Ah, good stuff!
717 karma · joined February 5, 2010
Congratulations on getting Manara up and running!
AMA! Here's a link to my soundcloud, we're hiring, thanks for coming to my TEDx talk.
We are hiring though.
I've had co-founders in the past, and it's very different doing it yourself. Before the team was properly formed, I asked some friends for help. Some of it was product related, some of it was business and fundraising related. And some was just moral support.
I don't think there's a hard and fast rule to the ratio of advisors to team. Every startup is different, every product is different and every team is different.
As to our value prop and brand strategy, I admit, there's a lot that's not obvious from what's essentially a holding page. -- we're still pre launch, and in private beta, which I mentioned in opening paragraphs of the post.
Regarding .is, as I said above, there's a specific reason that was chosen, more to do with the product than with marketing.
If you'd like to see for yourself what we're up to, I'd be happy to give you a demo. Drop me a mail on eamo@eamo.net and I can set something up.
Cohort.is is our marketing website. We chose the .is TLD for a specific reason.
What we have is a social graph that a lot of R&D has gone into, using public data - which was outlined in the post.
As I'm sure you know, a social graph is more than just a list of names pulled from Quora and LinkedIn (neither of which are sources for us, btw).
That will usually weed out most of the procrastinators, wannabes, "difficult" people etc...
A bit of interpersonal chemistry going, some complimentary skills (you're looking for compatibility, after all), and some level of emotional investment on the problem being solved, wouldn't hurt either.
Can't tell if serious or...
It's a disgrace.
Down with this sort of thing. Careful now.
It's a disgrace.
Down with this sort of thing. Careful now.
We have a long history of supporting and investing in Open Source projects, especially those that can benefit our customers and the different OSS communities we participate in.
Like all companies, we have budgets for all sorts of activities, and sponsoring open source software is no exception. Also, like every other company, we review on an annual basis, where we allocate our budgets.
The decision to stop financially supporting any project is down to our assessment of what we've been able to help that project to achieve, and if there are opportunities to invest in other projects that are at a different stage in development, or if it relates to a specific customer need.
As has been pointed out elsewhere in this thread, the Engine Yard platform now supports Ruby, PHP and Node JS, and will soon be supporting Java, as well as a number of different databases.
Engine Yard has always contributed to the communities that its customers come from, and adding platform support for these languages and databases means that we need to consider open source projects in those communities as beneficiaries of our financial support.
Sensible startups will never have a problem raising money, that's if they even need it. A lack of local funding does not mean that funding cannot be secured from sources outside Ireland -- plenty of Irish startups have done that btw.
I think your view of what's going on in Ireland is tainted, and it's not the same as the property boom or the financial crisis associated with it.
For one thing, there is no "startup boom" in Ireland. At least not in the same way as there was in property. The level of investment isn't even in the same ball park. Most startups can't even get a bank loan of a few grand, for starters. And banks are not cozying up to founders in the same way they did to property developers.
There are no dodgy dealings going on behind closed doors, and no one has the ear of a Minister.
You're not going to see your average taxi driver borrow to invest in a startup because he's suddenly rich on paper.
And unlike the finite amount of land available to develop in places like Dublin, there are no such constraints on good business models, with good market potential, backed by a strong team.
Also, I don't remember there ever being a property "scene".
What we need is a healthy startup ecosystem. I've been active in the "startup scene" since 2007. I've seen the growth of startups, I've seen the rise of a strong tech community, I've seen the rise of all the accelerators. The level of investment has risen, but not at the same pace or scale. These are some of the necessary component for a healthy ecosystem.
And like in nature-based ecosystems, things die to make way for new lifeforms.
Anyway, I'm rambling now... need coffee :)
Your view is your view, but I don't see things the way you've painted them.
Two obvious statements:
The vast majority of startups (incubated or otherwise) either fail, or plateau without giving a "respectable return".
Investment, regardless of the stage is risky.
http://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/employment/types_of_emp...
http://www.enterprise-ireland.com/en/Start-a-Business-in-Ire...
If you're looking to work, you need a company to sponsor you, there's a green card programme, and in practice, it's not that difficult to get in if you're a programmer with a CS degree or equivalent experience. Sure there are forms and red tape... but it's not as many hoops to jump through as moving to the US.
More info on work visas / green cards for Ireland here: http://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/employment/migrant_work...
Granted, a community is only a small part of an overall industry, but an industry without community is lacking heart and soul.
And I can say, with authority, that Dublin has a vibrant tech community. My company, Engine Yard, runs or hosts two meetups a week in our Dublin office, covering subjects such as Ruby, PHP, Node JS, Scala, as well as database, Open Data and designer / UX oriented meetups.
If you want to come to any meetups on these subject, or become more involved in the Dublin tech community, drop me a line - eamon@engineyard.com.
In addition, for the past three years, I've been running Pub Standards Dublin, the largest monthly gathering in Ireland of developers, designers and anyone interested in tech - we get about 150-180 each month. See http://pubstandards.ie/ or https://twitter.com/pubstandardsdub for details, you're welcome to join us any time.
I'm sorry you feel that things are "stagnant and dependent on cheap non-EU labour". I don't feel the same, and I invite you to come out, meet your peers and properly engage with your local tech community.
You wont regret it :)
We've plenty of customers who migrate to us when they "hit it big". It's no secret that that's where Engine Yard has been positioned for a long time.
The point of us dropping prices was so we could pass value onto our customers.
We've dropped our prices a number of times, the lastest a few months ago:
Frontend, Security, Systems Engineers; Support, BizDev, Marketing, Sales.
Dublin's #1 strength over places like London and Berlin is it's geographic size, which makes meetups accessible, leaders and role models available, and creates a friendly and familiar feel, where we all fee like we are part of something bigger than the startups that are here.
Side note: To anyone here on HN visiting Dublin in the future, feel free to connect with us, you'd be very welcome -- @ me on Twitter... @EamonLeonard
[1] http://thenextweb.com/insider/2012/12/03/dropbox-announces-f...
Dublin's #1 strength over places like London and Berlin is it's geographic size, which makes meetups accessible, leaders and role models available, and creates a friendly and familiar feel, where we all fee like we are part of something bigger than the startups that are here.
Side note: To anyone here on HN visiting Dublin in the future, feel free to connect with us, you'd be very welcome -- @ me on Twitter... @EamonLeonard
Most of our past Funconfers tend to hang out on HN, so I thought it might be worth letting them, and their friends know.
If you've not heard about Funconf, this pic is fairly representative: