Jump Back
Almost 10 years ago, Ed Heffernan, Elaine Brady & Jonathan Olden had an idea, and from that idea, Barden was born. Elaine reflects on her Barden Origin story and imagines what the next 10 years will all be about…
The early days were amazing, although I might be looking back with rose-tinted glasses. We weren’t paying ourselves, but I had never been happier to work for free. Our first office had a window that looked out onto a brick wall. We never knew if it was sunny or raining, which was fine because we had no time to look out the window anyway. Ed and I used to play random musical soundtracks in the background because the office was so quiet and beans on toast was my go-to meal because it was all I could afford. There was a lot of hard work. We believed in what we were doing and knew we were starting to build something that could be really special.
We always had an empty chair in the room and used to wonder who the next person would be to join us. It would never be just me and Ed; we always envisioned someone else sitting in that seat. A couple of months after we started, Grainne McAleese trusted us to help her build a world-class finance team, which allowed us to generate revenue much earlier than we expected. We had to decide: do we start paying ourselves, or do we invest in the future of the business and bring in high-calibre people to fill the empty seats next to us? We chose the latter. I decided I could keep living on beans and toast for another six months. That decision was a defining moment in the early evolution of Barden.
Johnny probably sits somewhere between Ed and me. He’s very operational, but he can also see the bigger picture and thinks strategically, planning his next move with a long-term vision in mind. Johnny is also incredibly caring. He is an extremely fair person and plays a vital role in the leadership team, balancing out both of mine and Ed’s strengths.
A piece of advice that has stuck with me is, “You can’t work on your business when you’re working in your business.” For years, I kept getting pulled back into the day-to-day tasks. It took two to three years to create a structure where I no longer have to do that, and it’s been a complete game changer for me. I still love working on jobs and helping the team because I love recruitment, but now I’m doing it out of choice rather than necessity. However, it required stepping back and finding the time to do that.
Paul McArdle, who trained me in recruitment and is the Managing Partner of The Panel, has been and continues to be an instrumental mentor and friend. I worked with him for eight years and we are still very close. He was incredibly supportive when I decided to start Barden.
More recently, it’s been more about seeking peer-to-peer support. I pushed myself out of my comfort zone and got accepted onto the KPMG Enterprise Ireland Going for Growth programme, which has been brilliant. My mentor there, Monica Flood, was a great support, especially during COVID when we all thought our businesses were going to die!
I’m also part of the EY Entrepreneurial Winning Women programme, and recently became a founding member of a female parent network called KELLA, launching in Ireland. KELLA is about surrounding yourself with brilliant, ambitious women who have goals they want to achieve, knowing that they are there for your learning, development, and networking. Being part of these groups makes the tough times in business much easier to navigate. 
The teamwork during that time was phenomenal. Our financial controller, Kev, was superb at identifying what support we could get from the government. Whenever we managed to get a bit of business, it was all hands on deck. We tried to focus on what we could control: making phone calls, checking in with people, keeping our systems updated, and working on small projects. We were even in the middle of a rebrand, and despite the costs, we decided to continue with it. Ed insisted that while others were losing their heads, we should stay focused and keep going.
By the end of Q4 2020, things started to turn around. We had managed to retain all our staff, and as the market bounced back in 2021 and 2022, we were well-positioned to take advantage of it. It was tough, and there were times I reached out to people like Paul McArdle for advice, but ultimately, we came out of it stronger. Our approach of doing the opposite of what others might do in a crisis has served us well over the past ten years, especially during that period. 
I can’t forget to mention Goldfish Gate at our first office! One day, unknown to me, someone decided to get an office pet, bringing back two goldfish, Billy and Bridget Barden. They cleaned the fish tank in the office kitchen sink, which in hindsight was probably unhygienic. During the cleaning process, some pebbles ended up clogging the sink. The office manager went unnecessarily mad even though someone else in the building used to microwave fish for breakfast every morning – which, in my view, should have been a more punishable offence!
When they fixed it, they gave us back the pebbles as proof and slapped us with an €800 bill. Our FC Kev, who is usually unflappable, lost it! And as if that wasn’t enough, Ed took the two goldfish home and Bridget ended up eating Billy and another fish in Ed’s tank. Not exactly the happiest ending, but definitely memorable!
My drivers for growth will always be: are we growing to create opportunity and are we growing to change lives? Over the past few years, we have started bringing Barden to other communities outside of accounting and tax. This gives us massive opportunities—there’s a whole other world that doesn’t know who we are, what we do, or most importantly, why we do it. It’s exciting to think about the impact we could have on lives that have never had the Barden experience before.
Enjoyed Elaine’s reflections?
You can read Ed Heffernan’s Origin Story here>>>