The Big Tech Show

You started a company. You sold it for over €60m. Now you’re going back to start something new from scratch.
The question is: why? Why get back into the trenches and try to prove yourself all over again?
“It's the struggle, the fight. It's pulling together the most talented people to do their respective jobs and having that team become greater than the sum of their parts.”
That’s Alan Coleman, the Dubliner who sold homegrown telecoms billing company Britebill for a fortune in 2016. He’s back with a new startup, Sweepr, and he’s aiming higher.
He’s this week’s podcast guest on ‘The Big Tech Show’.
One of the questions Adrian asks is what gets a startup entrepreneur really motivated.
“Once I have an idea in my mind that this is inevitably going to be the way in which the world works, I then think, ‘why couldn't I do that? Why shouldn't it be me that starts the path to that inevitable outcome?’ I'm an extreme optimist.”
Adrian and Alan also talk about privacy, the Ring doorbell and what’s coming next in tech.
“There’s an enjoyment out of taking something that is literally a fleeting thought and building it up into a working company,” says Coleman.

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This week, a double-header: one of Ireland’s best known venture capitalists talks money, while a tutor for beginners discusses what we need to know.
Adrian catches up with entrepreneur and Draper Esprit financier Brian Caulfield to talk about the state of things for funding and company-building in Ireland today.
Then he meets Aisling Mackey, Ireland’s ‘computer tutor’ to talk about some of the skills that we should brush up on.

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How relevant are colleges? This week, Adrian sits down with the president of Dublin City University, Prof Brian MacCraith, to talk what universities do well and what they struggling with.

Adrian asks Prof MacCraith why Irish universities keep slipping down the international ratings. He also asks about the possible introduction of a student loan system or higher fees for richer students, two things long recommended to keep Irish universities afloat but which no political party here will accept.

The two also discuss whether online learning services such as Galway-based Alison.com or US-based Udacity and Coursera are chipping away at the basic rationale for having physical universities in the first place.

Prof MacCraith also denies that there is a ‘snob factor’ with regard to Irish kids choosing a ‘northside university’.

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Podcast host Adrian Weckler has been writing columns saying that web shopping — and Amazon in particular — is seriously altering the fortunes of offline retailers and the future of the ‘high street’.
But the head of one of Ireland’s biggest retail chains, Harvey Norman’s Blaine Callard, thinks this is baloney.
This week, Adrian invites Blaine on to tell him why.
Blaine tells him that empty spaces in high streets and run down shopping centres are a misreading of the data and have more to do with parking charges, bad zoning and plain bad retailing than Amazon.
He also reserves delivers harsh verdicts on retailers such as Clerys and Sears.
Adrian remains unconvinced, but gives Blaine a good run at why he thinks the media are running with a false narrative.
The two recorded the podcast in Harvey Norman’s newest flagship outlet, the 58,000 square foot store in Tallaght.

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In the wake of a Huawei executive arrested for spying in the EU, do western countries face a threat to their national security from Chinese telecom and tech companies? Or is the current controversy over who builds 5G networks being infused with scaremongering and paranoia by US politicians and commentators?

Adrian sits down with Declan Ganley, the long-time Irish telecoms executive who claims that China has a military-industrial ethos which threatens western security. Adrian puts it to Declan that there is little evidence so far linking telecoms rollout that involve Chinese infrastructure firms with spying or other nation state activities. But Declan isn’t convinced, arguing that there is a greater national ‘mission’ in China that cannot be ignored.

The two also debate how 5G licences should be rolled in future, with Declan arguing that the current system is broken.

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It’s arguably the most talked-about tech question of our time – is Facebook listening to your physical conversations to serve you ads? An increasing number of people are convinced that this is the case. To take a technical and ethical dive into the issue, Adrian is joined by three people who are deeply knowledgeable about the science, marketing and cultural tech behind what it would all entail. Facebook ad expert Damien Mulley doesn’t believe it’s happening and explains why. Dr Patricia Scanlon, founder of voice AI specialist firm Soapbox Labs, is sceptical but thinks it might be possible under certain circumstances. And culture journalist Roisin Kiberd takes a step back to consider its place in our wider relationship with tech.

If you like informed, in-depth commentary on a big tech issue of the day, this is worth your time.

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From the demise of Facebook among younger people to the death of DSLR cameras and Amazon’s destruction of high street retail, Adrian looks at what to expect in the year ahead.

He’s joined by Patrick Walsh, founder of the coworking space, Dogpatch Labs in Dublin. Along the way, they also discuss why people are turning off traditional offices and whether alternatives, such as Ludgate and Republic Of Work in Cork, Portershed in Galway and HQ in Tralee will mop up the business of hosting growing tech firms.

This is the 52nd Big Tech Show podcast of 2018 – a big thank you to all our listeners for tuning in over the year.

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Is audio a missed opportunity for newspapers? A bold young Irish startup, NOA, has struck deals with publishers such as Bloomberg, the New York Times and the FT to create a new audio news service from those publications’ daily news stories.

The idea, according to NOA’s Gareth Hickey and Shane Ennis, is to create a ‘Spotify for News’. Adrian chats about the idea and wonders about what kind of audio delivery might work best. Inevitably, he slips into a few impressions of well-known radio and advertising people he thinks might do it well.

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Phones, smartwatches, hifi, tablets, laptops – Adrian goes through some of the best tech to get over Christmas and recaps on what has impressed during the year.

He’s joined by up-and-coming creative Jake McCabe, a hifi and video expert who dabbles in all things tech.

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All the statistics show that when it comes to VC cash, men get almost all of it. In fact, they snag way more than the percentage of startups they solely found.

In conversation with two Irish VC investors and a startup COO, Adrian wonders if it’s partly down to male founders simply being less shy about making grandiose, bold statements about their firms. And what should investors actually do about it? Is positive discrimination desireable? Or should it be a slow evolution?

Giving expert analysis on the funding climate, as well as life around Irish startups, are this week’s guests: Edel Coen (investment executive with Draper Esprit, a pan-European venture capital firm), Isabelle O’Keeffe (principal at Suir Valley Ventures) and Austin Spivey (chief operating officer of Wia Technologies).

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