EirePreneur

Irish startups, sign up now or forever hold your silence!

Web2Ireland has details of the pitch training session to be run by Enterprise Ireland in advance of DemoBar on Thursday September 13th in Dublin. Conor O'Neill of Cork based LouderVoice.com spells out what an excellent opportunity this is for all of us in the startup community and promises to publicly ridicule anyone who doesn't avail of it if they complain about (the lack of) enterprise culture in Ireland at some stage in the future. And believe me you don't want to be ridiculed by Conor!! ;-)

So you know what you've got to do - sign up now.

Results of the first Irish co-working survey

Jason has published the results of the first comprehensive Irish coworking survey over on CoWorking.ie. I was very encouraged by some of the figures especially the fact that 46% cited interaction with like-minded individuals as their number one interest. And a whopping 52% said they would avail of international coworking spaces. Check the rest of Jason's analysis.

Adopt a Newbie for BarCamp Galway

Damien points to the 'same old faces' issue with the upcoming Barcamp Galway, Joe reasons that's it's because we suffer 0 degrees of separation in Ireland, while Walter says he's going along regardless to exercise his inner extrovert.

As Damien says though we really should be trying to bring along new faces. So I'm going to try adopting a newbie, and hopefully 3, before hitting the city of the tribes on 22nd of September. One is a New Zealander arriving in Ireland shortly before the event and two are attendees of Limerick Open Coffee. So hands off my adoptees right, go get your own!

Dan Bricklin gets a tour of Eclipse Aviation

Readers of this blog might recall that Dan Bricklin joined the board of Grazr back in March (and I've been on the advisory board since last year). I always imagined that I'd have a fascinating discussion with Dan about spreadsheets when I finally get to meet him but now I don't think that's going to happen. Why? Because instead I'm going to badger him with  1,001 questions about Eclipse Aviation!

I first wrote about Eclipse over two years ago when the pioneering work they were doing  in the the development of Very Light Jets (VLJs) as an enabler for the burgeoning Air Taxi industry caught my attention. In fact I wrote about the Air Taxi space again earlier this month when suggesting it might provide some inspiration for officials at beleaguered Shannon Airport.

Anyway, Dan Bricklin happens to be an old pal of Eclipse founder Vern Raburn and got an inside look at the assembly plant in Albuquerque, New Mexico where he took enough video and photos to produce a mini-documentary of the Dell-like operation. Fascinating stuff Dan, thanks!

EirePreneurZ: An interview with Barbara Molloy of Pickapro.ie

It's been a while since the last EirePreneurZ interview so I'm very grateful to Barbara Molloy, founder of Pickapro.ie, for taking time out from a busy schedule to share with us what entrepreneurship means to her -

Hi Barbara, can you tell me what your company does?

pickapro is a website of home and garden contractors in the Dublin area. Homeowners use pickapro to find professional portfolios by home and garden contractors including photos of their work, customer recommendations and a complete company overview. We also include a photograph of every professional to put a personal face to the company name.

Our philosophy is to show homeowners what type of work a company does – as opposed to just telling them. pickapro features architects, builders, interior designers, surveyors, landscapers, plumbers,electricians, tilers, painters, plasterers, carpenters, carpet cleaners and storage specialists.

Where did you get the idea?

I got the idea when I was in the process of renovating my own home, I found that although it was easy to get the phone number of tradespeople from the Golden Pages or friends of family, it wasn't so easy to progress from there. The only way to find out more about each company was to actually go ahead and arrange a meeting, which can be very time consuming, especially if you need several trades like builders, plumbers, electricians etc.

I felt that the best solution would be a website that would provide a lot of the information that homeowners care about - photos of their work, customer recommendations and a complete company profile, including information about the project process, insurance and other frequently asked questions.

When did you setup the business and what was the genesis?

I’m a software engineer by profession and started developing pickapro.ie in my spare time in 2004 i.e. developing the website and recruiting my first reference customers. In May 2005 I took the plunge and started working full time on the business.

Originally, pickapro was going to be totally photo based. Later, we added interviews with previous customers. That turned out be really important because homeowners want to hear the scoop direct from the horses mouth as it were!

Isn't there a lot of competition in 'handyman' websites? How do you differentiate?

What differentiates pickapro is the type and quality of information we provide about our members. Many of the websites you’re referring too provide little more than a name, a contact number and some basic details. Our approach is to provide the homeowner with an opportunity first to see the work of the company and also to hear what their previous customers have to say. We carry out all the interviews ourselves - they're not anonymous. In all, this gives homeowners a lot more reassurance.

What's your academic and employment background?

I studied Electronic Engineering in NUIG. From there, I moved into software, starting with telecomms, then moving into automation software for the pharmaceutical industry.

Is there a history of business in the family?

No. I imagine it would be very useful!

How many hours per week do you work now?

About 40. I used to work a lot longer but have gradually realised that it's counter productive for me. My best ideas often come to me when I'm not sitting at the computer.

Are those hours very flexible or do you stick to a routine?

I’m a person of routine! I've worked in a 9-5 job for so long that it's hard to break the pattern.

Do you find that discipline is a problem when you're your own boss?

Not at all. It really is different when you’re doing it for yourself. You just want to reach your goals.

Does it interfere with family / social life?

No, in fact that’s where having a routine helps. It stops the business taking over your whole life.

Is it worth all the sacrifice and headaches?

Absolutely. It was scary to start - giving up secure employment and trying something completely new.

But it's fantastic when we get good feedback from homeowners about pickapro.

And there’s also a lot of satisfaction in what we do. Our members are small to medium size enterprises and even though they don’t have a lot of time or resources to market their business, they do great work. It’s really rewarding to help them present their portfolio professionally and win new business as a result.

Do you ever think it would be easier just to get a 9 to 5 job?

For the first few months, it’s all new and the freedom is fantastic. But somewhere during the second year, when you realise that this will be a longer, harder slog than you expected, a 9-5 job sounds very appealing. But if you can get over that 'hump', it gets easier. I have to admit that I do still have occasional fantasies about standing around the tea room giving out about "management".

Do you always take weekends off or does it depend?

I'll often work for a few hours on a Saturday or Sunday morning. It's a good time for tackling something new that needs time and concentration.

Do you find it stressful and if so how do you deal with the stress?

It can be. There's a temptation to try and strike out in all directions at once. Now, I pick one or two priorities at a time and really focus on those. It’s not only more effective but I find that it helps me to keep the stress down.

You work from home - what are the advantages and disadvantages?

I save money on office rent and I’m not stuck in traffic. But it's a lot harder to switch off at the end of the day. It's too tempting to go back and check on emails and voicemails.

Do you have employees or plans to take employees on? How many?

About a year ago, my husband Paul joined me in the business to look after sales. We also outsource some of the work. That works really well and frees us up to concentrate on building the business.

Could you run the business independently of location?

About half the work can be done anywhere as it involves computer work i.e assembling portfolios, designing logos etc. The other half involves meeting customers at their job site and finding out about their business.

How important is Information Technology? And your website?

The website is obviously important because it's the public face of pickapro.ie But a lot of the work is totally non technical. We meet every customer, learn about their business and try to make sure that we're representing it in the best possible way.

What are your favourite items of technology / gadgets?

I like "Google Alerts". You enter the topics that you are interested in- and it sends you an email whenever a new page goes live about that topic.

Did you find it daunting to begin with? What issues caused most headaches?

For me, it was generating the initial sales. Obviously, I couldn’t guarantee that it would work so I had to try and find companies willing to take a chance and give it a go. Fortunately, it generated plenty of business for our initial guinea pigs and it’s grown from there.

What part of entrepreneurship do you love and What part do you hate?

I love the creative side, thinking of new initiatives that we can take to improve pickapro. I suppose doing the accounts is my least favourite part - but I don't think I'm alone there.

Do you find yourself dreaming up other business ideas or are you too busy with this?

I'm totally focussed on pickapro.ie I've learnt a huge amount and I've still a lot to learn. I won't even think about branching out until pickapro is a household name!

Is this a business for life or do you have an exit strategy?

It's definitely a business for life.

How do you find the 'red tape' side of business - legal issues,accounts, etc?

It's getting easier. I find it's best to tackle the accounts in two sessions every month. That way, it doesn't turn into one long, marathon session.

I was also lucky in that I worked as a contractor for a few years before making the jump into entrepreneurship. That meant I was already used to doing accounts, VAT etc.

Do you 'outsource' much to partners / contractors?

We outsource a certain amount of the work. We also hire experts where we need them.

Please re-order the reasons for being an entrepreneur listed below to reflect the most important at the top of the list and least important at the bottom -

1) determining your own future / destiny
2) being your own boss / independence
3) money / wealth
4) flexibility in working hours / lifestyle
5) work satisfaction

Tips & Tricks: Please tell us about any other lessons and tricks you've learned from your time as entrepreneur, not covered by the questions above.

Early on, I discovered a whole subculture of networking groups which are geared towards helping entrepreneurs. This include groups like the Trading Post in Dun Laoghaire, Dublin Enterprise Women's Groups, BNI etc. They're a great way to generate new business, meet other entrepreneurs and find experts like accountants and graphic designers.

Most businesses will fail because of cash flow problems so be very cautious (mean!) with your startup capital. If something doesn’t work don’t keep throwing money at it – go back to the drawing board straight away.

Anecdotes: any funny stories about your dealings with customers,suppliers, etc?

Paul, my partner is American. Someone called up recently and he answered the phone, with "pickapro - how can I help you?". The person very nicely asked to be put through to the Irish office!

What do you plan to do next?

Big things! We’ve proven that the pickapro formula works. Our next step is to continue building our Dublin base while expanding into other counties.

For further information on pickapro.ie, contact Barbara on 01 4966176 or at [email protected].

Heading to Dublin on Web2Ireland week

I'm heading to Dublin on Thursday 13th to attend DemoBar and the Paddy's Valley meetup. And if the hangover isn't too I'll pop along to Dublin OpenCoffee on Friday too. These events are just 3 on a packed schedule that has been labeled Web2Ireland week.

Embedded Paddy's Valley map

Using the new Embed feature on Google MyMaps to embed my Paddy's Valley map -

View Larger Map

Dublin co-working is go

Paul Campbell and crew ran into a few hiccups along the way but are delighted to announce that the first co-working location in Ireland is now officially open for business. Located in the heart of Dublin, all the desks in the current space may be taken but the good news is that another room is being set up down stairs. And apparently they have even bigger plans up their sleeves. Watch this space.

Technorati Tags: coworking, co-working, dublin, ireland

I think Dave Winer is looking for Beeds

Dave Winer wants to be able to subscribe to bundles of users and details three use cases -

1. Conference attendees - "But maybe that would be too much when I got home, if so, I could just wholesale unsub from the lot"
2. Friends of famous people - "I wanted to see the world through someone else's eyes"
3. Reading Lists managed by experts

Dave goes on to remind us that he originally coined the term 'Reading Lists' to refer to such feed bundles and laments that the community of aggregator developers hasn't invested in the term or feature. Whatever about the 'community' at large we have implemented the feature on Grazr where you can add a bundle of feeds to your account with the "Add Reading List" button.

Right now, while it's still early days in the adoption of OPML, I think 'Reading List' is an appropriate label but in the long term I believe we'll need something more generic. In fact it's worth repeating what I said 18 months ago when originally considering Dave's ideas (notice how much of it ties in with Dave's wish to "see the world through someone else's eyes") -

In [the sci-fi movie] Strange Days Superconductor Quantum Interference Devices (SQUIDs) were illegally used to make recordings of other people's experiences "direct from the cerebral cortex". These 'clips' were then sold on the black market and enabled the buyer to feel all the sensations that came with the experience. As such they were as addictive as any drug and even the hero Lenny (played by Ralph Fiennes) was himself hooked on "jacking in," constantly replaying clips of happier times with ex-girlfriend Faith.

Apple won't be introducing the iSQUID any time soon but its not hard to see where the future of audio and video Podcasting could be headed. The future needn't be as dark or disturbing as Strange Days of course and the uses of such sensory subscriptions will only be limited by our imagination.

That's why I consider Dave Winer's term for subscribable OPML files - Reading Lists - much too limiting. Audio and video podcasts, and photostreams could just as easily constitute the pre-packaged feed list, so a term which implies human readable, text based media is simply too narrow. Dynamic, nebulous RSS 'feed bundles' can be so much more than a way for newsrooms to offer dynamic attention streams to their audience.

Afterall, we're not just reading; we're watching, listening, experiencing. We're jacking in. A Reading List is nothing less than a handcrafted, regularly updated bundle of feeds. We could call them Beeds. I favour this term because it captures the idea of shiny little attention nuggets, easily packaged, shared and even traded. Just as our ancestors traded in beads and Lenny in Strange Days traded in clips I could see markets emerging for the trade in Beeds.

Returning to bullet point 1 in Dave's wish-list we can already do this kind of thing with a little manual effort and are in fact only a whisper away from being able to do it automatically. For instance the organizers of the Barcamp Galway have opened a Jaiku Channel for the event. Everyone who joins the channel exposes their Jaiku feed to the group. And because Jaiku supports lifestreaming those feeds are comprehensive digests of the attendees' blog posts, bookmarking, tweets and so on.

So I opened a new BarcampIreland account on Grazr [password = username] where those going can easily add their own feeds to the OPML file, thus building a 'Reading List' for the event. That Reading List or Bundle of Feeds can be distributed like below -

The beauty of distributing feed bundles in this fashion is that you don't even have to worry about the concern Dave expressed in point 1. You don't have to burden yourself with unsubscribing because you never had to subscribe in the first place! That's why we call it feed grazing - on-demand access to feed collections without subscribing.

Let's take another example. The organizers of Podcamp Ireland (who also have a Jaiku Channel) wanted a way for attendees to publish and share their podcast playlists so that people could 'get to know each other' in advance of the event through their taste in podcasts. So they placed the following widget on the right hand margin of their blog -

The above widget highlights the problem with the term 'Reading List'. The feeds correspond to audible podcasts not readable blogs. As such it's a 'Listening List' not a 'Reading List'. By next year the scope of the Podcamp will probably encompass Video Podcasting and we'll be referring to 'Viewings Lists'.

This underlines the need, in the longer term, for a generic label. And I'm still proposing Beeds. Read, listen, watch, share and trade.

Technorati Tags: Dave Winer, Reading Lists, OPML, Beeds

Twitter is like Teflon and I'm like a cow

The Irish word for Prime Minister is Taoiseach and we fondly refer to our three term current leader as the Teflon Taoiseach because criticism never sticks. It seems the man can get away with anything.

Kind of like Twitter really. As I type the phenomenally popular social networking service is yet again unavailable this morning. That follows a 14 hour outage only a day ago. We keep tabs on this type of thing over on Jaiku you see. Which is about all we do on Jaiku!

Actually that's an unfair exaggeration - Jaiku has a very useful Channels feature which we use to organize OpenCoffee Clubs, Podcamps and Barcamps. But outside of those channels there's relatively little activity, at least among my social circle. You'd be forgiven for thinking a week of regular Twitter outages might change that. But no, Twitter is like Teflon. Regardless of how often it goes down it's reputation remains unsullied. Whinge and whine all we want but as soon as the gates of the promised pasture re-open we follow the herd back into Twitterland. Mooooo!