🔔🔔 Ciaran Burke, CEO and co-founder of Swoop, shares how he built a global fintech platform helping 300,000+ businesses access over £2BN in funding - and the brutal realities behind scaling a startup 🔔🔔

Ciaran Burke joins Business Builders to share the story behind Swoop and the realities of building and scaling a fintech company in the modern funding landscape.

What started as a simple idea - helping small businesses navigate the complex world of finance - has grown into a global platform operating across multiple countries, connecting businesses with loans, equity, grants, and financial insights.

But the journey from early-stage startup to international scale was anything but smooth.

Ciaran shares the often unseen side of entrepreneurship; from sleepless nights during funding rounds to the pressure of keeping a team motivated while facing uncertainty behind the scenes.

Along the way, he learned one of the most important lessons in business; not all revenue is created equal. Growth can look impressive on the surface, but without understanding margins and key drivers, it can actually hold a business back.

In this episode, Ciaran breaks down what it really takes to scale a company: understanding your numbers, making tough decisions about where to focus, and navigating the emotional and operational challenges that come with growth.

He also explains why many founders misunderstand funding, how businesses limit themselves by relying on a single source of finance, and why being “funding ready” is more important than ever.

This is a conversation about entrepreneurship, fintech, and the reality of building a business in an increasingly complex and competitive environment.

“Not all revenue is the same… some of it looks good, but you’re actually giving most of it away.”

🎧 In this episode, you’ll learn:

Why Ciaran co-founded Swoop and the problem it solves for businesses
The hidden realities of fundraising and founder pressure
Why not all revenue is equal - and how to think about margin
How small improvements in key metrics can drive massive growth
What it really means to be “funding ready”
Why many founders give up too early when seeking finance
How to understand and track the most important numbers in your business
The challenges of building a two-sided marketplace
Why having a co-founder can be critical during tough periods
What it takes to scale a business across multiple countries

⏱️ Timestamps

00:00 - Cold open
01:00 - Introducing Ciaran Burke and Swoop
03:30 - The problem with business funding
08:00 - How Swoop works and makes money
12:00 - Early days and building the business
15:30 - The challenge of two-sided marketplaces
26:00 - Why not all revenue is equal
30:30 - Being funding ready and understanding your numbers
40:40 - Founder pressure and fundraising stress
42:00 - The importance of co-founders
48:30 - Building a business internationally
55:00 - Lessons from scaling Swoop

Topics covered:

Entrepreneurship, fintech, Swoop, startup funding, business finance, scaling a business, founders, cashflow, revenue vs profit, two-sided marketplaces, leadership, startup growth.

🔔🔔 Willie McMahon built, scaled, and sold a 45-person engineering business - then walked away to help other founders do it better. 🔔🔔

Willie is giving away 10 copies of the book Traction on a first come first served basis. If you’re running a company with between 10 - 250 employees, contact Willie to get your free copy: willie.mcmahon@eosworldwide.com

Willie McMahon, EOS Implementer and founder of CalX (exited) joins Business Builders to share how he went from a one-man operation to building and exiting a scaling engineering business - and what he learned along the way.

Starting with no plan, no funding, and no support network, Willie built a calibration and instrumentation business from scratch. What began as a solo operation grew into a 45-person company, navigating cash flow pressure, hiring challenges, and the realities of bootstrapping - before eventually merging and exiting.

But the journey wasn’t smooth. Growth nearly broke the business multiple times. Hiring mistakes, cash constraints, and operational complexity forced hard decisions - including turning down major opportunities that could have destroyed everything.

Willie shares how 90-day execution cycles and relentless problem-solving helped them scale - even before formally discovering EOS (Entrepreneurial Operating System).

The conversation dives into what actually drives business success: people, structure, and clarity. Willie explains why most problems are not what they seem, why founders are often the bottleneck, and how systems - not effort - create scalable companies.

He also opens up about the emotional side of building and selling a business: risk, fear, responsibility, and the moment you realise you’re responsible for other people’s livelihoods.

Now working with founders through EOS, Willie helps businesses break through growth ceilings, build stronger cultures, and create structure that enables freedom.

This is a conversation about entrepreneurship, scaling, leadership, and building a business that actually works.

“It's not the person - it's the system around them.”

🎧 In this episode, you’ll learn:

How Willie built and scaled a business from 1 to 45 people
Why most businesses hit growth ceilings (and how to break through them)
The reality of bootstrapping and managing cash flow
Why hiring “another you” is a mistake
How to think about risk as a founder
Why short-term (90-day) thinking drives long-term growth
The importance of culture and hiring the right people
How to structure a business for scale
Why most problems are systems problems, not people problems
The emotional reality of selling a business
How EOS helps founders gain clarity, control, and freedom
Why you must grow as a person to grow your business

⏱️ Timestamps

00:00 - Cold open
00:55 - Introducing Willie McMahon and EOS
02:00 - What calibration and instrumentation actually is
05:00 - Early career and falling into the industry
08:30 - The moment he decided to start his own business
11:00 - First hires and early hiring mistakes
14:30 - “I didn’t need another me”
16:00 - Bootstrapping and surviving on cash flow
18:00 - 90-day targets and early growth
21:00 - Becoming an employer and responsibility for people
23:00 - Turning down a huge opportunity
26:00 - Fear, risk, and decision-making as a founder
30:00 - Discovering EOS and business frameworks
33:00 - Why founders must grow to scale their business
37:00 - Building culture (and the fictional character hiring test)
42:00 - Merging the business and scaling rapidly
46:00 - Managing operations, hiring, and field teams
53:00 - Marketing tactics that actually worked
57:00 - Growth during COVID and scaling chall

🔔🔔 Gowri Subramanian built a $200M global software company over 25 years - without venture capital 🔔🔔

Gowri Subramanian, CEO of Aspire Systems, joins Business Builders to share how he built and scaled a global technology services company from zero to $200M in revenue; entirely bootstrapped.

What started as a group of seven friends with no clear plan or funding became a 4,500-person software and technology services business working with global enterprises across the US, Europe, and beyond. But the journey was slow and difficult. It took years to find product-market fit, pivot away from a non-scaling business model, and reach profitability.

Gowri explains how Aspire evolved from an industrial engineering consultancy into a software product engineering company, a pivot that unlocked growth. Instead of raising venture capital, the company reinvested profits and used debt funding to scale, taking a long-term approach.

Moving from $10M to $100M required one set of capabilities; but, scaling beyond that meant competing with global firms like Accenture, Capgemini, and Infosys. Gowri shares why every stage requires a different company, strategy, and mindset.

The conversation also explores AI and its impact on the software industry. Gowri explains why AI threatens traditional time-and-materials models, while also creating opportunities in legacy modernisation, enterprise transformation, and custom software.

Beyond strategy, this episode dives into leadership, culture, and long-term thinking. Gowri shares why people and open feedback are critical to scaling, and why he’s focused on building a business for the long term - not for exit - including creating impact through philanthropy in India.

This is a conversation about entrepreneurship, scaling, AI disruption, and building something that lasts.

“Business is a rat race - there is no finish line.”

🎧 In this episode, you’ll learn:

How Gowri built Aspire Systems into a $200M global company
Why the first 7 years of business were the hardest
The importance of pivoting when a business isn’t scaling
How to grow without venture capital
Why scaling from $100M to $200M is so difficult
What changes at each stage of growth
How to compete with global firms like Accenture and Infosys
The real impact of AI on software businesses
Why AI is both a threat and an opportunity
How culture and people drive success
The role of persistence over decades
Why teaching skills creates more impact than charity

⏱️ Timestamps

00:00 - Cold open
00:55 - Introducing Gowri Subramanian and Aspire Systems
02:00 - What Aspire Systems does
05:00 - Moving from India to Singapore and Ireland
06:00 - Starting with no plan or funding
09:00 - 7 founders to 3
12:00 - Early business model and pivot
13:30 - Shutting down one business
14:30 - Road to profitability
18:00 - Early ambition
21:30 - Bootstrapping vs VC
22:30 - Growth to $100M
25:30 - Scaling challenges
27:30 - “Business is a rat race”
29:30 - AI and the future
34:30 - Culture and leadership
37:00 - Open feedback
40:00 - Founder mindset
47:30 - Angel investing
50:00 - India’s growth
59:30 - Philanthropy
01:05:00 - Long-term vision

Topics covered:

Entrepreneurship, scaling a business, bootstrapping, venture capital, AI and business, software industry, technology services, leadership, company culture, global expansion, startups, India economy, product engineering, long-term business building, philanthropy, founders

🔔🔔 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, and a platform for education.

Laura explains how she spent over a decade developing formulations before launching fabÜ from her couch, without retail backing or a traditional business plan. By building an audience on Instagram and speaking openly about topics many considered taboo, she created demand first - and the business followed.

Along the way, she uncovered something deeper: women’s health has been historically misunderstood, under-discussed, and often dismissed. From menopause to intimate health, many women simply aren’t given the language, knowledge, or confidence to understand their own bodies.

In this episode, Laura shares how she turned that insight into a brand, a live show, and a bestselling book - all while staying true to her voice and refusing to sanitise the message.

She also opens up about failure, launching without a plan, living with ADHD as a founder, and why building a business doesn’t always follow a straight line.

This is a conversation about entrepreneurship, identity, and the power of saying the things no one else is willing to say.

“People are embarassed to talk about it - but that’s exactly why it matters.”

🎧 In this episode, you’ll learn:

Why Laura started fabÜ and the problem she saw in women’s health
How she built a business without a traditional plan
The realities of launching a product with no retail backing
Why Instagram played a key role in growing her audience
How taboo topics became her biggest advantage
What women’s health issues are still not being talked about
How to build a brand by being unapologetically yourself
The role of ADHD in her entrepreneurial journey
Why founders should trust instinct over “perfect” market research
How purpose and mission can drive long-term business growth

⏱️ Timestamps

00:00 - Cold open
00:55 - Introducing Laura Dowling and fabÜ
02:10 - Launching the business from her couch
05:30 - Preventative health vs “sick care”
08:45 - Building an audience on Instagram
14:00 - ADHD and the entrepreneurial mind
21:00 - Why we don’t talk about women’s health
24:45 - The talk that changed everything
27:30 - Turning taboo into a business
30:15 - Breaking stigma and building a brand
35:30 - Growing without a traditional plan
39:15 - Ask for forgiveness, not permission
43:15 - Trusting instinct over market research
53:00 - Hiring, team building and culture
01:00:00 - Asking for help and final advice

Topics covered:

Entrepreneurship, women’s health, fabÜ, supplements, startup founders, personal branding, Instagram marketing, ADHD and business, health education, building a brand, taboo topics, consumer products.

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 into the difficult & competitive food industry

• Starting and Growing Talivest to a successful exit

• Why she views being dyslexic as an advantage in business

• Burnout, fund raising, and the importance of healthy food in our lives.

• Much more

Topics covered:
Entrepreneurship, SAAS, software companies, raising venture capital, food startups, OAC Snacks, protein snacks, food manufacturing, consumer brands, startup founders, healthy snack industry, product development, building a food brand.

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 to catch up, she built for where the world was going.

From cycling floppy disks between newsrooms in the early days of digital publishing, to navigating the 2008 financial crash, media disruption, and the rise of AI and the modern tech industry, Ann explains what it takes to build and sustain a niche media company for more than 25 years.

But this episode goes far beyond journalism.

Ann reflects on the emotional reality of founding and running a business - worrying about payroll even decades into entrepreneurship, learning the hard lessons of hiring, and the importance of having a co-founder when building a startup.

She also shares her views on the future of artificial intelligence, technology, and digital media, and why diversity in STEM is essential if we want the best minds solving the world’s biggest problems.

This is a conversation about resilience, curiosity, leadership, and building a business that evolves alongside the technology shaping the modern world.

🎧 In this episode, you’ll learn:

• Why Ann launched Silicon Republic when almost nobody was online
• What it was like building a digital media startup in the early internet era
• The realities of entrepreneurship - even after 25 years in business
• Why having a co-founder can make or break a startup
• The difference between chasing clicks and building real audiences
• How the 2008 financial crisis nearly destroyed the business
• Why curiosity is one of the most important traits in journalism and leadership
• The risks and opportunities of AI in media and technology
• Why purpose matters more than money for long-term entrepreneurs
• Why women in STEM are essential for the future of innovation

⏱️ Timestamps

00:00 - The early days of the internet
01:17 - What Silicon Republic actually does as a business
05:22 - The realities of entrepreneurship
12:16 - Why founders should consider having a co-founder
17:53 - Why niche audiences beat clickbait
25:36 - Lessons from the 2008 financial crash
29:32 - Why purpose matters in business
31:46 - Hiring the right people
42:49 - The future of AI and technology
59:32 - Why women in STEM matters

Topics covered:
Entrepreneurship, startup leadership, Silicon Republic, technology journalism, artificial intelligence, AI and media, digital publishing, founders, building a media company, tech industry trends.

John Teeling joins Business Builders for a candid, wide-ranging conversation about risk, resilience, and the 20-year bet that helped revive Irish whiskey.

When John entered the industry in the 1980s, Irish whiskey had fallen to under 2% of the global market. Consolidated into a struggling monopoly and written off by many, it looked like a declining category.

Instead of walking away, he built.

From buying a shuttered chemical plant in Dundalk and installing second-hand pot stills, to navigating bank loan recalls, political pressure, and years without meaningful profit, John explains what it really took to build Cooley Distillery; and why the payoff took nearly two decades.

But this episode goes far beyond whiskey.

John shares lessons from decades in mining, resources, and investing, where high risk doesn’t mean high reward, but high probability of loss. He breaks down the difference between risk and uncertainty, why “the Euro is an orphan,” and why unsophisticated investors should never be in speculative markets.

This is a conversation about long-term conviction, imposter syndrome, stubborn belief, and building businesses that outlast downturns.

At 80 years old, John reflects on endurance, energy, family, legacy, and what it really means to take responsibility when you persuade others to back your vision.

🎧 In this episode, you’ll learn:

- Why Irish whiskey collapsed - and how it came back
- What it takes to break a monopoly
- The difference between risk and uncertainty
- Why high risk usually means high loss
- How to build a distillery from scratch
- What investors get wrong about speculative markets
- The psychological cost of entrepreneurship
- Why you don’t need to love the product to build the business
- How patience compounds over decades
- What most founders misunderstand about conviction

⏱️ Timestamps

00:00 - Why banks shouldn’t accept uncertainty
01:23 - Growing up in Dublin and early responsibility
17:06 - The £1 million target by 40
24:18 - “A euro is an orphan”
33:10 - How mining companies are really funded
46:30 - The failed takeover of Irish Distillers
58:15 - Buying a plant “for bottles”
01:00:14 - “I sold women’s knickers…”
01:02:17 - 20 years before real profit
01:08:18 - “The value of a half-built hole is zero”
01:13:16 - Energy, longevity and playing rugby at 60

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 story.

Evelyn works in the world of orphan drugs — treatments for rare diseases, many of which affect children. With over 7,000 rare diseases globally and fewer than 10% having approved treatments, she explains the regulatory, commercial and supply chain realities behind getting life-saving medicines to patients.

The conversation explores what most people never see: clinical trial constraints, reimbursement battles across Europe, US pricing pressure, post-Brexit complexity, and the volatility currently hitting the biotech investment market.

Alongside the technical depth, Evelyn reflects on leadership — absorbing hard feedback, building processes that allow scale, being responsible for other people’s livelihoods, and why managing risk isn’t about fear, but about stability.

This episode is a grounded, high-level look at the intersection of purpose and process — and what it takes to build a resilient business in one of the most complex industries in the world.

🎧 In this episode, you’ll learn:

– What orphan drugs actually are — and why they matter
– How rare disease medicines get from lab to patient
– Why Europe is becoming less viable for pharma launches
– The real commercial realities behind life-saving drugs
– How to scale from €250k to €5m without losing control
– Why process matters more than headcount
– The leadership lessons from absorbing difficult feedback
– How to manage risk without limiting growth
– Why branding and integrity go hand in hand
– What volatility in the US means for global pharma

⏱️ Timestamps

00:00 – “We got that medicine to a child”
01:07 – What orphan drugs actually are
07:01 – Cystic fibrosis and Ireland’s unique prevalence
18:12 – Starting at the kitchen table in 2017
20:20 – Scaling from €250k to €5m
21:38 – Why process is the key to growth
26:59 – The BBC story that made it real
31:16 – Integrity vs selling what clients ask for
34:36 – Learning leadership the hard way
38:39 – Leadership for Growth and putting a board in place
52:26 – Why pharma investment has slowed
55:07 – Rolling with the curveball
58:07 – Avoiding burnout as an entrepreneur

🎧 Listen now on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or YouTube.
👇 Full episode link in the comments.