| I'm sure Ireland is a great place for start-ups, but doesn't seem likely to be the best place on earth. Start-up incubators - Every major city in the US has them, most of them are terrible. The things that I believe make an incubator good are mainly the talented people willing to spend their time with entrepreneurs and the connections which help close future rounds. Simply having incubators isn't a reason to call Ireland a great place to start a startup. Talented labour available for work - Every major city in the US has labor available. Not paying for an education does not make someone more qualified. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/07/22/countries-with-the-... According to this article, only 32.2% of Irish citizens are college educated, compared with over 40% in the US and 44% of SF residents http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Francisco Access to successful entrepreneurs - Ireland may be small, but so is the Valley and so is Boston, and so is DC etc. As long as you start meeting the right people and are smart and have a good idea, doors open. It may be true that the Irish community helps you, but I don't think this makes this "the best place in the world to start a start-up" State run organizations dedicated to helping your business - In almost every case state run organizations do not help your business. Community of likeminded individuals - These communities exist in every city in the US. Start-up communities are full of likeminded individuals. EDIT: The guy that wrote the post seems to have a good idea for a start-up. There is definitely demand from mid size business in that are. |
That's not surprising given Ireland's demographics and history but a lot has changed over the years. If you look at 25-34yr olds, for example, Ireland is higher than the US at 43.9%. It's also had the highest level of graduates in Higher education per population in the European Union a few times in the last decade (2003 for example). Unfortunately a lot of graduates are now leaving the country, mostly for the US, Canada and Australia.