The Irish Tech News Podcast

One of the most interesting and stressful times for an entrepreneur is founding a startup and helping it grow and thrice. Along the way mistakes may be made, mistakes that can make or break a startup. One entrepreneur who knows the startup journey all too well is Adrian Fleming, Director of Environment, Social and Governance at Diligent Corporation. Adrian founded Accuvio, a sustainability enterprise SaaS company in 2009, and scaled it from a scrappy start-up to a thriving company until getting acquired by Diligent Corporation in 2021. Ronan talks to Adrian about the highs and lows of the startup journey, including how Accuvio started, fund raising, selling Accuvio to the Diligent Corporation and startup hints and tips. More about Adrian: Adrian founded Accuvio to provide leading innovative sustainability reporting solutions to multi-national and public sector organisations all over the world. His experience working for companies such as Dell, Accenture, Ingersol Rand, and JP Morgan, has helped him with Accuvio. Adrian built Accuvio to provide a purpose built software platform which gives incredible flexibility and customisation to suit clients big and small in different industry sectors.

On this podcast, Diana Paiva is joined by Josh Jackman a senior writer at EcoExperts. Josh explains how people can create their own eco-home and how much people can save by investing in it. He also talks about government support and the struggles that some people might have when changing to an eco-home. Josh Jackman - Born-and-bred Londoner, Josh Jackman has written about and reported on eco-friendly home improvements and climate change for the past three years. Josh’s data-driven work has been featured on the front page of the Financial Times and sites including the Daily Express, Fox News, and Simply Switch, and earned him a spot as the resident expert in a BT initiative to bring smart home tech to more households. He’s been interviewed on BBC Radio as an expert on renewable ways to heat your home, because he’s absorbed a tremendous amount of knowledge about solar panels, heat pumps, and more boilers than you could throw several sticks at. Josh has also used the journalistic skills he developed at The Jewish Chronicle and PinkNews to investigate and analyse every green government grant in existence, and examine the impact of cryptocurrency – and Henry VIII – on the climate.

On this Podcast Diana Paiva, is joined by the Director of Science for Society at Science Foundation Ireland, Dr Abigail Ruth Freeman. Dr Ruth talked about the SDG challenge, which involves sustainability and the difficulties the society will face to become more sustainable. She also talks about the engagement of the Science Foundation Ireland and partnerships to work on the SDG challenge. About Dr Abigail Ruth Freeman Dr Abigail Ruth Freeman was appointed Director of Strategy and Communications in 2013, and following department restructure in 2018, became Director of Science for Society. Prior to her current appointment Ruth has held a series of positions at Science Foundation Ireland, including Director of Innovation, Communications & Education and Director of Programmes, Enterprise and International Affairs, with responsibility for overseeing all Science Foundation Ireland research funding programmes and management of funded awards, as well as the Foundation’s activities in conjunction with industry and international partners. Ruth joined Science Foundation Ireland as a Scientific Programme Manager in November 2006. Prior to joining the Foundation, Ruth worked as a researcher at Trinity College Dublin (TCD). She holds PhD and Bachelor degrees in Genetics from TCD, where she was awarded a Trinity scholarship, the Eli Lilly Chemistry Prize and the Roberts prize for Biology. Ruth’s PhD research, on population genetics in hybrid zones, was funded by a prestigious studentship from the Wellcome Trust and was carried out at TCD and ILRI, Nairobi.

Dr. Gordon Jones is an Author, curator, and Investor. A former healthcare executive turned entrepreneur. With more than 30 years of digital innovation, entrepreneurship, and business development experience, Dr. Jones has founded and invested in a variety of projects and startups. Alongside his role leading the emergence of Thrivacy, he is the Adjunct Professor of Blockchain, Data Privacy and Self Sovereign Identity at the University of South Carolina. Creating a Thriving Self Sovereign Identity through Privacy and Thrivacy Wallet, Dr Gordon Jones Jamil Hasan is a crypto and blockchain focused podcast host at the Irish Tech News and spearheads our weekend content “The Crypto Corner” where he interviews founders, entrepreneurs and global thought leaders. Prior to his endeavors into the crypto-verse in July 2017, Jamil built an impressive career as a data, operations, financial, technology and business analyst and manager in Corporate America, including twelve years at American International Group and its related companies. Since entering the crypto universe, Jamil has been an advisor, entrepreneur, investor and author. His books “Blockchain Ethics: A Bridge to Abundance” (2018) and “Re-Generation X” (2020) not only discuss the benefits of blockchain technology, but also capture Jamil’s experience on how he has transitioned from being a loyal yet downsized former corporate employee to a self sovereign individual. With over one hundred podcasts under his belt since he joined our team in February 2021, and with four years of experience both managing his own crypto portfolio and providing crypto guidance and counsel to select clients, Jamil continues to seek opportunities to help others navigate this still nascent industry. Jamil’s primary focus outside of podcast hosting is helping former corporate employees gain the necessary skills and vision to build their own crypto portfolios and create wealth for the long-term.

Marcello Mari is the CEO and co-founder of SingularityDAO, a project pioneering Artificial Intelligence for Decentralized Finance. 2x TEDx speaker with deep expertise in DeFi & Blockchain Marcello is a regular fixture to most of international speaking events. Marcello has also participated to the foundation of SingularityNET working closely with Sophia the Robot. Active Crypto Investing using On-Chain Analytics and Social Sentiment Data by Leveraging Artificial Intelligence, with Singularity DAO Marcello Mari Jamil Hasan is a crypto and blockchain focused podcast host at the Irish Tech News and spearheads our weekend content “The Crypto Corner” where he interviews founders, entrepreneurs and global thought leaders. Prior to his endeavors into the crypto-verse in July 2017, Jamil built an impressive career as a data, operations, financial, technology and business analyst and manager in Corporate America, including twelve years at American International Group and its related companies. Since entering the crypto universe, Jamil has been an advisor, entrepreneur, investor and author. His books “Blockchain Ethics: A Bridge to Abundance” (2018) and “Re-Generation X” (2020) not only discuss the benefits of blockchain technology, but also capture Jamil’s experience on how he has transitioned from being a loyal yet downsized former corporate employee to a self sovereign individual. With over one hundred podcasts under his belt since he joined our team in February 2021, and with four years of experience both managing his own crypto portfolio and providing crypto guidance and counsel to select clients, Jamil continues to seek opportunities to help others navigate this still nascent industry. Jamil’s primary focus outside of podcast hosting is helping former corporate employees gain the necessary skills and vision to build their own crypto portfolios and create wealth for the long-term.

James Fahy, with his co-founder, Ciara Walsh are the brains behind the most flexible and robust cashless tip payment service on the market. As the Covid pandemic was at its height, James had noticed that cash was literally disappearing from sight as the whole world embraced digital and mobile based payment systems. As a result, when businesses finally started to reopen, thousands of service and hospitality staff saw their income drastically reduced because no one had any cash to tip. In addition, the customers that added a tip to the bill often did not know if their server got the tip. James realised that something had to be done and JUSTTIP™ was born in July 2021 Since then, James and Ciara have successfully on boarded over 160 locations across Ireland and built an executive management team brimming with talent and experience. But that was just the start; Justtip is now live in London and Las Vegas. Jamil Hasan is a crypto and blockchain focused podcast host at the Irish Tech News and spearheads our weekend content “The Crypto Corner” where he interviews founders, entrepreneurs and global thought leaders. Prior to his endeavors into the crypto-verse in July 2017, Jamil built an impressive career as a data, operations, financial, technology and business analyst and manager in Corporate America, including twelve years at American International Group and its related companies. Since entering the crypto universe, Jamil has been an advisor, entrepreneur, investor and author. His books “Blockchain Ethics: A Bridge to Abundance” (2018) and “Re-Generation X” (2020) not only discuss the benefits of blockchain technology, but also capture Jamil’s experience on how he has transitioned from being a loyal yet downsized former corporate employee to a self sovereign individual. With over one hundred podcasts under his belt since he joined our team in February 2021, and with four years of experience both managing his own crypto portfolio and providing crypto guidance and counsel to select clients, Jamil continues to seek opportunities to help others navigate this still nascent industry. Jamil’s primary focus outside of podcast hosting is helping former corporate employees gain the necessary skills and vision to build their own crypto portfolios and create wealth for the long-term.

Covid-19 has focused businesses more and more on their supply chains. Covid-19 has also made trade fairs and face to face meetings more or less a thing of the past. On top of that the Russian invasion of Ukraine has disrupted supplies of certain products such as sunflower oil. This has resulted in businesses seeking new solutions to help buyers diversify their suppliers, and suppliers to diversify their markets. Kwayga, an Irish start-up from Cork has identified an opportunity to bring better security to the global food supply chain by matching food buyers and suppliers in a trustworthy way. Ronan talks to Martin Fitzgerald, CEO and Co-founder of Kwayga about this and more. Martin talks about his background, what Kwayga does, dealing with pandemic and Brexit, their future plans, dealing with different languages and cultures. More about Kwayga: Kwayga is a B2B matching platform for buyers and suppliers in the food and beverage sector designed around trust and security. Using the platform buyers and suppliers discover, verify, match, connect, communicate in any language and trade. Finding new, good quality national and international suppliers or buyers, and being able to establish trust is a huge challenge that takes too much time and costs too much money and resources, especially for mid-sized companies. If a business is great at what it does, it should be easy for it to establish trust and securely trade with other businesses anywhere, in any language, at any time. Empowering buyers and suppliers to do this is Kwayga's mission.

Remember the song by Pattie Page, “How much is that doggie in the window?” If the virtual worlds continue to proliferate, are we going to ask, “How much is that doggie in the metaverse?” In this episode of One Vision, Theo and Arun chat about the evolution from Web2 to Web3, the promise of decentralized tech in a creator-led world, and the challenges that we still need to overcome. In a world powered by cryptocurrency assets and NFTs, what roles do incumbent financial institutions and traditional brands play? Is the promise of decentralized power too good to be true?

Today, Shane is joined by Laura Berland, founder of the Centre for Compassionate Leadership to discuss the importance of compassion in leadership. She begins by discussing her background before explaining why compassion is so important. She also discusses why compassion is important now more than with everything that has happened in the world in recent times. She also discusses her past experiences and how they have helped her on her journey to where she is now. Finally, she discusses the Centre for Compassionate Leadership's plans for the near future. Twitter: https://twitter.com/lauraberland?s=21 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lauraberland Centre for Compassionate Leaders: https://www.centerforcompassionateleadership.org About Laura Laura Berland is the Founder and Executive Director of the Center for Compassionate Leadership. She is a weaver of transformative organizations and experiences, as a serial tech entrepreneur, Fortune 500 executive, meditation educator, transformational facilitator, nonprofit board member, executive advisor, and digital media creator. Laura is a visionary activist who advocates that compassion for ourself, for each other, and for the greater whole is the key shift for these challenging times. She sees leaders as catalysts to open hearts and minds to our shared common humanity, and to develop solutions to global crises and suffering at scale. Laura’s groundbreaking approach brings evidence-based principles of modern leadership and the latest scientific research together with the wisdom of contemplative practices. Laura and her team have extensive experience working with executives, entrepreneurs, educators, students, military veterans, and yoga/meditation teachers. For nine years, she built Neil deGrasse Tyson’s StarTalk science media network into a top-ranked podcast and a 4X Emmy nominated TV show on Nat Geo, with a 1.5M+ YouTube following and extensive social footprint across Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. She is an E-RYT500 (accredited educator) from Yoga Alliance, and C-IAYT (certified yoga therapist) from International Association of Yoga Therapists. Laura is an alumna of Cornell University and New York University.

UX/UI has evolved over the past 30 years and one of the biggest evolutions is the GUI interface. Every iteration of the GUI interface has brought along new and exciting features including push notifications. But how do we make sure these UX/UI evolutions are user friendly and designed with the user in mind. Ronan talks to Emmet Connolly, senior director of product design at Intercom about this and more. Emmet talks about his background, how Intercom has evolved since he has been there, an engagement OS, thirty years of design lessons, emoji’s. Emmet also talks about bad design, fonts, and some UX/UI tips. More About Intercom: Intercom, the Engagement OS, enables businesses to build stronger customer relationships that drive growth and scale. With its all-in-one customer communications platform, Intercom offers next-generation solutions for sales, marketing and support teams to convert prospects into paying customers, engage customers throughout their journey and provide world-class support. Intercom is redefining the customer journey and unifying business silos to deliver ongoing, personalised engagement through in-context interactions. More than 25,000 organisations, including Atlassian, Amazon and Lyft Business, rely on Intercom to deliver unparalleled user experiences at any scale. Over 600 million end users actively use Intercom every month, sending more than 500 million messages.