We take ideas and build businesses around them

Who we are

BMD Publishing was founded in 2009 by Barry McDonagh, author and creator of the DARE method for overcoming anxiety. The company grew from a single idea — that anxiety could be overcome through a different kind of response — into a global digital platform reaching hundreds of thousands of people worldwide.

We are not a traditional software agency. We don't build products for clients on contract. We take ideas we believe in, build the technology around them, and operate the resulting businesses for the long term. Every product we own, we run.

What we do

We take a concept — a method, a gap in the market, a better way of doing something — and we build the digital infrastructure to make it real and scalable. That means apps, platforms, content systems, subscription models, analytics, and everything in between.

Our flagship product, DARE, began as a book and a proven anxiety-relief method. We built the technology to scale it: a mobile app with audio programmes, a daily coaching feature, a mood journal, push notifications, and a global subscription platform. Today DARE is used by people in dozens of countries, with the book published in five languages.

Spark followed the same model — identifying positive psychology as an underserved space in mobile wellness, then building a beautifully simple app to bring daily gratitude, mindfulness, and habit-building to anyone with a phone.

Eventstream, our subsidiary, was built on the insight that festival organisers needed a fast, affordable way to launch branded event apps without a development team. We built the platform, and Eventstream now empowers organisers to go from idea to live app in days.

How we work

We manage the full lifecycle of every product — from the original idea through design, development, App Store launch, growth, and ongoing operation. We don't hand things off. We own what we build, which means we have strong incentives to get it right, keep it running, and keep improving it over time.

Over 15 years, we have learned what separates a good idea from a successful business: relentless focus on the user, disciplined execution, and the ability to keep iterating long after launch.