Where the Next Founders Come From: An Irish Story | Eoghan Powell | WorkIQ [EP. 327]

Pete Townsend is joined by Eoghan Powell, who runs WorkIQ, a new innovation centre for founders and early-stage companies in Tallaght, on the edge of Dublin.

This is Part 2 of a pair on the Irish startup scene, after Derek O'Doherty of West x West on the capital side.

Where Derek covered how founders find the money, Eoghan goes underneath that, to where founders come from in the first place. They start with Ireland's reliance on a handful of multinationals for its tax base, and the thin middle in the economy between company formation and homegrown giants like Ryanair and Kerry Group.

Pete pushes back on how exposed the country really is, given how embedded Apple, Google and Meta have become, and they land on the point that whether or not the multinationals pull back, the founder pipeline needs building either way. Then the heart of it: Eoghan's case that this isn't a money problem, it's an ambition one. A kid in Dublin 4 grows up seeing founders at the dinner table; a kid in Tallaght or Kerry or Mayo often doesn't, and ends up believing people like them don't get that. His fix is honest role models, a visible front door, and the warm intro done at scale.

Connect with Eoghan:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/eoghanpowell1983/

Website: https://workiq.ie/

Chapters
0:00 Cold open

0:36 Intro and welcome

1:14 Ireland's reliance on the multinationals

2:47 The gap in the middle, and where founders come from

3:17 Why the next Google needs a homegrown base

5:02 The hard question: are the MNCs too embedded to leave?

6:09 Why wait for them? The case for building our own

7:47 Ambition, role models, and seeing the struggle

8:33 The Collison brothers myth

9:55 Does the kid in Tallaght believe they have access?

11:15 Building the base: the front door

12:20 The two-email warm intro, and how it scales

14:04 Where to find Eoghan and WorkIQ

Sharp riffs, big ideas and real insights from smart people, all in under 15 minutes. Hosted by early-stage investor Pete Townsend with the people rebuilding money, markets, and the internet from the ground up.

Website: https://www.moneyneversleeps.ie/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/petetownsendnv/

X: https://x.com/PeteTownsendNV

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Email: info@norioventures.com