Growing Galway’s Startup Community

@JohnBreslin@Tech_Innovate @NUIGalway

@PorterShed @GalwayCity@StartupGalway

Guillom at commons.wikimedia

We learned from...

• “Startup Communities” by Brad Feld• All about the Boulder, CO ecosystem– Slightly larger than Galway, 100k people– One of most entrepreneurial cities in US– I was there two weeks ago…

alecperkins at flickr

The Boulder Thesis1. Entrepreneurs must lead the startup

community2. The leaders must have a long-term

commitment3. The startup community must be

inclusive of anyone who wants to participate in it

4. The startup community must have continual activities that engage the entire entrepreneurial stack

Molas at commons.wikimedia

ParticipantsEntrepreneursGovernmentUniversitiesInvestors

MentorsService ProvidersLarge Companies

Leaders and Feeders

HM Marsh at British Library's Picturing Canada

Activities and events• Office Hours:

officehours.ie• Boulder Denver New

Tech Meetup: Startup Galway Tech Meetup

• Boulder StartupDigest: Galway StartupDigest

• Startup Weekend (three so far in Galway)

• Boulder Beta: Demo Bar / Galway Beta

• Boulder Open Coffee Club: Galway Open Coffee (needs reboot)

• Ignite Boulder: Ignite Galway (needs reboot)

• CU New Venture Challenge: ?

• Boulder Startup Week: ?

• Entrepreneurs Foundation of CO: ?

• Young Entrepreneurs Organization: ?

Geraldshields11 at commons.wikimedia

Startup Galway• Startup Galway

Tech Meetups– Pat Phelan, Dermot

Berkery, Declan Ganley, Iseult Ward, Paul Kenny, Christopher Byrne, Sean O’Sullivan, Siobhan Maughan, Bob Rosenberg, Gareth Keane, Mareese Keane

• Startup Galway Tech Workshops

• Startup Galway Pitching Meetups

Me

New spaces in Galway• SuperPixel Labs coworking spaces• Bank of Ireland Workbench

coworking space• Bank of Ireland startlab• Galway City Innovation District– PorterShed coworking space (2016) – PorterShed accelerator (2017)

flynn_nrg at flickr

PorterShed

David Ruffles

NUI Galway

• Entrepreneurship Society• Blackstone LaunchPad– Supporting undergraduate

entrepreneurship

• BioInnovate, TechInnovate, more…toms at flickr

TechInnovate

Aengus McMahon

Tech ecosystems

Me at bit.ly/galwaytechmap

Me at bit.ly/medtechmap

Me at github.com/techinnovate/galwaymarineinnomap

Me at bit.ly/galwaystartupguide

Let’s build it!• Our Startup Galway website tagline

is “building an entrepreneurial ecosystem in Galway”

• Building a website is not enough– Build it and they won’t necessarily come

• We need life in the ecosystem, through commitment, participation, and continual activities

Mayqel at commons.wikimedia