Podcasts about startup playbook

SummaryIn this week's episode of The Startup Retro, hosts Will and Gemma discuss the latest developments in the Breakthrough Victoria saga, including the departure of its CEO and ongoing legal battles with a founder. They also provide an update on the progress of the Future Made in Australia (FMiA) legislation, which is currently being debated in parliament. The hosts then cover the release of Australia's updated National Science and Research Priorities, focusing on key areas like net-zero transition and Indigenous knowledge systems. In addition, they highlight two new funds deploying capital into Aussie startups and feature their favourite startup raises of the week. To top it off, Gemma and Will interview Slice co-founder Farouk Ismail, who shares insights on their decision to take international funding and offers advice on expanding into the US market. The episode concludes with their Knowledge as a Service (KaaS) podcast recommendations.Time Stamps00:00 Introduction and Welcome01:12 Breakthrough Victoria CEO Departure & Legal Battle06:48 FMiA Legislation Update10:42 National Science and Research Priorities Release15:25 New Funds - CoVentures & Proto Axiom21:13 Weekly Startup Raises27:50 Interview with Slice Co-founder Farouk Ismail43:21 KaaS Recommendations48:12 OutroHeadlinesBreakthrough VictoriaCEO exits amid ongoing legal battle with a founder.FMiA UpdateHeated debate continues in parliament.The government could proceed with the funding regardless of the legislation's outcome.National Science and Research PrioritiesMinister Ed Husic outlines new imperatives for science investment in Australia.Key focus areas include transitioning to net-zero, supporting healthy communities, elevating Indigenous knowledge systems, environmental restoration, and national security.New FundsCoVentures, a single-GP fund managed by Maxine Minter, closes its first fund with $5M+. (Listen to Maxine's show, First Cheque on the Day One network.)Proto Axiom emerges with new capital to deploy into Australian startups.Startup RaisesGemma's Pick: aglowFounders: Jo Blundell and Karl Margrain$1.25M raisedAglow is helping beauty businesses implement membership programs, moving them away from pay-as-you-go models towards predictable, recurring revenue streams. With 600+ salons onboarded and $16M in ARR, they are leading a shift in the beauty industry.Will's Pick: DeCariceFounders: Goran Bozic and Professor Shawn KookPre-seed raise from Investible's Climate Tech FundDeCarice's hydrogen injection technology is cutting carbon emissions by 85% in heavy-duty diesel engines, offering a scalable decarbonisation solution for mining and transport industries.InterviewSlice's Farouk IsmailFarouk shares why Slice chose international funding and offers essential tips for Australian startups looking to break into the US market.KaaS - Knowledge as a ServiceGemma's Pick

The FDA Group's Nick Capman sits down with Tagg McGurrin, who most recently served as the President and Chief Business Officer (COO/CFO) at Neumentum, Inc., where he led corporate strategy, capital markets, corporate financing, accounting, legal, investor relations, and business development. They discuss the critical elements of planning, governance, and capital access necessary to build a strong foundation for a pharmaceutical startup in today's economic environment. Discussion points include: Access to Capital: Tagg emphasizes the crucial role of securing capital in starting a pharmaceutical company. He shares strategies for identifying and cultivating relationships with high net worth investors and specialized investment groups. Tagg highlights the importance of prioritizing "smart money" – investors who understand the long-term nature of pharmaceutical investments. Board and Leadership Structure: Tagg discusses the need for a committed board with proper governance and checks and balances. He recommends separating the roles of CEO and executive chairman to ensure accountability and effective oversight. Additionally, Tagg underscores the necessity of having a dedicated full-time team with a long-term vision, avoiding reliance on part-time or fractional roles for key positions. Clear Mission and Objectives: Establishing clear, dynamic annual goals and objectives aligned with value inflection points is vital. Tagg highlights the importance of setting specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and timely (SMART) goals and revisiting them regularly to ensure alignment with the company's progress. He also advocates for a structured meeting schedule with weekly, annual, and substantive quarterly meetings to maintain focus and accountability. Effective Investor Pitching: When pitching to investors, Tagg advises highlighting the executive team, commercial opportunity, and technical aspects of the asset. He emphasizes the importance of transparency and objectivity to build and maintain trust with investors. Tagg also suggests including a detailed business model in the pitch, outlining expected outcomes and the company's strategy for achieving them. Due Diligence and Investor Relationships: Tagg stresses the importance of conducting thorough due diligence to avoid nefarious individuals posing as well-connected investors. He recommends asking detailed questions to understand potential investors' past performance and seeking references from other companies they have supported. Transparency and regular communication with investors are key to maintaining trust and support. Leadership Synergy and Conflict Management: Tagg underscores the importance of a management team that is committed to the company's mission and strategy. He advises proactively addressing potential conflicts of interest to maintain the integrity and performance of the company. Ensuring independence in both fact and appearance is crucial to prevent personal motives from hijacking investor value. Growth and Communication Strategies: Maintaining efficient communication and growth is essential. Tagg highlights the importance of keeping investors informed with regular updates, even during slow periods, to sustain trust and support. He also emphasizes the need to stay nimble and efficient, avoiding bureaucratic complexities. Incentivizing Key Players: Tagg advocates for using innovative incentive structures, such as reverse vesting, to retain top talent and ensure their long-term commitment to the company's success. This approach helps align the interests of key players with those of the company and its investors. Combining Experience with Young Talent: Tagg emphasizes the value of combining experienced leadership with young talent to drive innovation and success. This synergy blends the wisdom of experience with the energy and creativity of younger team members, fostering a dynamic startup environment. For project or resource needs, visit thefdagroup.com.

Hat Tip to this week's creators: @tedgioia, @benthompson, @stratechery, @peterwalker99, @omri_drory, @sama, @mariogabriele, @gruber, @giannandrea, @craigfederighi, @gregjoz, @alex, @MParekh, @waxeditorial, @romaindillet, @cookie, @ttunguz, @KantrowitzContents* Editorial: Checkmate!* Essays of the Week* Is Silicon Valley Building Universe 25?* Apple Intelligence is Right On Time* 2018 cohort graduation rates?* How VCs Become A******s* Startup Playbook* How to Find a Unicorn* Video of the Week* John Gruber, John Giannandrea, Craig Federighi, and Greg Joswiak on Apple Intelligence* AI of the Week* OpenAI's growth is one of the most astounding business results of all time* AI: New Focus on 'Accelerated' Local AI Devices. RTZ #387* News Of the Week* visionOS 2: Spatial Personas Can Touch Fingers, High Five, Fist Bump Each Other With Visual and Audio Feedback* Raspberry Pi is now a public company* Carta's valuation to be cut by $6.5 billion in upcoming secondary sale* LinkedIn Adds New Elements to Its Newsletter Creation Platform* Startup of the Week* Databricks' Accelerating Growth* X of the Week* 3, 3 Trillion Dollar CompaniesEditorial: Checkmate!Checkmate! That seems like the appropriate word if you analyze what happened with OpenAI this week.After being built into every conceivable Microsft interface, Apple announced that it would integrate OpenAI into all of its operating systems across devices via Siri.By locking up Microsoft and Apple, it has effectively locked out Google, at least for now. That will leave Google itself as the only large implementation of its Gemini AI family.This gives Apple a global advantage in the iPhone versus Android battle. Few will prefer Gemini to OpenAI.Beyond that, Apple successfully showed how its own ‘Apple Intelligence' will face inwards to the device, interoperating with all apps and supporting ‘actions' while leaving all user data on the device. And when you need more power than the device can deliver, the new Apple Intelligence Cloud steps up in a fully encrypted secure environment. Even Apple cannot decrypt your data as it has no keys.Ben Thompson from Stratechery sums up Apple's play as follows:This is good news for Apple in two respects. First, with regards to the title of this Article, the fact it is possible to be too early with AI features, as Microsoft seemed to be in this case, implies that not having AI features does not mean you are too late. Yes, AI features could differentiate an existing platform, but they could also diminish it. Second, Apple's orientation towards prioritizing users over developers aligns nicely with its brand promise of privacy and security: Apple would prefer to deliver new features in an integrated fashion as a matter of course; making AI not just compelling but societally acceptable may require exactly that, which means that Apple is arriving on the AI scene just in time.The concept of “just in time” seems appropriate. Although, as a developer possessing all of the beta products, I can say that very few of the features announced are yet available.The contrast with Microsoft couldn't be more extreme. Its Recall product, which took a screen recording every five seconds and stored its findings in clear text on the device, got a backlash from journalists and privacy campaigners. Microsoft has all but canceled the product, and its PR tail is between its legs. Apple's ‘Crush' ad has almost been forgotten.Microsoft could make a mistake here. It is already working on products competing with OpenAI and might be tempted to go alone. What Bing is to Google, Microsoft AI will be to OpenAI. If it does so, it will once again shoot itself in the foot. OpenAI is far ahead in features and capabilities. Google cannot integrate it. Microsoft has gained an advantage from having done so. Apple too. Don't bite the hand that feeds you seems an apt reminder.This week's essays focus a lot on the social impact of innovation and venture capital.Ted Gioia's essay about “Universe 25” focuses on the Durkheim concept of ‘anomie.' It is the idea that our isolation leads to meaninglessness in life.“More than 100 years ago, sociologist Emile Durkheim studied the problem of anomie. That's not a word you hear very often nowadays. But we need to bring it back.Anomie is a sense that life has no purpose or meaning. The people who suffer from it are listless, disconnected, and prone to mental illnesses of various sorts. Durkheim believed, for example, that suicide was frequently caused by anomie.But the most shocking part of Durkheim's analysis was his view that anomie increased when social norms were lessened. You might think that people rejoice when rules and regulations get eliminated. But Durkheim believed the exact opposite.”Gioia examines the aimlessness of a world where people live in social media.The Venture Capital essays are excellent. Sam Altman's ‘Startup Playbook' contains intelligent advice for startup founding teams. And Mario Gabriele's piece about ‘How to Find a Unicorn' has good advice for emerging fund managers. Omri Drory's piece: How VCs Become A******s - is both funny and true. A great read This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.thatwastheweek.com/subscribe

Anastasija Oleinika is the CEO of Printify, a platform revolutionizing the print-on-demand market that raised more than 50mUSD in VC funding. Her leadership journey includes her previous CEO role at the Twino investment platform, where similarly to Printify she transitioned from CFO to CEO role.On this episode we talk about:Transition from CFO to CEO roleThings to do when starting a new roleE-commerce industry post CovidEvolving market valuations and VC expectationsPersonal productivity and effective managementOur previous conversation with Anastasija (Ep 13) https://www.pursuitofscrappiness.co/episodes/episode-13-interview-anastasija-oleinikaOur conversation with Printify founder James Berdigans (Ep 36) https://www.pursuitofscrappiness.co/episodes/36-james-berdigans===Find all episodes on >  https://www.pursuitofscrappiness.co/Watch select full-length episodes on our YouTube channel > https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCP6ueaLnjS-CQfrMCm2EoTAConnect with us on Linkedin > https://www.linkedin.com/company/pursuit-of-scrappiness/

Welcome to another episode of Andy's Pod, the ultimate space for visionaries and entrepreneurs! In today's episode, we are thrilled to have Brian Long, the Founder of Attentive, a cutting-edge tech startup that's transforming the way businesses communicate with their customers. Brian brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to the table, and he's here to share his insights on how to navigate the challenging yet rewarding world of tech startups.

Sam Altman en los días recientes ha estado envuelto en una serie de polémicas debido a su salida y reintegración de Open AI. Pues hoy nos sumergiremos en el libro de este personaje, un tesoro de sabiduría y perspicacia para aquellos que buscan navegar por el vertiginoso mundo de las startups. Con la experiencia de Altman, ex presidente de Y Combinator, como guía, desentrañaremos las estrategias, lecciones y secretos que forman el ADN de las empresas exitosas ¡A seguir aprendiendo!

"Secrets of the Fastest-Growing Startups from Their Founding Entrepreneurs"

Dive into the dynamic world of entrepreneurship as we unveil the remarkable journey of Boris Manhart, Founder of Growth Unltd. In this episode, Boris imparts a treasure trove of experience, from co-founding thriving startups to steering early-stage entrepreneurs through the intricate path of achieving product-market fit. Delve into the pivotal role of mentorship, witness the ever-changing landscape of the startup ecosystem, and unravel the strategies that elevate startups in a fiercely competitive arena. [00:34] - About Boris Manhart Boris is the Founder of Growth Unlimited. He is the Co-Founder of Numbers, which is a fintech company. Boris is also the CEO of Code Check, which is a shopping app. His big passion is to impact and help other founders get it right from the start.  --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/tbcy/support

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.

In this episode, Vishal Sunak, Founder & CEO of LinkSquares, walks us through how he took his company from $1M in ARR to $10M ARR in just 2 years. You will learn how to grow faster using Vishal's framework: People, Product, development, Predictability, and Philosophy on VCs. Learn more about LinkSquares at https://linksquares.com/ Follow Vishal on Twitter: https://twitter.com/thesunak0:00 0:41 What does it mean to be the "best" in SaaS 2:26 Vishal's framework: People 8:08 Vishal's framework: Product development 11:19 Vishal's framework: Predictability 12:47 Vishal's framework: Philosophy on VCs

Welcome to another episode of In Search of Excellence! My guest today is my good friend, David Kidder.David is a serial entrepreneur, active angel investor, advisor to Fortune 500 companies, sought-after speaker, and author of four books, including two New York Times bestsellers, “The Startup Playbook” and “The Intellectual Devotional."David has been a co-founder and CEO of three venture-backed startups, including Clickable, SmartRay, and Bionic, where he is currently a CEO.We are talking about his background and early years, college experience, his first company, how to be successful as an entrepreneur, how to overcome the fear of failure, and what the future holds for our kids in this constantly changing world. Tune in to learn more! 02:15 David Kidder's background and early childhood05:22 What is Montgomery Ward?08:26 The advice to companies that get offers to be bought by private equity firms11:45 How to hire the right person for the job?15:26 As a young entrepreneur, how to figure out what is good?19:30 The story of David's uncle, Roger Franchi23:25 How important are mentors for success?26:02 How important is the college experience today? 30:24 How to advise kids on caring for their mental health?35:04 The advice to students on how to deal with mental stress and negative thoughts 43:28 The start of David's first company at 19 46:55 What is a roll-up?49:40 Fear of failure and how to bounce back from failureSponsors:Sandee | Bliss: BeachesWant to Connect? Reach out to us online!Website | Instagram | LinkedIn

The New AI Startup Playbook - The AI-Up or Exponential Startup

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.

The Practical Guide is a series of articles about how to start your own marketplace business by Christobal Gracia and Juho Makkonen, available in Marketplace Academy. This podcast brings you the content in audio format.Article available at: What you need to know before starting your marketplace business, Christóbal GraciaSources and further reading: Startup Playbook, Sam Altman Sharing is the New Buying, Winning in the Collaborative Economy, Jeremiah Owyang Trusted online communities: Signs of a brighter future, Chronos & BlaBlaCar How to disrupt Craigslist, Sangeet Paul Choudary Marketplace directories: Sharemrkt directory honeycomb 2.0 consumo colaborativo Learn about a great example of looking for fragmented markets in this video about how the EatWith team set out to disrupt the food industry.The Marketplace Academy Podcast is hosted and narrated by Katri Antikainen.You can learn more about building a marketplace at www.sharetribe.com/academy/.Looking to build a marketplace of your own? Visit www.sharetribe.com!

Today on the Social Origin Podcast David Alexander and Daniel Alexander discuss keys to success healthy mindsets and practicals tips you can use for your business startup. They discuss the author of the Startup Playbook David Kidder and the importance of strong company values and unwavering vision which drives alignment on the path toward success and longevity. Also special mentions to Hannah and Rachel Vasicek from Francesca Jewellery for the incredible work they are doing to end sex slavery through one of Australia's fastest-growing businesses. https://www.francesca.com.auhttps://www.socialorigin.net/https://www.linkedin.com/in/danieljal...https://www.linkedin.com/in/1davidale...https://www.linkedin.com/in/srikantch

Welcome to The Nonlinear Library, where we use Text-to-Speech software to convert the best writing from the Rationalist and EA communities into audio. This is: So you want to be a charity entrepreneur. Read these first., published by Mathieu Putz on January 26, 2022 on The Effective Altruism Forum. If you want to start a charity, you need to be learning constantly. You'll inevitably learn by doing, but it will save you a lot of heartache to also learn from others. If you're interested in potentially starting a charity or are already running one and want to continue improving your org, here's what we at Nonlinear think will be useful to read. We don't recommend reading these in order or start to finish. Skim them ruthlessly, jump around to the ones that seem relevant to you, and try to really engage with the ones that are genuinely useful to you. Blog posts Why founding charities is one of the highest impact things one can do Should I start a charity now or later? Great blog post about the benefits of starting something now vs later. How to increase your odds of starting a career in charity entrepreneurship. This post also touches on how to get a low-risk taste of startup life to see if you'll like it. TL;DR - do self-initiated projects with no oversight, ideally recruiting and leading a team of friends/volunteers to help. What traits make a great charity entrepreneur Which jobs will best prepare you to become a charity entrepreneur? Why top performers shouldn't go to university. There are better ways to signal competence Why EAs in particular are good people to start charities Top 13 Tools for NGO Founders. Want to particularly highlight Upwork where it's really easy to hire freelancers for innumerable small tasks that it's not worth hiring a full time person for. Startup Playbook by Sam Altman. Probably the most information dense piece of advice for potential founders. Just replace every mention of “business” with “charity” and “profit” with “impact” to get the most out of this. This is true for most forprofit startup material Paul Graham essays, notably What You'll Wish You'd Known How to Start a Startup Do Things that Don't Scale Charity Entrepreneurship's resource list. Lots of good stuff listed here. A Brief Overview of Recruitment and Retention Research by Animal Advocacy Careers. Blog post reviewing the evidence for different hiring and retention techniques, ordered by evidence base and effect size. I wish all research was done and presented this way. Charity Science's fundraising research. Fundraising is a keystone skill for charity entrepreneurship. Charity Science systematically researched all the major fundraising methods and compared how well they worked. I'd pair this with reading at least one book on fundraising. Fundraising for Dummies is good, though probably not the best. Takeaways from EAF's Hiring Round by Stefan Torges There Are No Walls. Short post about how to see how many options you truly have. Books How to Start a High-Impact Nonprofit by EA's very own Joey Savoie and Patrick Stadler. If you could only read one book, it'd be this one. Managing to Change the World. The best book on management Kat has ever read, and it just so happens to also focus on the particular issues charities face. Peter Wildeford wrote some good notes on it here. The Lean Startup by Eric Ries. This is a classic for a reason. How to Make a Minimum Loveable Product. Technically a blog post, but should be read after Lean Startup, so put it in this section. Who: The A Method for Hiring by Geoff Smart and Randy Street (summary) Atomic Habits by James Clear. How to be productive as an individual. Scrum: The Art of Doing Twice the Work in Half the Time by Jeff Sutherland. How to be productive as a team. 4-Hour Work Week. Tim Ferriss is one of the most instrumentally rational people that Kat has ever encountered. Take his lessons, mix in a little EA epistemology, and cross-apply them to EA. Makebook. Ridiculously practical book about ...

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.

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 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 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 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.

David Kidder is an entrepreneur and an angel investor in more than 30 companies. He's the co-founder and CEO of Bionic, unlocking growth and competitiveness in the world's largest enterprises. He's also a bestselling author, which includes: The Startup Playbook and his latest book, New To Big. Find out how you can get #TheBionicLife and learn lots from David in this inspirational show including: The philosophy of growth and transformation The entrepreneurs mindset Control is a myth The concept of a Growth Mindset for a big company Plus loads more hacks Join our Tribe at https://leadership-hacker.com Music: " Upbeat Party " by Scott Holmes courtesy of the Free Music Archive FMA Transcript: Thanks to Jermaine Pinto at JRP Transcribing for being our Partner. Contact Jermaine via LinkedIn or via his site JRP Transcribing Services Find out more about David below: Bionic Website - https://onbionic.com David's Website - https://www.davidskidder.com The Startup Playbook -  Book New to Big - Book David on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidskidder/ David on Twitter – https://twitter.com/davidskidder David on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/davidskidder/   Full Transcript Below ----more---- Steve Rush: Our special guest on today's show is David Kidder. David's an entrepreneur and an angel investor in more than 30 companies. He's the co-founder and CEO of Bionic, unlocking growth and competitiveness in the world's largest enterprises. He's also a bestselling author, which includes The Startup Playbook and his latest book, New To Big. But before we get a chance to speak with David, it's The Leadership Hacker News.   The Leadership Hacker News Steve Rush: What comes to mind when you hear the word “Startup”, if it's a trendy loft conversion in London's Shoreditch, or a grungy basement in the heart of Silicon Valley, you're probably not alone. A large proportion of people think that startups is just a term for a team of one or two people that have a common thread. In fact, many startups include large scale growth companies, and of course a startup, does not stay a startup. It can often graduate to larger organizations readily, requiring more office space, generating higher revenues and having many employees. The global pandemic has spurned a rise in new companies, startups. In the UK in 2020, 278,300 new companies were started. And then the US 804,000 businesses were also started. That's about 10% up year on year. So, if your entrepreneurial spirit has been ignited, I just wanted to share some simple facts with you about startups. Some of the things we can get excited about, and some of the things we maybe need to be wary about. Patience is a virtue. The average time between seed funding to Series A is typically 22 months. And between A and B is 24 months and B to C is 27 months. So, there's a long lead in to successful organizations of which 47% of Series A start up spend more than $400,000 dollars per month. Not all startups are big, but the average round for Series C investments is $50 million dollars between the UK and the US. The average time to incorporate a business globally is typically six days, not much time really. And when we look to the ratio of who's leading startups, the ratio of men, entrepreneurs to women entrepreneurs in 2020 was 10 versus 7. Statistic show whoever's leading them, but 90% of all startups fail with 10% failing within the first year across all industries. And the number one reason for failure was that startups fail to misread the market demand. And the second largest reason why startups fail is due to running out of cash. The good news is that 33% of startup capital for employer led firms is less than £10,000 (pounds) or $14,000 (dollars). With one in three businesses, starting with a less than £5,000 (pounds) or $7,000 (dollars). So, what did the experts say? Well, according to respondents of small business trends survey, the best way to learn about entrepreneurial ship is to do it. Start a company, test and learn. And if you have an idea, research businesses similar to that, that you have in your head, and you're thinking that have been active for longer than five years, assess all the potential bottlenecks apart from the competition and make sure that the team that you gather to help you on your journey is experienced enough that you're aware of those threats and have some experience in helping you fill your gaps in knowledge and expertise. In a recent interview with Marc Benioff, the CEO of Salesforce, he suggests the secret to successful hiring is this. Look for people who want to change the world, don't just look at the resume. And having done it and got some t-shirts along the way. The most valuable thing you can do as a founder of a business is to recognize your downfalls beforehand, learning from other businesses, how they've won and how they failed and apply that knowledge as part of your startup thinking, that's been The Leadership Hacker News. Please get in touch, if you have any stories or news that you want our listeners to hear.   Start of Podcast   Steve Rush: David Kidder is our special guest on today's show. He's a serial entrepreneur, having invested in over 40 startups, including SpaceX. He's also a New York times bestselling author and the CEO and co-founder of Bionic. David welcome to The Leadership Hacker Podcast. David Kidder: Very grateful to be here. Steve Rush: Me too. It's been a while since you and I last met, the world is a very different place now. Before we get into some of the things that are presenting themselves with the work that we do now, perhaps for our listeners, you can give us just a little bit of a backstory as to how you've arrived at doing what you do? David Kidder: Well, I've been an entrepreneur now and founder four times. I've had three venture backed services and SAAS companies that I've sold over the last 25 years. This company I've been involved in building for the last eight years as a co-founder in Berkowitch and it started really with a book, The Startup Playbook about in 2007, 2008 and onstage at a fortune 10 company after doing a keynote with a single question, actually from the vice chairman about how to disrupt. And from there I started doing keynotes and workshops with Eric Reese all over the world. Bionic was really born out of that. And it's been an incredible journey building, you know, a $20 million dollar company. We saw the biggest CEOs in the world P&G, General Mills, Microsoft and others. Really just a privilege to be doing this work of growth transformation. Steve Rush: And its that whole philosophy of growth transformation that sits at the heart of disruption. And when people hear the word disruption, they don't often think of it as a positive thing, but in fact, you call it out as being essential, don't you? David Kidder: Well, I think as something that's really about you, then it could be problematic because you think, you know, it's your fault or it creates discomfort. Disruption usually is something that happens from the outside in, is changed, right? The needs and the world change, which we have experienced last year. Steve Rush: Right. David Kidder: And, you know, it forces you to reset and to move outside of what has been working in rediscovering things. And that's not something you can plan for. So, it draws out a completely different mindset and skillset to do that work, which, you know, is largely uncomfortable because it's managing the unknowable and that comes from a completely different skill set. So, it's an exciting chapter and we should be grateful for the test because we'll be better on the other side of it. But you can't try to get out of the discomfort and you have to be able to grow comfortable with that. Steve Rush: And it's the uncertainty that causes most discomfort in people. How do you grab hold of that uncertainty and create more certainty? David Kidder: Well, I think it's important to reframe it like if you have, it draws some of the psychology of loss of version, which is you always overvalue what you have and you undervalue what you could become, what is available to you. And so, in that context, knowing how the mind works, knowing how you know, humans, the species love to have planning and safety as comfort. When you have this these transformation opportunities, it's really about reframing and overvaluing, what is possible, what's available to you. And so, by holding on to that and saying, ah, I have this value in my hand, but I'm required to either replace it or add a new opportunity or new hand, so to speak that I have to become. You reframe it because it's something to pursue, maybe it's required, but that pursuit really energizes the change. And it's not to something to be feared. It's something to be embraced because it's just the natural way to evolve into growth. Steve Rush: It's kind of ironic, isn't it? Because if you think back over the last hundred years, nothing's really been certain, we've always been in a world of uncertainty, but we've had perhaps a different mindset. David Kidder: Yeah, I mean, control is a myth. I mean, I've made it all, lost it all. It made it all, lost it all twice now in my career just by investing in building companies and, you know, I've gone through incredible highs and I've gone through a brokenness. And I think one of the things that has accelerated my failure in the past when I've had it is just the idea that it's about you and to control. And so, the more you hang on to your plan, your vision, and you don't accept all of the possibilities from extraordinary success to extraordinary failure and be comfortable with that, right? David Kidder: And say, success, you know, comes in two front-page coverage, you're a hero, and you're an idiot, right? Steve Rush: Yeah, exactly. David Kidder: You have to be able to be a position to give it over and ask for the outcome, because then, you know, the universe and your people can conspire to help you solve the need as opposed to directly and exclusively coming from you. That's where mistakes are made is that we don't get to the truth because we don't ask from our team and we're not willing to accept it. Steve Rush: There's this lack of control that comes with also giving away some of the stuff that you have; and ironically, the more you give away, the more you receive in return, that's kind of how the world kind of plays out, right? David Kidder: Yeah, you can you can always suffocate possibility by hanging on to things in a zero-sum view of the world. It's really a non-zero, right? I think this is essential to what you're saying is, that people, their very nature is there's a limited supply of an outcome. There's a limited supply of, you know, consulting. There's a limited supply of services. There's a limited supply of customers, and that's a total addressable market view of the world. That's a limited zero-sum view of the world. It's actually the non-zero. The unlimited version is to think about the total addressable need in the world and how it's evolving. And that takes you from the inside out to the outside in. From zero sum to non-zero, from fear to abundance, from market to need. And you start to really radically evolve your discovery of what your role is in solving it. The marketplace is an opportunity is unlimited. It's only limited to the fact of your ability to create the permission for you to go pursue it, that's it. And that's inside your mind, Steve Rush: Big organizations, I guess, think the same way or the people that work in big organizations also feel the same way as that's the focus of the work that you have with Bionic. Maybe you can just give us a little sense of how you're helping organizations go through that same transformation? David Kidder: Thank you for that Steve. We have a philosophy. That's in a book I wrote called, We, as a company wrote called New To Big. I wrote it with Christina Wallace, who was our VP of marketing and a brilliant writer and thinker. She helped curate this from the company, which is this concept that the big to bigger organizations, that scale are literally at war with growth. They're paid to create efficiency and certainty. And so, when there's change and you're paid incentivized to make what you have work, you actually can't evolve. It's actually, you're at war with growth, stakeholders and the addiction of being right and, you know, rack and stack ROI and all things really limits the organization ability to evolve because you're literally making what you have work. New To Big, really describes a way of thinking and working. We've pioneered the idea of growth mindset in a big company and the systems to support that, we call a Growth OS. It really solves the discovery missing skills versus the planning skills inside an organization in a model. So, we set up growth boards. We set portfolios of total addressable problems and needs. We launched large volumes of entrepreneurs inside and outside the organization to experiment and test, to figure out what to build partner or buy that creates their future as we go launch it. But more importantly is that we fix the growth operations of an organization, the functions that are designed to stop new things from happening, become entrepreneurial. Marketing and sales and compliance and fines come around because they learned to act small because the question that companies need to ask is, should we do this? So, if you're only asking that with planning in five big bets a year, you're in big trouble, you're not learning anything, you're making what you have work. Our model creates that pipeline of always on growth, in the same way, you know, Six Sigma lean manufacturing created efficiency. Bionic has pioneered a model, which is sort of the anti of that. And every company in the world needs this. We've done this at the top of organizations at the CEO level P&G, General Mills, Nike, Citi Corporate, others, with extraordinary impact. Steve Rush: And when I read this from you, I had a little bit of an “A-HA” moment because from a consulting perspective when I work with my clients, it's often around how can we do things faster, more efficient, more effectively, which comes with either streamlining a process, saving some money, looking at resources. And you literally have just flipped that on its head around,  it's not about the efficiencies. It's about the effectiveness. Tell us a little bit about how you came to that? David Kidder: It's because we don't come from the industry. You know, I, my entire background, and my co-founders are all entrepreneurs. And so, we didn't come competing with McKinsey or BCG who we do almost exclusively today. Who kind of copy us at this point which is sort of a compliment and also annoying. We could never be them and they can never be us. The way we think, they will be a radical outsider. Be able to walk away at the cost of the truth, creates a friction in the leadership that allows them to go on offense, because, you know, the leaders thought leaders like Adam Grant and Linda Hill and Justin Berg and General Stanley McChrystal who all serve on Bionic advisory board so often have driven a way to think differently as a way of running the company. And here's why this is so important. About 70% of all growth comes from 7% capital deployed. So, if we make a hundred bags or I spent a hundred million or whatever it is, 7% of that is going to be all the returns. So, if I go back to the beginning and say, why did I invest in those ideas or innovations? They have two qualities. One is high conviction. Why us and why now? And two is, is non-consensus. We make all of our decisions from the ideas, with the highest disagreement. Steve Rush: Wow, yeah.   David Kidder: So conversely, when you have consensus, you're basically screwed. You have to be able to hold. Non-consensus, high conviction solutions to new problems from the outside in portfolios, a lot of failure to figure out why us and why now. Disruption is important, but how you react to it is more important. Steve Rush: I love that. And it makes loads of sense when you say it. It's almost one of those, why didn't I do this before? Because ultimately what you're suggesting is consensus is another word for group think almost, isn't it? You're looking for convergence, rather than divergence and strategic thinking. David Kidder: Yeah, the reason why it's so uncomfortable, because it's new to you and new to the world, your entire bias is to make what you have work, and it's super dangerous. Steve Rush: Yeah, it is. For sure. Now, there's not many chances you get to say to people. Yeah, well, you wrote the book on it and you did, you wrote The Startup Playbook and you had the network and opportunity to interview over 40 of the world's greatest Gamechangers, including Elon Musk and Sarah Blakely, just to name, but a few. What did you notice having had the opportunity to interview all of these great leaders and entrepreneurs and thinkers that was consistent? David Kidder: Yeah, I mean, it's a great question. The summary of the book I wrote on a single flight in six hours from, you know, let's say San Francisco back to New York where I live. And I didn't realize how significant that introduction would change my life, but it was really the synthesis of those that time. I remember 10 years ago, Elan was broke, sleeping on my friend's couch in Palo Alto. And you know, last week is the world's richest guy, because he always was in his mind. What I think is interesting is that when you listen to that summation of the time with them and in the book, The Start Playbook, there's like summaries of the lenses, those entrepreneurs use to select their ideas. So, it's the way they view it. It's their mindset that allows them to lead and bet their life on an idea that has turned into in most cases, a huge outcome. I summarize this called the five lenses. So, if you listen to all the time, basically they say an idea would pass through these five lenses in the same order, over a period of typically three years before you know how big it could be. And the first lens is proprietary gift. Why you and why now? Like, what's your unfair advantage? The second one is extreme focus. You don't want 10 ideas. You want one solution to one problem. So, getting the validation, the first principles logic in place, so you can get extreme focus. So, you have night and day obsession, conscious and subconscious working at problem is could vital to making this work. The third lens is you have to go painkillers, not vitamins. Vitamins are wishful thinking and wishful thinking is the enemy, according to Elon. So, getting the painkiller, which solves who is the customer, right? Solves the chronic lifelong malignant problem that is you can solve forever, which leads the last two lenses, which are something that you become, which is the 10X factor was the fifth, fourth ones, which is what element of the business given enough time could be 10 times better than anyone else in the world. And then the fifth lens is permanence. Like, how do you build a monopoly? How do you put hooks and barbs in customers so they can never leave? So, you could evolve with them for years and so, they'll quit. So those five lenses are very high bar. They're not something to be thought about that some of you discovered and you need to learn them over a period of time that allows them to become true because you're deploying energy, money, capital, people into becoming that. So, I'll pause there, but they're quite profound when you think about your own business. And I hope that listeners do as well. Steve Rush: Yeah, I love the whole principle. It's almost a systematic approach to thinking about this is the direction I need to take the business in. Need to take the leadership of the organization in as well. David Kidder: Yep Steve Rush: If you were to peel back all of the layers across all of the lenses across those 40. Is there may be the one thing that stands out beyond everything else that is the most important, the most significant? David Kidder: You got to care the most, it's obsession. I'll tell you; I mean, I can speak my very modest career. But I think that whatever you do, when you care the most, it almost always works in whatever view of works defines you. So, I think that's the most important thing is that you deeply, deeply care. You just won't be able to get through the hard times if you don't. Because you know, no matter how successful the company is, you're going to go through blink at death moments. I mean, you know, we had one, you know, this last year of the pandemic and, you know, not only survived, but thrived through it as a result of that, you know, you don't sleep on the factory floor on the brink of death unless you care more. And I think that's the central limit. It's not just passion, and yeah, I love something, it's obsession is born to do it. And I think you should listen to that voice inside of you and not play to lose. You have to play to win, to be able to produce something of any meaning. Steve Rush: I love it. Awesome. So, if I'm a leader in an established team or business, I'm not involved in the VC startup environment, is there anything that you think that would be useful for me to consider? So that would fully propel me in my existing business. David Kidder: Yes. I mean, the idea that, you know, growth is exclusively a venture capital entrepreneurship idea is false. We proven that over the world-class bunch of years, you know, this is a form of management. In the same way have actually master's degree of administration that solve the big to bigger, because it's no noble. We have management skills in discovering investing and solving new problems that are called growth investing in entrepreneurship as a form of a career. And it's not exclusive to outside of companies. It's that outside of companies have not created the incentive to be paid to do it, but they can do it, we've proven that, at billions of values. So, I just think that you know, the biggest mindset shift when you're thinking about how to manage and why you manage this and how to solve disruption is one of the concepts that Bionic has pioneered called TAM to TAP. It's sort of Total Addressable Marketplace view of the world to a Total Addressable Problem. From linear five big bets a year to portfolio with a 90% failure rate, recollect five, let's 50 where 90% fail within two or three years, but they're going to discover the proprietary gifted in us and the need of the world that we had to solve become. So that Tamba Tap really changes from an inside out to an outside of a new world. So, it ends the technology in search of a problem or science in search of a customer problem challenge, that is almost always fatal because how do you know what to make? If you don't know a problem you're solving. These ideas are so profoundly simple, but they have massive impact organizations that are literally crossing their fingers and hoping their ideas work. So, if you read New To Big, the book, you'll start to get kind of the beta or the 1.0 of how to think about this. And then we have a whole bunch of new learning you can go to onbionic.com and learn more about it, or just reach out to me. But I think these are concepts that help shift the organization's mindset and begin journey of like discovery because it draws a distinction from efficiency and planning. Steve Rush: I think mindset is massive here, right? So, when I hear you talk about a portfolio with a 90% fail rate, my stomach does starts to churn, right? So how do you get into the mindset to help people in an organization recognize that's okay. David Kidder: Well, you need to play into their, you know, genetics, which is, you know, if we launched 90 things and it's more efficient than launching five big expensive failures, because they now, these people are really smart. They know that they're launched five things, one will work, they're all going to cost 50 million. But if I could launch a hundred, the all costs a hundred grand, I actually saved money. I get more shots on goal. I see more. I discover myself and I'm right on time because market timing drives these needs. They realize that we can't just show up my balance sheet and my brand and make it work because it's not about us. It's about solving the need. It's the outside force. It's the rip that makes the business work, not ours. And so, it's being there when it happens. When you're positioning capital or new need or the need that just changed of your customer, which is why disruption happens. Disruption happens, when the change comes to you versus you arriving with it, but it shows up at your doorstep, like what happens in the pandemic. It's all because the need changed. The customer's behavior changed, that's it. Behaviors don't lie, how it got delivered, how it got paid for, how it gets solved, AI, technology outside forces. But none of that matters. It's simply what the customer does that we're trying to solve. And in many cases, the customer doesn't even know. So how do you discover the change? The customer doesn't even understand that's happening. You only can discover that through experiments and learning with them. Not for them, not inside, for them, with them. And so, this is profound. Like, I mean, it sounds simple, but when you start working, thinking this way, this changes everything. Steve Rush: Is academically sounds very simple, but behaviorally. There is so much going on with mindsets, behaviors, systems, political warfare internally, I guess, plays out here too. Has it been a time maybe that you found that when you've met with an organization, they've gone no way, David, we're not playing this game? This is far too risky. David Kidder: Of course, of course. Steve Rush: So how do you deal with that? David Kidder: Well, I mean, listen, Bionic has worked with 26 companies in the last eight years, but we work at the CEO level. These companies work with the largest of the world. I mentioned a couple of names, Citi Corp you know, General Mills, Nike, Santander, P&G is a very incredible case study for us. There's actually an HBS case study on this work written by Linda Hill about the Growth OS, but largely about Kathy Fish, the head of global R&D at P&G, She's amazing. But the point is, is that not every company is ready because the CEO it creates or denies the permission to grow. I wrote the purpose of Bionic was to ignite growth revolutions. And what I've come to realize is it's actually not about money. It's about the interior life of the leader. They are the ceiling of what's possible for our organization. Steve Rush: Right. David Kidder: What freaks them out is, in the past. When they launched a hundred things, nothing ever died. They started lighting money on fire. They had to manage it. They need a way to manage it and not light their money on fire. And our model is that answer. And when they get comfortable with that, they go to scale. I mean, our partners are launching hundreds of startups, a quarter zonally vertically. They're adding hundreds of millions in some cases, billions of new revenues each year repeatedly. So, I rarely use the word innovation because of the brain damage around it, it's a toy. You have to create urgency, grow or die. When that happens, the question is, how? And the work Bionic does, New To Big is the how. Steve Rush: From your portfolio experience. So, you're an investor and you've got a significant portfolio of your own investments that you've made in other startups and businesses. Is there one that you've got there? It's the favorite child?   David Kidder: I do. It's just one that you wouldn't think. Of course, there's the unicorns and those are exciting. And it takes about 50 bets to produce one in your life, even if you're connected, your shot is 1 in a 50. Unless you're very fortunate and network effect. And I was very fortunate because of that, but there's a company that I love and it's a founder, Lindsay Rosner, it's called Wellthy. The obsession comment I made earlier, born to do it. She is the, like the perfect case study for this, for profound reasons. So, Wellthy does a care coordination and they help families manage care at a distance. Family lives in lots of parts of the world or the country or town, even. A family member is sick, maybe they have mental illness. Maybe they have a degenerate disease or dementia, lots of stakeholders, lots of regulation and complexity. And they built a platform to solve that. It's like a quarterback managing all the aspects of caring for a single loved one. So that everyone's on the same page always. And you know, that was because, you know, Lindsay, when she grew up, you know, her mom had MS. And she was an only child and she had to lead and love and care for her mother through her very young age, through college, where she put herself through to Ivy league schools, started her own company. She is incredible, and she did this because she was born into it, obsession and gifted. And along the way, you know, she lost her mother and that continued to drive the purpose of her life. But Wellthy is a born to do a proprietary gift story that I love to tell because I love Lindsay, but I also just love the purpose of that company is on. And it's a great example of what will be a huge success because of her. Steve Rush: Awesome. Now, from your perspective, looking outside in at new opportunity like that, what drives your fire in your belly more? Is it that obsession with the people you work with or is it the product or return on investment? David Kidder: I mean, I probably should be more investment driven, you know, I've had raised a lot of venture, deployed a lot of venture. I love the becoming, I had a mentor and a relative of mine who passed away in 2014. Amazing guy, clinical psychologist, on the board of a bunch of big famous companies, great consultants. When he sold this company age 70, he passed away. Roger Fronske about nine months later. I was the last week person to see him. And he started me on my career as my uncle when I was 16. As he passed away, I saw him a couple of days before, and we were together and were forehead to ford, as he was saying goodbye. He had brain cancer, and he said, don't focus on who you are to the world, focus on who you're becoming. The idea becoming now, which is central to my philosophy but also that of my companies is that, you know, when you get to the top, you realize there's nothing there. The journey is where the growth is. That's where the love is. That's where the people are, relationships the vulnerability, the change. So, when you try to escape that, get out of that, to get to the exit, get to the top, finally get blank, you realize like what a perishable identity you have with that success. The success is falling in love with the becoming. And I really counsel my teams and the company, my culture, to create the doctrine, to make choices that choose the becoming versus, you know, performance and, you know, kind of like the silly comparison. That's a solving to probably an old shame in your life that you have to be successful but, in this case, find what you love. I love that part of the work. And so, wherever I apply, the energy will be important to me. Steve Rush: Really profound story, thank you for sharing it by the way, David, I appreciate it. David Kidder: Yeah, of course. Steve Rush: So, this part of the show is where we start to hack into your leadership brain. And I'm going to ask you to distill all of the years of learning experiences in organizations and tap into the very top three leadership hacks that you have. David Kidder: One that is new to me is to lead with the truth. This is one of the profound lessons I've learned in building Bionic is that people want the truth so they can help. Not because they're scared, but because they want to help and what they resent when you don't tell them the truth and ask them to help is that you didn't ask them because that's why they're there. So that is a gap between you, the CEO and the team, and that gap is can really only be filled by the team because most of the answers always come from the edge of the team. So that was one of the big one is lead with the truth. And it will shock you where you end up. Number two is I start in my day with a five-minute journal and it helps me understand where I am in the journey each day. I think there's a famous saying, which says, you're always optimistic about what you can accomplish in a day and you undress it and you can accomplish it in a year. So, getting the day right is most important. So, my five minute opens and closes the day with what I'm grateful for, what I need for that day. What I asks of the truths I need that day and also ask the universe, like, what do I need? And so, I close and begin the day, figuring out those things, but also reflect on like, hey, how could I have grown? You know, what can I handle better? That's the second one. And the third one is really the becoming part, which I just shared why that was important, but the becoming is philosophical, but it's also really important because you need a lot of patients when you're trying to create change and grow something. You know, the greatest force of the universe is compound interest. Will you do the right thing for a long period of time, it's inevitable. If you get that system right, that you'll be successful in whatever you define success, because it's what you think about. So, getting those things right, you know, those hacks right of the truth, that's reflective in the five-minute journal. And then you focus on becoming, I think no matter where you focus, your energy will lead to extraordinary outcomes. Steve Rush: Very great lessons. Thank you so much. The next part of our show is we call affectionately Hack to Attack. So, this is where something in your life or work has not worked out as planned. Could have been quite catastrophic or even screwed up. But as a result of the experience, we've now used that experience as a positive force in our life and work, what will be your Hack to Attack David? David Kidder: Hit the reset button, start over. I think people underestimate how powerful it is, is to set down an old truth, set down a day, set down an hour and start over. The ability to restart, reset, restart, however you want define it, is a miracle. You could restart your life. You could restart your career. You could restart your day. You could restart your relationship with person, your kids, your spouse, your co-founder, yourself. In a minute, in an hour, in a day, in a week, whenever you want. It's just a choice. And so being able to say, okay, that was a super bad morning. I'm going to restart my morning. I'm going to restart this meeting in the meeting. I'm going to restart this conversation. I'm going to restart my financial life, my savings, my spending, whatever it is. That power is available to you. I remember I had a moment when I went through total abject failure and had to build back. I was imagining myself running through these thorns, right? This my metaphor, but this how I felt. The harder ran the deeper the thorns got. I had nothing left. I was bleeding out, but I kept going because I would not fail. And I had this moment. It was probably one of most courageous resets in my life. As I imagined myself, lifting myself out of that road and putting myself on a clean new road. But what I did is as I moved myself back to when I was 20 years old. And when I realized is that all the same things that I knew and believed and was hopeful for about the future when I was 20 was still true today. I just need to re up, re believe, reset. And what were the challenge for me was I felt foolish and naive because who does that? Maybe I should just quit and find safety, that was all fear. And so that courageousness of starting over, but starting back in time, when you knew what was possible, all that optimism back, it just an amazing force. So, my hack is to reset or restart, however you define it. I think it's probably the greatest privilege and power we have in our lives. And you have the choice to do it at any moment in your day, week or life, to begin again. Steve Rush: Comes back down to mindset as well, doesn't it? David Kidder: Hundred percent. Steve Rush: Having the conviction to say, right. Need to change, need to do it. Now, ironically, our third and final thing that we wanted to take you through was a bit of time travel and you get to almost revisit the 20-year-old. And in this case, the 21-year-old David and give him some advice, what would be your advice then? David Kidder: To love yourself. And I think it's hard to not think about that through a lens of like selflessness, because I think that it's like, what I've discovered is that. I have three sons and I love them like the power of the sun, right? And as you think about how you love them; you would never want them to do something or be something that was harmful to themselves, that wasn't for loving themselves, right? Because they become, you know, a performance addict or, you know, all the dope, right? Steve Rush: Sure. David Kidder: Make the field better. So, I think if you can take that same power and shine it from your soul to yourself, you can realize, am I doing this through love or fear? And so, when you start to look at the choices that you're making in your life, in your business, yourself, especially largely they're made through performance and fear, but if you can get that orientation, right. That observer self to yourself saying, you know, I love you Steve, then I could ask the question is, why are you doing this? What are you needing? And that changes everything. And I taught my kids about this, but I would talk to myself about this, if I went back to when I was 21, because it would have saved me probably 10 years of my life, at least I'm 47 now, because I just made choices out of fear. Steve Rush: Yeah, and we often do, because that sense of fear is that self-preservation thing working out, which is what most entrepreneurs flip to use, their opportunity. David Kidder: Yup, a hundred percent. They're not even solving the problem. They're solving something inside themselves. Usually, it's an old shame. Steve Rush: I did some research for this many, many years ago, actually. And most entrepreneurs happen to be the least academical individuals as well, because they've used their creativity. They've focused on intuition. They've used all of those raw kind of right-hand emotions versus the left-hand emotions that we need to be effective in business too. David Kidder: Yeah. It's funny, you mentioned the word academic. I am almost anti academic and my dad was a psychologist, PhD. It's hilarious because, while we have a couple of PhDs at Bionic, who I love, where, you know, we create the outcome and you know, it's grounded in good academics, but it's not all that. Steve Rush: Right. So, what's new and what's next for you David? And for the folk at Bionic? David Kidder: You know, for now. I mean, it's the same, the purpose of our lives, the purpose of Bionic. My writing, thinking, and the company has never been more needed in the world today than any time in my lifetime. And certainly not since we started the company, I mean, transformation and growth are the most important things in the world today. And it's what we do. And so, I am in the right place, right time, you know, classic overnight journey, eight years in the work. And I couldn't be more honored to be doing it. Steve Rush: And if ever there was a right time to get you onto our show, it's also the now. So thank you for being with us. David Kidder: Grateful.   Steve Rush: Where's the best place for us to send folk who would like to learn a bit more about you, but more about the work that you do, you're writing and Bionic. David Kidder: Sure. So, there's two places for big companies. If see a big company you can go to onbionic.com O-N-B-I-O-N-I-C.com, learn more about transformation for big organizations there. For speaking or keynotes or books. You can go to davidskidder.com, D-A-V-I-D S in Steve K-I-D-D-E-R.com and there is a bunch of stuff up there. And hopefully it's enjoyable, feel free to reach out. I'm pretty available. So, we're accessible. So, no worries there but love to stay in connected with the world. Steve Rush: You're also pretty accessible through social media. We'll make sure that we have all of those links in our show notes as well. David Kidder: Thank you, wonderful. Steve Rush: It's only left for me to say thank you, David. I just love chatting with you. You're a really inspirational guy and that's no surprise why you have been so successful in winning and losing, and the 10% that are successful growing into great organizations and great companies. But thank you very much for being on The Leadership Hacker Podcast. David Kidder: It's my pleasure. Thanks, Steve.   Closing   Steve Rush: I genuinely want to say heartfelt thanks for taking time out of your day to listen in too. We do this in the service of helping others, and spreading the word of leadership. Without you listening in, there would be no show. So please subscribe now if you have not done so already. Share this podcast with your communities, network, and help us develop a community and a tribe of leadership hackers. Finally, if you would like me to work with your senior team, your leadership community, keynote an event, or you would like to sponsor an episode. Please connect with us, by our social media. And you can do that by following and liking our pages on Twitter and Facebook our handle there @leadershiphacker. Instagram you can find us there @the_leadership_hacker and at YouTube, we are just Leadership Hacker, so that is me signing off. I am Steve Rush and I have been the leadership hacker.  

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.