Irish Business Builders – Details, episodes & analysis

Produced by Jetbooks, Chartered Accountants Ireland.

Subscribe to the Business Builders Newsletter for the very best ideas I've discovered on business and personal growth

In Series 7, Episode #57, I interview Charles Cosgrave, owner and CEO of Village Vets, the largest independent vet practice group in Ireland. Charles shares his journey from a practising vet to a successful entrepreneur, detailing his early inspirations from his veterinary roots, his transformative experience in the UK, and the ambitious growth of Village Vets from just two locations to a thriving network of 20 clinics. He also discusses the challenges of balancing veterinary practice with business management, the importance of professionalising operations, and his vision for the future, including technological advancements and nationwide expansion.

CONNECT WITH CONOR:

LinkedIn

VILLAGE VETS:

Website

Facebook

Instagram

Support mental health awareness with Brent Pope’s “Elephant in the Room” initiative. Join the movement to de-stigmatise mental health conversations in the workplace and beyond. Adopt an elephant sculpture and show your commitment to creating a supportive environment for everyone. Visit www.elephantintheroom.ie to learn more and get involved.

Produced by Jetbooks, Chartered Accountants Ireland.

Subscribe to the Business Builders Newsletter for the very best ideas I've discovered on business and personal growth

In Series 7, Episode #56, I speak with Laura Weldon, owner of Honey Honey Cafes, now with three locations in Dublin. Laura discusses her entrepreneurial journey, from her initial foray into business in 2018 to overcoming various challenges, including the impact of COVID-19. She elaborates on the importance of learning by doing, allowing customers to shape the brand, and the necessity of loving what you do. Additionally, Laura shares insights on scaling a business, the value of investing in technology and people, and balancing hard work with smart decision-making.

CONNECT WITH CONOR:

LinkedIn

HONEY HONEY CAFE:

Website

Instagram

Facebook

Support mental health awareness with Brent Pope’s “Elephant in the Room” initiative. Join the movement to de-stigmatise mental health conversations in the workplace and beyond. Adopt an elephant sculpture and show your commitment to creating a supportive environment for everyone. Visit www.elephantintheroom.ie to learn more and get involved.

Produced by Jetbooks, Chartered Accountants Ireland.

Subscribe to the Business Builders Newsletter for the very best ideas I've discovered on business and personal growth.

This week I caught up with Brian Keegan. Brian was founder and CEO of a global outsourced payroll company called 360 Group which he started from his one bed flat in London, and grew it to 6 offices in the UK and Ireland, a data-processing centre in India and a £60 million annual revenues.

Brian sold 360 Group in 2018, and has started business coaching, helping entrepreneurs through the journey from the scale-up to stage, to ultimately selling their business.

Brian has embraced the Scaling Up methodology, created by Verne Harnish and the Entrepreneurs Organisation, having used it so successfully in growing and selling the 360 Group.

Attend the Harvard Business School and Scaling Up joint event:  https://scalingupglobal.com/scaling-up-2022/

More about Scaling Up https://www.scalingupglobal.com/

2 day Scaling Up Masterclass May 11th 2022 ,  Shannon Chamber event  https://www.shannonchamber.ie/events/scaling-up-the-business-2-day-interactive-workshop-with-verne-harnish/

Irish Business Builders is brought to you by Jetbooks. Jetbooks provides online bookkeeping services for Irish Businesses. For a free 15 minute online consultation, visit www.jetbooks.ie

Produced by Jetbooks, Chartered Accountants Ireland.

Subscribe to the Business Builders Newsletter for the very best ideas I've discovered on business and personal growth.

This week I spoke to JD Buckley, CEO at Sky Ireland.

Sky, as most of you will know, is a global broadcasting and telecommunications company.

Since joining Sky in 2012, JD has overseen the growth of the Irish business from just 30 people to over one-thousand today.

In this very enjoyable conversation, JD talks about what he learned while working for Digicel in the Caribbean, along with an early opportunity that came from failing an exam in UCD, and he gives some really clear and honest advice for anyone who aspires to one day, becoming a CEO.

Irish Business Builders is brought to you by Jetbooks. Jetbooks provides online bookkeeping services for Irish Businesses. For a free 15 minute online consultation, visit www.jetbooks.ie

Produced by Jetbooks, Chartered Accountants Ireland.

Subscribe to the Business Builders Newsletter for the very best ideas I've discovered on business and personal growth.

This week I had a great talk with Conall Ó'Móráin, founder and Managing Director of Corporate PR firm, The Media Group and host of Ireland’s (second best) business podcast, That Great Business Show!

In this conversation we go right back to his days at UCD, where Conall started his very first media venture, a student magazine called Gob Shout.

Since then, Conall has had a very successful business career across media, stock-broking, and public relations. We cover all of this, as well as drawing some interesting contrasts between Conall, and Richard Branson.

Irish Business Builders is brought to you by Jetbooks. Jetbooks provides online bookkeeping services for Irish Businesses. For a free 15 minute online consultation, visit www.jetbooks.ie

Produced by Jetbooks, Chartered Accountants Ireland.

Subscribe to the Business Builders Newsletter for the very best ideas I've discovered on business and personal growth.

This week I talked to Sarah Oullette, founder and CEO of Kindora, an online marketplace for buying, selling and renting premium children's goods. After failing to liquidate some expensive baby equipment online, Sarah realised that there was no secure online retail space for secondhand baby goods. So, Sarah launched the startup and two years later she has a co-founder, angel investment and has just finished the Techstars Accelerator program in London.

Sarah talks about how she founded the business, her passion for supporting women in business and how to start and scale a global company. 

Visit Kindora: https://kindora.shop/

Irish Business Builders is brought to you by Jetbooks. Jetbooks provides online bookkeeping services for Irish Businesses. For a free 15 minute online consultation, visit www.jetbooks.ie

Produced by Jetbooks, Chartered Accountants Ireland.

Subscribe to the Business Builders Newsletter for the very best ideas I've discovered on business and personal growth.

This week we hear from James McElroy, Co-Founder of multiple businesses in the Pet Care Technology space, and along with his brother Timothy, finalists for EY’s 'Entrepreneur of the Year' programme in 2019.

James’s most recent venture is the newly launched Oscars Farm, which delivers fresh pressed dog food to your door in a monthly subscription. 

James is also co-founder of Gudog, Europe’s largest peer-to-peer marketplace and mobile app for dog owners in need of local vetted dog sitters and walkers. 

Gudog operates in over 75 cities, and has over 30,000 sitters and walkers earning a living on the platform.  

Irish Business Builders is brought to you by Jetbooks. Jetbooks provides online bookkeeping services for Irish Businesses. For a free 15 minute online consultation, visit www.jetbooks.ie

Produced by Jetbooks, Chartered Accountants Ireland.

Subscribe to the Business Builders Newsletter for the very best ideas I've discovered on business and personal growth.

I'm thrilled to welcome Dan Hobbs this week, Co-Founder and CEO of Protex, a software company using artificial intelligence to track safety for industrial employees.

Dan and his Co-Founder Ciarán are recent graduates of Y-Combinator, a start-up incubator based in San Francisco, boasting an enviable track record of finding the next big companies in tech.

Other notable alumni include Airbnb, Dropbox, Reddit, and Stripe!

In this conversation, we cover a host of topics, from Dan’s experience applying to and going through the Y-Combinator programme, raising money from some of the world’s most successful and best-known entrepreneurs, to Dan’s first start-up, which he started at the tender age of 22, and sold a few years later in 2019!

Find out more about Protex: https://www.protex.ai/

Irish Business Builders is brought to you by Jetbooks. Jetbooks provides online bookkeeping services for Irish Businesses. For a free 15 minute online consultation, visit www.jetbooks.ie

Produced by Jetbooks, Chartered Accountants Ireland.

Subscribe to the Business Builders Newsletter for the very best ideas I've discovered on business and personal growth.

This week I caught up with Mark Flood, Director at Renatus Capital Partners, a private equity fund manager focused on investing in Irish SMEs.

In this conversation, we cover a wide range of topics from the early days of the business and how they raised their first fund, to their investment process at Renatus and what they look for when buying a business.

Mark also brings me through an example of an investment they made in the burrito chain Boojum – and his thoughts on why the CEO is the most important factor in determining the value of any business. 

Every Sunday, Renatus issue a newsletter synopsising the latest deal activity, company performance and people moves.

They also include their top macroeconomic-related tweets, thought for the week and other topics of interest to our stakeholders. 

Sign up to the Renatus weekly newsletter here: https://renatus.ie/newsletter/

Renatus also have an excellent podcast showcasing some of Ireland’s best SMEs which you can listen to here: https://renatus.ie/newsletter/

Irish Business Builders is brought to you by Jetbooks. Jetbooks provides online bookkeeping services for Irish Businesses. For a free 15 minute online consultation, visit www.jetbooks.ie

Season 5 is kicking off on Monday 15/11!

Produced by Jetbooks, Chartered Accountants Ireland.

Subscribe to the Business Builders Newsletter for the very best ideas I've discovered on business and personal growth.

Make sure you subscribe to hear the first episode as soon as it's published!

Irish Business Builders is brought to you by Jetbooks. Jetbooks provides online bookkeeping services for Irish Businesses. For a free 15 minute online consultation, visit www.jetbooks.ie