Read our Meet the NYDI Board series to get to know our board . The board is here to support Irish startups make connections in the US and run events in New York. Are you an Irish start up looking to expand in the US? Reach out to us!
Shane is a marketin
g, product, business development and technology operations executive who has built teams with direct responsibility for revenue, marketing, product and operations, even with a stint as CTO. He has led the building and transformation of companies in multiple market sectors across digital, social media, mobile, wearable tech, software/SaaS and products for both B2B and B2C markets, for companies under $1M to $500M+.
Follow Shane on Twitter and Linked In.
Why did you become involved with Digital Irish?
Feargall and I were discussing ‘pitch out of water’ his networking event and an old informal group Niamh Bushnell used to ask me and about 10/15 others to every few months back in 1999/2000/2001, jokingly called NYIrishTechMafia. We thought there was enough irish/irish americans in NY at both senior and mid level to create NYDI with a focus on enabling connections for irish/irish american starts ups coming in the US/NY market.
What advice would you have for Irish companies expanding in the US market?
Size the market opportunity – if it is 4X+ the Irish/UK market then plan to build US marketshare, and you must be willing to put customer facing feet on the ground including at least a founder and senior exec, FT commit for at least 2 years. Understand the cultural nuances of doing business in the US, irish charm get’s you a meeting, it takes a lot more effort and details to close deals, story telling is an irish trait and use it (factual). Show passion for your US customers.
Outline a tech prediction for the year 2025
Micro tech: in manufacturing and health. AI smart micro worker bots that can perform both reactive and preventive activities in your body, will probably lead to the end of many diseases like cancer.
If you had one piece of advice for yourself earlier in your career, what would it be?
Find more mentors and forget about the money (salary) for the first 5 to 10 years, it will come.
What was the best advice you ever received?
- Start networking for your next job the day you start your new job (half jokingly).
- Always be learning, you are only as good as the last day/week/month, move forward.
- Only customers count – they pay or love your product/service, internal data points don’t pay the bills.
- Hire talent that can move up at least 2 levels, even take my job.
Who was the biggest influence on your career?
CMO at hyper growth digital marketing services firm, opened my eyes and showed me it’s about the people (not the tech, not the process … etc …).
Hire talent better than he was, have to say that, when he left I took over most of his responsibilities.
What do you enjoy most about your current role?
Learning new things or better ways to do old things, mentoring talent to realize potential and be able to smile at the beginning and the end of the day 🙂
What is your motto?
It’s about the mini WOW moments – get enough of them and celebrate the small success and the other things take care of themselves (Revenue, Wins etc …) – pinned to my twitter profile for 3 years now (this week) https://twitter.com/VirtualCMO
When you were a kid, what did you want to be when you grow up?
- F1 racing driver like Gilles Villeneuve
- Architect
- Best rugby winger/center – David Campese, Keith Crossan or Tim Horan
- Something in marketing with customers (from 14 I worked in Arnotts every summer and winter break till I was 21 and left college)
What are your passions outside of work?
Coaching youth rugby players – the basic skills and keeping it simple – https://www.instagram.com/rugby.us/
Cooking food – https://www.instagram.com/virtualcmo/
Family.