That Great Business Show

Whose Side Is HR On When the Boss Is Wrong? | Caroline Reidy

The boss signs the cheques. You’ve got a complaint about the boss. So whose side is HR on?
I put that to Caroline Reidy, founder of The HR Suite and now Head of NFP HR Solutions, part of NFP, an Aon company. Then I asked what happens when the boss is the one getting it wrong. It can happen, you know.

We get into the promotion that can cost you your best employee, why job candidates are vanishing before the interview, what Caroline is seeing as AI changes graduate work, and where she’d tell a young person to look for opportunity.

There’s a business story here too. Caroline built The HR Suite in Kerry and sold it to NFP. Who did she ring for advice during the sale? Two women from Going for Growth, and Paula Fitzsimons. We talk about what she got from the programme and why she came back as a Lead Entrepreneur.

Hire in a Heartbeat: Caroline would take a hungry, curious MTU graduate. The course they did matters less to her than what they’ve done along the way.
Going for Growth applications close on 27 November. It’s free for those selected. Details at https://goingforgrowth.com/

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WHO PAYS FOR LEINSTER RUGBY?
WHAT'S THE SYRACUSE UNIVERSITY CONNECTION?
AND HOW DO YOU GET AN IRISH CREAM LIQUEUR ONTO AMERICAN SHELVES?

Philip Brady, Senior Vice President of Leinster Rugby, joins Conall Ó Móráin to talk about the business behind the blue jersey — from sponsorship and ticket revenue to governance, growth and the Syracuse University partnership.

Philip also talks about Coole Swan, the Irish cream liqueur business he shares with his wife Mary, and the challenge of building an Irish brand in the huge American market.
Plus, who would he hire in a heartbeat? Former Leinster star Jordie Barrett.

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E315: STILL IN SCHOOL. 300,000 DOWNLOADS. A $500,000 FUNDRAISE. AND NO PLANS FOR COLLEGE?

What the hell were YOU doing when you were 17?

Paddy Corcoran and Seán Cahill were supposed to be studying for their Junior Cert. Instead, they were scrolling through TikTok.
Then they had an idea. What if studying were as addictive as TikTok?

Fast-forward to today. Their Studytok app has recorded 300,000 downloads of its original global version, their TikTok account has attracted over 100,000 followers, and the lads are raising $500,000 to build an international education business.
Oh, and they're still in sixth year.

They actually took "time out" (eh, they bunked out) of school to come and talk to me. That's dedication. Or truancy. I'll leave that between them and their teachers.
From Rockwell College (where it all began) in Tipperary to investor meetings in New York, these two have already travelled further in business than many people three times their age. They're now at school in Dublin to keep the techbro mo going...

Their mentor and first investor, Erik Jentetics, introduced them to me. He spotted something rather special.
We talk about:
Turning a TY mini-company project into a serious technology business.
How one TikTok video attracted 2.3 million views.
Why Ireland is their testing ground before taking on America.
How AI can turn ordinary study notes into interactive quizzes and exam practice.
Why they're charging schools €25 per student per year.
Raising $500,000 while preparing for the Leaving Cert.
Why Paddy might never go to college (I told him he should, that should come back to haunt me) while Seán has his eye on engineering and robotics.
The extraordinary importance of mentors, investors and taking advice.

And, of course, who they'd hire in a heartbeat.
Their choices? A former Duolingo product chief and a brilliant American consumer-brand marketer. These lads have done their homework. Some of it, anyway.
They're looking for introductions to people in the American education sector. If you're connected to US schools, education technology or investors, have a listen and see if you can help them.
Studytok: https://studytok.com
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"I DON'T THINK THIS IS GOING TO END WELL."
That's not some social media doomsayer, a crypto enthusiast talking up his latest bet, or an internet financial guru selling a course.
That's Alan McQuaid - an economist with more than 30 years' experience in financial markets, who has worked with the Department of Finance, Merrion Stockbrokers and Cantor Fitzgerald Ireland.
A man who has seen a financial crisis or two.
And he believes we're heading for serious trouble.
"We're set up for a big fall."

On this edition of That Great Business Show, Alan joins Conall Ó Móráin for a conversation that becomes increasingly worrying as it unfolds.
We're talking about bond markets, but before you switch off at the very mention of the word BONDS, listen to this.
The bond markets affect the interest on your mortgage, the money available to build houses, the ability of businesses to expand, the security of jobs and, potentially, the value of your pension.
And Alan thinks the warning lights are flashing.
Government borrowing is getting out of hand. Inflation is proving troublesome. Investors are demanding higher returns to lend money. And the world's stock markets may not yet have understood the danger.
Alan thinks interest rates could go higher over the next 12 to 18 months. He fears that share prices could fall sharply. And he believes Ireland is much more vulnerable to an international financial shock than many people realise.
A podcast colleague who's in the process of buying a house and arranging a mortgage, was genuinely worried when he heard this discussion.
We can understand why.
Among the questions we ask:
Is another financial crash on the way?
Could mortgage rates jump again?
Why are the bond markets so nervous?
What happens if China or Japan starts selling more US government debt?
Are shares dangerously overpriced?
Could the data-centre borrowing boom become another problem?
Would Irish house prices tumble?
Should savers be looking at gold, silver, government bonds or bank deposits?
And does Ireland have a far bigger financial problem than the Government would like us to believe?
Alan has strong opinions. You may agree with him. You may disagree very strongly.
But you should hear what he has to say.
Because there's one thing he cannot tell us.
WHEN.
He believes a major fall is coming. But he doesn't know when.
And, as he cheerfully points out, if he did know, he'd be somewhere else making millions.
An extraordinary conversation with an economist who isn't afraid to say what he thinks.

Guest: Alan McQuaid, independent economist.
Connect: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alan-mcquaid-b6278884/
Hosted by Conall Ó Móráin.
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SIX people. More than 120 marts. Over €10 BILLION worth of livestock and related products traded through their platform.
And now they’re taking on America.

How on earth does a team that small build something that big?
Conall Ó Móráin meets Ciarán Feeney and Margaret Monaghan of MartEye, alongside Mary Rodgers, CEO of Galway’s PorterShed—the startup hub helping ambitious businesses make the connections to grow.
When Covid shut the marts, MartEye had TWO WEEKS to build a working product. Customers needed it. Customers paid. And they’ve been building ever since.
Today, farmers can bid from their children’s football matches. A buyer in New York can buy cattle for a farm in Tipperary.
And an unexpected enquiry from Missouri has opened the door to America’s sale barns.

Margaret’s first American trip? Turkeys, the Amish community and a table full of hunting rifles. Not quite the welcome she’d imagined.
We get into:
• Getting customers paying before the product was “fully baked”.
• The American opportunity: roughly 1,100 sale barns, according to Ciarán.
• Why MartEye has declined approaches from industry investors.
• The reality of supporting customers at THREE in the morning.
• Why PorterShed protects its engineers—and makes introductions count.
• The microphone mistake that broadcast Margaret into an Italian auction.
• And selling Michael O’Leary’s pedigree Angus cattle.
Customers. Cash. Control. And an Irish business with its eyes on a much bigger market.

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