Ger Hartnett's public updates
June 10th, 2009
README
The goal of this group is to select things that we can do improve the environment for start-ups in Ireland.
Feel free to:
add new ideas
read the other ideas and comment or vote on them
to the Startup Ireland Ideas group
June 9th, 2009
A virtual frictionless entrepreneurship project that EI could support
Haydn suggested on Pat's blog:I also think Irish entreprenurs are sharper the more time they spend in places like San Francisco so without asking EI for free holidays is there a case for a few roundtables on “frictionless entreprene
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HSE/govt bodies network with entrepreneurs
Haydn suggested on Pat's blog: the HSE is ripe for the creativity and inventiveness of the Web 2.0 social media people in Ireland. I don’t want them just to buy from Irish companies but to open up to ideas, to network with us and to
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Niall Smart suggested on Pat's blog: It seems that submitting an application online is only the first step in a long complicated process, which will involve dealing with Revenue, accountants, etc. I’ve applied to Seedcamp, AWS, and Y-C this year -...
Less paperwork from EI.
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Less paperwork from EI.
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Weed out the non-flyers
Janet Cavanagh suggested on Pat's blog: Some great ideas in this blog, but I have heard most of them before. Lots of things are being done out there, but much of the money is going into ideas that will simply not fly when they go to marke
to the Startup Ireland Ideas group
Active solicitation of new ideas
Posted by Jack on Pat's blog: I think there needs to be a more active solicitation of new ideas.There needs to be more agency investment in TV/Press ads advising people with half-baked ideas what help is available and what they need to do
to the Startup Ireland Ideas group
Also by Niall Two other key components of Y-C are mentoring - which can happen locally - and contacts/demo day. EI can help by facilitating a Paddy’s Valley type trip to London & SF for startups in the program. (Not a brain drain: just get the...
Entrepreneur driven YC-type org.
to the Startup Ireland Ideas group
Entrepreneur driven YC-type org.
to the Startup Ireland Ideas group
Entrepreneur driven YC-type org
Niall Smart suggested on Pat's Blog: - The Y-C model can work in Ireland; but the structural and cultural issues associated with VC & EI mean they are unlikely to drive it. Y-C, betaworks, seedcamp, and techstars are primarily driven
to the Startup Ireland Ideas group
http://www.wenportal.org/ieclub_grants/
Inventors & Entrepreneurs Clubs.
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Inventors & Entrepreneurs Clubs.
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Inventors & Entrepreneurs Clubs
Posted by Dennis Deery on Pat's blog: Here in Wisconsin in the States we’ve been having some great successes with Inventors & Entrepreneurs Clubs. The clubs establish a social network and a path to resources for people that prev
to the Startup Ireland Ideas group
Posted by Phoebe Bright on Pat's blog: It would be great to be able to put together a group of people to work on the bones of an idea to get it to the point where you know if it is likely to succeed or not, and reach this point quickly - codesprints if ...
Better matchmaking/mentoring.
to the Startup Ireland Ideas group
Better matchmaking/mentoring.
to the Startup Ireland Ideas group
Posted by Mediahackers on Pat's blog: Better vetting of Mentors by EI. More transparency/history for start-ups about the Mentors.
Mentors! Mentors! Mentors!.
to the Startup Ireland Ideas group
Mentors! Mentors! Mentors!.
to the Startup Ireland Ideas group
Fergus Burns suggested on Pat's blog: I think the support bodies [EI, Seedcorn, CORD, incubation centres] can learn from likes of Seedcamp/Ycombinator/techstars.In the web related biz sector - your survival or success can be dependent on the availabilit...
Less paperwork from EI.
to the Startup Ireland Ideas group
Less paperwork from EI.
to the Startup Ireland Ideas group
Suggested by Aj on Pat's blog: Legal requirements are substantial and while I can appreciate why they are there, they need to be streamlined so as not be an obstacle.
Standard “neutral” legal docs.
to the Startup Ireland Ideas group
Standard “neutral” legal docs.
to the Startup Ireland Ideas group
Suggested by Aj on Pat's blog: Tax Breaks - more of them for startups, self starting individuals, investors. Encourages investment. Always has, always will
Simplify tax for startups.
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Simplify tax for startups.
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Aj suggested this on Pat's blog: Access to funding, I’ve heard too many horror stories about EI, plus good ones too. There appears to be no clear cut direction depending on whom you speak to, this is a deterrent. Clear up that mess EI and people w...
Setup the Bureaucracy Repair Department.
to the Startup Ireland Ideas group
Setup the Bureaucracy Repair Department.
to the Startup Ireland Ideas group
Marcus suggested this on Pat's blog: From my own experience with startups there is a daunting level of red tape and paperwork not to mention accounts in this banana republic. Innovators should be allowed concentrate on developing their ideas without the...
Less paperwork from EI.
to the Startup Ireland Ideas group
Less paperwork from EI.
to the Startup Ireland Ideas group
Suggested by Ciara Crossan on Pat's blog: Seconding Deb and Sabrina. Enterprise Boards and EI are very anit-websites/non tangible products in recent years. As Conor said, the funding available to these businesses is limited even on enterprise programs.
Enterprise board education on non-tangible merchandise.
to the Startup Ireland Ideas group
Enterprise board education on non-tangible merchandise.
to the Startup Ireland Ideas group
Assistance getting first employee
Suggested by Ronanob on Pat's blog: Some sort of assistance getting your first employees would be a big deal. Even if it would be limited to taking them from the pool of potential workers on the Dole at the moment. Plus the contracts, pro
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Posted by Patrick Lennon on Pat's Blog: For me its all about sales –There are two aspects to this, the first being that we need to ensure that our start-ups have the opportunity to develop their selling abilities.The second which I will focus more...
Purchasing from startups quota for government.
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Purchasing from startups quota for government.
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Sabrina Dent suggested on Pat's blog: These people need to SERIOUSLY update their standards for what qualifies for “capital investment.” It is entirely feasible for a rapidly expanding Irish company delivering an online service to not be abl...
Enterprise board education on non-tangible merchandise.
to the Startup Ireland Ideas group
Enterprise board education on non-tangible merchandise.
to the Startup Ireland Ideas group
Conor O'Neill suggested this on Pat's blog: I honestly believe that Genesis (and M50 Enterprise etc) are not that far off the Y Combinator model but cash must be made available to everyone who is accepted on the scheme so they have some chance of succes...
Changes to early stage funding.
to the Startup Ireland Ideas group
Changes to early stage funding.
to the Startup Ireland Ideas group
Sean Fee suggested on Pat's blog: - Legal Firm- Accountancy Firm- Corporate Finance Advisory FirmAll these partners will offer a certain level of service to members of the network in order to set up a company properly, get the finances running smoothly ...
Cheaper services.
to the Startup Ireland Ideas group
Cheaper services.
to the Startup Ireland Ideas group
Govt focus on “new enterprises created” metric
Suggested by Chris on Pat's blog: Stop thinking that job numbers as the measure of success. It’s what your political masters want but what do they know. Job numbers are a measure of inefficiency in my book. Focus on “new enter
to the Startup Ireland Ideas group
Change etendering
Suggested by Chris on Pat's blog: The etendering system sucks and favors larger firms. Why can’t you change it to specify smalller chunks of work?
to the Startup Ireland Ideas group
Enterprise board education on non-tangible merchandise
Deborah suggested on Pat's Blog: For people not working within the large profit scope required by EI, the enterprise boards need to be better educated on non-tangible merchandise. As it is, they are only willing to offer support for peopl
to the Startup Ireland Ideas group
Skew gov funding more to commercial than R&D
Campbell Scott suggested: The more significant problem I have is that Ireland is spending huge amounts on research. I don’t know the recent figures but SFI have invested over €0.5bn in reasearch and I’d love to see the RO
to the Startup Ireland Ideas group
Bernie Goldbach suggested on Pat's blog: Having an option to get a low-cost accountant would have saved me big bucks in the start-up cycle.
Cheaper services.
to the Startup Ireland Ideas group
Cheaper services.
to the Startup Ireland Ideas group
Joe suggested this on Pat's blog: o A share option schemeo Heath and safety statemento Employee contractso IP restrictive convenants
Standard “neutral” legal docs.
to the Startup Ireland Ideas group
Standard “neutral” legal docs.
to the Startup Ireland Ideas group
Stop thinking of Ireland in the context of only Irish Entrepreneurs
Posted by Anton Mannering on Pat's blog: I believe we need to stop thinking of Ireland in the context of only Irish Entrepreneurs and take a global view. If we want to create the kind of excellence they have in other tech hubs we need to
to the Startup Ireland Ideas group
Educate students about support available
Posted by Patrick Barry: Educate students on available support as early as possible!Enterprise programs, grants, mentors, incubation centres - too many students leave college with no clue about the huge amount of support out there.
to the Startup Ireland Ideas group
Standard “neutral” legal docs
Posted by Ger Hartnett on Pat's blog: Standard “neutral” legal docs for early stage investment. Ycombinator are doing this in US with WSGR. Damien blogged about it a while ago.
to the Startup Ireland Ideas group
Better links with startups
Posted by Keith Bohanna on Pat's blog: * Make it mandatory for any Gov/State/Semi-State employees who directly support start ups to attend events/training/workshops and mingle with their clients* Force Third Level staff dealing with the p
to the Startup Ireland Ideas group
Purchasing from startups quota for government
Posted by Keith Bohanna on Pat's blog: * Impose a “purchasing from small start-ups” ICT quota on each State and Semi-State outfit
to the Startup Ireland Ideas group
More co-working space
Posted by Keith Bohanna on Pat's blog: * Make a co-working space mandatory in each of the Enterprise Centres around Ireland which EI appear to be continuing to fund.* Retrofit a co-working space into all existing enterprise spaces owned/f
to the Startup Ireland Ideas group
Simple explanation of funding system
Posted by Niall Harbison on Pat's blog: A simple central resource updated by people who have been through the funding system to explain where and how grants/funding/networking etc works. This would save people’s time enabling them t
to the Startup Ireland Ideas group
A panel to bounce ideas
Posted by paul savage on Pat's blog: One thing that I think would be very beneficial is a panel of people, or a group meeting setup, where you could bounce ideas off people. Often times people thing they have that killer idea, go away and
to the Startup Ireland Ideas group
ethnicomm suggested this on Pat's blog: Also not in Ireland but a forum or other means of asking for and receiving assistance with the administrative aspects of running a business would help. The amount of energy wasted on messing with government bureau...
Setup the Bureaucracy Repair Department.
to the Startup Ireland Ideas group
Setup the Bureaucracy Repair Department.
to the Startup Ireland Ideas group
Better matchmaking/mentoring
Mairin suggested this on Pat's blog: Access to ongoing coaching/mentoring from international social media entrepreneurs would be amazing. What about a matchmaking scheme between Irish start-up and Valley veterans.
to the Startup Ireland Ideas group
Interest-free medium-term loans
Neil Ward suggested this on Pat's blog
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Better dissemination of information about available supports
Neil Ward suggested this on Pat's blog
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Celebrate our successes more widely
Joe suggested this on Pat's blog
to the Startup Ireland Ideas group
Change share options schemes
Joe suggested this on Pat's blog: Change share options schemes so that people who exercise options which become worthless are have no tax liability.
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Joe also suggested this on Pat's blog: Link each year of incubator graduates to their predecessors and link all the different incubator programs together (HotHouse, Genesis, M50, LEAP, NISP).
Better social network integration between the incubators.
to the Startup Ireland Ideas group
Better social network integration between the incubators.
to the Startup Ireland Ideas group
Less paperwork from EI
Joe suggested on suggested on Pat Phelan's blog:
to the Startup Ireland Ideas group
Ubiquitous affordable broadband
Ged Carrol suggested on Pat Phelan's blog: Ireland needs to make a similar effort for broadband to what Eircom made for digital exchanges 20 odd years ago. If you look at countries like Korea and Japan, if you provide ubiquitous affordabl
to the Startup Ireland Ideas group
Patrick suggested something similar on Pat Phelan's blog: Give 10-15k and incorporation documents to anyone with a reasonable demo.
Changes to early stage funding.
to the Startup Ireland Ideas group
Changes to early stage funding.
to the Startup Ireland Ideas group
Entrepreneur driven YC-type org.
to the Startup Ireland Ideas group