Can you tell me about Furthr and the services you provide?
Since 1988, Furthr has been supporting the founders of innovative start-up and scale-up enterprises. Our mission is to deliver game-changing impacts for founders that enable them to become investor ready and to scale. We are a very commercially-minded, not-for-profit organisation. Most of our activity is funded by the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment and Enterprise Ireland. At Furthr, Founders Go Free. Our work is across the dimensions of Accelerating, Funding and Connecting. Our Acceleration team consists of experienced serial entrepreneurs who provide the most impactful mentoring and advice available to entrepreneurs anywhere. In terms of funding, Furthr VC is the venture capital arm of Furthr. We’re the only organisation of our type with our own venture capital fund. The current fund is a €32m fund which has to date invested in 23 highly innovative B2B SaaS and Medtech companies. Furthr is also a founding partner and managing partner of the Guinness Enterprise Centre, the largest innovation hub in the state.

Where did the idea for Furthr come from?
Back in 1988 some visionary people saw the need to support indigenous entrepreneurship. Dublin City Council and Diageo were early supporters of Furthr. From humble beginnings Furthr has delivered an impressive list of firsts for Ireland, including the first private start-up incubator space in Ireland (1992), first university spin-out programme (1995), the first register of private start-up investors (1998) and the first seed capital fund backed by entrepreneurs (2017).

What’s your own background?
My early career was as an engineer working in telecommunications. In 1999 I commenced my entrepreneurial journey, co-founding Interactive Return, one of the very earliest digital marketing agencies. Our specialty was search engine marketing (this was before Google Adwords existed). Typically a sales call would begin by explaining what the internet was. With support from Enterprise Ireland, we took on clients in the UK and US. I sold the business in 2008 to Publicis, one of the largest advertising concerns in the world. From there I did a stint in Google in various roles including Head of Global Agency Sales Operations and Country Manager for France for SMB clients. I’ve been working with Furthr since 2017 as a mentor to many of our start-up clients and, more recently, I took on the CEO role. I’m also a proud son of The Liberties, where Furthr is now based.

What was the thinking behind the recent rebrand?
Furthr was formerly the Dublin Business Innovation Centre. We re-branded in 2022. We knew that it was time for a refresh. The Dublin Business Innovation Centre brand was poorly understood and the enterprise support marketplace had changed considerably since 1988. With the Furthr brand, we deliver game-changing impacts for founders and we do that across the dimensions of Accelerating, Funding and Connecting. It’s that simple.

How important are start-ups in the overall business landscape?
Incredibly important. Everybody recognises and acknowledges the economic miracle that Ireland has achieved over the last half century with FDI. Equally, it is recognised that FDI is hyper-mobile and vulnerable to factors well beyond our control. Indigenous entrepreneurship gives us the opportunity to embed innovation, wealth creation and job creation into the economic fabric of the nation.

Can you tell me about one or two start-ups you have helped scale and grow?
One of my proudest achievements with Furthr is the Innovate Accelerator Program, directed at female entrepreneurs and designed, developed and delivered by Furthr on behalf of Enterprise Ireland. Just two of the alumni from the program are Deirdre Lyons, founder of Examfly and Julie Garland, founder of Avtrain. Examfly is reinventing how people study for tax and accounting exams. Professional services firms such as PwC, Deloitte, EY, Grant Thornton and BDO are clients, across multiple jurisdictions. Examfly recently took on €1.5m in investment to aid its expansion while Avtrain, Europe’s leading drone pilot and operator training and certification body. is delivering the online training that will create a safe drone operating environment across Europe.

What are some of the challenges you face as a business?
As is the case with many of our start-up clients, the market opportunity for Furthr to add value is limitless, but our resources are limited. So, we have to choose carefully where we can have optimum impact. With greater resources we could contribute more to the transformation of the Irish economy to one based more on indigenous innovation and entrepreneurship.

What do you attribute the success of the company to?
Two things. The culture of the organisation and the incredible founders with whom it is our privilege to work. Furthr’s culture is all about supporting founders. That’s the North Star of the organisation. The founders with whom we work are a constant source of inspiration.

What are your ambitions for the business?
Plans are underway to raise a new fund in 2025, ensuring continued support for seed-stage companies. Simultaneously, Furthr Investor Network is seeking to build a new generation of angel investors who are ready to invest in Irish entrepreneurial innovation. Increasingly, we are seeking growth opportunities for our clients in overseas markets by leveraging our international network. Irish government policy is that Irish start-ups go further (excuse the pun)! By continuing to empower founders with the resources and supports they need to succeed, Furthr is poised to help shape the next generation of Irish business success stories.