EE445 – Mentor Moment with Mary Sadlier: Nobody’s Coming (Ask the Right Questions)
This Mentor Moment with Mary Sadlier (from Episode 398) dives into why digital is the great equaliser for entrepreneurs. Mary shares the art of getting products on and off shelves, why persistence matters, and the hard truth that nobody’s coming — unless you ask the right questions. A powerful reminder that value creation and resourcefulness win in business.
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EE444: Paul Buckley (Multi-Exit Founder): $0 to $84M in 3 Years and The Exit That Nearly Broke Me
In this episode of The Entrepreneur Experiment, Gary Fox sits down with Paul Buckley — the fiercely honest and deeply reflective founder behind C2O Group. From nearly going pro in golf to blowing his savings in a poker room, to scaling and selling one of Australia’s fastest-growing engineering companies, Paul shares his rollercoaster journey through ambition, burnout, and bold reinvention.
You’ll hear how Paul built EPS Group Australia from the ground up, scaled it to $84M in revenue in just three years, and exited in a major acquisition — only to find himself mentally and emotionally depleted in the aftermath. What followed was a two-year reset, a $14M relaunch, and a second act that’s bigger, sharper, and backed by one of the world’s leading private equity funds.
If you're a founder who's exited (or wants to), this episode is your blueprint for navigating what comes next — the highs, the regrets, and the resilience it takes to start again.
🧠 Show Notes
In this episode, we cover:
💡 Starting with Nothing: From selling Christmas trees out of a van in Cork to leading billion-dollar infrastructure projects across Australia
🏌️♂️ Sliding Doors: What it felt like to lose to Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry — and walk away from golf for good
💸 From Broke to Boardroom: Blowing $30k in 7 weeks... then managing 30+ workers on a $3.5B desalination project in Victoria
🚀 Scaling Fast: How Paul co-founded EPS Group Australia and scaled it from $0 to $84M turnover within 3 years
🧨 Burnout After the Exit: The emotional toll of selling his company and staying on through a high-pressure earnout
🧱 Rebuilding From Scratch: How Paul raised $14M to acquire two businesses in the US and Australia — and build C2O Group 2.0
🧭 What He’d Do Differently: The tax incentives, legal lessons, and partnerships he wishes he'd understood the first time around
👨👧👦 On Legacy: Why he won’t hand the business to his kids — and what succession means to him now
“It brought me to the lowest point in my life by far… I was totally broken, barely able to stand up. It probably took me 12 months — probably 24 — to get my feet back underneath me properly.”
— Paul Buckley
Links & Resources
C2O Group: https://c2ogroup.com/
Follow Paul Buckley on LinkedIn
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EE443 - From Side Hustle to €10M: The Mystery Shirt Story
In this episode of The Entrepreneur Experiment, Gary Fox sits down with Rory, the 22-year-old founder of Shirt in a Box, the mystery jersey startup on track to hit €10 million in revenue. What began as a lockdown side hustle selling vintage shirts has exploded into a full-blown e-commerce machine — with 200,000 shirts sold, 2,500 US subscribers, and viral moments like a surprise shoutout from Gary Neville on the UK’s biggest football podcast, The Overlap.
Rory breaks down how that single moment led to a 5x revenue day, why influencer marketing only works when it’s authentic, and how he's pivoted from student entrepreneur to full-time CEO building a creative agency within his business to produce 400+ ad creatives a month.
From boxing mishaps and marketing fails to future expansion plans in the US and new sports like basketball, this is an unfiltered look at what it really takes to build and scale a modern DTC brand.
“That Gary Neville shoutout was probably worth £150,000 to us… and we didn’t even ask him to do it.”
🧠 Show Notes – In this episode, we cover:
📦 How Shirt in a Box works — and why the mystery model taps into childhood nostalgia
🎯 The Gary Neville effect: a €150k shoutout from The Overlap
💥 The power (and problems) of viral growth: stock delays, customer service chaos & staff turnover
🧠 Why managing people is the hardest founder skill to master
🇺🇸 How Rory identified the US as a key market & grew subscriptions 100% from Ireland
👕 New sports, new supply chains: launching mystery basketball jerseys
🎥 Why they now produce 400+ pieces of ad creative every month
🧪 The best performing ad formats right now (including “fake podcast” ads)
🔄 From TikTok to Meta: what’s working (and what they’ve given up on)
🏪 Bricks & mortar dreams: future pop-ups and immersive retail experiences
Resources & Links
🎽 Shop Shirt in a Box
🎧 Listen to Gary Neville mention the brand on The Overlap
📚 The 4-Hour Work Week by Tim Ferriss
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EE442 - Mentor Moment with Keith Barry: Why Going Against the Algorithm Works
When everyone else is chasing trends, mentalist and hypnotist Keith Barry goes the opposite direction. In this Mentor Moment, Keith reveals how leaning into long-form content—when everyone else was focused on short-form Reels—helped him go viral and land major event bookings. He also shares how he uses platforms like LinkedIn in unconventional ways to connect with decision-makers and why valuing yourself, your energy, and your unique approach is key to standing out.
🎧 This bite-sized insight is taken from Episode 397 of The Entrepreneur Experiment Podcast, where Keith shares his full journey and business lessons. If you want to hear more from Keith, listen back to the full episode now.
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EE441 - From 0 to 5 Million Views in 1 Week: The Adults-Only Café That Went Viral
In this episode of The Entrepreneur Experiment, Gary sits down with Alan Andrews, the unapologetically honest founder behind Old Barracks Roastery and Guji Coffee Bar. Known for his bold social content and Ireland’s most controversial coffee shop (no kids allowed, dogs welcome, €15 cups of coffee), Alan lifts the lid on the real cost of starting and scaling a successful hospitality business.
He breaks down the myths that plague the coffee industry — from delusional €10K startup budgets to the glorification of hustle culture — and explains why €100K is the minimum buy-in for building a sustainable, profitable coffee business. Alan also shares the deeply personal reasons behind his adults-only policy, how he prioritises family without sacrificing growth, and why honesty (not trends) should drive your brand strategy.
This episode is a masterclass in branding, business modelling, and living by your values — one cup at a time.
Show Notes:
In this episode, we cover:
☕ The Real Costs of Starting a Coffee Shop
Why €10K won’t cut it, and what you actually need to spend
How Alan built a coffee bar in Limerick for €100K — and what that buys you
The weekly turnover benchmark every shop needs to survive: €10K
📈 Sustainability in Hospitality
Are you building a job or a business?
The industry’s problem with low-barrier entry and poor planning
Why coffee deserves the same pricing architecture as wine or steak
🔥 Polarising Branding & Standing Out
The €15 coffee that sparked national debate
Adults-only cafes: creating intentional spaces for deep connection
Why Alan doesn't care if everyone likes him — and how it’s his superpower
🎯 Transparent Social Media Marketing
Alan’s viral TikToks on coffee costs and customer misconceptions
How to win on social in 2025: go real, go niche, get honest
"The customer isn’t always right — sometimes they’re just not your customer."
👨👧 Entrepreneurship & Fatherhood
The hidden reason Alan created a kid-free cafe
How divorce and co-parenting shaped his time philosophy
The ultimate goal: build a business that doesn’t cost you your family
💬 “You didn’t even buy yourself a job — you bought yourself a trap. You’re working 14 hours a day, making no money, and calling it entrepreneurship.”
Links & Resources:
Visit Old Barracks Roastery (Birdhill): https://oldbarracks.ie/
Follow Alan on TikTok: @oldbarracksroastery
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Every week, I sit down with extraordinary founders to explore how they build thriving businesses, maintain peak physical health, and cultivate sharp, resilient minds.
This is your journey to learn from the best—world-class entrepreneurs, elite thinkers, and peak performers who have mastered success in business, body, and brain.
This isn’t just a podcast; it’s a blueprint for a new kind of founder—one who balances ambition with wellness, hard work with mental fitness, and success with purpose.
Together, we’ll discover the habits, systems, and strategies they use to create their unique formulas for success.
Join me as you learn how to build like a founder, train like an athlete, and think like an artist—so we can all find our formula for success.
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