More Than Money. It’s Momentum.
The Born Entrepreneur is not a fund, a consultancy, or an accelerator. We are an entrepreneurial ecosystem - a firm built by founders, for founders. We address the core frustrations of traditional models by offering a unique blend of capital + capability and a deep-seated commitment to your success.
We offer four powerful products designed to propel post-revenue businesses and inspire future innovators:
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The Founder Fund: Smart capital from founders who've scaled, exited, and truly understand the journey.
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Invested Advisory: Embedded, fractional C-suite support (CEO, CPO, CRO, CFO) that goes beyond advice to provide hands-on execution and strategic guidance. We're your co-pilots, not just passengers.
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Liquidity Fund: Access crucial cash-out options for equity-rich, cash-poor founders, providing financial breathing room without forcing an early exit. Keep building, stay strong.
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Entrepreneurship in Education: Our mission extends to inspiring the next generation. We bring real-world entrepreneurial bootcamps and training to schools across Ireland, planting the seeds of innovation early.
We're here to solve real problems: the lack of meaningful, experienced support, insufficient run rates, and the pressure on founders to take any deal. We've been there. We get it.
Our Team
TBE is a collective of proven founders and operators with a shared mission to build, back, and guide ambitious companies.
Our team blends deep expertise across product and marketing, vision and strategy, and operations and finance, giving us a unique vantage point to help businesses grow with clarity and confidence. We bring hands-on experience, hard-won insights, and a founder-first mindset to every partnership - turning great ideas into scalable, successful ventures.
Gavin Walsh
Gavan is a born entrepreneur with a knack for spotting opportunities and turning ideas into thriving businesses. He got his start selling Christmas trees, inspired by his dad who founded the Irish School of Motoring in the ‘60s. That early spark grew into a lifelong love of business.
In 2009, while on a trip to Portugal, Gavan came up with the idea for iCabbi—a smarter way to book taxis through your phone. He went on to build it into a global leader in taxi dispatch, with 200 staff, 100,000+ vehicles on the platform, and backing from Renault, who later acquired the company.
Since stepping back from iCabbi, Gavan has stayed close to the startup world—investing, advising, and helping other founders grow.
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Ian Gavin
Ian is a driven entrepreneur, innovator, and strategic thinker with a passion for building impactful businesses from the ground up.
With a track record of launching and scaling ventures across many industries, Ian blends creativity, resilience, and business acumen to turn ideas into thriving enterprises.
With over twenty years industry experience, Ian is a performance driven company director whose drive, energy and passion have been recognized with several overall performance awards throughout his career.
Whether it is growing a bootstrapped startup into a profitable brand or helping other entrepreneurs do the same, he thrives on turning ideas into income.
Gerard Mellin
Gerard is a senior executive with over 20 years' experience leading commercial, risk, and compliance functions across enterprise, mid-market, and SME sectors.
He brings deep expertise in regulatory governance, risk assessment, and strategic risk management, with a strong track record of ensuring operational integrity and compliance across complex organisations.
Gerard is professionally qualified as an FCA, ACA, and CTA, reflecting his broad competence across finance, audit, and tax disciplines.
Odhran Ginnity
Odhran is a seasoned technology and business leader with over 25 years of experience driving growth and innovation across some of Ireland’s most recognised digital companies, including Daft.ie, Jobs.ie, Adverts.ie, Ding.com, xSellco.com, Boards.ie, Karo.ie, Javelin Payments, and iCabbi.
He was a founder of Javelin Payments (acquired by Renault Group) and most recently served as Chief Technology Officer at iCabbi, a global leader in taxi dispatch software. Earlier in his career, he played a pivotal role in scaling Daft.ie and Distilled Media to become dominant forces in the Irish digital marketplace.
Odhran is a founder and board member of Karo.ie, a fast-growing healthcare staffing platform, and currently serves as PCF-3 Chair of the Board at Glenman Software Development Ltd.
At TBE, we don’t just advise from the sidelines - we’ve lived the journey ourselves. Our team brings hard-earned experience from building, scaling, and exiting successful businesses across multiple sectors. We combine this operational depth with strategic vision to help founders navigate complexity, accelerate growth, and build resilient companies. Whether it’s shaping product strategy, unlocking new markets, or structuring for scale, we bring a practical, founder-first approach that turns ambition into impact