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Business Builders
I created Business Builders as a weekly interview series to have honest conversations with business owners, entrepreneurs, and investors about their journeys; their successes, setbacks, and the lessons they’ve learned along the way. As a growing business builder myself, I want to learn directly from my guests and share those insights with you. My goal is to provide listeners with practical takeaways, fresh perspectives, and real inspiration to help you on your own path to building and growing a business.
Business Builders
From Zero Customers to a €200m Business: Nick Keegan’s Startup Story (Mail Metrics)
Mail Metrics co-founder Nick Keegan shares a raw and revealing account of what it really takes to survive the early years of a startup — from three years with no customers to building one of Ireland’s largest customer communications businesses through bold pivots and high-risk acquisitions.
Nick speaks candidly about the naïve mistakes made at the start, burning through investor capital, letting staff go, and being months from running out of cash — before a single RFP became the lifeline that changed everything. He also explains how stumbling into a regulated, enterprise-grade business model unlocked long-term growth, and why learning by doing was the only way forward.
🎧 In this episode, you’ll learn:
– What it’s like to build a startup with zero customers for years
– Why building before talking to customers nearly killed the business
– How one tender became a turning point
– The reality of enterprise sales and long growth cycles
– Why Nick used acquisitions to scale faster than organic growth
– The personal and psychological toll of the early survival years
Whether you’re a founder, operator, or investor, this episode offers a rare, honest look at the gap between startup mythology and startup reality — and what it really takes to get through it.
🎧 Listen now on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or YouTube.
👇 Full episode link in the comments.