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👋 Céad míle fáilte! Happy St Patrick’s Day! Depending on where you are in the world you could be reading this over your first pint of the night or your first coffee in the morning.
St Patrick’s Day is the day to celebrate Ireland. When you’re abroad, it’s a great opportunity to meet the other Irish in the local. If you’re at home, it’s a lovely bank holiday.
As you all know, to mark the occasion, Irish Insights conducted our first ever Founders Sentiment Survey. We got responses from 124 verified Irish founders across the world. We wanted to ask them exactly how they were feeling in 2026 and most importantly, what role being Irish has played in their business.
Today’s special edition is a 3 minute 30 second read. ⏩ In a rush? Here's the TL;DR:
☘️58% of Irish founders say being Irish has positively impacted their business
📈78% are more optimistic than 6 months ago, and 95% expect growth. Irish founders are bullish heading into 2026, nobody expects to shrink
🌍 The diaspora is largely untapped: 37% of Irish founders abroad are unaware of or unengaged with Irish networks, despite 87% having considered setting up operations in Ireland
🇮🇪 60% Irish-based founders cite the small domestic market and distance from global buyers as major barriers
😟 Success doesn't reduce stress: mature/profitable founders are 3x more likely to report burnout than early-stage founders, the hidden cost of building a successful company
Enjoy ☕
📢 P.S. A link to download the full survey and results pdf can be found at the bottom of this email 👇
📰 HEADLINE
Being Irish Opens Doors ☘️
The survey's most striking finding: 58% of Irish founders say their Irish identity has positively impacted their business, with 27% describing the effect as significant. Only 14% said being Irish has had no meaningful impact.
The qualitative data paints a vivid picture of what this looks like in practice: instant warmth in new markets, the credibility of Ireland's tech reputation, diaspora networks that open doors, and a storytelling culture that resonates powerfully in sales, fundraising, and partnership conversations.
The counterintuitive finding: founders at home feel being Irish helps them more than founders abroad do. You'd expect it to be the other way: that the diaspora lean on Irish identity more. Instead, 35% of founders abroad are neutral vs only 20% at home.
Throughout the past two weeks, we have put out 10 interviews with Irish founders from all over the globe. As you can see from the quote above, Gary Fox expressed how important his Irishness was to him. We heard this from all the founders we interviewed with a healthy amount of realism thrown in too.
Here’s a flavour:
"I would go so far as to say that being Irish has transformed my experience as a founder and opened invaluable doors. The Irish community, particularly in London, is strong, generous, and connected."
— Dr. Jan Cosgrave, CEO & Co-Founder, Neurotype (London)
“I’m clear on what being Irish doesn’t do. It doesn’t replace product-market fit or shorten procurement. At best, it gets you in the room faster. After that, the work has to stand on its own merits.”
— Jack Stenson, Founder, Charrlie (London)
"I'd say being Irish absolutely has helped, particularly since we've been spending more time in the U.S. There's a large Irish diaspora here, and that often creates an immediate connection which can open doors and create goodwill from the outset."
— Niamh Donnelly, Co-Founder & CTO, Akara (Los Angeles)
💡 INSIGHTS
Record Optimism and Near-Universal Growth Ambition
Irish founders are entering 2026 in formidable form. 78% say they are more optimistic about their business than six months ago, including 46% who describe themselves as 'much more optimistic'. Looking ahead, 95% expect their company to grow over the next 12 months, with 60% projecting significant growth. Not a single respondent expected their business to shrink.
Revenue growth is the near-universal priority, cited by 89% of respondents. Product development (55%), fundraising (32%), and market expansion (32%) follow.
Customer Acquisition was cited as the single biggest operational challenge, flagged by 52% of founders . Interestingly, many noted that traditional growth playbooks such as cold outreach and email sequences are losing effectiveness in an AI-saturated environment. We heard things like:
“Cold outreach on linkedin / email is proving difficult. Suspect that the increase in AI Outbound has made people less likely to engage with cold emails.”
Home vs. Abroad: Two Distinct Experiences
The survey draws a clear line between the 49 Ireland-based founders and the 75 building from the diaspora. Over 60% of Ireland-based founders cite the small domestic market, distance from global buyers, or overseas competition as major strategic barriers.
Despite building abroad, 87% of diaspora founders have considered or already set up operations in Ireland, and 63% are actively engaging with Irish diaspora networks in their local markets. However, 37% remain unaware of or unengaged with those networks, a significant opportunity for Irish state agencies to better reach and support founders abroad.
🧠 BRAIN FOOD
5 other things we found interesting…
Burnout peaks at the top: 67% of mature/profitable founders cite burnout as a challenge vs 17-22% at earlier stages. The closer you get to success, the harder it gets mentally.
AI is a priority for early-stage founders far more than mature ones: 67% of pre-revenue founders list AI as a priority vs only 25% of mature/profitable founders. The further along you are, the less you're chasing the AI trend. possibly because you already have a working model.
Pre-revenue founders find fundraising hardest: 56% of pre-revenue founders say fundraising is "somewhat" or "very" difficult. The hardest stage to raise is before you have anything to show. No surprise but the data confirms it starkly.
Customer acquisition never gets easier It's the top challenge at every single stage: 50% pre-revenue, 58% early revenue, 49% scaling, and still 42% for mature/profitable companies. There is no stage at which Irish founders stop struggling to find customers.
Founders abroad are more than twice as worried about market uncertainty: 28% of diaspora founders cite market uncertainty as a challenge vs just 12% of Ireland-based founders. Building abroad means you're more exposed to global macro conditions with less of a safety net.
The Irish Founders Sentiment Survey 2026 was conducted by Irish Insights in Q1 2026, capturing responses from 124 Irish entrepreneurs globally. Respondents represent companies at all stages, from pre-revenue to mature and profitable, across industries including SaaS, fintech, AI, healthtech, medtech, robotics, media, and professional services. Founders were based across Ireland, the UK, the US, Australia/New Zealand, Europe, and Asia.
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