Join a frat house for geeks

BUDDING ENTREPRENEURS looking for a collaborative environment in which to start their companies might find that Dogpatch Labs is the answer.

Named after the San Francisco district where the first lab was set up, Dogpatch Labs offers a space for entrepreneurs to connect with each other and to help founders to conceive and launch start-ups. It is run by US venture capital firm Polaris Venture Partners, the recipient of a $50 million investment from the National Pension Reserve Fund (NPRF).

The firm’s US outlets are in Cambridge, Massachusetts, New York and San Francisco – and now it is coming to Dublin.

Described as “frat houses for geeks”, the lab space offers desk space, bandwidth, coffee and lunch to aspiring entrepreneurs, as well as a space for sharing ideas and networking. The typical Dogpatch team consists of up to five people.

Polaris had been looking for a European location for some time. According to Terry Maguire, a general partner with the firm, it chose Dublin for its “clear entrepreneurial spirit” as well as the fact that so many leading technology companies, from Facebook to LinkedIn, already have Irish operations.

The new lab won’t be restricted to Irish-based entrepreneurs, however. Maguire hopes that pre-investment early stage start-ups from around Europe will also be attracted to the lab. It will likely focus on start-ups in the IT, social and digital media sectors, as well as some medical opportunities.

Residency in the labs is limited to six months. Some of the companies that have used the US labs include KidMango, one of the world’s largest online libraries of independent, professionally produced video directed at kids; AdCru, a pay-per-follower ad network for Twitter; and Pieceable, a service that lets you build native iPhone applications without programming.

Polaris does not automatically invest in or take equity in every company that uses the labs, but provides a network of advice, and keeps a close eye on the projects coming through it.

Maguire says the labs provide entrepreneurs with a “class” for six months, where they can engage with a community of like-minded people, bounce ideas off each other and pre-form their business concepts.

To date, 40 companies have been started through Dogpatch, and Polaris has invested in eight of these. So far, three have been sold for a profit. The Dublin lab is expected to open in late spring, with a director to be appointed imminently.