Róisín Burke on Business

Niall Harbison’s maritime memories of a Microsoft mogul with a big heart

Paul Allen (left), who died last week, and Bill Gates founded Microsoft in 1975

The recent death of Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen brought back some fond memories for Ireland’s own tech disruptor Niall Harbison.

In a previous life Harbison, who started the more modestly successful but very popular Lovin Media Group, was Allen’s personal chef aboard his 400-foot floating palace, Octopus.

“I think it was more the way he led his life rather than words,” Harbison says of how Allen inspired him. “He’d have U2 playing on ...