New Silicon Ireland Web 2.0 Directory Site Project

We plan to start developing a directory of every Web2.0 site in Ireland. We will plan to start compiling this in the coming days. We will ask for your assistance in compiling this directory and the key players within it.

We hope that you will find this useful, and will also help built more effective ties between out conference/meetups.

Keep checking back for further details

RTE News Segment - Dublin speakers

Rte News Segment (27-06-2008) by Philip Bromwell, filming at the Silicon Ireland event.

'Philip Bromwell reports that there is confidence in the technology sector where many internet entrepreneurs feel a combination of big ideas and low overheads could lead them to success'


RTE News segment (Requires Real Player free)



Features The Big Word Project and Ken Bagnell, pitcher from Silicon Ireland's 'Pitcher hour'

A BIG thank you to all and round up!

Well the day went as well as could be expected! Thank you again for all who came, attended and particpated.

The speakers all graciously spoke to the assembled Silicon Ireland audience. We have upload the videos for those who could not make it. So if you missed any of it you can check it out online.

The Techcrunch/TechLudd/CrunchLudd event was a great success! Heres a great shot of the guys from 'TheBigWordProject.com' - looking very happy!!



So a good day had by all!! Check out further info on all the events yesterday visit: http://uk.techcrunch.com

A Video Post from Bambi Fancisco of Vator.tv

The Pitchers

This is a list of selected pitchers from the Silicon Ireland Event in Dublin, 26th June 2008. Thank you to those you did submit but who were not successful. The video of these pitches will be added to Vator.TV and the Silicon Ireland You Tube Channel in the coming days.



Pitcher (1)
ClickFindPhone was selected as one of the four pitchers, offering a comms directory widget for voip and messenger.



Pitcher (2)

IT Wisdom, is a social network for IT professional with a knowledge base.


Pitcher (3)
websitesalesleads.com - See You Tube Pitch.




Pitcher (4)

Our only Northern Ireland site, a ebay style site for Northern Ireland.

Sean McGrath Interview Part 5

Sean's final segment at the Silicon Ireland event.

Sean McGrath Interview Part 4

Part four of this great talk.

Sean McGrath Interview Part 3

Third part to this great interview to the assembled delegates at Silicon Ireland event.

Sean McGrath Interview Part 2

Second video of thoughts from Sean McGrath

Sean McGrath Interview Part 1

RTE.tv interviews TheBigWordProject.com

Rte.tv films a segment with TheBigWordProject.com -

All gone quiet now!

Lunch is needed

Live blogging from the event

Firstly thanks to all who have attended. After Gregs sad news, we introduced the speakers.

Senake Atureliya, from piefinance.com. He spoke about his service for startups.




Joe Molloy from ITForce.ie



Afternoon Session

Paddy & Lee from thebigwordproject.com

26th June 2008 - The Silicon Ireland Event has arrived

Well its finally here. We hope that all our hard work has paid off. There will be reporting from the event during the day, as well as photos and video.

So if you can make it during the day, then please do come by, and if nowt then keep checking the blog for details.

Let the next Silicon Valley be Silicon Ireland!

Well we are just 1 day away from our first event. After many discussions with people the question keeps arising, how do you create a 'Silicon Valley' effect here in Ireland. Well We researched and came up with 2 articles for you information. We believe that this has great merit. Maybe Ireland can be come a Silicon Ireland!

Article 1 by Paul Graham

Irish Independant Article 2 - David McWilliams

Find us on 'Upcoming'

You can also list your atendance via upcoming

Get on the Guest List!!!

Just send us you name and you business name (if appropriate) and we will add you to the guest list, meet the speakers face to face.....

Limited number available.: gregwatkins@siliconirelandevents.com

Business Angel Blog

We found this today, and thought that it was interesting.

Check it out below:-

http://www.businessangelblog.com/?gclid=CO2pt5ehj5QCFQuJ1QodPRdKgg

Greg

A Tech Startup in a climate of recession

I am sure you have had many discussions as to the current state of our economy, are we nearly at recession or are we there? It is something on everyones lips!

But there is one area that does not seem to be effectied by the current climate and that is in the 'Tech market'. The reasons why we are posting this is that it is often the case that people think about starting a business often during hard times. Perhaps this is your time to think about setting up a tech business in Ireland!!

Visit Silicon Ireland Events for Tech Startup events.

Thank you to Web2Ireland and UK Techcrunch for the mention

As this is our first event, we obviously are unknown, we have tried to do as much as possible to get good speakers, pitchers and of course delegates to the event. It isn't always easy to get a mention on the tech blogs or other sites promoting more established names. So thank you to the guys at Techcrunch and Web2Ireland for the listings.

Check Out:-

UK Techcrunch

Web2Ireland

and of course Open Cofee Dublin

Revisions to the programme

Due to the amount of thing planned for the day, we are revising the timings for the event, Please check the programme guide in the Menu for further information.

Free tickets now available

Due to the great generosity of our sponsors the rest of the tickets are now free. So all you have to do is go to the tickets listing and get your free tickets for the day.

Thank you to all the sponsors and partners.

Piefinance.com coming to Silicon Ireland Event

As announced yesterday we are thrilled to have Senake Atureliya of Pie Finance speaking at the event. Here is some information on exactly what they offer to the entreprenuer:

http://www.piefinance.com

"The PIE resource and capital micro-investment platform (international patents pending) at www.piefinance.com is a revolutionary, new automated portal that offers...

* Capital investors - a way to collaboratively invest in start up companies and expansion projects companies with reduced risk, minimal due diligence cost and ERP system based tracking.
* Product and service suppliers - a new part invested marketplace offering above average returns.
* Advisors and other skilled individuals - a route to generating savings, investment and additional pension provision as well as finding new career opportunities by investing spare time into exciting new ventures.
* Entrepreneurs - who's ventures do not yet meet the risk profile of the existing investor community a low cost route to obtaining the resources they need (skills, access to assets, products, services and capital) to progress."

Break out room added at the venue!

We have added a breakout room to the venue to allow for a more private meeting area for our delegates. Please make sure we have your name, and company details so that we can prepare your name badges for the event.

We also have now been listed on the ENN Blog, Sean McGraths blog and a host of other links thank you for that.

New speaker Announced

We are thrilled to announce a new speaker for the Event. Senake Atureliya will be talking about microfinance for the startup. There will be more to come on this in the next day or so.

So we now have an extremily crammed day of speakers and entrepreneurs.

Thank you again for all the speakers giving there valuable time to this event.

What a day the 26th June will be!

Can you believe there are 3 Tech events in Dublin on the same day,

Silicon Ireland

Opencoffee Dublin

TechLudd
If I were a gambling man and I am not, I would say that the odds of that happening again is unlikely. So here is how I see it panning out if you want to visit all three.

Head over to OpenCoffee Dublin first meet and greet, and when finished head to the day event at the City North Hotel, hear our guest speakers and network with VC's, entrepreneurs and service providers.

Finally head over to the TechLudd event in the evening for drinks and chat with Mike Butcher from TechCrunch UK.

A perfect 'Techies' day out!!

We wish all the events well, and hope we will see even more of you at the Silicon Ireland event.

Vator.tv pitch booth - Confirmed at the event

It's official we will have a Vator.tv booth at the event. For all you budding entreprenuers who want to record your elevator pitch direct to Silicon Valley.

http://www.vator.tv

Only 10 Days till the event.

only 11 days till the Silicon Ireland Event in Dublin on 26th June 2008. Tickets are still available due to increased capactity at the event. We thank all the corporate sponsors and partners for making this event happen.

Please visit our new 'Partner' Vator.tv, to upload your pitches for the event. We will also have this ability at the event itself.

We will finalise information on the 'selected four pitches' this week, and make them public.

We look forward to seeing you at the event.

Greg

Startups Awards 2008

Click here

These awards are based in the UK, but are now accepting applications for the awards this year. We have added a link above. Good luck

The real difference between Europe and the Valley

We saw this post on Segala Blog and we thought it made for interesting reading.

http://segala.com/blog/the-real-difference-between-europe-and-the-valley/

CrunchLudd Event -Tickets available

Here is the link to get tickets to the evening based CruchLudd event in Dublin, run in association with TechCrunch UK&Ireland. If you want to go click on the link below. There will be plenty of time to get to the event as we should be rapped up sometime after 5pm.

Click Here


Greg

Silicon Ireland Events announces linkup with Vator.tv

Silicon Ireland Events are pleased to announce that we are now working with Vator.tv to bring video pitches to Silicon Valley. 'This is a unique opportunity for Irish entreprenuers to bring their pitches direct to Silicon Valley. Vator.tv, is at the forefront of video pitches and the idea that they are in Silicon Valley so our entreprenuers don't have to be is just fantastic', said Greg Watkins from Silicon Ireland Events.

Vator.tv- Were in the Silicon Valley so you don't have to be!

What is Vator.tv?
Vator.tv is a social network of companies which allows entrepreneurs to gain access to investors, find partners, and get discovered by the media.


Get your virtual presence in the Silicon Valley?
With Vator.tv you can:
-connect with investors to fund your business
-upload all document types to your company profile playlist for people to view (Excel, Power Point, Word, etc.)
-control the privacy settings of your profile to only allow certain people to see certain things
-build a company network of people who can help you grow your business
-share your startup company with people anywhere on the web (Facebook, Linkedin, Hi5 etc.)
-find partners, or vendors
-break news about your company in the vator.tv newsroom

So if you have your video pitch ready, why not click on the link above the Menu and upload your pitch.

Vator.tv, will have signup kiosks at the event for people to sign up at the event.

New corporate Sponsor - Elanet Solutions

We would like to announce another Corporate sponsor, called Elanet. Juan J Arroyo,Company Director of Elanet Solutions said, ' we are pleased to be apart of the Silicon Ireland event in Dublin, we believe that supporting the startup tech industry is very important and we look forward to a successful event.'

Elanet Solutions: www.elanetsolutions.com (Web Hosting {that includes Shared Hosting, Reseller Hosting and Dedicated Servers}, Web Design & Development, Business Phone Line, Business Total Broadband and Domain Registration services)

How to Easily Evaluate your Startup Idea

From the GobigNetwork.com founder

After you listen to about a hundred startup company pitches you start to notice that they all sink or swim on just a few basic points. Given enough time, you don’t even need to know what the product is. Instead you just start asking whether or not the entrepreneur has the right answer to a handful of questions that validate just about any startup idea.

This isn’t about having a sixth sense about the success or failure of a potential business idea. No one has that, not even the investors sitting across from you pretending like they do. This is about boiling your startup idea down to the few principles that make all the difference in the world. So here they are, in order of importance.

The Problem / Solution Issue

Every great business idea comes down to a solution to a problem. As entrepreneurial visionaries, we sometimes get enamored with our solution at the expense of having a real problem to solve. If you’ve ever wondered what a solution looks like without a problem, just take a look at anything being sold in a Sharper Image catalogue.

The value of a good product idea is proportionate to the size of the problem it solves. For example, if I tell you I have the cure to cancer I don’t even have to tell you what the product is. You inherently know what a massive problem cancer is, so certainly any solution I have must be somewhat interesting.

When you can communicate the severity of the problem to investors, and they nod their head and say “yeah, that’s a huge problem, I get it” then you’ve got an interesting business idea.

When you can communicate that same problem and back up it up with a solution that consumers respond to with “here’s my check” then you’ve actually got a business!

The Sales and Marketing Strategy

Although you may have the solution/problem thing licked, it means nothing without knowing how to bring a customer in the door. Anyone telling you that a product will sell itself should try walking into a grocery store after it’s closed. I guarantee when you don’t bring people through the door, the products don’t sell themselves!

That’s why a powerful sales and marketing plan can be even more critical to your business than an initial revenue model. Don’t get me wrong, you can’t sustain your business forever without revenue. But I’m 100% sure that without any customers you’ll never have to worry about your revenue model.

You don’t have to have a ten year plan for every type of media you will buy and sales pitch you will perform. You just need to have a basic explanation for how you can cost effectively find customers over the next year or two. Your plan might stink, but not having one is a huge red flag.

Revenue Model

There are many conflicting schools of thought on what it means to have a revenue model for your business. Some people will say that with enough customers you can eventually make the numbers work. Others will say that if you grow quickly enough you can get acquired long before you ever have to worry about making money.

Both schools are rarely right, and the exceptions only prove that there are exceptions. “We’re going to sell to Google” isn’t a revenue model any more than “I’m going to win the Powerball Lottery” is a full-time career move.

Your revenue model should be simple – someone is willing to pay for what you offer. Whether they pay for it indirectly through advertising or directly through a purchase, there has to be a sustainable and readily identifiable revenue model.

More importantly, it has to be a profit model. I can sell dollar bills for 99 cents and generate tons of revenue, but will certainly guarantee that the company will go bankrupt. The only companies allowed to exist without a profit model are charities and major airlines.

If you Figure all that out, Let’s Take a Look at the Product

The last order of business, which may sound bizarre, is the Product Plan itself. That’s because if the product doesn’t solve a customer’s problem that you can make money on, it just doesn’t matter what the product is.

In many cases you can test the market for your product against the three previous points by simply doing some basic research. Long before you actually build a product, you can ask customers if they’d buy it. You can start to figure out how difficult and costly it might be to acquire more of them. You can also get a sense for what you could sell your product for and get a basic understanding of whether you could do it profitably.

When you’ve got answers to all of these questions, then, and only then, it’s time to go build a company. Until, then, keeping asking questions.

Wil Schroter is the Founder and CEO of the Go BIG Network, the largest network of startup companies and entrepreneurs at www.goBIGnetwork.com. He is also the author of the new book “Go BIG or Go HOME”.

New expert for the pitch panel.

We have just had confirmation that Brendan Russell, DBIC consultant will be attending as a 'Pitch Panel expert', for the live pitches on June 26th.

We thank him for his attendance and time.

15 days to Silicon Ireland Event

Well its only 15 days till the event. There are still lots of things to attend to. We would ask readers to help promote this event as much as you can. We want to make the first event a real smash. We are going to be promoting the partners in the upcoming 'PR' offensive. So watch out for news in your local media.

Silicon Valley in Ireland

Tech crunch covered this story in April 2008. An interesting link and read.

Read here

Silcon Ireland Event Update.

Well everyone this has been an amazing few weeks, we have been so pleased with the response of the entreprenuer community as well as the level of support we have received. We are only 3 weeks away from the event now, and the

Our Entreprenuer tickets are all SOLD OUT at the reduced rate. We have now listed a renewed selection of tickets which are now live on the site. We also have opened a selection of FREE tickets for pre-registration for our August event in Belfast.

We are thrilled with the speakers who have agreed to speak at the event.

Lee Munroe and Paddy Donnelly from The Big Word Project -

Joe Molloy from ITForce.ie

Sean McGrath - Tech Guru - Fancy a web 2.0 startup? He has 5 ideas

Adam Feinsilver - US Tech Lawyer - Talking about the US and what businesses need to look out for if they venture across the pond to look for partnerships or funding.

C.Malone from Shrubfunds - He will explaining about his site, and about the launch at the event.

Niall Harbison / Sean Fee - from iFoods.tv - an Irish social startup for food lovers.

We have some very exciting news to announce next week.



Finally, we will have 4 startups pitching their business ideas to the assembled delegates and the pitch panel.

Funding a small business from Microsoft

New poll added for attendee's

We are keen to make sure the event is a success for the people attending it. We have just posted a poll to get some feedback from you, what kind of people you want to meet at the Silicon Ireland event on June 26th 2008. So please do take part and we will endeavour to make sure that the needs of the delegates are met.

New Corporate Sponsor sold via ebay

We listed the chance for a small tech enterprise to sponsor our event in Dublin by listing the Event on Ebay. The auction finished yesterday and we are pleased to announce that we have another corporate sponsor for the Silicon Ireland Dublin day.

This is part of our mission to provide access to enterprise across Ireland the chance to get noticed and use the easiest methods to reach them. We will be announcing the sponsor in the coming days, thank you again to all who visited the ebay listing and thank you to all the bidders.

'The Pitch Panel', is assembled!

Thank you firstly to all the people taking part in this panel.

Our pitch panel experts are:

Niall Harbison / Sean Fee - from iFoods.tv ( startup based in Dublin)

C.Malone - from shrubfunds.com (Seed fund startup based in Ireland)

Lee Monroe - from Thebigwordproject.com (startup based in Belfast)

This panel will listen to the pitches with the delegates and then vote to select the company who 'pitched' the best. The winner will recieve 2000 Euro seed fund investment & a spot at the next Silicon Ireland event in August.

Define the Pitch - a perfect breakdown for our entreprenuers!

The Art of the Elevator Pitch

By Robert Pagliarini of SeekingCapital.com

What is an "Elevator Pitch"?

An "Elevator Pitch" is a concise, carefully planned, and well-practiced description about your company that your mother should be able to understand in the time it would take to ride up an elevator.

Six questions your "Elevator Pitch" must answer:

1. What is your product or service?
   Briefly describe what it is you sell. Do not go into excruciating detail.
   
2. Who is your market?
   Briefly discuss who you are selling the product or service to. What industry is it? How large of a market do they represent?
   
3. What is your revenue model?
   More simply, how do you expect to make money?
   
4. Who is behind the company?
   "Bet on the jockey, not the horse" is a familiar saying among Investors. Tell them a little about you and your team's background and achievements. If you have a strong advisory board, tell them who they are and what they have accomplished.
   
5. Who is your competition?
   Don't have any? Think again. Briefly discuss who they are and what they have accomplished. Successful competition is an advantage-they are proof your business model and/or concept work.
   
6. What is your competitive advantage?
   Simply being in an industry with successful competitors is not enough. You need to effectively communicate how your company is different and why you have an advantage over the competition. A better distribution channel? Key partners? Proprietary technology?

What your "Elevator Pitch" must contain:

1. A "hook"
   Open your pitch by getting the Investor's attention with a "hook." A statement or question that piques their interest to want to hear more.
   
2. About 150-225 words
   Your pitch should go no longer than 60 seconds.
   
3. Passion
   Investors expect energy and dedication from entrepreneurs.
   
4. A request
   At the end of your pitch, you must ask for something. Do you want their business card, to schedule a full presentation, to ask for a referral?

See more

1 More Speaker to announce.

Adam Feinsilver is a US Attorney, specialising in tech law.
(Some info below:-) His blog here

Adam S. Feinsilver, Attorney at Law, leads the path in technology law. Mr. Feinsilver is an attorney and entrepreneur who has been involved in the development of tech practices at several large and small Florida-based law firms.

Tapping into an extensive technical background in computer technologies (virtually unheard of among law firms), from audio to video production, DOS to Windows, and MacOS, our firm assists businesses and individuals with Cyberlaw issues such as: Software Licensing; Domain Name Disputes; Outsourcing; Software Development Agreements, MLAs, SLAs, Purchase and Vendor Agreements; Co-location Agreements, Non-disclosures (NDAs, and Non-compete agreements (NCAs). Business contracts might not sound like fun to you, but they are to us! The firm also takes on intellectual property matters involving copyright, trademark, tradename, and servicemark registration as well as intellectual property licensing.

He will be passing on his knowledge to startups, who often look to the USA for VC Funding of their ideas.

New event for Silicon Ireland Aug 2008

We are announcing now our Web 1 Vs Web 2 event for August 2008. We will offer a special rate for tickets for June 2008. It will have speakers from Web 1.0 and Web 2.0 currently developing new social products.

Business pitches close on the 23rd June 2008

All you business startups. Thank you firstly those you have put in their proposed business ideas already. For all you thinking of doing so there is only 3 weeks left. the results will be posted on the site on evening 23rd.