Our second last OpenCoffee was in Luigi Malone’s where Pat Phelan, from Cubic Telecom, demoed TwitterFone to us all. We were all sworn to secrecy until the official launch which happened last night. The response, as we all predicted, has been overwhelming.
Apart from the fact that it’s a fabulous service, there are some strong lessons to be learned from the TwitterFone development.
Do it, do it, do it do it. Don’t talk about it, just do it! Pat has had such amazing successes because he executes brilliantly
Partner with like-minded companies. If your offering is going to be stronger combined with someone else’s, then don’t be afraid of working closely with them.
Use your networks to find people who can help you build your vision and get it launched more quickly
If you are a service provider, focus on mutual value not price. Even at the simplest level, think of the free publicity you’ll get with the launch of something you helped build.
Demo and solicit feedback as early as possible. Keep the vision but stay open to suggestions of your peers.
I know of two OCC regulars who have kicked into high-gear on their app development as a result of Pat’s Demo and advice in Luigi’s. I hope we see even more.
The guys from Tapasol have built some very interesting bare-metal provisioning and deployment software. I remember looking into this area in EMC a few years back and being disappointed by what was out there.
It’s great to see a local company doing something in this space, particularly one that came about due to the Motorola closure. The guys also recently won an award in this years Genesis Programme.
On Friday the 23rd they will talk about the challenges of deploying software on Unix servers and give a demonstration of their automated solution to build a Unix server from bare metal with a single command.
The next demo slot on May 9th will have Phoebe Bright presenting her To-Do application. I’ve seen an earlier incarnation of this in action and I think it is very competitive to what’s out there and has some unique features. In Phoebe’s own words:
Another To Do List Application
This has been my pet project for two years, but stimulated by a conversation at Open Coffee a few weeks ago, I am heading off in a new direction with it and I’d love to get some feedback. The requirements for this to do list are:
Differentiate between important and urgent
Allow addition of comments and emails
Store online but accessible by email
Use of free format keywords
Only show me a limited number of items at a time (otherwise I get depressed)
Offer me an incentive for getting things done.
It was this last one that got me thinking and the new interface involves piles, desks (clean and normal), boxes, housekeepers and rummaging in the archives!
Three of the Irish OpenCoffees are on at the same time tomorrow (Limerick, Waterford and Dublin). They are doing some live video hookups along with live blogging/tweeting/jaikuing. Sounds like it’ll be a lot of fun!
Marie Boran from Silicon Republic has always taken a strong interest in Irish start-up activity. I remember she was the first to get in contact when Paddy’s Valley was announced.
She has written a very nice piece in today’s Silicon Republic (not sure if it’ll be syndicated to Irish Independent or not) about OpenCoffee in Ireland.
I’m chuffed to see that Haydn Shaughnessy mentions Cork OpenCoffee in his piece in the Innovation Magazine of today’s Irish Times. The point of the article is:
If companies want to be innovative in their field, not only do they need to rethink how they do business, but they also have to be willing to step out of their comfort zone
He includes two quotes from me on OpenCoffee which I think are true for many of those who attend.
I was attracted to the OCC idea by what I saw as a lack of any real opportunities for all of us in the local start-up ecosystem to network regularly: entrepreneurs, techies, finance people. The ‘regular’ aspect was critical as was the free-form relaxed approach.
and
If nothing else, my own professional and personal networks have been hugely improved through OCC and I think the same is true for all the regulars
Friday’s fantastic turnout is testament to this. We had 19 people in Luigi Malone’s and the buzz was just infectious. I got some very positive feedback from the new faces and I hope we can keep this level of energy going.
And only another two days before we can talk about the very very cool demo that we saw!
Just a quick reminder that OpenCoffee is tomorrow at 10am in Luigi Malone’s on Emmet Place.
We’ve just heard from Pat Phelan of Cubic Telecom that he’ll be doing a demo. Given how busy they have been this week, I’ve a feeling this is one not to miss!
Also, since this batch of the Genesis programme is coming to a close, it’d be great to hear from those who took part in it and hear what they gained from it.
If you are new to OCC, just look for the people with laptops, Nokia N95s, iPhones and Asus EeePCs
What started as a discussion about having an OpenCoffee in the Midlands the other day quickly turned into a proposal for an OpenBBQ in Terryglass on Lough Derg this summer.
Think business networking, free Wifi, top class BBQ and fun.
Evert has all the details so far. Please drop him a line if you think you might go. He’s thinking June/July mid-week. If there is enough interest from Cork OpenCoffee we could consider hiring a mini-bus?
This is my second time to write this post as the first one got deleted accidentally. We had a particularly good OCC meet-up last Friday in the Rubicon with four new faces. The round table introductions caused so many spin-off conversations that we ended up not doing anything else!
A welcome then to:
Bob Gee of Connect Promotions who seemed delighted by the response of us all to his business (promotional items or schwag as we geeks call it). Bob also had many thoughts to offer on the conversations around advertising and marketing.
Paul Harrington who is setting up a webapps business and is looking to build his professional network in Cork. Paul has long experience in both web technologies and the mobile industry
Jason Coghlan from Cubit Software who specialises in EPOS systems and retail management software
John Mallon from Argent Productions who is heavily involved in professional-level video production for narrowcasting and digital brochures.
We spent quite a bit of time talking about bluetooth marketing, outdoor advertising and mobile information push with Diarmuid Wrenne. I was delighted then to hear that Lukulu has been short-listed for the Eircom Innovation Fund. Well done Diarmuid, we can’t wait to see what you build and launch with them.
The Eircom fund is the first real attempt to do something here like Y Combinator in the US or SeedCamp in the UK. The recent success of the Collison brothers proves just how powerful that model is.
There appears to be widespread use of VOIP technologies by OpenCoffee attendees. I was genuinely surprised how many people are using it. A technology whose time has come?
The next OCC is in Luigi Malone’s in Cork City on April 11th.
