By Business & Finance 
Stephen Walsh, founder, MyTalengi
Business & Finance highlights some of the top movers and shakers in Ireland.
What is it?
MyTalengi is a new world-first recruitment platform, designed and developed in Ireland, that will help to solve one of the biggest issues facing Irish and international business – namely how to find and hire much-in-demand software talent. It tracks the digital footprint of 8.6m developers worldwide, making them searchable by skills, location and reputation.
The service is particularly focused on scaling tech firms such as growth phase funded start-ups, which typically spend 80% of their income on software development and can need to grow from 10 to 200 developers in a short while. It already counts NewsWhip, BriteBill, Hoolux Medical, Keeper Solutions and Taxamo as clients.
When managing and developing your own career has never been more important, MyTalengi plans to offer software developers personal brand and career management services, building a real-time profile that reflects their skills and achievements and providing a showcase for their talent based on their actual digital footprint.
Global in scale and appeal, the nearest European markets in which MyTalengi expects immediate traction are Ireland, the UK and the United States in addition to the so-called ‘hiring hinterland’ of Spain, Portugal, Poland, Italy, Croatia, Romania, Bulgaria and the Baltics.
Who’s behind it?
Stephen Walsh
MyTalengi was originated and brought to market in a relatively short space of time by tech entrepreneur Stephen Walsh. As founder and CEO of Ireland-based global IT services company Keeper Solutions, Stephen was acutely aware of the difficulty of finding good software talent, and that there was not one single great search engine for software developers.
In the true spirit of entrepreneurship he identified a commercial issue, developed a solution, created the product, validated the programme and kept costs low. Partnering with international software developer Goran Jovic, a leading expert in functional programming, and supported by Enterprise Ireland, Stephen worked with a handpicked team of software architects, designers and developers.
He led the product innovation process over the past 14 months and the result is MyTalengi (the name is a mash-up of My Talent Engine).
How is it funded?
The design and development of MyTalengi has been funded exclusively by Keeper Solutions and investment by the founders to date. They are exploring the possibility of engaging with angel investors and discussions are taking place with venture capitalists regarding a seed round of investment.
Keeper Solutions has already committed a further substantial investment in MyTalengi, underpinning development plans for the next 12 months. In either scenario, it is anticipated that Enterprise Ireland will continue to provide relevant supports.
Future plans?
MyTalengi is planning to release its developer version in March/April of this year. It will allow software developers to manage and develop their online reputation with insights and assistance from MyTalengi. The new brand is currently in a proving phase whereby customer feedback is being used to hone the product-market fit.
In addition, MyTalengi is currently working on live scoreboards that will be used to track the strongest-performing developers based on their digital footprint in specific geos, technologies and organisations.
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Business & Finance, Ones to Watch
Business & Finance, in association with Comtrade, recognises Ireland’s most dynamic emerging businesses in ‘Ones to Watch’. Ireland is alive with a vibrant start-up scene and the entrepreneurs featured are shaping the country’s economic landscape.
