The Trailblazers Experience Podcast

EP80 Mairin Murray CEO TechFoundher : Empowering Women in Tech: Breaking Barriers and Building Futures

• Ntola • Season 5 • Episode 80

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In this episode of the Trailblazer Experience podcast, Mairin, the founder and CEO of Tech FoundHer, shares her journey in tech innovation and gender equity. She discusses the importance of diversity in tech, the barriers women face in entrepreneurship, and how Tech FoundHer aims to empower women through community support and visibility. Mairin emphasises the need for collective action and resilience in overcoming challenges while also highlighting the future initiatives of Tech FoundHer to create a global network of women innovators.
"Tech is the easy bit," Maren emphasises, challenging the notion that coding expertise is a prerequisite for tech entrepreneurship. She celebrates the democratising power of low-code and no-code platforms while highlighting historical contributions of women in technology that have been systematically erased from our collective memory. Tgender."
At its heart, TechFoundHer represents more than a platform—it's a movement building on the historical power of women's collectives.

Ready to join the movement? Connect with TechFoundHer at techfoundher.com and help rewrite the narrative of what a tech innovator looks like.

Chapters
00:00 Intro
00:09 Intro to the Tech Founder and TedX Speaker - Our Guest
01:28 Mairin's Origin Story and the Birth of Tech Founder
04:57 Barriers for Women in Tech Entrepreneurship
08:54 Tech Found Her: Amplifying Women's Voices in Tech
13:41 The Importance of Community and Collective Power
17:59 Building a Global Community of Women Innovators
22:55 The Need for Visibility and Support for Women Entrepreneurs
23:34 Mairin's TEDx Talk: Technology as a Tool for Good
26:16 The Power of Collectives in History
29:48 Women in Technology: Uncovering Hidden Contributions
33:23 Resilience and the Entrepreneurial Journey
40:00 Building a Global Network for Women in Tech
45:51 Celebrating Women Founders and the future 
48:10 Trailblazer Takeaway Tips for Aspiring Founders
50:14 Outro

Find Mairin.
https://techfoundher.com/
Instagram: @Techfoundher 
Linkedin : TechFoundher   @mairinmurray
TedX  :  Ellen Ward, Máirín Murray: Community + Technology = Positive social change | Ellen Ward & Máirín Murray | TEDxUniversityofLimerick | TED Talk 

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The Trailblazers Experience:

Welcome to another episode of the Trailblazers Experience podcast, the podcast where we have candid conversations with women sharing their career journeys, and today I have a TEDx speaker on the podcast. I describe her as a powerhouse in tech innovation and gender equity. She is the founder and CEO of TechFoundHer, a platform championing women-led startups and advocating for systemic change in the tech ecosystem. So really being all about the change that you want to see, Mairin Murray,

The Trailblazers Experience:

welcome to the podcast.

Mairin Murray:

Thank you. Thank you, Ntola, I'm excited to be here, I mean girl.

The Trailblazers Experience:

First of all, a massive big up to you about just really what you represent and all the things that you are involved in. I think is really formidable A lot of the times. We know from statistics that less than 2%

The Trailblazers Experience:

of investment goes to female founders, although women are very lucrative for businesses, no matter what sector. So talk to me about your origin story. What inspired you to create TechFounder? What was the personal or professional experience that led you to this mission? Let's go all the way back.

Mairin Murray:

Yeah, yeah, I'll go all the way back, but I don't want to go too far back because otherwise I know what I'm like. It might take a long time to get to the present, but in terms of and I suppose, in terms of, I suppose in terms of the kind of the recent journey I set up Tech for Good Dublin with Ellen Ward about maybe so coming up to 10 years ago. So I'd recently come back to Dublin very, very passionate about technology, very passionate about the use of technology for positive impact. It's always been. What I've been involved with is the whole use of tech for a positive purpose, whether that's education or inclusion. So I kind of thought, well, let's bring people together in Dublin. It's such a vibrant tech city like Ireland is such a tech nation. Dublin is such an incredible tech city. We've got all this talent from all over the world. But you know people who are living in Dublin working in the big tech companies and we've got, you know, an amazing. You know we've got other amazing kind of ecosystem of you know an amazing. You know we've got another amazing kind of ecosystem of you know, not-for-profit activists. No-transcript yeah, it was incredible. No-transcript a bit quiet, but while doing Tech for Good.

Mairin Murray:

I was very, very aware of the whole piece around diversity and inclusion. First of all, I'm a woman, I'm very privileged. I do believe in the whole intersectionality. We can't just say that, say that you know there's layers and layers of privilege and layers of exclusion as well. But I was kind of very aware that it's what other people would say to me, like I remember doing a panel in Trinity it was for the Good Summit which I was involved with and somebody said to me, an academic in Trinity said to me oh, this is really unusual. We have the room is full, you know this, you know at least half the room is full of kind of women as well as men. This is really unusual for a tech event. And I was kind of like, well, well, no, not for us, because every tech event we organize, it's organized by myself and Ellen. We're very kind of conscious of having women's voices and diverse voices and showcased and our community is, you know, it's probably our community is probably more women than men. But it was absolutely definitely, you know, diverse.

Mairin Murray:

So I became aware more and more that there was an issue around the representation of who. You know, what does an innovator look like? What does a tech innovator look like? And this seemed to be quite, uh, quite a powerful narrative in terms of limiting and yeah, it's kind of like a stereotype, really, isn't it as a kind of a gender stereotype in terms of what does a tech founder look like, what does a tech innovator look like? And you know, we know ourselves often that story was one of. It was male, it was somebody who'd completed a computer science degree, and for me, that's a story that we need to retell and we need to kind of just reboot that whole narrative in terms of From seeing that right, because I always, you know, the question is usually always asked.

The Trailblazers Experience:

So what do you think are the barriers that are stopping women from entering the tech entrepreneurial space? Apart from some of the mentions, are we stopping ourselves, or is there something else that is a barrier for women in that space?

Mairin Murray:

So it's tricky, isn't it? Because, you know, on the one hand, you could say, oh, let's and I'm not saying people do this but there's a tendency to say let's not blame the women, but let's fix the women. So maybe, as women, we're not confident enough, maybe as women, we're not interested in tech enough. Maybe as women whatever that narrative is, it's around, you know, somehow as women we're not, we're not like, we're not male enough, we're not enough like men, or you know that there's some kind of flaw. Unless we're not, you know, we're too emotional, we're too creative, we're too, we're too whatever. But I like to prefer to look at the system and say, well, hold on, let's take a step back and let's think about the kind of the system in which we move and move around as individuals and and I think that's that's, that's can powerful. But it can also be challenging, because it's very hard to change a system, because there's so much layers of bias that can be so subtle. You know there's cultural bias. You know the stories. You know the stories, the stereotypes. There's the structural bias in terms of things like, for example, maybe it's to do with, for example, something as simple as some funding programs you have to apply within a certain length of time and that sounds, oh, that's all very fair. Women can apply, you know, the same rules as the guys. But then you kind of think well, so many women are carers, you know, to children they're carers to maybe they're in the Samaj generation, they're looking after elderly relations, and so they're. The duration of their journey to get to that point of of being ready for the funding is different. There are things like hackathons that happen maybe at the weekend and again, it's not designed for women, who often have the response you know, they're still still the case that so many women do a second shift in terms of family support and family work.

Mairin Murray:

And so there's so many subtle things. It could be even like having pizza and beer. You know, assuming that you know tech, innovation events always have pizza and beer as the kind of you know the hospitality. But it's also it's quite subtle. But we've all felt, you know, that feeling of going into a room and feeling I don't really belong here. But we've all felt, you know, that feeling of going into a room and feeling I don't really belong here, not because necessarily you look different, but you almost engage in conversations and you just get that, slightly glazed over, look in people's eyes when they're talking to you, you kind of get a sense that they're not taking you seriously. They don't feel you have something maybe of interest to contribute.

Mairin Murray:

So there's a lot of subtle things around, I suppose, when people feel, when women especially feel that they don't belong in these you know, tech, innovation, entrepreneurial spaces. And then there's the hard facts, you know, of the lack of funding that women receive. We all know that percentage, the whole 2% of funding only goes to, you know, globally, in terms of venture capital, goes to women founders, in terms of women-only teams. Our history speaks for itself. You know, we've had a history as women of being excluded from decision-making. It's only in the kind of, I think, the 1980s that women could open a bank account on their own, without their father or their husband. So we have had such a short number of decades in terms of equality of agency.

The Trailblazers Experience:

What I love, though, is you are changing the narrative, so you know I was looking at your academic background, so you've got degrees in arts, science and innovation. We also now know that there are apps out there that can help you with coding. You know, lovable is is no code based for you to develop things, so it feels like the technology and the space has moved forward a bit. There are women-only venture funds that have also been set up, whether it's in Africa or in Europe or in America. It's slowly me about TechFoundHer and I guess the biggest myths and misconceptions you're working to dismantle.

Mairin Murray:

From when we started TechFinder. I said the first big bootcamp was like three, almost three years ago, two and a half years ago now yeah, two and a half years ago so and the theme even then was low code, no code, because I've always been passionate about low code, no code. For that very reason. There's a barrier maybe in our own heads, but also a barrier in terms of sometimes applying for accelerators where they say, oh, you have to be a coder, you need a techie on your team. Low code, no code is just, you know, it's busting all those kind of barriers wide open, which is so, so powerful and so incredible. You know, as women, we're often and we all do this we're thinking, oh gosh, you know, maybe somebody, maybe I'll get a CTO on board who will help me with the coding piece, or maybe I'll get, like, an investor advisor on board who'll be, you know, support with whatever. But I think the biggest message in TechFinder is we are our own cavalry. Let's embrace all the tools, all the opportunities that we have and let's support each other as women, as you said, natola, whether that's in terms of investing. There's a huge movement in terms of women investing in women, which is incredible. There's the whole show where the money piece you know which the incredible Catherine Gray has started a movement which is really making huge ripples across the world, and then there's the whole piece around.

Mairin Murray:

Yeah, in terms of things like low code, no code, you know, we literally don't need, you don't need to be a coder, and that's a good thing, because women still in the UK and Ireland it's still, it's only maybe 20% of you know undergrads studying computer science are women. But the reality is you don't have to be a coder anymore. You never had to be a coder. To be honest, if you look at someone like Steve Jobs, like Steve Jobs wasn't a coder, he was a designer, he was a UX designer. So there's a lot of these narratives that we listen to or we believe, or that are perpetrated in the media or perpetrated in the whole startup ecosystem. Oh, yes, you need a coding background, otherwise, you know, you're never going to be able to create a successful tech venture. You know there's the narrative around we need to create deep tech. That's one of my favorites at the moment.

Mairin Murray:

This, it's a term I really dislike. I really dislike the whole term deep tech. I think it's used again as a way of alienating and excluding and saying, okay, you're not doing deep tech, you're doing superficial tech, so yours isn't like a proper, it's not proper innovation, and you know so. To me, that's another way of excluding because, at the end of the day, innovation is about design. It's about you know the business piece. It's about yes, you know creating that kind of tool. You know the tools to kind of create an amazing experience having the back end. But it's a whole combination of different you know different skills, different attributes. That makes something incredible. Like, if we think of something like you know Facebook, like Facebook wasn't original, like we had Bebo, we had MySpace you know it wasn't a new idea. Like things don't even have to be patentable to be incredible tech ventures.

Mairin Murray:

In terms of the members we have in TechFinder, the main thing is it's women who have really big ambitions, who really want to have impact. It's nothing about being a techie or being a designer or whatever. It's. Having that big ambition is the key thing, because then we can find the tools, we can find the experts and supports to help you, we can help each other. So the key thing is really is and, in a way, tech is the easy bit. This is what techies always tell me, you know, when I talk to software engineers, they're like it is the easy bit and I believe that it is the easy bit.

Mairin Murray:

So the key thing is, you know, having that big ambition and sticking to it. You know, having that moonshot and realizing like to work backwards from that moonshot. This is a journey that's going to maybe take me it's not five days or five weeks or five months. This might take me five years and really kind of committing to, kind of staying on that path to get to the point of launching. But as well, I mean, I think for me as well being like learning, like it's so exciting, like I love creating products and I love the whole entrepreneurial journey because it's very much about, yes, one person can change the world. It's back to, you know, steve Jobs and his whole speech about the crazy. You know the crazy ones. We are the ones, we are the misfits. We're the ones who kind of believe that we can change the world. We're the ones who believe we can change the status quo, no matter what sensible people tell us.

The Trailblazers Experience:

It is about having that vision and that conviction that you can make a difference as an individual and that's why entrepreneurship, I think is just so exciting for me really formidable because ultimately I was just thinking about the amount of business plans I've written or within organizations, or strategy and ultimately the question you always have to ask, no matter how big or small the organization is, is what problem you're trying to solve.

The Trailblazers Experience:

And that is like the basis for everything that drives the brand, the marketing, the tools, everything that you need. And you know, as founders, you get very passionate about your idea, but it's like, okay, yes, ideation, and now, okay, what problem I'm trying to solve? And then how can we impact and how do we build from that? And sometimes, I guess, is having that community which I guess that's what Tech Founder is as well, that space to have those conversations which I think men have been very good at building. You know they have their bros who they can pick up the phone to and call and say I'm facing this financially, or I'm facing this issue, who do you speak to, et cetera. And then they either discuss it, like you said, over pizza or beer or golf or other, and we need to get better at that as women in doing so, having those spaces to not feel intimidated but feel included and have those conversations.

Mairin Murray:

Yes, 100%. Marcia Daywood, she talks about this in terms of the women need to create. We need to create our own golf club and yeah, I guess that's what TechFinder is. Not that I'm a fan of golf, but yeah, it is about how there is power in collective and, to be honest, it's been seen for the last number of centuries as something quite subversive.

Mairin Murray:

Gathering women together and you know, I think that's been part of the fragmentation of women has caused a lot of in terms of what kind of. I suppose our kind of disempowerment has not been helped by our disempowerment. Like, if we think back to medieval times, you know, just before they introduced guilds, guilds became a way of really excluding women. There were so few guilds that women could actually join. But, like before, that work was very much a social collective endeavour.

Mairin Murray:

You know, women would work together, whether it was, you know kind of, you know whatever it was fishing together. Whether it was, you know kind of, you know whatever it was fishing, whether it's in fishing village, they were supporting the whole fishing endeavors. Whether it was, you know, working um in crafts, in terms of creating crafts or laundry or whatever, but women worked together and that collective piece was really really powerful because women supported each other, they shared information to each other, you know, they talked about the problems they had. They kind of rose together and they were really powerful and strong together. But there was actually there were laws introduced in the UK which, well, it wasn't the UK at that stage, but it was kind of like in England, you know, in medieval times, and it was shocking. It was actually to make it illegal for women to talk to each other in public spaces. Like this is just shocking.

The Trailblazers Experience:

I guess they knew there was power, isn't it? When you get one or two women together, which is when you think about the suffragettes and all the protesting, right to vote, all the things, the liberties that we enjoy now. That's how it all came together.

Mairin Murray:

Yes, completely, no, totally. And that's what is with the collective, because there is such power when we are working together, when we're supporting each other, as you said, like the suffragettes. You know there's so many amazing. You know, in terms of Ireland, the social change that has happened in Ireland over the last number of decades. So much of it has happened about people supporting each other, working together for common change. You know, if you look at Iceland in terms of, you know the whole walk out of women, in terms of the all-out strike, like it is, but it is so powerful.

Mairin Murray:

You know, when we kind of support each other, share information, share insights, and with the collective, that's where the power lies. It's not about I know we have experts, so many people in residence, but it's really about how we can support each other, how we can become a community, almost like a collective intelligence, like we talk about AI as being this kind of collective intelligence, or you know collective, you know artificial intelligence or augmented intelligence, but it's really collectively. There is massive power when we are sharing skills, when we're sharing insights, when we're sharing contacts, as you were saying, like the golf course, in terms of contacts for clients or customers, and when we're sharing information in terms of investors saying oh, this investor is really cool, they're really friendly, they're really supportive, go talk to them. You know, all of those kind of, those nuggets of information are massively valuable and that's where I think the collective really has such potential and such power.

The Trailblazers Experience:

You've amassed. I think you've got like 500 tech founder members or in the collective. I mean that's brilliant, just all those women getting together to build, you know, businesses at different stages, which I think is formidable. When you started, was that the number you had in your head?

Mairin Murray:

Yeah, so in terms of TechFounder and in terms of numbers. So TechFounder started kind of really from tech for good, so there already was a strong community there. And then, after our first large event in Dublin, we just set up a WhatsApp group. So I think at the moment there's maybe I'm not sure I haven't looked, but maybe 350, 400 in the WhatsApp group, but that has not been advertised. But, look, everybody's welcome to join. Having said that, the collective, in terms of the online platform, we're just launching that officially, actually in the next coming weeks. So we're going to be doing a real push and absolutely it'd be amazing to have thousands globally, because with the collective it's how can we create a global community as well of women, tech innovators, women who are building, creating tech ventures, and all of those allies and champions who support the women.

Mairin Murray:

So, for me, I'm a huge fan of experiential learning, I'm a huge fan of getting stuck in start making, start building. You know, one of my mantras was recently with the recent tech pre-accelerator innovation labs. It was like fuck, perfection. But it was that idea. You know, let's not overthink things, let's get it out there, let's get you. You know, let's not overthink things, let's get it out there. Let's get you know, let's learn from it, let's get feedback. That's even if it's putting pen and paper. You know scribbling something down pen and paper, where you're kind of sketching something out. You know I'm a huge fan of back of an envelope. You know when I'm mapping any, if I'm designing some kind of product.

The Trailblazers Experience:

So many businesses have been started by that. Let's go have a drink. The the idea yeah, pack up a beer mat.

Mairin Murray:

Yeah, exactly, pack up a beer mat, you know, sketch it out. These are the top, you know, the top level elements to it. So, yeah, so the whole experiential learning piece is so crucial to me and in terms of how we can get more women starting tech ventures and leading and scaling tech ventures, it's so important that we get stuck in there. Look, at the end of the day, like it's such a privilege to get. You know, it's such a privilege to do this, but we have. But it's such a privilege because you learn by doing.

Mairin Murray:

And if women are not getting the funding to actually create their MVP, create their scalable go-to-market product, they've missed out on that whole learning piece. So for me this is that's why you're talking about equity that, to me, is so kind of disempowering the fact that, as women, we don't get the funding, so we don't get the chance to learn, we don't get the chance to feel, we don't get the chance to start our second venture or third venture. And maybe that's the one where we kind of that really flies, because we've already run away, isn't it?

The Trailblazers Experience:

that's that's needed. It most of the time the investment is to fund the runway, the skill set, the people, the time to allow you to fail fast, to iterate, to change so that you can then scale faster. And then I mean the amount of conversations that you hear saying we were told to come back with a different idea or to prove this first, but then you hear I think I was watching podcast and one of the guys was like, oh yeah, my investment was just based off an idea. I was like what? We don't hear that anymore. You know as much. It's based off an idea, so they had faith in him and they invested, and we need more of that to happen for women businesses as well, you know.

Mairin Murray:

We completely do, because money is being left on the table, like our economies are missing out, our world is missing out. Forget about even the tech for good. You know the whole purpose piece, like. There are so many incredible women who are professionals, who have subject matter. You know specialism and expertise. We've got insights, we've got the whole range of skills and professional skills and they need to be backed, like we need to back them. If we're not backing them, like, what chance do we have? Because it's a very competitive global market? Do you know? What chance does Ireland have, what chance does the UK have, europe, if we're not backing these incredible individuals who want to have impact, you know, who are actually not earning for years because their belief so much in wanting to solve, as you said, a problem and I think that's where I think that's where there needs to be. You know we need to seriously kind of look at the support and the level of support that we're giving at the moment to kind of entrepreneurs and entrepreneurs that don't fit into this.

Mairin Murray:

You know narrow category of coders who are, you know, spinning on. You know coders who are guys, who are, you know spinning on. You know coders who are guys, who are, do you know? Whatever? Have got a SaaS platform idea or some idea for deep tech, whatever that you know? Whatever that is, do you know? It's just such a lost opportunity. It's a lost opportunity for economy, it's a lost opportunity for society, it's a lost opportunity for us as human beings, because you know, to be human is to want to have impact, is to want to create, is to want to solve, and that's a complete human. That's a.

The Trailblazers Experience:

You know, that's a human, basic, human need across all genders and I think you know you've hit the nail on the head about visibility is so crucial for women in tech. You know, through your platform just showing, hey, here are these founders, They've got great ideas, there is an opportunity and there is a platform. But let's pivot, because obviously you're a TEDx speaker. I had the liberty of listening to your TEDx talk. It's on my bucket list actually to be a TEDx speaker, but for the audience who hasn't listened to it and we'll obviously post all the links in the show notes it was really powerful. And for you A, how did you come about becoming a TEDx speaker and what was the message that you most wanted to share with the world?

Mairin Murray:

Yeah. So I was very lucky because I was actually somebody invited me to kind of to apply or to kind of become part of that TEDx. Limerick was organizing their first ever TEDx the University of Limerick and somebody who was part of our community and reached out to me and said, oh, because of you know your work with tech for good and alan's work with tech for good, you know why not get involved, you know, with this tedx event. So when, when I was asked, you know yourself, partly you're like amazing and partly you're like, oh no, really do I really need to?

The Trailblazers Experience:

do this do it.

Mairin Murray:

Oh yeah, yeah, you're like, oh my gosh, yeah, yeah. So I was kind of like thinking, oh, it was kind of like a not. You know, I couldn't say no. It's one of those things. You just could not say no. But I was terrified, you know. I was like, oh my gosh, on stage, the video forevermore. There's such an iconic thing.

Mairin Murray:

You know, the whole TEDx, you know, have coming, coming up with ideas that are you spreading, that are worth sharing. But the reality is, I have a lot of ideas. I have a lot of. There are a lot of things that I'm really committed to and really passionate about and for me, that TEDx that was done, that was almost six years ago. Now it'll be coming up on yeah, it was on 2019.

Mairin Murray:

But, in terms of the key message for me was, you know, the tech is such a powerful tool. That was the key thing. So a lot of times, you know, the whole debate is tech same with AI? Is tech and AI good, is it bad? And for me, it still remains. You know it's up to us, as humans, to have the values, to have the foundations in terms of how we want to use tech. It's having the dreams we have to say it's back to philosophy. You know what is it to be to have a good life. You know what is it to create a peaceful, thriving society. What does that look like? And we use technology then as a way and as a tool to create it. But yes, but I tied it back into where I'm from. So I'm from County Down, I'm from a little, from near a little village called Ballygawn, and Ballygawn in Irish means Ballygawn, gawr, which means the town of the blacksmith, and for me that was fascinating because it was back to this idea. Well, what were blacksmiths? It was basically they were toolmakers, you know, and they were using, obviously, iron. And you think about it like iron came from the stars, like it's fascinating, you know it's actually stardust, you know that created this amazing materials that we could create tools with. So so that was very much kind of an inspiration, thinking about, well, okay, maybe they were innovators of their time, you know, creating plows, creating utensils to for fires to sit in, creating all those amazing, creating all those amazing tools to do good. I mean, obviously, then as well, they were also used for weapons of war, and that's the flip side, isn't it? That's the flip side of any tool and any technology, and I was also really inspired by where I come from.

Mairin Murray:

There's an amazing monastery on the island of Nendrum which was called Siet-en-Mahy, and back in in medieval times, which again is just incredible, the amount of learning and sophistication of collectives. There was a monastery and the monastery was a collective. It was a place of learning, it was a place of sharing, thriving. You know making wine, not making wine, maybe making meat or making. You know honey and growing things and and you know fashioning and engineering these amazing tools that kept this the community fed. And what they discovered is that in atmendrum the monks basically created the first water wheel in the world. So it's the the earliest example of actually harnessing the power of tides. You know tidal energy to create, to createal energy, to create this tidal mill. So to me that's always just been so incredible and again it's back to the power of collectives that when we have a collective of people working together, supporting each other there for the long term, focusing on the good of, maybe, the local community, but tying into those amazing networks, those global networks. So, like the monks in Nandrum and the monastery in Nandrum would have been connected by the sea, you know people would have traveled by boats to. You know, monasteries and centers of learning all across Europe. So that really inspires me as well in terms of TechFinder is how can we create a sustainable, inclusive community where there is that collective learning, collective expertise is created and shared and everybody thrives? You know, everybody kind of levels up together.

Mairin Murray:

So in a way, I suppose it's getting away from the notion of that individuality, individuals, and so you know, kind of we're kind of individuals, we're solopreneurs. Society doesn't exist. That was what Margaret Thatcher's whole mantra was back in the 80s. You know it's this idea, yes, absolutely. Society is crucial to humans. You know we're primates, people. You know primates, they are gathered together, they're not. You know we are pack animals and this whole idea of being in a collective, we're protected. If you think about it, even, like you know, in terms of the animal analogy, but also in terms of looking at places, like you know, in monasteries there's such power to elevate, to really move forwards and advance in terms of humanity the whole storytelling element of how you connected.

The Trailblazers Experience:

you know the history of where you were brought up, as to what they were able to utilize as a collective in those times and how that ties in with technology. Now it reminds me of when. Have you ever been to China before? No, I've never been.

The Trailblazers Experience:

Similar vein is you know they have a history that is just unfathomed and no matter which city you go to. So, for example, the fact that they built the Great Wall of China, it was like a 360 moment for me, seeing all the historical part, but also how advanced they are from a technology perspective ecosystems working as collectives it ties in with that historical element as well. The Chinese dynasty, etc. It's all those things which I think, just thinking about your TEDx and your story about where you were brought up, it's the same principles as well. We always think, oh yeah, history is one part of it, but I think history has a very important part to play as to how we should continue to view in modern society, how we push forward with technological advancements. How do you sell your product, your story? Yes, it's a tech tool, but there needs to be storytelling behind it as well yes, no, completely, and I think it's the power of those.

Mairin Murray:

There has been something over the last century and a half where the contribution of women, you know, to technology, to engineering, to medicine, to science, has just their stories have just not been told, they've been actually completely suppressed and written out of history. And I think that's, you know, in terms of people say, for example, and I think when you re-find those individuals I know that Kelly Vero, a friend of ours, has recently written a book about this as well. But you know, it's something like even when I heard the story of Kay McNulty, you know, it just kind of blew my mind and I was just like wow, this is just so incredible. So Kay McNulty was from a tiny little village in Donegal called Cresslaw and she left Ireland because there was such huge poverty. She emigrated to America and basically became one of the top pioneering computer scientists in the world and she was recognized. She was part of the MAAC team there were six women and you know she's recognized in the Computer Science Hall of Fame.

Mairin Murray:

And that is just incredible because it taps back to that power where you realize women have always been part of engineering, have been part of science, you know within the last century, within millennials before. You know when they were astronomers, when they were engineers, and I think that really is such a powerful message, especially when you're kind of being told, you know, tech isn't for women or women aren't interested in tech. You know so. For me, it's such an powerful message, especially when you're kind of being told you know tech isn't for women or women aren't interested in tech. You know so. For me, it's such an important message to say, like technology has no gender. You know it is a tool and it's a practice that we have all contributed to.

Mairin Murray:

What does have, unfortunately, a lot of kind of this agenda around has been that you know the gender stereotyping in terms of what, who contributes to stereotyping, in terms who gets to be in the media, for example, even in terms of you know the representation of who is a tech, a techie or an innovator in the media. So there's so much in terms of society that needs to be changed in terms of those stories. But I think history, as you said, natola is so powerful and so radical. You know it's not like the radicalness is the current situation or the future even. You know, if we look back to, as I said, centuries before medieval times, prehistorical times, you know, women have been. Women were contributing, women were drawing paintings on the side of caves. Women were out there creating, you know, creating the tools to to look at, to contribute through their society.

The Trailblazers Experience:

So I think we need new narratives and narratives are really, really powerful and that's why I always say to to every woman who I've ever you know who I interview or come across is your personal brand and pr in yourself and what you're doing. You have to continue to do that seriously plunk yourself in every position possible, because people need to know about your achievements and in the world of algorithms, you know that's what we need. We need to amplify that, telling those stories of the women who were there, whether it's medieval times or the 40s, the 50s, the 60s, the 70s, 80s, all of it, you know. Just making sure that is still front of mind. Let's talk about your, about resilience.

The Trailblazers Experience:

Obviously, your path hasn't been linear. No one's journey is and I think that's the part which makes you so relatable as well is you know you've also had your own journey. Can you share a moment or a challenge that's helped shape your resilience? Because I think a lot of the times people see if they don't know you, they'll look at your TEDx, they'll look at you. Know that your tech for good tech founder, they'll see you on LinkedIn and just think perfection all around. It's been easy. What has? Is there a moment that you can akin to that's shaped you know your resilience as a founder, as a leader.

Mairin Murray:

Probably a number of different moments, for sure, like and I think that's the thing you know, I think that's what we, you know everybody has had Anybody who's worked, anybody who's created, anybody who's tried to forge anything to have any kind of impact, you know you come across such obstacles, you know. Yeah, so I mean, in terms of my career, there've been a number of threads, I suppose, through it and you often see these just looking backwards, like so I kind of like, did computers. I didn't do computer science, I did maths, physics, chemistry for A-levels. You know, I was really good at science, but I also loved art and it was kind of interesting. People were like oh, you got to. Very few people are good at science. You got to do science if you're good at it, kind of thing, you know.

Mairin Murray:

And then for university, I was completely confused. I didn't know what I was going to do. In a way I probably. What interested me but it would have been, you know, quite out there was to study philosophy and physics. But there are very few places where you could study it. But anyway, I ended up studying philosophy at Trinity, but I think it was very much because I was searching. You know, I've always been into this whole idea of the vastness of the world, the meaning of life. So the vastness of the world, the meaning of life. So I was very much searching Philosophy. I'm not sure I'd recommend it, you know, for somebody like me.

The Trailblazers Experience:

First of, all I do, I studied it, but, no, do not go that direction.

Mairin Murray:

It was a kind of logical, analytical side of philosophy. It wasn't scholastic philosophy, but first of all I kind of wing things. You know I do kind of get, you know do stuff, but you know I've got. I did get into bad habits doing philosophy because there were so few hours I did at Trinity, there were so few hours lectures that you know you do get into bad habits of just hanging out. You know having fun, you know just socializing, talking, you know whatever, talking, blathering whatever, and for a coffee, but yeah, but, but. But I suppose, on a serious note, I was looking for answers but the answers weren't there. Nobody told me philosophy is about asking questions, framing questions, critiquing things, but yeah, but I suppose, on a serious note, I was looking for answers but the answers weren't there. Nobody told me Philosophy is about asking questions, framing questions, critiquing things.

Mairin Murray:

There are no answers really that you'll get from pure logic. You know to come up with answers, and this applies even today when people are discussing AI. You know there needs to be that leap. There needs to be that kind of leap which is kind of your heart, which is your emotions, which is your instincts, your gut instincts, in terms of that's what creates wisdom, that's what creates knowledge. I believe, you know, it's not simply the logical side of saying this yes, we could do this, yes, we could do that. So for me, at a later point, I suppose that was the biggest learning for me was this whole idea. You know, that logic and our head and our, you know, consciousness and our reason, rationality will never bring us to anything of value on its own. It needs to be kind of, it needs to also have that whole part around, kind of our heart, our kind of, you know, our kind of our gut instinct, you know, spiritual side. We need to bring all of those different elements together to, you know, to have things, to kind of gain wisdom and ultimately, I think, to contribute as a leader. So I think for me, you know, along the way I've gone on lots of different spiritual quests and kind of again looking for answers, but I don't know, but I'm not sure if the answer came.

Mairin Murray:

But I suppose the kind of main thing is, as you said, is that belief in doing your best, contributing as much as you can and realizing so much is out of our control. I think that's the biggest, hardest lesson of all is to realize in life, you know, and in being an entrepreneur there are so many things beyond our control, but that does not stop us. You know showing up, doing the work and you know going for that moonshot, knowing that we may never. We may never make it. It's a bit like.

Mairin Murray:

It's a bit like that, the arena quote. I'm a big fan of that quote. You know the Roosevelt quote and I've quoted it many times, but it's this whole idea. You know that. You know success is getting into the arena. You know having a go. You know getting covered in dust, getting dirty, making mistakes, being scrappy. You know making friends, falling out with people. It's the whole mess of being in the arena. But really, that's the key thing is that we go into the arena and we stay. Stay in the arena. That's what victory means. If you win or you lose as a gladiator in a sense, it's not really important. The main thing is that you show up and that you give things your best.

The Trailblazers Experience:

Yeah, that's half the battle, isn't it? Just giving it a go and thinking what's the worst that could happen with all of these things. I think, in hindsight, you always go back in your life's journey and you're connecting the dots of oh OK, this is what this actually means. Is there like a hindsight moment for you where you think, oh, my God, all of these connecting the dots has led to something that you can call a milestone, where you can say you know what actually, this has been really successful for me, and it's because of something that's happened in the past.

Mairin Murray:

Yes, I suppose in terms of things like you know, kind of say, my passion for people to be, say, when I got the job in the BBC the first, when I kind of spoke to my boss, karen Haggerty, the first thing I said to him was is there anything happening with BBC in relation to user generated content? Because I was passionate about this idea of co-creating and getting other people to kind of create, to be creative. It wasn't a question, and that whole idea of co-design and equality and democracy, I guess in terms of access to tools and access to expression, and that I suppose has been something that has really been a thread. You know it's a thread today. It's a thread of the thread Tech for Good. It's very much the part of what TechFounder is about is how we as women can create, can use tools, can have impact, can build, can make, can contribute. So that's something that I'm really really passionate about and I'm not sure where it comes from.

Mairin Murray:

I suppose my dad. He was an art teacher, so he was very, very creative. You know we were growing up we were making, like we're doing all the usual things, like you know, making dens out of, you know, reeds in the garden on our holidays in Donegal, but it was also, you know, there was also a lot of creativity, both making, you know making everything from candles to you know, paintings to batik to you know. We were always making and creating. But my dad, as a teacher, that was very much. His philosophy was that everybody has something to contribute. You know, in some schools it's the children who don't fit in, who are kind of like encouraged to go to the art class or the art room almost because they don't fit in anywhere else. But my dad was a huge believer in everybody can contribute.

The Trailblazers Experience:

I think that's really an important lesson and even a nugget isn't it is that everyone has something, that special secret sauce that they can contribute. It's just finding that out, and I think that's really important as well. Let's talk about the future of TechFounder, and, you know inclusivity in the best way possible. What's front of mind for you right now? Are there any initiatives or collaborations that you're excited about?

Mairin Murray:

Yeah, so last year it was just such an incredible year. So TechFound is really young. We only started, it's only a limited company like a year and a half, and Valentine's Day, 2024, is when we were kind of registered as a limited company, so we're very much kind of it's very early stage in that sense, but it's not early stage in terms of the work that has been done, in terms of growing as a network. So last year was just incredible. There was an amazing partnership and collaboration with us at Catherine Gray and the whole show her, the money movement, which was just incredible, bringing that to Ireland. Because with TechFounder, our focus is on building tech competence, you know, busting tech jargon, building the whole innovation capacity of women. But we also absolutely need the funding. So that's kind of completely a parallel movement is the whole piece around. We need to get the funding into the hands of women who want to innovate and create tech solutions.

Mairin Murray:

Last year it was just incredible because TechFounder we had an opportunity to create a pilot for a tech pre-accelerator. So there were 35 incredible women from across the island who worked on this accelerated path of building different, because it wasn't, oh, let's create a business plan or a pitch deck. That's beautiful, even though those are really important. It was like, okay, get the idea, get the detail out of your head, start building, start prototyping, start, you know, getting the testing, start telling the stories.

Mairin Murray:

Natola, back to your point. You know about the narratives, the storytelling, the product narrative. You know the narrative that you tell. You know, tell investors the narrative that you tell your tech team, the whole, that whole importance of the narrative piece. But it was an incredible, incredible program and those women just so inspire me and we wanted to build on that. So the collective is very much about creating that platform of women globally so that we can have more impact. Like 30, it was amazing working with 35 women, but what about if we could work with 35 000 women globally, like, like, how incredible would that be? You know, from everywhere, from Qatar to China to Africa. That's the vision, is how we can become, how we can really kind of support women globally and create this collective where we have those ripples and kind of women globally can contribute and can impact, starting tech, using tech and really creating and shaping this better world.

The Trailblazers Experience:

The fact that you know it's, you can be anywhere to be part of the collective. Once again coming back to your fact that most women are caregivers, or you know they've got children, et cetera, et cetera. That just means globally, as long as you've got a tech, you know a phone, a laptop, you should be able to join and partake, like you said, build, iterate, prototype, share, and that's what we need, which is really really important as well.

Mairin Murray:

Yeah, exactly, no, completely. It's giving that kind of yeah, it's through those connections. You know that that's where the magic happens, that's where learning happens, that's where we create our own capital. We almost become like our own microeconomy, you know, a microeconomy of learning and insights and knowledge, creating this better world, you know. So that's what it's to me, and I mean it sounds a bit kind of like they could create a better world, but my God, look how broken it is. You know. So there's such.

Mairin Murray:

You know we all need to kind of imagine how things could be different. You know how things could be better, how things could be, how we could have different values that underpin how we organize as humans, how we contribute as humans need women to be part of that. Mary Robinson, who's an amazing leader in Ireland, who's one of the elders and she was our first ever the woman who became president here in Ireland. But you know she says look around us, the world is such a mess and this is what has been achieved by being so male dominated and so dominated by values. Of.

Mairin Murray:

You know speed, greed, you know one. You know competing, this competitive piece, and you know the lack of values. Of you know speed, greed, you know one, you know competing this competitive piece and you know the lack of values. So this is where we're at and I mean that might sound really negative, but for me tech is actually a reason to be positive and a reason for optimism, because it is so powerful that you know, once we have the vision and once we have that sense of where we're going, the tech will absolutely help us get there.

The Trailblazers Experience:

Yeah, and also, you know, I was in a panel a few weeks ago and I said I'm really excited about the future in terms of because there's so many tech founders now you know, that are coming up with great products, ideas, services. And also, despite the fact that, yes, only 2% of funding still goes to women, we still have our male allies that are now shouting from the woodworks. They're coming out loud and just declaring we are supporting these initiatives, these ventures, and that's a step change, because before the allies, we knew them, they were there, but now they're actually being more vocal, which I think is a big step change for the next generation and moving forward. So that's something to be optimistic about in it.

Mairin Murray:

You were talking about resilience earlier, and that's where it's so important that we keep. You know, we keep the joy alive and we get that often from being with each other having a bit of a laugh, you know. So it's so important, isn't it, that we support each other, that we kind of create that energy, that positive energy and that sense of optimism and that sense of possibility, because that's really what keeps us moving forwards.

The Trailblazers Experience:

Yeah Well, in a few months there's Women's Entrepreneurship Day. I mean, there's a day for everything in the consumer calendar. Do you want to talk about an initiative that you'll be launching soon to celebrate this, or something as a catalyst for TechFounder?

Mairin Murray:

Yes, yeah, so I mean, in terms of TechFounder one, the visibility piece is so important and, yeah, it's something that we'll be doing over, we'll be launching, I think, the next week or so, so watch the space. But it's very much about founders, so that we're going to really showcase the incredible women, the incredible talent that is part of the collective, that's beyond the collective in terms of women innovating with tech. So very much making visible them, getting for them a chance to tell their story, and we will help amplify their story. And it's back to your point at all about the allies like this is the chance to support, to network, to get behind these incredible founders and to reach out to them and really kind of just accelerate the impact, the positive impact that they're determined to have.

The Trailblazers Experience:

Next five years is positive impact that they're determined to have Next five years. Is there anything that you think is in the pipeline for tech founder where you say this is the North Star that I'm working towards that you'd love to share.

Mairin Murray:

Well, yeah, I will expect that kind of. You know it's that global vision. You know we want to kind of impact. You know, kind of a million women kind of globally, that they are the ones. They're the ones who are building the tech ventures. They're the ones who are building the tech ventures. They're building the tech ventures that are value driven, that are focusing on positive impact and aren't simply focusing on economic and you know, kind of economic capital. They're also focusing on social capital and it's creating this incredible ecosystem where we say we can do things differently, we can be playful, we can be collaborative, we can bring out what's all the different, all the different attributes, what's best, you know about being kind of a human and support each other.

Mairin Murray:

So, like so many founders, I know, and they're just like I, want to succeed to help the women who are coming after me, because I know how hard it's been and that's why I want to succeed. I want to invest any when I, when I exit, when I kind of create a, you know, a company of scale. The reason that I want to do this is to support those other women because they know the talent, they know the possibility and the opportunities that aren't there for women. But the possibilities in terms of those innovations are so important. They're so important that they are launched and that these you know that these tech enterprises happen. It's brilliant.

The Trailblazers Experience:

Let's talk about the Trailblazer takeaway tip. So we always end the podcast by asking our guests if there was, you know, three tips that you could share to inspire, what would they?

Mairin Murray:

be Okay. Well, I'm kind of lucky because some of my amazing Innovation Labs founders gave me a little gift recently, recently, and they had some of these were in place and all that. So I can immediately think of two of them. I need to think of the third one. So one of them is dare greatly.

Mairin Murray:

So it's that idea of you know the Roosevelt quote. You know, dare greatly, go for it, go into the arena. You know, get stuck in. But you know, yeah, there's no point daring in a small way. You, you know, really dare, you know dare greatly. I think that's something that really inspires me. The whole fuck perfection thing, 100%, get stuck. You know, do something, do something scrappy, do something that's completely. You know it's a D grade. Don't be always aiming for an A star, thinking it has to be perfect. Just get things out there, get things done. You know, get things done. Don't overthink, because I think, as women, so often, because we have never, we haven't been in position of having that power for centuries sometimes we overthink and try to judge kind of the rules and yeah, and I suppose the other thing is kind of like have fun, you know, kind of have a bit of a laugh. You know, have the crack. You know, enjoy, enjoy the journey and enjoy the comrades um, and that you'll meet along the way, because that's so precious.

The Trailblazers Experience:

It's been brilliant. I mean, thank you so much for sharing your story, your mission, your voice. You're not just building tech, you are building a movement, which is just brilliant. Where can the listeners find you? Tell us your website, your Instagrams. Where can they find you?

Mairin Murray:

Yeah, so Tech Found Her. So, as long as you can spell TechFoundHer, so it's the H-E-R at the end and that's T-E-C-H find F-O-U-N-D, techfoundher. Yeah, we're on the different social media. We're on LinkedIn, we have a website, techfoundhercom. So yeah, so I'd love to hear from you. Please reach out to me, message me, get involved, join the collective, join the movement. Yeah, and we're stronger together.

The Trailblazers Experience:

Well, to our listeners, this has been the Trailblazers Experience Podcast. You know where to find us. I always say tell another woman about the podcast. Please remember to follow, like, share, subscribe and until next time. Thank you very much, bye.