Clunky Flow

Note: This Wordpress blog has been giving me all manner of gyp these days. Below is a copy of a post that I lost and subsequently rescued from Google’s cache. Thanks to Paul  Browne at FirstPartners.net for that level-headed tip. The comments were rescued from my mail and are now located after the jump.

That’s the message in Paul Graham’s latest post. The less provocatively titled “Why to move to a startup hub�

Do the Irish startups out there agree or reluctantly agree? Ooops. I mean do they disagree or virulently disagree?

But like a good blog should it raises more questions than it answers. In an Irish context

• What would a simple poll on one of our more trafficked Irish blogs reveal?

• Do people think Paul’s opinion is skewed by bias or insight or both?

• Can any Irish Startup planning to stay in Ireland could actually be sure they are not just codding themselves?

I mean, it’s got to niggle away at you in the back of your mind, right?

Weren’t we all astounded to listen in to that interview with the Collison brothers in Open Coffee Limerick ( 2 very young brothers from Limerick making the kind of splash in SV that you have to admit would have been much less likely here ).

Comment from Fintan Palmer:

It depends on what you think the thrust of Paul Graham’s articles were.  The basic message I took from them were that if you’re looking for funding the VCs in SV are more aggressive and willing to take a risk.

In my (albeit limited experience) I would say that the described conservatism of Boston VCs is multiplied tenfold here. Seems the further you get from California the less likely they are to take a risk and will only give you money if you don’t need it.  And it’s not just VCs either (who you generally need a referral to get in front of anyway).

The Collison brothers are perfect examples of this.  From what I understand they couldn’t get money from anyone here, including EI, and couldn’t get taken seriously because of their age and lack of a corporate background.  YCombinator jumped on them and encouraged them to make the move. The message seems to be that if you’re looking for funding here you either need to know someone with a pile of money, have a background that gives you “credibility” or are prepared to move somewhere where they’ll look at what you’re doing and take a risk.

Comment from mj
Moving to SV and getting funding are perfect if you want to do nothing but work on the idea and get it out there. Maybe I’m alone in this but I invest a lot into my work and I’m possessive about it as well.

Even with VC money, it just means oversight. You’re not better off, you just have enough money to work full time for a few months depending on whether you chew your way through VC money doing stupid PR stunts.

For every Facebook, there’s a hundred other VC-backed social networking ideas which fail to make a big impact. The barrier to entry for software is now so low that I wonder why we have VCs involved at all. Hosting is cheap and scalable. The tools are free, the hardware dirt cheap.

California not only attracts entrepreneurs looking for VC deals but also more opportunistic VCs who expect to find Google, Facebook, eBay just lying, waiting to be signed.

The difference between a remora and sharkbait depends on the mood of the shark.

and

Eh, no. We have talented people here in Ireland and there’s plenty of opportunity for remote working so geography isn’t important.

Look at 37signals as an example.

Comment from Joe Drumgoole

Is there anything about the industry that you can’t pick up off the net? Or talent that isn’t online?

Success is not success unless its on your own terms. For me, that means being successful in Ireland. My goals are twofold 1) Create a successful startup based in Ireland 2) contribute to Ireland plc. becoming a recognised startup hub.

Neither of those goals are served by moving to SV.

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