The son of Albert Reynolds calls his new app ‘Bertie’ – and it helps get young Irish firms ready for take-off
Galway-based start-up accelerator the PorterShed is to launch a new scheme that uses an AI-driven app developed by Philip Reynolds – son of former taoiseach Albert Reynolds – to help 50 local hopefuls win lucrative Enterprise Ireland funding.
The move comes as a question mark hangs over the future direction of the State’s start-up support infrastructure, with a review underway into how it should be best delivered.
But the PorterShed start-up accelerator in Galway has taken matters into its own hands with the launch of an ambitious pilot programme using the AI-driven Bertie system developed by Reynolds’ Armstrong Studios team.
The programme, which launches this week, aims to prepare 50 start-ups from the west over six weeks in their bid to get Enterprise Ireland funding of up to €100,000 each.
You’ve a great idea. Take the next step, and you’ll be a founder
Enterprise Ireland has an ambitious target to support 1,000 new start-ups by 2029. It is currently reviewing how start-up accelerator services are delivered nationally and is expected to launch a successor national accelerator platform to replace the Dublin-based National Digital Research Centre (NDRC) at the end of this year.
There is plenty of nervousness across the sector about what might come next.
Rosemary Gallagher. Photo: Nigel Moran
But Rosemary Gallagher, the programmes lead at the PorterShed, believes that a change is needed if those targets are to be met – and says AI can help in this regard.
“This pilot scheme is all about the creation of high- value sustainable jobs in the west of Ireland, and we need to see more regional companies succeeding,” she said.
“We need to make it so that founders here in Galway have as much access to support as anywhere else. I’m from Donegal originally, and that thing about always having to go to Dublin for best in class programming is over. This takes it a step further.
“We have previously been involved with accelerators in San Francisco, and one thing we learned about the difference between companies in San Francisco and in Ireland is speed of execution.
“There is an ambition to move fast in San Francisco, and that is something we are behind on here. At our current pace, we will struggle to hit the ambitious targets that have been set,” she said.
“The big question for the future is how we can support more start-ups and how we can move them forward faster. In my view, having this type of a digital programme will be an important factor in that.”
You can’t turn on and off the entrepreneur tap
?The PorterShed, along with RDI Hub in Kerry and Republic of Work in Cork, are part of what has been NDRC’s support system.
Gallagher said that the west of Ireland is playing catchup on developing local start-ups.
“There have been great improvements over the last number of years, but compared to the start-up ecosystem in Dublin, we are still behind.
“There are great founders in the west of Ireland, but because the supports are not always available to them, they don’t identify as founders or as entrepreneurs.
“We want to reach out to those people and say: ‘You’ve a great idea. Take the next step and you’ll be a founder.’”
Founded in 2016, the PorterShed is named after its original Galway city centre HQ – a converted railway shed that was once the arrival point for Guinness kegs into the city.
That original building was the launchpad for some big names in the city, including Altocloud, Rent the Runway and Diligent.
“Tech start-ups always want to be based downtown – and the PorterShed was built as a reaction to larger companies looking at Galway but then relocating elsewhere because there was no downtown start-up hub.”
The new pilot scheme with the Bertie app is aimed at helping early stage high-potential start-ups bid for the €100,000 investment available through Enterprise Ireland’s Pre-Seed Start Fund (PSSF).
Philip Reynolds told the Sunday Independent that he was delighted to be collaborating with the PorterShed.
“People have ideas all the time. You can’t turn on and off the entrepreneur tap.
“If we’re serious about the targets that the Government has set in terms of 250 new start-ups every year for five years, then the system has to be always on. And the only way you can be always on is provide a digital solution.
I’d love to see someone quit their day job as a result of getting this funding
“That’s the beauty of what we are providing here – it’s always available whenever it suits the applicant.
“We’re not trying to replace what’s there, but we are trying to extend the reach of what is there.”
The Bertie app takes applicants through a series of tasks and prompts designed over an average of six weeks to bring founders to a minimal viable product stage and leave them with a substantially completed application for funding.
“The program is designed specifically around the tasks that we know an applicant will have to complete right to be PSSF ready. We provide the AI technology to make this as accessible as possible and the PorterShed will oversee the programme.”
Gallagher says she will measure the success of the AI experiment based on how many hard-to-reach founders it unearths.
“I would love to see more women and people who have put off applying for this type of funding because they didn’t think they had the time and focus to do it.
“And I would love to see someone able to quit their day job as a result of getting this funding.”
The scheme is launching this week and is expected to open for applications in late March.
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