Paul Walsh, the Irish Opportunist

http://designerzone.com/ is probably my first failure (I no longer own the domain).

In 1996 whilst at AOL, one of my fondest memories was learning how to build Web sites so I could teach the trainer, who could then teach the technicians.

Friends at the time, laughed at my idea of building a site about the town I come from. They all thought it should have been based on sport. I provided information and pictures of beaches, restaurants, hotels and the usual tourist attractions. With the exception of Yahoo! (indexed by humans), my site was placed in the top five results on just about every search engine. I guess it was easy back then as there wasn’t much to compete with. I remember saying I could charge the hotels and restaurants for advertising, to which my friends laughed and said ‘yeah as if that will ever take off’.

I used the domain http://aol.wexfordirl.com because aol.wexford.com was taken. The site attracted a lot of visitors from the US, many of whom asked if I could make travel arrangements or recommend where to go and what to do. Some asked if I could help track down their families. Perhaps that was yet another missed opportunity. Anyway, the whole idea got me thinking and I eventually decided that I wanted to sell designer clothes for men online. Why? Well, because I used to buy from sites that I felt were crap compared to mine and given how easy it was to appear at the top of every search engine, I figured I was in with a chance.

I conducted market research and continued to study how search engines worked over a six month period. I knew what men wanted, where they came from and the sizes that would sell. I had tens of thousands of email addresses belonging to people who signed up to the research and I had the International Sales and International Marketing Managers at AOL US on board. It was all good to go in late 1996 when there were very few Web sites selling designer clothes. That said, all but designerzone.com was taken, so I bought that. However, when the girl who was going to handle the buying fell ill, I decided to dump the entire idea. I put it down to inexperience. Why didn’t I just get someone else to do it? Ah well.

Come to think of it, I wrote an ebook entitled ‘how to setup an online shop within 24 hours’, based on my research and review of all the products available at the time. Again, I never bothered to publish/sell it. I’m confident that I could have sold a few copies too because there was so little information about ecommerce on the Web. I don’t think the word was even used back then.

So, advertising and selling designer clothes were the two real missed opportunities. Anyone can come up with an idea though. Only those who execute their ideas should be praised. Am I sorry? Absolutely not. We are the sum total of all our experiences and I wouldn’t have ended up with Segala had I gone down a different route.

I’ve had other failures including a marketing agency, which were much further down the road with the employment of staff and rented offices etc. I thought I’d focus on my AOL days because of the recent attention it has been given since the purchase of Bebo.

What mistakes or missed opportunities can you talk about?

Every month, Robert Loch and I host an event called Top Cats. The goal of the event is to forge stronger ties and greater collaboration between the internet start up, mobile, interactive marketing, TV and advertising communities.

There are no formalities apart from my introduction to the evening and we don’t have speakers. It’s an informal gathering of likeminded people, many of whom end up collaborating on very interesting projects.

Who qualifies to be a Top Cat

• Established Agencies = Founder/CEO/Chair
• Technology Providers & Brands (big companies such as Microsoft and the BBC) = Director/Head or other senior decision maker
• Startups = Founder/CEO/Chair + secured VC funding or have a seriously good track record
• Other = Publishers, Editors, Authors, TV Personalities, Establish Journalists, you get the picture.

I’m going to have a chit chat with a few people tonight and stream it live via my mobile. Keep an eye on my Qik account and feel free to comment and ask questions in the live chat room. It might be better to subscribe to my Twitter feed so you get a text message each time I stream live.

So, another Top Cats event is upon us. Check out the names of those who have said they can make it this month.

Who’s coming tonight

• Alex Hoye, Chair, Faction/Buildersite
• Alexis d’Amecourt, 19 Entertainment
• Andrew Shorten, EMEA Platform Evangelist, Adobe
• Andy Co Founder, Agency Mobile
• Andy Finney, Founder, ATSF
• Andy MacLaren, Co-founder, Agency Mobile
• Angela Kirkham, Publishing Manager, Online Marketing, O2
• Armando Ruffi, Co-founder, Zubka
• Ben Johnson, Principal, Both Vitruvian Partners
• Brian Hoadley, Managing Director , phunQube
• Caspar Craven, Co-founder, Trovus
• Catherine Toole, MD, Sticky Content
• Cathy Grimes, Marketing Manager Personal Solutions, Equifax
• Charles Astwood, Founder, London Eating
• Chris Wood, CEO, Top Table
• Craig Hill, Founder / Chairman, Digital Outlook
• Dan Morris, Managing Partner, Splendid
• Daniel Appelquist, Senior Technology Strategist, Vodafone Group
• David Hart, Director, Codegent Ltd
• David King, Director, APCO Online
• Dennis Greene, Head of E-business, Royal Mail
• Dr Anxo Cereijo Roibás, User Experience Research manager, Vodafone
• Edward Charvet, Co-founder, Trovus
• Elizabeth Varley, Editorial Director, Online Content UK
• Farzad Jamal, Group Internet Controller, Northern Shell
• Felix Velarde, Founder, Underwired
• Hamish Gordon,
• Irfon Watkins, CEO, Coull
• James Booth, Co-founder, Rockabox Media
• James Pimentel-Pinto, Managing Director, Agency Mobile
• Jasmine Birtles Founder/MD, Moneymagpie.com
• Jemima Kiss, New media reporter, Media Guardian
• Josephine Fraser, Social/Educational Technologist
• Julia Eilon, AMF Ventures
• Justin Bradley, Head of Digital Television, Sixth Sense UK
• Justin Champney, Head of Brand Innovation EMEA, McCann Worldgroup
• Justin Cooke, Managing Director , Fortune Cookie
• Mairi Clark, Editor , Revolution Magazine
• Mark Fallons, Head of interactive, McCann
• Mark McDermott, Director, Codegent Ltd
• Martin Lowde, 19 Entertainment
• Mike Butcher, Editor, TechCrunch
• Mike Risman, Managing Partner, Both Vitruvian Partners
• Nick Halstead, Founder, Fav.or.it
• Omaid Hizwazi, Co-founder, Crayon
• Paul Canty, Founder, Preloaded
• Paul Duncanson, Managing Director, Creativebrief
• Peter Ogden, Producer, ITV
• Richard Daish, Head of Mobile Services, Chelsea FC
• Richard Titus, Acting Head of UX&D, BBC FM&T
• Rob Corradi, Founder, Preloaded
• Rob Walk, Managing partner, NovaRising
• Robert Killick, MD, cScape
• Robin Charney, Sr. Marketing Manager - Web Platform Solutions, Adobe
• Robin Howard, Client Services Director, BT
• Satish Jayakumar, Co-founder, AdJug
• Scott Gallacher, Director of Online & Partner Marketing, BskyB
• Simon Grice, Founder, ideas.org
• Stephanie Bouchet, Marketing Director, Joost
• Theodore Emiantor, Managing Director, Westminster Accountancy
• Tim O’Neill, Founder / MD, Reactive
• Tom Nixon, Founder, Nixon Mcinnes
• Tom Sacchi, Founder / Director, Unit9
• Tony Cocks, Microsoft
• Will Jeffery, Managing director, Maverick Media
• Will McInnes, MD, Nixon McInnes

Hosts

• Robert Loch, Founder, Internet People & Founder, That’s Useful
• Paul Walsh, Chair, BIMA & Founder, Segala

Thanks to Adobe for their sponsorship this month.

The Web Mission is taking 20 UK Web Entrepreneurs out to Silicon Valley at the end of April this year. The point is to enable the successful entrepreneurs to build relationships with great people in the US and to explore opportunities for their companies.

The Web Mission is supported by UKTI (UK Trade and Investment), Microsoft and Make Your Mark (the National campaign for enterprise). It’s organised by Oli Barrett (also found at http://dailynetworker.co.uk ) and by Polecat.

The trip itself will be a blend of organised activities from drinks receptions to a one day ‘Momentum’ event at Microsoft, one-to-one meetings and opportunities to visit companies in Silicon Valley, from VCs to start ups to high growth success stories. It is designed to coincide with Web 2.0 Expo, so there will be time to drop into that if this is interesting to the companies. They will be working with colleagues in the US to help populate a ‘local calendar’ of coffee shops events and informal drinks, the vibrant business scene for which San Francisco is rightly famous for.

Agenda

Day One. Saturday, 19 April
Arrival and welcome drinks

Day Two, Sunday, 20 April
Digerati Lunch and Optional Event

Day Three, Monday, 21 April
Momentum Event at Microsoft Campus

Day Five: Wednesday, 23 April
Web for Good Event: UKTI

Day Six: Thursday, 24 April
Optional Event: Meet an international Web 2.0 company located in the US
Wrap up Drinks

Day Seven: Friday, 25 April
Depart

Today, they’re opening up the application process to companies all over the UK. The entries will be filtered by UKTI, and individuals who have agreed to feed into that process include Mike Butcher from TechCrunch UK and entrepreneur Doug Richard. They will be looking at the organisation’s market potential, technology, traction, go to market strategy, management team and commercial viability.

Polecat will be assessing the applicants’ sustainability impact. The successful companies will pay a nominal fee which will cover flights, accommodation and passes to Web Mission activities. This will come at a subsidised rate, thanks to the sponsors.

Below are some views from a selection of people who they asked to give their take on what they’re doing.

The Web Mission represents an amazing opportunity for the best of entrepreneurial UK talent to visit Silicon Valley, and learn for themselves the differences that make the US a breeding ground for innovation and more importantly successful execution of ideas. With a spark of inspiration the UK has every opportunity to replicate that success on UK soil.

Michael Birch, Founder, Bebo

Innovation is global, and what better way to help than Web Mission: get the disruptors from both sides of the Atlantic to meet and discuss how they are creating the future. A great initiative!

Fred Destin, Atlas Venture

San Francisco is the world’s leading startup centre. The importance of building ties with the web community there can not be underestimated. I congratulate all involved in this hugely positive initiative.

Robert Loch, Founder, Internet People

I think The Web Mission is a great idea. The best businesses are global from day one and initiatives like this help entrepreneurs build the networks they need to grow their companies internationally.

Nic Brisbourne, DFJ Esprit

In reaching across the Atlantic, the Web Mission is leading the way in networking key talents here with great opportunities in the USA. Good luck in Frisco!

Mark Prisk MP Shadow Minister, Enterprise & Competition

When we create a web business we create it for a global marketplace, we source our products globally, and we’ll probably end up being acquired by a global company or listing on a worldwide stock exchange. It’s absolutely right that we encourage the hottest web talent to look to the unequivocal pace-setter- Silicon Valley – for opportunities, inspiration, and partnership as we build Europe’s answer to the Google, Microsoft and Facebooks the other side of the Atlantic.

James Murray Wells, Glasses Direct

Successful in business comes from meeting people, sharing ideas and creating partnerships. ViaPost has benefited greatly from a close relationship with key partners in the UK such as our Accelerator partnership with Microsoft and we are really excited about the upcoming Web Mission in April.

Simon Campbell, CEO ViaPost

The Web Mission couldn’t come at a better time. The entrepreneurial spirit in the UK is more electric than ever, with communication channels to the US improving all the time. The current climate is one of collaboration and networking, with passionate individuals going out of their way to connect other like-minded peers so they can build stronger relationships, leading to more business.

The Web Mission is testimony to the kind of thought leadership that the UK could do with more of. Again, people going out of their way to help other entrepreneurs to build stronger ties with the US. This is a fantastic opportunity for the UK’s top entrepreneurs to build their businesses by either securing investment, collaborative, partnership opportunities. This is also an opportunity for the Americans to see exactly what the UK has to offer.

Paul Walsh, Chairman, BIMA (British Interactive Media Association)

As you can see from my quote above, I had way too much to say as usual. Please note however, that the opening of my second paragraph is dedicated to the guys responsible for putting this initiative together and driving it forward.

Hat tip to Oli Barrett, Bronwyn Kunhardt and Jim Lawn

The Paddies have done something like this before

I just wonder when Damien Mulley (my new Head of Communications at Segala) is going to arrange the next Paddy’s Valley. He managed to pull this off last year with the help of Conor O’Neill and James Corbett. Whats more, they did it without sponsorship and state agency support! The upstarts, I mean, startups, that went out from Ireland included mysay, Loudervoice, Glowday, Nubiq, PutPlace, justroutes, pixenate, Pix.ie touristr, polldaddy, Eoghan McCabe, Spoiltchild, CoClarity, Bench’d, Relevant Media, Mobonode and Lukulu.

This is a call to Ben Metcalfe and any other Valley based person who would like to help, please do

Register now for the UK entrepreneur mission

I’ve got two conference tickets to give away for a startup event in Brussels on March 19th 2008 call Plugg. If you haven’t been to Brussels before, it’s worth heading over to the conference if only to see this fantastic city. Although I wouldn’t go for the city alone, I’d got for the amazing networking opportunity to be had at this type of event.

Discover Europe’s hottest young internet start-ups and get inspired by some of the most compelling visionaries out there in just one day!

The Plugg conference is an excellent opportunity for you to get up to speed on the state of the European Web 2.0 industry. Register now for this extraordinary event - you can still enjoy the early-bird reduction fee!

I wish Robin Wauters the very best with this event. Robin used to work for Blognation before it was finally brought to a close through the unfortunate battle of the blogs late last year.

I’ll keep this simple. Leave a comment and I’ll pick two names out of a hat live on Qik on February 6th (around lunchtime in the UK).

This gave me a great laugh, thanks Steve.

Can you explain what your business does in less than a minute? I can, but it has taken me more than two years to learn how to explain what the hell Content Labels are, what problem they’re solving and why I think they’ll gain mass adoption, all in under a minute.

Ok that’s not true, I can explain what enabling trust on the Web using labels is, in under a minute but I can tell the entire story in under two.

Think about it, if you were to explain what you or your business does to one of my Indian chefs, would they get it?

I used to hang out at the OpenCoffee gatherings in London when they first started. It was, and still is, a great way to meet new people whilst strengthening current relationships. I mainly attended to hook up with people I already know whilst providing advice to budding entrepreneurs who asked for advice regarding their business models and route to market.

One of my fond memories of OpenCoffee London includes advising an entrepreneur to dump the idea of launching a dating Web site where friends meet up, rather than individuals (confused? so was I). I noticed he was on the BBC’s Dragon’s Den a couple of months ago and they told him to do the same thing. I’m not sure why I no longer go, perhaps I’ll pop along again soon.

Read more…

There’s more to life than Paul Walsh and sometimes I can even admit that. I want to talk about TechLudd, a networking event which I wrote about previously and wasn’t very positive on how well it would work. TechLudd in fact turned out to be a resounding success. I was wrong. Yes, folks, this too will probably appear on TechCrunch UK. Paul Walsh was wrong. Hey, it might even appear on TechCrunch.com

Read more…

You read it here first as it hasn’t been covered yet…

I’m currently sitting in Adam Street where I appear to spend the best part of my life these days and Paul Birch has just walked in after presenting the first of his Cominded services to London’s finest geeks at a private launch party. I’ve been lucky enough to have Paul as a friend as as such, was part of the ‘get some feedback from friends’ process.

Yabb is the name of the first service to come out of cominded. Check it out now and let me know what you think. One thing is for sure, it’s obvious that Paul understands that it must be obvious what’s inside the tin within 20 seconds (as I’m typing this Paul has just said that 20 seconds is probably pushing it, perhaps 60 is more reasonable).

I’m interested to see what another friend of mine is going to do next. Scott Rutherford, Paul’s (ex)chief architect (that wasn’t his title but that’s how I think of him) is probably one of the smartest techies I’ve every come across. I guess you have to be smart to get work at CERN, where Tim Berners-Lee invented the Web. I say ex because Scott is not longer at Cominded and is now baking a new startup with Rob Loch.

Check out Yabb now and feel free to start a topic and invite me and maybe I’ll join the conversation.

I hosted a networking event last year called Curry 2.0 in one of Dublin’s finest eateries. I say obviously because my partner and I own Jaipur. I invited a bunch of likeminded people to watch startups pitch to a waiter in a minute. Thanks to Joe Drumgoogle I was reminded of the videos that were captured. Check out the 1 minute pitches.

I’ve also republished my original post below in case you didn’t read it on the Segala blog.

I’m very sorry for inflicting Robert Loch upon you like this. I should have given prior warning. The picture was taken on our way back to the UK after Curry 2.0, where Rob gave his pitch about a new idea called Jokaoke (a bit like karaoke but for people who really can’t sing, rather than pretend they can’t before getting up and singing like a pro).

What started as an idea to entertain a few people over dinner, turned out to be a successful ‘networking event’ crammed with cool people who between them, traveled a few thousand miles to take part in some idle banter over a curry and glass of wine. We had folk fly in from the UK, Spain and the People’s Republic of Cork. My sincere thanks goes to everyone who attended but a special thanks is extended to those who collected air miles just for a curry (Jaipur only delivers within a 500 mile radius, sorry).

Left to right, Paul Walsh and Farzad Jamal.

I started the evening with a few games of pool with Dennis Howlett, Robert Loch and Farzad Jamal. I won, naturally.

We then moved onto Jaipur where we were greeted with some of the delights of Stormhoek wine. Whilst getting familiar with their surroundings, everyone sipped the only Rose wine specifically made to serve over Ice. Full fruity style, yet dry on the finish when served over ice, Stormhoek’s Couture Rose 2007 was a fresh start to the evening. It was also the beginning of my steady decline into a slightly inebriated state. For which I am (almost) sorry given that it’s captured on video thanks to Paul Campbell. I refuse to watch any video footage of myself so feel free no to comment on my performance

I introduced the evening’s entertainment as just that, entertainment; a time to sit back, relax and enjoy good food, wine and company. As the evening pressed ahead we got to taste more of Stormhoek’s offerings, which I may add, isn’t bad at all. The Sauvignon Blanc was my personal favourite. I won’t pretend to know anything about wine. I simply know what I like and dislike. I leave all that stuff to my restaurateur business partner Asheesh (oops, just realised we haven’t included a profile for him on the site!).

I’m hoping this will be the first of many similar events in Dublin (and other parts of Ireland should anyone wish to use the term Curry 2.0).

Left to right, Christ Smith Paul Walsh and Dan Teodosiu.

I spent some time chatting with Dan Teodosiu, Microsoft Director, Windows Live Europe. Very cool guy. He now wants to host some events at the Microsoft office. So, please leave a comment if you have any suggestions. Perhaps we could do something with the Blue Monster.

I didn’t hear this from Dan himself but Farzad filled me in on a (not-so) funny story. Apparently Dan went to college with Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin. The sore point is that Dan was offered a job which would have made him employee number 3! How sorry is he for not accepting that job offer. He’s not doing too badly though, as he sold his venture in the Valley to Microsoft and is now heading up Live. I look forward to working with him on a future event, or two.

Left to right, Paul Walsh and Brian Caulfield.

I’m pretty confident our worthy waiter purposely absconded just before the pitching session started. So, who better to replace our 100 meter sprinter than Sanjay, Head Chef. Brian Caulfield of Trinity Venture Capital was my independent adjudicator. It took Sanjay no time at all to decide that James Kennedy of SmartNote was the easiest pitch to understand. I don’t have a video clip of this particular pitch to hand so I’ll write a separate post and explain why I personally feel he deserved his place on the podium.

First up on the pitching session is a buddy of mine, Philip Wilkinson, Founder of Crowdstorm. This was a little different because Philip previously recorded a video clip especially for the occasion, which I ran on a laptop connected to some loud speakers.

It was good to have Maxim Kelly, Business Reporter for the Sunday Tribune (the first Irish newspaper to write something about me) at the table. I put Maxim on the spot by introducing him as one of the pitching companies. I love doing stuff like that. He did a fantastic job given that he had less than 5 seconds to prepare. I think I said something like ‘so, why should we read the Tribune Max?’ to which he had no choice but to respond.

Not only did Chris Smith from Stormhoek provide the wine for the evening, he also flew over from the UK to team up with Julian Alubaidy,from Bubble Brothers. It was good to get a pitch from Chris as it gave him the opportunity to further promote the brand. So Julian, what date are you launching Stormhoek in Ireland so we can start to stock it in Jaipur?

I spoke to Hugh MacLeod on the phone this morning and he has kindly agreed to sponsor the wine at a new event that Robert Loch and I am running (email me if you want to be invited, it’s invite only).

We even got a pitch from Dan Stevenson from Microsoft. I think this was a nice touch because it’s not exactly a startup. It does however, demonstrated how Microsoftians can hang out in the same playground with the rest of the kids.

I won’t run a commentary on each pitch. You can see them for yourself below thanks to Paul Campbell. The picture and sound quality isn’t great but I think that only adds to the character of the evening and demonstrates how impromptu it was. I’ll write a separate post which will include the winning pitch.
Thanks to Dennis Howlett for the pictures

It’s not actually Ben Childers pitching for Microsoft as it states on the YouTube video, it’s Dan Stevenson.

[Update. The TechLudd Web site to which this post refers no longer exists. The site and message I commentated on has since been replaced by a new professional one. The logo above was the original one used by the site. It's also worth pointing out that the new posts on TechCrunch and other blogs link to this post and the new TechLudd Web site, thereby taking the entire debate out of context.]

I love to see people spend their quality time trying to help others. I’m also fond of collaborating, networking and connecting people myself. But, I draw a line in the sand when helping to improve the ecosystem could potentially do more harm than good.

There’s a proposed initiative in Ireland called TechLudd which I think is likely to damage the Ireland Inc brand. On the surface and to an untrained eye, it looks like a great plan. Well, actually it is a great plan and there is nothing other than great intentions behind it. But the execution isn’t great.

According to the site

The aim of TechLudd is simple. It’s an attempt to seed some the hugely open and beneficial networking culture of the Silicon Valley here in “The Auld Sod”. The idea is to create a relaxed social environment where people can socialise with their peers make business contacts or both and hopefully see others demonstrate some cool technology too.

Who should come?

- Founders (of Tech Startups), Developers, Investors, Designers, Journalists, Students, Managers, Directors, Consultants, Marketers, PR, Lawyers, Salespeople, Recruiters, Office Workers, and Everyone Else who has an interest in new technology.

The idea is to be as open to the needs of the various communities that are involved in the newtech community from “inventors to investors” so all your ideas for venues, speakers, covering the event, attendees, press, format, sponsors, and more will help keep the events fresh going forward.

The main thing that’s wrong here is the audience it’s trying to attract. It’s clear to me that the people behind this initiative don’t have experience running networking events and they certainly haven’t collaborated with people who do. I’d bet my house that people such as Fergus, Damien, Conor, James or Tom haven’t been consulted or asked for help prior to starting anything. You shouldn’t try to implement a community initiative without asking those already in that space, for help and advice.

You can’t possibly appeal to absolutely everyone who has an interest in new technology. It’s important to know your audience and then deliver content that’s contextual to them. Why on earth would a salesperson want to network with a coder?

The site goes onto say

First Event

The first event is in Dublin on the 24th but after that the plan is that it will move around the cities on the third thursday of the month. We’re open though so this may change if people prefer a different format.

If you’re interested in helping out in any way (even improving this website) please add your name and what you see yourself helping out with and jump on board - the more the better…

On the surface this looks ok. There’s no harm in providing a half-baked idea and then filling in the blanks as you learn more. Although I’d advise that this approach only be taken when you already have a name that’s respected by the community.

Moreover, you don’t invite people who live in faraway places to an event that’s missing 99% of the ingredients. According to the wiki and Facebook page, they don’t have a keynote speaker, they don’t know who’s going to pitch, they don’t know where it will be hosted and they don’t know who’s going to attend. So, why on earth would people like Loic Le Meur or Ajit Jaokar who have been invited, sign up to this event? I certainly wouldn’t.

This approach will do more damage than good because it may cast a shadow over any future event in Ireland. Ireland is such a small place that people may assume the same organisers are behind them all. I don’t run events in Ireland so I’m not putting myself in the mix.

This initiative was brought to my attention by someone who shall remain nameless as I’m not speaking on their behalf. What I will say, is that they are very well connected and run great events in Ireland. They hold the same opinion as me, but would articulate their thoughts differently. I tend to just say it as I see it without the diplomatic frills.

Another point of contention for me is the constant comparison that’s made between Ireland and the Valley. If it’s an Irish community initiative, it should be branded as such.

I think the logo sums it up nicely. What do you make of it? A caveman holding a club in front of a computer is hardly a good impression to give about Irish entrepreneurs. I certainly don’t want to be associated with it. I actually find it embarrassing and very insulting.

Summary

I think any type of initiative to bring people together is great. However, I’d like to advise the TechLudd guys to collaborate before starting a collaborative project like this. Speak to people like Damien, Fergus, Conor, James and Tom. Get their buyin, advice and help.

If I had my way, I’d scrap this initiative and run whatever they had in mind, under Web2Ireland.