More to folly.
Thanks Nick Sutton (UK covers); Colin McGann (The Clare People); Brian Oliver (The Irish Times); Aran Brazil (The Irish Sun); Geoff McGrath (The Irish Daily Mail)
Covers to broadsheet@broadsheet.ie
Original Power’s Whiskey mirror?
They wihsht
Upstairs in Rody Bolands, Rathmines, Dublin 6.
Thanks Odackatee
With their mad languages.
And spicy foodstuffs.
Stealing our referendums.
Alan writes:
I create graphics for the YesEquality social media campaign for Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. The 2011 census found that 514,068 persons spoke a language other than Irish or English in the home. Now there are 60,000 new Irish citizens since 2011, born in other countries, who are entitled to vote in the referendum this coming May.
To this end, I created graphics detailing the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission’s statement regarding the upcoming referendum, translated into various languages of the world. As you can see, it’s a work in progress. We’re working on stage 2. So if anyone doesn’t see their language represented, we’re encouraging people to submit their translation to alan@yesequality.ie
Find Your Language here
Buttons
at
Surreal, plantlike animal sculptures by Ellen Jewett, inspired by the artist’s background in medical illustration, exotic animal care, anthropology and animation.
‘sup?
Halon writes:
HSE cut backs a Midlands Hospital [Portlaoise, Co Laois] this afternoon…
Further to this.
Students present their demands to Declan McGonagle, Director of the National College of Art and Design [NCAD] in Dublin.
The undergraduates complain of a shift in ideology by college management toward revenue-chasing that has left “students abandoned and alumni disillusioned about the value of their degrees and the future of contemporary art and design in Ireland.”
A petition and list of demands here
Previously: Meanwhile At NCAD
Thanks Ror Conaty
A short video to celebrate the 88 Irish athletes who’ll travel to Los Angeles this summer for the 2015 Special Olympics World Summer Games.
Hugh writes:
We (Atomic Sport) made it for Special Olympics Ireland. With a little Liam Neeson VO help
He has a very particular set of skills in fairness.
Gülpen.
The provocative image was photoshopped by Der Spiegel for its latest edition under the headline: “How Europeans see the Germans: The German Ubermacht (superior power)”
It shows the Chancellor, smiling, with a group of Nazi commanders including Field Marshal von Brauchitsch at the Acropolis of Athens during the Axis occupation of Greece.
Nazi Extortion: Study Sheds New Light on Forced Greek Loans (Der Spiegel)
The Newswhip team including founder Paul Quigley (top left)
What!?
Dublin-based startup NewsWhip achieved revenues past the €1 million mark in 2014 with customers including BuzzFeed, BBC and the Guardian. And us (see widget on the homepage).
We knew them when they were nothing. NOTHING.
But how did they do it?
Founder Paul Quigley, in DublinGlobe explains:
When my girlfriend was a child, she used to race snails. No, dear reader, she didn’t race against snails! I mean she lined them up on a starting line on a piece of wood, placed bets with her friends as to who would get to the finish lines first, and released the slimy little hounds to postulate toward the finish line.
Unfortunately, the snails did not seem to care that they were participating in a race, and so would set off in any old direction, ruining the fun. Direct verbal instructions had no effect, with the snails defiantly sticking to their snail logic, and going any way except toward the finish line. What a problem!
But if you’ve been around startup-land for long, you’ll know that every problem story soon becomes a solution story. In this case, the innovative six-year-olds soon figured one out. Snail trails. Snail trails are not a product you can buy. Snail trails are a streak of water, placed in front of a snail using one’s fingertip.
You see, snails prefer pushing themselves over wet surfaces than dry surfaces. My girlfriend observed that a simple streak of wetness leading directly from the snail’s current position to the finish line kept them on the straight and narrow, so to speak. Snail trails saved the day, and the snail derby of 1988 was a roaring success.
Why am I telling you about snail trails? Well, mainly to instruct you in how to run a successful snail race. But also because they’re key to how a modern SaaS [Software As A Service]business should build its user base.
Right now, your customers are in many places. They’re pecking emails into their smartphones, they’re waiting in traffic, they’re feeding babies, they’re sitting on the toilet checking Facebook, and doing all the other things early 21st century humans do all day.
But sometimes, just sometimes, they’re somewhere you can start a snail trail from. They’re on Twitter, where you can target (or re-target) them, or where your blog post might get shared by someone who they follow. They’re searching for something on Google, and hey presto, your ad comes up.
Or they’re in a meeting, where a brochure for your company gets produced. That’s where your snail trail begins. There are only a few moments where it can happen in their day, and you should figure out what they are, and how you can get a snail trail starting at those moments. As you already know, the snail trails ends with them signing up for your product.
So how slick is your snail trail? Remove all splinters. Make sure you’re attracting the right snails. Some people think of a snail trail as a funnel, which I think is misleading.
All liquid flows through a funnel eventually. But most snails will drop off your snail trail unless you keep it well slicked the whole way through. At this moment of technological development and low barriers to entry, snail trails are 100% the way to go for the vast majority of capital efficient SaaS startups.
To slick our trail, we started a blog publishing our data and analysing the future of media. So through word of mouth, Twitter clicks, and content, many potential customers start down the path that, if we keep it smooth enough, will eventually lead to many curious people starting a free trial. If the slickness continues, they might even buy access to our platform.
Today, the NewsWhip free trial brings in hundreds of potential customers every week. We have many shiny snail trails leading to our landing page and on to a free trial of our software.
The takeaway from this slick little anecdote: one warm, open lead crawling his way into a free trial of your product is worth a lot of discouraging cold-calls. Make it easy for yourself, and for your prospective customer… Wet the wood.
FIGHT!
World Domination, Part 2 – Snail Trails (Paul Quigley, Dublin Globe)
Pic: Newswhip