MHC Life: Conall Geraghty

This week in our MHC Life series, we speak to recently promoted Corporate partner Conall Geraghty. Conall talks us through his career milestones, time in San Francisco and how the WFH experience has changed his lifestyle habits.

I am a partner on the corporate team. My particular interest and focus is in the venture capital and private equity space. I help both founders and investors in fast growth companies – predominantly in the technology and life sciences sectors – navigate the process of raising investment from seed stage to Series A and beyond. I also help larger institutional investors and fund managers to set up the investment funds which often act as the lead investor supporting these fast growth companies.

2020 has been a significant milestone year for me career-wise. Not only have I recently been promoted, but I have also been celebrating my 10-year anniversary with MHC, having joined as a trainee during Ireland's last recession. It does seem like big career events for me are always accompanied by even bigger macroeconomic challenges!

Despite these challenges, I have found MHC to be an incredibly supportive place to work. It's hard to believe that it has been 10 years already. The time has flown by. I am very much looking forward to what the next 10 years has to bring.

One of my main practice areas is advising on investments in fast growth companies in the technology sector. My favourite thing about that role is the exposure which it has given me to new technologies such as 3D printing, blockchain, cryptocurrency, artificial intelligence, virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR). In 2019, I spent some time based in the MHC office in San Francisco to learn about the latest technology and investment trends in Silicon Valley. It was quite an experience.

I also really enjoy working with first-time founders and entrepreneurs, helping them to build business based on new products and technologies.

Like many people these days, my mornings often start with a group Zoom call to catch-up with the other members of my team, and occasionally, on the latest office gossip.

Thankfully lunch has become a lot more normal since the more severe lockdown restrictions have eased. It is great to see that most of the local food businesses around the Barrow Street area have re-opened for take away sandwiches at lunchtime. They were missed during the start of lockdown, so I am very happy to support their reopening.

One fairly significant and positive change which work-from-home has prompted in me is to get out of the house and go for a 5 km walk every evening. Having spent all day working from home, I have become a lot more conscious of trying to adopt a healthier lifestyle. Hopefully it is something I can maintain as we creep towards the winter months.

Even during the strictest part of stay at home lockdown, there still never seems to be enough time to do all of the personal and professional projects I want to do.

One of the things I enjoy most about working in MHC, and which I am really missing at the moment, is the in-office engagement working with my team mates. Zoom is useful but it is no substitute for office banter.

I would almost certainly be a software developer like my younger brother.

Yes, I have but I cannot say who! Unfortunately for me, all of my 2020 interactions with celebrities have been in a professional context where the general duty of confidentiality applies. So, while I have been more than happy to engage in some not-so-subtle name dropping with my team, I cannot say who I have dealt with to anyone else. One of the more difficult aspects of the job!

Read about Conall's recent appointment here.

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