Get Funding Ready
and Scale Smart

Next edition · Confirmed

Thursday 5 November 2026 — Dublin

The next edition of Get Funding Ready and Scale Smart runs on Thursday 5 November 2026 in Dublin. Same morning rhythm as June: a curated panel, sharp Q&A, and structured one-to-ones with the Agile Executives team. The panel line-up and venue will be confirmed shortly. Register your interest and we will hold a place for you ahead of the public open.

The edition after this one runs on Thursday 11 March 2027, also in Dublin.

Want to be in front of investors as well as on the prep side? Our Pitch to Scale Investor Showcase runs alongside this series. The next edition is confirmed for Thursday 24 September 2026.

Marginal gains. The network is the capital. Build the business before you raise.

Kingsley Aikins opened with Sir Dave Brailsford and British Cycling. Break the work into every small part, improve each by one percent, and the gains compound. Scale, he argued, is rarely one big move. It is a hundred small ones done well. His second theme set the tone for the morning: life comes down to two words — other people. Every promotion, raise and deal needs someone else to say yes.

Gerry Walsh built Dynamic Resources into a global retail installation business spanning four continents and more than 10,000 projects without raising a euro of outside capital. His model used the network itself as capital: partners funded their own work and he paid them when he got paid. He pays suppliers fast because trust compounds. The team today spans 43 nationalities and 23 languages.

Niall Norton scaled Openet from a small Irish software firm into a global telecoms business and an Amdocs exit. His message was grounded: a good idea is no longer enough. Investors want a real business with paying customers and a growth trajectory. A single point of failure — one founder carrying everything — kills a fundraise. Build a team early, and set goals that scare you a little.

Martina Fitzgerald (Scale Ireland) gave the room an honest read on the landscape. Around three quarters of founders still find it difficult or very difficult to raise, with the three to ten million euro round the hardest stretch. The Government has named a one billion euro scaling finance gap it intends to close over the next three to five years. She also flagged supports founders are leaving on the table: more than half are not claiming the R&D tax credit, now worth 35 percent, and nine in ten are not using share options.