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I created Business Builders as a weekly interview series to have honest conversations with business owners, entrepreneurs, and investors about their journeys; their successes, setbacks, and the lessons they’ve learned along the way. As a growing business builder myself, I want to learn directly from my guests and share those insights with you. My goal is to provide listeners with practical takeaways, fresh perspectives, and real inspiration to help you on your own path to building and growing a business.
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🔔🔔 Laura Dowling, founder of fabÜ, built a business by talking about topics most people avoid; and it changed everything 🔔🔔 Laura Dowling joins Business Builders to share how she turned women’s health - one of the most overlooked and under-discussed areas in healthcare - into a fast-growing brand, a platform, and a movement. What started as years of frustration working as a pharmacist and seeing women suffer in silence with issues no one was talking about, evolved into a business, a movement,...
My guest today is Jayne Ronayne, Co-Founder and CEO of OAC Snacks, an e-commerce company focusing on high protein snacks that are simple, delicious and made for real life. Jayne previously founded employee experience platform Talivest, which raised over €3 million in its lifetime (from some very big named investors) and was acquired by the Australian tech company Go1 in 2022. In this chat, Jayne talks about: Why she’s turning her back on the business “holy grail” of SAAS, and getting in...
Ann O’Dea joins Business Builders for a wide-ranging conversation about entrepreneurship, technology, artificial intelligence, and building a media business at the dawn of the internet. As co-founder of Silicon Republic, Ann helped launch one of Ireland’s leading technology news platforms at a time when almost nobody was reading news online. Advertisers didn’t believe in digital media, the audience was tiny, and the future of the internet was still uncertain. Instead of waiting for the market...
Evelyn Kelly joins Business Builders for a powerful conversation about rare disease medicine, scaling a global consultancy, and what it really means to build a business with purpose. From starting at her kitchen table in 2017 with no formal plan, to growing Orphan Drug Consulting from €250,000 to €5 million in just four years, Evelyn shares how she built a specialist pharma consultancy that has helped over 70 companies launch medicines in more than 100 countries. But this isn’t just a growth ...
Philip McKernan joins Business Builders for a powerful conversation about success, identity, money, and the quiet cost of living a life that isn’t fully aligned with who you are. Rather than framing success as growth, scale, or financial achievement, Philip challenges the idea that more money or momentum will ever resolve a deeper sense of unease. Drawing on his work with entrepreneurs, athletes, and leaders around the world — as well as his own experience of losing everything — he explores w...
Neuroscientist and psychologist Ian Robertson joins Business Builders to unpack what confidence really is, how it shapes success, and why it can quietly turn against the very people it helps elevate. Ian is Emeritus Professor at Trinity College, Dublin and author of two best-selling books: How Confidence Works: the new science of self-belief. Penguin The Winner Effect: the science of success and how to use it. Bloomsbury Rather than treating confidence as optimism or self-belief, Ian explain...
Tim Sparsis, founder of The Attic Company, shares an honest account of what it really takes to grow a trade business from the ground up — from arriving in Ireland with an old van and borrowed money to building a company that now delivers hundreds of projects every year. Tim talks openly about the early days of doing everything himself, the fear of hiring when cash was tight, and the moment he realised that staying “on the tools” was holding the business back. He explains why scaling meant goi...
Business leader and entrepreneur Pádraig O’Céidigh shares a deeply reflective conversation on success, stress, and the question most people never stop to ask: what is enough? Drawing on decades of experience in business and life, Pádraig speaks candidly about decision-making under pressure, the hidden cost of ambition, and why many of the richest people he knows are not happy. He introduces the idea of a personal “safe harbour” — a way of making life and business decisions that prioritise pe...
Tom Rowan, founder of Rowan Engineering, shares a grounded and refreshingly honest account of how he built a forensic engineering and environmental consultancy from one customer and no grand plan into a 30-person business working with insurers, public bodies, and major Irish organisations. Rather than chasing hype or overnight success, Tom explains how his ambition evolved gradually — from simply replacing his salary, to hitting €250k, then €1 million, and beyond. Along the way, he reflects ...
After losing his engineering job during the 2008 crash, Daniel Plewman found himself unemployed, on the dole, and unsure what came next. A chance moment — his wife struggling to source quality scrubs from the US — sparked the idea that would eventually become Happythreads, an e-commerce scrubs and healthcare uniform business now operating across Ireland, the UK, France, Spain, Germany and beyond. In this episode, Danny shares how he built Happy Threads from a spare room in Stoneybatter, goin...
Former Paddy Power co-founder Stewart Kenny shares a brutally honest account of how he built — and then left — the world’s biggest betting company. From his father’s influence and early fascination with risk to the creation of Paddy Power’s fearless marketing, Stewart speaks candidly about success, addiction, ethics, and why he ultimately left the industry he helped define. 🎧 In this episode, you’ll learn: – How Paddy Power became a cultural phenomenon – The marketing mindset that reshaped b...
Niall Jones, co-owner of Anglo Irish Refrigeration, joins host Conor Kearney to share his journey from redundancy to running a €30M+ business. In this episode, Niall gets candid about the personal risks of buying a company, the adrenaline of nonstop growth, and how culture—not spreadsheets—has become his most powerful business tool. If you’re interested in acquisitions, scaling SMEs, or what it really takes to grow a service-heavy business, this is an essential listen.
What can a magician teach us about leadership, resilience, and growth? In this episode of Business Builders Podcast, Ciaran McCormack shares how his early lessons in crowd control and stage presence became the foundations for running one of Ireland and the UK’s most successful retail groups. From balloon animals to Apple, to steering a company through examinership and rebirth, this is a story about creativity, grit, and believing in possibility — even when everything’s on the line. 🎧 In thi...
Hire world-class accountants and in The Philippines. Visit Outsource Direct to scale your operations with higher flexibility, maximum efficiency and much lower costs. Subscribe to the Business Builders Newsletter for the very best ideas I've discovered on business and personal growth. In Series 10, Episode #94, I interview Sean Mac Fhearraigh, co-founder and Chief Scientific Officer at Assay Genie. Sean shares his journey from academic cancer researcher to successful entrepreneur. We delve ...
Hire world-class accountants and in The Philippines. Visit Outsource Direct to scale your operations with higher flexibility, maximum efficiency and much lower costs. Subscribe to the Business Builders Newsletter for the very best ideas I've discovered on business and personal growth. In Series 10, Episode #93, I interview Laura Dillon, head of Waterland Private Equity. She elaborates on Waterland's investment strategy, focusing on mature companies with high growth potential, and highlights...
Hire world-class accountants and in The Philippines. Visit Outsource Direct to scale your operations with higher flexibility, maximum efficiency and much lower costs. Subscribe to the Business Builders Newsletter for the very best ideas I've discovered on business and personal growth. In Series 10, Episode #92, I sit down with Ross Keating, founder of The Lennox Academy, a sales training business that has achieved six-figure monthly revenues within two and a half years. Ross shares his jour...
Hire world-class accountants and in The Philippines. Visit Outsource Direct to scale your operations with higher flexibility, maximum efficiency and much lower costs. Subscribe to the Business Builders Newsletter for the very best ideas I've discovered on business and personal growth. In Series 10, Episode #91, I interview Laura McDermott, Founder and CEO of Colectivo, a sustainability consultancy. The discussion covers various aspects of Colectivo's services, including advancing sustainabi...
Hire world-class accountants and in The Philippines. Visit Outsource Direct to scale your operations with higher flexibility, maximum efficiency and much lower costs. Subscribe to the Business Builders Newsletter for the very best ideas I've discovered on business and personal growth. In Series 10, Episode #90, I sit down with Ciaran Marron, founder and CEO of Activ8 Solar Energies. Ciaran shares his incredible journey of starting from a makeshift office in a rented house's back bedroom to ...
Hire world-class accountants and in The Philippines. Visit Outsource Direct to scale your operations with higher flexibility, maximum efficiency and much lower costs. Subscribe to the Business Builders Newsletter for the very best ideas I've discovered on business and personal growth. In Series 10, Episode #89, I interview Michael Flynn, famously known as Mattress Mick. Michael shares his remarkable journey from growing up in Dublin's Pearse Street, working in a bank, and taking over the fa...
Hire world-class accountants and in The Philippines. Visit Outsource Direct to scale your operations with higher flexibility, maximum efficiency and much lower costs. Subscribe to the Business Builders Newsletter for the very best ideas I've discovered on business and personal growth. In Series 10, Episode #88, I interview Fionn Barron, co-founder and Chief Customer Officer at Tracworx. Fionn shares his experiences from starting a business as a college project to creating a successful compa...
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