By Héloïse Chaudot 
Conor McGinn is the CEO and Co-Founder of ZeroOne, an MEP engineering firm dedicated entirely to the data centre industry. He began his career with Mercury Engineering in 2006 at Pfizer Grange Castle, and later spent three years in Canada, followed by a decade across Ethos Engineering, D&W, and EDC. He sold his first company in 2025 after 5 years in business.
What are your main priorities and goals in your role?
I want to build a company that is known for excellence, precision, and quality. The team must be far greater than the sum of its parts, which means having the right people in the right roles and hiring individuals with complementary skill sets.
What are your biggest challenges as CEO?
The biggest challenge is staying true to our business plan and overall strategy. At the same time, we’re growing a team, winning work, delivering projects to a high standard, and ensuring our clients are satisfied. Finance and accounting also require close attention. In a scale-up like ZeroOne, there are plenty of challenges, but I’m a natural problem solver, so I’m usually in my element.
How do you keep your team/staff motivated?
People need to feel appreciated and know that what they do matters. We give them real autonomy over their workload and expect them to own their tasks. When they do well, they’re recognised, and they’re never far from support, so they rarely fail. Everyone has an important role and a voice. This is so important because people will work twice as hard when they feel valued.
What are the challenges facing the industry going forward?
The data centre industry is expanding rapidly. These buildings are immensely complex and require precision engineering to design. As a result, demand for high-quality engineering firms is increasing, putting significant pressure on the entire delivery chain and, at times, leading to declining quality standards. Ultimately, the industry needs more talent and more engineering firms like ZeroOne to meet that demand without compromising on quality.
What new trends are emerging in your industry?
The major trend at the moment is the rapid growth of AI workloads. The pace of innovation required to support AI computing chips has required significant redesign in how we cool these buildings. We’ve effectively had 15 years of innovation in the last three. It’s an incredibly exciting time to be an engineer, and complacency is not an option.
Are there any major changes you would like to see in your sector?
There is a growing issue with declining quality standards in engineering design, largely driven by the scale and pace of growth in the industry. I would like to see some of the larger data centre developers broaden their engineering partner base. This would create greater competition and, ultimately, drive an improvement in quality standards.
As an employer, are you finding any skill gaps in the market?
We’re fortunate to be based in Ireland, which is a real hotspot for talent in this sector. Irish companies have been at the forefront of data centre construction for over 20 years, resulting in a strong depth of expertise. That said, we require highly specialised engineers to deliver our work, and in some cases, we do need to offshore to fill specific gaps.
How do you define success, and what drives you to succeed?
Success, for me, is winning work across Europe and delivering it from Ireland, creating jobs and growing the company in a sustainable, profitable way. I’m not particularly materialistic, but I am very competitive. My drive to succeed comes from a desire to prove to myself, and to others, that we can build something truly successful with ZeroOne.
What’s the best advice you’ve been given in business?
Know your value. I once gave a pitch where I said we were better and cheaper than our competition. My mentor’s response was, “That’s just foolish. You can’t be both better and cheaper. If you provide a better service, you should charge more for it.” In reality, it’s not always that simple, but the sentiment still rings true.
What advice would you give to others starting in business?
Surround yourself with good people who have the right skill sets to deliver your product.
Work relentlessly, work efficiently, and then work some more.
Always make time for your family and develop a good hobby.
Set and expect very high standards from those around you.
What have been your highlights in business over the past year?
We’ve had a great year, but the highlights for me have been selling our previous business in Q4 2025, bringing in Stephen Byrne as co-founder and co-owner of ZeroOne alongside myself and Donal Dunlop, and building the team we have today. We couldn’t ask for a more talented group.
What’s next for your company?
There’s a lot happening. We want to continue growing our capabilities and open satellite offices in strategic locations across Europe, potentially starting with Spain, Portugal, and the Nordics. We plan to hire 10 more people, and then 10 more after that. We’re also looking to onboard a couple more major clients and build out a second data centre team around our next key hire. Watch this space.
Where do you want your business/brand to be this time next year?
I genuinely love our brand and what it stands for, and I want more people to know about us. Over the next year, the goal is for ZeroOne to get the recognition it deserves as the leading niche data centre engineering firm in Europe.
What is the best book you’ve ever read (non-business) and why?
It’s hard to pick just one, but How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie stands out. It’s a great reminder that making people feel valued and offering genuine appreciation goes a long way when it comes to influencing others.
What is your favourite hobby and why?
I like to keep myself busy with golf, mountain biking, hiking, and the gym, but snowboarding is on another level for me. There’s nothing quite like dropping into a big mountain line after fresh snowfall, especially in a remote location. It’s a feeling that’s hard to match.
What is your mantra for life?
Make every day better than the day before, for me and for those around me.
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