‘The work culture is a bit more professional here’

I’m from NYC by way of Boston. I’ve been with the team for two years now. I work in venture capital, where we invest in very early-stage tech start-ups. I find, having been in VC in both the US and here, that Irish entrepreneurs tend to be a bit more modest. They can sometimes undersell, whereas American founders are often told to go big and perhaps even over-exaggerate or embellish.

Irish folks are super, super friendly and open – it’s never difficult to meet new people and strike up conversations. I have found, however, that it is tougher to make your way into friend groups here. I think it’s because it seems like everyone has known each other since they were in primary or secondary school, whereas in most of my friend groups in NYC, everyone is fairly new and ‘strangers’ in some sense.

I find that, generally, the work culture is a bit more professional here. Having been in NYC tech for nearly my entire career, I was used to a more relaxed, informal tech culture (perhaps too much so!). That is changing every day in Dublin though.

It took me some time to get used to how much of everyday life is quite ‘offline’ – ie opening a bank account, filing for a PPS number, etc. I was really surprised the first time I called a support line and learned that the operators were off on lunch! Everything in NYC feels so automated, instant, and 24/7, whereas some of that still requires a formal process here.