About Me
Dubliner. Founder. Startup Advisor. Angel Investor.
I’ve been a developer since the mid 90′s, though I don’t write as much code as I used to. I am VP Developers³ at Engine Yard, pioneers of Platform as a Service (PaaS) technology, and the best group of people I’ve ever worked with.
Previously, I founded a devshop called EchoLibre, and a PHP PaaS called Orchestra with my co-founders David Coallier and Helgi Thorbjoernsson.
Orchestra sold to Engine Yard in 2011.
I’m a community activist in Dublin, where I organise a number of events for developers, designers and startups, such as:
- Funconf (with my friend Paul Campbell) – a small conference that has been held on busses, in a castle and on an island.
- PubStandards Dublin, the largest monthly gathering of developers, designers and startups in Ireland. Follow @PubStandardsDublin.
- WhiskeyMarch. A pub crawl for geeks that has been run in Dublin, San Francisco, Portland and Melbourne. Follow @WhiskeyMarch.
- Open Data Ireland. A group of geeks, interested in Open Data, pushing for a future of easily available, linked up information.
In my spare time, I advise startups and do a bit angel investing. I’ve an interest in companies that make things easier for founders / business owners, and people who build things such as developers and designers.
Startups I’ve invested in:
- Sprintly - Developer Productivity – “Don’t ask how it’s going. Watch how it’s going in real-time.”
- Intercom – Customer Engagement – “The best way to get users actually using your product.”
- Rentview – Property Management - “Manage, build and retain property management clients.”
- Circa – Mobile News - “The best way to read news on your phone.”
- Trustev – eCommerce - “Realtime fraud prevention using social data.”
Startups I’m currently advising:
- Conker – Business Insight for Game Developers – “Clear, actionable insights into the behaviours that are driving your players.”
I’m on Angel List too.
In 2012 I became a board member of Inspire Ireland, who help young people live happier lives; and The Hello World Foundation, who teach over 10,000 young people around the world to code, through CoderDojo.
I tweet at @EamonLeonard, that’s usually the best way to contact me.
Short Bio
I’m sometimes asked for a short bio to accompany an interview or a talk. In such cases, the paragraph below might be helpful.
Eamon Leonard is an advisor to start-ups, an angel investor, a tech community organiser and has an interest in cloud platforms and developer tools. Based in Ireland, he is VP Developers³ at Engine Yard, having joined the company through their acquisition of Orchestra, a PHP Platform-as-a-Service he co-founded in 2011.