Paul Walsh, the Irish Opportunist

Paul, perhaps the EI people you met did not really understand the retail aspect of the web. EI’s emphasis has always been on job creation and that has, historically, been large industry and employers. The nature of the web is such that it is possible to form a global player with a very small team. The web is the ultimate force multiplier. The elegance of the web’s retail model, allowing you to do more with significantly less.

As regards the Paddy’s Valley thing, I’d prefer to see a balanced report with commentary and explanations from both sides.

“… but Paul, I can’t possibly see how companies can make money from the Internet without having loads of sales people knocking on doors. How can you expect to make money from advertising or using partners?”

It goes from bad to worse..
If they didn’t understand the “web” why were they employed as “advisors” to investigate a web company?
EI have just lost all of their credibility.
Youtube had a tiny amount of revenue yet sold for $1.6 billion. Skype had a small amount of revenue but sold for billions as well.
Don’t they understand that those companies were bought as they had tons of users which the buyers were than able to monetize and introduce to their other products and services..

John, I’m about to be given my third Development Advisor as they change regularly. My DA’s boss is also changing. Don’t you think that the only EI people I should be meeting are those that get the Web? We are, after all, a Web based company.

I don’t care what EI was historically, that’s the past. In fact, you’re making my point for me. They’re unable to move with the times.

Regarding Paddy’s Valley… I believe what I hear from Damien. EI also have historically acted in this manner.

BTW, at least 3 Marketing Advisors from 3 different states in the US advised me that Dublin didn’t have a clue. They even said I should startup a new company on the West Coast - that’s beyond ridiculous.

@D - most of them at EI just ‘don’t get it’. I’ve told them this to their face. I actually did ask that particular advisor to leave my office.

Paul, it is a problem if EI sends people who have no comprehension of the power and opportunites of the web. I think that EI got burnt in the dot.bomb era and some of its investments crashed and burned. This might have made it somewhat cautious. However the web has moved on considerably since that period.

Sometimes, you’ve got to ignore what people tell you and do what you know is right. Advice can be useful but the final decision is not that of the advisor.

I’d still like to see EI’s comments on the Paddy’s Valley trip. The Tribune article seemed to be somewhat sensationalist.

EI has been more geared towards the mega industries with loads of potential jobs. The web has inverted the model and created thousands of micro businesses each capable of using the web as an advertising and delivery channel. The conventional models of sales to which these people would be used to don’t apply especially when it comes to the web’s ability to deliver software directly to the purchaser. But EI is irrelevant to the majority of these micro businesses. And so EI has to concentrate on the big wins while also trying to encourage high potential startups (the micro businesses with the potential to become serious players).

@John “EI got burnt in the dot.bomb era and some of its investments crashed and burned”

You are joking right? I haven’t heard anyone say that in a very long time and it certainly wasn’t from anyone in the know. As you say, the Web has moved on but more importantly the entire ecosystem is entirely different.

I wasn’t looking for advice from EI - I’d have to go to someone at VeriSign to get that. EI employed these ejits to help EI evaluate our business.

I don’t know why you continue to stick up for EI by telling me what I already know about the Web and business models based on it. I was one of the first employed by AOL as a startup during the mid 90’s. Give me clear examples of what EI has done for Web based companies and the ecosystem in general for such companies.

@John, you’ll have to forgive me but I’m really fed up with people justifying EI’s existence without addressing the problem that I’m highlighting. I don’t care what it does for anything outside of Web - I’m only concerned about Web based companies for the sake of this conversation.

Paul, I am not justifying EI’s existence. I was merely explaining it (not necessarily accurately). If I recall correctly, EI was an investor in some of the high profile failures of the Irish dot.bomb era. Some of the people reading your blog might not be familiar with the history of Irish web businesses as yourself.

There should be a dedicated state agency for promoting Irish web businesses and it should be staffed by people who have a clue. EI’s EEP programme and targeting of HSPs seems to be a step in the right direction but the majority of web businesses are not in that particular net. The sad fact is that for the majority of Irish web businesses, EI is irrelevant. And for the government’s aspirations of a knowledge based economy - that is a fatal flaw.

@John, I’m sure everyone knows of someone who lost money during the dot com. It’s so old that it doesn’t even come up in conversation in the UK.

So it would appear that you agree with me

Paul, you might say that. I couldn’t possibly comment.
The UK is a far more vibrant market than Ireland. Development in Ireland was very Dublin-centric until recently.

John

Sorry if I’m being thick, but I’ve never been great with acronyms. What’s EI’s EEP thing??

Michele

The Enterprise Employment Platform Programme Michele,
It is meant to convert techies into businesspeople. The one for the South East is http://www.seepp.ie and it has a fairly good record. There are others around the country.

John, any detail on that record?

There are many web based businesses in Ireland which would not exist if it were not for EI support. Can they improve? sure they can but they are not as bad as you paint them.

EI have to move with the times but then so do Irish entrepreneurs - we need to lose our dependency culture where we seem to expect EI to fund/support what the VC’s reject.
EI likes to back winners and so the best way of securing their support is by first selling your product to customers and/or VC’s.
They are not in the business of creating billionaires ala youtube or skype - neither of which relied on state hand outs to build their business.

I don’t think I’ve ever heard any US entrepreneur complaining/blogging about State/Federal support for start ups. It’s not even on their radar screen but it seems to pre-occupy us on this side of the pond.

I suspect the PV crew might be picking up the message - on yer bike and sell your business/product and EI is just one of those sales.

Well we’ve never got ANY funding from EI or anyone else and we’re doing fine.

Michele, I rest my case!
Others though will require external funding to replicate your success, and hopefully EI and others will help them here.
Success will be dependent on their ability to sell as this negates any lack of understanding on the funders side.

Comical State-Funded Degenerates best describes these clowns.

By the sounds of it they are having a hard time differentiating between ‘ebusiness’ & ‘ecommerce’.
The latter of which I would believe they tend to favour as it best serves their own interests.

[...] the same brush, then stay away, starting now. What am I on about? It seems that article from the Tribune that quoted my thoughts on EI has gotten some attention that others surrounding the Paddy’s Valley tour wish to distance [...]

I once got in contact with EI on behalf of a number of IT companies based in China with a view to constructing partnerships with Software companies in Ireland. The entire meet and greet was shot down by Enterprise Ireland. They ended up taking flights to London and made significant contacts in the IT industry there. Never again will I refer business through that no-good piece of crap agency.

@Liam - your points are obvious. Naturally companies shouldn’t rely on the likes of EI. That said, they’re there to help companies!

So what if some companies have done well out of EI - I’m fed up hearing that line. Obviously some companies will do well out of them - that’s mainly because they know ‘who’ to talk to and ‘how’ to talk to them!

@Jonathan - I wouldn’t be surprised if EI told everyone that they arranged it. They love to put their name stuff and then add little to no value.

Yo Paul, I personally never tire of hearing about companies doing well out of EI. Always good to hear good news and I use that info to refine my own pitch for support. If I fail to secure that support, I blame myself. They failed to understand because I failed to sell.
You hit the nail on the head as you have to “know ‘who’ to talk to and ‘how’ to talk to them”. Self critical appriasal of your sales pitch is productive. Lashing out in frustration at EI is not, even if it does make for good blog copy.

@Liam, let’s beg to differ because your making some obvious statements which don’t hold up the argument about “EI”.

EI just helped fund my internet business, however it is based on sales … perhaps I’m not a good example!

@Kelly - Segala now has a DA with his head screwed on. So it’s looking good so far.

That said, I’d like EI to improve across the board and not be reliant on one person. Only companies with a decent DA benefit. They have agreed for me to host a meeting with some irish opportunists to see where they can improve. I should probably arrange for this to happen sooner rather than latter.