[ILUG] Non Dublin based I.T. hub

[jez]

On Wed, Feb 07, 2007 at 12:28:08AM +0000, James McCarthy wrote:
> I was wondering what the opinion of the list members would be on I.T. hubs
> outside Dublin, such as Cork or Galway?
> 
> Taking into account the area graduates (how good are the courses, and how
> many students for Cork I.T. & UCC?).
> 
> Dublin's at the heart of things here but it's not cheap, is there sufficient
> talent outside the capital to make the lower costs worth it?
> 
> Opinions, recommendations all welcomed.

Interesting questions - though, like Robert, I think you need to
clarify what you had in mind by "I.T. Hub". The following takes 
the point of view of a small tech startup:

One of the significant advantages that modern technology startups
have over large IT companies is mobility. We simply don't have the
staffing requirements or the need for infrastructure that the likes
of PayPal, Google, Amazon, etc, have. As a result we can set up almost
anywhere - so long as it's cheap. Aside from needing talent, good
ideas, and a lot of determination, a tech startup's requirements
basically boil down to:

    . A selection of broadband options 
    . Low cost of living 
    . A lack of inconveniences and time-sinks (eg traffic)

And in our opinion, startups can really benefit from having
communication with other like-minded companies, but I'll get to
that in a minute.

When we (jinsky) headed off down the startup trail a couple of
months ago, we didn't even consider moving to Cork, Galway or
Limerick. Rather, we took a look around at some of the Irish
companies that we respect, and followed their lead. Although we
never made communication with them at the time, Blacknight Solutions
really stood out as the role model we'd like to follow. Here is a
company, based in Carlow, that runs their services from Dublin and
Amsterdam. Yeah, that's the way you do it! After scouting around
for a bit in Kilkenny, Carlow, and the surrounds, we opted for a
short lease on a place in Athy. So, I guess Aine Douglas is right
after all: Kildare is the center of all things IT in Ireland... ;-)

Mobility, however, is not just about being able to move somewhere
that's cheap. Although this is essential in the early stages of a
startup, what is equally important is knowing that you are not moving
somewhere forever. Honestly, as great as Athy is, we wouldn't have
moved here if we had thought that we were going to have to spend
the next 10, or even 5, years of our life here. Unless sushi-bars
start popping up on street corners, there's a pretty good chance that
we'll move somewhere else if we find some measure of success. Also,
the aim of many tech startups is to be consumed by the big tech
companies. These public companies have a need to feed on small
innovative businesses so that they can prove to shareholders
and analysts that they are have ample market share in the latest
breaking technologies. I'm guessing that mobile tech startups look
a lot tastier than immobile ones.

So, I guess the gist of what I'm saying is that geographical location
has become much less of a big deal - for startups at least. This
isn't to say that we wouldn't move to a town somewhere if a bunch
of other startups decided to set up there. We would definitely
consider it. Ultimately though, it's much more important for
startups to be in communication with one another than for them to
be co-located. What would be a whole lot more appealing to us than
some IT Hub, would be an online forum where Irish tech startups could
throw each other work from time to time, pool expertise, and arrange
to collaborate on projects. 

If there was such a forum, it might even attract people from other 
professions who have complimentary skills: fund-raising, marketing, 
etc. Indeed, the most significant problem that we faced when deciding 
to do a startup, was coming up with an idea. Sure, we had loads of 
tech skills, but coming up with an the idea for an application was 
exceedingly difficult. On the flip side, I have no problem imagining 
that there are loads of enterprising people in Ireland, with streams 
of great ideas and a complete lack of ability to implement them - let 
alone implement them on a shoe-string. Some sort of focal point 
for us all meet would be most welcome.

If anyone knows of such a forum, please post the details of it!

Incidentally, we highly recommend the essays by Paul Graham to anyone 
thinking of doing a tech startup:

	http://www.paulgraham.com/articles.html

In particular, "How to Start a Startup" is a good jumping off point:

    http://www.paulgraham.com/start.html
	
Cheers