In this episode of The Entrepreneur Experiment, Gary Fox sits down with Jennie and Lisa, the founders of Gigi, the women’s health brand rethinking hormonal support through premium, evidence-led supplements.

From working as registered nutritional therapists to building a fast-growing consumer brand, Jennie and Lisa share how their clinical experience led them to spot a major gap in the market: women being told to take multiple supplements for PMS and hormone balance, with no simple, targeted solution in sight. What followed was a crash course in product development, manufacturing, branding, retail, cashflow, and persistence.

They open up about the reality of building a product-based business from scratch — from begging manufacturers to take a chance on them, to selling out their first production run in just two weeks, to learning the hard way how brutal stockouts can be when demand outpaces supply. They also share how social media, education, and bringing customers behind the scenes helped them build trust early and create real momentum.

This is a powerful conversation about solving a genuine problem, building in a capital-intensive category, and creating a brand with purpose in a space that has long underserved women.

🎧 Show Notes

In this episode, we cover:

🔥 How Jennie and Lisa turned clinical insight into a fast-growing women’s health brand
🚀 The lightbulb moment behind Gigi and why they started with one hero product
🧠 Why the best business ideas come from momentum, frustration, and seeing a real problem up close
💊 The flaw in asking women to take 4–5 different supplements for one issue
🏭 What it really takes to find a manufacturer when you have no track record
✈️ The trip to Paris that changed everything for the business
📦 Minimum order quantities, funding pressure, and the realities of cash-heavy product businesses
💸 How they used grants, personal capital, and negotiation to get their first production run made
📱 Why social media and education were key to winning their first customers
💌 How documenting the journey built an email list and a loyal early audience
🛒 Selling direct-to-consumer while also expanding into pharmacy and retail
📈 The operational stress of selling out — and why “high demand” can still create huge problems
🌊 Why branding mattered, and how they built a women’s health product that didn’t look overly clinical
❤️ Building a business that genuinely improves women’s lives, while also building a commercially viable company

💬 Standout Quote

“There has to be a better way.”
That simple frustration became the foundation for Gigi — and the catalyst for building a product designed to genuinely improve women’s quality of life.

Links & Resources

• Gigi: https://gigisupplements.com/

• Follow Jennie on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jennie.haire/

• Follow Lisa on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lisahughes_nt/

• Follow Gigi Supplements: https://www.instagram.com/gigisupplements/

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A premium-brand lesson you can steal in any industry: pricing that isn’t just maths.

Alan shares how pricing can be communication, positioning, and part of the customer journey. He shows how the “moment of pause” or consideration can actually work in your favour when the product delivers and the experience educates. Listen back to the full episode, Episode 441 now for the full conversation with Alan, and subscribe or follow now, for more episodes like this.

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In this episode of The Entrepreneur Experiment, Gary Fox sits down with Ken Rideout for a conversation that goes far beyond endurance sport. Yes, they talk about marathons, HYROX, discipline, and what it really feels like to stand on a start line ready to compete — but this episode is really about identity, effort, masculinity, parenting, business ambition, and the mindset required to keep going when life gets hard.

Ken opens up about what success actually means to him, why he believes failure is simply not trying, and how he’s learned to reframe adversity — from losing jobs to helping his wife through cancer treatment. He shares his brutally honest view that most people underestimate what they’re capable of, explains why he’s driven more by discipline than motivation, and reveals the internal pressure, imposter syndrome, and dark mental places that often sit beneath elite performance.

This is not a polished “morning routine” conversation. It’s a raw, funny, provocative and deeply human episode about competing hard, living truthfully, protecting your energy, and building a life where you do more of what matters - and less of what doesn’t.

Show Notes

In this episode, we cover:

🔥 Why Ken believes success is rooted in family, friendship, and community — not status
💥 His definition of failure: not trying
🏃 The mindset he brings to marathons, HYROX, and elite competition
🧠 Why discipline matters more than motivation
😬 The imposter syndrome and insecurity behind high performance
📚 How Ken’s story went from “toiling in darkness” to bestselling author and major podcast guest
👊 Why he thinks 99% of people underestimate their own potential
🏠 Parenting, social media boundaries, and raising strong kids in a soft world
💼 His business philosophy: make enough money so you never have to do things you don’t want to do
⌚ The tools he actually uses: Whoop, sauna, cold plunge, and his beloved 8 Sleep setup
😅 Why he hates LinkedIn, protects his relationships, and refuses to be performative online

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About Ken Rideout:

• Ken’s Book: Everything You Want Is On The Other Side of Hard: https://www.theothersideofhard.com/

• Follow Ken on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ken_rideout/?hl=en

• Follow Ken on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ken_rideout

• Ken Rideout on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ken_rideout

Follow The Entrepreneur Experiment

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In this Mentor Moment, Gerry Hussey shares a simple but powerful way to visualise success that founders can actually put into practice. Instead of vague “future goals,” Gerry breaks it down into outcomes, daily process enablers, and identity — becoming the person who already lives the life you’re working towards.

You’ll hear his step-by-step exercise to map what you want, identify the habits that get you there, and close the gap between who you are today and who you need to become.

For the full conversation with Gerry Hussey, listen to Episode 413 of The Entrepreneur Experiment.

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In this episode of The Entrepreneur Experiment, Gary Fox sits down with Eoin Cluskey, founder and head baker of Bread 41, the Dublin bakery business built on craft, care, and real food. From leaving school early and training as a carpenter to finding his calling in kitchens abroad, Eoin shares the winding road that led him back to Ireland to build one of the country’s most loved bakery brands. Bread 41 launched in 2018 and has since expanded across multiple locations while staying fiercely committed to quality and values.

This is a conversation about much more than bread. Eoin opens up about losing money in a failed early venture, writing the original Bread 41 vision in a copybook, building a 24/7 bakery model, scaling without taking on growth for growth’s sake, and why he’d rather walk away than compromise the product. If you’re trying to build a business that grows without losing its soul, this episode is packed with practical wisdom.

In this episode, we cover:

• 🔥 Why “simplicity scales, complexity fails” applies to almost every business

• 🥖 How Eoin went from carpenter to baker after a chance opportunity in Australia

• 🌍 Why travel, loneliness, and coming home to Ireland changed his life

• 📓 The copybook vision that became Bread 41

• 💸 The failed first business that cost him €25,000 — and what it taught him

• 📍 Why opening on Pearse Street worked because of community, not just footfall

• ⏰ How Bread 41 built a 24/7 operating model around bread, pastry, and wholesale

• 📈 The real challenge of going from one bakery to two without breaking the culture

• 🧠 Why founders can’t scale if they need to be in the business 24/7

• 🌾 The long-term vision to move into Irish milling and support local growers

• 👥 Why care is the company’s number one value

• 🏡 The family wake-up call that changed how Eoin thinks about success

  
  “The day I add an additive or preservative to the bread is the day I walk away.”

• Bread 41 official site:https://bread41.ie/

• Bread 41 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bread41bakery/?hl=en

• Bread 41 locations: including Pearse Street, Stillorgan, Cabinteely, and Greystones.

*Our Sponsors *
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In this Mentor Moment, Lorraine Heskin — founder of Gourmet Food Parlour — takes us back to 2006, right in the heart of the Celtic Tiger, when she made the leap from a stable job into the unknown to build her own café brand.

Lorraine shares how she approached brand-building from day one, why finding a location was the hardest part (and why she refused to pay key money), and the magic of opening the doors to a queue down the street — proving the idea wasn’t just in her head, the community wanted it.

For the full conversation with Lorraine and the full Gourmet Food Parlour origin story, listen to Episode 423 of The Entrepreneur Experiment.

Nostra: https://bit.ly/nostra26
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Andrea Reynolds, Founder & CEO of Swoop, joins Gary to break down what founders actually need to know about funding, cash flow and building a business that lasts.

Andrea started Swoop after becoming deeply frustrated by how hard it was for business owners to access grants, loans and funding quickly. What began as anger at a broken system became a fintech platform helping businesses access cash faster, automate funding applications and identify savings across essential services.

In this conversation, Andrea shares the real-world funding lessons most founders only learn the hard way: why you should raise debt before you need it, why revenue solves more problems than almost anything else, how to think about investors properly, and why profitability matters more than hype.

She also opens up about building under pressure, raising millions across multiple rounds, expanding internationally, surviving market shocks, and why empathy is still her most important business principle.

If you’re a founder, operator or business owner trying to grow without losing control, this one is packed with practical insight.

Andrea Reynolds is the Founder & CEO of Swoop, a fintech platform helping businesses access funding faster through data, automation and smarter financial decision-making.

In this episode, Gary and Andrea discuss:

• Why businesses fail when cash flow gets tight

• The original frustration that sparked Swoop

• How Andrea manually tested demand before building the product

• Winning early funding through timing, momentum and experimentation

• The open banking opportunity that accelerated Swoop’s growth

• What founders get wrong about fundraising

• Why you should raise before you actually need the money

• The difference between debt, grants and equity

• Why some investors can become a liability

• How to think about boards, board observers and investor fit

• Why diversification matters in a volatile market

• The shift from “growth at all costs” to profitability

• Expanding from Ireland and the UK into the US and beyond

• Building a forever business instead of chasing hype

• Andrea’s personal approach to time, energy and staying grounded

• The books, habits and mindset shifts that have shaped her

This episode is full of practical advice for founders navigating growth, fundraising and uncertainty.

• Swoop: https://swoopfunding.com/ie/

• Enterprise Ireland: https://www.enterprise-ireland.com/en/

• Books:

  The Hard Thing About Hard Things by Ben Horowitz

  High Output Management by Andrew Grove

  The Art of War by Sun Tzu

*Our Sponsors *
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In this Mentor Moment, Anthony Gallagher, founder of Petstop, Ireland’s leading Independent Pet Retailer, shares what he’s proudest of after decades in business: the people who stayed. From team members who have been with him for nearly 30 years to multi-generational families now working across the business, Anthony reflects on why great companies are built by investing in people, staying close to customers, and never losing touch with what’s happening on the ground.

He also shares why he still visits stores every week, how innovation helped Petstop scale through major change, and why the basics — listening, learning, and paying attention to detail — matter more than ever.

For the full conversation with Anthony, listen to Episode 425 of The Entrepreneur Experiment.

Our Sponsors:

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Azure: https://bit.ly/azure26 

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Will Meara is the founder behind Bingo Loco — the 3-hour bingo rave that sells chaos as an experience and somehow turns strangers into mates in the space of one night.

In this episode, Will breaks down how Bingo Loco went from a scrappy experiment in Dublin to a global live-experience machine — running roughly 2,000 events a year, active in around 270+ cities, with a team of ~276 people and ~200+ performers (MCs, DJs and talent) powering the shows.

We get into the real mechanics most people miss:

• why Bingo Loco works as “competitive socialising” (a focal point that removes the awkwardness of meeting up)

• the win-win commercial model that makes venues want you back

• how they localise every show so it feels native (Texas ≠ New York ≠ Melbourne)

• how you keep quality when you’re doing 40–60 shows at the same time on peak weekends

• the experimentation framework Will uses to launch new concepts: design → test variables → stress-test scalability → rollout

We also flip the mic: Gary shares why the new studio is built around hospitality — making every step of the guest experience feel effortless — and Will shares the belief most founders won’t like: sometimes you need to smash your own structures before bureaucracy kills growth.

If you’re building in events, community, hospitality, or any experience-led business — this is a masterclass in distribution, localisation, and disciplined creativity.

In this episode

• Why Bingo Loco works as competitive socialising (a focal point that removes the awkwardness of meeting up)

• The “win-win” model: how to structure deals so venues genuinely want you back

• How to scale globally without losing the magic: localise everything (music, humour, pacing, crowd expectations)

• Why “you can’t multiply chaos without discipline” (and what discipline looks like backstage)

• How they recruit and train talent for a 3-hour live show (and why it’s so hard to do well)

• The feedback loops that protect quality: customer feedback + venue feedback + mystery shopping

• The framework Will uses to launch new concepts: design → test variables → stress-test scalability → rollout

• Why distribution is the real prize: once you have venues + trust, you can roll out new IP layers fast

• Founder lesson: too much structure kills growth, too little structure kills scale — and sometimes you must break your own rules

Links & resources

Guest / company

• Bingo Loco (official): https://www.bingoloco.com/

• Locomotive HQ (Bingo Loco + concepts): https://locomotivehq.com/

• Locomotive Live — Bingo Loco page: https://www.locomotivelive.com/bingoloco

• Will Meara on LinkedIn: https://ie.linkedin.com/in/williammeara

Book mentioned

• Shantaram (Gregory David Roberts)

Tool mentioned

• Brick (phone focus device/app): https://getbrick.app/

Sponsors

Nostra: https://bit.ly/nostra26

Azure: https://bit.ly/azure26 Rory’s Travel Club: https://bit.ly/rorys26

Chartered Capital: https://bit.ly/49ZuFrk

In this Mentor Moment, Rory King - founder of Rory’s Travel Club - breaks down the content engine behind building a simple, low-cost membership business at scale. He shares how they publish across multiple platforms every day, the split between posts that convert (offers), posts that build trust (reviews/testimonials), and posts that drive engagement (questions, entertainment), plus why “value first” is the only strategy that lasts.

If you’re trying to grow an audience, build a personal brand, or turn attention into recurring revenue, this is packed with practical takeaways you can apply immediately.

For the full conversation with Rory, listen to Episode 421 of The Entrepreneur Experiment.

Nostra: https://bit.ly/nostra26

Azure: https://bit.ly/azure26 

Rory’s Travel Club: https://bit.ly/rorys26

Chartered Capital: https://bit.ly/49ZuFrk