What happens when the same founder who once scaled a $30M HR tech company decides he picked the wrong problem—and starts over with a completely different bet on how companies grow?

David Walsh is a three-time founder, former professional rugby player from Dublin, and now the CEO of Limelight, a fast-growing platform building the operating system for B2B creator-led marketing. After scaling and exiting his previous company, he made a deliberate shift: away from HR tech and toward marketing leaders, where he saw a deeper, more urgent pain around distribution and rising customer acquisition costs.

Limelight sits at the center of that shift. The company helps brands like HubSpot, ZoomInfo, and Webflow turn creator content into measurable pipeline, not just awareness. Instead of relying on agencies or traditional paid channels, it gives companies a structured way to work with B2B creators and track real revenue impact.

In Today's Episode We Discuss:

00:01 Introduction to David Walsh & Limelight

00:45 David’s Background: From Ireland to Tech Founder

02:06 First Startup: Building and Selling a Watch Brand

03:10 Scaling an HR Tech Company to $30M+

04:28 Education, Marketing Focus, and Early Career

06:45 Lessons from Not Having a Technical Co-Founder

09:50 Why Technical Leadership Matters Early

10:31 Founder Mistakes: Hiring Fast and Raising Too Much

12:33 What Product-Market Fit Really Looks Like

14:28 The Early Vision and Pivot to Limelight

16:32 Validating the Idea with 100+ User Interviews

19:59 Building a Creator Network and Growth Flywheel

20:17 What Limelight Does: B2B Influencer Marketplace

21:46 Challenges with Agencies and Market Strategy

24:10 Pricing Model and Budget Expectations

27:00 Solving Attribution in B2B Marketing

33:39 Brand vs Performance Marketing Debate

36:37 CPMs, Content Strategy, and ROI

38:09 Vetting Creators and Building Marketplace Supply

40:56 Supply vs Demand and Marketplace Dynamics

Pull quotes:

“When you think you have product-market fit, you most likely don’t.”

“Distribution is the moat now. Not features.”

From sending free watches to influencers in his first startup to building a marketplace paying creators millions, the throughline is clear: Walsh has always bet on attention. Now he’s turning that into a system.

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Follow David Walsh on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-walsh-limelight/

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What happens when someone who built companies since age 12 decides to rebuild venture capital from the ground up?

Ben Narasin has seen every cycle—dot-com, mobile, crypto—and now he’s betting on something far simpler: founders who won’t quit.

Ben Narasin is the Founder and General Partner of Tenacity VC, a solo GP fund backing pre-seed and seed-stage startups. He’s built and exited multiple companies, launched one of the earliest dot-com businesses in the 90s, and later invested at top firms like NEA before starting Tenacity in 2021. Today, he’s backed by 40+ venture firms and focuses on one thing: finding companies that tier-one VCs will fund next.

In Today's Episode We Discuss:

00:01 Introduction to Ben Narasin & Tenacity VC

02:50 Seed vs Series A in 2026

05:33 What Pre-Seed, Seed, and Series A Really Mean Now

07:48 Investing for Tier-One Follow-On VCs

10:26 Venture Capital Archetypes & Solo GP Model

14:46 Solo GPs, Fund Performance, and Market Dynamics

16:56 Raising from Venture Firms as LPs

21:16 Fund Size, Deployment Pressure, and Discipline

25:50 Venture Cycles: AI vs Past Tech Booms

28:11 Portfolio Construction & Check Size Strategy

33:18 Check Size vs Investment Strategy

35:19 Decision-Making Discipline in Investing

38:51 Passing on Founders & Honest Feedback

41:09 Fostering Dogs & Personal Values

42:45 Thoughts on Web3 & Blockchain

45:38 Speculation vs Long-Term Investing

47:50 Why Venture is a “Never-Ending Education”

49:58 Investment Approach & Market Focus

50:05 Future of Venture & Geographic Shifts

55:30 Government, Incentives, and Capital Allocation

01:05:31 Lessons Learned in Venture Capital

01:07:50 What Ben Looks for in Founders

01:10:57 Importance of Storytelling

01:12:31 Trusting Your Gut in Investing

01:14:40 Solo GP Advantage & Decision Autonomy

01:15:57 Venture is Not Roulette: Poker Analogy

01:18:25 Knowing When to Walk Away

01:20:12 Final Thoughts & Closing

Underneath all of it is one principle: tenacity beats everything.

“The best thing you can get from a VC is real interest. The second best is a clear no.”

“Tenacity is the only secret to entrepreneurial success.”

From inventing early internet monetization to backing the next generation of founders, Ben’s story comes full circle: he started by building companies—and now spends his time finding the few worth building at all.

Because in venture, the game hasn’t changed as much as people think.

It just got harder to win.

Subscribe on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6Ga6v0YUsHotLhjap67uu5

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Follow Ben Narasin on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bennarasin/

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What if the biggest funding mistake founders make isn’t raising the wrong round… but choosing the wrong type of capital entirely?

Ryan Ridgway, founder and CEO of Cirrus Capital Partners, didn’t come up through Wall Street. He built his career from scratch, starting in sales, launching and exiting a consumer business, and then stumbling into private credit through relationships. Today, he operates at the intersection of founders and capital markets, helping companies unlock non-dilutive funding from $2M to $50M to scale without giving up ownership.

Cirrus focuses on a segment most investors ignore: companies too big for early-stage credit, but not ready for traditional banks or private equity. That “awkward middle” is where capital decisions start to shape outcomes in a serious way.

In Today's Episode We Discuss:

00:01 Introduction and Ryan Ridgway Background

00:31 Ryan’s Origin Story and Early Entrepreneurship

03:29 Founding Cirrus Capital Partners

05:54 The “Awkward Middle” in Startup Funding

06:56 Ideal Company Profile and Revenue Thresholds

07:30 Growth Capital vs Working Capital Explained

10:02 How Cirrus Structures Capital Solutions

11:28 Why Early-Stage Companies Struggle with Traditional Banks

12:11 Common Misconceptions About Debt vs Equity

14:29 Combining Debt and Equity for Better Outcomes

15:26 Matching Founders with the Right Capital Structure

18:49 Negotiating Term Sheets and Lender Dynamics

19:07 How Founders Can Assess If They’re Ready for Debt

21:31 What Disqualifies a Company from Credit

23:45 Creative Financing and Distressed Scenarios

24:08 Risks Founders Overlook with Debt

26:26 Market Trends in Credit and Venture Debt

28:44 Innovation in Growth Debt and Deal Structuring

31:04 Automation and Data-Driven Underwriting

32:00 AI Trends Across Startups and Lending

Two sharp takeaways from Ryan:

“Make sure the capital you’re raising corresponds with its use case.”

“Start with the end in mind. Your capital strategy should match where you want the business to end up.”

Subscribe on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6Ga6v0YUsHotLhjap67uu5

Subscribe on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ignite-conversations-on-startups-venture-capital-tech/id1709248824

Follow Ryan Ridgway on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanridgway/

Follow Brian on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bblinkedin/

Visit Our Website: https://www.teamignite.ventures

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