An “Investor” Asked Me for €50,000. This Is What Happened.

It started innocuously enough. After exchanging pleasantries he said “Happy Easter” I followed up and said you too and added good thing you said that, I was curious to know, “Where do you think we came from? How do we exist?”

He paused. He didn’t answer. He was flabbergasted. He paused. Silence. I could feel the weight of emptiness behind his polite smile. He said he never got asked that before in a meeting.

That moment revealed more than silence, it revealed a landscape of disconnection, a world in which people live in bubbles chasing money, chasing the next deal, rarely pausing to consider the foundations of our existence or the impact of their actions.

I pressed further. I asked, “What is your purpose in life?”

He smiled politely and said: “To stay positive, earn money, and provide.”

It was an honest answer, but it was the same answer you hear across much of the venture capital landscape today: a system that measures success in cash flow and short term returns rather than systemic impact.

From Idealism to Disillusionment

This so-called “investor” and the “capital”organisation he represented openly advertise that they support startups “to make an impact in the world.” Yet the conversation revealed a different reality. They have become high ticket sales organisation disguised as venture funds, where the primary goal is selling access, selling hope, and monetising early stage founders, rather than genuinely supporting transformational innovation.

I experienced it firsthand. The interaction wasn’t supportive, it wasn’t collaborative, and it wasn’t visionary, it was transactional.

Questions That Exposed the Gap

I tried to guide the conversation toward bigger thinking. I asked questions to illuminate systemic problems, to encourage him to reflect on the world we live in:

• “What big problems in the world do you care most about right now?”

• “Why do you think those problems still haven’t been solved?”

• “What’s stopping good ideas from scaling into real solutions?”

• “Where do you see the biggest gaps today for startups trying to make an impact?”

• “Do you think the issue is funding, or something deeper in how things are set up?”

• “What’s missing from current platforms or networks?”

• “If you could design the perfect system to connect people solving these problems, what would it look like?”

• “Do you believe the future of innovation is more collaborative?”

• “How do you see this space evolving over the next few years?”

• “Do you think a platform built around real collaboration and impact makes sense going forward?”

His answers were polite, but narrow. They didn’t engage with the scale, depth, or urgency of the problems facing the world today.

The World in Crisis

The economy is a car running on fumes while war ignites the engine. Startups are ships trying to sail upstream against a tidal wave of extractive capital.

The context is urgent. War is driving fuel crises, stalling economies, and destabilising entire regions. The future looks hostile and I’ve warned about the current governance structures and why projections don’t look good if we do not change it. War is trivial to making money. It’s not about solving international problems, it’s about control and domination. Sound familiar?

Inequality is worsening. Poverty is being perpetuated while the infrastructure to address it remains fragmented. Climate systems are under pressure, and the impact of delayed innovation is accelerating the pace of global instability.

Meanwhile, AI and other advanced technologies are progressing at an unprecedented rate. People are losing jobs at an in an insurmountable way. They hold incredible promise, but only if applied within systems designed to solve real-world problems. Otherwise, these tools merely amplify existing inequalities and inefficiencies, exacerbating global conflict and fleecing startups.

“We all live in our bubbles, chasing money, while the world burns around us.”

The Broken Model of Venture Capital

The reality is stark: startups that need deep tech infrastructure to implement transformative solutions cannot compete in a system designed for short term gains. Investors prioritise quick returns, KPIs, and high-ticket sales strategies.

Visionary ideas that could create jobs, support sustainable economies, or solve pressing societal challenges are left stranded.

In that room, I realised the scale of the gap. The system is fundamentally misaligned. The very people claiming to support impact often contribute to its fragmentation, rewarding the appearance of innovation rather than the execution of meaningful change.

Why I Built Ace Social Global

I had a vision to change this. I was building a self sustaining, autonomous creative networking platform and marketplace, an ecosystem designed to:

• Support startups and organisations to help solve major world problems

• Foster collaboration across sectors

• Enable the creator economy to grow responsibly

• Create jobs, strengthen the economy, and fund good causes through systemic impact

I built Ace Social Global believing we could create infrastructure for real change but the system crushed that vision.

It wasn’t just a platform, it was infrastructure that we needed to implement. A real solution to the misaligned incentives, isolation, and short term thinking that plague the startup world.

But today, I am shutting it down.

The landscape is such that visionary infrastructure cannot survive in a system obsessed with transactional capital, short term gains, and high ticket sales disguised as investment. How can someone continue to fight against a structure that undermines the very purpose of innovation?

A Personal Reflection

To every alumni, partner, and product distributor who supported Ace Social Global: thank you. Your belief in this vision, in the ecosystem we tried to build, was real. You understood the potential.

But the truth is harsh: Ireland is not the place to start a tech company if your goal is to change the world. If you want to make systemic impact, go to America. That’s where the money, the networks, and the willingness to bet on visionary infrastructure exists.

If your goal is to grow an SMB, start by showing other organisations how to make money. Ask them to pay you only once you deliver your skill. Focus on high ticket sales. Keep chasing money while the world around you collapses. That is the reality here.

Sometimes, the hardest truth is the most necessary one: the world needs systems that enable collaboration, scale solutions, and align incentives with impact. The current venture model, as I experienced it, is failing this purpose and until that changes, visionary startups like won’t survive.

God bless, and happy Easter!

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