Grinds 360: Power struggle over business backed by rugby stars leads to CEO’s suspension and reinstatement

The board of Ireland’s biggest online grinds company has resigned following a power struggle involving emergency shareholder meetings and the suspension of its chief executive and co-founder. Since being formed in 2023, Grinds 360 has shaken up the market and brought in millions in revenue from more than 30,000 secondary school students. The business’s shareholders include rugby stars past and present Brian O’Driscoll and Caelan Doris. The Irish Times has established that Brendan Kavanagh, the educational-technology entrepreneur who runs the Olive Group of companies, last month resigned as chairman and director of the grinds company he cofounded with teacher Ronan Murdock. His resignation, along with those of three other directors, follows an agreement that will allow Murdock to take control of the company and run it independently from the Olive Group. READ MOREThe agreement came weeks after directors suspended Murdock from his role as chief executive.The teacher and the ed-tech entrepreneur At first, it looked like the perfect combination. Murdock (42) was an entrepreneurially minded business, economics and Irish teacher at the Institute of Education, a school and grinds provider on Leeson Street, Dublin.He told The Irish Times in 2014 that he made money in school by allowing friends, including Love/Hate actor Peter Coonan, to punch him in the head in return for money. Coonan would later become an investor in Grinds 360, the business created when Murdock was introduced to Kavanagh through contacts in Cuala GAA club in Dalkey, south Dublin.Wicklow-based Kavanagh (61) built the Olive Group out of a health and safety training company. Olive employs production staff in Nepal and India that create the technology platforms though which many of the Olive companies deliver their services. These include a sports club management app used by Kilkenny GAA.Olive for Education, another Kavanagh business, supplies one-to-one laptops and tablets to students in 80 secondary schools around the country. Although Kavanagh previously said he believed university is “for slow learners”, he has been evangelical in promoting video as the optimal method for delivering teaching.The SplitSince its launch in 2024, Grinds 360 has shaken up the grinds market by recruiting some high-profile teachers and attracting tens of thousands of subscribers. Students pay €1,099 for a subscription that covers all Leaving Certificate courses.Investors such as Brian O’Driscoll, who spoke in a video promoting its services, and Caelan Doris, helped garner media attention, and the business was endorsed by Kevin Marshall, the head of education at Microsoft Ireland.The company’s last financial returns showed that Kavanagh and Murdock had 21.5 per cent of shares each. Kieran Mills, a co-founding teacher and the company’s director of digital learning, had 6.28 per cent. [ Tech entrepreneur Brendan Kavanagh’s charity faces strike-off for failing to file accountsOpens in new window ]ODM and Promotions, O’Driscoll’s company, had 2.8 per cent, the same as Sean Cunningham, O’Driscoll’s friend who owns the Brass Monkey bar in New York and who invests in many of the same projects as the former Ireland and Lions captain. Shane Glynn, a businessman with an address in Italy, owned more than 5.3 per cent.The breakdown of the relationship between the co-founders is understood to be rooted in concerns raised by Murdock about the amount of expenditure the grinds company would have to pay Kavanagh’s Olive companies in the future. Public filings show almost €4 million was paid by My Grinds 360 Ltd to Olive companies in its first two years of trading. The majority, some €3.55 million, was paid to Olive Media Solutions UK for software and a digital content library. Sources involved with the company said there were concerns that despite the success in attracting some 7,000 current subscribers, the company has struggled to pay its suppliers. “It’s a cash-rich business but we’ve been regularly embarrassed by suppliers who had to chase us to get paid,” said one company source.Grinds 360 reported accumulated losses of €1.19 million in the year up to the end of August 2025, but since published a statement that said its revenue grew from €1.85 million in 2025 to €5.3 million for the following year.On August 24th, Murdock emailed all 30-plus shareholders to call a meeting to discuss the company’s “exceptional performance” and how there was “a need for greater governance across the business from board controls, finances and performances”.The company’s board consisted of Murdock alongside Kavanagh and two Olive executives: Dara Coyne and Simon Cosgrove. At the August 28th meeting, investors were told that Richard O’Halloran had joined as a “independent director”. O’Halloran is better known as the aviation executive who was detained in China for three years over a row involving an aircraft leasing company that predated his joining the firm.Late August and September are the company’s busiest weeks for new business as students take out subscriptions for the academic year. Sources in the company said Murdock was concerned about how much of that revenue would be paid to Olive companies. He arranged to restrict payments from the company’s bank account while he reviewed the commercial arrangements with Olive companies.This prompted Kavanagh and the Grinds 360 board to take action against Murdock. Kieran Mills, a co-founding teacher and manager of the company, emailed shareholders on September 8th with an “urgent notification” to inform them that Murdock was suspended as CEO by the board that morning.“The teaching and administrative staff in the Grinds 360 office were visibly distressed on hearing this news,” he wrote. Mills called an “emergency update” meeting with shareholders on September 9th. Sources say Murdock disputed the legitimacy of his suspension.Murdock had engaged McCann Fitzgerald solicitors and on September 9th, the firm issued a motion on behalf of shareholders calling for an emergency general meeting (EGM) on September 17th to appoint five new directors to the Grinds 360 board.One proposed resolution was to note that shareholders had “serious concerns regarding the corporate governance of the company”. It also proposed appointing Shane McCarthy from KPMG to carry out an investigation to report on the company’s relationship with parties related to any current or former director and “whether such transactions were in the best interests of the company”. Murdock and the five people who signed forms consenting to become new directors received legal letters from Fitzwilliam Law on behalf of the company. They were threatened with High Court action. It was alleged that they did not have the requisite consent from the majority of shareholders for their resolution. On Friday, September 11th, O’Halloran issued a notice to say the Grinds 360 board would host an “emergency update” meeting with shareholders on Sunday, September 13th. This would address “recent governance and operational matters which, if not addressed promptly, have the potential to cause economic harm to the business”.[ Richard O’Halloran joins board of grinds company backed by rugby starsOpens in new window ]That weekend, however, there were reports in The Irish Times and The Sunday Times that highlighted governance and financial issues in a charity and a business run by Kavanagh.The emergency board briefing was postponed.ResolutionOn September 17th, the day of the proposed EGM, Murdock emailed shareholders to tell them that a “resolution” had been agreed. He had been “reinstated as CEO” and was keen to “resume normal working order”.On September 25th, Murdock emailed shareholders to inform them that Kavanagh, Coyne, Cosgrove and O’Halloran had all resigned as directors on September 23rd. It is understood that as part of a settlement of their dispute, Kavanagh has agreed to sell his stake in the company.Ronan Lynch, an accountant, and James McKnight, an investor in Grinds 360 and a partner at law firm Simmons & Simmons, joined an interim board with Murdock.Shareholders were told Grinds 360 was putting in an interim services agreement with Olive that would “provide continuity for a short transitional period” while the company built its in-house technical support team. The grinds company, which employs some 25 staff, is now understood to be seeking to move to a new headquarters in Stillorgan, south Dublin, away from the Sandyford building it shared with Olive companies. In a statement, Grinds 360 said: “The co-founders of Grinds360 are pleased to announce that after significant growth over the last three years, Brendan Kavanagh has decided to concentrate on his current and exciting new ventures with the Olive Group, and both Brendan and Ronan, recognising the contribution of each, wish each other every success in their ventures going forward.”