Pure Play

enterprise-ireland.com

One of the most interesting projects I have worked on as a consultant is as a member of the Path Pacific team which is currently developing a new web strategy for Enterprise Ireland.

 

Apart from Michael Clyne in Path Pacific who has enormous experience in the eGovernment sector (most recently with reach.ie) I am also working with Gerry McGovern, Brian Lamb and the crew at CustomerCareWords.

Meeting some great people in EI and looking forward to seeing how the outcome turns out - we all have preconceived ideas going in but the outcome and recommendations will be based on the the results of the methodical and comprehensive work that is being done :-)

keith

Catching up - a backlog of mentions for great/new Irish businesses

Most recent - Tuesday Push, BookMeetingRoom.com

Managing the letting out of a couple of meeting rooms is traditionally paper based - which works fine except for the single copy, the manual booking, the need to be there or phone in, the complete dependency on the person running the diary......

Bookmeetingroom is a very simple (easier said than achieved) online solution from a Dublin based business run by Jer Ryan - a friend of mine from years ago. Check it out if you identify with the above!

Barcamp Cork2

I have been at 6 barcamps of which I was privileged to help organise 3. These are a great way of combining networking, learning and enjoying all at once. Each barcamp is free to attend and you will meet early stage tech entrepreneurs, geeks and other early adopters of technology, passionate people and great communicators. (for an explaination of what a barcamp is Wikipedia page here

 

Bother to go along, you will enjoy if you do. Register here.

Decisions for Heros

Robin Blandford is the entrepreneur behind Decisions for Heros which grew from his passion/past time of being involved with Rescue Teams.

He made it to the Seedcamp gathering in London in September - one of 23 statups to do so. His story is here.

Once Upon a Time in the West

there was a business called Infacta which spawned off an upstart called Polldaddy. David Lenehan and Eoin Gallagher set off on their short journey and with a combination of attitude (the right one), a product (a great one) and loads of hard work they ended up being hoovered into the Wordpress team in October.

Meanwhile in the East

the guys in Contrast (4 men all told brave and true) decided to build a web-app in a week. Productivity was the aim and TaskFive the end game.

TaskFive was the idea of James Kennedy and he won a pitch competition run by the lads to gather ideas for the week.

Show me the money

Dublin was also the setting for a milestone achievement for Joe Drumgoole in Putplace.com. Coming of age is not easy and the coders in Putplace delayed their billing announcement until they were sure of their service.

For data backup and more go check them out.

Making Irelands Top 50

Two businesses known to me made the Deloitte Fast50 in 2008. I met Jack Donaghy (the CEO of Roomex) at a recent IIA training event and spoke to him for a while about the sector and how to differentiate a service within it. They won the Rising Star Award.

IQContent came in at Number 8 - they do great work in usability and accessability and they are really helpful to smaller Irish tech businesses - even competitors.

That's the omissions that spring to mind - will try and keep a little more current around here in November!

keith

CTO required - must enjoy reading :-)

I have known Ron Immick in BookBuzz.biz for years and always enjoyed him and the stuff he does. Bookbuzz (a company he co-founded with Yanky Fachler) is a business which has ambition and to help achieve that they are looking for a CTO:

..who can operate at MT level and understands knowledge management, web 2.0, community building, viral marketing and must like books.

Contact ron AT bookbuzz.biz for more.

keith

Photo from Tinakilly House in Wicklow

Stayed here on Thursday evening and really enjoyed it

Keith

Blogging has been light

and it may continue to be for a short while. This means that I am missing out on posting and commenting about many amazing achievements by various Irish startups and I regret that. However focus is required right now.

keith

Thanks for the Irish Web Awards

Great bunch of people there last night (with the dishonorable exception of the Irish Times who managed to not turn up to collect their 2 awards). I put faces to our hero Robin Blandford and the pixie Marcus McInnes. And Johnny Beirne. I was at the awards with Paul Klipp from Lunar Logic - the dbTwang (and Nooked.com) developers.

The event was sponsored by Microsoft and here is DJ Rick giving it up for them:

When Rick asked the person responsible for the hiccup in the middle of the smooth flowing ceremony to put up their hand Damien was slow to admit responsibility:

And finally the award for the most obvious hairpiece went to the airguitarer:

Loads more here: http://flickr.com/photos/keithbohanna/sets/72157607951570258/

Next one up is the Net Visionary Awards on the 30th October - voting is open here.

keith

dbTwang through to Angel Investment Final

In August I posted about a South Eastern Angel Investment competition, Bright Ideas Challenge,  where there are a variety of goodies up for grabs to the winner.

Heard on Wednesday that we are shortlisted for the final pitch - which happens in front of a live audience on Friday 17th October (more details here) in Waterford.

I won't be there :-(. I have a training commitment that day for Wicklow CEB and that is not shiftable. However we will be strongly represented by Fintan (my co-founder) and Gerry McQuaid, our incoming non-exec. I met with Gerry last night to start the prep and will be meeting him again tomorrow in Dublin between lunch with our developers (Paul Klipp of Lunar Logic) and the Irish Web Awards.

It is weird not being involved - but will be great to see how the lads do at it. Looking forward to getting the names of the other finalists.

UPDATE: Here are the other finalists. Great short pitches from each of them and I would be aware of 2 of them already. Good luck one and all.

Biostor Ltd, Wexford
Biostor Ireland is a newly established, bio-repository recently licensed by the Irish Medicines Board (IMB) as a Tissue Establishment under EU Directives to store & distribute human tissues and cells for human use. Based in Wexford the company is owned and operated by Uwe Kuhn and Peadar MacGabhann.

Cheval Equi Ltd, Waterford
Cheval Equi designs, manufactures and distributes solutions for the equine and animal feed industry.  JP Monahan started the company in 2007 designing and selling his first product, the Equi Feeder, a programmable horse feeder.

Hybrid Energy Solutions Ltd, Waterford
Hybrid Energy Solutions Ltd. is a pioneering provider of hybrid renewable power generation technologies to the commercial and industrial sectors. Hybrid Energy helps companies pursue a green strategy while reducing costs through the use of its innovative and cost effective solutions. The company is headed up by Nick McGrath

Practanna Ltd, Wexford
Practanna Medical Ltd. is a medical device company that designs and markets disposable medical aids and devices related to the ileostomy and colostomy niche markets. The company was established to develop products that enhance the lifestyle of Ileostomy and Colostomy patients. Started by Gerry Ryder and Ann Houston, the business is based in New Ross, Co. Wexford.

keith

EI, a photo of the new building

The stairway in the EI only half of the building. Only place we could get coffee :)

Tuesday Push on Wednesday - Louder Voice

If you make purchasing decisions based on other peoples recommendations then Loudervoice is worth a look.

Conor O'Neill's startup gathers the opinions of its users in one place - allowing you to find reviews on everything from coffee to technology to movies and books. Most recently he offers his service to businesses - who can use the engine behind Loudervoice to power their own review sections thus building community and offering another way to increase sales conversions.

Conor is experienced and helpful and gives a lot to the startup community. Enjoy Loudervoice.

keith

[Tuesday push is a MullComm initiative to bring attention to the many innovation online services coming out of Ireland]