WFLS Podcast: Recent Episodes
Talent Army Media
The We F*@kin Love Startups podcast comes from the best Recruiters in the Startup ecosystem in Talent Army. Listen to Troy Hammond, our founder, talk to people from the startup ecosystem in New Zealand and beyond, and tell their stories of how they got into the industry. Hear more of the lives that led them there. Now they are in the industry, they break down what they are doing and how they are doing it. And a lot of laughs along the way.
What happens when a broke Kiwi founder and his team fly to San Francisco with only $15,000 left, sleep in a basement, and end up playing poker with the investor who changes everything?
In this episode of Startup Theatre, Troy Hammond sits down with Alistair McLeay, co-founder and co-CEO of Grw AI, one of New Zealand’s most ambitious artificial intelligence startups.
Alistair shares how a chance poker game in San Francisco helped him land funding and kickstart the creation of what he calls a “superhuman AI sales leader.”
Grw AI is a tool that coaches, trains, and lifts entire sales teams like the world’s best manager on steroids.
🔑 Topics Covered:
- The high-stakes gamble that almost ended his company before it began
- What it takes to raise capital when you have nothing left but conviction
- Why AI could make us more human, not less
- The personal cost of chasing something world-changing
- How the next five years of AI will transform how we think and work
From investing in San Frasnciso, to neural networks, this is a story about risk, belief, and the blurred line between human intuition, machine intelligence, and moral responsibility.If you care about startups, AI ethics, and the people shaping the future of artificial intelligence when everything is on the line, this one is for you.
🔥 Soundbites:
- We had $15,000 left and nowhere to sleep, so we went all in.
- We’re not building AI to replace people. We’re building it to make them superhuman.
- The real danger isn’t that AI will take your job. It’s that it might take your purpose.
- We taught machines to think, but can we teach them to care?
- This isn’t just a startup story. It’s a glimpse into the next chapter of humanity.
- You don’t need comfort to build the future. You need obsession.
🎧 Tune in now – and take notes. Alistair doesn’t hold back.
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In this episode of Startup Theatre, Troy Hammond sits down with Michael "Koz" Koziarski, a veteran software engineer, startup founder, and open source contributor, to talk about the messy, real, and rewarding side of building software and leading teams.
From his early work in Ruby on Rails and open source to his leadership roles at Vend and Southgate Labs, Koz shares the honest truths about engineering in high-growth environments.
You’ll hear how great leadership isn’t about having all the answers, it’s about building trust, hiring well, and raising the performance bar.
This conversation delves into what it truly takes to lead technical teams, navigate outages, transition from consulting to product development, and why there are no silver bullets—just consistent, hard, and deliberate work.
Whether you're an engineer stepping into leadership or a founder trying to build a high-performing team, Koz’s lessons on product understanding, trust, AI expectations, and crisis management will resonate.
🔑 Topics Covered:
- The evolution of open source and Ruby on Rails
- Why understanding product is non-negotiable for engineering leaders
- The real differences between consulting and building product
- Transitioning from coder to leader—and doing it well
- Navigating business reality vs. startup fantasy
- Raising the performance bar and letting your team fail
- Leadership in the age of AI
- Outages, crisis comms, and how to keep calm under fire
🔥 Soundbites:
- “There are no silver bullets in business... hard work is key.”
- “You’ve got to be able to call bullsh!t.”
- “Engineers need to stop sitting in ball pits."
🎧 Tune in now – and take notes. Koz doesn’t hold back.
This podcast was brought to you by our amazing sponsor in Vanta 🙌🏻
Get USD $1000 off Vanta using the link https://www.vanta.com/startup
In this episode of Startup Theatre, we sit down with Sam Kidd, co-founder and CEO of Lawvu, the pioneering legal operations platform that's transforming how in-house legal teams operate around the globe. Sam shares the journey of turning a bold idea from Tauranga, New Zealand in to a global SaaS company trusted by enterprise legal departments worldwide.
We dive into:
- The pain points in legal ops that inspired Lawvu
- Lessons learned scaling a startup in a niche (and often overlooked) industry
- The mental resilience needed to lead through hypergrowth and headwinds
- Why building company culture and customer trust go hand-in-hand
- The future of legal tech and where Lawvu is headed next
Whether you're an early-stage founder, a SaaS junkie, or just love hearing how great ideas become global businesses, this one’s packed with insights you don’t want to miss.
🎧 Tune in now – and take notes. Sam doesn’t hold back.
This podcast was brought to you by our amazing sponsor in Vanta 🙌🏻
Get USD $1000 off Vanta using the link https://www.vanta.com/startuptheatre.
Ever wondered what your colleagues really think about you?
In this episode, we sit down with Aaron Ward, co-founder and CEO of Huckleberry, the global startup turning workplace feedback on its head.
Aaron isn’t new to shaking up the world of work.
He previously co-founded AskNicely, a customer feedback SaaS that grew to Series B and raised over USD $50m, helping companies around the world rethink how they measure and act on customer experience.
With Huckleberry, he’s now bringing that same obsession with feedback and growth to the way we understand ourselves at work.
Huckleberry is the world’s first voice-based 360 feedback platform, designed to strip out the clunky surveys, save 90% of the time, and put your professional reputation in your pocket.
Think of it as the LinkedIn of feedback, a shareable profile that captures your strengths, work style, and how your team actually sees you.
In our conversation, Aaron shares how his team is reinventing one of the most broken parts of work: feedback. We explore the psychology of reputation, why most companies get it wrong, and how AI can transform the way we understand ourselves and grow our careers.
If you’ve ever wanted a no-BS view of your office reputation....
This episode is for you.
In this episode, we chat with "Global growth exec" Chris Teeling.
For two decades, he has held global leadership roles in high-growth technology companies, where he has built and led world-class teams, shaped strategy, scaled internationally, and delivered lasting results.
🚀 At Xero, he had the privilege as a member of the global ELT to help drive the company’s global expansion, scaling from 70,000 customers to over 1.5 million. He led and shaped strategy, growth, capital markets, corporate development, product, and operations. Breaking through the biggest barriers and cutting a path to $10s of billions in value was impressive. Still, for himself, he's most proud of the incredible people he helped grow along the way and the incredible things they are achieving on the world stage today.
📈 Over the last few years, he has been applying his experience scaling three successful global tech companies to help founders and leaders accelerate growth by uniting their people and harnessing AI tailwinds to turbocharge the journey.
🌏 On a broader mission, Chris committed to helping Kiwis prosper. Whether by working with great businesses to grow New Zealand's export economy or by improving people's retirement choices as an Independent Director of a major superannuation fund, his goal is to leave a lasting positive impact.
💡 Chris also announces his next new CEO role with a very successful Wellington SaaS company.
In this episode of Startup Theater, host Serge Van Dam engages in a dynamic conversation with female founders Irina Miller from Daisy Lab and Mrinali Kumar from Eat Kinda.
These amazing founders are pioneering the alternative protein sector in New Zealand.
On this episode, you will hear them discuss their journeys, the challenges of scaling their startups, and the importance of innovation in the food industry.
Irina shares insights about Daisy Lab's mission to create dairy alternatives using precision fermentation, while Milli talks about her experience launching cauliflower-based ice cream with Eat Kinda.
The conversation also touches on the broader plant-based market landscape, the role of female founders in startups, and the importance of vulnerability and collaboration in entrepreneurship.
This podcast was brought to you by our amazing sponsor in Vanta 🙌🏻
Get USD $1000 off Vanta using the link https://www.vanta.com/startuptheatre.
In this episode, host Serge van Dam engages in a deep conversation with Axton Pitt from LitMaps and David Moide from Foundry Lab.
They explore the intersection of science and entrepreneurship, discussing how science-based startups can drive innovation and have a positive impact.
Axton shares how LitMaps accelerates scientific research by helping users navigate academic papers.
David discusses Foundry Lab's mission to rebuild metal casting in the West.
The conversation also touches on the challenges of leadership, the importance of creativity in science, and the geopolitical landscape affecting scientific research.
The episode concludes with rapid-fire questions and highlights of other science-centric startups.
This podcast was brought to you by our amazing sponsor in Vanta 🙌🏻
Get USD $1000 off Vanta using the link https://www.vanta.com/startuptheatre.
With the amazing Electrify Aotearoa conference behind us, we wanted to share some of the amazing people who presented and attended.
In this special episode of the Startup Theatre podcast, we shine a spotlight on the remarkable women who are leading the charge in entrepreneurship.
Recorded live at the Electrify Aotearoa event, this episode features insightful conversations with inspiring female founders who are breaking barriers and redefining success in their respective fields.
Join host Adrienne Muir as she sits down with Marian Johnson, MNZM, the founder of Electrify Aotearoa, who shares her vision for growing the women's founder pipeline and creating opportunities for high-growth startups.
Alliv Samson co-founder of Kami, discusses her journey from a university competition to building a successful edtech company used by millions of students and teachers worldwide.
Kristen Lunman and Natalie Ferguson from Powrsuit, talk about the importance of risk-taking and redefining success for women in leadership roles.
Lucy Pink and Hannah Hardy-Jones from Contented, explore the power of capturing meaningful conversations and the role of AI in transforming business insights.
Throughout the episode, these trailblazing women share their personal stories, challenges, and triumphs, offering valuable insights and inspiration for aspiring entrepreneurs.
Tune in to discover how they are not only transforming industries but also paving the way for future generations of women in business.
This podcast was brought to you by our amazing sponsor in Vanta 🙌🏻
Get USD $1000 off Vanta using the link https://www.vanta.com/startuptheatre.
Angie Judge is a prominent figure in New Zealand’s technology industry, and she currently serves as the CEO of Dexibit, a cutting-edge analytics platform for visitor attractions. Judge’s entrepreneurial journey has been characterised by innovation, leadership, and a profound understanding of data-driven decision-making.
In 2015, Judge founded Dexibit, a company that has transformed analytics for visitor attractions, such as museums and galleries. Under her leadership, Dexibit offers these institutions insightful data and predictive analytics, allowing them to make informed decisions and optimise their operations while enhancing the visitor experience.
Before establishing Dexibit, Angie Judge had a significant career in the technology industry. She worked for companies like HP, Finco, and Amdocs, a multinational corporation specialising in software and services for communications, media, and financial service providers, where she was the Sales Director and Head of Transformation and Innovation. These various roles shaped her expertise in technology and innovation, paving the way for her entrepreneurial ventures.
This podcast was brought to you by our amazing sponsor in Vanta 🙌🏻
Get USD $1000 off Vanta using the link https://www.vanta.com/startuptheatre.
Nick Lissette is the founder and CEO of Black Pearl Group, a New Zealand-born SaaS company generating over $12.5M in ARR from the US market and he’s just getting started.
With a relentless drive and a famously no-BS approach to business, Nick has been scaling startups since he was 24, when he bought his first company for $1, walked into an office with a server, a car park, and no clue what he was doing and figured it out the hard way.
Since then, he’s built and sold multiple businesses, survived the brutal cycles of SaaS, and taken Black Pearl public on the NZX, with plans now underway for a dual listing on the ASX. Under his leadership, Black Pearl has launched a suite of products that use real AI, not vaporware, to help SMEs in the US find and close more customers. Nick doesn’t just talk about AI—his team builds it, deploys it, and uses it to scale faster with fewer people. And yes, he thinks Elon might’ve had a point about Twitter headcount.
Nick is as authentic as they come. He tells it like it is, about fundraising, hiring tough operators, managing burnout, building billion-dollar visions, and grinding through hill runs with his teenage son to stay mentally sharp.
Whether he’s cold-calling from a Taco Bell in Arizona or closing deals face-to-face in the US, Nick plays to win, and he’ll either succeed or “die trying.”
This podcast was brought to you by our amazing sponsor in Vanta 🙌🏻
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Ben Gracewood is one of those rare tech leaders who’s done the whole arc—starting in low-level code, scaling product and engineering teams at Vend through to a $400 million exit, and now leading in a world where AI is rewriting the playbook.
With a deep background in software development and executive leadership, Ben has built teams, shaped product strategy, and helped grow one of New Zealand’s most successful SaaS companies. But he’s not stuck in nostalgia. Today, he’s laser-focused on what comes next—and he’s convinced that we can now do more with fewer people.
Ben’s current work explores how artificial intelligence can augment product and engineering teams—not to replace humans, but to strip away busywork and let great people focus on what matters. He’s open in questioning the bloat that’s crept into many tech orgs, and he’s even willing to say what others won’t: maybe Elon wasn’t entirely wrong when he gutted Twitter’s headcount. Brutal? Maybe. But Ben thinks it opened up an uncomfortable truth—most tech teams are overstaffed and under-focused.
Whether it’s scaling with soul, building leaner, smarter teams, or staying close to the craft as a leader, Ben brings a no-BS, high-empathy perspective to what modern product leadership looks like. He’s still a builder at heart—and now he’s building with AI at his side.
This podcast was brought to you by our amazing sponsor in Vanta 🙌🏻
Get USD $1000 off Vanta using the link https://www.vanta.com/startuptheatre.
For nearly two decades, Heather has worked across strategy, operations, product marketing, revenue, and executive go-to-market roles in 𝗦𝗶𝗹𝗶𝗰𝗼𝗻 𝗩𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗲𝘆 startups and multinational companies.
On this episode, we discuss the impact of AI on business and the importance of 𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗔𝗜 𝘁𝗼𝗼𝗹𝘀 to stay competitive.
Heather shares her insights on the future of work, the necessity of adapting to new technologies, and the 𝗱𝗲𝗺𝗼𝗰𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘀𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗲𝗰𝗵 𝘁𝗵𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵 𝗔𝗜.
"𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘮𝘺 𝘢𝘩𝘢 𝘮𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵." ~ Heather Gadonniex
In this engaging conversation, Heather shares her insights on the evolving landscape of startups, the impact of AI on productivity, and the importance of 𝗚𝗹𝗼𝗯𝗮𝗹 𝗚𝗼-𝗧𝗼-𝗠𝗮𝗿𝗸𝗲𝘁 𝗦𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗴𝗶𝗲𝘀.
"That's mind-blowing." ~ Adrienne Muir
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Hamish Edwards hasn't told his story in detail before. and so you get to hear it for the first time.
Renowned for co-founding Xero with Rod Drury in 2006 in his accounting companies' boardroom, before they ever moved to said apartment.
As a practicing accountant at the time and working with Rod, Hamish played a pivotal role in Xero's early growth, shaping the product and expanding its customer base across New Zealand, Australia, and the United Kingdom by closely collaborating with accounting firms.
In this episode, Hamish tells us how and why Xero was founded and what he is doing now with https://www.firmcheck.com/.
We discuss the importance of obsession in achieving success and whether all founders have to be obsessed or not.
Now worth in the vicinity of $300 million, we ask Hamish:
Has success changed you?
If you are a founder looking to go global, this one is not to be missed.
This podcast is brought to you by our amazing sponsor in Vanta and could not be done without them.
Lowry Gladwell has been at the forefront of some of New Zealand’s most iconic companies, from law to payments, tech partnerships to sales.
Playing a key role in Vend’s journey through to their successful exit in 2021 and leading Xero’s embedded finance strategy and execution, Lowry knows his domain well.
Now, as Head of New Zealand at Airwallex—an Australian unicorn transforming banking and financial service, Lowry is focused on building the local team and introducing Airwallex’s game-changing product to the New Zealand market.
In this episode, we discuss all things revenue and channel partner growth, and how you should build a function and hire a team.
If you are a product company looking to go global, this one is not to be missed.
Rowan Simpson has been at the heart of New Zealand's most successful technology companies. As a founding team member at Trade Me and Xero, he witnessed firsthand how great companies are built through consistent execution. His subsequent investments and hands-on work with ventures like Vend and Timely have helped shape a generation of high-growth companies.If you’re the kind of person who hates being wrong (let’s be honest, that’s most of us), then How to Be Wrong is a game-changer. It completely flips the script on failure, showing that being wrong isn’t something to fear—it’s something to embrace. The book and ultimately this podcast is packed with real-world wisdom, practical advice, and a refreshing perspective on how to navigate uncertainty without letting your ego get in the way.
Nicole Retter is the sole Founder and CEO of PAM.
🤖 PAM stands for "Personal Admin Manager" and is your Family's own Digital PA
👩🏽💻 Nicole has been a marketer for 20 years, working in big ad agencies, and digital agencies delivering festivals, and guiding sole traders.
🚀 Her specialty is supporting Start-ups and SME’s, and due to your limited resources, we get to be creative in our approach and make a big impact fast.
🧑🧑🧒🧒 Nicole is the proud Founder of PAM, an app currently under construction to support busy families to thrive by reducing/sharing all the family admin crap we’re drowning under. She will be its first customer.
💁🏻♂️ In this episode, Nicole goes deep into the PAM story and the lessons she has learned to bring this product to the world!
👀 Please check out our sponsor in Talent Army who are NZ's best tech startup recruiters.
Philip Fierlinger co-founded Xero, playing a major role as Head of Design, leading Xero to become a disruptive platform and an iconic global brand.
Now he is the co-founder of Upstock, a B2B e-commerce & logistics platform transforming the food & beverage industry.
His early career highlights include work for Beastie Boys and General Magic.
In this episode Philip goes deep on the Xero story and the lessons he has learned to make Upstoack a 🦄 also.
Please check out our sponsor in Talent Army who are NZ's best tech startup recruiters.
In this episode, we chat with Derek HandleyDerek is an entrepreneur known for co-founding alongside Sir Richard Branson The B Team - a global collective advocating economic systems change to protect our natural environment and secure a safe, sustainable, and equitable future for allBefore The B Team, Derek was one of the first young Kiwi entrepreneurs to build a global start-up, The Hyperfactory, an early pioneer driving the transition from the PC world to the mobile world. He started it out of University and took from a balcony in Anzac Ave Auckland to offices across the world from New York to India and almost 200 people, before selling to a 100 year old NYSE-listed giant Meredith Corporation. Have served on the Board of Sky TV, sustainability board of Air New Zealand, as Adjunct Professor at AUT; Innovator in Residence at Wharton University of Pennsylvania and as campaign Chair for Prince Harry Duke of Sussex for his sustainable travel initiative “Travalyst”.Founder of Aera VC, a global climate-tech seed fund investing in transformative technologies to radically reverse climate change. Our 25+ portfolio companies have gone on to raise over $2b NZD. Personal angel investor in over 50 start-ups, still actively backing 2-4 companies a year - most recently examples x.Ai Series B and Tracksuit. Awarded Young Entrepreneur of the Year, Sir Peter Blake Leader, and Victoria University Distinguished Alumni awardsHe is now building his latest company in Aera.
Aera is a new Kiwi fintech start-up helping first-home buyers build a deposit in half the time.
Will Palmer is a seasoned entrepreneur with a successful track record in tech, co-founding Movio, Cupla, and DevRamp.
As Movio's CEO, he led its growth to dual listings on the NZ and Australian stock exchanges before exiting to build two entirely different businesses.
Consumer app start up Cupla and the developer tool, DevRamp.
With the massive success of Movio, we talk with Will on his lessons and learnings. Will is not stopping until he’s reached that unicorn status and we can see this happening.
Thanks to our sponsor in Talent Army who are NZ’s best IT recruiters
For 8 years, Oxygen Advisors has stood behind
over 100 New Zealand startups.
Amazingly, only 3% of their startup portfolio have not survived and we wanted to know why.
In this episode we chat with Matt Dold the founder and Mike Mandis the Co-CEO.
As the founder and Director at Oxygen Advisors, Matt has been at the forefront of empowering start-ups and high-growth businesses across New Zealand for over a decade. Matt's served as a Director, Advisor and CFO partner to many of New Zealand's most successful high growth companies such as Auror, Thematic, Archipro, Woop, Thundergrid, Conqa, Weirdly, Preno, Wipster and many more.
Mike is Co-CEO at Oxygen Advisors. Over the past four years he has helped technology companies raise over $150m in capital and has supported companies scaling globally from pre-revenue to $15m+ ARR.
Tune in and learn how this company has been able to help the ecosystem so much.
Thank you to our sponsor in Talent Army
Simon Pound is Managing Partner - Ventures for Previously Unavailable.Simon leads up Venture Studio and Brand Fund activity for Previously, and is host of the entrepreneur-focussed Business is Boring podcast for The Spinoff.
Prior to PU, Simon led global brand, creative and communications for Vend, and he loves working with startups on brand and positioning strategy and execution.
He is also a director of Ingrid Starnes, the online-first, made-to-order fashion business.
Thank you to our sponsor in Talent Army
Coachmate is a purpose-led tech startup on a mission to help kids stay in sports. Research has shown that kids who remain in sports have better mental and physical outcomes throughout their lives.
Enter Michelle Walshe is no stranger to sports after directing sports legends like Venus Williams, Kevin Durant, and Richie McCaw's feature films.
Michelle is also the co-founder of the successful Augusto, a hybrid creative and production agency.
In 2018, Michelle wanted to create more impact in the community and co-founded CoachMate, a platform dedicated to empowering grassroots sports parents and volunteers with world-class tools to help keep kids in sports.
In this episode, Troy and Michelle discuss her background in documentary making, her career in film directing, and how Michelle was compelled to solve the issue of helping volunteers in grassroots sports with technology.
Follow Michelle on LinkedInFollow Coachmate on LinkedIn
Thank you to our sponsor:Talent Army
TikTok has arrived and set up an office in New Zealand and we wanted to hear about it. In this episode we chat with TikTok’s NZ country manager. Carsten Grueber is a seasoned leader in the digital marketing and advertising industry, currently serving as the Country Manager for Advertising Partnerships at TikTok in New Zealand. In this role, Carsten has been pivotal in establishing and leading TikTok's commercial business, building strong relationships with key advertisers, and showcasing the platform's value for impactful campaigns. We discuss Carsten’s career after working with Google, Facebook and now TikTok Follow Carsten - http://linkedin.com/in/carsten-grueber-8a9b89Follow TikTok - https://www.linkedin.com/company/tiktok/Thank you to our sponsor:https://www.talent.army/
Lance Wiggs has over 10 years of experience as a venture capitalist and considerable experience helping to start, grow, turn around, and exit companies as a consultant, investor, co-founder, and director.
He is a principal with Punakaiki Fund and Climate VC Fund, and has invested in well over 40 companies.
In this episode, we discuss the importance of making good decisions in business and how Lance helps CEOs and founders make better decisions.
We talk about the Government and whether they should invest in our ecosystem and many more topics including Lance’s Aphantasia.
Follow Lance:
Follow Punakaiki Fund:
Thanks to our sponsor - Talent Army
Janine Grainger is one of the most requested shows we’ve had to date.
Janine is a kiwi-born entrepreneur and a highly respected leader in tech. She's the co-founder and CEO of Easy Crypto, New Zealand's leading cryptocurrency trading platform. Easy Crypto was established in 2017 to offer a secure, simple and easy-to-understand way for everyone to get involved in the cryptocurrency market, and has since helped hundreds of thousands of people get started with crypto.
Janine is on the Executive Council for FinTechNZ and sits on a number of government advisory and working groups, both in NZ and internationally.
Follow Janine - http://linkedin.com/in/janine-grainger
Follow Easy Crypto - https://linkedin.com/company/easy-crypto/
Thank you to our sponsor:
https://www.talent.army/
In this episode, we chat with Ralph Highnmam only days after his company Volpara was acquired for $300m by Lunit.
Ralph is no stranger to success as he founded and built a medical imaging AI company in Oxford, UK that was also acquired.
In this conversation, we go deep into how he has achieved this and why he decided to move to Wellington NZ, and help our ecosystem to grow further.
Follow Ralph - linkedin.com/in/ralph-highnam-a9352314
Follow RPH Ventures -https://www.rphventures.co.nz/
Thank you to our sponsor:
https://www.talent.army/
If you have not heard of a highly successful startup runn in New Zealand then you must be living under a rock.
Tim Copeland was one of the founders of SilverStripe, one of New Zealand's leading digital transformation companies, equally famous for our open-source content management system used today by tens of thousands of companies.
Now Tim has turned his passion to resource management software for the modern workforce and Runn is growing very fast globally.
Follow Tim - https://www.linkedin.com/in/timcopeland/
Follow runn -https://www.linkedin.com/company/runwithrunn
Thank you to our sponsor:
https://www.talent.army/
In this episode we chat with Leighton Roberts the Co-CEO & Co-Founder of Sharesies.
It’s the second WFLS episode on Sharesies and we explore the growth story of how Sharesies has become the success story it is today.
This podcast explores the highs and lows of the Sharesies story coming about partly from Leighton’s school friends investment club.
Follow Leighton - http://linkedin.com/in/leightonroberts
Follow Sharesies - https://www.linkedin.com/company/sharesies
Thank you to our sponsor:
https://www.talent.army/
Bron Thomson founded Springload in 2002 and grew it to one of Aotearoa's most successful and longest-standing independently-owned digital agencies.
Springload is a bi-cultural lead, purpose lead digital agency and Bron is one of the nicest and most admired founders in Wellington.
Troy and Bron talk about the highs and lows of service businesses and teaches us how to navigate the highs and lows of business.
Follow Bron:
linkedin.com/in/bron-thomson
Follow Springload: https://www.linkedin.com/company/springload-te-pipitanga/
Thank you to our sponsor:
https://www.talent.army/
Asantha Wijeyeratne QSM provides us with our most emotional and uplifting episode to date.
From founding Smart Payroll, the most successful SMB payroll company in NZ above a bakery in Lower Hutt.
To then selling it to Datacom and now re-upping and founding Paysauce to now be the best in the world.
In 2013 he was awarded the Queen's Service Medal for his duty to NZ business and community.
We talked with Asantha to learn how he has decided he could not retire and is now building a product that is bigger than ever.
Follow Asantha - linkedin.com/in/asanthawijeyeratne
Follow Paysauce - https://www.paysauce.com/
Thank you to our sponsor:
Talent Army - https://www.talent.army/
Mahesh Muralidhar has done it all.
From helping to take Canva globally as employee number 25, to launching PhaseOne Ventures in New Zealand and even running for Auckland Central in politics.
We talk with Mahesh to learn how he has been helping founders to take on the world from NZ and listen to his sage advice from being so early at Canva and now sharing this with his home in NZ.
Follow Mahesh - linkedin.com/in/maheshmuralidhar
Follow PhaseOne - https://www.phaseone.ventures/
Thank you to our sponsor:
Talent Army - https://www.talent.army/
Creative HQ recently released their 20 years of Impact report where they provide insights on the 1029 founders they’ve worked with.
We wanted to share the learnings of this highly impactful organisation who has helped create $1.3B in total valuation for the startup industry.
Catherine Jones is the highly talented CEO of Creative HQ and we discuss the opportunity of wealth that the startup ecosystem has for us all. For the founders, investors and more importantly for the NZ Government and us tax payers.
Watch how some 1029 founders have provided Creative HQ with the compounding knowledge over 20 years to help you on your journey today!
Follow Catherine: http://linkedin.com/in/catherine-jones-431213b
Follow Creative HQ: https://www.linkedin.com/company/creative-hq/
Thank you to our sponsor:
Talent Army - https://www.talent.army/
Too many Kiwi startups spend so much time getting things right in the New Zealand market before heading overseas.
We need to go global from day one!
Hear how Tim Boyle took Whip Around to the US immediately and found product market fit in the United States before they had even picked up a kit customer.
Our host Troy Hammond talks with Tim who has recently joined HealthNow as their Chief Marketing Officer to help simplify employee benefits For modern companies. We ask him what he has learned from his first startup, what he failed, and what changes he will make this time around.
Follow Tim - linkedin.com/in/timothyjboyle
Follow HealthNow - https://healthnow.co.nz/
Thank you to our sponsors
Talent Army - https://www.talent.army/
Talent Army is NZ's premier startup recruitment company
Oxygen Advisors - https://www.oxygenadvisors.co.nz/
For 8 years, Oxygen Advisors has stood behind
over 100 New Zealand innovators
Healthcare is broken. We all know it, though too many were scared to take on the behemoths who have owned this space forever.
Enter Vital.io the product built by kiwi Te Riu Warren as their founding CTO.
Hear how Te and Founder & CEO Aaron Patzer formally of Mint.com got together and Decided to take on the United States healthcare tech industry from New Zealand.
Our host Troy Hammond talks with Te about his journey. They discuss the challenges of not being able to just build an MVP in healthcare and how they’ve been able to succeed.
Follow Te - https://www.linkedin.com/in/teriu
Follow Vital - https://vital.io/
Thank you to our sponsor - https://www.talent.army/
Talent Army is NZ's premier startup recruitment company.
50% of marriages end in divorce and 75% of those divorces cite "quality time" as the killer. Enter Erika Palmer, a Kiwi tech founder with the app Cupla on a mission to help relationships flourish.
Hear how over 70% of users say Cupla is reducing stress and friction in their relationship. Try the app here https://cupla.app/the-app/Our host Troy Hammond talks with Erika about her journey. There are extreme highs and extreme lows in the pit of despair.Follow Erika - linkedin.com/in/erika-palmer-b709a836Follow Cupla - https://cupla.app/Thank you to our sponsor - https://www.talent.armyTalent Army is NZ's premier IT recruitment company for growing teams.
How has marketing changed and why has Tracksuit just raised $22m to help customers understand their brand?
In this episode, we talk with Conor Archbold who talks us through his journey and the explosion of Tracksuit.
Connor Archbold is the co-CEO and Co-founder of Tracksuit, a Kiwi startup creating the world's best brand tracker. Connor founded Tracksuit in 2021 alongside his co-CEO Matt Herbert.
GUEST LINKS:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/connor-archbold
https://www.instagram.com/connorfranklinarchbold
SPONSOR INFO:
https://www.oxygenadvisors.co.nz
In this episode of the WFLS podcast, we chat with Samantha Wong🔔 𝐀𝐫𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐮𝐛𝐬𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐛𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐮𝐬? 𝐎𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐟 𝐨𝐟 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐫𝐞𝐠𝐮𝐥𝐚𝐫 𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐬𝐮𝐛𝐬𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐛𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐡𝐨𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐨𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐬𝐮𝐛𝐬𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐛𝐞.
Sam is a Partner at Blackbird. Originally from Australia, she now heads up the office in Tāmaki Makaurau (Auckland), where she raised its inaugural $60M New Zealand fund in 2020 and is continuing Blackbird’s Kiwi adventure!
Sam has broad investment interests including digital healthcare, robotics, IoT and B2B software. Sam sits on the boards of Halter, FirstAML, Foundry Lab, Partly, Harrison AI and Workyard.
Sam is passionate about diversity in technology and venture capital and spear-headed the release of the Model Code of Conduct for the Startup Community as well as a venture capital internship program for women.
Prior to joining Blackbird she was a legaltech startup founder, an e-commerce product and strategy manager, and practiced in corporate and litigation teams at Minter Ellison before career-pivoting into startups in 2010.
She is a proud mother of an energetic toddler and on weekends can often be found at a local park running after a scooter or coming down a playground slide. She loves exploring the beautiful Aotearoa whenua with her family as well as yoga when her schedule allows.
GUEST LINKS:
- Sam's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/samanthawong/
- Sam's Blog: blog.blackbird.vc/@holasammy
PODCAST INFO:
- Podcast website: https://linktr.ee/wefuckinlovestartups
- Apple Podcasts: https://lnkd.in/g8Ae8czg
- Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2nEwCF8
- RSS: https://tr.ee/E4yOBnw-OW
- YouTube Full Episodes: https://lnkd.in/dq6ZsuZD
- YouTube Clips: https://tinyurl.com/4tnxp2ze
SUPPORT & CONNECT: Check out the sponsor above, it's the best way to support this podcastTwitter: https://twitter.com/WFLSPodcast Instagram: https://instagram.com/wefuckinlovestartupsLinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/company/wflspodcast Facebook: https://facebook.com/WeFKINLoveStartupsTikTok: https://tiktok.com/@wefukinlovestartupspod
In this episode of the WFLS podcast, we chat with Justin Teo
🔔 𝐀𝐫𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐮𝐛𝐬𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐛𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐮𝐬? 𝐎𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐟 𝐨𝐟 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐫𝐞𝐠𝐮𝐥𝐚𝐫 𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐬𝐮𝐛𝐬𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐛𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐡𝐨𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐨𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐬𝐮𝐛𝐬𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐛𝐞.
Justin or 'JT' as he is known to us mates, sits within Euc's Launch team who are responsible for building new capabilities, and revenue streams for the business.
Since joining ~ 2 years ago, JT has built out the People & Talent function, as well as launched Euc's offices in the Philippines, Germany, Japan and Brazil.
JT started his career in management consulting at Bain & Company.
Please support this podcast by checking out our sponsors:Blackbird VC: https://www.blackbird.vc/Talent Army: https://www.talent.armyGUEST LINKS: JT's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jongelsey/PODCAST INFO: Podcast website: https://linktr.ee/wefuckinlovestartups Apple Podcasts: https://lnkd.in/g8Ae8czgSpotify: https://spoti.fi/2nEwCF8 RSS: https://tr.ee/E4yOBnw-OW YouTube Full Episodes: https://lnkd.in/dq6ZsuZDYouTube Clips: https://tinyurl.com/4tnxp2zeSUPPORT & CONNECT: Check out the sponsor above, it's the best way to support this podcastTwitter: https://twitter.com/WFLSPodcast Instagram: https://instagram.com/wefuckinlovestartupsLinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/company/wflspodcast Facebook: https://facebook.com/WeFKINLoveStartupsTikTok: https://tiktok.com/@wefukinlovestartupspod
In this episode of the WFLS podcast, we chat with Jon Gelsey
🔔 𝐀𝐫𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐮𝐛𝐬𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐛𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐮𝐬? 𝐎𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐟 𝐨𝐟 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐫𝐞𝐠𝐮𝐥𝐚𝐫 𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐬𝐮𝐛𝐬𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐛𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐡𝐨𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐨𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐬𝐮𝐛𝐬𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐛𝐞.
Jon Gelsey started his career as an IC designer and supercomputer architect at Convex Computer, which was acquired by HP to be the high end of their server line.
After multiple product management and marketing roles he became a VC at Intel Capital, was responsible for strategy and M&A at Microsoft, and then became founding CEO of Auth0 Inc (acquired by Okta for US$6.5B) and later CEO of Xnor.ai (acquired by Apple for a publicly reported US$200M).
Jon is currently unemployed and enjoying his time.
Please support this podcast by checking out our sponsors:Blackbird VC: https://www.blackbird.vc/Talent Army: https://www.talent.armyEPISODE LINKS: Jon's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jongelsey/Jon's X: https://twitter.com/jgelsey?lang=enPODCAST INFO: Podcast website: https://linktr.ee/wefuckinlovestartups Apple Podcasts: https://lnkd.in/g8Ae8czgSpotify: https://spoti.fi/2nEwCF8 RSS: https://tr.ee/E4yOBnw-OW YouTube Full Episodes: https://lnkd.in/dq6ZsuZDYouTube Clips: https://tinyurl.com/4tnxp2zeSUPPORT & CONNECT: Check out the sponsor above, it's the best way to support this podcastTwitter: https://twitter.com/WFLSPodcast Instagram: https://instagram.com/wefuckinlovestartupsLinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/company/wflspodcast Facebook: https://facebook.com/WeFKINLoveStartupsTikTok: https://tiktok.com/@wefukinlovestartupspod
In this episode of the WFLS podcast, we chat with Niki Scevak🔔 Are you subscribed to us? Only half of our regular listeners are subscribing and we are hoping all of you will subscribe.Niki is a co-founder of Blackbird, a venture capital firm with the mission to be a partner to the greatest business stories born from Australia and New Zealand. Prior to Blackbird Ventures, he founded Startmate, an accelerator that helps nerds with ideas become great CEOs and build global startups. Earlier, he co-founded two software companies.Blackbird partners with founders at the very beginning and surrounds them with a community of other founders who have built successful technology companies before. The firm was founded in 2012 and currently manages $1.3 billion dollars.Please support this podcast by checking out our sponsors:Blackbird VC: www.blackbird.vcTalent Army: www.talent.armyEPISODE LINKS: Niki's LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/niki-scevak-15856Niki's X: www.twitter.com/nikiscevakPODCAST INFO: Podcast website: https://linktr.ee/wefuckinlovestartups Apple Podcasts: https://lnkd.in/g8Ae8czgSpotify: https://spoti.fi/2nEwCF8 RSS: https://tr.ee/E4yOBnw-OW YouTube Full Episodes: https://lnkd.in/dq6ZsuZDYouTube Clips: https://tinyurl.com/4tnxp2zeSUPPORT & CONNECT: Check out the sponsor above, it's the best way to support this podcastTwitter: https://twitter.com/WFLSPodcast Instagram: https://instagram.com/wefuckinlovestartupsLinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/company/wflspodcast Facebook: https://facebook.com/WeFKINLoveStartupsTikTok: https://tiktok.com/@wefukinlovestartupspod
In this episode of the WFLS podcast, we chat with Cameron Adams
🔔 Are you subscribed to us? Only half of our regular listeners are subscribing and we are hoping all of you will subscribe.
Cameron Adams is co-founder and Chief Product Officer of Canva, the only all-in-one visual communication and collaboration platform with a mission to empower the world to design. Since launching in 2013, Canva’s global community has grown to over 135 million monthly users in over 190 countries who have collectively created more than 15 billion designs.
Cameron is responsible for heading up the design and product teams, playing a key role in future product directions and innovations.
Prior to Canva, he ran his own design consultancy before joining Google, where he worked closely with Lars and Jens Rasmussen (co-founders of Google Maps) to develop Google Wave. He then moved on to build email startup Fluent, before meeting Melanie Perkins and Cliff Obrecht and deciding to bring Canva to the world.
Please support this podcast by checking out our sponsors:Blackbird VC: www.blackbird.vcTalent Army: www.talent.armyEPISODE LINKS: Cameron's LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/themaninblueCameron's Instagram: www.instagram.com/themaninblue2Cameron's X: www.twitter.com/themaninbluePODCAST INFO: Podcast website: https://linktr.ee/wefuckinlovestartups Apple Podcasts: https://lnkd.in/g8Ae8czgSpotify: https://spoti.fi/2nEwCF8 RSS: https://tr.ee/E4yOBnw-OW YouTube Full Episodes: https://lnkd.in/dq6ZsuZDYouTube Clips: https://tinyurl.com/4tnxp2zeSUPPORT & CONNECT: Check out the sponsor above, it's the best way to support this podcast Twitter: https://twitter.com/WFLSPodcast Instagram: www.instagram.com/wefuckinlovestartups LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/wflspodcast Facebook: www.facebook.com/WeFKINLoveStartups TikTok: www.tiktok.com/@wefukinlovestartupspod
In this episode of the WFLS podcast, we chat with Jodie Imam
🔔 Are you subscribed to us? Only half of our regular listeners are subscribing and we are hoping all of you will subscribe.
Jodie is the CoFounder and Co-CEO at Tractor Ventures and is passionate about helping businesses start and grow sustainably.Prior to Tractor, Jodie was at SBE Australia where she led the team in accelerating some of Australia's most innovative female leaders. Jodie set up the Innovation Bay community in Melbourne, is an advisor to multiple startups and a mentor at Startmate.Previously, she cofounded two-sided marketplace, Occasional Butler, which was acquired by rival Airtasker and depo8 coworking. At the Wade Institute she was a mentor, lecturer and Director of Startups.
Please support this podcast by checking out our sponsors:
- Blackbird VC: www.blackbird.vc
- Talent Army: www.talent.army
EPISODE LINKS:
- Jodie's LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/jodieimam
- Jodie's X: www.twitter.com/jodieimam
- Tractor Ventures: www.tractorventures.com
PODCAST INFO:
- Podcast website: https://linktr.ee/wefuckinlovestartups
- Apple Podcasts: https://lnkd.in/g8Ae8czg
- Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2nEwCF8
- RSS: https://tr.ee/E4yOBnw-OW
- YouTube Full Episodes: https://lnkd.in/dq6ZsuZD
- YouTube Clips: https://tinyurl.com/4tnxp2ze
SUPPORT & CONNECT:
Check out the sponsor above, it's the best way to support this podcast
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/WFLSPodcast
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/wefuckinlovestartups
- LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/wflspodcast
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/WeFKINLoveStartups
- TikTok: www.tiktok.com/@wefukinlovestartupspod
In this episode of the WFLS podcast, we chat with Mike Carden🔔 Are you subscribed to us? Only half of our regular listeners are subscribing and we are hoping all of you will subscribe.Mike is an entrepreneur. He is the co-founder of Joyous, a platform that unlocks expertise in large workforces. The worlds largest employers use Joyous to gather the knowledge in their teams, identify actionable themes, and solve critical challenges. Joyous is at Series A, venture-funded, and has offices in Auckland, Sydney and Dallas.This is Mike's second time founding a successful company after Sonar6 which was a Human Resources Software as a Service company founded in 2006. By 2012 Sonar6 had customers all around the world, and was well known as the innovator in Human Resource software. In 2012 Sonar6 was acquired by Cornerstone OnDemand (NASDAQ: CSOD).Please support this podcast by checking out our sponsor: Talent Army: www.talent.armyEPISODE LINKS: Mike's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelcarden Joyous's Website: https://www.joyoushq.com/PODCAST INFO: Podcast website: https://linktr.ee/wefuckinlovestartups Apple Podcasts: https://lnkd.in/ Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2nEwCF8 RSS: https://tr.ee/E4yOBnw-OW YouTube Full Episodes: https://lnkd.in/ YouTube Clips: https://tinyurl.com/4tnxp2zeSUPPORT & CONNECT: Check out the sponsor above, it's the best way to support this podcast Twitter: https://twitter.com/WFLSPodcast Instagram: www.instagram.com/wefuckinlovestartups LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/wflspodcast Facebook: www.facebook.com/WeFKINLoveStartups TikTok: www.tiktok.com/@wefukinlovestartupspod
In this episode of the WFLS podcast, we chat with Harry Wilde
🔔 Are you subscribed to us? Only half of our regular listeners are subscribing and we are hoping all of you will subscribe.
Harry Wilde is the Co-Founder and Co-CEO of Cotiss. He previously worked at Publicis Emil as a Planner. Harry attended The University of Auckland.
Cotiss aims to make the tender process easier with intuitive software designed to make the process more efficient, saving time and money for small to medium sized procurement teams who work in high regulation and compliance industries.
Cotiss has launched with the support of $2.2m investment in a round led by Blackbird Ventures, supported by Icehouse Ventures, Phase One, Co-Ventures and AfterWork Ventures. In its first weeks it has commitments from more than 40 customers including a small bank, a healthcare provider and local and central governments departments in New Zealand and Australia.
Please support this podcast by checking out our sponsor:
- Talent Army: www.talent.army
EPISODE LINKS:
- Harry's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/harry-wilde
- Cotiss's Twitter: https://www.linkedin.com/company/cotiss/
PODCAST INFO:
- Podcast website: https://linktr.ee/wefuckinlovestartups
- Apple Podcasts: https://lnkd.in/
- Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2nEwCF8
- RSS: https://tr.ee/E4yOBnw-OW
- YouTube Full Episodes: https://lnkd.in/
- YouTube Clips: https://tinyurl.com/4tnxp2ze
SUPPORT & CONNECT: Check out the sponsor above, it's the best way to support this podcast
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/WFLSPodcast
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/wefuckinlovestartups
- LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/wflspodcast
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/WeFKINLoveStartups
- TikTok: www.tiktok.com/@wefukinlovestartupspod
In this episode of the WFLS podcast, we chat with James Powell
🔔 Are you subscribed to us? Only half of our regular listeners are subscribing and we are hoping all of you will subscribe.
James is the Co-founder, CFO, and Spaceplane Chief Engineer at Dawn Aerospace.
James is currently responsible for the overall design and airworthiness of the Dawn spaceplanes, along with finance and HR, and capital raising. Before Dawn, James worked as an aeronautical engineer and was the design, certification, and manufacturing lead for Airways NZ and was the former youngest CAA Delegated Engineering Authority. He loves building things that go fast and cites his career highlights as every test flight he has ever been involved in, both at Dawn and prior.
Dawn Aerospace is really trying to revolutionise space access through its space planes. They are rapid reusability, taking off from existing infrastructure and the ability to run a fleet model will increase access to space, reduce cost, and is way more sustainable than the current rocket launch model.
We chat also about how the commercial space industry is growing rapidly globally, and New Zealand has an innovative and burgeoning Aerospace industry. It's a really exciting time to be in the space industry and there is a lot of opportunity for people to grow their careers.
Please support this podcast by checking out our sponsor:
- Talent Army: www.talent.army
EPISODE LINKS: James's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamesatdawn Dawn's Twitter: https://twitter.com/DawnAerospace Dawn's LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/dawnaerospace/ Dawn Aerospace website: www.dawnaerospace.com/spacelaunch - there is a diagram halfway down the page which shows the iterative plan for the spaceplane on its road to delivering payloads to space which is quite a helpful visual. They're currently in phase 2.
PODCAST INFO: Podcast website: https://linktr.ee/wefuckinlovestartups Apple Podcasts: https://lnkd.in/g8Ae8czg Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2nEwCF8 RSS: https://tr.ee/E4yOBnw-OW YouTube Full Episodes: https://lnkd.in/dq6ZsuZD YouTube Clips: https://tinyurl.com/4tnxp2ze
SUPPORT & CONNECT: Check out the sponsor above, it's the best way to support this podcast
Twitter: https://twitter.com/WFLSPodcast Instagram: www.instagram.com/wefuckinlovestartups LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/wflspodcast Facebook: www.facebook.com/WeFKINLoveStartups TikTok: www.tiktok.com/@wefukinlovestartupspod
In this episode of the WFLS podcast, we chat with Constant Meiring.
🔔 Are you subscribed to us? Only half of our regular listeners are subscribing and we are hoping all of you will subscribe.
Constant is the Co-founder and Chief AI Wrangler at In Game Collectables.
Having been introduced to computers at age four, he was hooked and has been geeking out on technology ever since. He's spent the past 15 years shipping successful technology products as a software engineer and product manager in startups as well as public companies.
IGC’s generative AI brings your game characters to life with the wave of your wand- or rather, a click of a button. No leaving the game, no third parties, no mounds of unpurchased, premade collectables sitting in a warehouse or landfill.
Please support this podcast by checking out our sponsor:
- Talent Army: www.talent.army
EPISODE LINKS:
Constant's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/constantmeiring Constant's Twitter: https://twitter.com/constantlm?lang=en Constant's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/constantlm Constant's Information Share: Lenny rachitsky IGC's website: https://www.igc.studio/
PODCAST INFO:
Podcast website: https://linktr.ee/wefuckinlovestartups Apple Podcasts: https://lnkd.in/g8Ae8czg Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2nEwCF8 RSS: https://tr.ee/E4yOBnw-OW YouTube Full Episodes: https://lnkd.in/dq6ZsuZD YouTube Clips: https://tinyurl.com/4tnxp2ze
SUPPORT & CONNECT: Check out the sponsor above, it's the best way to support this podcast
Twitter: https://twitter.com/WFLSPodcast Instagram: www.instagram.com/wefuckinlovestartups LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/wflspodcast Facebook: www.facebook.com/WeFKINLoveStartups TikTok: www.tiktok.com/@wefukinlovestartupspod
In this episode of the WFLS podcast, we chat with Levi Fawcett.
🔔 Are you subscribed to us? Only half of our regular listeners are subscribing and we are hoping all of you will subscribe.
Levi is the Founder and CEO of Partly, a startup on a mission to connect the world's parts, by making it as easy as possible for buyers to find the right parts for their vehicle. With a background in engineering at Rocketlab and multiple previously successful startups, Levi brings a unique combination of technical expertise and business acumen to his role at Partly.
Under Levi's leadership, Partly has raised $24 million in funding from leading venture capital firms in Europe and the US. The company has experienced exponential growth, directly powering over $150 million in annual orders and over $4 billion indirectly. Partly’s team of data scientists, engineers, and automotive veterans are building algorithms that help buyers find the correct car parts, solving one of the biggest challenges in the industry.
Please support this podcast by checking out our sponsor:
- Talent Army: www.talent.army
EPISODE LINKS:
- Levi's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/levi4sit/
- Levi's Twitter: https://twitter.com/Levi_Fawcett
- Levi's Information Share: The Life You can Save by Peter Singer
- Partly's website: https://www.partly.com/
PODCAST INFO:
- Podcast website: https://linktr.ee/wefuckinlovestartups
- Apple Podcasts: https://lnkd.in/g8Ae8czg
- Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2nEwCF8
- RSS: https://tr.ee/E4yOBnw-OW
- YouTube Full Episodes: https://lnkd.in/dq6ZsuZD
- YouTube Clips: https://tinyurl.com/4tnxp2ze
SUPPORT & CONNECT: Check out the sponsors above, it's the best way to support this podcast
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/WFLSPodcast
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/wefuckinlovestartups
- LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/wflspodcast
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/WeFKINLoveStartups
- TikTok: www.tiktok.com/@wefukinlovestartupspod
In this episode of the WFLS podcast, we chat with Dr Angela Lim.
🔔 Are you subscribed to us? Only half of our regular listeners are subscribing and we are hoping all of you will subscribe.
Dr. Angela Lim is CEO and co-founder of Clearhead.
Clearhead is an innovative workplace well-being EAP provider that takes a holistic and proactive approach to well-being that ensures personalised mental health care is accessible to everyone. Trained as a Paediatric doctor at Starship Hospital and having completed research at the Harvard School of Public Health.
Angela’s passion for tackling inequality led her to believe that technology has the best potential to drastically improve health outcomes and empower patients. Having sat on more than 15 Boards, she understands the importance of good governance and the importance of managing Health and Safety risks effectively. That is why Clearhead’s unique value proposition focuses on supporting businesses to understand their employees better through employee wellbeing data insights to drive systemic culture change.
Please support this podcast by checking out our sponsor:
- Talent Army: www.talent.army
EPISODE LINKS:
- Dr Angela's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/angelalim1/
- Dr Angela's Information Share: Good to Great by Jim Collins
- Clearheads's website: www.myclearhead.com
-
Clearheads's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/clearheadnz/?hl=en PODCAST INFO:
-
Podcast website: https://linktr.ee/wefuckinlovestartups
- Apple Podcasts: https://lnkd.in/g8Ae8czg
- Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2nEwCF8
- RSS: https://tr.ee/E4yOBnw-OW
- YouTube Full Episodes: https://lnkd.in/dq6ZsuZD
- YouTube Clips: https://tinyurl.com/4tnxp2ze
SUPPORT & CONNECT: Check out the sponsors above, it's the best way to support this podcast
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/WFLSPodcast
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/wefuckinlovestartups
- LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/wflspodcast
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/WeFKINLoveStartups
- TikTok: www.tiktok.com/@wefukinlovestartupspod
OUTLINE: Here are the timestamps for the episode. On some podcast players, you should be able to click the timestamp to jump to that time.
00:04:23 Fixing the broken healthcare system. 00:08:30 Society is more burnt out. 00:15:27. Importance of creating stillness. 00:17:50 Focus on proactive mental health. 00:21:18 Self-work is a lifelong journey. 00:29:40 Accessible mental health support is needed. 00:34:26 Mental health support is cost-effective. 00:40:09 Self-awareness is key for mental health. 00:43:06 Self-care is essential for well-being. 00:51:06 Be kind and empathetic. 00:54:35 Book recommendation: "Good to Great"
In this episode of the WFLS podcast, we chat with Barney Chunn.
Barney is the Co-founder and COO of CONQA.
🔔 Are you subscribed to us? Only half our listeners are subscribing and we are hoping the rest of you will follow and subscribe.
CONQA gives contractors the QA tools they need to get the job done, saving time and money. Mobile, intuitive digital software that makes it easy for those on-site to deliver fast and accurate detail for every QA check. No more tick and flick, and no more unnecessary paperwork.
Barney is no stranger to startups and has been an entrepreneur from high school days and right through University.
In this episode, Barney breaks down the triangle of opportunity he and his co-founding team looked for in creating CONQA.
Please support this podcast by checking out our sponsor: - Talent Army: www.talent.army
EPISODE LINKS: Barney's LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/barney-chunn-38a71172 Barney's Instagram: www.instagram.com/barneychunn Barney's Twitter: https://twitter.com/ChunnBarney Claudia's Information Share: Was his collection of poems that his Father has written him and his band the 'Dictaphone blues'
PODCAST INFO: Podcast website: https://linktr.ee/wefuckinlovestartups Apple Podcasts: https://lnkd.in/g8Ae8czg Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2nEwCF8 RSS: https://tr.ee/E4yOBnw-OW YouTube Full Episodes: https://lnkd.in/dq6ZsuZD YouTube Clips: https://tinyurl.com/4tnxp2ze
SUPPORT & CONNECT: - Check out the sponsors above, it's the best way to support this podcast - Twitter: https://twitter.com/WFLSPodcast - Instagram: www.instagram.com/wefuckinlovestartups - LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/wflspodcast - Facebook: www.facebook.com/WeFKINLoveStartups - TikTok: www.tiktok.com/@wefukinlovestartupspodOUTLINE: Here are the timestamps for the episode. On some podcast players, you should be able to click the timestamp to jump to that time.
[00:01:07] Entrepreneurial grafter selling sushi.
[00:04:16] Reusable bowl and catering.
[00:09:30] Philosophy in startups.
[00:11:34] The genesis of the idea.
[00:15:03] Connector issue between project and head office.
[00:17:46] Solving startup challenges.
[00:21:20] Focusing on core business.
[00:25:47] Accumulation of a fuck load.
[00:29:14] Foundational conversations and trust.
[00:31:23] Building an authentic company culture.
[00:35:30] Fuck yeah moments.
[00:39:12] Collaborative nature of the construction industry.
[00:43:56] Construction in a recession.
[00:47:08] Understanding the value of a dollar.
[00:50:23] An interesting topic.
[00:53:20] Writing poems every day.
In this episode of the WFLS podcast we chat with Claudia Batten. Claudia is currently is Chairperson of NZX and ASX listed digital travel company Serko and a Director of NZX and ASX listed Vista Group and NZX listed Air New Zealand. Are you subscribed to us? Only half our listeners are subscribing and we are hoping the rest of you will follow and subscribe. We talk on this podcast about a lot of topics, from Claudia’s roots in commercial law to how she has been a founding member of two highly successful entrepreneurial ventures. As part of the founding team of Massive Incorporated, a network for advertising in video games, she helped pioneer “digital” as a media buy. Massive was sold to Microsoft in 2006, where Claudia then spent 3 years scaling the in-game network. In 2009 she co-founded Victors & Spoils, the first advertising agency built on the principles of crowdsourcing. After two years in market, V&S was acquired by French holding company Havas Worldwide. Claudia also spent three years running North American operations for NZTE, supporting disruptive thinking for the growth of NZ exports in North America.
Please support this podcast by checking out our sponsor: - Talent Army: www.talent.army
EPISODE LINKS: Claudia's LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/claudiabatten Claudia's Instagram: www.instagram.com/claudiabatten/ Claudia's Twitter: https://twitter.com/ClaudiaBatten Claudia's Information Share (book): Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman Marian's Information Share (podcast): The Knowledge Project with Shane Parrish
www.squigglylife.com
PODCAST INFO: Podcast website: https://linktr.ee/wefuckinlovestartups Apple Podcasts: https://lnkd.in/g8Ae8czg Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2nEwCF8 RSS: https://tr.ee/E4yOBnw-OW YouTube Full Episodes: https://lnkd.in/dq6ZsuZD YouTube Clips: https://tinyurl.com/4tnxp2ze
SUPPORT & CONNECT: - Check out the sponsors above, it's the best way to support this podcast - Twitter: https://twitter.com/WFLSPodcast - Instagram: www.instagram.com/wefuckinlovestartups - LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/wflspodcast - Facebook: www.facebook.com/WeFKINLoveStartups - TikTok: www.tiktok.com/@wefukinlovestartupspod
OUTLINE: Here are the timestamps for the episode. On some podcast players, you should be able to click the timestamp to jump to that time.
[00:02:17] Natural flow state in conversation. [00:04:43] Power dynamics in conversations. [00:06:18] The power of listening. [00:10:40] Māori Pacifica Technology [00:14:40] Tech boom and e-commerce. [00:18:26] Relational networking over transactional. [00:21:09] Deep diving topics and information. [00:24:17] Massive Incorporated pivot. [00:27:12] Software pirate. [00:30:16] Solving problems for companies. [00:33:41] Traits to look for in a board. [00:37:36] Making hard decisions. [00:39:04] Making hard decisions with grace. [00:44:28] AI and human interaction. [00:47:22] Changing the game with AI. [00:50:06] Squiggling philosophy. [00:55:03] Thinking Fast and Slow. [00:57:06] Share your knowledge and stories.
In this episode, we chat with Marian Johnson the CEO of Ministry of Awesome 💡 🔔 Are you subscribed to us?
Only half our listeners are subscribing and we are hoping the rest of you will follow.
Marian has been leading the Ministry of Awesome team since late 2017 helping to drive a dynamic startup and innovation ecosystem that will power NZ’s future success.
Marian is deeply passionate about engineering the serendipity required for a successful Kiwi high-growth startup community - driving collaboration between founders, investors, government, talent, and corporates through MoA and their ChristchurchHQ and startup hub Te Ōhaka.
Please support this podcast by checking out our sponsor:
- Talent Army: www.talent.army
EPISODE LINKS:
Marian's LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/marianejohnson
Marian's Instagram: www.instagram.com/marianjohnsoninnz/
Marian's Twitter: www.twitter.com/MarianInNZ
Marian's Information share (book): www.a16z.com/book/the-hard-thing-about-hard-things/
Marian's Information share (website): www.abroad.io
PODCAST INFO:
Podcast website: https://linktr.ee/wefuckinlovestartups
Apple Podcasts: https://lnkd.in/g8Ae8czg
Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2nEwCF8
RSS: https://tr.ee/E4yOBnw-OW
YouTube Full Episodes: https://lnkd.in/dq6ZsuZD
YouTube Clips: https://tinyurl.com/4tnxp2ze
SUPPORT & CONNECT:
- Check out the sponsors above, it's the best way to support this podcast
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/WFLSPodcast
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/wefuckinlovestartups
- LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/wflspodcast
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/WeFKINLoveStartups
- TikTok: www.tiktok.com/@wefukinlovestartupspod
OUTLINE:
Here are the timestamps for the episode. On some podcast players, you should be able to click the timestamp to jump to that time.
[00:02:08] Mistakes and startup lessons.
[00:05:04] Ministry of Awesome's backstory.
[00:07:39] Christchurch's transformation post-earthquake.
[00:12:18] Dragging partners to New Zealand.
[00:15:08] Trump's unexpected victory.
[00:19:39] Tech hub in Budapest.
[00:24:29] Americans and their orating skills.
[00:26:02] New Zealand's global recognition.
[00:31:42] High-growth startup community.
[00:35:07] Startup environment as a career path.
[00:37:10] Kiwis think too small.
[00:42:47] Startups and early stage volume.
[00:45:06] Women founders and inclusivity.
[00:48:51] Electrify Aotearoa.
[00:53:20] Minister for startups.
[00:57:03] Founder development program
[01:00:15] The power of podcasting.
In this episode of the WFLS podcast, we chat with Nick Houldsworth.
Nick Houldsworth is co-founder of AI tax startup Prosaic, a board member of Ambit and Melodics, and an investor at Tradify, Spotrisk, and Redshield.
Nick was the first employee and CMO at Vend, and Exec GM for the Developer API and App Store at Xero.
Sadly, he’s no longer available for children’s parties.
In this episode, we chat about Nick's journey from being the #1 employee at Vend and then leading the Ecosystem marketplace at Xero.
Nick gives his advice to people that want to be in a startup and why you should sit when you are offered a seat on a rocket ship.
He talks about life now and what he is up to with his latest startup.
Nick talks about his band Hobotalk as his information share and you can check them out here.
He believes that you should join a startup and 'start a movement' and you can see the video "How to start a movement" to see how it evolves.
Please help us to continue producing these podcasts by subscribing. Thank you and enjoy the episode.
Timestamps:
[00:03:25] Taking a career break.
[00:06:36] Filtering through creative ideas.
[00:10:22] Finding balance in work and life.
[00:14:47] User-friendly accounting software.
[00:16:17] Consumer brands building business applications.
[00:20:10] Failed entrepreneurial attempts.
[00:23:24] B2B marketing and emotional motivation.
[00:26:00] Creative marketing strategies.
[00:29:23] F bomb gate.
[00:32:06] Writing job descriptions and blow-up.
[00:36:34] Obsession with Trade Me.
[00:38:05] Sliding door moments.
[00:42:28] Midlife crisis and hobbies.
[00:45:20] Music archives and Virgin Records.
[00:47:26] People smarter than you.
[00:51:30] Marketing team and business growth.
[00:53:37] Leaving for new opportunities.
[00:57:55] Entrepreneurial mindset and prioritization.
[01:00:27] Career trajectory and joy.
[01:03:52] Building a marketing team.
[01:08:07] Personal cashflow struggles.
[01:09:09] Open banking and AI opportunities.
[01:11:32] Companies thriving and growing.
[01:16:37] Hobo talk on Spotify.
[01:19:26] Getting involved in startups.
[01:21:08] Nick's imposter syndrome.
In this episode of the WFLS podcast we chat with Justin Soong. Justin is the founder of Authsignal, an engineer by craft, and product and customers are his passion. He is no stranger to success as Justin has been part of multiple FinTech successes in Australasia. Justin has been CTO of ASX-listed NZ company Laybuy. Was a vital member of the team working on the Afterpay code base at Paloma Group, and launching P2P lending at Harmoney. During this journey Justin's teams have processed billions dollars of payments and lending, and he's taken his learnings from scaling and managing risk consumer applications into Authsignal. We talk about why he decided to found AuthSignal with Paloma Ventures and how he loved it. Justin shared many lessons on his journey and his information share is doing Toast Masters. Please help us to continue producing these podcasts by subscribing. Thank you and enjoy the episode.
In this episode of the WFLS podcast, we chat with Miriana Lowrie.
Miriana is the Founder & CEO of 1Centre - Trade Credit & Customer Management Platform.
Her laser focus is on solving everyday problems for their Sales & Finance Teams when they onboard business customers and manage their ongoing credit risk.
She is highly motivated and driven, Miriana founded 1Centre as a result of supporting other businesses by setting up systems and processes in her spare time.
Miriana says: “I just couldn’t quite figure out why opening accounts was so laboriously manual, repetitive and time-consuming” – so she set out on a journey spanning over two years to interview as many suppliers and business consumers as she could, about what their experiences were like with opening trade accounts – as a result, 1Centre came to life.
With over 20 years of banking experience, a passion for making life easier for business (herself included), and a BBS in management and sales, she has all the right ingredients to roll her sleeves up and drive 1Centre forward.
In this episode, we chat about Mariana's journey from being a single Mum at 17 to going back to University to give a better life to her children.
Mirinana says being a Wāhine Māori founder has taught her many lessons and she shares a lot of these on the podcast.
Her information share is to go and watch the TV show Silicon Valley and you can check out her son's Instagram we mention on the show here.
Please help us to continue producing these podcasts by subscribing.
Thank you and enjoy the episode.
In this episode of the WFLS podcast, we chat with Barnaby Marshall.
Barnaby is a Partner at Icehouse Ventures, a leading NZ venture capital firm.
He has also been an early investor in Dawn Aerospace, First AML, Basis, Narrative, Jasper, and many more.
Barnaby is an entrepreneur and investor, his previous role before Icehouse Ventures was as the managing director of I Love Ugly.
He is also a co-founder of New Ground Coffee.
In this conversation, Troy and Barney go deep on investing, and the mindsets needed for founders and Barney sets out to debunk the myth that:
"More money means more results"
At 20 mins we reference his old bFM show and you can listen to that here, and Barnaby's information share is The Star Principal book by Richard Koch.
You can read Barnaby's blog on The Startup Efficiency 'Boiling Point' here where he goes deep on "Some are calling this new start-up funding environment a period of financial "austerity," and startups need to adjust to the "new regime."
Please help us to continue producing these podcasts by subscribing.
Thank you and enjoy the episode.
In this episode, we chat with Frances Valintine CNZM
Frances Valintine CNZM is a passionate educator and technologist who is focused on developing education opportunities that connect professionals to the knowledge they need to be successful in today’s rapidly advancing world.
For 25 years she has been dedicated to shifting education and business practice to develop the capabilities, knowledge, and mindset needed to respond to the future of work, changing societal expectations, and the protection of the planet.
Frances is an education futurist from NZ. She has won numerous awards for her educational programmes and is the Founder and CEO of AcademyEX which includes: The Mind Lab, Tech Futures Lab, and Earth Futures Lab.
She is known for her commitment to working to improve the outcomes for the next generation through contextualising education delivery and content in the 21st Century.
Frances's information share is Hard Fork podcast.
Please help us to continue producing these podcasts by subscribing.
Thank you and enjoy the episode.
In this episode, we chat with David Downs.
David is CEO of The New Zealand Story and a director on several boards, including as Chair of The Icehouse.
David is an ex-comedian, TV, and radio actor, semi-finalist for New Zealander of the Year, cancer survivor, and a published author of books
No.8 Re-wired, No.8 Recharged, A Mild Touch of the Cancer, and Silver Linings.
We spoke about the relationship between board and exec, government and startups, and everything else in between.
David is a lovely and amazing man and someone who has championed tech startups and New Zealand for his lifetime.
Please help us to continue producing these podcasts by subscribing. Thank you.
In this episode of the WFLS podcast we chat with Simon Brown. Simon Brown is co-CEO at Banqer, the financial education platform which has been used by over 300,000 Australasian school students. His role leverages his passion for finance, technology, and education to support teachers in enhancing their students' financial literacy and overall wellbeing, making a positive impact on the world. We chat about how and why Banqer was founded to help kids become better with money. Simon is no stranger to founding startups with CrashCram being his first and Banqer his second with co-founder Kendall Flutey. Banqer is on a mission to prepare the next generation for their financial future. They believe that everyone should have access to a quality, engaging, effective financial education that sets them up for financial success - whatever that means to them.They started with a vision to teach one student about money (their co-founders' little brother), and since then they’ve helped financially educate over 300,000 students. The impact they’ve had through their innovative approach to teaching critical life skills has been celebrated externally, but most importantly it’s what motivates them each day. Please help us to continue producing these podcasts by subscribing. Thank you.
In this episode of the WFLS podcast we were lucky enough to speak with not only one crime fighting Aurors, though two in Kirsti Grant & Phil Thomson.
Kirsti is the VP People Experience and all around amazing person.
Phil is the CEO and Co-founder and NZ Entrepreneur of the Year 2022.
We sat down with them both to learn how People Experience is helping to shape the future of Auror.
In this episode, Phil and Kirsti share the story of Auror from being founded by friends realising that $100B+ was lost every year by retailers but there was no effective technology being used to report, solve, or prevent crime.
Now in Australia, New Zealand, North America, and the United Kingdom, Auror needed to re-look at their company values and how to scale this rocket ship for grown.
Kirsti and Phil go deep on the successes and attempts they have taken over the years and how they are now seeing magical moments across their business by letting the people in their business shape the next phase of growth at Auror.
We also asked Kirsti and Phil to share some things that have moved them recently:
Kirsti suggests you watch "How AI could save (not destroy) education" by Sal Khan and Phil suggests you look at two books that he learned from life and death situations.
Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy SEALs Lead and Win by Jocko Willink (Author), Leif Babin (Author) and the second is Team of Teams: New Rules of Engagement for a Complex World by General Stanley McChrystal
Thank you so much for watching and listening to the podcast and please subscribe wherever you are reading this.
On this episode of the WFLS podcast, we chat with Bobby Lloyd.
Bobby Lloyd is the CEO and co-founder of Fussy, a new personalised catering tech that allows guests to order their own meal. He also launched NZ’s first reusable packaging system for food - Reusabowl.
Bobby is a young and driven entrepreneur who is wise beyond his years and this podcast is packed with success stories, attempts and that means lessons for you. We managed to get Bobby on the pod before he moved to London and take Fussy global. When not working, Bobby is likely surfing, making jewellery, or out with friends and family.
This was an amazing chat covering many topics and so we hope you enjoy it.
Please subscribe to help us keep providing you with this content.
In this episode of The WFLS Podcast, we chat with Kat Lintott.
Kat (Ngai Tahu) is a world builder experimenting with storytelling and interactive media. Her passion is to use new technology and creative platforms to empower people in the real world and have a positive impact on themselves and their community.
She is the co-founder of Wrestler which is a creative agency. Kat's focus is VR and MR.
Her goal in life is also to change the way people approach life.
She says: "Our purpose should be to live, not to work. Feeling comfortable and being valued for our individual identity without it being attached to a job or career would be an amazing future to live in!"
She is also the creator of Soul Æther which is a young adult sci-fantasy world exploring past lives, science, magic, and alchemy. It spans NFTs, an animated series, games, metaverse experiences, and more.
We talk about all of the above, her year of transition, and how Kat reconnected with my purpose.
We also talk about the famous Time Jackers video Wrestler made for Troy many years ago, and if you dare to watch it - you can find it here.
This was an amazing chat covering many topics and so we hope you enjoy it.
Please subscribe to help us keep providing you with this content.
In this episode of the WFLS podcast we chat with Mark Vivian.
Mark is the General Partner with Movac who are New Zealand’s most experienced technology investor and is deeply integrated into the Kiwi tech sector. They've been actively investing since 1998 and are currently deploying Movac Fund 5 into Pre-A to Series C New Zealand technology companies. For the past 15 years Mark has been part of a team working to accelerate kiwi tech companies.
He has helped Movac invest in more than 50 companies, and raised more than $600m for their funds.
Mark a proud father of 5, and likes to escape work to go fishing, biking and skiing.
We talk about how you can get investment in this market, what happens with due diligence and how you should always be thinking about raising and building your profile with VC's.
This is a great podcast to listen to if you are even thinking about raising one day.
Thank you for all our listeners and as we are looking to keep growing, we please ask you to follow us on your favourite podcast platform.
In this episode of WFLS we talk with Pene Barton.
Pene is the CEO of Crimson Global Academy. A coach and experienced people leader, she is passionate about building high-growth, scalable, and successful organisations.
Pene brings with her over ten years of experience working with some of the fastest-growing global startups in people, culture and performance roles whilst simultaneously running her own businesses.
Pene helps organisations build high-performing communities and teams in distributed environments.
We talk about Pene's meteoric rise to being a CEO and how she had strategically planned to get there and get there faster than most.
Pene is clearly impressive and we hear her story from CPO to CEO and the work she has done building communities globally (previously remote employees and now remote students).We loved hearing her get on her soapbox about people roles being commercial and operating like a CEO and also the joys of running your own businesses as well. Pene recommends reading the book "Amp it Up"
Please subscribe to the podcast to help us continue bringing these to you.
On this episode of WFLS, we talk with Charlie Meaden about AI, investing and his company's ambition is to create a futuristic Berkshire Hathaway built on Automation, AI, and optimising productivity.
Charlie is a technologist and investor who runs a systematic investment strategy and founder of Gembot.ai. Gembot is 'Your AI Investing Assistant & Modern Wealth Platform.'
After successfully exiting his previous startup Uproar, Charlie got really fascinated by investing and learned everything he could about it and thus Gembot was born. A Platform that enables individual investors to execute investment strategies by continually improving their financial literacy through a collaborative community and advanced trading tools. Democratising information and advanced tools for individual self-directed investors allowing them to seamlessly execute simple, intermediate, or advanced investment strategies.
Our host Troy Hammond heard about what Charlie and his team were doing via a mutual American friend and after reading his Memo 'How To Fight Inflation In A Deflationary World' we knew we had to get him on the pod. It is a great read, impressively it was written in 2021 and largely spelled out what is happening now.
We discuss this and many more topics around AI, ChatGPT, Investing, and lots more.
Please subscribe to the podcast to help us continue bringing these to you.
Welcome back. It is season ✌🏻 and we are going bigger and better. Our first episode of the season is with Brooke Roberts. Brooke is the co-founder, director and 3EO (co-CEO) of Sharesies and mother of two. Sharesies is an empowering money app with over half a million investors who’ve collectively invested over $2 billion. At Sharesies, their vision is to give someone with $5 and $5m the money investment opportunities. Brooke is passionate about creating equal opportunities and business being a force for good—she puts a lot of focus on making sure Sharesies has a positive impact on people, customers, communities, and the environment. Brooke was awarded the 2022 NZ Hi-Tech Inspiring Individual and we can see why after this conversation. We talked about the Sharesies story from a conversation between 6 friends and how they designed the values and DNA of the company that stands today over a soda at Egmont street eatery in Wellington. Brooke is open, insightful and just plain impressive and so we hope you enjoy this podcast as much as we did. You can check out what a convertible note below. https://kindrik.co.nz/guides/convertible-notes-vs-equity-a-beginners-guide/Please share with anyone who you think might enjoy and get them to subscribe like you.
This podcast has made us all very happy by doing something that brings us and others joy in the world.
With season one wrapping, let's go back and look at our final question and the answers to:
"What makes you happy?"
Thank you to our major sponsor for season one in Talent Army
Thank you to Jono, Dom and Troy for putting this together and Jen for her lovely voice over skills.
In the final episode of the WFLS podcast, we chat with Mike Riversdale & Raj Khushal who were one of the reasons this podcast was created.
Our host Troy Hammond was a big fan of the Access Granted podcast that Mike & Raj founded and ran for many years.
It was a gritty podcast started in Wellington to celebrate the tech startup community.
Mike and Raj usually recorded at Goldings Free dive bar in Wellington and got some great guests on to come in and tell their stories and help the community.
We at the WFLS know how hard it is to create a podcast and so we wanted to pay homage to these legends that went before us and so we decided to finish with the Access Granted famous question: "What makes you happy now?"
Troy thought it only fitting to finish the season by having a fun podcast with Mike and Raj and so they all got together and reminisced about the old show that changed so many people's lives and probably drank too much going from all the laughing we had to edit out of this show.
Thank you Mike and Raj for doing what you did to help the industry and we appreciate your show and you both.
Season one of the WFLS podcast is now concluded and we are taking the show nationally now and so please get in touch if you are wanting to be a guest.
Subscribe to help us keep building the show and send us any feedback you are willing to send to help us improve for season two.
Thank you to everyone involved and everyone who has watched and or listened to any of the pods.
We appreciate you all.
In this episode of the WFLS podcast, we chat with Matthew Hayter who is the CEO & Founder at Projectworks.
We talk about Matt's journey from working in a consulting company to spinning off a startup from that company that invested in them.
When the company got acquired, so did Projectworks and this was before they had even got the product off the ground.
Matt and his team found themselves pitching the new owners to keep his product alive.
They are very much alive and going from strength to strength now.
Mat is Co-Founder and CEO of Projectworks, the B2B SaaS platform that’s improving the lives of professional services firms across the globe.He’s a proud dad, who loves tech, cars, retro gaming, and spending his spare time on DIY projects.Educated at Victoria University in Wellington, Matt started his career in software consulting before taking up the entrepreneur life.
We hope you enjoy this as much as we did.
Please subscribe to help us.
About 60% of our audience does not subscribe and the numbers help us greatly.
In this episode, we speak with Carlos Chambers.
Troy and Carlos chat about his journey from being a lawyer, to a climate activist to now a successful founder of two saas companies.
They discuss the highs and lows of this journey and a brief psychadelic-infused trip to Burning Man that help put Carlos on a better path.
Carlos is on a mission to make a dent in the world. He is a climate fintech founder building CarbonInvoice™.
A company where services firms can do the right thing and grow their business.
Carlos is also the CEO of Common Ledger which is a platform for open data for SMEs.
Previously he was a commercial lawyer at Russell McVeagh, climate organiser Generation Zero and he is always seeking higher knowledge.
We hope you enjoy this as much as we did.Please subscribe to help us. About 60% of our audience does not subscribe and the numbers help us greatly.
In this episode, Troy chats with John-Daniel Trask, or JD, who is the Co-founder & CEO of Raygun.
He has been developing software for over 30 years, has produced 14 products, built 4 joint ventures, invests in start-ups, and spends his days leading Raygun and building Lego with his family.
Troy and JD chat about his story from knowing he was going to be a successful entrepreneur at 9 years old, building products that have scaled more than most NZ companies and performance culture.
JD is not shy in giving his opinions on things and we loved that. He talks honestly and authentically about what he views as a high-performing culture and what he believes employees are really looking for.
We hope you enjoy this as much as we did.
Please subscribe to help us. About 60% of our audience does not subscribe and the numbers help us greatly.
Mary Haddock-Staniland is the SVP of Global DEIB & People APAC EMEA at EverCommerce a global software company.
In this episode, Troy and Mary talk about Mary's journey, transitioning into one of the most remarkable and mana-enhancing wahine we have ever had the privilege of talking with.
They cover Mary's personal story, what it is like being a trans woman in New Zealand and now sitting at the exec table of a global software company.
Mary has garnered an impressive reputation for championing change and advocating for a more equitable world, sparking positive change, in the corporate world as a highly regarded thought leader and in social spheres as a committed advocate.
She joined EverCommerce after Timely was acquired by us back in 2021; Mary held the role of Chief People & Inclusion Officer at Timely, the first people and inclusion role at an executive level to exist in New Zealand.
We absolutely loved our chat with Mary and believe that if the world was as empathetic, curious, and kind as this chat...
Everything would be so much better.
Please subscribe to help us. About 60% of our audience does not subscribe and the numbers help us greatly.
In this episode Troy Hammond talks with Mark Clare from Clare Capital.
Please subscribe to help us continue bringing you great podcasts.
There has been so many acquisitions over the last few years and we wanted to know when is the best time to bring an investment banker in.
Mark gives us a great insight into the M&A process and how you can maximise your opportunities.
They discuss a range of topics including:
🤝🏻 Mergers & acquisitions
📊 Corporate finance advisory
💰 Capital raising and many others.
Mark is the founder of Clare Capital and works primarily with clients to help them complete transactions.
Mark has over 25 years’ commercial and corporate finance experience, with a background in investment banking, strategy, and technology. Mark has completed a multitude of M&A transactions for large entities and private companies.
Mark holds an MBA (with distinction) from Victoria University and a Bachelor of Business Studies (Accountancy) from Massey University. Mark is a Certified Member of the Institute of Finance Professionals New Zealand Inc.
We hope you enjoy this episode as much as us.
In this episode of We F*@KIN Love Startups, Troy Hammond chats with Kimberley Gilmour who is the Co-Founder and CEO of Sprinklr.
We talk about the highs, lows, and comebacks Kimberley has had in tech, where she has had to take time off from heavy life situations.
Kimberley is a breath of fresh air in the People Experience space for startups and she and the Sprinklr team, help startups grow.
Previously to Sprinklr, Kimberley has worked with some of New Zealand’s most iconic and successful high-growth companies through periods of global expansion and change, including Icebreaker, Vend, 8i, UneeQ, and Groov. She is skilled in developing and embedding proven people processes and practices that fuel growth, strengthen culture, enhance performance, and support well-being.
She is passionate about using her experience now to help startups navigate the many and varied challenges and opportunities that arise on the journey, to remove friction and toil, to minimise risk, and help startups and their people thrive.
Please like, share, and subscribe to help us continue sharing the stories of remarkable people like Lee.
**DISCLAIMER****
In this episode, Kimberley talks about the suicide of her partner at the time.
Suicide is a very sensitive topic to discuss for many and for some it can trigger intense emotions and thoughts. If you or anyone you know are struggling with suicidal thoughts or behaviors, please direct them to a healthcare provider immediately.
Please like, share, and subscribe to help us continue sharing the stories of remarkable people like Kimberley.
This podcast is dedicated to Angus.
Please pour one out for him when watching or listening.
We miss you mate.
"Ka mua, ka muri" is a whakatauki that many will know means "walking backwards into the future" - the idea we should look to the past to inform the future.
We felt that this podcast with Lee really embodies "walking backwards into the future" as Lee helps the next generation of young Māori and Pasifika understand that the things, they need to be innovators are all told in the stories of their ancestors.
In this episode Troy Hammond chats with Lee Timutimu.
We chat about Lee's mission to increase both representation and participation of Māori in tech. His personal background kōrero of how he personally got into STEM and what he is doing to help young Māori and Pasifika to enter STEM.
Lee is CEO of Arataki Systems - a Māori owned, whānau (family) owned tech company that he founded in 2016.
He has 20+ years working in IT and is a Founder & Co-Founder of multiple community initiatives that seek to empower Māori communities in the tech and digital space.
Born and raised in Whakatāne, Lee now lives with his whānau in Kirikiriroa (Hamilton).Troy and Lee had a wonderful chat about the great work that Lee is doing and we hope you enjoy this podcast as much as we did shooting it.
Please like, share and subscribe to help us continue sharing the stories of remarkable people like Lee.
In this episode, Troy Hammond chats with Rachael Fitzjohn. You will hear them talk about leadership, trust, fuckups, vulnerability, and becoming one of NZ's best tech leaders of people. Her name is Rachael Fitzjohn. Although over the last few years, further to a joke from a workmate and then multiple Rachel's/Rachael's in the team, Rachael became Fitzy! Fitzy works at a company called Cogo. Cogo is a tech start-up that provides carbon footprint management products to allow people and companies to measure, understand and reduce their carbon footprint. Fitzy is the Head of People Experience at Cogo so is responsible for the health, development, and well-being of Cogoers across a variety of markets (they are in the UK, Germany, other parts of Europe, Australia, Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan and...New Zealand).Her passions and values mostly revolve around people (a bit of a relief, especially considering her role title and background!) In all seriousness, though Fitzy feels that what makes her get up in the morning is ensuring that people have a good experience at work and that she is being the real FitzyShe also has a strong desire to coach leaders and be a good leader herself - leadership and the concepts around it have changed so much over the last few years and Fitzy says: "I am here for it!"Please like, follow, and subscribe to the podcast so we can continue to keep bringing you content.
In this episode, Troy Hammond chats with his old boss and good friend Vaughan Fergusson.
Vaughan goes deep on the startup journey of a man who founded a company and did not know what he was doing and then sold it for $484m NZD.
He is open, honest, vulnerable and talks about his passion for not just Vend, but his charity and how to grow an ecosystem. We touch on how Innovation is the fastest was to transform our economy and many other topics.
While this one was longer than our usual, it is a great one and so strap in and hear from someone who does impossible things.
Vaughan Fergusson (previously Rowsell) is the founder of Vend, pioneering cloud technology in retail globally, omni-channel commerce and invented the iPad retail point of sale. Vend is a New Zealand high-growth tech success story contributing significantly to the New Zealand tech eco-system over 12 years. Vend was sold for $500m in 2021 to LightSpeed and remains the flagship retail product globally.
In 2014 he was the founder and trustee of The Pam Fergusson Charitable Trust running initiatives like OMGTech!, Mana Tangata, Voluntari.ly and The Institute of Awesome to teach innovation, creativity and technology to tamariki of all ages and backgrounds, in particular our youth who would not otherwise get the opportunity. Collectively the trust also works with educators across New Zealand empowering them to empower our future innovators.
He was EY's Tech Entrepreneur of the Year in 2014, a judge for the 2018 Entrepreneur of the Year programme, and head judge for the 2021-22 programme.
Vaughan has been a Trustee, Judge, and Vice-Chair for the New Zealand Hi-tech Trust from 2015 - 2021 and remains as a judge for the 2023 awards.
Every year Vaughan does an impossible challenge, something to take him out of his comfort zone, like running 1,000km, learning to sing to get a paid gig in front of 100 people, or cycling around the world in 80 days.
Vaughan is a self-described weirdo and has spoken many times on the importance of challenging the status quo, thinking differently and trusting your inner weirdo. He is also a staunch ally for diversity in New Zealand and in the technology and creative sectors.
Please like, follow, and subscribe to the podcast so we can continue to keep bringing you content.
In this episode, Troy Hammond talks with Andréa van der Meel.
We chat about tech, greenwashing, and how we can make considerate decisions on fashion and be better for the environment and the people producing these products. We chat about Andrea's career founding a tech startup on her own in her 20s. We also chat about how the second time around founding a startup, she joined forces with John Holt of Homes.co.nz and Kiwi Landing pad fame and how they did founder vetting with each other.
Andréa van der Meel is dedicated to increasing transparency and accountability in the fashion industry.
With over 15 years of experience in the retail sector, her first business, SeekStock, delivered real-time product feedback to retail brands via store staff.
Now, Andréa is the Co-Founder and Head of Platform of All Things Considered, a community-driven platform driving impactful change around how we produce and consume our clothing.
Andréa put something into the world this year that she wanted to get onto three podcasts as she had never done one before and so she jumped at the chance when we asked her on after hearing about her work.
You would never know this was her first podcast.
Please help us spread the word about our podcast by liking, subscribing and following us on all our platforms found here.
Share with your friends who may be interested.
Thank you for coming on Andréa. This chat was really fun and super interesting.
In this episode, Troy Hammond speaks with Danny Smith on the fall of Silicon Valley bank due to the bank run.
They go deep into what has happened, why it happened, and what could happen in the future.
Danny breaks down the information in an eloquent non-financial talk conversation so that everyone can understand the reasoning behind the 18th largest bank in the US falling down.
Danny is a startup enthusiast with a passion for blending finance, product, commercial, and operations to drive growth.
He has worked with a range of industries at Deloitte, in-house finance with Icebreaker, and most recently 8 years with Xero, in a range of finance and non-finance roles.
Today, Danny serves as CFO at Storypark, which is an easy-to-use private online service that helps teachers, parents and families work together to record, share and extend children's learning.
Please like, follow, and subscribe to the podcast so we can continue to keep bringing you content.
In this episode, Troy Hammond speaks with Joel Lieser. Joel Lieser is the CTO of Trove Money, a child company of Forsyth Barr. His career has spanned seven states and three countries, where he has held positions from global banks to Silicon Valley technology juggernauts like Netflix, and companies like Nike along with multiple startups along the way. His passions lie in technology innovation and building teams.In this episode, Joel chats about culture, engineering, the differences between US and NZ, and how he thinks we can help get more people into startups. Joel hones in on his career and how our lives are a culmination of the choices we make against our adjacent possiblesIt is a really interesting episode and we hope you enjoy watching and or listening as much as we did. Please join us and subscribe to help us. We want to help New Zealand to support its own when it comes to innovation. To quote Joel: "Don't let the Tall Poppy Syndrome sidetrack us from supporting Kiwis to change the world."
In this episode, we chat with Dale Clareburt from Weirdly
Dale has been the CEO/Co-Founder of Weirdly since the beginning of 2014.
She has 20+ years in the recruitment industry before going into tech.
Starting out in the agency land where the focus is on delivering a 1:1 service, Dale and three other founders banded together to create a product to improve the experience for candidates in the recruitment process. From culture, values, and purpose quizzes to a fully automated end-to-end talent platform for first jobbers in the frontline/retail sector.
Weirdly has over 1m candidates who are hungry to get their first work experience under their belts.
Dale is very committed to guiding youth on their first steps into adulthood. She says "It's about more than just the culture shock of that first job away from your home and school, but also the life skills you need to become an independent and fulfilled young adult."
We chat about the Weirdly story from the early days to finding market fit and all things in between.
Dale shares all her successes and attempts and we have some laughs along the way.
We really enjoyed this weird chat with Dale and hope you do also.
Please follow and subscribe to our podcast wherever you consume podcasts.
In this episode, we chat with James Fuller from Hnry.
James began his career as an application developer, before moving into technology strategy and consultancy.
After senior roles at Thomson Reuters and Deloitte, he decided to strike out on his own as a growth consultant for startups, corporate, and government clients.
It was rewarding work, but James found himself struggling with the amount of tax and financial admin involved in being self-employed.
To solve the issue, he and co-founder Claire created a simple, homemade system to automate calculating and paying self-employed taxes.
They shared their system with self-employed friends, realised that there was a market for it, and got to work improving their solution.
In 2018, James and Claire officially launched Hnry; a service designed to automatically calculate, pay, and file taxes for sole traders.
We chat about James and Claire's story and how they realised they were building a new category when their lawyer had no idea if what they were doing was legal or not.
We discuss what it is like working with IRD and contributing over 1% of NZ's total tax bills.
Hnry recently raised funding of $35m and we discussed how this happened and where the money will be spent.
We really enjoyed this chat with James and hope you do also.
Please follow and subscribe to our podcast wherever you consume podcasts.
In this episode, we chat with Jessica Halley.
Jessica is a Wellington-born social anthropologist. Her PhD research focuses on the intersection between precarious labour, entrepreneurialism, and identity across Wellington’s digital workforce.
As an anthropologist, Jessica collects human stories.
She tells us that ethnographic research allows us to mine everyday stories.
Bringing these stories into a startup context will enable us to build the next generation of technologies in a way that counts.
We discuss many topics including Jessica's current research, which focuses on Wellington startups, social enterprises and software development.
Additionally, her experiences conducting ethnographic research amongst Bhutanese refugee women and what this taught her about Facebook, selfies and user experience.
Jessica says that gone are the simple days of broad-based solutions to user experiences. Instead, future technologies will demand a specific, localised and culturally-relative approach to problem-solving.
Qualitative research, specifically ethnography, can provide methodological tools for startups seeking to solve the problems of the future.
You can read about her research on "Young Bhutanese women becoming 'Kiwi'" here
Here are the references focusing on Wellington as a digital city. And below is the quote from PM Tony Blair about creative labour, along with a link to a journal article that examines his legacy in the digital workforce.
- Norman, R. (2015). Wellington’s Digital Sector - Growing under the Radar. Victoria University of Wellington: Wellington. https://www.gw.govt.nz/assets/Documents/2021/12/Vic-Uni-Digital-Sector-Report.pdf
- Brabazon, T. (2009). Brand Wellington: When city imaging is GLAM’ed: A personal view. Place Branding and Public Diplomacy, 5(4), 260–275. https://doi.org/10.1057/pb.2009.22
- Bonelli, D., Jutel, T., & Leotta, A. (2019). ‘Selling the creative city’: Wellington tourism film in the neoliberal era. Studies in Australasian Cinema, 13(2-3), 32-50. https://doi-org.ezproxy.massey.ac.nz/10.1080/17503175.2019.1693149
'Our aim must be to create a nation where the creative talents of all the people are used to build a true enterprise economy for the twenty-first century – where we compete on brains, not brawn' (Blair, 1999: 3).
https://www.sagepub.com/sites/default/files/upm-binaries/42872_Flew.pdf
We really enjoyed this chat with Jess and hope you do also.
Please follow and subscribe to our podcast wherever you consume podcasts.
In this episode, we chat with Miki Szikszai. Miki has served as CEO of Snapper Services since 2009. You'll know Snapper as the ticketing provider for Wellington - it also serves off-shore customers by white-labeling its apps and is launching a transport network performance analytics service in the next few weeks. He's been an active director on the Board of NZ-based SaaS companies including the original board of Vend, Chair of StarNow before its sale to Backstage, and is currently an active director at Spotlight Reporting and the chair of vWork.We chat about Miki's story from being a New Zealander made with imported ingredients. (His mother was photographed as one of a few Polish refugee children arriving in Wellington on board the ship General Randall.) From his career having to empathetically educate New Zealanders about major technology changes, to how to have an amazing grad program, to being an effective CEO and independent director. We really enjoyed this chat with Miki and hope you do also. Please follow and subscribe to our podcast wherever you consume podcasts.
In this episode, we chat with Adrienne Muir.
Adrienne is the Chief Operating Officer of Voxsmart which is headquartered in London and based in Queenstown.
Born and Bred in Wellington, Adrienne Muir has spent decades working overseas in the global capital markets and financial technology sectors.
When she started at VoxSmart in London in 2017, the business communications surveillance and analytics firm had seven employees.
Now Muir oversees a worldwide team from Queenstown, serving over 100 international clients.
We chat about everything from being a successful woman in tech to making deliberate career choices, global vs NZ, and the very sad death of Adrienne's twin son John.
Adrienne was absolutely delightful and we are sure you will enjoy watching or listening to this podcast as much as we did making it.
Please subscribe, hit the bell, and share this podcast so we can continue making you great content.
In this episode, we chat with Jonty Hodge
Jonty is a Wellington-based entrepreneur, co-founder, and CEO of Kepla, an emerging SaaS that makes it incredibly easy for any business to run incredibly effective digital advertising campaigns.
Dubbed 'a digital advertising agency in your pocket'.
Previously co-founded Aro Digital, a digital marketing agency based in Oriental Bay.
We chat about Jonty's journey from a cricket coach in high school to a founder of two companies.
Jonty is very mature and wise for his years. He is honest and tells us where he is in his journey and the road ahead.
We hope you enjoy this episode as much as we did.
Please subscribe where you watch and listen to help us continue to bring you, great guests.
In this episode, we chat with Owen Evans.
Owen is the Senior Vice President Of Technology (CTO) of Timely.
He talks about his many attempts in startups and his growth as a leader of engineering teams.
Owen has been a software developer and technologist since being introduced to the early stages of the internet in the early 90s.
Since then he's gone on to help found a number of startups, including Xero, Hoist, 8i, Zapier, and JRNY, not all of them successful.
He's passionate about good people leadership in the technical space and has worked with a number of technical executives as a coach to try and improve management and strategic thinking across the board.
He's passionate about startups and the people that make them, as well as enabling great remote decision-making.
Owen was brought into Timely to take over from the founding CTO during their acquisition by EverCommerce and currently holds the SVP of Technology role for their Wellness group. In his lack of spare time, he likes to brew beer, play golf, shoot arrows, and generally spend time with his family, his wife and two daughters, in Upper Hutt, New Zealand.
Enjoy this episode and please subscribe to the pod.
In this episode, we chat with Julie Reddish.Julie is the Head of People and Culture at Optimal Workshop and was formerly the happiness engineer at Xero. She has traveled throughout the world leading programmes that transform people’s lives and now she empowers teams of tech humans as they navigate moving from start-up to scale-up. Julie is highly invested in growing people. She is their champion. Julie has seen the positive impact this has on an individual basis, on a team, on an organisation - and globally.She believes in people's ability to influence positive change and wants to make a difference in the NZ tech startup ecosystem. You can watch more of Julie here with her "Do we really need Managers?" talk. In her spare time, Julie is into sports, jewelry making, brain science, parenting, and dog-breed identification.We hope you enjoy this episode.
In this episode, we talk with Andrew Tokeley who helps successful NZ businesses build high-performance product leadership teams.
Tokes talks about what product is, how product leaders can work closely with the business, and understanding how to develop your product strategy alongside the business strategy.
His name is Andrew Tokeley but most people call him Tokes.
Tokes founded his coaching business in 2017 and is NZ’s only full-time independent product leadership coach.
Since then, he has worked with over 60 companies ranging from start-ups to large corporations and even helped a few government agencies to adopt a more product-centric approach to their work.
His work typically involves working directly with senior product leaders, executive teams, and founders to help raise the understanding and practice of product leadership.
While he calls himself a coach, he is just as likely to provide advice to his clients, drawing from over 20 years of experience as both a technical and product leader himself.
Tokes also works as a Product Operating Partner at Movac, providing support and guidance to a number of their portfolio companies.
In 2015 he created Wellington’s largest product MeetUp, ProductTank, now boasting 2500 members, and he is a founding committee member of Product Aotearoa, a non-profit organisation supporting product leadership across the country.
In his previous life, he has been a statistician, software developer, and banana picker.
In this episode, we chat with our major sponsor in Talent Army's new CEO James Wood.James took the reins from our host Troy Hammond who founded Talent Army and stepped aside to let James take Talent Army forward.James has had a really interesting career starting out as a door-to-door salesperson and then working his way up to be the Chief Revenue Officer at a Wellington SaaS company. Having worked in both tech recruitment and SaaS, James has a very deep understanding and empathy for recruiting in technical companies.James has done a phenomenal amount of hiring across New Zealand from an external and internal capability and so he is seen as a trusted advisor to candidates as he will help them deeply understand what to expect in interviews and how to calm them to portray themselves as their true and confident selves.He has vast experience across all facets of commercial growth, strategy, and what it takes to scale companies looking to mature. He has first-hand experience doing this himself working with CE’s and boards.James started his recruiting career with Candle where he was responsible for finding engineers and QA’s across New Zealand before being promoted to run the same recruitment companies in their respective regions.He believes that starting in recruitment, then transitioning into SaaS sales and leadership and now re-joining recruitment has allowed him to have a very good lens of what clients need and the people they need to help them on their growth journey.James has an exceptional personal brand across New Zealand in SaaS and can often be found helping not just to recruit for founders, but also mentor them with his experience and scar tissue in the SaaS industry.With his experience James has been hired into the Executive General Manager role with Talent Army to help our company scale by coaching, mentoring and executing and delivering upon his strategy in the same way you would expect a SaaS leader to do so.Yes, we have all the acronyms and tools in recruitment too. Our churn is the lowest in the industry 🙌🏻
In this episode, we talk with Kristen Lunman.
For as long as she can remember, Kristen wanted to challenge the status quo, leading her to circles of like-minded entrepreneurs. Those that seek to deliver a vision of a different world. Her superpowers tend to lean in the area of growth and leadership. Until last year, it was at Hatch and more recently a new venture called Powrsuit.
Powrsuit exists to amplify the impact of women leaders to shape the future of work.
Previous to Hatch and Powrstuit and Hatch, Kristen was the Chief Operating Office for Wipster.
When she does have spare time, it’s spent with her teens or on a surfboard in freezing cold Lyall Bay.
Kristen was amazing on the podcast and talks about her superpower of "just saying yes!"
Please jump in and listen or watch this podcast.
In this episode, we talk with Ben Pujji who is the CEO of Atomic.io a SaaS platform that helps companies engage their customers more effectively inside their apps.
Ben's early career was in banking, creative agencies, and government, before joining Atomic in 2015. In 2018 Ben stepped into the CEO's shoes, pivoting Atomic to focus on its new Action Card platform.
Atomic helps businesses include their customer experience with web-based and in-app engagement. Its existing customers include ANZ, Foodstuffs, Kiwibank, and BNZ and its latest fundraising round is aimed at helping Atomic expand in Australia.
Investors joining the Series A round include well-established venture capital firms Movac and Sir Stephen Tindall’s K1W1, Xero co-founders Rod Drury (who also serves as a director of Atomic) and Hamiah Walker, and former Trade Me executives and shareholders Sam Morgan and Rowan Simpson via their investment vehicles Jasmine Investments and Hoku, respectively.
Ben talks about his journey into the role of a CEO that started as a school dropout.
He shows how if you say yes to opportunities and work hard, you can be a CEO of a successful startup like Atomic.
If he sees two out of three pillars of an idea. He jumps in.
Jump into this podcast and listen to Ben's story.
In this episode, we chat with Diana Minnée who is a Chief Operating Officer for startups.She helps us to understand what a COO does in a startup and how she is able to pattern match across a lot of verticals to help support an Exec team.Diana founded The BizOps Agency to help startups scale.She and her BizOps Agents help organisations fill the gaps for the short term or long term.Previously as Head of Delivery at Trade Me, Diana focused on optimising Lean and Agile practices for over 50 teams across three offices, which her team of Delivery Coaches. As an Agile practitioner since 2008, she focuses on Modern Agile values, pragmatic operational design, and enabling everyone to do their best work.Diana is a pragmatic Senior Exec focused on high-tech startups - Operational leader covering all aspects of #bizops such as: Product and delivery Processes and Policies Organisational change and strategy CISO and engineering Workplace and staff People and Culture Compliance and regulatory Marketing, Sales and CS Financial strategyDiana is also a strong advocate for Women in Tech, mentoring women and Women in Leadership. Known for 'Getting s#$%T done', her transparent frankness, where to find a great gin and tonic, and always coming up with a way forward no matter what the problem.We hope you enjoy listening to this as much as we did.
Mike Dawes founded and runs the IT Heavy Hitters charity boxing match, which has raised over $600k for charity. All proceeds from his events next year go to Voices of Hope. Mike is not usually one to put himself into the spotlight and would rather profile his charities.
Mike is not usually one to put himself into the spotlight and would rather profile his charities. But as a good mate of Mike's, our host Troy felt it his honor and duty to tell his story too.
No stranger to IT himself, his focus over the last 24+ years has been primarily delivering core infrastructure and technology service-orientated solutions, sales, and infrastructure design to delivery of network and server infrastructure, and leadership of infrastructure and operational teams, delivering quality solutions in large enterprise environments.
Mike is also a volunteer firefighter and an around great guy.
As someone who has gone through the IT Heavy Hitters fight camp, our host Troy Hammond is a massive advocate of others doing the same.
So far IT Heavy Hitters has raised over $600,000 for local suicide prevention causes and they are currently working with the team to pull this together again for 2023, with shows in Wellington on May 6th, Auckland City on May 13th, and Auckland North Shore on May 20th.
They'll take a group of IT professionals, provide qualified training and instruction and glove them up. The result is an evening of explosive boxing action. You don't need any experience to fight at IT Heavy Hitters, you'll be trained by professional coaches and helped with all aspects of theory and practical boxing. On the night you'll choose your walkout song, step into the arena and put all of your training into 3x2 minute rounds, scored and refereed by qualified officials.
Sign up here to become an IT Heavy Hitter and help Mike, Voices for Hope and everyone involve K.O. suicide for good.
In this episode on the We F*@KIN love podcast, we speak with Auriga Martin, a positive force in nature the world needs more of. Auriga is an American who moved to New Zealand and has filled her cup with her two passions, the arts, and SaaS product. Auriga is ever-focused on moving the needle and bringing beneficial and lasting change. Having been one of the founding first ten employees at tech education unicorn lynda.com for more than a decade has given Auriga a unique set of skills about fast word-of-mouth growth and product-led organizational design. Lynda.com provided Auriga with early product management proving ground that resulted in the $1.7B USD sale to LinkedIn in 2016. Auriga has led tech teams for more than twenty years to develop and deliver innovative products that bring real and positive outcomes. Always keeping purpose at the center of what Auriga does she brings full authenticity as a people leader, prioritizing providing the right environment for teams to thrive and move at pace. www.ventana.co.nz
In this episode on the We F*@KIN love podcast, we speak with Simon Small who we literally pulled off the street to join us on the podcast.
Simon was one of the OG SaaS sales leaders who found his way into a startup by meditating.
Simon has a background in the Arts & Media and started Livestreaming and created three shows:
- SaaS on the Street is my chance to connect with the brightest SaaS Founders in the world
- Ride the Next Tech Wave is a profile on Global Tech Leaders (for NZ's TechWeek)
- Rooibos with Simon Small is offering help with career guidance (launched during COVID)
He has also created some Mastermind Training programmes and throughout 2020 he began having a massive impact on SaaS Founders.
He says some added several millions to their company valuation.
Simon is launching the inaugural website for SaaS Elevator which encompasses all of the training he has developed and delivered, plus some exciting collaborations with global experts.
He has also built a close network of investors and is beginning to raise money for SaaS Founders through a new division of his personal company (Moonshot Studio Limited) called SaaS Elevator Capital. He created SaaS Elevator Capital because he wants SaaS Founders to remember they have a choice and says capital raising avenues are largely unconventional (and inaccessible).
In this episode on the We F*@KIN love podcast, we speak with Alicia McKay who is very well-known globally for her No-bullshit approach to leadership training and strategy execution.
Alicia has been in strategy for all of her career - building business cases for infrastructure investment, developing long-term plans for corporates and communities, designing organisational transformation, and supporting teams and leaders to execute business change.
Now, Alicia runs strategic development programmes for people and organisations. If you’re a clever, curious professional who wants to do great work with less stress and more intention, chances are she can help.
Alicia is a policy analyst by trade, reformed management consultant, published author, keynote speaker, workshop facilitator, course creator, podcaster, blogger, and aspiring novelist. She is also the brains - and face! - behind Not An MBA.
As a consultant and thought leader, Alicia has worked across almost every industry sector - FMCG, transport, retail, manufacturing, engineering, technology, utilities, professional services, education, health, peak bodies, NGOs and social services... but she says her heart will always lie in local government, where her career began.
Alicia has supported thousands of NZ and Australian leaders to become strategists through in-house training, large-scale corporate leadership programmes, public training events, and online courses like Not An MBA and Meetings that Matter.
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Alicia wrote From Strategy to Action: A Guide to Getting Shit Done In The Public Sector, published in 2019.
In 2021, she published "You Don't Need An MBA: Leadership Lessons that Cut Through the Crap."
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Alicia founded the Not An MBA executive leadership program in 2021. naMBA has changed the lives of hundreds of leaders: less stress, more fulfilment and more progress on work that matters. Watch them talk about their transformation journeys on this YouTube playlist: ➡️ https://bit.ly/3qPuacg
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She launched Meetings that Matter in 2020, a proven system for leaders and facilitators to tackle ineffective workshops and drive progress. You can take MTM, or other strategic planning courses, here ➡️ https://academy.aliciamckay.co.nz
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Alicia makes helpful free tools for strategy, planning, change, leadership, productivity and personal development. ➡️ http://www.aliciamckay.co.nz/free
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Alisia speaks at and MC conferences, runs workshops and masterclasses, and goes live on LinkedIn on Fridays at 8AM for the Alicia McKay Show. Listen to past episodes where-ever you get your podcasts.
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Every week, Wednesday Wisdom reaches over 10,000 readers, with actionable tools and tips to help you live, work and lead more strategically. Check out the link here to join.
In this episode on the We F*@KIN love podcast, we speak with Serge van Dam who is very well-known in the NZ SaaS community.
Serge van Dam is an active Investor / Director of going-global Kiwi software / SaaS companies, including Montoux, Re-Leased, Tourwriter, Raygun, and Cogo. Originally an Organisational Psychologist, Serge is most interested in growth strategies and has expertise in B2B sales, marketing, and distribution. He spent a decade as an acknowledged thought leader in fintech, having been part of the leadership team at M-Com - the world’s leading mobile banking and payments platform - which was acquired by Fortune 500 company Fiserv in 2011. Serge is an Operating Partner at New Zealand’s most successful venture capital firm - Movac - and is an advisor to various New Zealand Government agencies. He was also named New Zealand’s Angel Investor of the Year for 2020. Serge grew up in Argentina, is married with two children, and lives in Wellington. When not helping grow companies, you will find him in the great outdoors, arguing over politics or with a novel in hand.