Forget "fail fast" – this Irish entrepreneur pivoted his entire business model in six weeks! 🤯

This week, we're joined by David Walsh, an Irish founder who's traded the rugby pitch for the fast-paced world of tech startups in Los Angeles.

From selling watches with the Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders to raising $30 million for his HR tech startup, David's journey is nothing short of extraordinary.

Now, he's on a mission to revolutionize the B2B creator economy with his latest venture, Limelight.

In an insightful interview, David talks about:

• How he turned his LinkedIn content strategy into a million-dollar business idea. 💰

• Winning over his investors by confidently pivoting his startup and proving his bold vision. 💪

• Cracking the code of B2B influencer marketing with a platform that's built for speed and scale. 🚀

• Candid insights into his entrepreneurial journey and the future of Limelight. 🎢

Grab a cup of coffee and enjoy! ☕️

David Walsh Snapshot 🤳

Tell me something people might not know about you.

Back in Ireland, I played rugby at a pretty high level until a few too many concussions, unfortunately. I think those experiences shaped my personality – maybe I've even got a screw loose from it all!

Beyond sports, my first entrepreneurial venture was starting and successfully selling a watch company called Chase West Watches USA in 2019. I was inspired to start it after reading a book called “E-commerce Evolved” by Tanner Larson, and I got to work with the Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders for some of our promotions.

What made you decide to leave Ireland and head to the U.S.?

It started with a three-month student visa to New York and the Hamptons before my final year of school. I worked in restaurants and bars and loved it!

After graduating, I returned to New York on a 12-month visa, which turned into five years. Then, my wife got a job at Netflix in Los Angeles, so we moved here to support her career. We've been in LA for five years, but Ireland is still home, and we plan to return eventually.

What’s your background and entrepreneurial journey so far?

I've always seen myself as a salesperson at heart. I have a master's in marketing and started my career in tech sales at early-stage startups in Ireland. I love the energy of those small companies! When I moved to the U.S., I continued in tech sales, eventually moving into leadership roles.

In 2016, I took the leap of faith and started my watch company. Following that, I co-founded a HR software company. We worked with over 250 customers and raised over $30 million. It was an incredible experience, building a tech company from scratch and growing it to over $3 million in revenue with a team of 100+ people. Now, I'm excited to be leading my new company, Limelight.

So, what is Limelight?

Limelight is a platform that simplifies B2B influencer marketing by connecting brands with an extensive network of verified creators. It streamlines the process of finding, activating, and measuring campaigns, allowing brands to book ad slots across various channels and track performance in real time.

This helps brands achieve greater reach, improve ROI, and scale their marketing efforts through authentic content partnerships. For creators, Limelight offers increased visibility, simplified collaboration, and fair compensation, making it a win-win for both parties.

What sparked your interest in the B2B creator economy and led you to start Limelight?

It's funny – nine months ago, I knew next to nothing about B2B influencers!

I'm passionate about building things and wanted to create something valuable in the revenue tech space. The problem is, it's a crowded market!

Initially, I launched as a referral software for B2B companies and called it Bundle. As part of the awareness and fundraising process, I started posting daily content on LinkedIn. That's when I discovered this whole world of B2B creators with large, engaged audiences but limited monetization strategies.

I realized there was a gap in the market, and my experience on both the brand and creator side gave me a unique perspective. That's how Limelight was born.

How quickly did you pivot from Bundle to Limelight?

It was surprisingly fast – about six weeks! I was in the middle of raising pre-seed funding for Bundle when I made the decision to change direction. To make sure it was the right move, I met with as many people as possible and used an AI note-taker to capture our conversations. I also did a ton of market research. By early January, my mind was made up. I had spent Christmas brainstorming the specifics – definitely a unique way to spend the holidays! By end of-January, we had launched Limelight.

It wasn't an easy decision, but it's important to be confident and embrace change when necessary. Basing your decisions on data is key, so those conversations and research were crucial in validating my ideas.

How did you tell investors that you were changing the business model?

I knew I had to be upfront with those who had invested in Bundle. It also wasn't a million miles away from what it was before, and I have experience dealing with investors and sharing both good and bad news.

Before telling them, I gathered as much information, insights, and feedback as possible. Then, I wrote a detailed two-page document outlining everything and sent it to our investors. I explained that we were changing the plan and offered full transparency about my decision-making process.

Being transparent, direct, and quick to act is something investors appreciate. The reaction was much more positive than I anticipated. They're excited about the direction we're going and the traction we're gaining. It was the right bet, and I'm seeing the rewards now.

So, where do you see Limelight going in the next few years?

Generally speaking, I like to have a three-year plan in place with the team that I say, directionally, this is where we want to go and what we want to accomplish.

We've built a strong brand and have a growing number of users. We have had 450-plus companies and about 380 creators sign-up, which is exciting. The marketplace is gaining traction, but if I'm being critical of our business, I still think there's not enough stickiness to the product. People want to come, find creators, and launch a new product. And then they want to turn off those creator partnerships.

Something new we are starting to investigate is building and evolving Limelight into a social selling platform. We're adding features to help companies create and track content, manage leads, and build in more personalization.

There's a massive opportunity here. While social selling exists on platforms like LinkedIn, it's often manual and time-consuming. We want to make it more intelligent, convenient, and seamlessly integrated with existing CRM and workflows, specifically empowering marketing and sales teams to excel at social selling.

Can you tell me a bit about your team?

We are currently a team of 4 people. If you look at our company on LinkedIn, you might think we are much larger and more mature than we are, and that's intentional. You have to present yourself as bigger than you are.

Currently, I handle sales, marketing, customer success, finance, and operations. We also have a CTO and co-founder responsible for engineering and product development. He previously worked at Uber for seven years and was one of the top 1 per cent of engineers there. We also have an insanely talented designer who ensures our products are best in class. He’s also a jack of all trades and helps me with everything.

We recently hired a virtual assistant who handles administrative tasks and reports for the team. Despite being a small team, we can work very efficiently and move really fast.

How do you approach building and iterating on your ideas?

The most important thing is to engage with potential users; the more, the better.

Our users include creators, brands, and agencies. I reach out to them weekly, often multiple times a week, to gather feedback and improve the product. It's crucial to be confident in your vision while being open to feedback.

Our process involves listening to customers, creating product screens, gathering feedback, and iterating. Rather than striving for perfection, the goal is to get the product into the hands of as many people as possible and continuously improve based on their feedback.

Finally, to build a strong community, especially in the early days, you need a solid fanbase. The way to do that is to impress them with the speed of innovation and your responsiveness to feedback. This approach has helped me scale the company and build a strong community by listening to user needs, creating the product they want, and making them feel included in the journey.

Any words of wisdom for aspiring entrepreneurs?

My advice is to get started as soon as possible. You need to get moving! Go all in on something, work fast, fail fast, and then learn along the way.

It's about execution, acting fast, trusting your instincts, and putting yourself out there. Be prepared for criticism and the challenges of starting from scratch.

Finally, what does being an Irish Founder Abroad mean to you?

I am very proud of my Irish heritage, and I use it to my advantage every day, especially when interacting with people, particularly Americans!

Being Irish helps me quickly establish a connection with others. Living on the West Coast, there is not a massive presence of Irish compared to the East Coast, so I have spent a good amount of time building connections with the Irish community and other Irish founders. I actively support and mentor other Irish founders who contact me for advice on starting and running their businesses.

We are fantastic at supporting each other. We need to be more ambitious, particularly with investment, focusing on opportunities rather than risks. I'm passionate about encouraging Irish entrepreneurs to think bigger.