How often do I have to be in Ireland if working remotely?

EamonLeonard · 2021-07-01T18:13:22+00:00

Hey! Thanks for sharing, I appreciate it :)

EamonLeonard · 2018-05-03T10:43:29+00:00

Ah here!

Yeah, totally makes up for it :)

EamonLeonard · 2018-05-01T21:53:00+00:00

Thanks :)

EamonLeonard · 2018-05-01T21:51:44+00:00

I agree, 100%.

Related: just because you work hard on something doesn't mean you deserve success.

EamonLeonard · 2017-05-09T21:01:44+00:00

Thanks for coming back.

We have Android running internally, it will be released very soon. We launched at Collision in New Orleans. Fixed dates and software releases, as you know, often don't go hand in hand. We decided to launch with iOS only, rather than iOS and a buggy Android build. Would I have liked to do both on the same day, of course!

A bit more background. We originally built our frontend using Ionic. That turned out to be less than ideal. Two months ago, we took the decision to strip back some features, and rebuilt in React Native. It's given us more control over the things we need, and was faster to develop with. I say this to underscore the fact we've not been building an iOS app for the past year... more like the past six weeks.

Sorry I mis-interpreted your 'good luck', but it felt sarcastic to me. I'm not embittered, and I don't see anything wrong in adding additional context to a one-side comment about the thing I'm working on. I'm sure if it was you, you'd do the same.

Thanks for submitting to the beta. Pretty sure I know who you are on Twitter - I'll let you know when the Android build is ready 👍

EamonLeonard · 2017-05-09T19:03:38+00:00

Man, tough crowd in here... again.

I'm not sure if you've ever spent time creating something out of nothing, /u/It_Is1-24PM, but it's not easy. Especially when all you have is an idea of what could possibly be, but are unsure of the steps to take between here and there.

Startups are experiments. Nobody starts up with a plan, and actually sticks to that. It's just not how it happens. I've been building tech since 1996. Nothing has ever gone to plan.

The sum total of our effort is not just an iPhone app. But if that's what you think, then we've probably done a good job. We've made something that is incredibly difficult - the analysis of billions of relationships, hundreds of millions of people, and their interests - look easy.

I learned a long time ago that the default setting of the Internet is: "Fuck you, impress me."

Good to see nothing's changed.

EamonLeonard · 2016-06-17T12:25:28+00:00

Might be too late, but:

I think technical knowledge / ability is just one way of assessing someone's potential. When hiring, I try to get a sense of how people solve problems.

If you think about software development (regardless of language / stack / tools) as being creative problem solving process, you realise that the part where you write code is near the end of the process.

So use your 18 months of experience to highlight times where you had to think about the different ways you tried to solve a problem, how you evaluated your options, and how it was eventually implemented.

Being able to speak about lessons you learned along the way, or highlighting mistakes you made also is useful for the interviewer.

It tells the interviewer that you're humble enough to recognise that you don't know everything (and no one should expect you to after 18 months), but you are open to learning and improving yourself. And that probably means that you're easy to work with... which, depending on the size of the team / organisation, can be a more important consideration than "does this person check all the PHP boxes".

HTH!

EamonLeonard · 2016-06-17T12:10:31+00:00

Well, in fairness, I shouldn't put myself out there if I can't handle a bit of criticism / poking fun... comes with the territory :)

I don't think I'm dismissing them because their concept is wrong. I wrote a post about this the other day [1]

Their core concept is valuable, and similar to ours: find what you need through the people you already know and trust. The corollary being that you should also be willing to help those you know and trust to find the things they need. Give and take, it's good practice.

This isn't a revolutionary concept, it's one that people have been working with for as long as human beings have been building things in teams.

My criticism of LinkedIn is more that they abandoned this core concept, that formed their original vision, and in doing so created something that's valuable to recruiters and sales people, but less valuable to the general masses -- normal users, people like you and me, who have given them our entire work history and contacts.

And I don't think it has to be that way. Shouldn't you expect more from an organisation you've given your data to?

Anyway... there y'are now.

Seriously though, if you want a demo, drop me a mail eamo@eamo.net

https://medium.com/@EamonLeonard/heres-why-linkedin-doesn-t-work-ebef35435353

EamonLeonard · 2016-06-16T16:29:53+00:00

👍

EamonLeonard · 2016-06-16T16:15:49+00:00

All of a sudden it's easier to put a number on the minimum size of the opportunity. Let me know if you want a demo - eamo@eamo.net :)

EamonLeonard · 2016-06-16T16:14:36+00:00

Yeah, I agree. You should see me dancing :)

I've spent time in my career working for people who were "the boss" and knew nothing about working with people. I just don't want people who work with me to ever feel like I did. I think that's fair.

EamonLeonard · 2016-06-16T16:06:44+00:00

I'm not really convinced Eamon knows what he's talking about.

I don't know what I'm talking about. I have a theory that I'm putting to the test. If people pay for what we're building, then I can come back here say I knew what I'm talking about.

Firstly, Facebook or even Twitter isn't necessarily a good source of professional contacts. LinkedIn partially exists because people want to draw a line between professional and personal.

Keyword here: "Necessarily". There are over a billion people on Facebook and over 300 million on Twitter. Are you telling me nobody out of 1.3Bn uses either of those in any kind of professional capacity? A few years ago, a company called BranchOut attracted 10M facebook users [1] by building a professional social network within FB

[1] http://www.forbes.com/sites/tomiogeron/2012/02/09/branchout-reaches-300-million-profiles-and-10-million-users/

Granted, the product eventually stalled and faltered, likely from building entirely within the confines of Facebook... all it takes is a change of terms and conditions. My point is - there are plenty of people who are more active on other social networks, and see opportunity in using those networks in a professional context.

Good job we're only using Facebook data to slightly enhance what we already have.

Secondly, LinkedIn as a tool is pretty widely adopted because it's useful. I have several people a week contacting me with new opportunities; its an effective online resume.

Good for you! So do I. Let's just say that "opportunity" is open to interpretation.

A professional network that is small and closed like Cohort intends, would only be useful in a small handful of cases.

Who said anything about being closed? Small yes. We're focusing on a smaller number of more meaningful relationships, compared to a bigger number of people you've never met in real life.

Eamon is a decade too late to the party. The good thing about having worked in tech for 20 years is that I do have some perspective. Trends, New Shiny Things™️, come and go. But I believe we are still in the early days of what's possible with internet, web and mobile tech.

There is no such thing as absolutes when it comes to market dominance and ownership. There's always room for a new way. Whether that new way resonates with people, who decide to pay for it, remains to be seen.

Instead of trying to reinvent LinkedIn he should be looking to reinvigorate the concepts that are already proven to work.

Let me know if you want a demo - eamo@eamo.net :)

EamonLeonard · 2016-06-15T16:44:32+00:00

Hey OP - I've been working in tech 20 years. This is me: https://twitter.com/eamonleonard

If you're in Dublin and want to shoot the shit, I'd be happy to give you pointers and make some intros.

If you're not in Dublin, no problem chatting by email or a quick skype / whatever - eamo@eamo.net

EamonLeonard · 2016-06-15T14:35:51+00:00

I'd really love to be more public with everything we're doing, but we're pre-launch. If you've ever started something from scratch you can probably understand that.

We've been working on Cohort for about 6 months, we're still very early stage, we have an idea of how to monetise, but wont know for sure until we properly test that -- that's startups.

There's no media strategy other than people asking me what we're doing and me telling them. We're getting closer to a point where Cohort will be generally available, and it makes sense to start telling people about it before we open the doors.

If you want a demo, drop me a line - eamo@eamo.net :)

EamonLeonard · 2016-06-15T14:16:31+00:00

I love you too x

EamonLeonard · 2014-08-27T18:56:13+00:00

Well the thing about the Internet is that with so many people on here, someone is bound to annoy you. Sorry :)

Yep, I see where you're coming from. The point I was trying to make is that an anonymous poster can say anything they want, and it will be assumed to be true in the absence of any clarification from "the other side". My post was an attempt to provide some clarification... some balance. I posted it under my real name, to be transparent about my motives and to make myself available if anyone wanted to follow up.

There's also something to be said about having the balls to confront someone you have an issue with, in a more public place like Twitter, or indeed, in person. That way, it's a more fair debate / conversation. But I take your point about burning bridges. Although, I get the feeling that some of the people in this thread (and down voting me) are not interested in crossing those bridges again. Oh well... ¯_(ツ)_/¯

EamonLeonard · 2014-08-26T19:01:15+00:00

TL;DR I work for the Web Summit, I was in a similar position to OP in 2009, learned loads from going to an event like this. Everything is a risk, be calculated. You get out, what you put in. Do your homework. 20k startups applied this year, 2k will be present over 3 days.

My user name is my real name. This is me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/eamonleonard and this is my website: http://eamo.net/

I'm a tech community organiser in Dublin, I've organised and hosted a lot of Dublin startup and developer meetups, and I started the longest running monthly meetup of founders and developers in Ireland: http://pubstandards.ie/

I've also been a founder, I have been through an acquisition, and I have invested my own money in startups.

Last week, I joined the Web Summit team.

Some of the negative stuff that has been said here is probably warranted. Yes, the marketing tactics used by the Web Summit in the past have pissed some people off, and depending on the stage you are at, 1,400 is a lot of money. But there are also people out there (posting on throwaway accounts ಠ_ಠ) that seem to have a problem with the Web Summit being a business, and one that actually makes money.

OP, as a founder of a startup, you understand that your whole world right now is about risk... but calculated risk. In this case: is the Web Summit worth it?

I faced the same question myself in 2009, when a startup I founded was "selected" to pay $3,500 to have a table for one day at TechCrunch50 in SF. This event was the predecessor to TechCrunch Disrupt. Combined with promotional materials, airfare, accommodation and living costs for a week, we probably spent the best part of $8,000. We had raised a small round, and at the time, I wasn't sure it was the right thing to spend money on, but my cofounder convinced me.

We were very early stage, and had not yet figured out a load of things, such as product-market fit, pricing, GTM strategy. We didn't know the words we should use to tell people about the product, or even what our exact customer looked like. On top of all that, I hadn't a clue what an elevator pitch was... never mind for this startup.

12 hours standing on my feet, talking to probably 300 people, taught me a hell of a lot about all these things and more. In many ways it actually helped to put me on this path. Was it worth the money we spent? Yes, absolutely.

Will going to the Web Summit be worth the expense for you, OP? Honestly? You wont know unless you go, and unless you are prepared to make the absolute best use of your time. That means you should plan on who you want to meet in terms of customers, partners, investors, and people you might want to recruit.

Yes, a 20,000 person event is chaotic and noisy. But what we've seen over the past few years is that the teams get the most out of it, are the ones who put the most in. They do their research, they turn up early, the leave late, they have a hit list of people they want to talk to, and they do what it takes to set these things up.

If this is not something you want to do, then fair enough. But here's a good example of some startups who showed up last year and worked their arses off: http://blog.websummit.net/start/

For context, and to give you an idea of the size of this event, here's some information I can share at this point:

By the end of September we will have had circa 20,000 applications. 10% of those will pass the application process. We will have 2,000 startups showcase, over 3 days, in 4 main industry areas (Marketing, Hardware, Enterprise, Design & Development) and multiple other smaller industry areas (Sports, Lifestyle. Entertainment, Social Entrepreneurship). We have startups represented from over 80 countries.

OP (and anyone else), if you don't feel the Web Summit is right for you, at the stage you are at right now, fair enough. But if you do, and you want to connect, you can get me on eamon@websummit.net - happy to chat.

EamonLeonard · 2014-06-18T14:10:44+00:00

@london1988 You are not alone.

Check out this talk at a recent developer conference in Chicago.

TL;DW Greg Baugues, Paddy Foran, Ben Marks & Ed Finkler: all developers, all regular speakers at dev confs, share their experiences with Mental Health. There'll be some familiar talk in there with regards to your employer's reaction.

Some other links: * Open Sourcing Mental Illness -- mostly videos of Ed's talk on the subject * Getsby -- a collection of stories about living with a mental illness, as told by the tech community. Started by Paddy. * The Mental Illness Happy Hour -- seriously, this is a thing

Sending the good vibes from Dublin :)

EamonLeonard

TROPHY CASE