“The wrong advisor slows your startup by 18 months. The right one shortcuts three funding rounds.” Investors do not fund ideas. They fund teams that can execute, and advisory boards are the cheapest way founders can borrow credibility, experience, and distribution. The data from early stage portfolios tells a clear story: startups that formalize a … Read more
“Pre-seed in Ireland is no longer friends-with-a-pitchdeck money. It is the first real test of whether your startup can survive contact with a term sheet.” The Irish pre-seed market is moving toward bigger rounds, more structure, and more scrutiny. Founders are raising between €250k and €1.2m at this stage, but the bar for proof is … Read more
“Most SaaS founders do not fail on product. They fail on picking the wrong growth environment.” Investors treat the incubator vs accelerator decision as a signal. The program you choose says something about your risk profile, your traction, and your growth plan for the next 18 to 24 months. For SaaS, the choice can move … Read more
“The next unicorn hub will not be decided by tax rates. It will be decided by where the best engineers want to wake up on Monday morning.” The market is starting to answer the question. Dublin is not replacing Silicon Valley, but it is winning enough high‑value talent to change how US and European tech … Read more
“If code is running your business, someone needs to be in charge of the code. The only question is when that someone should get the title ‘CTO’.” Investors quietly track one thing when they meet early founders building tech products: the gap between what the business needs from engineering and what the current team can … Read more
“The first startups that treat AI regulation as a product constraint instead of a legal headache will own the market.” The EU AI Act is not a thought experiment anymore. It is law, it has dates, and it has price tags. For early‑stage founders, the most direct impact is this: if your product falls into … Read more
“The Irish tech scene does not reward speed. It rewards the founder who reads the Companies Act before shipping the MVP.” The short version: if you want to register a tech company in Dublin and keep investors, Revenue, and the Companies Registration Office happy, you are looking at a 10 to 14 step process, a … Read more
“The startups that die quietly often teach investors more than the unicorns that ring the bell.” The data is brutal: roughly 7 to 9 out of 10 funded startups never reach a meaningful exit. Capital gets written off. Founders walk away with lesson scars, not liquidity. The market does not reward effort. It rewards fit, … Read more
