The Startup Playbook Podcast

The Startup PlaybookConnecting you to the best entrepreneurs, investors and resources from around the world Twitter Facebook YouTube Instagram Ep170 – Pete Davis (Co-founder & CEO – 1FF) on building the future of football August 3, 2023 rohitbhargava Podcast My guest for Ep170 of The Startup Playbook Podcast, was the Co-founder & CEO of One […] The post Ep170 – Pete Davis (Co-founder & CEO – 1FF) on building the future of football appeared first on Startup Playbook.

The Startup PlaybookConnecting you to the best entrepreneurs, investors and resources from around the world Twitter Facebook YouTube Instagram Ep169 – Jax Vullinghs (Partner – AirTree) on valuations, IC and moats August 25, 2022 rohitbhargava Podcast My guest for Ep169 of The Startup Playbook Podcast was Jax Vullinghs, Partner at AirTree Ventures. Jax has had […] The post Ep169 – Jax Vullinghs (Partner – AirTree) on valuations, IC and moats appeared first on Startup Playbook.

My guest for Ep168 of The Startup Playbook Podcast was the Co-founder & Co-CEO of Shippit, Will On. Will and his co-founder Rob started Shippit in 2014. They raised $500K as their first funding round bringing in a number of strategic investors on board when it was just the two of them in the business. […] The post Ep168 – Will On (Co-founder & Co-CEO – Shippit) on fundraising, secondaries and the Co-CEO model appeared first on Startup Playbook.

My guest for Ep167 of The Startup Playbook Podcast was Justin Lipman, Partner at EVP. Justin started his career in Finance working inside organisations like Credit Suisse, EY and Investec before taking the plunge to join EVP in the very early days of the Venture Fund. The team spent the first year advising startups before […] The post Ep167 – Justin Lipman (Partner – EVP) on metrics, focus and valuations appeared first on Startup Playbook.

My guest for Ep166 of The Startup Playbook Podcast was Dan Krasnostein, Partner at Square Peg Capital. Dan began his career in management consulting before making the switch to joining Seek in strategy roles. After spending 4 formative years at Seek, Dan was ready for a change and despite in his own words not knowing […] The post Ep166 – Dan Krasnostein (Partner – Square Peg Capital) on teaching, culture and conviction appeared first on Startup Playbook.

My guest for Ep165 of The Startup Playbook Podcast was Glenn Rogers, the Co-founder & CEO of Float. Glenn and his Co-founder Lars started Float 11 years ago to solve some of the resource management issues they were seeing through their work at a New York based agency, Razorfish They tried to raise capital at […] The post Ep165 – Glenn Rogers (Co-founder & CEO – Float) on focus, constraints & scale appeared first on Startup Playbook.

My guest for Ep164 of The Startup Playbook Podcast, was Chris Hitchen the Co-founder & Managing Partner of Possible Ventures. Possible Ventures is an early stage venture capital fund that invests in frontier technology. Their approach in investing early, with a high cadence and investing globally has resulted in an incredible portfolio of over 100 […] The post Ep164 – Chris Hitchen (Managing Partner – Possible Ventures) on investing in the possible appeared first on Startup Playbook.

My guest for Ep163 of The Startup Playbook Podcast was Jaddan Comerford, the Founder & CEO of Unified Music Group and Partner at Side Stage Ventures. Jaddan started Boomtown Records as a 17 year old to help launch the record for his own band. Fast forward 20 years later and he is now the Founder […] The post Ep163 – Jaddan Comerford (CEO – Unified Music Group) on investing in creativity appeared first on Startup Playbook.

My guest for Ep162 of The Startup Playbook Podcast was Dan Peters, the Managing Director of Clearco Australia. Clearco is the world's largest Ecommerce investor. They provide revenue based financing options to Ecommerce businesses with their data driven approach to investment decisions providing capital to 8x as many female founders as traditional venture capital funds […] The post Ep162 – Dan Peters (Managing Director – Clearco) on partnerships, benchmarks and data driven capital appeared first on Startup Playbook.

My guest for Ep161 of The Startup Playbook Podcast was the Partner at TEN13 VC, Steve Baxter. Steve is best known for his role on TV as a “Shark” on Australia's Shark Tank, but prior to this he had a highly successful career as an entrepreneur. In this episode we cover his journey and lessons […] The post Ep161 – Steve Baxter (Partner – TEN13 VC) on capability, competitors & investing appeared first on Startup Playbook.

My guest for Ep160 of The Startup Playbook Podcast was the Co-founder & CEO of Kasada, Sam Crowther. Sam launched Kasada as a 19 year in 2015 to help protect businesses from bots. Fast forward 7 years and the company is now used by many Fortune 50 companies and has gone on to raise $39M […] The post Ep160 – Sam Crowther (Co-founder & CEO – Kasada) on sales, structure and the founder journey appeared first on Startup Playbook.

My guest for Episode 159 of The Startup Playbook Podcast was the Co-founder & General Partner of Blackbird Ventures, Niki Scevak. Blackbird Ventures is one of the leading Venture Capital funds in Australia and NZ, counting companies such as Canva, Culture Amp and Safety Culture as part of its portfolio. Niki and previous podcast guest, […] The post Ep159 – Niki Scevak (Co-founder & Partner – Blackbird VC) on raising ambition appeared first on Startup Playbook.

My guest for Ep158 of The Startup Playbook Podcast was the Co-founder & CEO of Bellroy, Andy Fallshaw. Andy, his brother (Matt) and sister-in-law (Lina) decided to get into business together and instead of launching 1 business, they ended up launching 9 businesses over the span of 2-3 years. One of those companies was Bellroy, which launched in 2010 with their first product, the slim sleeve wallet, which redesigned the wallet experience.  Fast forward to today and Bellroy is the world's leader in the carry category, having expanded out into multiple product ranges such as iPhone cases, AirPods cases and travel bags. Despite having built a large global brand and experienced incredible 600-700% YoY growth over the last 11 years, they only took on external capital for the first time, 2 years ago. In this episode we discussed a wide range of topics including: Andy's business philosophy on taking the stairs rather than the elevatorHow Bellroy applies agile development techniques when launching new productsWhy founders should think about building for resilienceThe deliberate and strategic evolution of Bellroy's product range from a "hidden" wallet brand to products across a range of categoriesHow to create the right environment and structure to get feedback& much more Timestamps  2.20 - An introduction to Andy and Bellroy 8.07 - Growing up in a family of entrepreneurs and building business a for-purpose business11.53 - Why Andy and his co-founders started nine businesses at once16.17 - How Bellroy determined the product was a good market fit20.22 - The process of developing a product and getting quality feedback24.18 - Seeking good feedback and the type of people you should be getting it from29.14 - Designing the perfect backpack and the keys to great product design 36.18 - Finding your Northstar 37.39 - How to decide on your next product line and why usually the natural progression is the best option42.17 - Why having more control and keeping operations in-house could be the best path to success when building a purpose-driven business45.50 - Deciding whether freelancers, an agency or in-house is the best fit for your team50.32 - The decision to raise capital and the non-financial benefits 55.08 - Seeking feedback, finding mentors and being able to take constructive criticism 1.00.29 - Ensuring the business values stay at the forefront of operations when running a purpose-driven business1.05.10 - How to get in contact with Andy  Links Mentioned  Andy's Links  Andy's LinkedInAndy's TwitterBellroy's Website Carryology's Website  People Mentioned  Lina CalabriaMatthew Fallshaw Jo FallshawFrank GaillardProfessor Norman McNallyDaniel Kahneman Jimmy GleesonDane O'ShanassyYvon Chouinard Companies Mentioned  RipcurlFallshaw Wheels & CastorsRadiopaediaB Corporation PatagoniaThe Glasgow School of ArtShopify Magento Previous Episodes Mentioned  Episode 155 - Ash Davies Episode 154 - Nick Franklin Special Thanks: Special thanks to Lina Calabria and Dane O'Shanassy for their help with research for this interview!  Feedback/connect/say hello: Rohit@startupplaybook.co@RohitBhargava7 (Twitter)/rohbhargava (LinkedIn)@rohit_bhargava (Instagram)My Youtube Channel Credits: Music: Joakim Karud – Dreams Other channels: Don't have iTunes? The podcast is also available on Spotify, Soundcloud & Stitcher Audio Player. Find all links to the podcast here. https://youtu.be/HnzhotWH4Co The post Ep158 – Andy Fallshaw (Co-founder & CEO – Bellroy) on taking the stairs vs the elevator appeared first on Startup Playbook.

I'm delighted to be welcoming back David Shein, the Co-founder and General Partner of Our Innovation Fund, as my guest for Episode 157 of The Startup Playbook Podcast. We last spoke on the podcast a year ago, where David shared his lessons and journey as the Founder of Com Tech, a business that over 14 years he grew to 1,400 staff before being acquired by Dimension Data for $1B. We also spoke about David's role as the Co-founder & General Partner at our Innovation Fund, an early stage VC fund that has just closed it's 3rd fund worth over $100M to invest in exciting Australian startups. David is coming back on the podcast to discuss his recently published a book titled; “The Dumbest Guy at the Table: How I founded Australia's first unicorn” to uncover many of the lessons he picked up from his time as a founder & investor. Not only is the book full of fantastic insights and lessons, the book is supporting a great cause as well with 100% of the proceeds from this book going to The Black Dog Institute to raise money for mental health research. In this episode we discussed a wide range of topics including: The importance of keeping A players and how to deal with bad hiresWhat David looks for in early stage investmentsLessons from having legendary sports starts such as Bob Dwyer and Ian Chappel on the Com Tech BoardWhy founders should keep it simple& much more Ps - as mentioned at the end of this episode, I will be doing a giveaway of a few copies of David's book. To enter, head over to the LinkedIn post here and share your favourite lesson from this or any previous episode of The Startup Playbook Podcast. Alternatively you can buy David's book here Timestamps  2.45 - Introduction to David and his new book6.07 - How David started his first company and how business has changed since then7.30 - Knowing when your business isn't working out and when to leave it 11.41 - Why someone isn't always an expert just because they know more about something than you14.14 - Managing people and the importance of letting people go when they aren't the right fit18.16 - Why you should hire for attitude and teach specific skills20.53 - What David looks for in founders and a founding team to invest in23.55 - Making intuitive investment decisions 27.40 - Building culture and why an Employee Share Option Plan (ESOP) isn't the answer to all company culture problems31.19 - Implementing company culture effectively 37.29 - Focusing on getting a core product right before doing too many different things40.47 - The similarities between sport and business culture46.02 - Defining the business focus and whether the systems or people are most important 50.36 - Why profits are made on the buying, not the selling53.24 - What David believes will always be true and relevant in startups 57.23 - Where to find David and how to get a copy of his new book  Links Mentioned  David's Links:  David's LinkedIn The Dumbest Guy at the Table Book Our Innovation Fund Website Our Innovation Fund LinkedIn  People Mentioned: Satya Nadella Bob IgerElon Musk Jeff BezosMark Zuckerberg Reed HastingsAnthony EisenNick MolnarMelanie Perkins Cliff ObrechtMike Cannon-BrookesScott FarquharLarry DiamondMatt Browne Jack WelchBob DwyerIan Chappell Emily PheifferBen CroweAsh BartyDylan AlcottGabby Leibovich Neil Perry  Companies Mentioned  Black Dog InstituteCiscoMicrosoftAfterpayCanvaZipNetflix  AWS XeroAmazon AtlassianBlack Nova VenturesGeneral Electric (GE)Richmond Football Club Deliveroo CatchSquare Rockpool Other Links Mentioned Netflix Show - The PlaybookNetflix Show - Bad SportApple TV Show - Ted LassoCatch Of The Decade Book Past Episodes Mentioned  Episode 133 - David SheinEpisode 156 - Matt BrowneEpisode 135 - Gabby Leibovich Feedback/connect/say hello: Rohit@startupplaybook.co@RohitBhargava7 (Twitter)/rohbhargava (LinkedIn)@ro...

My guest for Ep156 of The Startup Playbook Podcast was Matt Browne, the Co-founder & Managing Partner of Black Nova Ventures. Prior to becoming a VC, Matt was the Co-founder and CEO of DoneSafe, a cloud based safety platform that grew to over 1.5M paying users before being acquired by HSI in 2020. He also Co-founded Whispli, a Y-Combinator alumni SaaS startup that provides a whistleblowing platform for clients such as Qantas, Westpac and Oxfam. Now, alongside being one of the founding members of Upflowy, Matt is also the Co-founder and Managing Partner of Black Nova Ventures. A $20M early-stage VC fund built for B2B technology startups. Despite only recently announcing the launch their fund, they have already made 23 investments to date. In this interview we discussed a range of topics including: Matt's journey in launching, scaling and eventually exiting DoneSafeDealing with co-founder breakupsHow to build investor conviction for pre-revenue or pre-product startupsThe rise of the Founder VCs & much more! Timestamps 2.24 - Matts career journey from starting a business as a teenager to starting Black Nova Ventures 5.22 - Matt's early interest in business and how side hustles can fuel a future passion for startups 7.59 - The decision to go full time at Donesafe 10.27 - Matt's Financial advice for businesses and the way raising has changed since he first started 12.55 - What Black Nova looks for in founding teams and how they support founders to be more secure financially14.58 - Finding the right co-founder and managing when a co-founder leaves the business20.02 - Managing the process when a partner leaves and the importance of having empathy in the situation22.42 - The process of getting acquired and how the first acquisition of Donesafe fell through in the final hour 27.22 - How a company changes post-acquisition and how to decide whether you will stay or leave 28.51 - Working with good people and Matt's decision to work with his co-founder Darcy32.05 - Black Nova's structure and how they manage their funds34.23 - Why Black Nova focuses on supporting founders and businesses they invest in rather than just funding them36.57 - Why Matt likes to be hands-on when supporting the businesses they have invested in39.20 - What Black Nova looks to invest in and why they like to be very early investors40.57 - What Matt looks for in founders when making investment decisions42.55 - The importance of focusing on what you're good at and trusting others with what they're good at 45.38 - How starting your first business can be very humbling 48.05 - Thriving in the US and global market compared to Australia 50.01 - How to get in contact with Matt  Links Mentioned  Matt's Links  Matt's LinkedIn Matt's Twitter Black Nova VC WebsiteBlack Nova LinkedInBlack Nova Twitter Companies Mentioned  Donesafe WhispliLeighton ContractorsWaud CapitalY CombinatorCommonwealth BankAdventure Capital Venture ManagementAntlerFounder InstituteUpflowyHSITablo People Mentioned  Darcy Naunton Matt AllenMatt KneeAsh Davies Past Episodes Mentioned  Episode 40 - Darcy Naunton Episode 28 - Matt AllenEpisode 137 - Matt Allen Episode 155 - Ash Davies Special Thanks: Special thanks to Darcy Naunton and Matt Allen for their help with research for this interview! ? Feedback/connect/say hello: Rohit@startupplaybook.co@RohitBhargava7 (Twitter)/rohbhargava (LinkedIn)@rohit_bhargava (Instagram)My Youtube Channel Credits: Music: Joakim Karud – Dreams Other channels: Don't have iTunes? The podcast is also available on Spotify, Soundcloud & Stitcher Audio Player. Find all links to the podcast here. https://youtu.be/RH3qpLhD-hs The post Ep156 ...

My guest for Ep155 of The Startup Playbook Podcast was the Founder & CEO of Tablo, Ash Davies. Tablo is one of the world's leading book publishing platforms which allows over 100,000 authors to publish and distribute printed books at the touch of a button. But it hasn't all been smooth sailing! In this interview, Ash Shares for the first time how a failed acquisition offer from Apple, led to a pivot and evolution into building the business that Tablo is today. Outside of Tablo, Ash also runs two highly successful side hustles, name Nonsense Inc, which creates parody car air freshners such as Elon's Musk and last year he launched Melbourne Mask Company, which has become Australia's largest distributor of reusable face masks. In this interview we also discussed: How he's taken a data-driven approach that has allowed him to grow the business 40-50% YoY despite only raising $400K in funding 7 years ago.How 2 successful side-hustles have helped him to focus and create a better business at TabloHow Ash approaches execution of new ideasEarly mistakes Ash made when trying to grow TabloThe importance of self awareness as a founderHow a failed acquisition by Apple led to a pivot and evolution into creating the business that Tablo is today& much more! Timestamps  2.34 - Introduction to Ash and Tablo 3.25 - How Ash's passion for business came from building go-karts6.41 - Ash's experience at University and deciding to pave out a unique career path9.05 - Starting Tablo after seeing first-hand the struggles of self-publishing and ebook publishing 12.31 - How Ash first built a version of Tablo with very little technical experience 15.23 - Why it's important to launch a product rather than spending too much time perfecting it17.01 - The value of using free trial offers to validate an idea and connect with customers18.31 - The benefits of participating in an accelerator program 20.24 - The importance of building a solid business rather than focusing on just raising capital23.26 - Partnering with Apple and pivoting after the project fell through28.28 - Deciding what is important to focus on and what isn't worth continuing with 29.49 - Why Ash suggests launching customer-facing features first so you can find pain points in the backend initially 32.43 - Keeping calm and making smart decisions in times of stress 35.44 - Why it's important to have a deep love for the product and be able to turn 'failures' into opportunities 39.46 - Why Ash prefers working on multiple projects and businesses at the same time47.01 - How Ash started a reusable mask business at the start of the pandemic 48.34 - How past projects falling through allowed for a successful move into print publishing 52.25 - Spending over a year working on print publishing without knowing whether it was the right move for the company 54.16 - Focusing on customers and building a great product over PR and marketing in the early days 57.39 - Building customer relationships as an early-stage founder 1.00.29 - How to get in contact with Ash  Links Mentioned  Ash's Links Ash's TwitterAsh's LinkedInAsh's Instagram Ash's YouTubeTablo's WebsiteTablo's Twitter Tablo's LinkedIn  People Mentioned  Adrian StoneAlex EckermannRudyard Kipling (Poet of If--) Companies Mentioned  Top Gear SquarespaceWordPressAppleAmazon WooformAngelCubeElon's MuskMelbourne Mask Company Past Episodes Mentioned Episode 23 - Adrian Stone Special Thanks: Special thanks to Amy Lee and Alex Eckermann for their help with research for this interview! ? Feedback/connect/say hello: Rohit@startupplaybook.co@RohitBhargava7 (Twitter)/rohbhargava (LinkedIn)@rohit_bhargava (Instagram)My Youtube Channel Credits: Music: Joakim Karud – Dreams Other channels: Don't have iTunes? The podcast is also available on Spotify, Soundcloud & Stitcher Audio Player.

My guest for Ep154 of The Startup Playbook Podcast was the Founder and CEO of ChartMogul, Nick Franklin. ChartMogul is the leading subscription analytics platform for SaaS companies and Nick has had a unique approach to building the company. He launched ChartMogul in 2014 as a solo founder, has grown a globally distributed team of 57 across 3 head quarters in Toronto, Berlin and Seoul and despite having spent over $20M in building their platform and company, he has not raised external funding over the last 4 years. We covered a range of topics in this interview including: A deep dive into Key SaaS metrics for startupsWhy Nick has decided to “fundstrap" the businessWhy he operates as both the CEO and Head of ProductChartMogul's approach to pricing strategy and why they introduced a free tier& much more! Timestamps 2.45 - Nick's background and starting ChartMogul3.53 - How the idea for tChartMogul came from his time working at Zendesk7.32 - Pursuing a business idea when you're working for another company and managing competitors launching before you do11.07 - How competitors enhanced Nick's conviction for their product 13.54 - Differentiating your business from competitors through finding your strengths and staying focussed on them17.10 - Deciding what to focus on and why defining the target audience is so important20.35 - Trying and failing with new product lines 27.10 - The importance of focusing on existing customers to reduce the churn rate 30.11 - The key metrics startups should be focusing on to track success34.23 - The choice to raise early then moving focus to customer revenue as a source for growth 41.06 - Why ChartMogul have taken their approach to raising and their future plans43.35 - The pricing strategy used by ChartMogul and why it was the best approach 47.18 - How to decide on the pricing strategy that is best for your business and making sure existing customers are comfortable when making pricing changes52.32 - Choosing where to open offices around the world and how ChartMogul approached it 57.51 - How Covid-19 impacted how ChartMogul worked remotely 1.02.35 - How Nick manages being the Head of Product and CEO 1.05.12 - Getting in contact with Nick and ChartMogul Links Mentioned  Nick's Links  Nick's Twitter Nick's LinkedIn ChartMogul Website ChartMogul Twitter People Mentioned  Patrick Llewellyn Companies Mentioned   Zendesk Pipedrive99designs LinktreeWho Gives A CrapStripe ChargebeeRecurlyPayPalApple AppStore ConnectGoogle Play Past Episodes Mentioned  Episode 85 - Patrick Llewellyn Connect with VCs and Angel Investors: If you are planning on fundraising in the next 3-6 months and want to connect to VCs and Angel investors, apply to get featured in my monthly newsletter, Playbook Deal Flow. More details here. Feedback/connect/say hello: Rohit@startupplaybook.co@RohitBhargava7 (Twitter)/rohbhargava (LinkedIn)@rohit_bhargava (Instagram)My Youtube Channel Credits: Music: Joakim Karud – Dreams Other channels: Don't have iTunes? The podcast is also available on Spotify, Soundcloud & Stitcher Audio Player. Find all links to the podcast here. https://youtu.be/-xbpXqyShKA The post Ep154 – Nick Franklin (Founder & CEO – ChartMogul) on pricing, metrics and fundstrapping appeared first on Startup Playbook.

This week, The Startup Playbook Podcast hit the special 5 year milestone of the podcast. To celebrate we turned the mic on Rohit and got him to answer some questions for this special episode. In this Episode, Rohit answered some of the FAQs and audience submitted questions on the lessons, process and journey of the podcast over the last 5 years. In this episode we covered topics such as: The end-to-end podcast process Rohit follows for each episodeKey lessons learnt from 150+ episodesThe most fulfilling (and embarrassing) moments of the showHow he lands guests like Malcolm Turnbull, Cal Henderson (Co-founder of Slack), DHH and many others& much more! Also a big thank you to all of our previous podcast guests and listeners of the show for your continued support over the last 5 years! Timestamps 1.27 - What Rohit was doing pre-podcast and how he first got interested in startups2.52 - How Rohit decided to start the podcast after listening to only a few podcast episodes5.20 - Rohit's commitment to the show being at least a 10 year project7.36 - What has changed and stayed the same since the podcast launched11.16 - Why Rohit speaks to people close to the guest in preparation for each interview13.39 - Rohits' favourite part of the podcast process15.02 - How Rohit finds and secures such high caliber guests17.25 - The number one guest that Rohit would love to have on the show19.25 - The longest lengths he had to go to in order to get a guest on the show21.05 - Fantasy Football - Startup Edition23.01 - The podcasts place in the startup ecosystem24.16 - Rohit's biggest takeaways and insights from guests on the show28.06 - How Rohit kept going especially during tough times32.31 - The best feedback he's received from listeners of the show 34.23 - Rohit's most embarrassing moment on the show36.58 - Rohit's most fulfilling moment on show 39.42 - The moment Rohit realised the power of the show 41.40 - The pre-process ritual Rohit uses to prepare for the show44.41 - What Rohit does for fun outside the podcast45.53 - Rohit's biggest takeaway about investing47.18 - Rohit's biggest takeaway about founding a startup48.58 - What is the future of The Startup Playbook Podcast51.28 - A thank you to the listeners for the last five years  Links mentioned Rohit's Links Rohit's TwitterRohit's LinkedIn  Tyla's Links  The Unlock Earth Podcast People Mentioned: Gary VaynerchukTim FerrisMalcolm TurnbullAdam MilgromRachael NeumannAlister ColemanWill Richardson Paul NaphtaliJames Chin MoodyStewart ButterfieldCal HendersonKate MorrisJustin DryGabby Leibovich Companies Mentioned Flying Fox VenturesAmazon Web Services (AWS)SendleSlack Flickr Previous Episodes Mentioned Episode 114 - Malcolm TurnbullEpisode 125 - Adam MilgromEpisode 57 - Rachael NeumannEpisode 130 - Rachael NeumannEpisode 152 - Alister ColemanEpisode 73 - Will RichardsonEpisode 5 - Paul NaphtaliEpisode 129 - James Chin MoodyEpisode 118 - Cal HendersonEpisode 64 - Kate MorrisEpisode 3 - Justin DryEpisode 135 - Gabby Leibovich Feedback/connect/say hello: Rohit@startupplaybook.co@RohitBhargava7 (Twitter)/rohbhargava (LinkedIn)@rohit_bhargava (Instagram)My Youtube Channel Credits: Music: Joakim Karud – Dreams Other channels: Don't have iTunes? The podcast is also available on Spotify, Soundcloud & Stitcher Audio Player. Find all links to the podcast here. https://youtu.be/DWUfoviWZg0 The post Ep153 – Rohit Bhargava AMA on 5 years of the Startup Playbook Podcast appeared first on Startup Playbook.

My guest for Ep152 of The Startup Playbook Podcast was the Co-founder & Managing Partner at Folklore Ventures, Alister Coleman. Alister started his career in portfolio management and banking for family offices before going on to become the Co-founder of ShippingEasy in 2011. 5 years later, ShippingEasy was acquired by stamps.com for $80M. He is now the Co-founder & Managing Partner of Folklore Ventures, which is a $55M pre-seed and seed stage VC fund. In this interview we discussed: Lessons from Al's journey with ShippingEasy including why selling too early is not a great outcome for founders & investorsFolklore's unique investment approach which has led to a portfolio with next to no overlap with other VC funds in AustraliaA look into Folklore's thorough due diligence processAlister and Folklore's vision and approach in building a multi generation fund& much more Timestamp  1.59 - Alisters' background and startup experience2.59 - Lessons learned from working with Shipping Easy 5.27 - The significance of Shipping Easy in the early days of ecommerce8.59 - Balancing the investor and founder visions 11.26 - Hiring the best team to work with you 13.58 - Acquisition and knowing when it's the right time to sell20.55 - Managing stressful times and getting support from your team23.55 - Hiring for intellect and skills that can't be taught 28.04 - The importance of investing in companies that have a positive impact on the world 34.04 - Folklores' approach to investment and why the safe option isn't always actually safe38.37 - Supporting startups who are doing the ‘impossible' 41.40 - Innovation in the drone industry and how it can be used for the distribution of vaccinations43.42 - Building a mentor-mentee relationship with founders and why that support is so valuable 48.08 - The future of the Australian startup and investment ecosystem 51.57 - How to get in contact with Allister and Folklore  Links Mentioned Alister's Links: Alister's LinkedInAlister's TwitterFolklore VC WebsiteContact Folklore VC People Mentioned Mark HelvadjianHannah Field (Folklore)Brett CairnsEric Peck Companies Mentioned  Folklore VCTempus PartnersHealthMatch Shipping EasyMagellanAurorSwoop Aero Special Thanks: Special thanks to Hannah Field and Eric Peck for their help with research for this interview!  Feedback/connect/say hello: Rohit@startupplaybook.co@RohitBhargava7 (Twitter)/rohbhargava (LinkedIn)@rohit_bhargava (Instagram)My Youtube Channel Credits: Music: Joakim Karud – Dreams Other channels: Don't have iTunes? The podcast is also available on Spotify, Soundcloud & Stitcher Audio Player. Find all links to the podcast here. https://youtu.be/9UzBaVXQRSE The post Ep152 – Alister Coleman (Co-founder & Managing Partner – Folklore VC) on due diligence, focus and multigenerational funds appeared first on Startup Playbook.

My guest for Ep151 of The Startup Playbook Podcast was the Co-founder & Partner of Flying Fox Ventures, Kylie Frazer. Kylie started her career as a lawyer before leaving her legal career to first start an innovation lab for professional services and then a health tech business called Scancheck. After exiting out of Scancheck, Kylie then transitioned over to the other side of the table as an angel investor through her angel syndicate, Eleanor Ventures. She has now teamed up with Rachael Neumann to become the Co-founder and Partner at Flying Fox Ventures. Unlike traditional VC funds, Flying Fox has a unique cohort based model, where they will have a rolling $5M fund that will invest in 10 companies per fund.  Once the capital is deployed, new and existing angel investors are able to buy into the next $5 million fund for the next 10 companies that Flying Fox Ventures will invest in. In this interview we discussed: The difference between the angel investor and VC mindsetThe terms on term sheets that you should pay attention to (and what not to spend time on)The importance of founder runwayThe benefits behind Flying Fox Ventures unique rolling fund model& much more! Timestamps  2.25 - Introduction to Kylie and her background 3.03 - The positive outcome from her first business failing 5.14 - How Kylie met her business partner in business school which lead to her next business ScanCheck6.39 - Why it's important to learn about being an investor as a founder to better understand what investors are looking for9.40 - Kylie's learnings as an investor and how they have evolved over time11.19 - What angel investors are looking for in startups to invest in17.38 - How Kylie supports the businesses and investors in her syndicates21.27 -  An investors role in coaching founders and why it is constantly changing 25.18 -  Why raising isn't always about getting as much capital as possible, but the right amount for what is needed28.09 - The importance of being comfortable investing smaller amounts or through a syndicate 30.25 - The right number of  investors and when to clean up your cap table 32.05 - What Kylies focus is on and what she avoids when investing based on her legal background35.27 - Kylie's relationship with her co-founder Rachael and why it was important to make sure they were a good match early 37.35 - The safety, support and learning benefits of investing with Flying Fox VC39.41 - What Kylie and Flying Fox VC is looking for in founders and businesses to invest in41.02 - How having an obsession and understanding of customers, can trump reputation or experience in an industry42.18 - The importance of a founders 'personal runway' 44.05 - What to expect when applying for Flying Fox VC44.55 - How long the process takes from application to investment with Flying Fox VC46.03 - Building a relationship with investors and why you have to be careful on how you present yourself and your company to investors48.39 - Making an effective pitch deck 49.38 - How to connect with Kylie and Flying Fox VC Links Mentioned  Kylies' Links: Kylies' LinkedInKylies' TwitterFlying Fox Twitter Flying Fox Website Flying Fox Application Form People Mentioned: Jill BerryBen WilliamsonRachael Neumann Companies Mentioned:   Flying Fox Ventures Eleanor VentureAdatree Fresh EquitiesBlackbirdInvestibleRampersandFolkloreAirtreeWorking Theory AngelsStartmate  Past Episodes Mentioned Episode 57 - Rachael Neumann Episode 130 - Rachael Neumann Special Thanks: Special thanks to Ben Williamson and Rachael Neumann for their help with research for this interview! ? Feedback/connect/say hello: Rohit@startupplaybook.co@RohitBhargava7 (Twitter)/rohbhargava (LinkedIn)@rohit_bhargava (Instagram)My Youtube Channel Credits: Music: Joakim Karud – Dreams Other channels: Don't have iTunes?

My guest for Ep150 of The Startup Playbook Podcast was the Co-founder & Partner at Blackbird Ventures, Rick Baker. Blackbird is one of, if not the leading Venture Capital Fund in Australia. Since launching in 2012, Blackbird has raised 4 funds for a combined committed capital of $1.24B with an astonishing net internal rate of return of 46.7% for every dollar invested as of June 30, 2020. Their portfolio includes some of Australia's most iconic companies  such as Culture Amp, Safety Culture and Canva where they own 14% ownership stake, which is by far the largest of any external investor. The overall success of their first fund led them to selling 40% of their fund 1 for $100M, providing a 3x return to all of their LPs. In this interview we discussed: The story behind Blackbird's first fundWhy Blackbird has a unique rule in backing in only backing founders who are not looking for exitsHow Blackbird's internal culture and curiosity led to investments in the future of food, space and autonomous vehiclesThe thinking behind Blackbird's decision to sell 40% of their first fund for $100MWhen and how to reach out to Blackbird for investment& much more! Timestamps 3.03 - Intro to Rick Baker and his background  6.07 - How Rick got connected to his co-founder Niki and they started Blackbird 8.16 - Starting Blackbird during a time when VC was dying in Australia 11.10 - Early days of Blackbird and not paying themselves for the first 18 months 11.53 - What Blackbird looks for in founders and experience working with Baraja 16.00 - Blackbirds goal to be more than just a financial fund by offering connections and other support 17.58 - Blackbirds no exits rule and why they have it21.53 - Shift in founders ambition in Australia since the growth of the startup industry23.12 - Why Blackbird is selling off part of their Fund 126.53 - How Blackbird helps founders to stay motivated, engaged and involved in the business 29.27 - Supporting founders through difficult times 32.50 - The importance of giving constructive feedback35.14 - Building the Blackbird team and the importance of having a solid team for the growth and success of the company 39.24 - Choosing what to invest in and how those decisions have changed from the beginning of Blackbird 41.30 - Maintaining company culture as a team grows 43.50 - Defining the culture at Blackbird45.23 - Looking for opportunities and Blackbirds' choice to invest in new industries and technologies 49.12 - When is the right time to pitch Blackbird and why it's never too early 51.53 - The importance of social proof and the ability to bring people on your journey as a founder 53.49 - Getting investment from Blackbird or joining the Startmate Accelerator56.22 - What Blackbird are looking for in new and future investments 59.45 - Where Blackbird is going next 1.02.04 - How to get in contact with Rick and Blackbird Links Mentioned  Ricks Links  Ricks' LinkedInRicks' Twitter Blackbird Website Sunrise21 (Blackbird Event)Blackbird EventsBlackbird Contact Form People Mentioned  Niki ScevakFederico Collarte Cibby PulikkaserilCraig BarrattSam Wong Nick Crocker Companies Mentioned MLCAtlassianCampaign MonitorAconexRedbubbleHalf Brick StudiosAustralian Investment Council (AIC)ZooxBarajaCanva Safety CultureCulture AmpStartmate Past Episodes Mentioned  Episode 146 - Federico Collarte Episode 109 - Nick Crocker Special Thanks: Special thanks to Niki Scevak, Federico Collarte and Cibby Pulikkaseril for their help with research for this interview!  Feedback/connect/say hello: Rohit@startupplaybook.co@RohitBhargava7 (Twitter)/rohbhargava (LinkedIn)@rohit_bhargava (Instagram)My Youtube Channel Credits: Music: Joakim Karud – Dreams Other channels: Don't have iTunes? The podcast is also available on Spotify, Soundcloud & Stitcher Audio Player.

My guest for Ep149 of The Startup Playbook Podcast was Phil Morle, Partner of Main Sequence Ventures Phil started his career as a Theatre Director, before taking those skills into tech initially as CTO of file-sharing company, Kazaa before going on to Co-found the first tech incubator in Asia-Pacific, Pollenizer. He is now a Partner at CSIRO's venture capital fund, Main Sequence Ventures, which has $490M in funds under management to invest in emerging Australian deep-tech and science based startups to solve the world's biggest problems. In this interview we discussed: Why 50-50 equity splits between co-founders are a bad signal to investorsTaking leaps and having a high velocity of learningThe art of FlearningThe important balance between “soft skills” and Venture science& much more! Timestamps  2.26 - How Phil got started in theatre and transitioned into building startups10.19 - Common mistakes and traits Phil has seen in business since working with startups 19.54 - The importance of taking leaps and the success of Spreets28.25 - Decision to close Pollenizer after two final chances and the importance of closing when it's the right time38.00 - The importance of reputation and being willing to put your reputation on the line44.51 - The power of giving employees equity for motivation and commitment 49.14 - Bringing together the CSIRO and Hungry Jacks to create v2food56.48 - The important lessons for startups working with large companies 1.03.34 - Collaborative work with businesses and coming together to share experiences1.09.11 - Identifying opportunities and the balance between soft and hard skills in founders 1.13.55 - Main Sequence Ventures new fund and what projects they are working on1.18.24 - Where to find Phil and Main Sequence Ventures  Links Mentioned  Phil's Links:  Phil's LinkedInPhil's TwitterMain Sequence Ventures Companies Mentioned Main Sequence VenturesPollenizerSpreetsHungry JacksCSIROY Combinator People Mentioned  Mick LiubinskasDean McEvoyDavid BurtJack CowinNick HazellPaul Graham Special Thanks: Special thanks to Nick Hazell and Mick Liubinskas for their help with research for this interview! ? Feedback/connect/say hello: Rohit@startupplaybook.co@RohitBhargava7 (Twitter)/rohbhargava (LinkedIn)@rohit_bhargava (Instagram)My Youtube Channel Credits: Music: Joakim Karud – Dreams Other channels: Don't have iTunes? The podcast is also available on Spotify, Soundcloud & Stitcher Audio Player. Find all links to the podcast here. https://youtu.be/ExmReWFj-6E The post Ep149 – Phil Morle (Partner – Main Sequence Ventures) on leaps, equity and the art of flearning appeared first on Startup Playbook.

My guest for Ep148 of The Startup Playbook Podcast was the Co-founder & CEO of Qsic, Matt Elsley. Qsic leverages smart devices and other inputs such as music to drive changes in real-time consumer behaviour such as increasing their spend in retail stores. They have had a fascinating journey since launching in 2012, initially bootstrapping for the first few years before going on to raise an angel round from some of their early customers. They are now used in over 2,500 retail stores including 7-eleven and McDonalds in the US and this week announced their Series A funding round of $4M led by Carthona Capital.  In this interview we discussed: Their decision to shut down their first business to go all in on QsicThe journey from bootstrapped to VC funded companyHow to sell to large enterprises like McDonalds and 7-Eleven in the USHow COVID helped Matt and his team reassess and refocus the businessHow to get the most out of your advisors and investors& much more! Timestamps  2.20 - Introduction to Matt and the story behind finding Qsic 7.00 - Decision to shut down his previous business and focus on Qsic 9.16 - How the introduction of streaming platforms helped to inform the market and with finding customers11.30 - Importance of having support and investment from customers especially in the early days14.55 - Pre-investment bootstrapping, borrowing from friends and family, maxing out cards 16. 14 - Building a startup with young families to support 19.06 - Sharing the conviction for the idea and bringing the team on the journey22.34 - What they hired for in the early stages of the business and why their fist hire was a CTO23.42 -  Attracting the best people in the early stages 26.06 - The story behind the haunted office space they previously worked in 28.53 - The importance of co-founders and how Matt met his co-founder, Nick, in school29.58 - Getting  key customers such as 7/11 and McDonalds US early on in the journey32.40 - Acquiring enterprise customers and the importance of doing both talking and listening in pitch meetings34.58 - Finding the industries your product is ideal for a pitch to the largest players within the industry 38.13 - Listening to the customers to first understand their focus, their why and their needs 39.30 - How COVID-19 provided the team time to reassess and refocus the business43.50 - Attracting the right people as advisors and connecting with people47.34 - Making the most out of advisors/board members 49.00 - Raising $4M Series A during COVID-19 41.49 - Trusting your instincts when choosing between investors 54.12 - What's next for Qsic 55.28 - Where to find Matt and Qsic  Links Mentioned Matt's Links  Matts' LinkedIn Qsic Website Qsic LinkedIn People Mentioned  Nick Larkins - Matts' Co-founderMatt Allen - Qsic ChairmanDean Dorrell - Carthona Capital James Synge - Carthona Capital Andy Mullins - Sand Hill Road Group Companies Mentioned Carthona Capital Special Thanks: Special thanks to Matt Allen and Andy Mullins for their help with this interview! ? Feedback/connect/say hello: Rohit@startupplaybook.co@RohitBhargava7 (Twitter)/rohbhargava (LinkedIn)@rohit_bhargava (Instagram)My Youtube Channel Credits: Music: Joakim Karud – Dreams Other channels: Don't have iTunes? The podcast is also available on Spotify, Soundcloud & Stitcher Audio Player. Find all links to the podcast here. https://youtu.be/wtS-XOh2Um4 The post Ep148 – Matt Elsley (Co-founder & CEO – Qsic) on teams, fundraising and enterprise sales appeared first on Startup Playbook.

My guest for Ep147 of The Startup Playbook Podcast was the General Partner of Tidal Ventures, Wendell Keuneman. Prior to Tidal, Wendell had over 20 years of deep operational experience including seeing 3 companies grow and scale from startups to successful exits. He was the Co-founder & CTO of Carbon Twelve (acquired by Broadsoft), CTO of Inference (acquired by Five9s) and as the Head of Product of Atlassian's Confluence product, with the company IPOing in 2015 and with a current market cap of $59B. He is now the General Partner at Tidal Ventures, a $30M seed stage investor into product-led companies and founders. In this interview we discussed: Lessons from taking 3 companies from startups to successful exitsHow to develop product principles for your startupModels for effective product managementHow to find value adding investors& much more! Timestamps  2.04 - Introduction to Wendell and his background 3.17 - Basketball principles that Wendell has used to inform in his startup journey5.29 - How Wendell started coding as a hobby and the journey he took to pursuing it further  7.21 - How Wendell navigated starting a business with family pressure and support10.28 - Wendells' journey starting Carbon12 12.34 - Starting a second company following first company success 15.51 - How Wendell started working for Atlassian after seeing a sign in their office window and interviewing on the spot 18.53 - Early days of Atlassian and their focus on product 20.11 - The similarities between successful products across all Wendells' past ventures 21.59 - Importance of establishing product principles 24.17 - How early stage founders should begin defining their product principles 27.53 - Revisiting product principles as a company grows and changes29.46 - Getting buy in from team members on new or changing product principles 32.28 -  Frameworks founders can implement to support growth in their business35.50 - The three questions Wendell asked himself to make the move from Atlassian41.04 - Ensuring values are applied in an additive way rather than being weaponised 42.58 - What support should founders expect from their VC's 46.02 - The theme's Tidal prioritises when reviewing startup opportunities47.47 - How founders can determine the best VC to work with when presented with different options 52.13 - Wendell's superpower to be able to sort through content to find the most important information for his portfolio partners55.16 -  Delivering information and advice in a way that is most appropriate to the founder 56.35 - Where you can find Wendell and get involved with Tidal Ventures Links Mentioned  Wendells' Links: Wendells' Twitter Wendells' Linked In Wendells' Blog Tidal Ventures Website Tidal Ventures Linked In Tidal Ventures TwitterTidal Ventures Contact Email People Mentioned: Mike Cannon-Brookes (Atlassian)Scott Farquhar (Atlassian)Craig Cowdrey (Sonder)Andrea Kowalski (Tidal Ventures)Matt Barnett (Bonjoro) Companies Mentioned: AtlassianInference SolutionsCiscoBroadsoft Carbon 12 (acquired)Jira (Atlassian Product)Confluence (Atlassian Product)Trello (Atlassian Product)Five9 Special Thanks: Special thanks to Matt Barnett and Craig Cowdrey for their help with research for this interview ? Feedback/connect/say hello: Rohit@startupplaybook.co@RohitBhargava7 (Twitter)/rohbhargava (LinkedIn)@rohit_bhargava (Instagram)My Youtube Channel Credits: Music: Joakim Karud – Dreams Other channels: Don't have iTunes? The podcast is also available on Spotify, Soundcloud & Stitcher Audio Player. https://youtu.be/3nj777kHdhQ The post Ep147 – Wendell Keuneman (General Partner – Tidal Ventures) on building your product principles appeared first...

My guest for Ep146 of The Startup Playbook Podcast was the Co-founder & CEO of Barja, Federico Collarte. Baraja are the creators of the Spectrum Scan LiDAR technology, which simply put,  enables autonomous vehicles to “see” the road via lasers. Their pioneering technology completely rethinks environment scanning for autonomous vehicles, by exploiting the wavelength properties of light to steer lasers through a prism in order to better detect objects at range. To date, Baraja has raised $63.9M led by funds such as Blackbird and Main Sequence Ventures. In this episode we covered a range of topics including: The importance of being contrarian (and right!)Balancing long term vision with short term executionThe challenges and opportunities that come from building a market from scratchHow Baraja got investment for a deep tech business at a very early prototype stage& much more! Time Stamps  2.34 - The focus of Federicos' company Baraja - LiDAR technology3.24 - Federico's background, why and how he started Baraja 14.34 - Building an idea and business with conviction18.45 - How Federico got from Blackbird and the importance of a personal connection and experiencing the product when partnering with a VC22.28 - The challenges of hiring staff in a new industry 27.09 - The pros and cons of building a startup in Australia31.09 - What Federico and Baraja look for when hiring talent34.22 - Building and maintaining culture in a growing organisation37.30 - The power of bringing well known and respected people into the company40.19 -  The importance of understanding your customers needs early in the development journey43.47 - The long term systems worth investing in especially in the early stages of launching the business45.53 - The importance of long-term contact and interaction with both the customers and the product 48.32 - What's next for the Baraja following a $40M funding round50.30 - How you can get in contact with Federico and find out more information about Baraja  Links Mentioned:  Federico's Link: Federico Collarte Linked In Baraja Baraja Careers People Mentioned: Cibby Pulikkaseril  (Co-Founder + CTO)Rick Baker (Blackbird)Sam Wong (Blackbird) Niki Scevak (Blackbird) Bill Bartee (Formerly Blackbird)Duncan Ross (Baraja Early Hire)Craig Barratt - (Board Member) Companies Mentioned: Blackbird  Main Sequence VenturesZoox Cochlear Special Thanks: Special thanks to Cibby Pulikkaseril, Duncan Ross and Rick Baker for their help with research for this interview ? . Feedback/connect/say hello: Rohit@startupplaybook.co@RohitBhargava7 (Twitter)/rohbhargava (LinkedIn)@rohit_bhargava (Instagram)My Youtube Channel Credits: Music: Joakim Karud – Dreams Other channels: Don't have iTunes? The podcast is also available on Spotify, Soundcloud & Stitcher Audio Player. https://youtu.be/A4DJ4qM3C1M The post Ep146 – Federico Collarte (Co-founder & CEO – Baraja) on building the future of autonomous vehicles appeared first on Startup Playbook.

My guest for Ep145 of The Startup Playbook Podcast was the Co-founder & CEO of Deputy, Ashik Ahmed. Ashik launched Deputy in 2008, initially as the co-founder and CTO of the business.  He transitioned to the CEO role after Deputy raised there Series A funding round in 2017. Deputy has since gone on to being used by 250,000 businesses across more than 100 countries and the company has raised a total of AUD$144M ($101M USD) including Australia's largest ever Series B funding round of AUD$111M ($81M USD). However, it hasn't been all plain sailing with the company suffering significantly through COVID last year having to stand down 30% of it's staff. In this interview we covered a wide range of topics including: How Deputy and Ashik managed the challenges of COVIDWhy founders need to retain their customer obsession and love customers who complainAshik's journey from software developer to the CEO roleAshik's approach to fundraising and building relationships with VCs and investorsWhy more companies die from indigestion rather than starvation& much more! Timestamps 2.08 - An introduction to Ashik and his company Deputy2.47 - What the early days of Deputy where like and how that formed how the company operates today4.09 - The importance of customers loving your product and using Net Promoter Score (NPS) to inform product changes7.29 - When you should start measuring NPS and why it should continue even as the company grows9.10 - How to incorporate customer feedback and be accessible to customers whilst growing11.24 - Transitioning from Chief Technology Officer (CTO) to Chief Executive Officer (CEO) during a period of growth and Series A fundraising16.51 - Learning to be a CEO and growing with the company whilst remaining humble19.47 - The tools and approach Ashik used to develop his CEO skills21.44 - Surviving and pivoting during the challenges of 202028.58 - Managing a team through COVID and letting people go32.42 - The importance of values for culture and always aiming for success36.44 - Ashik's advice for founders on how to define your companies' values39.45 - How to build and maintain relationships with investors44.23 - Focusing on the right goals, staying focused and executing quickly48.14 - Where to find Ashik and Deputy Links Mentioned Ashik's Links Ashik's TwitterAshik's LinkedInDeputyDeputy careers People Mentioned Howard LeibermanSteve LoughlinLisi SchappiSimon Griffiths Dave ZinmanDHHMat BeechePaul BassatTobi LutkeMelanie PerkinsElon MuskJeff BezosJason Fried Companies Mentioned OpenViewSquarePeg Capital Resources Mentioned: How OpenView won the Deputy Deal - Article by Howard Leiberman Past Episodes Mentioned Ep120 - Simon GriffithsEp119 - DHH Special Thanks: Special thanks to Lisi Schappi,  Paul Bassat and Howard Leibman for their help with research for this interview  . Feedback/connect/say hello: Rohit@startupplaybook.co@RohitBhargava7 (Twitter)/rohbhargava (LinkedIn)@rohit_bhargava (Instagram)My Youtube Channel Credits: Music: Joakim Karud – Dreams Other channels: Don't have iTunes? The podcast is also available on Spotify, Soundcloud & Stitcher Audio Player. https://youtu.be/h_0l7x7nmjI The post Ep145 – Ashik Ahmed (Co-founder & CEO – Deputy) on COVID, conviction and customer obsession appeared first on Startup Playbook.

My guest for Ep144 of The Startup Playbook Podcast is the Co-founder & CEO of Code Pilot, David Lemphers. Dave has recently returned to Australia after spending 12 years in the US. He initially moved there to be an early member of the Windows Azure engineering team, before jumping out and launching his own startups. To date Dave has co-founded and successfully exited 4 AI startups including; ZenDeals which was acquired by RetailMeNot for $22M just 2 years after launching and his last startup, Code Pilot, which was acquired by AngelList. If that wasn't enough, David has also authored 3 US patents on AI and ML and serves as the CTO in residence at Techstars. In this interview we covered a wide range of topics including: Dave's Lessons from founding, growing and exiting 4 companiesParticularly how to setup and negotiate an acquisition dealLifting the lid on what happens after the acquisition goes throughHow to attract great talentHow to create an environment of flow state for your teamHow to create and set gold standards& much more! Timestamps  1.59 - Davids' journey from growing up in Melbourne to making an impact in the startup industry and working with some of biggest companies in the world 4.32 - The impact of and learnings from living and working in the U.S.9.58 - The difference between Australia and the U.S. start up culture13.14 - How and why David had the desire to begin his first startup venture17.03 - Why founders should go to the U.S. to experience the local startup culture and the value of in-person interaction21.01 - Recreating the startup culture in Australia 25.55 - Davids' introduction to machine learning and getting buy in for upcoming technologies 32.57 - Hiring for potential over existing skills and building a great team 38.28 - Understanding no two businesses are the same and finding the right cultural fit for your team39.32 - The process of being acquired and the challenges of due diligence - reference to acquisition of Zen Deals by RetailMeNot 51.34 - Advice for founders to prepare for a successful acquisition56.12 - Building a successful company and incorporating practises in preparation for acquisition 57.43 - The importance of diversity in skill, knowledge and expertise especially in the early stages of a startup 1.04.29 - Sharing company vision to attract great talent and important things to consider when looking for work at a startup1.10.52 - Creating challenging work to encourage a flow state within a team 1.16.25 - How to get in contact with David  Links Mentioned Davids' Links  Davids' LinkedIn   People  Eric Schmidt Yousef KhalidiGary FlakeDave Cutler Rachael NeumannBill Gates Cotter Cunningham Steven PhoGeorge ChondrosShreyas KarnikBrian Tuttle Companies  Code PilotZenDeals Super! RetailMeNotAngelListMicrosoft PWC BroomlyYahoo SlackASSA ABLOYOverture Past Episodes  Ep57 – Rachael NeumannEp130 – Rachael Neumann Special Thanks: Special thanks to Shreyas Karnik and George Chondros for their help with research for this interview ? . Feedback/connect/say hello: Rohit@startupplaybook.co@RohitBhargava7 (Twitter)/rohbhargava (LinkedIn)@rohit_bhargava (Instagram)My Youtube Channel Credits: Music: Joakim Karud – Dreams Other channels: Don't have iTunes? The podcast is also available on Spotify, Soundcloud & Stitcher Audio Player. https://youtu.be/8DlNXYhXDaw The post Ep144 – David Lemphers (Co-founder & CEO – Code Pilot) on exits, thinking big and creating gold standards appeared first on Startup Playbook.

My guest for Episode 143 of The Startup Playbook Podcast was the Co-founder & Executive Chairman of AgriWebb, Justin Webb. Describing Justin as a successful serial entrepreneur, would not be doing justice to his background. He studied economics and applied mathematics at Harvard and did a post-graduate MBA at Oxford. He would then take his work on the application of Machine Learning and AI in asset management to found and grow 2 hedge funds before selling them to Macquarie Bank and Westpac. He then went on to found and build PacWealth Capital into a $4Bn Advisory firm in the South Pacific. He is now the Co-founder & Executive Chairman of AgriWebb which is on the mission to digitise on-farm production data. Since launching 6 years ago, the company manages over 15m head of livestock across 90m acres around the globe and recently raised a $30M Series B round, valuing the company north of $100M. In this interview we covered a range of topics including: AgriWebb's journey to $100M valuationHow to attract and retain great talentHow to find your believers and early adoptersThe future of Agtech& much more! Timestamps   2.53 - Justin's background before and leading up to starting AgriWebb 6.51 - The parallels between sport and business following Justin's past as a Rower  10.37 - How Justin started two hedge funds that were eventually sold to Westpac and Macquarie13.37 - Moving back to Australia and getting involved in family business16.22 - Where the idea for AgriWebb stemmed from and advice for finding a business idea for early stage founders21.33 - Building a great team 29.01 - Finding the early adopter customer in traditionally slow to market industries34.36 - Choosing when and how to respond to customer feedback when creating features42.01 - Managing a growing team and how the founders role changes as the team grows47.42 - Building family first culture within a team and building culture remotely 1.00.37 - Where to find AgriWebb and Justin  Links Mentioned  Justin Webbs' Links  AgriWebb Justin Webb - Linked In  People  Rachael NeumannAl BentleyKevin Baum (Justins' Co-founder) John Fargher (Justins' Co-founder) Chris CoePhilip Chan (AgriWebb Chief Product Officer)Kenny Sabir (AgriWebb Head of Engineering)Eric Martinez de Morentin (AgriWebb Development Manager) Paul Parton (AgriWebb Software Engineer)Laurence Hey (AgriWebb Lead Software Engineer)Kogulan Baskaran (AgriWebb Senior Software Engineer) Past Episodes  Ep142 - Al BentleyEp57 - Rachael NeumannEp130 - Rachael Neumann Special Thanks: Special thanks to Kevin Baum and Chris Coe for their help with research for this interview ? . Feedback/connect/say hello: Rohit@startupplaybook.co@RohitBhargava7 (Twitter)/rohbhargava (LinkedIn)@rohit_bhargava (Instagram)My Youtube Channel Credits: Music: Joakim Karud – Dreams Other channels: Don't have iTunes? The podcast is also available on Spotify, Soundcloud & Stitcher Audio Player. https://youtu.be/ZJWRX47iBQM The post Ep143 – Justin Webb (Co-founder & Chairman – AgriWebb) on building the future of AgTech appeared first on Startup Playbook.

My guest for Ep142 of The Startup Playbook Podcast was the Founder & CEO of Simply Wall St., Al Bentley. Al started Simply Wall St (then known as Ninjavest) as a weekend project from a startup weekend competition back in 2013. Fast forward 8 years later and the company now has more than 3M users and has raised $3.4M including it's last round of $2.4M in funding that it raised from its own member base. In this interview we covered a range of topics including: How Al built an organic growth engine that allowed Simply Wall St to acquire 3M usersHow to prioritise feedback on product requests from customersHow Al created scarcity when fundraising & much more! Timestamps  1.51 - Als' story of starting Simply Wall St. 3.01 - His background as a Naval Architect 4.22 - Launching Simply Wall St. as Ninja Vest at a startup competition weekend 7.10 - The importance of validation and Als' takeaways from the startup weekend9.35 - How Simply Wall St. was developed following the weekend15.29 - Finding a co-founder and why you need one 23.22 - Advice for founders about listening to customer feedback and making decisions on what is worth pursuing 27.27 - The importance of product market fit 32.48 - Focusing on building a quality team and bringing Mahesh onboard37.34 - Managing a growing team41.28 - How to identify the needs of the organisation when hiring42.57 - How and why Simply Wall St. co-founder Nick stepped back from the company 44.47 - Als' approach to growth52.39 - Prioritising resource allocation and choosing focus areas 56.46 - Als' recommended resources for founders 1.02.14 - The challenges of fundraising 1.09.52 - Questions you should be asking investors to ensure alignment 1.13.37 - Where you can find Simply Wall St.  Links Mentioned  Al Bently's Links Simply Wall StAl Bentley TwitterAl Bentley About Me People: Sam Birmingham Marcus TanBill TaiRick BakerBen HeapToby Heap Nick van den BergMarty Cagan (product expert) Zac BrookesMelanie PerkinsMahesh MuralidharSean EllisAndrew ChenAlex Schultz Events West Tech Fest Startup Weekend Resources Angel ListCanvaThe Mom Test BookMarty Cagan Product BooksJobs to be done  Past Episodes Ep139 - Mahesh Muralidhar Ep141 – Alex Zaccaria Special Thanks: Special thanks to Nick van den Berg and Zac Brookes for their help with research for this interview ? . Feedback/connect/say hello: Rohit@startupplaybook.co@RohitBhargava7 (Twitter)/rohbhargava (LinkedIn)@rohit_bhargava (Instagram)My Youtube Channel Credits: Music: Joakim Karud – Dreams Other channels: Don't have iTunes? The podcast is also available on Spotify, Soundcloud & Stitcher Audio Player. https://youtu.be/95Nk6tejbvs The post Ep142 – Al Bentley (Founder & CEO – Simply Wall St) on building your growth engine appeared first on Startup Playbook.

My guest for Ep141 of The Startup Playbook Podcast was the Co-founder & CEO of Linktree, Alex Zaccaria. Alex started his career in the music industry. With his brother Anthony, he co-founded Bolster, an agency that specialises in running digital and creative campaigns for music festivals and events. Through the agency, they identified a problem they kept facing on behalf of their clients, how to effectively share multiple links on social media. They built a tool to help solve that problem for their clients. That tool is called Linktree and is now used by over 10M users globally including celebrities such as Selena Gomez and Jamie Oliver and brands like Redbull and HBO At the end of last year, Linktree announced they had raised their first round of external funding, raising $10.7M in a round led by AirTree and Insight Partners. In this interview we covered a range of topics including: The importance of understanding why users are using your productsHow they achieved viral growth to 10M usersHow Alex developed a partnership with Facebook during the early days of BolsterManaging engineering teams as a non-technical founderTheir journey to raising $10M and deciding which investors to raise from& much more! Show notes: 1.57 - Where Alex's desire to become an entrepreneur came from 3.48 - The influence Alex's family and upbringing had on his career journey and what he learned from them5.38 - Launching Bolster with some of the largest festivals in Australia as clients9.45 - How they secured a partnership with Facebook through working around the existing system11.53 - Alex's approach to learning quickly and continuously13.15 - Why meeting a customers needs is the most important step when building a platform16.36 - How Linktree has changed from the first version and how the idea began19.14 - Welcoming and utilising big name, early customers of Linktree 21.10 - How linktree was started as a side hustle and what it would be today if it was started differently24.45 - The importance of listening to consumers and having conversations to determine their needs26.32 - Building vitality for a ready to market product30.35 - Why Linktree prioritises simplicity in product design 33.38 - Utilising product managers as a non-technical founder to prioritise features36.39 - Intuitive decision making and having the right people around you39.40 - Working with a technical lead and development team effectively 43.01 - The challenges of scale 46.04 - The process to raising $10M 49.09 - How to pick the right VC partner when raising 52.29 - What Alex would do differently when raising capital again54.51 - The importance of developing a product naturally and authentically57.51 - Staying ahead of the competition as a market leader 58.49 - Maintaining culture whilst growing team size Links mentioned: Alex's businesses: LinktreeBolster  People mentioned: Nick HumphreysMike Bywaters John HendersonMel and Cliff from Canva Previous episodes mentioned: Creating a winning culture with Mahesh Muralidhar (Ep139) VC partners: InsightAirtree Special Thanks: Special thanks to Nick Humphreys, Mike Bywaters and John Henderson for their help with research for this interview ? . Feedback/connect/say hello: Rohit@startupplaybook.co@RohitBhargava7 (Twitter)/rohbhargava (LinkedIn)@rohit_bhargava (Instagram)My Youtube Channel Credits: Music: Joakim Karud – Dreams Other channels: Don't have iTunes? The podcast is also available on Spotify, Soundcloud & Stitcher Audio Player. https://youtu.be/5FAi2QtFU54 The post Ep141 – Alex Zaccaria (Co-founder & CEO – Linktree) on viral growth, customer focus and intuition appeared first on

My guest for Ep140 of The Startup Playbook Podcast was the Founder of Atto and Indie Labs, Kate Kendall. Kate is one of the pioneers of the Indie movement, supporting alternative approaches to building companies focused on profits rather than fundraising. She is the Founder of Atto, an accelerator and micro fund for female founders that champions the no-code movement and also runs IndieConf, an alternative conference built for those building profitable tech startups  Prior to this, she founded The Fetch, a curated reading list and discovery platform for professional events for several years before shutting the community down to focus on her next startup, CloudPeeps which continues to operate today. We discussed a range of topics in this interview including: 5.52 - How to leverage power dynamics to building effective communities19.23 - Kate's decision to walk away from a Series A funding round to focus on building the Indie way34.08 - How to build global community movement through decentralised community models53.20 - How to set up advisory boards and advisory board agreements& much more! Links mentioned Kate's Businesses The FetchCloudPeepsAtto Indie LabsIndie Conf Community Management Systems Circle.soMighty NetworksReddit  Centralised/Decentralised communities Ted TedX People  Jason LemkinCasey Fenton - CouchsurfingCasey Fenton (Founder of Couchsurfing) Podcast - Ep097 on Hacking your ego Mike Cannon-Brookes - Atlassian  Advisors  Joel Gascoigne - Buffer Ligaya Tichy - Yelp & Airbnb David Bill - CoTweet Maren Kate Donovan - Zirtual Special Thanks: Special thanks to Kat Loughrey for her help with research for this interview ? Feedback/connect/say hello: Rohit@startupplaybook.co@RohitBhargava7 (Twitter)/rohbhargava (LinkedIn)@rohit_bhargava (Instagram)My Youtube Channel Credits: Music: Joakim Karud – Dreams Other channels: Don't have iTunes? The podcast is also available on Spotify, Soundcloud & Stitcher Audio Player. https://youtu.be/tE7Dg2adiXM The post Ep140 – Kate Kendall (Founder – Atto & Indie Labs) on power dynamics, advisors & community appeared first on Startup Playbook.

My guest for Ep139 of The Startup Playbook Podcast was Mahesh Muralidhar. Mahesh is one of the leading people & culture operators in the region. In 2015, he joined Canva as employee number 25 as their Head of People Operations, helping to turn Canva into one of the best rated places to work. Her then went on to join Airtasker as their VP of People Operations. In 2020 he joined Simply Wall St. as a contracted COO, helping to setup their leadership team as they grew from 12 to 32 team members. He is now a mentor and investor at Startmate and is the CEO of NZ Scaleup, a not for profit that is focused on accelerating NZ and Australian startups and scaleups. We dived into all things people and culture in this episode including: How founders can attract and retain the best talent with limited resourcesHow to scale 1:1 relationshipsThe importance of creating a winning cultureHow to provide effective feedback& much more! Show notes: Special Thanks: Special thanks to Al Bentley and Tristan Martin for their help with research for this interview! ? Feedback/connect/say hello: Rohit@startupplaybook.co@RohitBhargava7 (Twitter)/rohbhargava (LinkedIn)@rohit_bhargava (Instagram)My Youtube Channel Credits: Music: Joakim Karud – Dreams Other channels: Don't have iTunes? The podcast is also available on Spotify, Soundcloud & Stitcher Audio Player. https://youtu.be/0rciDNrq2Sk The post Ep139 – Mahesh Muralidhar (CEO – NZ ScaleUp) on creating a winning culture appeared first on Startup Playbook.

My guest for Ep138 of The Startup Playbook Podcast is the Founder of Sked Social and Galileo Ventures, Hugh Stephens. Hugh founded Sked Social as a solo founder in 2013. The product is now used by over 10,000 companies worldwide and generates millions of dollars in revenue each year, all without taking any external capital. Alongside Sked Social, he is also the Founder & General Partner at Galileo Ventures, a $10M venture capital firm and growth accelerator program that alongside investing $200,000 in early stage startups, also provides 12 months of practical support, 1:1 coaching and much more. We covered a range of topics in this interview including: Using constraints to your advantageA deep dive on pricing strategiesHow to decide whether to bootstrap or raise capital for your startup Lifting the lid on the challenges in raising a fund& much more! Special Thanks: Special thanks to James Alexander and Nathan Murphy for their help with research for this interview!  Feedback/connect/say hello: Rohit@startupplaybook.co@RohitBhargava7 (Twitter)/rohbhargava (LinkedIn)@rohit_bhargava (Instagram)My Youtube Channel Credits: Music: Joakim Karud – Dreams Other channels: Don't have iTunes? The podcast is also available on Spotify, Soundcloud & Stitcher Audio Player. https://youtu.be/WJedO1Q2Vww The post Ep138 – Hugh Stephens (Founder – Galileo VC) on constraints, pricing dynamics & fundraising appeared first on Startup Playbook.

I'm delighted to be kicking off 2021 by bringing back one of our most popular guests to date, Matt Allen for Ep137 of The Startup Playbook Podcast. Matt Allen is one of Australia's most active and successful angel investors, being amongst the first checks in leading Australian startups such as Buildkite and Practice Ignition, both of which have featured on this podcast previously! He is now the CEO of Tractor Ventures, which is a revenue based investment fund, providing alternative sources and options to founders looking to access capital to unlock growth or create their own safety net through secondary offerings. We dived in deep on this interview and covered a range of topics including: His approach to building a portfolioWhen founders should consider “hitting save” by offering secondariesWhy selling equity can be extremely costly for foundersHow to balance having too much or too little egoWhy founders need confidence capital& much more! Full interview below! Show notes: How to attract technical co-founders with Matt Allen (Startup Playbook Ep028)Niki ScevakGlenn GillenSilver bullets and culture with Glenn Gillen (Startup Playbook Ep047)Noelle Smit (Co-founder @ Teamgage)Scott Thomas (Co-founder @ Creatively Squared)Keith Pitt (Co-founder @ Buildkite)Lachlan Donald (Co-founder @ Buildkite)Equity over ego with Lachlan Donald (Startup Playbook Ep127)BuildkiteTiming, feedback and bootstrapping with DHH (Startup Playbook Ep119)Tractor VenturesMatt Allen (Twitter) Special Thanks: Special thanks to Noelle Smit, Scott Thomas and Keith Pitt for their help with research for this interview! ? Feedback/connect/say hello: Rohit@startupplaybook.co@RohitBhargava7 (Twitter)/rohbhargava (LinkedIn)@rohit_bhargava (Instagram)My Youtube Channel Credits: Music: Joakim Karud – Dreams Other channels: Don't have iTunes? The podcast is also available on Spotify, Soundcloud & Stitcher Audio Player. https://youtu.be/9OEhK5L-8OI The post Ep137 – Matt Allen (CEO – Tractor Ventures) on believers, secondaries & confidence capital appeared first on Startup Playbook.

My guest for Ep136 of The Startup Playbook Podcast was the Founder & CEO of HealthMatch, Manuri Gunawardena. Manuri launched HealthMatch in 2017 after witnessing first hand the challenges of patients looking to gain access to clinical trials. In her final years of medical school, she worked in neuro-oncology research particularly focussed on Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) tumours, an incurable and aggressive form of brain cancer. Through her experience she saw first hand how difficult it was for researchers to find appropriate patients and how reliant patients were on their doctors to have the knowledge for cures. That's where HealthMatch was born from - a passion to empower patients to not only understand their treatment options, but to gain access too. Since launching in 2017 the business has gone through incredible growth, particularly this year where they have grown from a team of 5 to 20 and from 8,000 users at the end of May to over 80,000 users by the end of the year. As Manuri also announced on this podcast, HealthMatch raised $18M in Series B funding led by Square Peg Capital, taking their total funding to date to $25M. We covered a range of topics in this interview including: Importance of building credibility through domain expertise, particularly for non-tech foundersThe importance of having a clear north star missionWhy and how Manuri looks for “horsepower” during the hiring processHow to get buy-in from enterprises and investors through effective storytelling& much more! Full interview below! Show notes: HealthMatchHealthMatch Pitch at Startup Battlefield Australia (2017)TechCrunch Startup Battlefield Australia (2017)Zero to one: Notes on startups, or how to build the future - Peter Thiel (book)The Hard Thing About Hard Things: Building a business when there are no easy answers - Ben Horowitz (book)Julia WellsMarisa WarrenMelanie Perkins Anton BorzovAndreesen HorowitzAlister ColemanTempus PartnersPaul BassatPaul Bassat Podcast (Startup Playbook Ep024)Square Peg Capital Simon Griffiths Podcast (Startup Playbook Ep120)Why we sleep: Unlocking the power of sleep and dreams - Matthew Walker (book)Kaushik Sen Kaushik Sen Podcast (Startup Playbook Ep020) Tony HoltLucy TurnbullRoche AustraliaHealthMatch careers page Special Thanks: Special thanks to Paul Bassat and Alister Coleman for their help with research for this interview! Feedback/connect/say hello: Rohit@startupplaybook.co@RohitBhargava7 (Twitter)/rohbhargava (LinkedIn)@rohit_bhargava (Instagram)My Youtube Channel Credits: Music: Joakim Karud – Dreams Other channels: Don't have iTunes? The podcast is also available on Spotify, Soundcloud & Stitcher Audio Player. https://youtu.be/22ChN2P9pto The post Ep136 – Manuri Gunawardena (Founder & CEO – HealthMatch) on setting your North Star appeared first on Startup Playbook.

My guest for Ep135 of The Startup Playbook Podcast was Gabby Leibovich, Co-founder of The Catch Group. Gabby and his brother Hezi are two of Australia's leading e-commerce entrepreneurs. In October 2006, they launched Catch of the Day, a website that provided an exclusive deal on it's platform everyday. By 2010 it had become Australia's most visited online shopping site. In August 2019, Catch was sold to Wesfarmers for $230M. Alongside Catch, they also launched Scoopon in 2010 which was acquired by the Lux Group in 2017 and after launching EatNow in 2012 and merging with Menulog in early 2015, they were then acquired by Uk based Just Eat for a whopping $855M just a few short months later. Many of the stories and lessons behind these businesses was documented in Gabby and Hezi's new book Catch of the decade…This book been one of my favourite reads this year! In this interview we discussed some of the themes mentioned in the book including : Building culture that attracts and retains talentThe story behind Scoopon's decision to offer $1M in refunds after an airline went bankruptBalancing trade-offs when making key decisions as a leaderHow 1+1=3 with the right partners(and my personal favourite) chatting about all things Liverpool FC and how you can stop “kissing frogs” by having great leadership& much more! Full interview below! Show notes: Catch of the decade (book)Hezi Leibovich (Co-founder of The Catch Group)catch.com.auWesfarmers acquisition of CatchScooponGrocery RunMumgoLuxury EscapesEatNow and Menulog mergerJust Eat acquisition of MenulogYoutube video of Gabby's weddingAdir ShiffmanAdir Shiffman Podcast ( Startup Playbook Ep012)Vijay Bala (First hire at Catch)Ferry Satio (First programmer at Catch)AirAustralia collapseDavid Shein Podcast (Startup Playboo Ep133)Nick Molnar (Co-founder & Co-CEO at Afterpay)Anthony Eisen (Co-founder & Co-CEO at Afterpay)VinomofoJustin Dry Podcast (Startup Playbook Ep003)Pumpkin Patch acquisition by Catch GroupAdam Schwab (Co-founder of Luxury Escapes)Jeremy Same (Co-founder of Luxury Escapes)Paul Greenberg (Co-founder of Deals Direct)Ruslan Kogan (Founder & CEO of Kogan) Special Thanks: Special thanks to Adir Shiffman and Guy Polak for their help with research for this interview ? . Next interview: Join our next live podcast interview with Manuri Gunawardena, the Founder & CEO of HealthMatch.Date: 8th December 2020Time: 8-9am (AEDT)Registration link: https://tinyurl.com/Ep136Manuri Feedback/connect/say hello: Rohit@startupplaybook.co@RohitBhargava7 (Twitter)/rohbhargava (LinkedIn)@rohit_bhargava (Instagram)My Youtube Channel Credits: Music: Joakim Karud – Dreams Other channels: Don't have iTunes? The podcast is also available on Spotify, Soundcloud & Stitcher Audio Player. https://youtu.be/FD42tjzhS9o The post Ep135 – Gabby Leibovich (Co-founder – The Catch Group) on culture, leadership & kissing frogs appeared first on Startup Playbook.

My guest for Ep134 of The Startup Playbook Podcast was the Co-founder & Co-CEO of Open and Huddle Insurance, Jason Wilby. In 2016, Jason and his Co-founder, Jonathan Buck, launched Huddle, Open's Direct-to-Consumer (DTC) brand which is now Australia's most popular tech-driven Insurance company. The tech developed through Huddle is now the foundation for Open's B2B solution, an AI powered platform that makes financial services open, less costly and more reliable for consumers. To date, Open has raised $24M including a $3.1M Series A extension round led by AirTree. We covered a range of topics in this interview including: Balancing and managing risk when growing startupsHow to find and assess the right partners and investors for your businessBuilding and implementing company culture based on shared valuesOpen's journey to raising $24M in funding& much more! Full interview below! Show notes: Jonathan Buck (Co-founder @ Open)Auxilio VenturesLouisa Mackay (Director @ Auxilio Ventures)Hollard InsuranceOpen BankingJames Cameron (Partner @ AirTree Ventures)AirTreeLachlan Brown (Growth & Comms @ Open & Huddle)Huddle InsuranceJason Wilby (Twitter)Jason Wilby (LinkedIn) Special Thanks: Special thanks to James Cameron, Louisa Mackay and Jonathan Buck for their help with research for this interview ? . Feedback/connect/say hello: Rohit@startupplaybook.co@RohitBhargava7 (Twitter)/rohbhargava (LinkedIn)@rohit_bhargava (Instagram)My Youtube Channel Credits: Music: Joakim Karud – Dreams Other channels: Don't have iTunes? The podcast is also available on Spotify, Soundcloud & Stitcher Audio Player. https://youtu.be/MiEj4bN3Doo The post Ep134 – Jason Wilby (Co-founder & Co-CEO – Open) on risk, purpose and shared values appeared first on Startup Playbook.

My guest for Ep133 of The Startup Playbook Podcast was the Co-founder & General Partner of Our Innovation Fund, David Shein. In 1986, David launched Com Tech, just 9 months after moving to Australia from South Africa. Fast forward 14 years and the company grew to 1,400 staff across Australia and revenues of $700M before eventually being acquired by Dimension Data for $1B. Since then, David has transitioned into becoming an investor and mentor to a number of startups, many of which have been successfully exited. These include Zipmoney, CalReply, Latam Autos, Pocketbook, Centric Wealth, BlueFire, BizCover, MacromatiX and Holly Connects. He is currently the Co-founder & General Partner of Our Innovation Fund, a $125M early stage venture capital fund that invests in exciting Australian startups. We covered a range of topics in this interview including: Building and scaling a company culture through trust, respect and storytellingCom Tech's infamous approach of legendary customer service that helped beat out it's competitorsWhat David looks for as an investor& much more! Full interview below! Show notes: Nathan CherNo Rules Rules (book) - Reed Hastings & Erin MeyerSteve NolaArianna Huffington - “No more brilliant jerks”Holly ConnectsLance BerksBare CremationsClear DynamicsSteve Vamosa16z Podcast: Designing a Culture of Reinvention with Ben Horowitz & Reed HastingsThe Hard thing about Hard things (book) - Ben HorowitzJohn Chambers (Cisco)VoiceGenie TechnologiesRangeMeNicky Jackson Special Thanks: Special thanks to Ross Cochrane, Nathan Cher, Steve Nola and Lance Berks who helped with research for this interview ? . Next interview: Join our next live podcast interview with the Co-founder & Co-CEO of Open AI & Huddle, Jason WilbyDate: 24th November 2020Time: 8-9am (AEDT)Registration link: https://tinyurl.com/ep134Open Feedback/connect/say hello: Rohit@startupplaybook.co@RohitBhargava7 (Twitter)/rohbhargava (LinkedIn)@rohit_bhargava (Instagram)My Youtube Channel Credits: Music: Joakim Karud – Dreams Other channels: Don't have iTunes? The podcast is also available on Spotify, Soundcloud & Stitcher Audio Player. https://youtu.be/LOK9H4wFY6g The post Ep133 – David Shein (GP – Our Innovation Fund) on legendary customer service appeared first on Startup Playbook.

My guest for Ep132 of The Startup Playbook Podcast was the Founder & CEO of Practice Ignition, Guy Pearson. Guy has helped to transform the accounting industry, initially with Interactive Accounting which launched in 2009 as one of Australia's first cloud-based accounting firms. He went on to launch 5 businesses between the ages of 25 and 28, the last one being Practice Ignition. Practice Ignition has become one of the leading companies in it's space with over 120 staff around the world and to date having raised $35M including a $26M Series B round of funding led by Tiger Global Management. Alongside his role at Practice Ignition, Guy is also an active angel investor and has been invested in over 20 startups since 2013. We covered a range of topics in this interview including: Building for customers of the futureThe key aspects of effective storytelling for foundersHow Practice Ignition and Interactive Accounting grew through ecosystem partnershipsWhy Practice Ignition went global from day 1, by expanding to 4 countries and 4 offices with just 7 staff!Guy's fundraising experience in raising $35M and what he looks for when he angel invests& much more! Show notes: 4 Pines beerNicholas Muldoon (Co-CEO @ EasyAgile)Gareth Bryant (Director @ Interactive Accounting)Interactive AccountingPractice IgnitionXeroSelf managed super fundsMatt Allen Podcast (Startup Playbook Ep028)Matt Allen (Angel Investor @ Practice Ignition)David New (Head of APAC @ Practice Ignition)Receipt BankAirbnb deckLinkedIn Series B pitch deckMichael Wood (Founder @ Receipt Bank)Mikkel Svane (Co-founder & CEO @ Zendesk)Holly Cardew Podcast (Startup Playbook Ep128)Craig Winkler (Co-founder @ MYOB)Adrian Di Marco (Founder of TechnologyOne) Special Thanks: Special thanks to David New and Gareth Bryant for their help with research for this interview. Also a big thank you to Matt Allen for the intro to help make this interview happen! Next interview: Join our next live podcast interview with David Shein, the Co-founder & General Partner of Our Innovation Fund.Date: 10th November 2020Time: 8-9am (AEDT)Registration link: https://tinyurl.com/ep133DavidShein Feedback/connect/say hello: Rohit@startupplaybook.co@RohitBhargava7 (Twitter)/rohbhargava (LinkedIn)@rohit_bhargava (Instagram)My Youtube Channel Credits: Music: Joakim Karud – Dreams Other channels: Don't have iTunes? The podcast is also available on Spotify, Soundcloud & Stitcher Audio Player. https://youtu.be/CsqF2J4NuKs The post Ep132 – Guy Pearson (Founder & CEO – Practice Ignition) on vision, storytelling & ecosystems appeared first on Startup Playbook.

My guest for Ep131 of The Startup Playbook Podcast was the Co-founder & CEO of Fast, Domm Holland. Domm was previously the Founder & CEO of on-demand towing platform, Tow that processed more than $50M in transactions. During his tenure there, Domm was awarded the top spot on the Deloitte Tech Fast 50 and recognized as the Brisbane Young Entrepreneur of the Year. He is now the Co-founder & CEO of Fast, the world's fastest online login and checkout platform. Despite only being founded 18 months ago, Fast has grown rapidly, growing from a team of 2 to over 65 and raising $22.5M in funding led by Stripe with further participation from Index Ventures and Susa ventures. We covered a range of topics in this interview including: The importance of building organic relationshipsWhy Fast prescribes to “building out loud”Why Fast ignored all inbound leads to focus on building their outbound sales strategyThe key traits you should look for when making your first hire in a new business segment& much more! Full interview below! Show notes: Product HuntFastESTA visaAllison Barr Allen (Co-founder & COO @ Fast)Allison's frictionless finance thesisJan Hammer (Investor @ Index Ventures)Brian Sugar (Founder @ Pop sugar)Nick Molnar (Co-founder & CEO @ Afterpay)StripeTim Doyle podcast interview (Startup Playbook Ep123)bigcommerce.com/DM/fastfast.cotwitter.com/fasttwitter.com/Domm Next interview: Join our next live podcast interview with Guy Pearson, the Founder & CEO of Practice Ignition.Date: 27th October 2020Time: 8-9am (AEDT)Registration link: https://tinyurl.com/Ep132Guy Feedback/connect/say hello: Rohit@startupplaybook.co@RohitBhargava7 (Twitter)/rohbhargava (LinkedIn)@rohit_bhargava (Instagram)My Youtube Channel Credits: Music: Joakim Karud – Dreams Other channels: Don't have iTunes? The podcast is also available on Spotify, Soundcloud & Stitcher Audio Player. https://youtu.be/Gx02Z1HEpO0 The post Ep131 – Domm Holland (Co-founder & CEO – Fast) on networks, transparency & focus appeared first on Startup Playbook.

My guest for Ep130 of The Startup Playbook Podcast was returning guest and Founder of Working Theory Angels, Rachael Neumann. I first interviewed Rachael for Ep057 of the podcast back in July 2017 when we discussed her background as the former General Manager of Eventbrite in Australia and her views on investing in founders and the ecosystem at large. Over the last 3 years, Rachael has continued to double down on this space as a startup advisor and angel investor, board member of StartupAus and sitting on two federal program committees, the Entrepreneurs' Programme Committee (EPC) and Boosting Female Founders Initiative (BFFI). She was also recently the Head of Startups at AWS where I had the pleasure of working with Rachael before she transitioned to the AWS Leadership team. Alongside all of these committments, she has also Founded and launched Working Theory Angels, a new angel network designed to mobilise more investment into early stage startups and attract new investors to the space. We covered a range of topics in this interview including: The importance of building trusted relationships between founders, advisors and investorsHow to attract world class talentThe golden metrics and magic moments that unlock growthHow Rachael builds conviction when investing in startups& much more! Full interview below! Show Notes: Working Theory AngelsRachael Neumann podcast (Startup Playbook Ep057)AWSBoosting Female Founders Initiative (BFFI)StartmateStartupAusEventbritePaul NapthaliPortfolio theoryDeliciouChatterizeJeremiah (Co-founder & CEO - Muso)Megan Elizabeth (Founder & CEO - Bellish)Kylie FrazerEleanor VenturesKapicheTixelMicroba Special Thanks: Special thanks to Paul Napthali, Kylie Frazer, Bessi Graham, Megan Elizabeth and Jeremiah Siemianow for their help with research for this interview. Next interview: Join our next live podcast interview with Jason Wilby, the Co-founder & Co-CEO of Huddle and Open.Date: 6th October 2020Time: 8-9am (AEDT)Registration link: https://tinyurl.com/Ep131Open Feedback/connect/say hello: Rohit@startupplaybook.co@RohitBhargava7 (Twitter)/rohbhargava (LinkedIn)@rohit_bhargava (Instagram)My Youtube Channel Credits: Music: Joakim Karud – Dreams Other channels: Don't have iTunes? The podcast is also available on Spotify, Soundcloud & Stitcher Audio Player. https://youtu.be/_EHD6MnTFPc The post Ep130 – Rachael Neumann (Founder – Working Theory Angels) on trust, talent & golden metrics appeared first on Startup Playbook.

My guest for Ep129 of The Startup Playbook Podcast was the Co-founder & CEO of Sendle, James Chin Moody. James has previously held roles as Executive Director, Development at the CSIRO, Australian National Commissioner for UNESCO, member of the Australian Bureau of Meteorology Advisory Board and Trustee for the Australian Museum. He was also Chief Systems Engineer for the Australian Satellite FedSat, the first Australian satellite to be launched in 30 years. James is now the Co-Founder & CEO of Sendle, Australia's first 100% carbon neutral courier service. Since launching in Australia in 2014, the company has launched in the US, partnered with significant eCommerce players such as Shopify and eBay, grown to over half a million account holders and raised $50M in funding. In this interview we discussed a range of topics including: The benefits of systems based thinkingThe 5 H's of Sendle's company cultureThe Hell Yeah decision frameworkHow to build reputation with investors& much more! Full interview below! Show Notes: FedSatCSIROSendleAustralian Space Research InstituteUnited Nations Youth Climate CouncilBCorpCraig Davis (Co-founder of Sendle)Adam Milgrom podcast (Startup Playbook Ep125)Giant Leap FundXero QuickbooksSilfreshSean Geoghegan (Co-founder of Sendle) Special Thanks: Special thanks to Adam Milgrom (Venture Partner at Giant Leap Fund) who helped with research for this interview. Next interview: Join our next live podcast interview with Rachael Neumann, the Founder of Working Theory AngelsDate: 29th September 2020Time: 8-9am (AEDT)Registration link: https://tinyurl.com/ep130Rachael Feedback/connect/say hello: Rohit@startupplaybook.co@RohitBhargava7 (Twitter)/rohbhargava (LinkedIn)@rohit_bhargava (Instagram)My Youtube Channel Credits: Music: Joakim Karud – Dreams Other channels: Don't have iTunes? The podcast is also available on Spotify, Soundcloud & Stitcher Audio Player. https://youtu.be/O0BcE4WeGaE The post Ep129 – James Chin Moody (Co-founder & CEO – Sendle) on systems, reputation & hell yeahs! appeared first on Startup Playbook.

My guest for Episode 128 of The Startup Playbook Podcast was the Founder of Pixc and Co-founder of Vop, Holly Cardew. In 2014, Holly launched Pixc, a product that provides a quick, efficient and easy way for store owners to have retail-ready photos.  Pixc was selected to join the first batch of Telstra's MuruD accelerator and batch 13 of the 500 Startups accelerator programs. She launched, grew and has continued to scale the business as a solo, non-technical founder. Through her background in building ecommerce brands and success with Pixc, in 2016, Holly was listed as a Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia emerging entrepreneur to watch in the eCommerce and retail space. If that wasn't enough, Earlier this year she co-founded and launched her latest business Vop, which creates shoppable experiences from your TikTok videos. In this interview we discussed: Launching, growing and scaling tech startups a solo non-tech founderA deep dive on utilising channel partners as a growth strategyThe viral opportunities with TikTok and working with content content creators& much more! Full interview below! Show notes: Appliances OnlineOrangeUpworkPixcIntercomBrett FoxMuruD500 StartupsShopifyLachlan Donald podcast (Startup Playbook Ep127)DHH podcast (Startup Playbook Ep119)MagentoBigcommerceWoocommerceJames Clear “Atomic Habits”Mike Angell - Co-founder at VopCulture KingsFastSandy Lin (Tiktok - @smallbusinesstips_)TikTok creator marketplaceAngelist Special Thanks: Special thanks to Brett Fox and Mike Angell who helped with research for this interview. Next interview: Join our next live podcast interview with James Chin Moody, the Co-founder & CEO of SendleDate: 22nd September 2020Time: 8-9am (AEDT)Registration link: https://tinyurl.com/Ep129Sendle Feedback/connect/say hello: Rohit@startupplaybook.co@RohitBhargava7 (Twitter)/rohbhargava (LinkedIn)@rohit_bhargava (Instagram)My Youtube Channel Credits: Music: Joakim Karud – Dreams Other channels: Don't have iTunes? The podcast is also available on Spotify, Soundcloud & Stitcher Audio Player. https://youtu.be/2xziTIXijXE The post Ep128 – Holly Cardew (Founder – Pixc & Vop) on TikTok, vision and channel partnerships appeared first on Startup Playbook.

My guest for Episode 127 of The Startup Playbook Podcast was the Co-founder & CEO of Buildkite, Lachlan Donald. Lachlan has been a technologist for over 20 years. In addition to building companies, he is drawn to building products that change how people think and work. Before Buildkite, he was the founding CTO of 99designs, the world's largest online graphic design marketplace. 99Designs connects businesses looking for design work with more than 220,000 graphic designers from 192 countries around the world. Lachlan is now the Co-founder and CEO of Buildkite, the fastest way to reliably test and build software at any scale. Buildkite is one of Australia's best keep secrets. They raised AUD$200,000 in seed funding when the company was first founded in 2013 and over the last 7 years have turned away investor interest to focus on profitability of the business. However, Buildkite recently announced an AUD$28M Series A funding round led by Openview, providing a 42x return to it's early investors. In this interview we discussed: Being intentional with focusThe craftsmanship behind enduring productsBuildkite's unique approach to sharing CEO roles between the foundersThe importance of equity over egoBuildkite's fundraising process for it's $28M Series A funding round after 7 years of bootstrapping& much more! Full interview below! Show notes: Buildkite99DesignsTim Lucas (Co-founder at Buildkite)Keith Pitt (Co-founder at Buildkite)Patrick Llewellyn (Startup Playbook Podcast - Ep085) Paul Annesley (99Designs)Mark Harbottle (Co-founder of Sitepoint, 99Designs and Flippa)Matt Mickiewicz (Co-founder of 99Designs and Hired)SitepointAccelJohn Barton (CTO of Amber Electric)GitHubHerokuREAEnvatoMYOBDHH (Founder & CTO of Basecamp and HEY)BasecampDHH (Startup Playbook Podcast - Ep119)Doug English (Co-founder & CTO of Culture Amp)Culture AmpDidier Elzinga (Co-founder & CEO of Culture Amp)Didier Elzinga (Startup Playbook Podcast - Ep101)Matt Allen (Co-founder & GP of Pick and Shovel)Matt Allen (Startup Playbook Podcast - Ep028)Openview PartnersGeneral CatalystESOPsThe deal Jeff Bezos got on Basecamp (blog)Ashley Smith (Openview)Trevor Oelschig (General Catalyst)Foreign Investment Review Board Special Thanks: Special thanks to John Barton, Doug English and Matt Allen who helped with research for this interview. Next interview: Join our next live podcast interview with Holly Cardew, the Founder of Pixc and Co-founder of Vop.Date: 8th September 2020Time: 8-9am (AEDT)Registration link: https://tinyurl.com/Ep128Holly Feedback/connect/say hello: Rohit@startupplaybook.co@RohitBhargava7 (Twitter)/rohbhargava (LinkedIn)@rohit_bhargava (Instagram)My Youtube Channel Credits: Music: Joakim Karud – Dreams Other channels: Don't have iTunes? The podcast is also available on Spotify, Soundcloud & Stitcher Audio Player. https://youtu.be/4_QEE3UHS1U The post Ep127 – Lachlan Donald (Co-founder & CEO – Buildkite) on equity over ego appeared first on Startup Playbook.

My guest for Episode 126 of The Startup Playbook Podcast was, returning guest, the Co-founder & CEO of Zeller, Ben Pfisterer. I first interviewed Ben in 2018 when he was the Australian Country Manager and Head of APAC at Square. Prior to this he was part of the team that launched Jetstar in Australia and during his time at NAB he ran one of world's first Mobile Payments / NFC Pilots. Ben was also the Head of Innovation and Emerging Products at Visa where he led the innovation strategy and emerging product implementation across new payment solutions and channels, including the growth of Visa payWave in Australia to become one of the world's largest Contactless markets. Ben came back on the podcast to discuss his latest startup, Zeller, which recently came out of stealth mode to announce its $6.3M seed funding round led by Square Peg Capital to reimagine business banking. In this interview we discussed: The inputs of cultureThe complexity behind creating simple productsThe key traits he looks for when hiringThe theory of horizonsHow Zeller raised $6.3M without a name, product or team& much more! Full interview below! Show notes: JetstarNABVisaSquareZellerDominic Yap (Co-founder @ Zeller)David Conn (Head of Engineer @ Zeller)Ben Hensman (Senior Associate @ Square Peg Capital)Square Peg CapitalPaul Bassat (Co-founder @ Square Peg Capital)Paul Bassat Interview - Startup Playbook Podcast Ep024Jack Dorsey (Co-founder @ Twitter & Square)Sarah Friar (Former CFO @ Square and now CEO @ Nextdoor)Apex CapitalZeller job openings Special Thanks: Special thanks to Ben Hensman who helped with the research for this interview! Next interview: Join our next live podcast interview with Lachlan Donald, the Co-founder & CEO of Buildkite!Date: 1st September 2020Time: 8-9am (AEDT)Registration link: https://tinyurl.com/Ep127Buildkite Feedback/connect/say hello: Rohit@startupplaybook.co@RohitBhargava7 (Twitter)/rohbhargava (LinkedIn)@rohit_bhargava (Instagram)My Youtube Channel Credits: Music: Joakim Karud – Dreams Other channels: Don't have iTunes? The podcast is also available on Spotify, Soundcloud & Stitcher Audio Player. https://youtu.be/sDIHZBUJo84 The post Ep126 – Ben Pfisterer (Co-founder & CEO – Zeller) on the theory of horizons appeared first on Startup Playbook.

My guest for Episode 125 of The Startup Playbook Podcast was the Venture Partner at Giant Leap Fund, Adam Milgrom. Alongside his role at the Giant Leap Fund, Adam is also an angel investor, advisor and director for a number of Australian and international startups. Giant Leap Fund is Australia's first venture capital fund that is 100% dedicated to investing in impact startups - rapidly scalable businesses that blend financial returns with real and measurable social and environmental benefits. Through Giant Leap fund and from his own angel investments, Adam has made investments in over 20 startups including Applied, Mindset and Amber Electric and sits on the board of two of his investments; FutureSuper and YourGrocer In this interview we discussed: Why you should treat fundraising as a sales processHow to leverage investors for growthBuilding your decision-making muscleHow VCs approach building their portfolioThings that make startups irresistible to investors& much more! Full interview below! Show notes: Hype DCGiant Leap FundZapposDanny AlmagorImpact Investment GroupWill Richardson (Managing Partner - Giant Leap Fund)Will Richardson (Startup Playbook Ep073)Rachel Yang (Investment Manager - Giant Leap Fund)Charlie McDonald (Analyst - Giant Leap Fund)Venture Deals by Brad Feld (book)AirTree Ventures - Seed stage term sheetAdam Milgrom (Twitter)Leapfrog InvestmentsApplied Special Thanks: Special thanks to Will Richardson, Charlie McDonald and Morgan Ranieri who helped with the research for this interview! Next interview: Join our next live podcast interview with Ben Pfisterer, Co-founder & CEO of Zeller.Date: 25th August 2020Time: 8-9am (AEDT)Registration link: https://tinyurl.com/Ep126Zeller Feedback/connect/say hello: Rohit@startupplaybook.co@RohitBhargava7 (Twitter)/rohbhargava (LinkedIn)@rohit_bhargava (Instagram)My Youtube Channel Credits: Music: Joakim Karud – Dreams Other channels: Don't have iTunes? The podcast is also available on Spotify, Soundcloud & Stitcher Audio Player. https://youtu.be/X2EDwZVu4YE The post Ep125 – Adam Milgrom (Venture Partner – Giant Leap Fund) on building your decision-making muscle appeared first on Startup Playbook.

My guest for Episode 124 of The Startup Playbook Podcast was Tim Fung, the Co-founder & CEO of Airtasker. Tim was previously a founding team member and investor in Australia's first low cost mobile provider, Amaysim and is also the founder and director of several web startups. However, he is best known as the Co-founder & CEO of Airtasker, a trusted community marketplace that connects people who need work done with people who want to work. Since launching in 2012, Airtasker has grown to support more than 3.6 million members across Australia, with 30,000 monthly active Taskers and recently announced its expansion into the UK. In this interview we discussed: The Principles of leadershipBuilding trust into your product and customersHow Airtasker approaches customer retention with their modelThe value in the longtail of services businesses Finding Product-Market Fit for marketplaces& much more Full interview below! Show notes: Macquarie BankChic Model ManagementUrsula Hufnagl (Managing Director - Chic Management)Jane Weston (GM - Chic Management)Peter O'Connell (CEO & Managing Director - AmaysimAmaysimJonathan Lui (Co-founder - Airtasker)Airtasker Next interview: Join our next live podcast interview with Adam Milgrom, Angel Investor & Venture Partner at Giant Leap FundDate: 18th August 2020Time: 8-9am (AEDT)Registration link: http://tinyurl.com/ep125Adam Feedback/connect/say hello: Rohit@startupplaybook.co@RohitBhargava7 (Twitter)/rohbhargava (LinkedIn)@rohit_bhargava (Instagram)My Youtube Channel Credits: Music: Joakim Karud – Dreams Other channels: Don't have iTunes? The podcast is also available on Spotify, Soundcloud & Stitcher Audio Player. https://youtu.be/mh6rJacvUFE The post Ep124 – Tim Fung (Co-founder & CEO – Airtasker) on value, trust & the longtail appeared first on Startup Playbook.

My guest for Ep123 of The Startup Playbook Podcast was the Founder of Eucalyptus, Tim Doyle. Tim is one of the most renowned marketers in Australia. He was previously the Head of Marketing for Direct to Consumer (DTC) mattress brand, Koala, taking the business from $500,000 in revenue a month to a business turning over $100M a year. He is now the Founder of Eucalyptus, a brand engine that builds and runs digital consumer companies. They currently have two products currently in market, Pilot and Kin which are brands that focus on mens  health and women's fertility respectively. During this interview, Tim also announced that Eucalyptus is a few short weeks away from launching their 3rd product, a skin care brand called software.skin. To date, Eucalyptus has raised over $8M in funding from the likes of Blackbird Ventures and W23, Woolworths Corporate Venture Capital arm. We covered a wide variety of topics in this interview including: Insights and lessons from running digital campaigns for the Labor party in the 2016 electionHow to build high performing growth teamsBuilding traction and finding your first few customers on a budgetHow to find white space opportunities and channels for growthFundraising process for DTC and other “off trend” startups& much more Full interview below! Show notes: Koala MattressEucalyptusPilotKin FertilitySoftware.skin (watch this space!)Dany Milham (Co-founder @ Koala)Steve SmithVinomofoJustin Dry (Co-founder & CEO of Vinomofo) on Startup Playbook Ep003Shoes of PreyJodie Fox (Co-founder of Shoes of Prey) on Startup Playbook Ep018Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC)Cost Per Mille (CPM)Blackbird VenturesSam Wong (Partner @ Blackbird)Nick Crocker (General Partner @ Blackbird)Niki Scevak (Co-founder & Partner @ Blackbird)Charlie Gearside (Founder @ Eucalyptus)UnileverProctor & GambleLMVHMike HalliganScratchPetCirclechewy.comShoe Dog, by Phil Knight (book)Casper MattressNura headphonesTimeChi (crowdfunding campaign)Sean Greenhalgh (Co-founder & CEO - TimeChi)DeliciouKjetil Hansen (Founder & CEO - Deliciou)Fast.coDomm Holland (Co-founder & CEO - Fast) Next interview: Join our next live podcast interview with Tim Fung, the Co-Founder & CEO of AirtaskerDate: 11th August 2020Time: 8-9am (AEDT)Registration link: https://tinyurl.com/Ep124Airtasker Feedback/connect/say hello: Rohit@startupplaybook.co@RohitBhargava7 (Twitter)/rohbhargava (LinkedIn)@rohit_bhargava (Instagram)My Youtube Channel Credits: Music: Joakim Karud – Dreams Other channels: Don't have iTunes? The podcast is also available on Soundcloud & Stitcher Audio Player and now also available on Spotify. https://youtu.be/ad9yPrQu-0o The post Ep123 – Tim Doyle (Founder – Eucalyptus) on Discipline, Differentiation and Data appeared first on Startup Playbook.

My guest for Ep122 of The Startup Playbook Podcast, was the Founder & CEO of Everledger, Leanne Kemp. Leanne is a serial entrepreneur with multiple successful exits over 20+ years in tech. Her company, Everledger, uses Blockchain technology to track high-value assets such as diamonds, art and wine with the aim of increasing transparency and trust with technology. To date Everledger has raised $40M in funding from leading global funds including Fidelity, Future Fund and Tencent. In 2018, her entrepreneurial success saw her appointed as the Queensland Chief Entrepreneur in Australia, to develop the state's startup ecosystem, attract investment and support job creation. In this interview we covered a range of topics including Why you should think about Coevolving rather than disrupting industriesSeparating technology trends vs lasting changeUnderstanding the right timing for your solution in the marketHow founders should think about and prepare for exits& much more Full interview below! Show notes: RFIDEverledgerSatoshi Nakamoto white paperCryptocurrencyBlockchainWorld Wide Web Consortium (W3C)Tim Berners-LeeUnkempt podcastAnthony Finkelstein Next interview: Join our next live podcast interview with Tim Doyle, the Founder of EucalyptusDate: 4th August 2020Time: 8-9am (AEDT)Registration link: https://tinyurl.com/Ep123Tim Feedback/connect/say hello: Rohit@startupplaybook.co@RohitBhargava7 (Twitter)/rohbhargava (LinkedIn)@rohit_bhargava (Instagram)My Youtube Channel Credits: Music: Joakim Karud – Dreams Other channels: Don't have iTunes? The podcast is also available on Soundcloud & Stitcher Audio Player and now also available on Spotify. https://youtu.be/NWhHKmRVPCE The post Ep122 – Leanne Kemp (Founder & CEO – Everledger) on exits, trust and coevolution appeared first on Startup Playbook.

My guest for Ep121 of The Startup Playbook Podcast was Robert Bell, the CEO of 86 400. Rob has extensive leadership experience in financial services across Australia and Asia Pacific, withseveral senior leadership roles at ANZ including CEO positions at both ANZ Japan and ANZ Fiji. He is now the CEO of 86 400, Australia's first smartbank, building a smarter alternative to the Big Four banks. Since launching a year ago, 86 400 now has more than 225,000 accounts on its platform, has more than $300m in customer deposits and has processed more than $1B in transactions. We covered a range of topics in this interview including: 86 400's unique approach to crowdsourced product roadmapsHow to stay close to your customers as you continue to scaleTheir approach to Innovation in digital bankingUsing retention tactics as viral customer acquisition strategies& much more Full interview below! Show notes: John McFarlane (Group CEO at ANZ & Group Chairman of Barclays)CuscalDugald Christie- Johnston (barefoot coach)NPS ScoresAskNicely Next interview: Join our next live podcast interview with Leanne Kemp, the Founder & CEO of Everledger and Queensland's Chief EntrepreneurDate: 28th July 2020Time: 8-9am (AEDT)Registration link: https://tinyurl.com/ep122Everledger Feedback/connect/say hello: Rohit@startupplaybook.co@RohitBhargava7 (Twitter)/rohbhargava (LinkedIn)@rohit_bhargava (Instagram)My Youtube Channel Credits: Music: Joakim Karud – Dreams Other channels: Don't have iTunes? The podcast is also available on Soundcloud & Stitcher Audio Player and now also available on Spotify. https://youtu.be/DF29NOmdNYw The post Ep121 – Robert Bell (CEO – 86 400) on balance, feedback and smarter banking appeared first on Startup Playbook.

My guest for Episode 120 of The Startup Playbook Podcast was the Co-founder & CEO of Who Gives a Crap, Simon Griffiths. Who Gives A Crap is a subscription-based toilet paper, tissue and paper towel brand that donates 50% of its profits to help build toilets in the developing world. Simon launched Who Gives A Crap with a crowdfunding campaign in 2012, where he sat on a toilet for over 50 hours with a live web feed until he had pre-sold the first $50,000 of toilet rolls. The business has come a substantially long way since then. Who Gives a Crap recently announced that this year they have donated $5.85M to WaterAid making it the largest donation they have received this year and the third largest donation globally in the last 2 years behind Pepsi and HSBC. We covered a variety of topics in this interview including: How they build innovation around a toilet paper companyHow they strategically approach virality across their marketing campaignsHow they balance investment into growth of the business vs short term profitabilityHow Who Gives A Crap managed balancing serving existing customers vs 500,000 new customers on their waitlist during the initial COVID hysteria& much more! Full interview below! Show notes: Ethos water acquired by StarbucksTOMSWarby ParkerWarby Parker fundraiseIDEO.ORGJehan Ratnatunga (Co-founder)Danny Alexander (Co-founder)Convertible DebtSimon Griffiths (Twitter)Simon Griffiths (LinkedIn) Next interview: Join our next live podcast interview with Robert Bell, CEO of 86 400, Australia's first smart bankDate: 21st July 2020Time: 8-9am (AEDT)Registration link: http://tinyurl.com/Ep121Rob Feedback/connect/say hello: Rohit@startupplaybook.co@RohitBhargava7 (Twitter)/rohbhargava (LinkedIn)@rohit_bhargava (Instagram)My Youtube Channel Credits: Music: Joakim Karud – Dreams Other channels: Don't have iTunes? The podcast is also available on Soundcloud & Stitcher Audio Player and now also available on Spotify. https://youtu.be/q67T7eqDn1s The post Ep120 – Simon Griffiths (Co-founder & CEO of Who Gives A Crap) on Virality, Profitability & Impact appeared first on Startup Playbook.