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17 OCTOBER 2012

THE DAILY EDIT

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More than 4,000 people from 45 countries have descended on Ireland’s capital city for the third Dublin Web Summit (DWS). We’ve come a long way since 500 people attended the first DWS in 2010.

Pssst. Don’t tell anyone, but #websummit has more startups than ANY event in the U.S. GO DUBLIN GO!@dharmesh

This year’s line-up is an impressively diverse schedule of inspiring, engaging and challenging talks and debates across four stages, and it features some of the biggest names in tech. Among the hundreds of speakers are the founders of Skype, Pinterest, Flipboard, Klout, Yandex, Wildfire, Stripe, Mindcandy and 4chan.

TALKING LOCAL AND GLOBAL

Across the four stages, in the main hall and at every food outlet, the buzzwords were the same: social; community; collaboration; mobile; influence and specialisation. Speakers, investors and attendees were talking local and global, real-time and real-world, crowdsourcing and crowdfunding.

EUROPE’S BIGGEST TECH CONFERENCE KICKS OFF IN DUBLIN

In the press...“THE TITANS OF TECH DESCEND ON DUBLIN FOR THE WEB SUMMIT 2012”Huffington Posthttp://huff.to/RBOcxY

“SOCIAL NETWORKS WILL BECOME UBIQUITOUS, NICHE AND FUNDED BY MICROPAYMENTS”Wired http://bit.ly/Ra2d6W

“THE YOUNGEST APP DEVELOPERS IN EUROPE”The Irish Timeshttp://bit.ly/S3ZDRo

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BRIGHT SPARKS KEEN TO PITCH THEIR WARES

Startups from all over the world came to Dublin to look for business and investmentIn the Web Summit Startup Village, 270 startups told their stories to anyone who would listen, pitching apps and sites for education, entertainment, e-payments, finance and accounting, food, gaming, infographics, journalism, marketing, mobile communications, project management, publishing, security and sales. The outlier, if that’s the right term, was Vibease, which was pitching long-distance, digitally-controlled vibrators.

During the day, dozens of the startups took to the two pitching stages in the centre of the Main Hall as the quarter-finals of the Electric Ireland Spark of Genius startup competition rolled on.

Freebies and giveaways on the floor ranged from actual apples to Apple iPads and TVs, and included biscuits, beer, chocolate, cupcakes, lollipops, magnets, old-school phone handsets, t-shirts and reusable water bottles. The aroma of freshly-made toast drifted over one corner, as a startup called Toast was making toast in a Toast-branded toaster and handing it out to passers-by.

Attendees could also have a quick game of foosball, try their hand at virtual golf or play a few riffs and get instant feedback on their guitar skills.

Opposite: Titan the Robot greeted guests with a 100-decibel 08:30am wakeup call/dance routine

I've realised what #websummit

reminds me of: a school science fair. 90% are crackpot failures-in-waiting. 10% are genius ideas.Jamie Lawrence (@ideasasylum)

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The death of PCs and the rise of mobile working were among the themes of the day on the Cloud stage

Gavan Egan, the vice-president of sales at Terremark, kicked off the day by talking up the hybrid cloud. He was quickly followed by Gary O’Connor, the chief architect for news and knowledge at the BBC, who explained the thinking behind migrating the broadcaster to the cloud. Ed Byrne, the founder and CEO of CloudVertical, and Shailesh Rao, Google’s director of new products and solutions, capped off the first hour with insightful presentations.

After a quick break, Bethann Cregg, the VP for social business cloud services at IBM, told the audience the cloud is “both a catalyst and an enabler” for business. Then a diverse panel took to the stage to discuss the consumerisation of IT, which involves the shifting of power in IT purchasing to the end users.

CLOUD COMPUTING CHANGES EVERYTHING, BUT RISKS MUST BE MANAGED

If you can’t sell it, don’t build it.

– Kyle York, chief revenue officer at DynAbove: Brian Caulfield, Partner, DFJ Esprit; Dan Levin, COO, Box; Mike Reilly, Partner, Sadlier & Reilly Capital; Kyle York, Chief Revenue Officer, Dyn; Peter Arvai, CEO & Co-Founder Prezi.

Opposite from top: Richard Hollis, CEO, Risk Factory; Christian Verstraete, Chief Technologist, Cloud Strategy, HP; Dan Levin, COO, BoxPhotographs: Sam Boal/Web Summit

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#websummit Cloud Stage – I must say, Dan Levin @DanAtBox is rocking a wonderful beard. (and waxing lyrical on consumerisation of IT)@emilyjaneross

The future is bright but defies our imagination. Forget caution, we no longer have time for that – Christian Verstraete #websummit #cloud@flasheforward

Cloud Computing provides hackers with easy access to Big Data. Large databases are the prize. #WebSummit #Cloud@emilyjaneross

Woah. Controversial at #websummit #cloud stage as Henry Bar-Levav pitches $35/250k to your congressman/senator as best business investment.@conor_concludes

#WebSummit #CloudStage Grand Finale from @DanAtBox Box COO Dan Levin The cloud global market is about to double in size. Change is coming!@emilyjaneross

Christian Verstraete, the chief technologist, cloud strategy, for HP, rounded off the morning by telling the crowd that cloud computing was a tremendous tool for in§novation.

DEEP THREAT

In a presentation entitled ‘Deep Threat’, Richard Hollis, the CEO of RiskFactory outlined the need for security in the cloud, using examples for the online adult entertainment industry. Next up was Henry Bar-Levav, dapper in a bowler hat and a shimmering waistcoat, who said that in 10 years’ time, cloud computing will just be called computing.

Security remained on the agenda, under discussion by a panel including Hollis and Bar-Levav. Dan Levin, the COO of Box, rounded off the day by emphasising that cloud computing is changing the world.

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Businesses must build digital relationships with their customers to succeed

More than a dozen speakers shared their expertise, insights and tips for thriving digital business on the first day at the Digital Stage. Ronan Harris, a senior director at Google, reminded those attending that if they were not reinventing their businesses for the digital world, someone else would do it.

Traffic doesn’t mean sales, however, said Joe Stepniewski, the co-founder of Skimlinks. He pointed out 95% of traffic does not lead to sales, but said the use of vouchers in online retail increases conversion by 12%.

PASSION UNLOCKS POTENTIAL

Alexis Dormandy, the founder and CEO of Lovethis, won over the crowd talking about the importance of passion in any online business and advised those present to base their

GO DIGITAL OR DIE

Don’t shoot the messenger,

fix the message.– Aubrey Sabala, VP of marketing and communications at @Sailthru

Above: Silje Vallestad, Founder and CEO of Bipper. Opposite from top: Joe Stepniewski, Co-founder of Skimlinks; Jon Myers, Commercial Director at Marin Software; Niall Harbison, Founder, Simply Zesty. Photographs: David Cantwell

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People thought we were mad to do maps, mad to buy YouTube. Now they think we are mad with self-driving cars – Ronan Harris, Google #websummit@emcally

A “like” is NOT a relationship - lets get back to relationship building, or run risk of turning people off your brand for good! #websummit@aoiferigney

“Create content good enough for your customers and better than your peers/competitors” @dharmesh@aoiferigney

“When your life flashes before your eyes, make sure you have plenty to watch” - @adormandy #websummit #digital@gretta__f

@soundcloud Finally, cat videos make it into #websummit.@MikeIversPhoto

hiring and firing decisions on the attitudes of their staff, rather than their skills. Mark Dewings of Soundcloud talked up the use of sound online, pointing out it takes 139 less taps to share a sound than to tweet.

The audience was given food for thought when Aubrey Sabala, the VP of marketing and communications at Sailthru, told them 28% of the typical working week is now spent on email. Email is still king, said Sabala, as long as it’s timely and relevant.

Scott Belsky, the founder and CEO of Behance, covered lots of ground in his 12-minute presentation on creative industry and meritocracy, while Mark Kornfilt, the co-founder of Livestream, wound up the Digital Stage day, with a talk on what else but live streaming video.

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Famous names and industry leaders reveal the secrets of success

AOL’s digital prophet David Shing kicked off the day with a high-energy presentation. He told the audience to call mobiles and tablets “first screens” not “second screens”, pointing out that no-one carries around televisions, but everyone now has the net in their pocket.

Among the wide range of topics under debate on the main stage were social networks, digital journalism, young tech entrepreneurs, attracting app users, mobile payments, new revenue models in gaming, and crowdfunding.

One of the big hits of the afternoon was Baratunde Thursten, one-time director of digital at The Onion and now of Jack and Jill Politics, and Cultivated Wit, who gave a hilarious presentation on storytelling.

TECH ROYALTY TAKES TO THE STAGE

Nothing is static.– Niklas Zennström,

founding partner, Atomico

Above: Paddy Cosgrave, Founder of Dublin Web Summit, James Whelton, Co-Founder of Coder Dojo with Coder Dojo members Shane Curren from Rathmines, Dublin (age 12), Alan Panayotov from Dublin (age 10), Harry Moran from Cork (age 13) and Anna Whalley from Dublin (age 9) on the main stage at the Dublin Web Summit. Photographs: Conor McCabe

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Ensure that you become an engine of difference. Strong advice from @shingy #websummit@bengii

“Cloud is the most important issue of our generation, we are digitalizing the world” - Tariq Karim @jolicloud #websummit@caroschmitt

“Do any of you have girlfriends?” Question to the teenage entrepreneur panel at #websummit. Much staring at feet.@kowalshki

#Crowdfunding is disrupting the way startups can get to market... the speed, the customer interaction and marketing model.... #websummit@late4gig

Anthony Noto “Long term vision is critical - think not what your company will be like 18months, but what it’ll be like in 10years”#websummit@letolab

BIG NAMES SHARE THEIR WISDOM

Pinterest co-founder Paul Sciarra gave hope to all the start-ups present, as he spoke of the early days of the company, when the small team worked from grungy little offices and were turned down by every venture capitalist going. Having left Pinterest, he is now excited about the prospects of truly mobile social experiences.

Niklas Zennström, founder of Skype, Atomico and Kazaa, was the last keynote speaker of the day. He advised startups to build a simple, global product and scale it quickly. When building a team, they should hire a diverse team of people who are more skilled than themselves, thereby giving potential entrepreneurs valuable experience.

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Above: David Shing, Digital Prophet at AOL; Muirne Laffan, Head of Digital at RTE with Anne O’Dea, Silicon Republic; Michael Birch, founder of Bebo, with Paul Sciarra, founder of Pinterest.