Woahhh we’re going to San Francisco – Paddy’s Tech Day?

Sung to the tune of that horrible Venga Boys “We’re going to Ibiza” or as the locals on the no. 2 route in Cork call it “IzeBeetZaaahhh” The Zaaahh bit is said like you are using it to threaten someone with a head-butt. Anyways. Conor mentioned trips to Silicon Valley

Perhaps we are getting too used to having the Valley come to us in Europe and it is time to return the compliment and meet all those people we admire on their turf? I’m open to helping to arrange something like this later this year. Who would like to discuss this further?

James has now pointed out that return flights with Aer Lingus are as low as €450 return. So why not go later this year, in November? I’m up for it. Many of the tech people in Ireland now have a great contact list of people over there so why not go a step further and have a St. Patrick’s Tech Day while there? Rent a big room and have all the Irish that are coming over present their services to the room. Nothing too long-winded. Quick demos from everyone, then off the stage and network with all the folks. Why just tour and talk, you might as well gather people in a room and pitch. Maybe there’s a few rich Irish angels out there who would feel patriotic enough to invest in an Irish company?

Oh and like getting drunk on St. Patrick’s day, you don’t have to be Irish to partake. 🙂

After that, why not go to France?

5 Responses to “Woahhh we’re going to San Francisco – Paddy’s Tech Day?”

  1. Or if you can afford it in the high-season, SF at the end of July.. I’ll be there with everyone else from Automattic 🙂

  2. July in the Valley – faint walking from the car to the mall door. Still tho, tempting.

  3. People in Silicon Valley don’t invest out of patriotism.

    The rule of thumb for venture capitalists is that they like to invest within three hours drive or within four hours flight.

    We definitely have to build the links with the US west coast though. The SF flight will be a boon.

  4. West Coast VCs would hesitate to invest in Boston. The aim isn’t really to get VCs investing in us, it’s more to raise our profiles, learn from the culture and build our networks wider. As I said on web2ireland, we tend to focus on the short-term needs, this is more of a long-term strategic trip.

    I remember back in the late 90’s the in-thing was to move your European CEO to San Jose or Redwood City and pretend your company was HQed in the Valley. I don’t think many still think like that (apart from maybe some of the Aussies), I’d be interested to see what the opinion of the tech community on the West Coast is now regarding that.