The Entrepreneur Experiment

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.

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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.

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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:

Nostra: https://bit.ly/nostra26

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

In this episode, Gary sits down with Dr Caitriona Ryan and Dr Niki Ralph, co-founders of the Institute of Dermatologists in Dublin, to unpack how they built a modern “centre of excellence” model in Irish private care - combining medical dermatology, cosmetic dermatology, skincare, and a growing surgical pathway under one roof.

They share the realities of scaling a high-trust healthcare business (systems, hiring, standards, and culture), how COVID sparked a major pivot into new services, and why Ireland needs to shift from reactive healthcare to preventative, longevity-led thinking. Plus: the story behind ID Formulas, their new data-driven approach to supplements (including wearables integration), and what they believe actually moves the needle for healthspan.

• Why Caitriona and Niki built a centre of excellence model (and why it’s scalable)
• A day in the life of two Consultant Dermatologists with five businesses and thousands of patients
• The difference between medical dermatology and cosmetic dermatology
• How they protect standards at scale: meetings, feedback loops, SOPs, and hiring
• The COVID moment that forced a pivot - and led to a new surgical model
• Their longevity philosophy: healthspan over lifespan
• The “longevity hype” they’re most sceptical of — and what they’d focus on instead
• A simple, no-fuss skincare framework for founders (men + women)

• Institute of Dermatologists (IoD): https://instituteofdermatologists.ie
• IoD Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/instituteofdermatologists/?hl=en
• ID Formulas waitlist: https://www.idformulas.com/
• Dr Caitriona Ryan Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/caitrionaryandermatology?igsh=MW5jcGhleGFxMWRieg==
• Dr Niki Ralph Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drnikiralph?igsh=MWl2anNucWc5MDR0Yg==

• WHOOP: https://www.whoop.com
• Oura Ring: https://ouraring.com
• Book — Unreasonable Hospitality (Will Guidara)
• Book — Outliers (Malcolm Gladwell)
• Book — Good to Great (Jim Collins)
• EltaMD UV Clear SPF from IoD site(mentioned as a daily sunscreen option): https://instituteofdermatologists.ie/collections/elta-md-skincare

Nostra: https://bit.ly/nostra26

Azure: https://bit.ly/azure26 

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

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

This episode is for general information and education only and does not constitute medical advice. Always consult your GP, pharmacist, or qualified healthcare professional for personalised guidance, especially before starting new supplements or treatments.

In this bite-sized Mentor Moment, Seán Brett shares the raw, real start of his entrepreneurial journey - leaving school at 14 after being misunderstood for dyslexia and ADHD, and turning that experience into creativity, resilience, and a relentless drive to build a better life.

Seán breaks down why “non-traditional” beginnings can become an advantage, how early selling teaches you more than any classroom, and why understanding people - not just products - is at the heart of business.

For the full conversation with Seán (and why it became a listener favourite), listen to Episode 419 of The Entrepreneur Experiment.

Check out our sponsors:

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Azure: https://bit.ly/azure26 

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What doesn’t disappear in a recession? Money. What disappears is confidence — and that’s where opportunity lives.

In this episode of The Entrepreneur Experiment, Gary sits down with Ray Ryan, founder of The Noledge Group, for a wide-ranging, founder-first conversation on staying relevant through decades of tech change — from mainframes, to PCs, to cloud… and now AI, agents, and wearables.

Ray shares how he’s built and evolved a business by spotting shifts early, testing relentlessly, and focusing on what actually creates productivity (hint: it’s not hype — it’s time saved). They get into why voice + visual is the real unlock, how agentic AI changes the game, why the keyboard era is ending, and the simple human rule behind adoption: benefit must outweigh friction.

This is a practical, honest conversation about how founders survive (and win) through change — and why systems, experimentation, and enthusiasm matter more than ever.

In this episode:

• Why recessions are really confidence cycles (and where opportunity comes from)
• Tech cycles: mainframe → network/PC → cloud → AI
• The next shift: wearables + edge computing + AI agents
• Why voice is the “unlock” (and keyboards are on the way out)
• Business is experimentation: testing, packaging, and customer psychology
• Scaling through acquisitions — and why “audience” matters in business
• Ray’s best advice: cash flow and enthusiasm (and why enthusiasm wins

Ray Ryan is the founder of The Noledge Group, working with businesses on improving how they run finance and operational systems—helping leaders move from messy, manual workflows to clearer reporting and stronger decision-making.

• The Noledge Group: https://noledge.ie/
• Ray Ryan (LinkedIn): linkedin.com/in/rayryanossm
• Power Law of Podcasting (course): https://stan.store/garyfox/p/the-podcasting-power-law

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Azure: https://bit.ly/azure26 

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

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

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In this weekend’s Mentor Moment, Charlene Flanagan and Niamh Ryan - the founders of Ella & Jo - share a refreshing take on what success really means. Instead of chasing someone else’s version of the win, they talk about defining success for yourself: freedom, family time, building from the west of Ireland, and creating a legacy by bringing a brand from “nothing” to customers in over 50 countries.

If you’ve ever felt swept up in external pressure - the numbers, the milestones, the “next thing”- this clip is your reminder to pause, reassess, and choose what you actually want your life to look like.

For the full conversation with Charlene and Niamh, listen to Episode 417 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