EirePreneur

Analysing the entrepreneurial ecosystem in Ireland

Because of his 'unusual' background, for a Web 2.0 entrepreneur, I found Niall Larkin to be one of the more interesting people traveling on this year's trip to Silicon Valley. Earlier this year he was interviewed on Intruders.tv, together with his partner Dawn Reilly, where they explained how their company, RelevantM, is tackling the problem of privacy online - from a sociological rather than a technological angle.

As Niall says his background is in complexity science and game theory which means he has a refreshing way of looking at many of the developments in social networking and other online and offline ecosystems. That's why I find his feedback on the TechLudd event so interesting. Whether I agree with him or not this kind of insight is invaluable to the discussion -

"This is a great and highly refreshing set-to. If nothing else it shows the passion, commitment, and energy of so many people on and off this island. If anyone is wondering if there is really a vibrant scene over here or whether its just a couple of people making a lot of noise then this kind of debate answers that question.

There's also a lot of talk about the size of the community here and the importance of cherishing the ecosystem. From a biological and ecological perspective people have little to worry about. Or they should be worrying less about it. In fact worrying about it is doing more harm than good.

Some of the points made are based on misunderstandings about what makes a healthy ecosystem in nature. For example some people have said that Ireland is small and therefore we need to be very careful and selective about what goes on here because of the image it might portray. From a bio-logical or eco-logical perspective that argument makes no sense. Also people have been talking about the importance of cultivating an ecosystem that fits with what we understand as attractive to outsiders as opposed to letting the ecosystem itself work it out. This also makes no sense from a bio-logical or eco-logical perspective. Assuming you want a vibrant, healthy and sustainable ecosystem some of this thinking needs to be reappraised.

Its often not so easy to communicated bio-logic or eco-logic to people steeped in a culture of techno-logic but bear with me as I try out an analogy. You know that little corner of your garden that is awkward to get to and is generally neglected? Well that's exactly the part of your garden that is host to a vibrant ecosystem that is teeming with life. It might be that a freewheeling attitude in our small patch in the garden, where anything goes and where survival of the fittest is allowed to operate naturally will in turn naturally give rise to the kind of vibrant scene that we all desire. And one that is naturally attracts the attention of outsiders if that's what people want or care about."

Vodafone Ireland screwing with customers and advertising standards

Earlier this year I had to cancel my datacard plan with Vodafone Ireland because they simply refused to fix the 'data flooded' cell tower in Rathkeale on which I depended for 3G connectivity. Two months after my connectivity first disappeared, with numerous phone calls in between they still couldn't give even give me a date for when it might be fixed. After spending €49 a month with them for the 8 months previous to that I have to say it was the most hair tearingly frustrating customer experience I've ever had. Put bluntly Vodafone demonstrated that they couldn't give a f**k about me or my business.

Recently Conor O'Neill has gone through a similarly enraging episode with the same mobile operator, though relating to another product, which he chronicles in a blog post under the title of 'Vodafone - Staring into the Abyss'.

"Vodafone Live is not an internet connection, it is a bastardized hamstrung http proxy and the Advertising Standards Authority should come down on them like a ton of bricks"

TechLudd, Web2Ireland and collaboration

Paul Walsh has a rather strong reaction to the TechLudd initiative which I mistakenly interpreted at first as a condescending put down. That was my knee-jerk reaction because I've met Antoin at OpenCoffee Limerick and recognize that TechLudd was born out of the entrepreneurial passion which rubbed off on him during his recent trip to Silicon Valley. But, while I may not have been as blunt as Paul, who's a networker and event organizer extraordinaire, Antoin should definitely take onboard his advice and feedback -

"The main advantage the Valley has... is that it’s a cluster. Ireland is so small that it should be easy to have a cluster - but this will be impossible if everyone is doing their own thing. We need more collaboration amongst the ecosystem stakeholders/influencers, not more initiatives to address collaboration.... If I had my way, I’d scrap this initiative and run whatever they had in mind, under Web2Ireland."

Speaking of Web2Ireland Conor O'Neill has transferred all his Blognation Ireland posts over and switched on an attractive new Wordpress theme there. If you haven't already, bookmark and subscribe!

UPDATE: I think Fergus Burns' comment to Paul's post really nails it. Clear thinking and wisdom shine through - "In summary its all about a successful ecosystem - we’re struggling to create one - and I question if we’ll ever have one. Its not about who does what - its about who does what for everyone - and creating success for a everyone."

Are we gobshites? Yes, no, yes....

In answer to my question - Are we Irish complete gobshites? - Tom Raftery posted a categorical "No!" and and excellent analysis of the issues with large scale wind farm deployment in Ireland -

"The reason Eirgrid don’t want any more wind power on the grid is because it de-stabilises the network.

Consider the following scenario. It is 2am. Electricity demand across the country is at its lowest. There is a 40mph wind blowing across the country. Wind energy at this point can be supplying up to 30% of the country’s demand.

What happens now if the wind picks up to 50mph? The wind farms shut down to protect their mechanisms and suddenly Eirgrid are left scrambling trying to bring gas turbine stations online to meet the sudden fall-off of 30% of their supply. Gas turbine stations can take up to an hour to reach full generation capacity.

The more windfarms Eirgrid take onto the network, the greater a problem this becomes. Unless there was some kind of ready counter-balance to the instability of wind farms…

Well now it appears that there's hope on the horizon (excuse the pun). Via the Sustainable Energy blog I read that "Wind power, long considered to be as fickle as wind itself, can be groomed to become a steady, dependable source of electricity and delivered at a lower cost than at present, according to scientists at Stanford University." Full story on the Stanford News Service.

TechLudd, inspired by Paddy's Valley

Anton Mannering was one of the group of Irish entrepreneurs who traveled to Palo Alto on the recent Paddy's Valley tour and the culture of Silicon Valley has obviously rubbed off on him. Not only has he seriously ramped up his blogging and micro blogging activity but now he's launched the TechLudd blog and wiki, tagline - "Doin' it Valley Style".

The first TechLudd meeting is scheduled for 24th January in Dublin and will include a Panel Q&A with the Paddy's Valley group, a keynote speaker and a showcase of new ideas.

Paddy's Valley is dead. Long live Paddy's Valley

What a cool endorsement of Paddy's Valley from Havi Hoffman at Yahoo! - "Despite the fact that many of these startups compete for mindshare and funding, they figured that by banding together on a "trade mission" they could create a more likely scenario for being seen and heard. I found this example of purposeful real-world networking almost as intriguing as the business plans and product demos I saw... the distinctly collaborative, emergent approach for gaining the attention of busy business leaders seemed almost as innovative as the product pitches themselves."

And now that they're shaking off the jetlag we're getting a nice roundup of reviews from the Paddys themselves. Anton Mannering has been inspired to propose the Shared Knowledge Society. "The most powerful thing I learned about Silicon Valley was not it’s concentration of VCs and Technology companies but how it’s massively open culture affects those groups of people and led to an environment where investors, entrepreneurs and the general community know (or can easily access) information about what is going on in any particular space. A place where respect is gained for having a go, and where knowledge, contacts and info are shared with ease. The attitude is not, “I’ll help you because you’ve already done it” (why would you need it then anyway), it’s more “I’ll help you because you might be the next big thing”, which from a business perspective is a far more intelligent way of looking at the world, especially when you consider the CEO of the hottest company in the web space right now is only 23 (Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook).

So I pose a challenge to the Irish Technology community. Let’s build the same thing here. Starting Dublin on the 24th-ish January and the third thursday of every month thereafter.

Alexia Golez expands on a number of take away points from her trip to the Valley. Two of the headings are - "Networking is like breathing", and "Failure is a rite of passage."

Shane Mc Allister boils it down to "access and openness". "Incredibly, here’s a list of the companies we managed to meet in one week - Facebook, SocialText, Meetro, Microsoft, Google, The MileStone group, Ning, Twitter, Meebo, Yahoo, United Layer, WSGR, Loopt - and that’s not counting the various other individual meets ‘n’ greets arranged by members of the group."

Damien Mulley was thrilled by the amount of talent and drive he saw in the Paddy's Valley group and hopes also that we can keep the momentum going here at home - "It was a pleasure to spend my week with them and I really hope that they make Paddy’s Valley redundant by doing their own versions and dragging people over. I hope they evangelise how people in the Valley operate and maybe inject their enthusiasm into Irish culture. Wouldn’t it be nice if the Paddy’s Valley idea wasn’t in anyway special and something that happens a lot?"

Custom feed Grazr for Le Web 3

Stay abreast of what's happening at Le Web 3 with our custom Le Web Grazr. This is a merged feed from all the attendees in Paris, including Twitter, Flickr and YouTube feeds. Adam has the details and Fred says he loves it.

BlogTalk in Cork, CreativeCamp in Kilkenny and Paddies in the Valley

Reports and videos are streaming in from the Paddy's Valley gang in Palo Alto. What a trip they're having! Of course every valley has a stray sheep and this one is learning about perfection, humility and finesse.

I can't wait for CreativeCamp in Kilkenny (that's a Barcamp with a twist). It's being organized by the ever industrious team of Ken, Keith and Tom.

Another one for the calendar is BlogTalk 2008 in Cork. March 3-4th.

Maybe we'll do business some day

Scoble, Le Meur, Facebook, Ning, SocialText, Yahoo!, etc., etc.. The week isn't half over and already the Paddy's Valley rolodex reads like a who's who of Silicon Valley. I'm sure there are those who might still think "So what? Why go to the expense and effort of spending a week in California pursuing all this 'extra curricular' activity?"

Conor O'Neill answers that eloquently - "Rather than getting 'oh no, more foreigners looking for a tour', everyone seems to be welcoming [PaddysValley] with sincere open arms. We've a lot to learn over here [in Ireland] about doing business like that. Having a common aim of 'maybe we can do business some day' makes conversations so much more interesting there. I hope all the PVers are in the same mind-set now."

Startup entrepreneurs should read that a few times. We like to think of ourselves as great socializers in this country, and we are, but not in the same way as the entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley. As regards doing business we're much more inclined to cost social capital in terms of immediate payoff. "Why bother with OpenCoffee, Barcamps and Podcamps if I don't have a new customer or business partner next week?". But in California social capital is a long term investment and one made without expectation of payoff.

It's a lot like blogging really. I didn't start this blog to 'win business', I just pursued it as an outlet for sharing opinions and making connections. And the ROI has been immense. If you're new to my ramblings, welcome! And please feel free to share your thoughts and background. Who knows.... maybe we'll do business some day.

I can't go on Paddy's Valley (please help Damien)

I'm gutted that I've had to cry off the Paddy's Valley trip but hope I can give a hand from this side of the pond next week, for instance if anything needs organizing while the travelers sleep off hangovers.

You might think this puts even more pressure on Damien but, truth be told, he's been doing most of the work anyway ever since Conor was forced to pull out of the trip. Still, despite being an organizer extraordinaire remour has it that he's only human so please, fellow Valley trippers, do all you can to take the load off him during the week. And have a great time - it's a wonderful opportunity.