What is it with the Northern Ireland/British psyche that we are inclined to be derogatory about stuff, policy, ideas, innovations and such like that are thought up within the confines of ‘our wee country’ or the shores that make up these islands?
We fail to support and nurture that talent and believe that it is good enough to play on the national stage, never mind the global one. Couple that with the penchant for feigning over things thought up in other countries and you have well and truly got on my goat.
Rory Cellan-Jones blog “Attention, please, for UK startups” hit a bit of a raw nerve when I read it. To say I was incandescent with rage is a huge overstatement. I was certainly remotely perturbed at what he was saying to say the least.
Rory’s role at the mighty Beeb is, in my view anyway, to bring technology news to the masses. As it is UK licence fee payers money that pays his wages, that technology should primarily be British. His argument that UK web businesses should make something journalists like then pack their bags for Silicon Valley to get noticed by prominent tech writers just doesn’t cut the mustard I’m afraid.
Big tech businesses monopolise the coverage afforded to technology on the BBC by lavishing large amounts of money on junkets for journalists. I don’t have an issue with journalists from private sector titles attending these but as public service broadcasters those in the BBC have a duty to cover those who can’t pay to get the attention themselves.
It is time we started to recognise the talent, ingenuity and bloody minded entrepreneurial spirit that is oozing out of every pore of this country. Let’s treat them like rock stars. Events like SHOWCASE being organised by Mark Nagurski up in Derry~Londonderry in September are showing that there is a huge appetite for web startups of all sorts to show their wares. SHOWCASE is a free one-day conference showcasing fresh ideas in cloud, mobile and web-based apps.
Lets hope this is the start of a new revolution. Its time we made a big noise about Northern Ireland startups and demanded attention rather than pleading for it.
That will get their attention won’t it!
Davy,
Thanks for stopping by and adding to the discussion. It is true that the Bel Tel have published some good pen pictures of startups from here. Unfortunately the fact of the matter is that being featured in this, or any other local publication, is unlikely to get them noticed on the world stage to the same extent that getting featured on the BBC, in The Guardian or TechCrunch would do.
You know a lot more about the media industry than I. How hard/easy is it to get these local news stories picked up by national media? What are the best publications to target. Outside of hiring PR company to plug puff pieces what, in your view is the best way to get noticed?
Having read the DC website tender I will be really interested to see what the resulting website will look like and deliver.
I hear the argument regarding steeling ideas a lot too. Am not convinced. There are a million ideas out there but to actually steal them people need to be suitably motivated, resourced, and have the willingness to bring them to market to actually do that. If someone can do that quicker than the person with the originating idea then who’s fault is it anyway?
Will be very interested in reading your paper once its ready for public consumption.
All the best,
David
This is an interesting and useful discussion. Sorry I have come to it quite sometime after it started.
The marketing and promotion of start-ups in Northern Ireland has – for some time – been recognised as the weakest part of the whole tech start-up ecosystem. It is something I have been involved in for a while; last year I wrote profiles for the Belfast Telegraph on start-ups here, and BelTel were happy to publish them. Also in Digital Circle we did a lot of work promoting digital content industries. Digital Circle is working on a promotional website – I’m not sure how that is developing, but I understand it will be a shop window to the world. Of course there should be a big ‘tip of the hat’ to James at NITech Blog (now SYNCNI) who has single-handily brought a focus to all of the tech industry.
Many of the companies have I spoken to have said that they wished they had brought Marketing (and Sales) into the mix earlier in their development. But remember there are always a few (not many thank goodness) who shy away from publicity – someone might steal their idea.
I have recently prepared a report which indicates that one of the weaknesses of the industry here is the failure of many disciplines to understand the complimentary roles they play to create ‘industry’. (Sorry not available for publication – not yet formally presented).
And – of course – some ideas aren’t really all that good.
So there is work to be done in this area. There is an education process for the media, too. There are few journalists interested in or briefed on the digital content and tech industries – I might be the only one; most business journalists focus is on ‘Big Industry’ – understandably. But that does not mean journalists are uninterested or dismissive of start-ups; quite the contrary. If they have a good/interesting story, they will publish. Start-ups need to use expertise from other disciplines to promote their work, too.
There are acres of newsprint and hours of broadcasting to fill, but you have to give the media a story. There is no ‘of right’ to get publicity or promotion.
And start-ups need to engage local bloggers, too.
It has to be more than demanding attention. We need to create the circumstances where attention is drawn to the industry and the people in it, because there are stories worth writing, worth reading (and those stories are there).
Rory,
First of all thank you for stopping by and responding to my blog post. I may have underestimated your ability to engage with those of us based in this corner of the UK so I am honoured you took the time and effort to post your thoughts here on my site.
I guess I missed the irony and took your post at face value. Unfortunately the written word removes most of the tone and intonation that might well have relayed the irony had this piece appeared on radio or television.
You say the point of the post was to act as a rallying call. It has most definitely served its purpose here in Northern Ireland. You are right that we have in the past been too timid to blow our own trumpet. It is also true that the tech community here should strive to up its game, overcoming the barriers such as limited funding opportunities to compete head on with Silicon Valley firms. Great things are happening here, we just need to make more people aware of them.
It is excellent news that you are considering coming over here to provide much needed coverage to Northern Ireland firms. You could do a lot worse than freeing up the 16th September and making your way to the Showcase Conference in Derry~Londonderry. In terms of meeting new tech startups you will be spoiled for choice. It will be like shooting fish in a barrel. While there you might be interested in one in particular, Exiseco (http://www.exise.co), given your latest post on the Twitter goldmine.
I am glad you take the responsibilities of public service broadcasting seriously. Perhaps you also misunderstood me. What I meant in my post was that Silicon Valley firms can expend a large amount of expense and resources on extravagant product launches, attending trade fairs and putting on the razzmatazz and glitz that makes for such good tech press coverage and gains them much attention from journalists. Apologies if you took it to mean anything other than that, it was not intended as such.
Should you make it over to Northern Ireland I guarantee that the local startup community will make you very welcome. I would only ask that you focus your attention on grass roots entrepreneurs and startups that are crying out for coverage rather than those more established “movers and shakers” that have already accessed VC or other large funding sources.
Once again thank you for taking the time out to respond. I am sure you had a million emails to respond to on returning from holiday.
Best regards,
David Crozier
Update: P.S. I should have also mentioned the great work being done here by bodies such as Digital Circle an Industry led Innovation Community (IIC). Digital Circle has been instrumental in setting up other IICs including XCake (a mobile development IIC), Code4Pizza (an open data IIC), ELTA (an e-learning education IIC) and BLOC54 (a games development IIC) to help startups and entrepreneurs here develop and punch above their weight.
I’m sorry but you have completely misunderstood what I was saying in that post. You don’t seem to have picked up on the ironic tone – I’m not remotely suggesting that anyone should pack their bags and head to Silicon Valley, merely pointing out the sad fact that start-ups located there get much more attention because that’s where the tech bloggers hang out . In fact, Robert Scoble, the renowned Silicon Valley blogger, took mild offence at what I’d said, insisting he does talk about start-ups in other places.
in any case, the whole point was to act as a rallying call for UK start-ups. I am keen to cover as many interesting UK based tech firms as possible – the sad fact is that there are still too few punching their weight with the Silicon Valley firms. But I’m hoping to give more coverage to firms outside London or Cambridge over the coming months, and have been talking to folks in Northern Ireland about a possible trip.
By the way, the accusation that BBC journos go on junkets paid for by big tech firms is completely false. I get plenty of offers of trips of that kind – but under my BBC contract I’m obliged to turn them down .
Rory Cellan-Jones
Jacqueline,
You are infinitely worthy since you have been there, done that, got the teeshirt! You JFDI!
Being able to corral various technical resources and people to deliver on your vision, your idea, is no mean feat. Ideas are the lifeblood of the tech community, without them there are no new products, services, incremental changes. Heck there’s no innovation.
You have spotted a problem. You have expressed that problem in a set of requirements. You found technical people who were able to develop solutions to those problems, found the resources to pay them and gave them work. You deserve your place in the tech community!
Keep up the good work.
David
Well put David. I agree with Mark (legend of legenderry) too that we need to get better about shouting about what we do. I am the worst culprit – someone asked me if I wouldn’t think about presenting at Showcase……I didn’t think I was worthy! That I don’t think I deserve a place within the NI tech community as I have very little technical knowledge – I just hatch the ideas.
David Crozier deserves a medal for championing and providing excellent support for start ups in Northern Ireland. I am pleased to say I have joined the creative boom boom!! Please check out Dawn’s recent blog on hyperlocal businesses in NI – not just because she mentioned whatsonni 🙂 but because it’s a great piece and makes a lot of sense.
Jacqueline
Good point Mark. Maybe the NI tech community needs its very own Gok Wan for a “Geeks to Gods” makeover. 🙂
I agree completely David … but … I also think we (ie. people involved in startups and tech) need to get better at promoting ourselves too. Events like Showcase only work if people are willing to stand up and say, “hey, look at us, look at the great stuff we’re doing” and we’re often not the best at doing that.
Yes, the ‘mainstream’ press needs to pay UK and RoI startups more attention. But if they’re not doing it, then let’s gone on with doing it ourselves.
Oooo… the RAGE! David, I totally agree. See my latest post, to try to help us instil a little pride in our wee place. 4/5 out of those I showcased were local entrepreneurs, many using tech very cleverly indeed.
I echo exactly what you say, I see it a lot with Creative Boom, I get a lot of emails asking/begging for coverage of their event/product, then when we get back to them and say, yeah no problems, they all of a sudden get all wary, expecting us to ask for something back in return (totally not what we’re about), one of the reasons I brought it over to Northern Ireland was the lack of ‘showing off’ of the sheer amount of talent we actually have within our wee country. Really shows the mentality of the press in the eyes of those who are actually making the news.
Alan, I think its great to give something for nothing every once in a while. It just makes this place better. Better for us and better for those generations that follow us.