It’s hard to overstate how critical Ireland and its emigrants have been in the creation of today’s New York.
"Ireland and New York are deeply tied by history, by family and by friendship - and economic ties are forging new links across the Atlantic," Anna McGillicuddy, Deputy Consul General of the Consulate General of Ireland in New York said. "New York and Ireland share a strong economic and trade story and are powerfully interlinked in particular in the financial services, tech and digital sectors."
Not too long ago millions of Irish were forced to flee the Great Famine, with many passing through Ellis Island. Today, New York is a still a destination for new Irish faces, though these days they're more likely to be chasing a tech dream than fleeing a potato famine.
“New York is a natural stepping off point for new Irish people working in tech," Shane Lennon, Managing Partner & Digital CXO at Retaliate1st said. "The first generation came in the 90's and either came to New York or San Francisco. Today, it's expanded to Boston."
Of course, Ireland has its own thriving tech industry, and the country has played an important role in welcoming American tech companies to Europe. In fact, every one of the 10 largest U.S. companies born on the web have their overseas corporate headquarters in Ireland. This includes Amazon, Google and eBay. Name a town in Ireland, and you're likely to find an American tech company operating their European headquarters there. Apple is in Cork, Twitter is in Dublin, and Dell in Limerick. I could go on.
But, it’s not just American tech companies heading to Ireland. An impressive number of Irish entrepreneurs have been setting up shop in the United States, and New York in particular.
“We now have two generations of Irish tech people here in New York,’ Lennon said. “There are the GenXers, who have all the scars, war stories and success from dot-com 1 and Web 2.0. Then, we have the Millennials. They're just starting to make names for themselves, and that includes people like Anne at Matchpad, Oisin at Handy, Chris at Retaliate1st. The list just goes on.”
With such an impressive domestic tech sector, you might wonder what's bringing the Irish back to New York. The people we spoke with said it was largely for the same reasons everyone else is rushing to the scene. New York offers unparalleled access to funding, customers, partnership opportunities, and is home to a ton of top tech talent.
Of course, history likely plays a part as well. Generations of Irish have called the city and suburbs home, and for many, there is a network already in place.
Today's tech arrivals have an astonishing array of support organizations at their fingertips. Digital Irish runs a community dedicated solely to promoting strong tech ties across the Atlantic. Enterprise Ireland is a Government agency based in New York that supports and invests in Irish Companies. Invest Northern Ireland fulfills a similar role for companies based in Northern Ireland.
Geography helps too. Flights from Dublin to New York are plentiful, and only take about an hour longer than a flight from New York to San Francisco. Meanwhile, Aer Lingus 5 weekly flights are your only option for a 10+ hour nonstop service from Dublin to San Francisco. If you miss that flight you're looking at close to 14 hours.
“We’ve found, anecdotally, that because there is only a five hour difference in time zone between New York and Ireland, that it is easy to manage a distributed team,” Lennon said. “There is at least four to five hours of overlap, and that’s especially important for cross functional teams who need tight alignment.”
And then there's the sun.
Have a news tip for us or know of a company that deserves coverage? Let us know or tweet us @builtinnewyork.
