A while ago I suggested that like twinning cities, you could twin co-working facilities. Ireland could be too small for this next idea but with the PaddysValley tour a lot of new Irish companies and entrepreneurs could be mixing with a lot of young American companies and entrepreneurs. Maybe some of these American companies will want to expand into Europe and likewise some Irish will want to have a foot in the door in America. Wouldn’t it be nice to be something like an agent in Europe for American companies while these companies are agents for you over there and also accomodate them with a little office space when they make trips over here and likewise when you go over there? It’s just another student exchange programme really. It’s co-working plus knowledge-sharing.
It could be as simple as handing out business cards for them at events, to sending out press releases on their behalf or going to events where you pitch your idea and theirs. Of course if there’s a conflict you might not be doing that. 🙂 Or it could be as detailed as acting like a band manager, arranging meetings with investors, organising conferences to attend and press to meet with the understanding they do the same for you. I’m not sure is Ireland the place to twin with Silicon Valley just yet since we don’t seem to have a great relationship with entrepreneurs in the rest of Europe. This is however changing with Open Coffee and Europe-side events like Le Web. Perhaps this idea might suit London more. Or maybe Ireland could twin with London? Then Europe, then the States. If a certain Government was clever they’d make Ireland the investment gateway to the rest of Europe for China, the States, Australia and Japan.