Irish Innovation Leadership Group

Richard Moran is a Partner in Irish Innovation Capital, a member of the Irish Innovation Leadership Group and the CEO of Accretive Solutions. He is a former Partner at venture capital firm Venrock.

I have been a part of the venture capital community in Silicon Valley for the better part of a long career and have sat through too many pitches from entrepreneurs to count. In the last few years, through the work of the Irish Innovation Leadership Group and others, I have listened to hundreds of Irish entrepreneurs do their best to squeeze millions out of the purse of anyone who will listen. Just last week I sat through over twenty pitches from Irish entrepreneurs. Many of the ideas and deals I saw were great; some were not. Some could have been great if there was a more compelling story around the idea. The Irish are world renowned as storytellers. It is part of our DNA. We need to integrate that story telling trait into the innovator's passion.