Business Builders

🔔🔔 Troy Armour reveals how he built Junk Kouture from a €1,000 idea into a global movement, and why he believes most entrepreneurs are driven by trauma, creativity, and the need to stand out 🔔🔔

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Troy Armour joins Business Builders for one of the most wide-ranging and unconventional conversations we’ve ever had, covering entrepreneurship, creativity, trauma, AI, identity, leadership, and the deeper psychology behind building businesses.
What began as a small creative idea with just €1,000 in the bank grew into Junk Kouture: a global platform spanning more than 100,000 young people across 74 nationalities, helping students express themselves through creativity, fashion, storytelling, and performance.
But Troy’s story is about far more than building a successful business.
He explains why he believes most entrepreneurs are “addicts” driven by feelings of not being enough, how childhood experiences shape ambition, and why creativity often emerges from pressure, pain, and constraint.
Along the way, Troy shares the early hustle behind Junk Kouture; writing letters to nearly 1,000 schools because he couldn’t afford marketing, persuading venues to host events for free, and figuring everything out in real time with no roadmap and almost no money.
The conversation also explores Troy’s deeply personal journey of self-discovery: from leadership struggles and burnout, to ayahuasca retreats in Brazil, vulnerability, shame, and learning to accept himself.
He also discusses the future of AI, why he believes we are entering “the age of creativity,” and how artificial intelligence will fundamentally reshape business, software, and work itself over the next decade.
This is a conversation about ambition, identity, creativity, healing, and what really drives people to build.
“If you don’t fit in, then maybe you were born to stand out.”
🎧 In this episode, you’ll learn 🎧:
 How Troy built Junk Kouture starting with just €1,000  
 Why constraints and lack of money can create better businesses  
 The unconventional early growth story behind Junk Kouture  
 Why Troy believes most entrepreneurs are driven by trauma and insecurity  
 The similarities between entrepreneurial obsession and addiction  
 How creativity and pressure are deeply connected  
 What Troy learned about leadership after nearly burning out  
 Why vulnerability and shame shape so much of human behaviour  
 The personal story behind Troy’s ayahuasca experience in Brazil  
 Why he believes “most people leave school broken”  
 How Junk Kouture helps young people build confidence and identity  
 Why AI will transform business and usher in “the age of creativity”  
 Troy’s predictions for the future of software, SaaS, and entrepreneurship  
 Why environment and proximity changed the scale of his ambition  
 What success, happiness, and fulfillment really mean to him now

🔔🔔 Colin Culliton reveals why you can’t build a successful business without making hard decisions - and the realities of scaling through crisis 🔔🔔
Colin Culliton joins Business Builders to share the story of how he built and scaled a multi-million euro print and communications group, and the hard decisions that defined his journey.
What began as a small “me too” printing company with six people grew into a €20M group of businesses spanning design, marketing, events, and more. But the path from startup to scale was anything but smooth.
Colin explains how he approached growth in a traditional, highly competitive industry, starting with organic growth before using acquisitions to accelerate scale and expand into new areas.
Along the way, he learned that business success isn’t about avoiding problems; it’s about facing them head-on. Nowhere was this clearer than during the 2008 financial crisis, when Colin made the counterintuitive decision to cut headcount while the business was still booming - a move that ultimately saved the company.
In this episode, Colin breaks down what it really takes to build a long-term business: from making tough calls under pressure, to trusting your instincts, to building teams that can solve problems better than you can.
He also reflects on leadership, the realities of managing multiple businesses, and why the fear of failure never truly goes away - no matter how successful you become.
This is a conversation about resilience, decision-making, and the truth behind what it takes to survive and scale a business over decades.
“If you think you can avoid hard decisions and build a business over the long term - you just can’t.” 
🎧 In this episode, you’ll learn:
 Why Colin started his first business - and why the idea itself mattered less than taking action 
 How to grow a company in a traditional, competitive industry 
 The role of acquisitions in scaling a business faster 
 Why making hard decisions quickly is critical to long-term success 
 What founders get wrong about growth during good times 
 How Colin navigated the 2008 financial crisis and protected his business 
 Why trusting your instincts is one of the most important skills in business 
 The challenges of managing multiple businesses and leaders 
 How to build teams with diverse thinking and strong problem-solving ability 
 Why fear of failure never goes away - and how it drives performance 
⏱️ Timestamps
00:00 - Cold open
 01:00 - Introducing Colin Culliton
 02:00 - Starting a “me too” printing business
 05:30 - Winning early clients and building trust
 10:30 - Dyslexia as a problem-solving advantage
 15:00 - Early growth and first acquisition
 20:30 - Scaling through acquisitions vs organic growth
 25:00 - Spotting risk before the 2008 crash
 27:00 - Cutting headcount before the downturn
 31:00 - Surviving the financial crisis
 34:00 - Lessons from competitors failing
 38:00 - Leadership, learning, and self-development
 41:00 - How to approach buying a business
 47:00 - Managing multiple companies and leaders
 53:00 - Why business is always a fight
 56:00 - Success, money, and what really matters
 59:00 - Sacrifices and work-life balance
 01:01:00 - Fear of failure and final advice
Topics covered:
Entrepreneurship, business growth, leadership, acquisitions, scaling a business, financial crisis, decision-making, founder mindset, SME strategy, resilience, Colin Culliton

🔔🔔 Ciaran Burke, CEO and co-founder of Swoop, shares how he built a global fintech platform helping 300,000+ businesses access over £2BN in funding - and the brutal realities behind scaling a startup 🔔🔔
Ciaran Burke joins Business Builders to share the story behind Swoop and the realities of building and scaling a fintech company in the modern funding landscape.
What started as a simple idea - helping small businesses navigate the complex world of finance - has grown into a global platform operating across multiple countries, connecting businesses with loans, equity, grants, and financial insights.
But the journey from early-stage startup to international scale was anything but smooth.
Ciaran shares the often unseen side of entrepreneurship; from sleepless nights during funding rounds to the pressure of keeping a team motivated while facing uncertainty behind the scenes.
Along the way, he learned one of the most important lessons in business; not all revenue is created equal. Growth can look impressive on the surface, but without understanding margins and key drivers, it can actually hold a business back.
In this episode, Ciaran breaks down what it really takes to scale a company: understanding your numbers, making tough decisions about where to focus, and navigating the emotional and operational challenges that come with growth.
He also explains why many founders misunderstand funding, how businesses limit themselves by relying on a single source of finance, and why being “funding ready” is more important than ever.
This is a conversation about entrepreneurship, fintech, and the reality of building a business in an increasingly complex and competitive environment.
“Not all revenue is the same… some of it looks good, but you’re actually giving most of it away.”
🎧 In this episode, you’ll learn:
Why Ciaran co-founded Swoop and the problem it solves for businesses
 The hidden realities of fundraising and founder pressure
 Why not all revenue is equal - and how to think about margin
 How small improvements in key metrics can drive massive growth
 What it really means to be “funding ready”
 Why many founders give up too early when seeking finance
 How to understand and track the most important numbers in your business
 The challenges of building a two-sided marketplace
 Why having a co-founder can be critical during tough periods
 What it takes to scale a business across multiple countries
⏱️ Timestamps
00:00 - Cold open
 01:00 - Introducing Ciaran Burke and Swoop
 03:30 - The problem with business funding
 08:00 - How Swoop works and makes money
 12:00 - Early days and building the business
 15:30 - The challenge of two-sided marketplaces
 26:00 - Why not all revenue is equal
 30:30 - Being funding ready and understanding your numbers
 40:40 - Founder pressure and fundraising stress
 42:00 - The importance of co-founders
 48:30 - Building a business internationally
 55:00 - Lessons from scaling Swoop
Topics covered:
Entrepreneurship, fintech, Swoop, startup funding, business finance, scaling a business, founders, cashflow, revenue vs profit, two-sided marketplaces, leadership, startup growth.

🔔🔔 Willie McMahon built, scaled, and sold a 45-person engineering business - then walked away to help other founders do it better. 🔔🔔
Willie is giving away 10 copies of the book Traction on a first come first served basis. If you’re running a company with between 10 - 250 employees, contact Willie to get your free copy: [email protected]
Willie McMahon, EOS Implementer and founder of CalX (exited) joins Business Builders to share how he went from a one-man operation to building and exiting a scaling engineering business - and what he learned along the way.
Starting with no plan, no funding, and no support network, Willie built a calibration and instrumentation business from scratch. What began as a solo operation grew into a 45-person company, navigating cash flow pressure, hiring challenges, and the realities of bootstrapping - before eventually merging and exiting.
But the journey wasn’t smooth. Growth nearly broke the business multiple times. Hiring mistakes, cash constraints, and operational complexity forced hard decisions - including turning down major opportunities that could have destroyed everything.
Willie shares how 90-day execution cycles and relentless problem-solving helped them scale - even before formally discovering EOS (Entrepreneurial Operating System).
The conversation dives into what actually drives business success: people, structure, and clarity. Willie explains why most problems are not what they seem, why founders are often the bottleneck, and how systems - not effort - create scalable companies.
He also opens up about the emotional side of building and selling a business: risk, fear, responsibility, and the moment you realise you’re responsible for other people’s livelihoods.
Now working with founders through EOS, Willie helps businesses break through growth ceilings, build stronger cultures, and create structure that enables freedom.
This is a conversation about entrepreneurship, scaling, leadership, and building a business that actually works.
“It's not the person - it's the system around them.”
🎧 In this episode, you’ll learn:
How Willie built and scaled a business from 1 to 45 people
 Why most businesses hit growth ceilings (and how to break through them)
 The reality of bootstrapping and managing cash flow
 Why hiring “another you” is a mistake
 How to think about risk as a founder
 Why short-term (90-day) thinking drives long-term growth
 The importance of culture and hiring the right people
 How to structure a business for scale
 Why most problems are systems problems, not people problems
 The emotional reality of selling a business
 How EOS helps founders gain clarity, control, and freedom
 Why you must grow as a person to grow your business
⏱️ Timestamps
00:00 - Cold open
 00:55 - Introducing Willie McMahon and EOS
 02:00 - What calibration and instrumentation actually is
 05:00 - Early career and falling into the industry
 08:30 - The moment he decided to start his own business
 11:00 - First hires and early hiring mistakes
 14:30 - “I didn’t need another me”
 16:00 - Bootstrapping and surviving on cash flow
 18:00 - 90-day targets and early growth
 21:00 - Becoming an employer and responsibility for people
 23:00 - Turning down a huge opportunity
 26:00 - Fear, risk, and decision-making as a founder
 30:00 - Discovering EOS and business frameworks
 33:00 - Why founders must grow to scale their business
 37:00 - Building culture (and the fictional character hiring test)
 42:00 - Merging the business and scaling rapidly
 46:00 - Managing operations, hiring, and field teams
 53:00 - Marketing tactics that actually worked
 57:00 - Growth during COVID and scaling chall

🔔🔔 Gowri Subramanian built a $200M global software company over 25 years - without venture capital 🔔🔔
Gowri Subramanian, CEO of Aspire Systems, joins Business Builders to share how he built and scaled a global technology services company from zero to $200M in revenue; entirely bootstrapped.
What started as a group of seven friends with no clear plan or funding became a 4,500-person software and technology services business working with global enterprises across the US, Europe, and beyond. But the journey was slow and difficult. It took years to find product-market fit, pivot away from a non-scaling business model, and reach profitability.
Gowri explains how Aspire evolved from an industrial engineering consultancy into a software product engineering company, a pivot that unlocked growth. Instead of raising venture capital, the company reinvested profits and used debt funding to scale, taking a long-term approach. 
Moving from $10M to $100M required one set of capabilities; but, scaling beyond that meant competing with global firms like Accenture, Capgemini, and Infosys. Gowri shares why every stage requires a different company, strategy, and mindset.
The conversation also explores AI and its impact on the software industry. Gowri explains why AI threatens traditional time-and-materials models, while also creating opportunities in legacy modernisation, enterprise transformation, and custom software.
Beyond strategy, this episode dives into leadership, culture, and long-term thinking. Gowri shares why people and open feedback are critical to scaling, and why he’s focused on building a business for the long term - not for exit - including creating impact through philanthropy in India.
This is a conversation about entrepreneurship, scaling, AI disruption, and building something that lasts.
“Business is a rat race - there is no finish line.”
🎧 In this episode, you’ll learn:
How Gowri built Aspire Systems into a $200M global company
 Why the first 7 years of business were the hardest
 The importance of pivoting when a business isn’t scaling
 How to grow without venture capital
 Why scaling from $100M to $200M is so difficult
 What changes at each stage of growth
 How to compete with global firms like Accenture and Infosys
 The real impact of AI on software businesses
 Why AI is both a threat and an opportunity
 How culture and people drive success
 The role of persistence over decades
 Why teaching skills creates more impact than charity
⏱️ Timestamps
00:00 - Cold open
 00:55 - Introducing Gowri Subramanian and Aspire Systems
 02:00 - What Aspire Systems does
 05:00 - Moving from India to Singapore and Ireland
 06:00 - Starting with no plan or funding
 09:00 - 7 founders to 3
 12:00 - Early business model and pivot
 13:30 - Shutting down one business
 14:30 - Road to profitability
 18:00 - Early ambition
 21:30 - Bootstrapping vs VC
 22:30 - Growth to $100M
 25:30 - Scaling challenges
 27:30 - “Business is a rat race”
 29:30 - AI and the future
 34:30 - Culture and leadership
 37:00 - Open feedback
 40:00 - Founder mindset
 47:30 - Angel investing
 50:00 - India’s growth
 59:30 - Philanthropy
 01:05:00 - Long-term vision
Topics covered:
Entrepreneurship, scaling a business, bootstrapping, venture capital, AI and business, software industry, technology services, leadership, company culture, global expansion, startups, India economy, product engineering, long-term business building, philanthropy, founders