Many of the components are already in place to make Dublin the start-up capital of Europe. We believe Dublin (and Ireland) has real identifiable strengths in software development, rather than hardware. Owing to their nature, software businesses require less resources to start and, in general, grow faster. With the right focus and structures, Dublin has the potential to become the focal point for European start-ups looking to target the US and international markets.

We believe the following action points as important to further increase Dublin’s potential as a leading start-up hub:

• Form a focus group of start-up CEOs to work with the various state bodies and give quick feedback on proposed initiatives
• Create a virtual start-up package in partnership with Irish multinationals including Microsoft (Azure), Google (App Engine), Amazon (AWS) and Facebook (social platform).
• Provide a ‘pitching platform’ to increase the number of start-up proposals reaching Irish and international funders and VCs.
• Create a large open office space area for qualifying startups. If you ask most start-ups, office space is more important than funding during the very early stages. Even with virtual offices, physical teams work faster and more efficiently.

In Ireland and particularly Dublin, there are multiple stakeholders involved in the start-up ecosystem including incubators, banks, VCs, universities, multinationals and government enterprise agencies. Some of these organisations work well together. Others either overlap or do not communicate. This is a key area where the we need to ensure a more efficient start-up ecosystem.