Web 2 Ireland

As a primer for our Facebook Garage, we are also running a session on APIs right before it in the Digital Exchange on March 5th.

This is the first Web2Ireland API Wars and Opportunities event. Many entrepreneurs and startups are building their business on the “shoulder of giants” by using their APIs and this mini-event/workshop is an opportunity for the Web2Ireland community to meet and discuss

• using APIs for business development
• building mashups/widgets/etc
• apps on mobile platforms – iPhone, Android, nokia, etc
• using enterprise 2.0 platforms – force.com, IBM, etc
• developer infrastructure – Amazon, Google App Engine

If you are attending in any capacity, please sign-up here.

By signing up for Web2Ireland API Wars you are automatically included in attendee list for Developer Garage – check here for more information on Facebook Garage

And then some social drinks for all involved….

Facebook in Ireland is exploding in popularity; 400k+ users at last count. But it’s not just the number of punters that is growing, so too is the development community.

We are genuinely excited therefore to announce Ireland’s first Facebook Developer Garage, brought to you by Web2Ireland on march 5th in the Digital Exchange in Dublin.

The Garages are just like they sound a place to explore, get gritty, tinker, experiment, and test out ideas for Facebook Platform.  We also want to use it as an opportunity for the Irish FB developer community to network and learn from each other. See the London site to get an idea of what they are all about.

If you are interested in presenting what you are working on in Facebook or giving a demo, just email web2ireland.editor@gmail.com

Please RSVP on Facebook if you are attending in any capacity. This is a completely free event and we are very appreciative of the support being provided by Facebook themselves.

We will have some further very exciting news about the Garage in the next two weeks.

And if that’s not enough for you, Web2Ireland is also hosting a mini-workshop on API Wars and Opportunities before the Garage. See the next blog post!

A quick bit of background…

A few months ago, Niall Smart contacted us in relation to his new startup – and we did a post where he was looking for a co-founder for his stealth startup – Cloudsync

Niall hooked up with Vinny Glennon and Cormac Driver – and these guys were accepted to the world famous Y Combinator in San Francisco.

Cloudsync is now known as Echodio – and Niall pinged us over the weekend to let us know that they’ve been shortlisted by the SXSW music+film+interactive festival to present at SXSW Accelerator, their showcase for technology startups.

One of four finalists in the music category – picked from over 200 applications.

Best of luck to the lads – keep the Irish flag flying….

Now this is something I could seriously do with.

The guys at Dial2Do have announced the Voice Assistant Service with Bluetooth headset manufacturer SouthWing, at MWC in Barcelona.

Drivers just push a button on their headset or carkit and speak to send text messages, send and listen to emails, record reminders and more. Powered by Dial2Do's Voice Platform, the service is a boost for anyone who wants to make best use of their time in the car, but stay safe and legal behind the wheel.

Dial2Do will be demonstrating the service at the Mobile Monday Peer Awards Barcelona, where they have been shortlisted in the Early Stage Startup category.

Film producer and entrepreneur Lord Puttnam will deliver the keynote address at the SOHO Solo conference called Reinventing Oneself in these Challenging Times in Kinsale next Friday, 20th February 2009.

The half-day conference is aimed primarily at small business owners, entrepreneurs and those with a budding business idea. It takes places at the Kinsale Yacht Club between 10am and 2pm and is an absolute bargain to attend at only €25 including lunch.

Lord Puttnam will be joined by a wide range of speakers covering topics like transitioning one business into another, the importance of making and retaining connections and identifying your businesses strengths.

Other speakers include:

• Shemas Eivers, Client Solutions
• Dr E Alana James
• Bob McCarthy, Leadership Management Ireland
• John Prendergast, Aonach Consulting
• Pat Burke, The Auld Sod
• Kieran Murphy, Murphy's Ice Cream

More details including how to register over on the blog.

Thrilled to hear that they are launching an OpenCoffee Club in Mayo. Chris Kerndter let us know that it’s on February 25th at 11.30am in Castlebar in the Royal Theatre Pub.

OCC is getting stronger every day in Ireland. Our Cork meetup now has more than 20 people turning up every two weeks, peaking at over 30 recently. Around the island we now have:

• Mayo
• Cork
• Limerick
• Waterford
• Dublin
• Kilkenny
• Galway
• Belfast
• Newry

Walter and Ursula who run Sxoop Technologies have been in the image manipulation software biz for several years now. Their core offering, Pixenate, an online photo editor, is integrated on many sites worldwide. More recently they have built a bunch of fun and useful tools using Pixenate. The most recent, Twitter Mosaic, is actually making money on Twitter before Twitter themselves have figured out a business model!

Mosaic is just one of those beautifully simple forehead-slapping ideas. You tell it your Twitter username and it generates mugs, t-shirts, bags etc  with a mosaic of your followers on them for purchase on Zazzle. A damn sight more interesting than the “Maximising customer delight through six sigma” mug that your employer gave you as your Christmas bonus.

Get your twitter mosaic here.

There was a great push from the community this week and here are the posts we have found. If you have done a  push, make sure to follow @tuesdaypush on Twitter and let them know.

• Joe Scanlon
• David Kelly
• Niall Larkin
• Campbell Scott
• ClubW
• Derry O’Donnell
• John Keyes
• eWrite
• Ken McGuire
• Irish Blogs
• Pat Phelan
• Joe Drumgoole
• ManicMammy
• Anton Mannering
• Dave Concannon
• Topgold
• Keith Bohanna

If you are feeling rosemantic, don’t forget you can also heartify your Twitter avatar on Pixenate at the minute too!

Last Wednesday saw the team from Guidewire host a leg of Innovate!Europe in The Digital Exchange in Dublin. And what a day! Chris Shipley, Mike Sigal and Carla Thompson ran the most impressive start-up workshop I have ever encountered. If you missed it, you really missed out.

The format was very simple. There were approx 12 Irish startups there including PutPlace, IGOpeople, LouderVoice, Locle, Toddle. The day kicked off with each of us giving a 90 second elevator pitch. Then we gave our 10 minute company pitch and got feedback from the Guidewire team.

That feedback was accurate, fair, pointed and deeply useful. I gave the first company pitch of the day and everything I heard back from them was spot-on. During the rest of the day I was able to refine the deck quite a bit.

However, it was’t just the feedback on our own presentation that was valuable, it was hearing about the problems (and successes) in everyone else’s that made the day so special. As the afternoon progressed, we had more and more discussions involving everyone. This included some excellent insights from Ray Walsh in Enterprise Ireland.

One thing I did notice was the difference between the expectations of  Valley VCs  and Irish ones. I was told I could easily ditch my detailed financials slide in a Valley pitch. I was told the complete opposite as part of the Genesis programme.

The Innovate!Europe roadshow then moved to London on Friday. The remaining venues are:

• 31 MARCH in Bern, Switzerland
• 3 APRIL in Berlin, Germany
• 6 APRIL in Paris, France

If you are a start-up based on the continent, you owe it to your business to attend one of these sessions. The best companies from the roadshow will then attend a Masterclass in Zaragosa Spain in May. The best of those will take part in a Trade Mission to the Valley in June.

Thanks again to Chris and the team for an invaluable day.

Innovate!Europe is a unique, three-part “Talent Search” designed to identify Europe's most promising startups and accelerate their drive into the global technology market.

Innovate!Europe is hosting a networking meetup in Dublin for local entrepreneurs, investors, executives, government officials and members of the press. The meetup is co-hosted by Enterprise Ireland, Guidewire Group, Orrick, and Innovate!Europe’s partners and sponsors.

I’ll be at this networking event, and feel free to invite along others…

Confirm your attendance by registering here (FREE).

DUBLIN MEETUP DETAILS:
———————-
February 4, 2009
6:30pm 8:30pm
4 Dame Lane
Dame Lane
Dublin 2

-Robin.