The Entrepreneur Experiment

What happens when the dream you've spent your entire life chasing comes to an end?

In this Mentor Moment, Steve Crosbie shares how retiring from professional rugby at just 26 became the catalyst for building Fad Saoil Sauna. He reflects on the power of obsession, the importance of backing yourself through uncertainty, and why the skills you develop pursuing one dream can become the foundation for the next.

Whether you're navigating a career change, starting a business, or simply trying to find your next opportunity, Steve's story is a reminder that reinvention isn't starting over - it's building on everything you've already learned.

🎧 Enjoyed this Mentor Moment? Listen back to the full conversation with Steve in Episode 454 of The Entrepreneur Experiment, where he shares the journey behind building Fad Saoil Sauna, Ireland's pioneering mobile sauna experience, and the lessons he's learned along the way.

Follow and subscribe for a new Mentor Moment every week, alongside full conversations with world-class founders, creators and leaders.

In this special episode of The Entrepreneur Experiment, Gary Fox sits down with three of Ireland’s most exciting food and drink founders for a live “Recipe for Success” masterclass, brought to you with the Local Enterprise Offices and the National Enterprise Awards.

Gary is joined by Denise Buckley of Sugar Plum Sweetery, Pat Falvey of Blarney Brewing Company and Active Brewing Company, and Ian O’Rourke of RYSE Chocolate to unpack what it really takes to build a food or drink brand in Ireland today.

From viral TikTok moments and 900% growth to getting onto retail shelves, managing margins, building customer feedback loops, and staying agile beside global competitors, this conversation is packed with practical lessons for anyone building a product-led business.

Denise shares how Sugar Plum Sweetery went from testing a viral Dubai chocolate bar with just nine moulds to making thousands of bars a day. Pat reveals how belief, vision and speed helped him move from property into brewing, including his ambition to build a sustainable Irish beer brand. Ian explains why early founders should “do things that don’t scale”, and how grassroots relationships with retailers can become one of your most valuable sources of data.

If you are building a food, drink, retail or consumer brand, this episode is a tactical playbook on testing fast, backing yourself, getting close to your customer, and staying in the game long enough for momentum to arrive.

🎧 Show Notes

In this episode, we cover:

🔥 The “recipe for success” behind three standout Irish food and drink brands
🍫 How Sugar Plum Sweetery turned the Dubai chocolate trend into 900% growth
📈 Why Denise believes attention to detail, obsession and customer relevance drive brand momentum
🚀 How a test batch of nine chocolate bars became thousands of bars a day
📲 Why TikTok Shop became a powerful commercial channel for Sugar Plum Sweetery
🏪 The plan to expand Sugar Plum Sweetery into 10 physical stores over three years
🍺 How Pat Falvey went from 20 years in property to owning a brewery three weeks after a chance lunch
💡 Why belief, vision and the ability to embrace change are essential founder traits
🏉 The thinking behind Active Brewing Company and functional non-alcoholic beer
⚡ How Ian O’Rourke is building RYSE Chocolate as a new “chocolate energy” category
🛒 Why getting into retail is only the first challenge — and why shelf position, rate of sale and relationships matter
📊 How small brands can use local store managers and independent retailers as real-time market research
🎯 Why “do things that don’t scale” is still one of the most powerful startup lessons
💰 The importance of understanding margin before scaling any food or drink brand
🤝 How Local Enterprise Offices helped the founders with grants, feasibility studies, machinery, brand development and connections
🌱 Why Irish brands can compete with global giants by being faster, more personal and more agile
📚 The books Ian recommends for early-stage founders: The Lean Startup and Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway
🧠 The final advice each founder would give to someone thinking about starting their own business

Links & Resources

Sugar Plum Sweetery: https://sugarplumsweetery.ie/
Blarney Brewing Company: https://www.blarneybrewing.ie/
RYSE Chocolate: https://rysechocolate.com/
Local Enterprise Offices: https://www.localenterprise.ie/
National Enterprise Awards: https://www.localenterprise.ie/awards/2026-finalists/

In this Mentor Moment, Timo Boldt, founder of Gousto, shares a counterintuitive lesson for founders: sometimes your biggest competitive advantage is the thing everyone else is trying to avoid.
Timo explains why building Gousto meant embracing complexity at every level — from AI and supply chains to logistics, manufacturing, and customer experience. He reflects on the reality of scaling a capital-intensive business, raising hundreds of millions of pounds, and why founders need to be great at far more than one thing if they want to build something truly exceptional.
If you're building a business and wondering whether the hard path is worth it, this conversation is a powerful reminder that complexity, when managed well, can become your moat.
Listen back to the full conversation in Episode 429 of The Entrepreneur Experiment — and subscribe/follow so you don't miss the next Mentor Moment.
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In this episode of The Entrepreneur Experiment, Gary Fox sits down with Sean Noble, one of Ireland’s fastest-rising HYROX athletes, currently ranked among the top competitors in the world.

A qualified solicitor who walked away from the traditional career path to go all-in as a full-time athlete, Sean’s story is one of grief, obsession, discipline and reinvention. After a devastating knee injury ended his football ambitions, he spiralled into drinking, weight gain and depression — before discovering fitness as a way back.

What began as a means of escape became a new identity. From his first HYROX event in 2023 to winning major races, signing with MyProtein and Puma, and competing on the Elite 15 stage, Sean reveals the mindset, training structure and personal pain that have driven his rapid rise.

This is a conversation about going all-in, rebuilding yourself from rock bottom, and what it really takes to compete at the very edge of human performance.

The conversation took place at Wellfest, Dublin, as part of the new WellMan Stage.

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🎧 Show Notes

In this episode, we cover:

🔥 How a career-ending football injury changed Sean’s life
🧠 The mental toll of losing sport at 22
💔 How grief after his father’s death became part of his driving force
🏋️‍♂️ Why fitness became his “medicine”
🚀 Going from his first HYROX event in 2023 to the Elite 15
⚖️ The decision to leave law behind and become a full-time athlete
📈 Why HYROX is one of the fastest-growing sports in the world
🧪 The science of lactate threshold, smart training and avoiding burnout
🥇 What it takes to train 28 hours per week at an elite level
🇮🇪 The pride of representing Ireland on the world stage

💬 Standout Quote

“Fitness for me was my medicine. That was my why.” — Sean

In this Mentor Moment, Bobby Kerr - former Dragon and former CEO of Insomnia Coffee - shares the strategic lessons that helped scale Insomnia from a small coffee business into a recognised national brand.

Bobby breaks down why underfunding was one of his biggest early mistakes, how letting go of ego helped him choose the right brand name and structure, and why partnerships with companies like Spar, Easons, Penneys, and Meadows & Byrne became key routes to growth.

This is a practical lesson in playing the long game, building multiple revenue streams, and making the kind of strategic decisions that give a business more ways to survive and scale.

Listen back to the full conversation in Episode 439 of The Entrepreneur Experiment - and subscribe/follow so you don’t miss the next Mentor Moment.

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