Engaging Entrepreneurial Spirit: Neil Dunne

It is with much excitement that we would like to announce the first guest speaker for our Engaging Entrepreneurial Spirit (EES) series: Neil Dunne! He was the co-founder and COO of Andrson, an artists and repertoire (A&R) company in the music industry that connects emerging talents with publishers and other professionals.

His company was founded just in 2017, but it already has over 8,000 musicians on its platform alongside more than 30,000 tracks. For his success, Dunne, 26, was featured in the 2021 edition of the Forbes 30 for 30 under the “Entertainment” category.

He is one of several industry disruptors and great minds that TrEntSoc has selected for our EES speaker series and also a homegrown talent: Neil Dunne is a Trinity College Dublin alumni from the Bachelor’s in Engineering program class of 2017.

About Neil Dunne

Nowadays, the former Trinity student has taken a new career path and joined Spotify’s team in London, United Kingdom, as a product manager. Before joining the Swedish startup that has revolutionized the music industry, Dunne had also worked as a director in another business: ThinkThank Management, a company that also worked closely with musicians and talent acquisition.

His business, Andrson, was yet another of his ventures in the music industry, but this time with a focus on changing how emerging artists can be discovered by recruiters. Being a former talent manager himself, Neil Dunne brought innovation to the musical landscape by introducing a technology that allowed for audio-enabled search. That is, professionals could find new talents because of their sound.

The company was founded by him in partnership with Zach Miller-Frankel after his graduation from TCD. Their sound analysis mechanism proved to be key in the sector, where Andrson partnered with over 65 businesses to evaluate up-and-coming musicians. After two funding rounds, the startup was able to gather approximately €550,000 in seed rounds of investment during 2019.

Beyond his professional endeavours, music is also a personal interest for Neil Dunne. During his undergraduate studies, he was a background singing member and also the director of the Trinitones, the collegiate a cappella for Trinity.

The EES

The first week of our guest speaker series will be taking place on October 26th at 6:30 PM at the McNabb Theatre, in the Business School Building at TCD. Entrance is free of charge but it is recommended to arrive as early as possible because there is a limit of 150 attendees for this event.

Neil Dunne is coming to inaugurate the guest speaker series by talking in-depth about his journey in the music industry, the founding of his own business and where he is today. If you want to learn more about the struggles and challenges of entrepreneurship and tips for finding success, look no further than the Engaging Entrepreneurial Spirit series brought to you by the Trinity Entrepreneurship Society!