In this Mentor Moment, Ciara Troy, founder of Oishii Sushi, shares a simple founder advantage that most people avoid: getting closer to the customer voice, not further away from it. Instead of over-engineering a five-year plan, Ciara focused on relentless iteration - testing, listening, refining, and letting real demand guide the next move. It’s a practical reminder that traction often comes from doing the unglamorous work: showing up consistently, making small improvements, and acting fast on f...
May 03, 2026•6 min
What does it take to make a plan at 16 - and still be executing on it at 32? Ashley McDonnell saw a Christian Dior exhibition in London as a teenager and decided she was going to work for Dior. She didn't know French. She'd never lived abroad. She had no connections in luxury. Six years later, she was walking into LVMH headquarters on Avenue Montaigne in Paris. Now she's back building in Ireland — founding Ireland Fashion Week, launching Vyko (Ireland's first luxury brand group), and building th...
Apr 30, 2026•2 hr 4 min
In this Mentor Moment, Paul Buckley shares the messy, real start of what became a serious founder journey - not from a polished “masterplan,” but from a place of pressure, responsibility, and learning fast. Paul is the entrepreneur behind EPS Group Australia (which he built and exited) and now C2O Group , and he’s a great example of how leadership is often forged in the moments you didn’t choose: when the plan changes, money gets tight, and you still have to figure it out. The lesson here is abo...
Apr 26, 2026•14 min
What if the reason your business isn't scaling is that you're aiming 10% higher when you should be aiming 10x? Sean Mullaney has been a founder three times, led engineering at Google X's moonshot factory, scaled Zalando from €1bn to €10bn, and is now building Seapoint - the business bank designed from the ground up for founders. In this episode, he unpacks the systems, mindsets, and decisions behind 25 years in tech, and why he believes we're living through the most exciting moment in business h...
Apr 23, 2026•1 hr 46 min
A reminder that big breaks often come from proactive moves: ask, show up, build relationships, and make it easy for the right people to say yes. Rory also shows what matters after the moment hits - capturing it, repurposing it, and using it to build momentum, not just hype. Listen back to the full episode, Episode 443 - and subscribe/follow so you don’t miss the next episode. *Our Sponsors * Nostra: https://bit.ly/nostra26 Azure: https://bit.ly/azure26 Follow The Entrepreneur Experiment: Instagr...
Apr 19, 2026•8 min
In this episode of The Entrepreneur Experiment, Gary Fox sits down with Anthony Kelly - entrepreneur, co-founder of Glofox, and co-founder of WellFest - for a wide-ranging conversation on building in the health and wellness space long before it became mainstream. From spotting the early signals in boutique fitness and turning that into a global software company, to building one of Ireland’s best-known wellness festivals over a decade, Anthony shares what it really takes to grow in a category tha...
Apr 17, 2026•1 hr 39 min
In this episode of The Entrepreneur Experiment , Gary Fox sits down with Nir Eyal — bestselling author of Hooked , Indistractable , and Beyond Belief - for a masterclass on the psychology of belief, persistence, and entrepreneurial thinking. Together, they explore why success is so often less about intelligence, resources, or talent, and more about what you believe is possible. Drawing on psychology, behavioural science, and real-world entrepreneurial examples, Nir explains why some people spot ...
Apr 09, 2026•1 hr
In this episode of The Entrepreneur Experiment, Gary Fox sits down with Jennie and Lisa, the founders of Gigi, the women’s health brand rethinking hormonal support through premium, evidence-led supplements. From working as registered nutritional therapists to building a fast-growing consumer brand, Jennie and Lisa share how their clinical experience led them to spot a major gap in the market: women being told to take multiple supplements for PMS and hormone balance, with no simple, targeted solu...
Apr 02, 2026•1 hr 30 min
A premium-brand lesson you can steal in any industry: pricing that isn’t just maths. Alan shares how pricing can be communication, positioning, and part of the customer journey. He shows how the “moment of pause” or consideration can actually work in your favour when the product delivers and the experience educates. Listen back to the full episode, Episode 441 now for the full conversation with Alan, and subscribe or follow now, for more episodes like this. *Our Sponsors * Nostra: https://bit.ly...
Mar 29, 2026•5 min•Season 29Ep. 2
In this episode of The Entrepreneur Experiment , Gary Fox sits down with Ken Rideout for a conversation that goes far beyond endurance sport. Yes, they talk about marathons, HYROX, discipline, and what it really feels like to stand on a start line ready to compete — but this episode is really about identity, effort, masculinity, parenting, business ambition, and the mindset required to keep going when life gets hard. Ken opens up about what success actually means to him, why he believes failure ...
Mar 26, 2026•53 min•Season 29Ep. 1
In this Mentor Moment, Gerry Hussey shares a simple but powerful way to visualise success that founders can actually put into practice. Instead of vague “future goals,” Gerry breaks it down into outcomes, daily process enablers, and identity — becoming the person who already lives the life you’re working towards. You’ll hear his step-by-step exercise to map what you want, identify the habits that get you there, and close the gap between who you are today and who you need to become. For the full ...
Mar 14, 2026•6 min
In this episode of The Entrepreneur Experiment , Gary Fox sits down with Eoin Cluskey , founder and head baker of Bread 41 , the Dublin bakery business built on craft, care, and real food. From leaving school early and training as a carpenter to finding his calling in kitchens abroad, Eoin shares the winding road that led him back to Ireland to build one of the country’s most loved bakery brands. Bread 41 launched in 2018 and has since expanded across multiple locations while staying fiercely co...
Mar 12, 2026•1 hr 22 min
In this Mentor Moment, Lorraine Heskin — founder of Gourmet Food Parlour — takes us back to 2006, right in the heart of the Celtic Tiger, when she made the leap from a stable job into the unknown to build her own café brand. Lorraine shares how she approached brand-building from day one, why finding a location was the hardest part (and why she refused to pay key money), and the magic of opening the doors to a queue down the street — proving the idea wasn’t just in her head, the community wanted ...
Mar 08, 2026•8 min
Andrea Reynolds, Founder & CEO of Swoop, joins Gary to break down what founders actually need to know about funding, cash flow and building a business that lasts. Andrea started Swoop after becoming deeply frustrated by how hard it was for business owners to access grants, loans and funding quickly. What began as anger at a broken system became a fintech platform helping businesses access cash faster, automate funding applications and identify savings across essential services. In this conve...
Mar 05, 2026•1 hr 23 min
In this Mentor Moment, Anthony Gallagher, founder of Petstop, Ireland’s leading Independent Pet Retailer, shares what he’s proudest of after decades in business: the people who stayed. From team members who have been with him for nearly 30 years to multi-generational families now working across the business, Anthony reflects on why great companies are built by investing in people, staying close to customers, and never losing touch with what’s happening on the ground. He also shares why he still ...
Mar 01, 2026•10 min
Will Meara is the founder behind Bingo Loco — the 3-hour bingo rave that sells chaos as an experience and somehow turns strangers into mates in the space of one night. In this episode, Will breaks down how Bingo Loco went from a scrappy experiment in Dublin to a global live-experience machine — running roughly 2,000 events a year , active in around 270+ cities , with a team of ~276 people and ~200+ performers (MCs, DJs and talent) powering the shows. We get into the real mechanics most people mi...
Feb 26, 2026•1 hr 43 min
In this Mentor Moment, Rory King - founder of Rory’s Travel Club - breaks down the content engine behind building a simple, low-cost membership business at scale. He shares how they publish across multiple platforms every day, the split between posts that convert (offers), posts that build trust (reviews/testimonials), and posts that drive engagement (questions, entertainment), plus why “value first” is the only strategy that lasts. If you’re trying to grow an audience, build a personal brand, o...
Feb 21, 2026•8 min
In this episode, Gary sits down with Dr Caitriona Ryan and Dr Niki Ralph , co-founders of the Institute of Dermatologists in Dublin, to unpack how they built a modern “centre of excellence” model in Irish private care - combining medical dermatology, cosmetic dermatology, skincare, and a growing surgical pathway under one roof. They share the realities of scaling a high-trust healthcare business (systems, hiring, standards, and culture), how COVID sparked a major pivot into new services, and why...
Feb 19, 2026•1 hr 16 min
In this bite-sized Mentor Moment, Seán Brett shares the raw, real start of his entrepreneurial journey - leaving school at 14 after being misunderstood for dyslexia and ADHD, and turning that experience into creativity, resilience, and a relentless drive to build a better life. Seán breaks down why “non-traditional” beginnings can become an advantage, how early selling teaches you more than any classroom, and why understanding people - not just products - is at the heart of business. For the ful...
Feb 14, 2026•8 min
What doesn’t disappear in a recession? Money. What disappears is confidence — and that’s where opportunity lives. In this episode of The Entrepreneur Experiment , Gary sits down with Ray Ryan , founder of The Noledge Group , for a wide-ranging, founder-first conversation on staying relevant through decades of tech change — from mainframes, to PCs, to cloud… and now AI, agents, and wearables . Ray shares how he’s built and evolved a business by spotting shifts early, testing relentlessly, and foc...
Feb 12, 2026•1 hr 15 min
In this weekend’s Mentor Moment, Charlene Flanagan and Niamh Ryan - the founders of Ella & Jo - share a refreshing take on what success really means. Instead of chasing someone else’s version of the win, they talk about defining success for yourself: freedom, family time, building from the west of Ireland, and creating a legacy by bringing a brand from “nothing” to customers in over 50 countries. If you’ve ever felt swept up in external pressure - the numbers, the milestones, the “next thing...
Feb 07, 2026•8 min
In this brand-new Masterclass Special , Gary Fox sits down with Diarmuid Corcoran of Chartered Capital to unpack the money questions Irish founders avoid - until it’s too late. They talk openly about why money can still feel like a “dirty word” in Ireland, why founders can be brilliant at making money but hesitant to manage it, and how wealth often compounds simply because of maths . Diarmuid breaks down the core principles of long-term investing (without the hype), the psychology that causes pe...
Feb 05, 2026•1 hr 26 min•Season 28Ep. 3
In this Mentor Moment, Keilidh Cashell shares the exact moment her career pivoted - she left her job on the makeup counter with plans to build a weekend client business… and instead, brands started reaching out with paid opportunities straight away. Keilidh breaks down how she stayed true to her values, learned the realities of the influencer industry, and why trust and long-term partnerships matter more than a quick ad. 🎧 Want the full story? Listen to Episode 414 of The Entrepreneur Experimen...
Feb 01, 2026•8 min
In this episode of The Entrepreneur Experiment , Gary Fox sits down with Spencer Matthews - founder of CleanCo , endurance adventurer, and the definition of a modern founder operating across business, body and brain . Spencer shares the real story behind his identity shift: from heavy drinking and coasting, to building extreme discipline through endurance challenges, and channeling that same intensity into building CleanCo. He opens up about raising big money, moving too fast, the U.S. expansion...
Jan 29, 2026•1 hr 17 min•Season 28Ep. 2
Welcome back to The Entrepreneur Experiment for 2026 - and Season 28 kicks off with a special format: an Ask Me Anything Q&A. Gary answers the most “juicy” questions sent in over Christmas (LinkedIn, Instagram, and the newsletter), covering everything from taking the podcast global, to the tools and team behind the scenes, to why he’s doubling down on founder-led brands in the age of AI. You’ll also hear Gary’s hot takes for 2026 (see: remote vs. hybrid: pick a lane ), the founders he believ...
Jan 22, 2026•33 min•Season 28Ep. 1
Recorded live at The Sugar Club, this special edition of The Entrepreneur Experiment brings three standout Irish founders on stage for an honest, high-energy conversation about building modern businesses in public. Aine Kennedy, founder of The Smooth Company and newly crowned EY Entrepreneur of the Year, shares how she launched her first product with no budget, built everything herself, with the help of her family, and turned documenting the journey on TikTok into 150 million organic views, now ...
Dec 18, 2025•47 min
How do you build a powerful business network when you’re starting with no members, no brand, and no shortcuts ? In this Mentor Moment, Trevor McFarlane , founder and CEO of EMIR , shares how he built one of the Middle East’s most influential private CEO networks — starting with a single event, a lot of nerve, and an obsession with trust and curation. Trevor explains why optics matter, how credibility compounds over time, and why protecting the integrity of a network is far more valuable than sho...
Dec 13, 2025•7 min
In this episode of The Entrepreneur Experiment , Gary Fox welcomes back Matthew Coffey , co-founder of Squid , Ireland and the UK’s largest local loyalty network with 550,000+ users and nearly 2,000 independent businesses . What began as a simple tap-for-coffee reward app has evolved into a powerful loyalty and payments infrastructure - and now Squid has launched Wave , a universal points currency described as “air miles for the high street.” You can now earn points in one brand and redeem them ...
Dec 11, 2025•1 hr 21 min
What happens when a founder opens the company’s books to every single staff member — salaries, P&L, everything? In this episode, Eoin Cantwell , founder of Fitt Meals , shares the bold move that transformed his culture, boosted performance, and created true ownership across his team. Eoin opens up about: why he embraced full financial transparency with staff how he teaches the “why” behind decisions, not just the “what” building accountability and KPIs in a growing food business scaling a bo...
Dec 06, 2025•9 min
In this episode of The Entrepreneur Experiment, Gary Fox sits down with Jac Dunne, CEO of Dimply, an AI-powered financial experience platform that’s quietly reshaping how banks, insurers and wealth managers serve their customers. After almost three decades in legacy finance, Jac made a bold move in her mid-50s into regtech and then fintech, “bookending” her career by building the kind of technology she always wished existed inside the big institutions. She breaks down what Dimply actually does i...
Dec 04, 2025•1 hr 24 min
