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New book, 2027: We’re Doing This Wrong. Learn more

Founder · Investor · Ecosystem Architect · Author

Ecosystems aren’t controlled.
They’re designed.

Creator of Ecosystem Architecture — The discipline of building economic infrastructure that shapes conditions instead of chasing outcomes — for governments, corporates, and the founders they’re trying to serve.

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Portrait of DC Cahalane.

The Book · 2027

We’re Doing This Wrong.

How to build entrepreneur ecosystems that actually work.

Learn moreJoin the launch list

Venture Partner · Sure Valley Ventures

Four-time founder.
Now investing.

Pre-seed and seed AI companies across the UK and Ireland.

Learn morePitch me at SVV
Pre-seed& Seed
AI& AI-native
UK& Ireland

Speaking

On stage.

150+ keynotes and panels since 2016.

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Boards & advisory

What I bring to a room.

Operator experience, investor discipline, ecosystem literacy.

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About

Twenty years building the parts of the startup economy nobody sees.

I’m a four-time founder and operator, and today a Venture Partner at Sure Valley Ventures, backing early-stage AI companies across the UK and Ireland.

Alongside the operating and investing, I’ve spent two decades wiring the infrastructure around founders: founding hubs, running accelerators, advising governments, chairing boards. Cork-based, globally networked, and increasingly focused on one question: why do most ecosystem strategies fail, and what would it take to actually get this right?

The book is the argument. This site is the working notes.

Ecosystem

Ecosystems that actually work.

For twenty years I’ve worked on the wiring of entrepreneurial economies — the parts that don’t make the press release. Policy, infrastructure, capital pipelines, community, and the quiet compounding advantages that separate cities that produce founders from cities that host events.

01

Government advisory

Appointed to the Enterprise Digital Advisory Forum and the SME Growth & Entrepreneurship Taskforce — the Irish government’s two principal bodies for shaping technology and entrepreneurship policy. VC in Residence at UCC.

DC leading a small-group pitch review in a stone-vaulted meeting room.
Founders around a table at a BUILTINCORK community meetup.
02

Corporate ecosystem strategy

Long-form work with global technology and enterprise leaders on how to engage with startup ecosystems in ways that actually create value on both sides — not innovation theatre in a nicer building.

03

Ecosystem infrastructure

Founded Republic of Work, Cork’s largest innovation hub. Group CMO at Dogpatch Labs / NDRC / HBAN. Founding council member of Scale Ireland. Executive Director of BUILTINCORK.

04 · Founder support at scale 1,000+

Startups personally supported globally — through hubs, accelerators, one-to-one advisory, and the international network built across two decades of doing this.

DC in a small-group discussion with founders and an investor.

Most ecosystem strategies are innovation theatre in a nicer building. The countries and cities that get this right stop building stages — and start building infrastructure.

We’re Doing This Wrong

The Doctrine

Get the highlights.

Six ideas that separate architects from administrators. Verbatim from the manuscript of We’re Doing This Wrong.

This is not inevitable.
It is architectural.

Chapter 28 · The Competitive Imperative

Startups

Four-time founder. Now investing.

I built companies before I invested in them. That order matters. As Venture Partner at Sure Valley Ventures I invest in early-stage AI companies across the UK and Ireland — with an operator’s lens, a founder’s calendar, and a network I’ve spent twenty years earning.

Currently investing via

Sure Valley Ventures

Seed and pre-seed AI companies across the UK and Ireland. I lead SVV’s activity across the Republic of Ireland and work with founders on GTM, positioning, hiring, and fundraise strategy.

Stage
Pre-seed & Seed
Sector
AI & AI-native
Geography
UK & Ireland
Cheque size
Institutional lead / co-lead
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What I did as an operator

  • Executive DirectorBUILTINCORK Current
  • Founder & CEORepublic of Work
  • VP Growth & MarketingTeamwork.com
  • Chief Marketing OfficerTrustev Acquired for $44m
  • Chief Commercial OfficerCityDoc
  • Group CMODogpatch Labs · NDRC · HBAN
  • Country ManagerImpact Brands

Boards

What I bring to a room.

Board work is where operator experience, investor discipline, and ecosystem literacy compound. I sit on private-company boards and government advisory panels — and I’m selective about both.

DC in a boardroom conversation with directors at a vaulted-brick table.

Growth & GTM.

Twenty years of running sales, marketing, and revenue at fast-growing companies — not consulting them.

Founder empathy.

Four-time founder. I know what the CEO is not saying in the room.

Capital fluency.

Both sides of the table — venture partner today, founder yesterday.

Policy & ecosystem.

A working understanding of the regulatory, capital, and talent context founders operate inside.

AI literacy.

Currently investing in AI-native companies; comfortable challenging bad AI strategy at board level.

Boards & advisory

Current & recent.

Board member & director 6

Enterprise AI companies

Operator experience and investor discipline in the same seat — and comfortable challenging bad AI strategy at board level.

Advisor

Enterprise Digital Advisory Forum

Irish Government
Advisor

SME Growth & Entrepreneurship Taskforce

Irish Government
Founding member

Scale Ireland

VC in Residence

University College Cork

Advisor

Alludium

United Kingdom
Former director

Cork Chamber of Commerce

Former director

Technology Industry Alliance

Open to the right board

Discuss a board role

Speaking

On stage.

I speak to governments, corporates, universities, and founder communities about ecosystems, entrepreneurial economics, AI, and the operator-investor lens.

Keynotes

Main-stage talks for tech summits, industry conferences, and government-convened events — sharp arguments, no filler slides, tuned to the room.

Panels & moderation

Moderating founders, investors, and policymakers — or joining as a panellist. Prepared, opinionated, and allergic to the polite non-answer.

Workshops & masterclasses

Closed-door sessions for corporate innovation teams, government agencies, accelerators, and founder cohorts — 90 minutes to a full day, working sessions not slide decks.

DC speaking at the SaaStock CEO Coaching session.
SaaStock · CEO Coaching
DC on a fireside stage holding a copy of his book.
Fireside · AI & Ireland
DC on a panel on AI in financial services.
AI in Financial Services · Dublin
DC speaking at Dogpatch Labs with the Czech Embassy.
Dogpatch Labs · Czech Embassy
DC in conversation on a panel.
Panel · Founder Therapy

Topics.

  • Building entrepreneur ecosystems that actually work
  • The operator-to-investor lens
  • AI, Ireland, and the second FDI moment
  • Founder therapy: the questions nobody asks in public
  • What corporates get wrong about startups
  • Masterclasses on ecosystem design, corporate innovation, and AI adoption

Recent stages.

  • FinovateEuropeLondon · 2026
  • Dublin Tech SummitIgnite Stage
  • SaaStock · CEO CoachingDublin
  • AI in Financial ServicesGerman-Irish Chamber
  • Dogpatch Labswith the Czech Embassy
  • Scale Ireland SummitDublin · 2025

Have an event?

Tell me the date and audience — I’ll come back within 48 hours.

Publishing 2027

We’re Doing This Wrong.

How to build entrepreneur ecosystems that actually work.

A field manual for governments, corporates, and the people trying to fix the system from the inside. Twenty years of what worked, what didn’t, and what nobody tells you at the conference. Coming 2027.

Visit the book site Join the launch list

In the book

  1. The theatre problem
  2. Infrastructure over stages
  3. Pipelines, not events
  4. The role of the state
  5. How corporates actually help
  6. Talent, and where it really comes from
  7. Small countries, big playbooks
  8. What happens next

“Stop building stages. Start building infrastructure.”

From the introduction

Contact

Say hello.

Fastest way is email. Read the fit notes first — it saves us both time.

hello@dc.ie Book a meeting