Richard Brennan

Athlete, Brainstormer, Business leader, Designer, Idea generator, Investor, Marketer, Parent, Performer, Technologist

Born in Dublin in 1967 I'm a twin with one older brother and a younger sister. I burnt down my house at the age of 5 by placing a candle under the bed but we all escaped and I spend many years fascinated by fire. My father was a successful businesss entrepeneur in Ireland and had a Bachelor of Science Degree. He sold the first electron microscope in Ireland and went on to become an alcaholic eventually dying of cancer. My mother who had qualified in hotel management was a house wife went to work late in her life and setup a very successful toy manufacturing firm which she ran for 10 yeard before retiring. I left school in 1985, repeated my final school exams in 1986 to gain the necessary points for entry into science at University College Dublin (UCD). I spent 2 years there studying physics, geology, maths and computer science before lossing interest to outside temptations such as on the road sales jobs and other distractions. 2 years of wallowing in pointless experimental work such as playing in a band, motorbike courier, sales repping etc before I returned to college in Dublin Institute of Technology studying computer science. I stuck to my guns there and qualified with distinction at the top of my class. I followed my brother into telecoms and Interactive Voice Response programming and design working for another before we went out on our own in 1996. We developed the first IVR based flight information system in the world for Aer Lingus, the first IVR based telecbanking system in europe, we generated enough voice telecphone traffic through our services that it made commercisl sense to form Budget Telecom to own more of the value chain. This lead to being the first Telco in Ireland to interconnect with the incumbant carrier in 1999 after deregulation. We continued to develop innovative services and pushed the boundries of IVR technology using our own software libraries to create services that the hardware suppliers claimed could not be done. We went on to be the first service providers to interconnect with the mobile operators in Irleand using our own implementation of the SMPP protocol which we developed ourselves. We continued to expand and formed own marketing company and advertising agency to support our growing media buying portfolio again aimed at owning more and more of the value chain. We setup our own in house TV production shooting and animating our TV commercials. Today we are rebranded modeva and we are the largest provider of premium rate services in Ireland. We are expanding into the UK, near Europe, USA and Australia, developing, launching and running services centrally from Ireland. I have deliberately freed up 2 days per week to allow me to explore new projects and ideas outside of work. I recently joined TED and this extra time is envigorating me once again allowing me to turn my attentions to issues and subjects that are important to me. I am excited nowadays.

Self sufficiency. The energy and food crisis destroys me.

Space Pressure. I believe that only repulsive (pushing forces exist) and attractive forces are impossible. Gravity is a result of space pressure which is generated by the fabirc of space (distance, dimension, location). Units of matter occupy units of space, space units repel matter units pushing them together. Email me for the full theory. It will open your eyes and explain the relationship between space, time and matter.

Business Analysis, Business Management, Priduct Innovation and Design, Software Engineering, Systems Analysis and Design

I have a good imagination, I write a little poetry and I'd like to write fantasy science fiction. I have very logical mind and can spot solutions easily. Playing the Bodhrain.