fundraising, SEIS/EIS, how to build a successful business and the next steps I should be taking at the point I was at.?

FC: Is there anything else you’d like us to include in the post?

ERW: We are currently creating a prototype of the platform, and if people are interested in using the platform, sign up as an early user on our website.

Or if they want to help, they can participate in our research.

Thanks to Elliot Riley-Walsh for contributing to Telling Founder Stories and we'll be on hand to guide him if needs be throughout her fundraising process. His LinkedIn page is here.

The ValArt website is?here?if you'd like to learn more about it. And the LinkedIn page is?here.

Click?this link?to let us guide you on your fundraising journey.

Author:?Jenny Jasper, Digital Marketing Executive at FounderCatalyst?