May 17 2014
I received this image over the weekend (I assume that it came from How Angry Birds Started):
How Angry Birds Started (Copyright Funders and Founders)
I must confess that I have never played Angry Birds, but I still like the story of continuously trying!
There are lots of other nice infographics on Funders and Founders.
Comments Off on How Angry Birds Started
May 05 2014
I finished reading Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell this weekend. For more information about it see Outliers or Outliers (book), and you can buy it at Outliers: The Story of Success.
I enjoyed reading it. It was fairly easy going, and it was always interesting.
Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell
There are plenty of reviews online already, so I am not going to add another. However, there was one very interesting piece of information that surprised me, so I will describe it here.
Chapter seven discusses plane crashes, and it describes a concept called the Power Distance Index (PDI). I will summarise this index by stating that a high DPI basically means that a subordinate is unlikely to be confident enough to contradict a superior, whereas a low DPI means that a subordinate sees himself/herself as an equal to his/her superior.
In the context of flying a plane, it is more desirable to have a pilot and co-pilot who come from a low DPI culture so that they can work well as a team of equals. In other words, if the pilot is doing something incorrect, then you want to co-pilot to be comfortable enough to clearly point-out the problem.
The book lists the five countries in the world where the PDI is highest between the pilot and the co-pilot. They are (in descending order):
It is an interesting mix covering south and central America, Africa, and Asia. I am not able to see any pattern there.
However, the book also lists the five countries in the world where the PDI is lowest between the pilot and the co-pilot. They are (in descending order again):
The thing that strikes me here is that they are all English speaking countries, and all former colonies of the UK. (This makes me wonder why the UK is not in the mix!)
I do not find this in any way surprising, because in a general sense these are all countries that share a language (English) that does not support formalities, and they provide relaxed workplace environments where subordinates and superiors are all friends!
Comments Off on Outliers
Apr 08 2012
It seems impossible to spend any time online these days without hearing about Pinterest. It certainly seems to be going from strength to strength, and it is now the third most popular social networking site according to Pinterest is third most popular social site after Facebook and Twitter.
I admit that I have not used it yet. I intend to try it, but at the moment I do not really see what the attraction is! Pinterest’s first investor explains this attraction in Pinterest’s First Investor Explains the Secret to the Startup’s Success, but I still do not get it!
This week I came across this very nice infographic in Flowtown Infographic: Why Is Pinterest So Addictive? that explains Pinterest’s addictiveness (click image to see larger version):
Why is Pinterest so Addictive? (Copyright Flowtown)
(There are some other very nice infographics on that website also!)
I think that I should give Pinterest a try!
Nov 10 2011
Dublin Beta is on next Monday evening. It seems like a great idea, although I think that tickets are over-priced!
Comments Off on Dublin Beta
May 16 2011
I came across a great story today – BehavioSec raises €1m for behavior-based identity theft prevention.
BehavioSec is a Swedish company. However, there is an Irish connection :o Its CTO is Neil Costigan, who is Irish and ex-DCU :)
Well done!
Dec 08 2010
Actually, it is probably over now (and I am too tired to actually check), but I hope that Cauwill Technologies got on well today!
To understand what I am writing about see Cauwill Technologies represents Ireland in global start-up competition.
Nov 27 2010
Amid all of the economic bad news, here is something positive! Intune Networks might be the next Irish company to make an IPO according to Intune targets IPO to be Ireland’s anchor tech firm.
This will be exciting to watch!
Comments Off on Intune Networks to Float
Nov 13 2010
Interesting reading reading about the spending habits of Enterprise Ireland, but I am not sure how expected this is – Enterprise Ireland spent most of funding on itself.
Oct 23 2010
I read about a new Irish Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO) today called JustMobile. The website is very nicely designed, although it is very low on details. It is an interesting, or should I say a challenging, time to be starting a company, so I wish the founders the best of luck!
The most useful information that I was able to find was in New mobile firm is Just about to launch.
Comments Off on JustMobile
Nov 29 2009
I read yesterday that an Irish company called Cauwill Technologies won the Best Emerging Company category in the 2009 Seedcorn Business Competition. For more about the winners see Intertradeireland Seedcorn Competition Announces Winners.
Cauwill Technologies develop GPS based solutions for use with LBSs.
Comments Off on Cauwill Technologies
