WEALTH April 11, 2026 0 Comments

How Glitch CEO Aisling Browne Turned Every Setback Into a Billion-Dollar Breakthrough—And What You Can Learn From It

Ever wondered what happens when a politics and international relations grad dives headfirst into the chaotic world of startups, only to emerge as a trailblazer in AI-driven digital advertising? Meet Aisling Browne, CEO and co-founder of Glitch, whose journey from the Red Cross headquarters in London to co-creating a platform that promises to revolutionize in-house marketing teams is anything but ordinary. Alongside her co-founder Kingsley Kelly, Aisling turned her “jack of all trades” startup experience—and a fair share of trial and error—into an AI-powered solution that automates agency-level ad management with a human touch. But beyond the tech and the hype, her story dives into the gritty realities of fundraising as a woman founder and the sheer determination it takes to scale a business in a male-dominated industry. If you’re curious how AI and intuition blend to create marketing magic or what it really takes to thrive in today’s startup ecosystem, this one’s for you. LEARN MORE

Aisling Browne, CEO and co-founder of Glitch, talks to Sarah Freeman about the genesis of the AI-driven platform that runs and optimises digital advertising campaigns

Aisling Browne began her career at the headquarters of the Red Cross in Moorgate, London. However, finding herself surrounded by finance in the Square Mile, the politics and international relations graduate decided to try her hand at it.

This was around the time that crowdfunding was gaining traction and so she took a job with an aggregation platform.

“I just thought it was really interesting. I was employee number three and we grew to 15. And then it went bust — classic startup,” Browne recalls.

She and her husband decided to move to his home country of Wales, where she began working with the Welsh government. “It was like Enterprise Ireland, in Wales.”

While there, Browne worked with a number of different companies including a fintech business that was providing underlying banking services for wealth managers and private banks. Then Covid hit and she returned to Ireland.

“I got a job with a very stable company, [the] most boring job I’ve ever had.”

Browne then left to join the consumer banking company Wayflyer and run their strategic partnerships.

The experience she gained there gave her the “kick” she needed. She joined the startup hub Dogpatch Labs where she met her future co-founder, Kingsley Kelly.

“I needed someone technical to work with as I knew [my future] would be in the tech space.”

That was two and a half years ago and Glitch, the company they created together, now employs a team of 14. Browne and her co-founder had successfully spotted a gap in the market.

“So it comes off the back [of] working in startups, being a jack of all trades, master of none, dipping my toe in marketing and wasting shedloads of money on paid ads because I didn’t really know what I was doing.”

Speaking generally about the industry and with her experience across a variety of roles, Browne’s feeling was that agencies promised the world and delivered something very different.

“We decided that the agency work can be automated. That’s what AI is really good at. It’s using data to make data-driven decisions.”

Glitch is a platform that allows in-house marketing teams who are scaling to run successful ad campaigns.

“It does the job that a rock star account manager in a tier-one agency would do for you.”

Browne says the human input into the platform is key.

“We’ve all kind of now figured out [that] AI isn’t going to take people’s jobs, it’s going to make people more efficient like Excel made accountants more efficient. But it still requires deep insights from experienced people to drive proper results.”

The companies Glitch works with are on a growth trajectory.

“They either acquire capital [or] they’ve bootstrapped and they’re doing really well, and they want to invest in scaling. The businesses that [Glitch] works for are internationally focused, global-based businesses, or businesses with a huge market. We don’t work with e-commerce brands because there’s lots of tooling out there to serve [them]. We work typically with businesses that are selling to other businesses, or businesses that are selling a service like accountancy or legal services to an individual.”

The 35-year-old Browne found the transition from employee to co-founder and CEO seamless.

“I genuinely feel really comfortable doing it. It’s not that daunting for me. I think working in startups [means] you’re always given autonomy to make decisions. That has helped me [to] step into this role a bit. My personality is Scorpio, so I am very determined, very clear and transparent.

“What I’ve learned from working closely with some really successful founders like Jack [Pierse] from Wayflyer is that you have to hire really well.”

The slog of seeking investment was eye-opening for Browne.

“I would have said, naively, that [being a woman] doesn’t really make a difference. I’d been brought up in a mixed-gender household. The majority of my family have their own businesses. My sister, like me, set up her own business when she had a baby.

“I had a baby 18 months ago [and] my mom was in work 10 days after having me. So I’ve always been surrounded by people like that. Gender has never come up. I’ve never felt like I was competing against men or anything. I’ve worked in very male-dominated businesses, [and I’ve] always had really supportive managers that were men.

“It wasn’t until I started raising money last year from funds where I saw it was super-clear that there is an issue [with] trying to get money as a woman founder.”

Glitch
Aisling Browne — Aisling Browne and Glitch co-founder Kingsley Kelly

Browne says a very low percentage of all venture capital funding goes to female-founded businesses. “I have a male co-founder and that increases our opportunity of getting more money. I was having conversations and getting turned away a lot.

“You do naturally get turned away by funds, that’s just the nature of it, but I started seeing people who weren’t getting turned away. And I started to watch my peers and it’s very, very difficult.”

Browne says that while the situation is “backwards”, there are more progressive funds, including female-founded examples and female investment groups.

“To be honest, I don’t like single-gender things typically, because why can’t I work alongside a man or have [them] as my peer group? But those kinds of funds are really important. When I make money in this, I will 100 per cent invest in women founders as well as male founders.”