Digital Irish Podcast

Caitríona Perry is a multi- award-winning Irish journalist.  She is Chief Presenter with BBC News, broadcasting daily from Washington DC to a global audience. She joined the BBC in August 2023 from RTÉ – Ireland’s national public service broadcaster where she was the presenter of the country’s main evening news programme and anchor of special event programmes, including leading the coverage of US elections and the visit to Ireland by President Joe Biden. Prior to that, she was RTÉ’s US Correspondent based in Washington DC where she covered the Obama-Biden and the Trump-Pence administrations, the 2016 elections and all aspects of US economic, political, cultural and sporting life. She has written two best-selling and critically acclaimed books on US politics ('In America: Tales from Trump Country' and 'The Tribe: The Inside Story of Irish Power and Influence in US politics'). She’s also worked as a broadcast news correspondent, documentary maker and a programme editor. She has reported for radio, tv, digital and social platforms from Ireland, the UK, the US, Canada, Latin America, Europe and Australia. 

Digital Irish hosts Celebration of Irish Founders at the Embassy of Ireland in London

https://digitalirish.com/icymi-a-celebration-of-irish-founders-at-the-embassy-of-ireland/

For the first time, Digital Irish was at the Embassy of Ireland in London, hosted by Ambassador Martin Fraser. This special occasion brought together London’s Irish innovators from startups, corporates, and venture capital firms, with the aim of strengthening our community ties. At the heart of the event was a panel discussion featuring some of the city’s top Irish founders, who shared their stories and the lessons learned on their entrepreneurial journeys. We also used the event as a rallying call to action for everyone in attendance to think about how they can build a better community for all by paying it forward. 

• www.akara.ai 

• In this episode, we sit down with Niamh Donnelly, the visionary co-founder of Akara Robotics, a trailblazing company at the forefront of healthcare automation. Join us as we delve into the fascinating world of revolutionizing cleaning and sanitization in care homes and hospitals.

• Niamh Donnelly is a co-founder and Chief Robotics Officer at Akara Robotics, a healthcare robotics company building groundbreaking technology to enhance infection control and patient safety in hospitals. Niamh holds a Bachelors degree in Engineering and a Masters in AI and Machine learning. She has previously held engineering positions at Etsy and Syze (AI start-up based in Dublin) and has also worked as an AI consultant at some of the biggest insurance and banking firms in Ireland. 

• She has won national awards for her AI research in the area of Convolutional Neural Networks, was named by Silicon Republic as one of "20 women doing fascinating work in AI, machine learning and data science" and was awarded the prestigious 'EU Top Rising Innovator' award by the European Commission. At Akara, Niamh oversees the development of artificial intelligence and machine learning. She played a key role in the development and validation of the 'Stevie' robot, which featured on the cover of Time magazine in 2019.

• Tune in to gain a deeper understanding of the transformative power of robotics in healthcare, and how Akara Robotics is leading the way towards a new era of smart, efficient, and hygienic care environments. This is an episode you won't want to miss—empowering, enlightening, and at the cutting edge of healthcare innovation!

• Join us for a dynamic discussion with leading experts from Ireland's booming Fintech scene. We'll dive into the powerful synergy between government, academia, and businesses, exploring how they're:

• Sparking a culture of innovation: Discover how government initiatives and organizations like Enterprise Ireland are nurturing a fertile ground for disruptive Fintech solutions.

• Building the talent pipeline: Learn how universities and research institutions are equipping the next generation of talent with the skills and knowledge to conquer the global market.

• Fostering collaboration: Dive into the unique partnerships between established financial institutions and startups, driving rapid development and market adoption.

• Scaling for global impact: Unravel the secrets behind Irish Fintech companies' success in expanding beyond their borders and leaving their mark on the world stage.

• Our panel includes:

• Conor White, Daon, https://www.daon.com/ - Conor is part of the core team that founded Daon. He joined the company as Chief Technology Officer in 2001 with the goal of designing and delivering trusted experiences that put human beings back at the center of digital transactions. In 2015, Conor accepted the role of President of the Americas, where he led all Daon activities across North, South, and Latin America. Then, in 2023, he accepted the role of President, New Industries, where he leads efforts to find Daon’s “next big thing.”

• Patrick Horgan, Valid8me, https://www.valid8me.com/ - CEO and Co-Founder of valid8Me. Patrick is responsible for leading the development and global rollout of valid8Me, comprising general operations, business development strategy, and client relationships. Patrick is an experienced leader in the investment management and professional services industries, recognized for building and leading teams to deliver sustainable business value.

• Stephen Walsh, Keeper Solutions, https://keepersolutions.com/ - Stephen Edward Walsh has been working in the IT industry since 1994. In 2011, they founded Keeper Solutions Worldwide, providing high-quality tailored fixed-price managed services to corporates, scaling tech firms and fintechs.

• Our guest host on the podcast is Maria Gagic - who is currently SVP of Financial Technology and Services in the Enterprise Ireland New York office; Maria’s role is to support Irish Fintech companies to start and scale their businesses in the USA

• www.imr.ie
• Smart Industry Readiness Index (SIRI)  https://imr.ie/what-we-do/services/smart-industry-readiness-index/

Details:

• This podcast explores the human side of industrial digital transformation. We talk to leaders who are harnessing the power of technology to create a more connected, collaborative, and agile workforce.
• We discuss the challenges and opportunities of digital transformation, and we share stories of how people are coming together to create a more sustainable, prosperous, and inclusive future for industry.
• Join us as we explore the intersection of people, collaboration, and technology in the age of industrial digital transformation.
• Listen and learn how:

• People are the key to successful digital transformation

• Collaboration is essential for breaking down silos and driving innovation

• A shared vision can help organizations navigate the challenges of change

• Digital transformation can create a more sustainable, prosperous, and inclusive future for industry

• Our panel includes:

• Dr Andrew Lynch, Chief Innovation Officer, Irish Manufacturing Research (www.imr.ie). Andrew is the Chief Innovation Officer at Irish Manufacturing Research.  He is the international Vice President of the EUREKA SMART Manufacturing Board of Directors, chairs the ManuFuture ETP Working Group (State Aid Strategies- Research & Innovation) and is the national delegate to the European manufacturing policy platform, ManuFuture High Level Group (HLG). Andrew has recently been nominated by EFFRA to the Made in Europe Partnership Board, an expert board which meets regularly with the European Commission to discuss the scope and modalities of the Partnership and future call topics.

• Joe Peppard, Professor and Academic Director at UCD Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School - teaching and consulting in the domains of IT leadership, digital strategy and innovation, the execution of digital transformation programs, the creation of value from IT investments, and in the role, structure and capabilities of the IT unit in contemporary organizations.

• On this episode of the Digital Irish Podcast, we host a panel of entrepreneurs and tech innovators who are working with AI to grow their business

• The first part of the conversation focuses on demystifying AI and its use, before shifting focus to the specific role of AI in business and the future of AI in Ireland.

• This conversation provides a comprehensive overview of AI and its potential impact on Irish Businesses. A fascinating conversation for anyone who is interested in learning more about this rapidly evolving technology.

• Our guests include:

• Rafael Pagés - Co-founder and CEO of Volograms (https://www.volograms.com/), a Trinity College Dublin spin out using AI to create volumetric 3D holograms for immersive communications. Rafa is an expert in immersive technologies with more than 10 years of experience, both as entrepreneur (with another startup founded in the field) and as a researcher (with a PhD in Computer Vision and 25+ published papers and patents). As Volograms co-founder, he was nominated for the Enterprise Ireland HPSU Founder of the Year Award in 2019.  

• Alan Gormley - CEO of Shopbox (https://www.shopbox.ai/). Alan has over 26 years at the forefront of AI working with the largest companies across Europe. Frustrated by the huge barriers to entry for most companies, Alan founded Shopbox AI in 2020. His mission is to enable any retailer to benefit from deep AI, with no effort.

• Dr Amelia Kelly - CTO, Soapbox Labs (https://www.soapboxlabs.com/). Dr Kelly is an artificial intelligence engineer and manager, specialising in speech recognition and natural language understanding. Masters and PhD in Speech Tech from Trinity College Dublin. Fulbright Scholar. For the last 8 years she has helped build a cross-functional team of engineers and researchers and create the SoapBox Engine, a speech recognition and analysis system specifically for children's voices and use-cases.

• Noel Kenehan - Lead, AI/ML Center of Excellence, Google Cloud Partnerships

• This episode is hosted by Dave Byrne, alongside guest host Martha O'Byrne-O'Reilly 

• Martha is Senior Vice President of Digital Technologies at Enterprise Ireland, she is based in San Francisco. In her role Martha works proactively with Irish enterprises to support them reach their full potential in the US market. Martha joined Enterprise Ireland in April '23 with over 10 years' experience working in tech both in the Bay Area and in Ireland. Her previous roles included Head of Messaging Partnerships at Meta and Global Sales Partnerships Lead at Twitter. In her own words: "It's a privilege to represent Ireland's thriving digital tech ecosystem and I'm looking forward to building successful, long-term business relationships between US customers and Irish enterprises"

• • Leo Clancy is Chief Executive Officer of Enterprise Ireland, the Irish government agency that helps innovative Irish businesses go global

  • Enterprise Ireland’s mission is to accelerate the development of world-class Irish companies to achieve leading positions in global markets.

  • Its network of 39 international  offices encourage international companies to source Irish innovation, and support Irish companies to scale internationally. 

  • Before being appointed as CEO of Enterprise Ireland, Leo was part of the Executive team at IDA Ireland, responsible for a number of areas including Technology and Business Services markets, IT and Marketing. In that role, Leo worked extensively with global technology and services companies invested in Ireland.

  • Prior to his public sector career, Leo spent 17 years in the telecommunications industry, including in a number of management, technical and engineering roles. He was part of the senior leadership team at e|net, a high-growth Irish wholesale broadband provider. He spent the early part of his career at Ericsson, working as an engineer and manager in Ireland and across Europe, the Middle East and Africa within global services on deployment of telecommunications networks.

  • Leo is a graduate of Electronic and Electrical Engineering from Dublin Institute of Technology. He grew up on a farm in County Tipperary and retains a strong fundamental understanding of the agricultural and food sector.

  • This episode is hosted by Dave Byrne

• Alan Gleeson is the CEO and Co-Founder of Contento, (www.contento.io) a content management system (CMS) for B2B SaaS and technology websites.

• Alan started his career in financial services, joining Barclays on their graduate programme. After Barclays he moved to Freeserve, then one of the poster boys for the 'dot com' boom. He subsequently joined Palo Alto Software, a leading Software as a Service (SaaS) company where he acted as the Managing Director for the European subsidiary.

• In recent years Alan has worked as a Fractional Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) for several  B2B SaaS companies, in a mix of full time and consultancy engagements .

• Alan is based in London, is on the board of Digital Irish, and coaches at Ealing Trailfinders Rugby Club.

• He also has an MBA from University of Oxford, and an MSc from University College Cork, Ireland.

• This episode is hosted by Dave Byrne

• wio.io 

• Conall Laverty, is the Founder & CEO of Wia, an Irish startup that provides sustainability companies with cloud infrastructure to utilise the Internet of Things. He is a key figure in the global Internet of Things ecosystem and was listed on Forbes 30 Under 30 for Europe. During the COVID-19 pandemic, he co-founded OSV, one of the fastest growing hardware movements to develop open source ventilators with over 7,000 engineers, designers and medical professionals.

• From County Tyrone, Northern Ireland, Conall was previously CTO of Big Motive, a creative technology company based in London and Belfast. There he architected and developed products for BBC, Net-a-Porter and Channel 4. He was also Technical Director of Woogie, an innovation consultancy who has worked with Cambridge Silicon Radio, Deezer and startups throughout Ireland. He attained a First Class Honours Masters from Queen’s University Belfast in Computer Games Development. 

• Speaker engagements include Mobile World Congress, Dublin Tech Summit, RIOT, Web Summit, TechConnect, ICONs Festival, Google, Facebook.

• Publications include Bloomberg, Forbes, TechCrunch, Yahoo Finance, Irish Times, Fora, Silicon Republic, Sunday Business Post, Business World

• Awards and Accolades

• Nominated for Irish Red Cross Humanitarian Awards 2020

• JCI Outstanding Young People Awards for 2020

• Forbes 30 Under 30 2019

• Blackbox Connect 23 2018

• Sunday Business Post 30 Under 30 2018

• Digital DNA Young Person of the Year 2017

• IIA Startup of the Year 2017

• NDRC Launchpad Winner 2016

• This episode is hosted by⁠ ⁠⁠Dave Byrne⁠

• After building a viewership of 4 million across two online magazines, Greta Dunne designed Marker Content and launched it last year. 

• Marker Content is an online library of evergreen articles that you can download and edit for use on your own website or social media platforms.
• Now reaching 75,000 contributors, she's aiming to build the biggest content marketplace in the world; written by writers, not robots

• Through all of this work, Greta has faced personal adversity - which offered her unique perspective and learnings she is now applying to her life as a founder and business leader

• This episode is hosted by Dave Byrne

• A born and raised New Yorker, Chris Walla moved to Ireland in 2017 to join the founding team of Dogpatch Labs, a startup incubator and innovation lab in Dublin. Over five years, Chris helped build Dogpatch Labs into Ireland’s top incubator and one of Crunchbase’s ‘Top 10 Incubators Around the World You Need to Know’, leading their business development unit.

• Chris works at the intersection of startups and corporates. He has worked hands-on with 100+ startups as well as 10+ corporate partners on innovation activity. He has secured innovation partnerships with some of the world’s largest companies globally, including Unilever, Fidelity Investments, IBM, Huawei, and more.

• Chris has a track record of winning landmark contracts spanning the domains of startups, corporates, and government, notably a €17M contract to run Ireland’s national startup accelerator

• This episode is hosted by Dave Byrne

• Diarmaid is the founder of Tonnta (tonnta.io), a pioneering platform that simplifies inbox management for solopreneurs. Diarmaid's early career saw him work at Hewlett Packard Enterprise and the University of Galway ISS department before venturing to New York in 2017 to join On The Stage, a company specializing in technological solutions for the creative arts market.
• Since starting Tonnta, Diarmaid has worked tirelessly to build both the platform and its community, with a global solopreneur market firmly in his sights. He has participated in Enterprise Ireland's New Frontiers program and the NDRC Pre-Accelerator, with the goal of developing Tonnta into a sustainable and thriving business.
• As well as bootstrapping Tonnta, Diarmaid is a Product Management Consultant (diarmaid.info) and founder of Empathy Jam Galway, a project he conceived during his time in New York in collaboration with Empathy Jam NYC.

This episode is hosted by Dave Byrne

This episode is hosted by Dave Byrne

Click here for a short explainer video, here for a sneak peak at the portal, and here to register interest for the investment opportunity.

Link to Gavin Molloy from Olus interview: https://digitalirish.com/olus-gavin-molloy/

• Barry Haughey is the Founder of HoloGen, a digital artist and educator with over 20 years working in the Irish education and youth work sectors. Throughout his career he has worked with a diverse range of harder to reach young people, striving to incorporate digital learning and future skills into his programmes.
• More recently he has founded HoloGen, an immersive technology consultancy for business, educational and youth organisations to establish and harness immersive technology for learning and working. HoloGen is currently working with a number of educational institutions from the UK, EU and North America.
• If you’re interested in dropping into one of HoloGen’s Friday meetups, email hello@hologen.org for onboarding details.
• https://www.hologen.org/

This episode is hosted by Dave Byrne

• In this episode, we speak with Stuart Dempsey, founder and CEO of GamerFest, Ireland's biggest gaming and esports festival.
• During a 20 year career in marketing Stuart has worked in a variety of sectors before establishing his live events company in 2017, targeting the gaming space in particular. Since then his company has gone from strength to strength, delivering its most recent GamerFest event in Dublin, working with a range of multinational brands and partners and welcoming 5,000 visitors to the event.
• https://gamerfest.ie/
• This episode is hosted by Dave Byrne

• Gemma Allen is the vice president of B2C technology at IDA Ireland. In her current role with IDA Ireland, she is responsible for building relations with Executive decision makers, business leaders, political stakeholders and key industry players to secure foreign direct investment into Ireland. Allen is based in New York City and has over 17 years’ experience working with the world’s largest technology companies in the U.S. and Europe.
• She is a contributor for Nasdaq.com and writes as a thought leader on topics related to Women in Tech, workplace culture and the future of work.
• She is a board member of the NYC Foreign Trade Commission and a member of various industry bodies and forums such as Women in Tech Industry (WITI), Chief, and Innovation Women
• She is the founder of ‘Neart Na Mna’, a support forum for women to drive awareness and support for postnatal depression in the workplace.
• She lives in Brooklyn NY with her Husband Leo and two children, Esme and Edie.

This episode is hosted by Dave Byrne

• Bobby Healy is CEO and Founder of Manna Drone Delivery. Healy started off his tech career building games for Nintendo at the age of 16.
• After Nintendo, Healy founded the airline technology company Eland Technologies, which was then sold 12 years later. Healy then went on to build the largest mobility marketplace for airlines in the world, CarTrawler.
• Now, Healy is building Manna, the largest drone delivery operation in Europe, with over €30 million in funding from leading investors such as Molten Ventures,  ffvc, Team Europe, Partners of DST Global and Dynamo Ventures. Healy continues to be an avid computer programmer and is a frequent speaker on the international circuit on subjects related to technology.
• https://www.manna.aero/

This episode is hosted by Dave Byrne

• Sandra Healy is CEO and founder of inclusio. Sandra's career spanned 20 years in the global telecoms industry and five years at Dublin City University where she established the DCU Centre of Excellence for Diversity and Inclusion.
• She is an Organisational Psychologist who over the last 15 years, has championed and driven diversity and inclusion practice across industry and is considered a leading expert in this space. In 2014, she provided critical expertise and sectoral knowledge establishing the EU Diversity Charter Ireland.
• Sandra is a member of the Expert Advisory Group for Ireland’s Citizens Assembly on Gender Equality and a member of the Diversity and Inclusion Leadership Council for An Garda Síochána (Ireland's Police Force). Sandra won Entrepreneur of the Year at the Diversity in Tech Awards in 2021.
• inclusio.io
• This episode is hosted by Dave Byrne

• James Brogan is CEO and Co-founder of PepTalk. Former founder and MD of marketing agency, Legacy Communications. Ex Dublin footballer and All-Ireland winner.
• PepTalk is the first team experience (TX) platform designed specifically for the hybrid work environment. They help organizations understand what the cultural environment is really like within their teams and then create actionable solutions to address the issues.  The platform is underpinned by behavioral psychology designed by global experts. Peptalk is currently working with PayPal, Verizon and Northern Trust.
• www.peptalk.com

This episode is hosted by Dave Byrne

This episode is hosted by Dave Byrne

• Sean Davis is the New York based Enterprise Ireland Regional Director for the Americas, taking up the post in August 2016, leading a team based in 9 offices across North & South America.
• This followed a 5 year posting as the Enterprise Ireland Regional Director MENA based in Dubai, 2012 to 2016.
• From 2006 to 2012 he managed the Enterprise Ireland Cleantech, Industrial & Life Sciences team, based in New York.
• From 2002 to 2006 he was the Market Development Manager for the US and Canada with the US subsidiary of the publicly traded Singaporean company Asia Pacific Breweries Ltd, managing market teams in New York, Boston, Atlanta, Miami, and, sales agents in Montreal, Toronto, Calgary and Vancouver.
• He was an owner and GM of an import company in New York City from 1999 to 2001, and, owner of a Brooklyn NY based bar/restaurant from 2001 to 2013.
• He spent 10 years in Ireland with the Irish retail chain Superquinn in a variety of management roles before relocating to the US in 1996.
• He holds a diploma in Management (DIT), Marketing (DIT) and has a degree in Business Studies from the University of Glamorgan.
• This episode is hosted by Dave Byrne

This episode is hosted by Dave Byrne

• Paul joined Zai in October 2016, having been a customer of the company for several years before. Prior to joining Zai, he founded "Accelerate Success", to provide mentorship and capital to select high-growth ambitious software companies. He also founded Cadency, a SaaS workflow and finance automation business, in 2011, and grew revenue to circa US$60 million over 4 years prior to selling the business in 2015.
• In 2008 he founded Concuity, to provide SaaS-based healthcare services to large scale healthcare providers and, having grown revenue to US$10 million in just over 2 years, sold the business to a public company in 2010. In 1999 as Chief Financial Officer, he took Trintech public via an IPO on NASDAQ and was also a director of the company from 1998 to 2010 and President from 2005 to 2010. He’s a very keen sports fan and golfer, is intellectually curious and totally committed to nurturing young entrepreneurial talent.
• https://www.currencyfair.com/
• https://www.hellozai.com/

This episode is hosted by Dave Byrne

Now Anne-Marie is part of a new wave of impact entrepreneurs bringing fresh thinking to the way we engage with sustainability. Her company DesignTracker helps people decarbonise their homes – something that must happen for the UK to meet climate targets. She’s also a co-founder of the circular fashion non-profit ShareJoy which sells preloved clothing to raise funds for mental health charities.

This chat with Anne-Marie will look at how technology and fashion are contributing to the future of the planet and how optimists from a range of backgrounds can help solve the world’s biggest problem and transform business as we know it.

Anne-Marie will be in conversation with Ciara Riordan who is a Social Media Editor at the BBC and an award winning journalist, presenter and producer. She previously interviewed Sir David Attenborough and this went viral when she asked him what animal he would be for a day! (Answer: A sloth!).

Doors Open at 6:15pm with registration and drinks. Doors closing at 7pm when the event will start.

https://digitalirish.com/sustainability-the-biggest-opportunity-in-business-right-now/

• Niall Horgan is CEO and Co-Founder of direct-to-consumer athleisure clothing brand Gym+Coffee. Founded, headquartered and operated from Dublin, in the last 5 years Gym+Coffee has scaled to over 200 team members, a best in class ecommerce experience, 12 physical retail clubhouses across Ireland and the UK, and has built a passionate community of over 500,000 around the brand.
• Niall has spent over 12 years in various sales and marketing roles including time at Twitter, Slack, Sky and Irish Mainport Holdings. During this time he was responsible for setting up International sales operations, building and scaling sales teams across the EMEA region, all while working with brands and agencies on their digital marketing strategies. In 2016 he was named one of the Sunday Independent's Top 30 Under 30 in Ireland. Niall was one of Ireland's EY Entrepreneur of the Year finalists in 2021, he is one of the 6 Irish Endeavour Entrepreneurs and was chair of Digital Business Ireland in 2020/21.
• www.gympluscoffee.com

This episode is hosted by Dave Byrne

https://www.olusedu.com

Gavin is the Chief Product Officer and Co-founder at Olus Education. Olus supports digital learning in two key areas:

1. Core digital skills in primary and secondary schools
2. Advanced digital learning and computer science skills at home (extracurricular)

Olus offers much needed resources for schools and students as the demand for coding, creative media and cloud skills continues to grow; through a professional development tool, as well as a personal learning platform for 7-18 year olds.

Prior to Olus, Gavin worked as a senior ICT consultant at the City Learning Centre in London. He also worked as a primary school teacher (in Ireland and the UK), a Digital Learning lecturer in St Patrick's College (Drumcondra) and an Education and Media Officer at Trocaire (NGO). In total, he has been working in education and ICT for over fifteen years.

This episode is hosted by Dave Byrne

This episode is hosted by Dave Byrne

This episode is hosted by Dave Byrne

• Stephen Murphy is Co-Founder and Managing Director of Prohibition Partners, the leading source of intelligence and insights into the global cannabis industry and Co-Founder of Cannabis Europa, Europe’s premier medical cannabis conference.
• Stephen is also Co-Founder & Director of Prohibition Holdings, a global leader in cannabis data, events and media, managing a portfolio of some of the best-known brands in the industry. With a background in technology, digital media and corporate finance, Stephen works with investors, entrepreneurs and regulators to identify, qualify and maximise the opportunities in this emerging frontier.
• This episode is hosted by Dave Byrne

Mark Collins has fast become renowned as a successful entrepreneur and consultant in corporate cannabis; as well as an advisor for new businesses and entrepreneurs.
Since 2015, he has helped build brands such as Bloom Farms and Otto. He also has raised over $260MM in capital for companies as diverse as MedMen and Harborside across coffee and cannabis; most recently raising $9.4MM round for hemp-product maker HemptownUSA in 2020.
Before making the pivot to cannabis, he worked with some of the biggest brands in the world such as CNN, P&G, Kraft Foods & TimeWarner.
In this episode, Mark discusses the history of cannabis and it’s Irish connections, why he pivoted to this industry, and the variety of opportunities for entrepreneurs to make an impact in this multibillion dollar industry.
This episode is hosted by Dave Byrne

Rena Maycock was recently named in the Sunday Independents top 30 women in tech - thanks to her work as founder and CEO of Cilter.
Cilter are developing child-protection software for smartphones that keeps children safe from bullying, coercion and grooming and aims to help prevent child-suicide by alerting parents to imminent threats presented to their child via their smartphone.
Before Cilter, Rena co-founded Intro Matchmaking - which remains Ireland’s largest nationwide dating agency - and was chief executive office at iRadio Ireland.
In this episode, we discuss Rena's passion for making smartphone use safe for children, why safety online is more important than ever, and how Cilter are tackling these challenges head on.

This episode is hosted by Dave Byrne

What is the future of education in a virtual world? Mike Feerick, CEO of Alison, has a unique insight into how this $5 Trillion industry is about to turn on its head. Companies like Alison, who offer free enrollment to thousands of online courses that have produced over 3 million graduates are challenging the status quo of traditional education. 

Much like technology transformed the music Industry and the news Industry, we are now seeing the same transformation take hold in the education industry. In this interview, we discuss why Mike believes corporates will play a key role in the education of their employees and what the future of education looks like as it moves online. 

Misinformation is the cultural virus of our modern era. It is dismantling global relations, effecting public discourse, and creating uncertainty at a time when we need trusted voices to keep us informed. Mark Little, with his most recent start-up, Kinzen, is bringing a journalistic solution to the problem of misinformation. In fact, he sees this as an obligation that is driven by real purpose. In our conversation, he told me his mission in life is to make sure that every citizen has confidence in the information that they consume every day.  Tune in to hear how he aims to achieve that. 

Paul Byrne is by all accounts a builder of companies. Between 2007-2016 Paul built and sold three companies and during this time he developed a playbook to scale businesses successfully. In 2016 he planned on going into semi-retirement to help startups apply some of the concepts from his playbook. That work led him to CurrencyFair, where his initial one-day per week advisory role quickly transitioned into a full-time CEO role. Since Paul took over the leadership role at CurrencyFair in 2016 they turned their first profit and are now aggressively expanding in the Asian Market.  

This episode is hosted by Patrick McAndrew

Ronan Dunne shares his progressive views on the role of the CEO and why he believes that the leadership playbook of the past is no longer relevant to today's workplace. 

Join us for an enlightening conversation with one of the leading Irish Corporate innovators who has had enormous success in the Telecommunications industry both in the UK and the US.

Ronan Dunne is the CEO of the largest mobile network in the USA - Verizon Wireless. Prior to his role at Verizon he was the CEO of O2 UK, his 15 years in the role made him the longest-serving CEO in UK telecoms history. 

Hosted by Patrick McAndrew

Growing up in a third-generation family business Samuel Dennigan was expected to follow in his father's and grandfather's footsteps. Sam Dennigan & Co. is one of Ireland's leading fresh produce distributors, but after working in the business for over ten years Samuel decided that he needed to go it alone and create his own legacy. 

He wanted to revolutionize the frozen food industry and use his creative skills to build a global food brand that the consumer would feel a connection to. Since launching in 2015 Strong Roots products have become staples on dinner plates in Irish and UK homes - now Sam has taken the business to the USA where they are available in all Whole Foods stores in the country.

In this episode, we discuss the benefits and challenges of working in a family business, how to recreate and overnight success, and how the global food supply chain has to change if we are to live sustainably. 

Hosted by Patrick McAndrew

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Cian Cotter is the Managing Partner of Insight Partners, the growth-stage private equity firm based in New York City. Insight Partners recently raised a fund of $9.5 Billion in software businesses.

During Cian's time at Insight Partners, he has become a specialist in helping prepare companies to go public. We had an opportunity to discuss his thoughts on companies going public as well as the Start-up environment in Tel Aviv where Inishgt Partners have an office and have made numerous investments.