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Why Ireland is the best place in the world for a start-up

blog.dingadeal.com

1–10 of 74 posts

Re: Why Ireland is the best place in the world for a start-up

#3
"There are even government initiatives such as the JobBridge scheme that allow start-up companies hire people free of charge"

JobBridge has been roundly derided as a source of cheap/free labour for less than scrupulous restaurants , shops etc. under the guise of internship (as well as a useful way to fudge unemployment figures); "Learn to deal with problem customers..."

The short of it is, you'll need to offer a fair incentive to get good people - the IT sector is still pretty healthy here and decent graduates can expect to walk into a job from third-level.

Re: Why Ireland is the best place in the world for a start-up

#4
I'd definitely question the talented labour available for work.

There's nothing like the talent in SF and we're currently saturated with Google/Facebook/Amazon/LinkedIn/Zynga sucking up a significant chunk of the best talent here and also bringing people from the UK and mainland Europe.

This would be a significant challenge for anyone looking to push the bleeding edge of technology. There aren't many brilliant young 20 or 30 somethings willing to work in a startup environment sacrificing pay for equity in the same way as there is in SF.

Honestly, I'd see available talent as a significant struggle depending on how you're scaling and what kind of people you would need.

Re: Why Ireland is the best place in the world for a start-up

#6
post #4

I'd definitely question the talented labour available for work. There's nothing like the talent in SF and we're currently saturated with Google/Facebook/Amazon/LinkedIn/Zynga sucking up a significant chunk of the best talent here and also bringing people from the UK and mainland Europe. This would be a significant challenge for anyone looking to push the bleeding edge of technology. There aren't many brilliant young…

At least more and more students are studying relevant subjects so the available pool of potential talent is increasing. [1] (For those not familiar with Ireland, the CAO is the Central Applications Office and handles undergraduate applications in third level education.)

[1] http://www.siliconrepublic.com/innovation/item/26155-ireland...

Re: Why Ireland is the best place in the world for a start-up

#7
As an Irish individual, I can tell you that the author is overlooking one very crucial downside to operating a startup in Ireland. As you may know, our banking sector was decimated in the financial crisis. This has made it extraordinarily difficult for startups to obtain even modest business loans from financial institutions. Remember this is Europe we are talking about, where VC financing is much less common than 'mainstream' financing through bank loans. Many businesses are closing their doors and opportunities are being lost simply because startups do not have access to the liquidity needed to keep the lights on.  On the flip side, this could be a great opportunity for you VCs to buy into promising startups for a veritable pittance.

Re: Why Ireland is the best place in the world for a start-up

#8

As an Irish individual, I can tell you that the author is overlooking one very crucial downside to operating a startup in Ireland. As you may know, our banking sector was decimated in the financial crisis. This has made it extraordinarily difficult for startups to obtain even modest business loans from financial institutions. Remember this is Europe we are talking about, where VC financing is much less common than 'm…

Minister Bruton today announced €60mil in funds designed to help bring VCs to Ireland: http://businessetc.thejournal.ie/bruton-announces-e60m-round...

Re: Why Ireland is the best place in the world for a start-up

#9
post #8

As an Irish individual, I can tell you that the author is overlooking one very crucial downside to operating a startup in Ireland. As you may know, our banking sector was decimated in the financial crisis. This has made it extraordinarily difficult for startups to obtain even modest business loans from financial institutions. Remember this is Europe we are talking about, where VC financing is much less common than 'm…

Minister Bruton today announced €60mil in funds designed to help bring VCs to Ireland: http://businessetc.thejournal.ie/bruton-announces-e60m-round...

Does that kind of thing ever work? Just seem one of those schemes ripe for abuse.

Re: Why Ireland is the best place in the world for a start-up

#10

As an Irish individual, I can tell you that the author is overlooking one very crucial downside to operating a startup in Ireland. As you may know, our banking sector was decimated in the financial crisis. This has made it extraordinarily difficult for startups to obtain even modest business loans from financial institutions. Remember this is Europe we are talking about, where VC financing is much less common than 'm…

I am not sure what type of startup you are talking about, but I think what typically with the term startup is a company, that is small, has a low probability of succeeding, but if it does can grow very fast. I don't think there is (or was) any bank in to world that will loan money to this type of company.

But there is no reason, why an Irish startup can not have investors from other places, especially with the finance capital of Europe (London) so close by.

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