Gareth Sheridan is, in one respect, the face of the impact of Donald Trump’s tariffs. The share price of Nutriband, the business he cofounded in 2012, has dropped by almost 10 per cent in the past month, affected by the US tariffs uncertainty.
For the year to date, it’s still up by 57 per cent and the pharma company has a market value of $80 million (€69 million) – it was valued at $100 million in January.
Nutriband has yet to generate any revenue and is awaiting US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval for its technology, which is designed to prevent abuse of patch medications.
Sheridan has talked about the technology in the second quarter of next year, if not before, subject to FDA approval.
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Sheridan wants to be the next president of Ireland, having announced his plans to seek the nomination through local councils. He needs the support of four local authorities to get on the ballot paper.
The 35-year-old, from Terenure, south Dublin, lacks the support from the Oireachtas of Mairéad McGuinness or Catherine Connolly, or the name recognition of Michael Flatley or Conor McGregor, both of whom have indicated interest in running for the office.
As an unaffiliated unknown, the road to Áras an Uachtaráin looks to be a long one for the entrepreneur. The challenge gets tougher when you consider that Seán Gallagher’s second-place finish in 2011, with 28.5 per cent of first preference votes, is the best performance by any candidate to go the council route in the election. Gallagher, as it happens, is executive chairman of Nutriband.
[ Pharma businessman Gareth Sheridan enters presidential race as Independents compete for nominations ]
The Technological University Dublin (TU Dublin) graduate’s lack of name recognition or party support means that even getting on the ballot is a daunting prospect.
It’s one that he has likely prepared for, says Dr Siobhán Killion, head of management at TU Dublin’s school of management, people, and organisations.
“Don’t underestimate this guy,” Killion says. “I mentioned his name to a few people on Sunday. They didn’t have a clue who he was. His biggest obstacle is to become known, but he’s no fool and he’ll rise to the challenge. There’ll be very few people in Ireland come November that won’t have heard of him.
“He’s such a busy guy, but it doesn’t surprise me. He seems to be the king of time management. He’s very much on top of his game.”
Sheridan did his undergraduate degree at TU Dublin while in the process of establishing Nutriband.
“It was at the expense of my grades,” he told The Irish Times in February. “My dad wears a patch for heart medication. I figured patch technology could be expanded. As I wrote my thesis, it felt more like a business plan,” he says.
Killion got to know him at TU Dublin.
“He knows how to juggle commitments. His ability to keep all the balls in the air successfully is something he’s got in spades,” she says.
“He was the guy that didn’t attend classes because he was working on his business idea. That’s okay because not everybody’s academic journey is the same. He did what he needed to do to get where he needed to be.”
Killion has stayed in contact with Sheridan since, inviting him back to speak to students in TU Dublin.
“Gareth, being an alum of TU Dublin, has freely given his time to encourage entrepreneurship among our students. Any time I’ve reached out to him, he’s come back without hesitation to help,” she says.
“He’s a great mentor to students. These are undergrads, your typical 20-year-olds, and he’s in there with them advising and encouraging them.”
In February, Sheridan said his goal was to “put manners” on the largest pharmaceutical companies in the US.
Nutriband has developed a system to change the way patches of painkillers such as fentanyl and other opiates work. The aim is to reduce abuse and prevent risk of accidental exposure.
“They’re competitors. We’re coming in aggressively and to put manners on an industry that has ignored a major issue for a long time. I am baffled that the industry has let prescription rates drop so much without attempting a fix,” he said at the time.
The route to getting the business off the ground and on to the Nasdaq stock exchange in New York involved Sheridan working in food delivery and other gig economy roles to keep the company functioning while awaiting approval to get listed.
The company is based in Orlando, Florida, and he has resided in Salt Lake City, Utah, his wife’s home city, but is in the process of moving back to Dublin.
Sheridan documented his journey in his autobiography, From No to Nasdaq, which came out earlier this year.
The bullish approach came as no surprise to Aonghus Shortt, cofounder of FoodMarble. Shortt’s company is working on gut health, having raised €8 million to date. He met Sheridan in 2022.
“He approached me via LinkedIn. He was listed on Nasdaq [in 2021] and for a company that size it was somewhat unprecedented among Irish start-ups. I’m sure one million people told him it was a horrible idea, but he made it work,” Shortt says.
“When we met up, he was encouraging me to consider listing. We didn’t, but I was impressed he did. He’s a very confident guy and an independent thinker. I found him quite impressive.”
Sheridan is stepping back from his role with Nutriband, where he owns 18 per cent of the business, during his presidential run. Were he to win, he would have to remain detached from the company. His co-founder, Serguei Melnik, is taking charge in his absence.
“He [Sheridan] seems nice and transparent, but what he did [with Nutriband] was audacious. It’s weathered some storms,” Shortt says.
“It’s another audacious move. It’s not a very big company or stock, so it’s not like all eyes in the US will be on what he does, but you can imagine some shareholders might be wondering why he’s doing this.”
Sheridan is one of 24 finalists chosen to compete for the title of EY Entrepreneur of the Year awards. He has been chosen along with seven others in the established category. The winner of that category would then vie with the two other category winners (emerging and international) for the overall title.
One of Nutriband’s shareholders is Jim Breen. The PulseLearning founder met Sheridan on an EY Entrepreneur of the Year CEO retreat to Japan earlier this year. Breen was a nominee in 2007.
“There were around 140 of us in Japan for a week. It was my first time meeting him. He’s got a special kind of mentality that mixes humility with confidence. He’s a learner, but he’s also experienced. The part that impressed me most was that he’s had knock-backs, but has resilience about him,” Breen says.
Having invested in the company based on that meeting in Japan, Breen acknowledges that it is less than optimal to have Sheridan stepping away from the business for a run at the Áras.
“It’s not ideal from an investor perspective. However, he’s got the thing well thought through. A Nasdaq-listed company has a team of people in place, it doesn’t depend on just one person,” Breen says.
“With some things in business and life, you just work them out.”
A spokesman for Sheridan told The Irish Times that he “holds dual citizenship” for the US and Ireland.
A statement said: “As regards holding or contesting for the office of president of Ireland there are clear precedents regarding Ireland-USA dual citizenship holders.
“In 1959, Éamon de Valera, a USA citizen (by birth), was nominated and elected president of Ireland.”
On Newstalk on Monday Sheridan denied he had renounced allegiance to Ireland as the oath on taking up US citizenship requires.
Queried by The Irish Times, his spokesman acknowledged that “as tens of thousands of Irish people before him faced with the choice of being undocumented or ‘legal’ in the US, Gareth Sheridan was ‘naturalised’, taking dual citizenship, he pledged allegiance to the USA. That to him meant allegiance while resident in the US, albeit involving renouncing his allegiance to any other ‘power’.
“However, he and all Irish people of dual citizenship with the USA continue to be Irish citizens. While residing in the US for seven years he retained and used his Irish passport. He and his family are now legal residents of Ireland.”
Perhaps there is an echo of de Valera’s “empty formula” taking the oath of allegiance on entering the Dáil in 1926. But otherwise, following in de Valera’s footsteps appears a long shot. He first needs to get himself on the ballot paper, which will be challenging in itself.
But Sheridan has never lacked ambition in business and he will seek to apply his skills as an entrepreneur to the political arena.
Additional reporting by Pat Leahy
