Founders and Funding

Philip Smith
  • 0.0 (0)
  • Entrepreneurship
  • Updated Weekly

Founders & Investors discuss how to fund your startup's journey. Sponsored by Perfutil Technologies & Leyton.

  1. 20h ago

    Ep 33 - Mark McCarthy - Founder of How You Doing

    In this episode of the Founders & Funding Podcast, Philip Smith speaks with Mark McCarthy, Founder of How You Doing, a new app built to help people with their mental health and get the help they need. Drawing on seven years of frontline experience with An Garda Síochána, Mark explains why he wanted to bridge the gap between people struggling in silence and the friends and family who would want to help. He talks about the app's features, including a positive news feed, daily mood journaling, trusted contacts, and links to local therapists and support services. Mark also shares how he self-funded the prototype before partnering with Perfutil Technologies, secured a Local Enterprise Office Feasibility Grant, and took the app from an idea to a live launch on the App Store and Google Play.

    Ep 33 - Mark McCarthy - Founder of How You Doing

  2. Aug 12

    Ep 32 - Eoin Quirke - Co-founder of TRACE

    In this episode of the Founders & Funding Podcast, Philip Smith speaks with Eoin, Co-founder and CEO of Trace. Eoin shares how a problem he watched his college friends struggle with, burning through AI subscription credits within hours because of inefficient prompting, turned into a company tackling the same issue at enterprise scale. He talks about bootstrapping Trace alongside a part-time job and a degree at UCC, recruiting his co-founder by physically tracking him down in a Cork shop, and why proving the product first is the right sequence before approaching grants or investors. They also discuss what he learned from the NDRC pre-accelerator, the value of easygoing conversation over hard selling in the Irish startup scene, and why procrastination is the biggest obstacle most aspiring founders face.

    Ep 32 - Eoin Quirke - Co-founder of TRACE

  3. Jul 29

    Ep 31 - Stas Levitan - Founder & CEO of Lightsite AI

    In this episode of the Founders & Funding Podcast, Philip Smith speaks with Stas Levitan, Founder and CEO of Lightsight AI, a full-stack AI search platform that covers both the technical and analytics sides of winning visibility in AI search. Stas shares the story of bootstrapping Lightsight AI to over 150 clients within its first year, growing almost entirely through referrals and community trust with near-zero marketing spend. He talks about why he recommends founders avoid chasing funding too early, what he learned watching well-funded startups run fast in the wrong direction, and how getting to know customers deeply was the foundation everything else was built on. They also discuss the skills that matter most for founders today, why go-to-market and brand building have become harder than building the software itself, and why the best way to attract investors is to stop thinking about attracting investors.

    Ep 31 - Stas Levitan - Founder & CEO of Lightsite AI

  4. Jul 22

    Ep 30 - Emma Meehan - Founder, CEO & CTO of KinetikIQ

    In this episode of the Founders & Funding Podcast, Philip Smith speaks with Emma Meehan, Founder and CEO of KinetikIQ, a software platform using the 3D scanning technology built into iPhone and iPad Pro devices to deliver real-time, lab-grade exercise analysis for professional sports teams, physiotherapists, universities, and personal trainers. Emma shares the reality of funding a deep tech company in Ireland as a solo, first-time female founder, navigating New Frontiers, Enterprise Ireland grants, SAFE notes, angel investors, and accelerator programmes across nearly five years. She talks about the challenge of sitting between SaaS and MedTech in investors' eyes, why being capital efficient has kept KineticIQ alive when others have folded, and what founders get wrong about how quickly a funding round closes. They also discuss the skills founders need now, how to source and approach the right investors, and why saying no to the wrong term sheet can be as important as closing the right one.

    Ep 30 - Emma Meehan - Founder, CEO & CTO of KinetikIQ

  5. Jul 15

    Episode 29 - Ben Barrett - Co Founder of Nomad

    In this episode of the Founders & Funding Podcast, Philip Smith speaks with Ben Barrett, Co-Founder of Nomad, an AI adoption and software company he started while still in college. Ben shares the full arc of Nomad's journey, from burning through their first €3,000 in savings on a product nobody asked for, to hitting €40,000 in monthly revenue less than two years later on a two-times monthly growth trajectory. He talks about the discipline of building on customer money, why they deliberately avoided funding conversations until the model was working, and how refocusing on client delivery over product-building changed everything. They also discuss what funding should actually do for a business, why momentum matters more than ideas to investors right now, and how Nomad is thinking about raising as it prepares to expand beyond Ireland.

    Episode 29 - Ben Barrett - Co Founder of Nomad

  6. Jul 8

    Ep 28 - Mark Swaine - Founder & Fractional CPO

    In this episode of the Founders & Funding Podcast, Philip Smith speaks with Mark Swaine, who spent 3 years as product lead at Elkstone VC and now founder of Swaine Partners. Mark shares his perspective from both sides of the table, having spent three years on the investor firm side and now working with regulated financial institutions on AI-native implementation. He talks about the harsh realities facing AI startups today, why so many wrapper products lack defensibility, and what founders get wrong when they assume AI will solve every step of a customer workflow. They also discuss the importance of deep customer validation before raising, what red flags investors are watching for in the current AI cycle, and why PLG expertise is one of the most underrated and underserved skills in the Irish startup ecosystem.

    Ep 28 - Mark Swaine - Founder & Fractional CPO

  7. Jul 1

    Ep 27 - Ankur Arora - Co-founder of Montro

    In this episode of the Founders & Funding Podcast, Philip Smith speaks with Ankur Arora, Co-Founder of Montro. Ankur shares the story behind Montro, a Dublin-based, EU-native AI and SaaS governance platform that helps mid-sized companies discover every tool and AI application in use across their organisation and map it against frameworks like the EU AI Act, DORA, NIS2, and GDPR. He talks about bootstrapping the business to date through founder sweat equity, why he and his co-founder deliberately built a live product with design partners before raising a pre-seed round, and how their combined fifteen years of industry experience has shaped investor trust. They also discuss why founders should focus on emitting the right signals rather than chasing investors directly, and why proving traction always beats pitching a vision.

    Ep 27 - Ankur Arora - Co-founder of Montro

  8. Jun 17

    Ep 26 - Sanket Agarwal - Co Founder of Fleek

    In this episode of the Founders & Funding Podcast, Philip Smith speaks with Sanket Agarwal, Co-Founder of Fleek. Sanket shares the story behind Fleek, a marketplace solving the inventory problem for the secondhand fashion supply chain, an idea that began while helping his mother-in-law grow her own resale business. He talks about going through Y Combinator, raising funding from Andreessen Horowitz and HV Capital, and why strategic investors who understand your industry matter more than the size of the cheque. They also discuss the difference between building a venture-scale business and bootstrapping, why founding teams of two tend to outperform solo founders, and why loving what you do has to come before the fundamentals.

    Ep 26 - Sanket Agarwal - Co Founder of Fleek
See All (33)

About

Founders & Investors discuss how to fund your startup's journey. Sponsored by Perfutil Technologies & Leyton.

Information

  • Creator
    Philip Smith
  • Years Active
    2026
  • Episodes
    33
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Philip Smith
  • Show Website
    Founders and Funding