Gearóid Ó Riain CDir

Tell us more about your background

I am a director and advisory board member of a number of companies from tech to food. Having left Compass Informatics, an analytics company I co-founded and led for many years, I am now back working with early stage companies through Talav Investments & Advisory. Talav – from the word talamh - provides from-the-ground-up assistance to these companies: improving and agreeing a scalable strategy, putting in place effective operations, combining technical & scientific knowledge with commercial focus, and supporting in some cases with investment or fund-raising. I also deliver technology and organisational actionable strategies for organisations, private and governmental, and work alongside senior leaders on specific objectives such as acquisition support. 

My professional career took its most important step in the spare bedroom of my parents’ house. Jack and Brighdin kindly hosted the Compass Informatics first 'office' through the warm summer of 1997 as our startup took its first steps, growing over time to be a 100-person company. As co-founder and Managing Director I led the company to become a leader in the location analytics sector in the Irish & UK markets while also gaining clients in South Africa, the US and Europe. While Compass Informatics was bootstrapped as regards funding, I led it through changes in ownership, delivering acquisitions, and the creation of a future-ready management team. My career has given me the ability to dig into the scientific or technological; combine that with a commercial drive; and create structures and guide teams so the big plans are delivered.

In 2024 I was admitted as a Chartered Director by the IoD, having completed the Diploma in Company Direction as part of Cohort 86. My original degree was in Geography & Economics, followed by a Masters by Research in Geographical Information Systems.

What is the one characteristic that you believe every leader should possess?

I have been heavily involved in sport for many years, and I believe there are characteristics developed through sport that benefit business leaders. This is particularly with team sport, but indeed also a rock band or any group that faces challenges and has shared aims, and that wins sometimes but may fail as often. Those experiences of teamwork, diversity of character, (very) direct challenge and feedback, knowing that you can drive through adversity, all translate into career-ready character. The experience of team sport can also help to shape a person so they blend personal drive and ambition, with ambition for their team and colleagues.  Of course, it’s not exclusive to those involved in sport, but sport can help to create those characteristics.

What is the most important lesson, from your personal or business life, that has guided you the most in being a business leader? 

In 2023-2024 I completed the IoD Chartered Director Programme and learnt a lot from the tutors but also from the range of characters in the class cohort - with people coming from the government sector, charities sector, private sector - large and smaller companies; with legal, accounting, sales, social care, agri and other backgrounds. I am now actively collaborating with some of the Cohort in business, and certainly value the sharing of ideas and experiences.

How has being a member of IoD Ireland supported your role as a director and business leader? 

To be straight, when I was a young founder and a battling managing director of a growing indigenous company, I saw the IoD as being for other more corporate entities. Now I see the value and the feasibility of adapting IoD best practices in a way that creates real impact on an early-stage or growing company.

What do you value most about being a member of IoD Ireland?

The level of active learning and experience-sharing within IoD Ireland is of great value, added to by my Chartered Director journey. This, coupled with my career experience has inspired me to create a business focused on helping early-stage companies, like startups and scale-ups, quickly set up processes, hire the right people, and prioritize effectively to deliver on their goals. By putting IoD Ireland principles into practice, I have been able to set companies up for immediate effectiveness and future readiness.

Is there someone who has had a major impact on you as a leader? Why and how did this person impact your life?

The combination of business drive and acumen, humility and giving back (including in education, health, peace on this island), and willingness to make brave decisions, certainly makes Chuck Feeney stand out for me. If you’re looking for a read, Conor O’Clery has a really good book on Mr. Feeney.

What are the biggest business challenges or/and opportunities that you have seen over your career to date? And how did you help to overcome or/and optimise these? 

The challenging experience of the 2008-2012 recession was notable in the learning that came from it all.  The importance of constant communications – with staff and clients; the importance of staying on top of the data – be it cashflow, project status and risk, or client feedback; and getting the balance right between standing back to work on the business, while digging into certain detail to listen, learn and validate. We came out of the recession having survived, grown, and become better.

How do you think business leaders can best prepare for the future?

By putting in place the building blocks of clear strategy and effective operations, business leaders can deliver now for their organisations while also preparing for uncertain futures. That balance of delivering in the now as well as for the future is important and is reflected in my current focus - getting more early stage and scaling companies to survive, thrive, and push on through to big growth phases. 

Business leaders also need assistance though. From personal experience, there are some financial incentives that should be considered too to create successful scale-ups: Many founders sell up to 'take money off the table', to de-risk their families future. I'd like to see a particular entrepreneur's relief that facilitates partial equity sale by founders, while taking on growth capital to enable that step change in company growth. That said, I am not fully convinced that a founder's decision to found is wholly determined by a tax rate that will apply on a hoped-for exit at a point in the future. So early stage supports around costs and reinvestment can be practical and impactful.

For example, to postpone and offset any immediate CT exposure where there is a commitment to invest the CT exposure (up to a certain amount) into operations development, training and capacity build, not just product development.  Items such as exemption on employers PRSI for start-ups for the first three years would also encourage local employment. The rules around getting tax relief on investor funds are also overly complicated and drive people away from availing of EIIS as a source of funding.  

What advice would you offer to new or aspiring directors in Ireland?

What’s a director, in essence? Perhaps someone who leads but who questions themselves constructively; who never asks someone to do something they wouldn’t or haven’t done themselves; and who combines head, heart and hand in their approach to guide, lead and work collaboratively within an organisation. Deliver all that, and we will all do ok as directors.