Paul Walsh, the Irish Opportunist

Well said, Paul. I’m with you there. But I’m starting to strongly believe all awards are bullshit: http://www.eoghanmccabe.com/naive-by-design/do-not-try-to-win-awards/

Normally I’d have the same issue as you with such an award but in this case I’ve seen the app and I think it is very very smart.

It is “semi-stealth” since a lot of people have logins for it but the Ammado guys have asked for more time before we all write in detail about it. The core is solid but there are still a lot of rough edges.

In essence it is a social network which brings together charities/non-profits with people. Think of Facebook but without the stripper names.

I’d prefer if they won “best new app” rather than “best new business” since the business is unproven. In fact it is not clear if there is a business model or if Peter Conlon is treating this as a philantropic exercise and using his ample personal funds to bankroll it.

@conor - You’re making my point. *You* have seen the *app* - how on earth does that qualify any ‘company’ to enter an award, let alone ‘best new company’?

I know what ‘you’ mean by ’semi-stealth’ - my comment wasn’t targeted at you. It was pointed at the awards for considering a company that falls into such a sill category.

The fact you can’t even write about it means it doesn’t yet have it’s proposition in place. Again, how can they qualify for the award.

How the hell can they win best new app when it’s not even launched yet?

This is bloody ridiculous because it means all the deserving companies missed out to something that may or may not even launch, let alone do anything useful.

I don’t think you should have given this the time of day. Alternatively you could have put the only comment I think makes sense “In fact it is not clear if there is a business model or if Peter Conlon is treating this as a philantropic exercise and using his ample personal funds to bankroll it.”

You were WAY TO KIND taking up expensive real estate on Blognation with this rubbish.

Let’s raise the bar to ‘normal’ awards.

I menat “new company” of course, rather than new business. But the point still holds.

Seems a bit strange all right. No matter how impressive their demo/beta is I wouldn’t give an award for best new company to something that hasn’t launched yet. Unless the award was for best new idea or something similar. I don’t think you can tell how good it is until it is tested in the open market.

Exactly Aidan. This award should be given out at a startup type gig and even then, you wouldn’t name it best new company. Scrap that comment. No application that’s in closed beta should ever be considered for any type of award.

I really hope someone at ISA read this blog post and actually takes the time to respond.

I must declare that BIMA (the association I Chair) runs awards and as such, I wouldn’t normally throw stones. So I hope people feel the frustration in my tone at the consistent crap I see coming from some Irish Awards of late. It’s embarrassing and something that should be addressed.

So by this logic GMail should not have received any awards over the past few years given that it was a closed invite-only beta?

@Conor - I hope you can come up with a better comparison than that. You obviously hold this company’s app in high regard.

But to answer your question, if *Google* was nominated for best new company, I think it might have stood a chance.

You forget that it’s the company, not the application that I’m talking about.

Paul, you said: “No application that’s in closed beta should ever be considered for any type of award.”.

I’m asking if you would include GMail in that?

@conoro not sure and giving it too much thought would detract from the point I’m trying to make with this post
So, to remind everyone… how can a company that hasn’t launched anything, win ‘new company of the year’ award? Doesn’t that just sound dumb?

Paul - obviously you’re not up to speed on the ISA.

To get an award - you need to be a member. to be a member you need more money than sense [IMHO]

besides Peter Conlon is a clever guy - and ammado will do well - and he doesnt need ISA awards - as he’s a proven entrepreneur

the coverage was to reflect that the ISA have awoken to web2.0…

you should talk to the ISA….

Doesn’t sound dumb to me.
They won “new company of the year award” (you got the title wrong both times in your post). In my mind the emphasis is on “new” and by it’s very definition, you’re looking at very young companies bringing new, yet unfinished, ideas to market. On that basis the award would be looking at potential and not market traction.
There was four other awards for established business. (Arantech won “company of the year”).
If it was a global award, Seesmic would be a contender, yet you would look to exclude them due to private beta status. I think that’s madness and very old school thinking.

Disclaimer: I did receive an Ammado invite but have no connection with the company. I think it is has a remarkable opportunity as an ebay (not facebook) service for charitable fund raising. They might think otherwise.

What Liam said.

I actually think the award to Ammado is a little silly, it should have gone to LouderVoice
But arguing over award winners is up there with arguing over Irish football team manager selections - pointless.

Good point on eBay Liam. I hadn’t thought of it like that. A market for your charity donations. Neat.

I was a bit confused when I saw them winning that award as well. I got an invite to the beta, but I’m not that impressed with its UI at all. How a company that hasn’t even got a public product or service can win an award is beyond me as well.
Drawing a parallel to Gmail doesn’t hold much water. Gmail may have been “invite only”, but just about everyone got one after the first few weeks.

That’s a good point by Fergus. I enquired about ISA membership last year. Companies from €0-€1m turnover pay the same! €2000 a year! I declined.

What advantages would 2k membership bring you??

Liam - providing extreme examples to demonstrate a point never works in my opinion. It only prolongs the debate with the same points being made. A new company can be a year old and have sold a few things, or gained a few members. Something.

WHERE is the entry criterion which is used to help companies understand if they can apply? I’m no closer to understanding ‘why’ the award was given.

There must be ‘some’ traction to demonstrate why a company should win an award. What other reason is there to given an award? It doesn’t say ‘potential’ anywhere. If it’s not going to be revenue based, then it must be members, users, pr… something that reflects the new breed of Internet company.

Just because ‘you’ know what the company can do, your opinion is not that of the industry. It doesn’t mean it should win an award. If it said on the tin ‘hey this award was given by a few mates whilst smoking a few cigars’, I wouldn’t have a problem. It’s not about what the people around the winner’s dinner table think, or the private commentators/bloggers who have received an invite.

Conor – I’m not really arguing over award ‘winners’. I’m questioning the authenticity of the award itself.

Fergus - what has the award got to do with the person? It’s supposed to be nominated to a company. I think you’ve just answered what has gone wrong!

The person is not up for the award and just because they have a proven track record, it doesn’t mean their company should automatically win awards based on their potential. Your first two paragraphs actually prove my point… the person is known to the ISA, they have plenty of money and “to be a member you need more money than sense”. That doesn’t paint a very independent picture to me.

So, this means that new companies, who typically don’t have a lot of money to fork out on membership fees, are excluded from entering. Sounds like a private gentlemen’s club.

This doesn’t in any way, demonstrate that the ISA has awoken to Web 2.0. If it does, I feel sorry for Web 2.0 in Ireland because it would appear that the industry is being given a false sense of security with regards to what it means to have a (potentially) successful company. To the outside world, it would appear that you only need to have a registration page to win an award in Ireland.

I’m sure we won’t hear from many new companies on this blog in fear of them being coined as ‘jealous’, but on this instance, I’d love to hear more about the type of companies that deserved this award.

It’s a crying shame that the two blogs that represent Web 2.0 in Ireland to the outside world, see this as a good thing. You need to think bigger than ‘private beta’ and this wasn’t a Web 2.0 award. That doesn’t cut it.

What extreme examples?
I have no idea on entry “criterion”, but if I was going to post a blog rant, I would have first done some research on what they were.
What has the award got to do with the person? Everything, a company without its people is nothing.

The Irish Software Association did not represent these awards as web 2.0 or Internet awards.
Only you did this.
“Just because ‘you’ know what the company can do, your opinion is not that of the industry”
Is yours?

Conor - the EXTREMELY high membership fee only adds weight to my post. Companies like LouderVoice wouldn’t and shouldn’t pay such massive fees for membership of an industry association. Yet, it may qualify and win best new company of the year. Moreover, the awards should not be restricted to members only, that’s almost buying an entry ticket to awards.

It’s a shambles because most people will naturally assume that these companies have won an ‘industry’ award, not a private members’ club award that’s only open to the wealthy.

Liam - you talked about ‘established companies’, which clearly doesn’t come into the debate.

“What has the award got to do with the person? Everything, a company without its people is nothing.”

Obviously I completely agree. BUT the award is for best new company, not best new (worse again, established) entrepreneur.

I did not mention Web 2.0 in my post. Read the comments again and you’ll find that I was merely addressing Fergus’ point - who almost represents http://web2ireland.org