EirePreneur

Pssst, wanna join my pyramid scheme?

Unlike other pyramid schemes the only thing you need to invest when joining the Open Irish Directory  (OID) project is a little of your time. And believe it or not, everyone is a winner,.. from the very start.

The OID is an information pyramid, a directory, a hierarchy of categories and sub-categories into which we'll organize the Irish web, blogosphere and feedosphere. There are two ways you can help us build it -

The Very Easy Way

Simply copy (drag and drop) this bookmarklet - OID - to your browser toolbar and click on it any time you visit an Irish website that you'd like to add to the directory. Please follow a few simple guidelines when submitting the bookmark -

• Edit the title to make it concise and accurate (eg. remove the "Welcome to....")
• Copy and paste a relevant passage from the webpage into the description field.
  
• Tag liberally
  
• Do not use 'Ireland' or 'Irish' as a tag - it goes without saying!
  

The Easy Way

Build and manage a sub-category for inclusion in the directory. Pick a category according to your domain of interest and/or geographical location. For instance you might like to build a list of websites relevant to parents in Cork. Or to list the websites for businesses, clubs and organisations in your community. Here's how -

• Register for a free account at OPMLworkstation or OPMLmanager
  
• Add your website and feeds to the list and keep an eye on the OID for new bookmarks matching relevant keywords (eg. 'Cork' and 'Parenting')
• Email me at address above or comment here to notify us of your new directory category
• Blog about your category and invite submissions though the process as listed in "The Very Easy Way" above.

There you have it, the most benign Pyramid scheme ever. No money changes hands and you get help build a useful resource for the internet newbies and oldies alike.

The Geeks are coming to Galway

Pester power won out in the end and Ed Byrne is back blogging, with a brand new HQ. Chalk that down as another great thing that came out of the Irish Blog Awards.

"James Corbett and myself had a great chat at the Irish Blog Awards about a number of things - but chiefly we decided to start running monthly Geek Dinners around the country."

Yikes! We did? How many pints had I drank? Hey Ed I'm no Damien Mulley and I find it hard enough to organize my own dinner but I'll do my best to help :)

"Straight to the point … the first one will be held in Galway on the 1st of April,... Location is yet to be decided."

Excellent, I love that city and Geeky Galway does have a nice ring to it. Actually I've wondered if the word Geek puts people off coming along to these things. I know its worn like a badge of honour in Silicon Valley but when I was in school it was worn like a bullseye for target practice. Well, that's what the geeks told me anyway ;-)

Ed spells out the the reasons we really need to get this kind of thing going, and keep it going. Go read his blog and then leave your name in the comments if you'd like to join us... please. Let's hope the Dublin dweebs, the Corkonian clever clogs, the Newry nerds, the Ennis eggheads, the Swinford swots, the Limerick lads (we don't have geeks 'round these parts) and everyone in between can join the Galway Geeks in giving the Celtic Tiger a collective kick up the entrepreneurial arse.

Report from the Private Equity Conference 2006

Joe Drumgoole has an excellent, indepth report from the IntertradeIreland Private Equity Conference 2006, on in the Waterfront Hall in Belfast today.

[David McWilliams] went on to note that one of the problems for both sides of the border is the final resting home for all free cash on the Island is inevitably property. If we could redirect some of this into Entrepreneurial activity we could build much larger companies faster and cover the dead ground between an idea and a fully fledged startup via the business Angel.

Make sure to read it all.

I want a re Fund

I'd love to know who RTE see as their target audience for The Fund because it certainly isn't entrepreneurs. After sitting through pitch after boring pitch last week I was hoping to see the programme pick up the pace last night but instead we had to listen to the pitches again, not just for a second time as the contestants went through a speech and presentation skills drilling but for a third time as they battled to stay in the competition. Sheesh! Bring back The Mentor please - an infinitely more educational and entertaining programme.

Not only is The Fund repetitive but Maree Morrissey, Editor & Founder of Irish Entrepreneur is extreemely irritating. She's clearly been given the bitchy Linda Martin role and made her mind up in an instant last night that the cocky DJ with the Simulator Driving School idea was an arrogant twit. Well maybe he is but you know sometimes that's what it takes! What's Michael O'Leary if not arrogant? What's Tony Ryan if not arrogant? And you know what Maree? You came across as pretty damn arrogant yourself! But it hasn't done you any harm now has it?

[Aside:] That blows my chance of getting on Irish Entrepeneur ;->

Business Angels can hear your call

I'm intrigued by the hints Dermod Moore is dropping about his stealth business idea. He seems to be doing alot of tinkering with social bookmarking and aggregation services and cites Protopage and PXN8 as role models. These are interests I share so I'll be keeping a close eye on what he's cooking up.

He also offers great advice on why, if you have a business idea, you simply must blog -

This project is going especially well at this early stage because my general invitation of a month ago, when I announced to the open space that is the blogo'sphere that I was about to start down the business road, resulted in an angel (there isn't a better word, really) getting in touch. He's been offering me exactly the practical financial/managerial advice and support I need, because he thinks it's going to work.

So, folks, blogging works as a means of connecting people, in a way that I'm really impressed with. If you find yourself needing something, just put it out there and ask. You never know who might answer.

Ireland has most young entrepreneurs in EU

From today's Examiner: "Ireland has more students than any other EU country involved in small businesses and is being held up as an example of how to encourage entrepreneurs".

75 new high potential startups in 2005

Speaking of Enterprise Ireland RTE brings the news that they "supported the setting up of 75 new export focused high potential companies last year - the highest number it has ever supported. The body invested €17m of the total €83m investment in the new start-ups." Kudos!

New magazine for Irish business women

Piaras Kelly tells us that "a new magazine is set to be launched in Ireland this year called ‘Women Mean Business’". I was interviewed by Regina Lavelle in November for a feature in the Irish Independent Weekend section about (the lack of) Irish women in business. It ran before Christmas but my contribution was left out :(

Anyway, one of things I wrote to Regina was -

I was lucky enough to receive a grant from Enterprise Ireland a few years ago to help develop my business, as part of the Galway Mayo Institute of Technology Enterprise Platform Program (EPP) and it entailed travelling to Galway for a day every second week to attend seminars and training. There were 9 different start-up founders in the group and not one of them was female. We were all quite amazed and disappointed by that and it was the first time I realized that something was 'wrong'. It was mostly high tech startups but that still
doesn't mean we should expect such a low 'turnout' of women.

Hopefully this new magazine will play a part in fostering a greater culture of entrepreneurship amongst Irish women.

Future of Web Apps Summit - calling Irish attendees

Emmet Connolly is arranging a meetup of Irish attendees of the Future of Web Apps Summit next week in London. Good to see that entrepreneurs like Alan, Walter and Diarmaid are going along. Unfortunately Keith can't make it but he's kindly setup a del.icio.us tag for event tagmobbing.

VoiceSage takes the stage

Cork based company VoiceSage were profiled in yesteday's Examiner. Bernie Goldbach has previously mentioned how appealing their VoiceSage Notice product is, as used by furniture retailer Instore . They launched that Notice only a few months ago and they'll soon be following up with VoiceInteract which will allow message recipients to connect to a customer service operator, and more.

What I found most interesting was to learn that they're pretty much a virtual team - with three staff at HQ in Cork, three software developers in Bray and a sales representive in both Dublin and New Jersey. Eight staff in all and they recently secured $1.5 million in funding.

Their marketing director Paul Sweeney posted here earlier this month to say that VoiceSage are now looking for good services salespeople. So if you're not quite ready to go it alone as an entrepreneur, this exciting Cork company could make an ideal apprenticeship.