Archive for the ‘Events’ Category

Web2Ireland at Le Web

conor 4th of December 2010 by conor

Next week will see the largest ever number of Irish people at Le Web which began as Les Blogs back in 2004. It’s building up to be a stonkingly good few days.

Your old reliables, Messrs Burns and O’Neill, will of course be there but mainly wearing our start-up hats this time. So we’re chuffed that there will be a new Web2Ireland blogger/vlogger on the ground. A huge thanks to John Peavoy for agreeing to be the eyes and ears of the Irish web community over the two days. As anyone who knows John will tell you, he’s not just a Super-Connector, he is also deeply interested in the web and Irish start-ups.

If you spot him with his flipcam, please share all your thoughts about the event. We’ll be posting as often as possible here during and after Le Web.

Since nothing official seems to be in place for Tuesday night, let’s try and arrange dinner and a few drinks for the Irish contingent. I’m on @conoro,  Fergus is on @fergusb and John is on @johnpeavoy. We’ll all be on @web2ireland. I’ll also be on +353-87-9790297

Ireland Demozone Startups at Le Web

conor 1st of December 2010 by conor

It’s less than a week to Le Web and we’ve all started smoking Gauloises and reading Sartre in preparation.

Karen Hallez has a great post over on the Enterprise Ireland Best Connected Blog with all the details of the Ireland Demozone. The startup-ups who’ll be there are:

You can follow all these Irish companies on Twitter at http://twitter.com/entirl/clients-at-leweb/

Enterprise Ireland and IDA Ireland will be hosting a networking reception on the Demozone.  At 17.30 on the 8th December, Ireland's Ambassador to France, Paul Kavanagh, will kick off the reception to enable Irish companies, VCs, the big names in the Internet world and journalists to come together and share news and views.

For more information, please contact:

Karen Hallez, Enterprise Ireland Paris, karen.hallez@enterprise-ireland.com

or

Ray Walsh, Enterprise Ireland Dublin, ray.walsh@enterprise-ireland.com

Live Twitter Coverage of Demobar

conor 23rd of November 2010 by conor

Make sure to use the hashtag #demobar


(More Than) Full House for Web2Ireland DemoBar

conor 21st of November 2010 by conor

I recommend that everyone who is signed up for Tuesday’s DemoBar stop eating now. It’s gonna be jammed! The interest level has been incredible. The following fab startups will be demoing on the night:

See you all on Tuesday from 6:30 PM 9:30 PM at the Ely Gastro Pub, Dublin. Don’t forget that the Guardian Tech Weekly team will be there too.

Thanks again to Enterprise Ireland who will be sponsoring the evening.

MAXROAM scores a Europa Award

conor 20th of November 2010 by conor

Big congrats to the MAXROAM team for landing the only Irish Award in the Europas last night. They won the Best Hardware or Gadget Startup award for the MAXROAM Roaming SIM.

The full list of winners is here.

BarCamp Cork IV On November 20th

conor 10th of November 2010 by conor

We all know that Cork makes the finest BarCamps of them all :-) Now it’s time for BarCamp Cork IV, in 3D. Or, actually, in Webworks, the site of the first and second BCCs.

November 20th

If you love technology and startups and want to share, talk or learn, come on down. It’s free and no-one will try to sell you anything.

Dublin Web Summit – More Please

conor 31st of October 2010 by conor

Friday was my first Dublin Web Summit and it far exceeded my expectations in every way. Paddy Cosgrove pulled off a jaw-droppingly impressive feat over the three days and I can’t congratulate him enough.

I won’t go into enormous detail on the Summit, I really wanted to highlight a few key takeaways and offer one strong criticism.

The quality of the speakers that I saw was pretty amazing. The Irish were just as impressive as their US and UK counterparts and the strong sense of community was palpable everywhere. I think we have struggled to create a tech community here and it has been quite fractured and cliquish. Paddy has managed to overcome this and get everyone together, talking, networking and buzzing.

I loved the focus a lot of speakers put on failure. The response to failure in Ireland still remains very much “oh him, he’s just a chancer, his last business went bust”. These words usually coming out of the mouths of people who has never taken a risk in their lives. So it was a joy to see everyone from Jonathan Siegel to Jeff Clavier to Niklas Zennstrom talk about failing and failing again and getting up and falling down and trying again. That message more than any has to be broadcast and baked into the DNA of this country. There are no get-rich-quick schemes, there is just hard work and perseverance and doing your best to help others in the same boat as you.

Like everyone else in the room, I absolutely loved the gaming panel on Friday. It wasn’t just the humour and smart-arsery, it was the acknowledgement, finally, that gaming is a massive success story for Ireland. Why we have had such a problem admitting this I don’t know. Perhaps Plants vs Zombies doesn’t impress Government departments as much as Microsoft Office. Whatever it is, the ideas presented for growing this sector made absolute sense to me.

And now for the criticism. I have a huge problem with the Playas vs Plebs thing that happened with the two separate conferences. In all the years I’ve been to tech conferences I’ve never encountered anything like it. I still don’t understand why it was necessary. Marissa Meyer doesn’t skip TechCrunch Disrupt because some nobody can walk up to her and have a chat. Jack Dorsey doesn’t skip Le Web because a Paddy can go up to him to shoot the breeze. So why a separate invite-only conference in Ireland? Were they afraid the players wouldn’t come unless it was “exclusive”? As for the “Davos for Geeks” line, c’mon, get real. Bitter much, of course I am :-)

A merged single summit could easily be another Le Web. The reason I go to that conference every year is because it is “flat”. From pre-launch startups to billionaires, journalists and bloggers, all of them mixing, chatting and networking. Every cup of coffee an opportunity. Of course there are private dinners and private parties but the daytime is for everyone. We need more events like this in Europe and I think Dublin Web Summit could be one of the best. But it has to be one summit.

Two more very positive notes:

First, big props to Atomico. Those guys spent the entire day meeting startups and listening to their pitches. I popped up to say hello and they were deeply apologetic. The booklet we all received made it look like you could drop in unannounced. In fact it had to be pre-booked. But rather than send us all packing, they are doing follow-ups with anyone who didn’t get a face to face meeting. My kinda guys!

Finally, congrats to DataHug. I didn’t see their pitch but even a second-hand description of what they do was enough to tell me they are on to a winner. If it works well, they will be snapped up in less than 24 months.

Make sure your start-up is nominated for a TechCrunch Europas Award

conor 22nd of October 2010 by conor

The Europas, the TechCrunch Europe Awards 2010 for European tech companies, will be held on November 19 in London. Entrants have been initially populated from their startup database,  Crunchbase, but everyone can vote in all the categories here.

If you want to suggest a company, including your own, that you think should be included, then leave a comment in the relevant category. Unlike many Irish awards, it isn’t pay to play.

This is a really great opportunity to get your start-up some visibility with the heavy hitters in Europe.

Irish Web Awards 2010 Winners

conor 18th of October 2010 by conor

A fantastic night was had by all in The Mansion House in Dublin on Saturday. Lots and lots of new sites and apps to check out. Well done to all the winners and well done to Damien Mulley and his team of elves for putting together a superb event. The full set of winners from the Web Awards blog:

News and Media

Best Online Publication Sponsored by 3 Ireland.

Best Web Only Publication Sponsored by Insure.ie

Best Radio Website Sponsored by Wirecard Payment Solutions

Best Independent Podcaster Sponsored by Edgecast Media

Best Videocaster

Entertainment and Arts

Best Sports Site

Best Music Site sponsored by Poll Daddy

Best Entertainment Website sponsored by bVisible

Best Arts Website Sponsored by DirectEbooks

Technology and Social

Best Technology Site Sponsored by BH Consulting

Best New Web Application/Service Sponsored by Red Cardinal

Most Innovative Website Sponsored by iQ content

Best Mobile Application Sponsored by O2

Best Social Media Campaign Sponsored by Cybercom

  • Bulmers

Best Facebook Page for a Business or Organisation Sponsored by O'Leary Analytics

Best (Guerrilla) Social Media Campaign Sponsored by ebow

Government, Education and Community

Best Discussion forum Sponsored by KRO IT Solutions

Best Microsite Sponsored by ArgusCarHire.com

Best Government and Council Website Sponsored by Exigent Networks

Best Education and Third Level Website Sponsored by Olive Media

An Suíomh Gaeilge is Fearr Sponsored by PatentNav

Commerce

Best eCommerce / Services Website sponsored by OnlineAdvertising.ie

Best SME/Small Business Website sponsored by Pivotal Communications

Technical Awards

Best Practice Sponsored by Surveys.ie

Most Beautiful Website in Ireland Sponsored by RedFly Online Marketing

Most Useful Website in Ireland Sponsored by DoneDeal.ie

Most Accessible Website

Best Website in Ireland Sponsored by Realex Payments

Le Web Startup Competition

conor 15th of September 2010 by conor

Geraldine LE MEUR has just announced the annual Le Web Startup competition. This is one of the most important ways you can get your start-up in front of a European audience of tech media, influencers and investors. Previous Irish entrants include Cloudsplit, LouderVoice, Pixenate and Touristr.

There is expected to be a much stronger than usual Irish contingent heading over this year. Do your start-up a favour and enter before October 15th.

The Start-Up Competition will take place on Dec 8, 2010 and there is no fee to participate. They will select the best 16 applications to demonstrate their products on a dedicated stage throughout the day.

The 3 winners of the competition will then have a chance to present their companies on the LeWeb main stage, during a special session on December 9.

Selected Startups will get 2 passes to the conference for team members who will demo on stage and a DemoPod in a lounge dedicated to the Startup Competitors.