Business News

GUEST BLOG: How Irish start-ups solve problems

By Business & Finance
03 November 2016

By Aleksandra Prejs and Radek Zaleski, Netguru

A variety of support programmes from the State, low taxes and a simple procedure for obtaining a start-up visa – they all make Ireland one of the most attractive countries for business.

Irish start-ups work very efficiently as a rule, and achieve an excellent performance in the global market.

The island’s mild climate, high living standards and the EU membership constitute the indisputable advantages of Ireland as a country for living and running a business in.

As a business destination, Ireland attracts a lot of foreign start-ups and enables international networking and external development consulting.

See three different success stories that demonstrate how start-ups can take advantage of Ireland’s potential to fulfil their business plans:

CASE 1: AN ONLINE BOOKING MARKETPLACE VS THE LACK OF TALENT

An online booking marketplace from Dublin needed a quick change. The company’s development was hindered by a lack of an experienced scalable development team. Reducing the development costs was the key issue.

Project owners were looking for top talent and a team that would be flexible enough so that they could have all the expenses under control. The process turned out to be difficult because local tech talent was extremely scarce.

Taking advantage of the EU’s single market, they decided to hire an external software consulting company. Thanks to the use of a remote development consulting company’s services, the start-up was able to adjust the team size to their needs.

This helped to avoid spending unnecessary funds. As a result, the company was able to create a highly customisable platform with a redesigned layout.

A stable and, what’s even more important, scalable dev team facilitated adding new features. The successful relaunch of the service allowed the company to build upon the existing user base and expand into new markets, and run a funding round for their project.

Challenge: Lack of talent
Solution: Take advantage of the EU’s single market
Key takeaway: Don’t be afraid of working across borders

CASE 2: SOCIAL MEDIA APPLICATION VS DATA PROBLEMS

aleksandra-prejs

Aleksandra Prejs

An ambitious NYC visionary wanted to build a modern social media application backed by a secure database. The product needed a robust infrastructure and architecture to support hundreds of thousands of users.

Irish start-ups work very efficiently as a rule, and achieve an excellent performance in the global market

He wanted to take away the data from the United States into the jurisdiction of the European Union, which has much stricter data privacy laws. He felt that it would be easiest to go with Ireland, and he picked Dublin for the headquarters.

Ireland’s great business environment and its EU membership were the decisive factors here. The founder chose a remote team of developers from another EU country to develop the app.

As a result, he was able to develop the app quickly and at a low cost. He could take advantage of the experienced full-stack company to provide the necessary services to bring his concept to the market.

The app has been recognised as unique and innovative by such prominent media outlets as The Washington Post, TechCrunch, The Next Web or Business Insider.

Challenge: Solving personal data problems
Solution: Study the market and find the right regulations
Key takeaway: Look for the best solution to address the problem even if it’s remote

CASE 3: ONE OF WORLD’S LARGEST INDEPENDENT NEWS MARKETPLACES VS AREA WITH NO CO-OPERATION WITH THE EU

radek zaleski

Radek Zaleski

Because it’s impossible for the companies in the Middle East to cooperate with the European ones, the platform originators decided to locate the company’s legal headquarters in Ireland.

As Ireland legally enables them to co-operate with companies from the EU, the Middle East founders were able to research the market and choose the most competitive solution.

Thanks to the co-operation with a consulting company from the EU, the platform received a new design with increased stability and responsiveness. It also became possible to develop brand new mobile applications for iOS and Android.

As a result, the platform became a Red Herring Top 100 Global laureate and is currently used by the largest news networks in the world: the BBC, Vice, Time Magazine, CNN, Al Jazeera, NBC, The Guardian, Sky News, CBS and many others.

Challenge: Operating in the area which forbids collaboration with the EU
Solution: Relocating the legal base of the company to Ireland
Key takeaway: Research the market and find the best candidate to develop your product

As a business destination, Ireland attracts a lot of foreign start-ups and enables international networking and external development consulting

SINGLE MARKET

Ireland is a popular destination for start-ups, because of its strong ties with the global market, a simple tax system, and the easy access to the EU’s single market.

The latter enables all companies based in Ireland to easily employ the services of other EU companies, including software development consulting firms, such as Netguru.

Businesspeople and product owners in Ireland gain access to a wide range of funding programmes, and they receive support at all levels of their start-up’s life.

About the bloggers 

Aleksandra Prejs is a content marketing manager and team leader at Netguru, a leading Polish development consulting agency. An experienced linguist, she is responsible for all content and digital marketing activities. The latest trends in web and mobile development, social media and linguistics are her main fields of interest and competence.

Radek Zaleski is a head of growth at Netguru and is responsible for the continuous development of Netguru by coordinating all marketing, recruitment and talent processes. Previously, he was working for international businesses in Media and Game industries, and has more than 12 years of professional experience under his belt.