Sit Down and Start Up: Recent Episodes
Startup Link
StartUp Link brings you a start-up oriented podcast for students, by students. Helping to inspire students to innovate, create and expand their entrepreneurial minds by hearing the stories and strategies of emerging and exciting companies.
In this episode, I speak to Chris Borrett and Kathleen Weaver of Flip, the on-demand injury insurance startup.
We discuss Chris and Kathleen’s backgrounds in physics and medicine respectively, and how they transferred into a career in consulting. We then talk about the genesis of Flip and the role of BCG Digital Ventures and HCF in both the funding and development of the company and the journey from a whiteboard with 50 ideas, to conducting market research, to launching a real product. We also touch on the sorts of skills that consulting equips one with, and how that helped in the development of Flip as well as a discussion about the broader startup ecosystem and advice to students interested in both consulting and startups, and other topics.
About our guests: Chris Borrett is Co-CEO at Flip, and is also a Director and Venture Architect with BCG Digital Ventures. He has founded and launched several new businesses across Australia and S.E Asia.Kathleen Weaver is Co-CEO at Flip, and has previously held positions at HCF Australia and L.E.K. consulting.
Where to find out about Flip: https://www.getflip.com.au/how-it-works
In this episode, I speak to Sam Koslowski of The Daily Aus. This conversation spans many topics, starting with the initial meeting where Sam and his co-founder discussed how traditional media have neglected the youth. We talk about creating trust with their audience, the development of a journalistic voice and the how to decide which stories to report on each day. We also discuss The Daily Aus as a business: the sources of growth in 2020, plans to commercialise, securing investment and marketing strategies.We also touch on Sam's daily grind and the decision to leave his job as a corporate lawyer to pursue this startup full-time.
About our guest: Sam Koslowski is the co-founder of The Daily Aus, a media and news company that delivers the top 5 news stories that you need to know, designed to be read in under a minute.
Where to find out about The Daily Aus: https://www.thedailyaus.com.au https://www.instagram.com/thedailyaus/
In this episode, I speak to Rob Hango-Zada of Shippit. This wide-ranging conversation begins with Rob's journey founding and managing Shippit, going from an idea to a company, and a discussion around the financial side of his startup: venture capital, equity and risk. Then we touch on Rob's leadership style, company culture, narrative and hiring, and the impact COVID has had on Shippit and e-Commerce. Further, we talk about COVID's impact on the broader startup ecosystem in Australia, and Rob explains why he's so optimistic about it, as well as advice to uni students interested in startups.
About our guest:Rob Hango-Zada is the Co-Founder and joint-CEO of Shippit, the order fulfilment and shipping automation platform.
Where to find out about Shippit:https://www.shippit.com/
In this episode, I speak to Jamie Finnegan of Finder. This conservation covers topics surrounding issues such hiring and startup company culture, including: adaptability in startups and building teams, hiring processes, making oneself more attractive to employers and how to differentiate oneself.
Further, we have an in-depth discussion of company culture and values, such as diversity, inclusion and flexibility, and many other topics.
About our guest:Jamie Finnegan is the Global Head of Talent at Finder, where he helps hire talent, consult on growth strategy and advises on company values and culture.
In this episode, I speak to Chris Evans and Nihal George of Oliver Wyman Digital. Rather than hearing from a founder or CEO of a startup, this instalment of the podcast focuses on an exciting area within the startup world: FinTech. This conversation spans many topics within this sphere such as: the current landscape of FinTech and which direction they see fintech heading in, as well the current pain points experienced by SME customers. We also talk about the role of financial services incumbents in innovating, the growing divide between the gig economy and the traditional economy, the impact of COVID-19 on the FinTech space and the potential disruption of the financial services industry by big tech.
After this discussion we touch on advice for students interested in FinTech and the importance of considering an endgame, why we’re seeing highly capable students flocking to fintechs and startups as well as the cultural and structural differences between small fintechs versus large corporations and the impact one can have, and many other topics.
About our guests:Chris Evans is the head of Oliver Wyman Digital in Australia and is a partner in the global Finance and Risk practice.Nihal George is a Principal at Oliver Wyman Digital, specialising in FinTech and digital ventures.
Where to find out about Oliver Wyman:https://www.oliverwyman.com/
In this episode, I speak to Evan Wong of Checkbox. This conversation covers many topics, concentrating on the transformation of Evan's startup idea to a fully operational company. We also discuss his nuanced approach to leadership, Checkbox’s hiring process and their company values, notions of performance and optimisation as well as a discussion on finding purpose in one's work.
About our guest:Evan Wong is the founder of the multi-award winning enterprise software company Checkbox. He is also the founding mentor of Hero Education, aiming to guide young students on their future path.
Where to find out about Checkbox:https://www.checkbox.ai
In this episode, I speak to Louise Chen of Share with Oscar. This conversation contains a range of topics primarily focusing on Louise's journey leaving the comfort of her position at Deloitte to co-founding a company and the attached challenges and trials. We discuss her experience at university, internships, her role at Deloitte and the lack of risk associated with that. We explore further notions of the shared economy, the future of travel and commuting, how AI will impact our cities and much more.
About our guest:Louise obtained a Bachelor of Commerce (Economics)/Bachelor of Laws from the University of Sydney and then went on to become work at Deloitte, originally as a consultant in Strategy & Operations and a senior consultant in Innovation. Louise is the co-founder of Share with Oscar, a community-based platform for sharing and booking private parking spaces. They were awarded Best Mobile App Startup in Australasia (2018).
Where to find out about Share with Oscar:https://www.sharewithoscar.com
In this episode, I speak to Uzair Moosa of Hey You. This conversation covers a broad spectrum of topics starting with Uzair's university experience. We explore the Uzair's incredible corporate pedigree, his involvements in large companies and how he eventually ended up as CEO of an Australian startup. We also discuss a variety of other topics such as the importance of risk-taking (especially for young people), challenges in the world place, notions of leadership, getting his first job, the element of luck in a career and how he turned around a small airline company on the brink of bankruptcy, as well as much more.
About our guest:Uzair has experience of working in Australia, Europe, Middle East and Asia in business development, sales and consulting with clients from various industries. He has devised and implemented growth strategies for expanding into new markets, developing existing market opportunities and introducing operational efficiencies in business processes.Specialties: Devising and implementing business strategies, leading corporate turnaround efforts, restructuring organizations, growing business in fast paced environments, introducing cost efficiencies, executing and delivering on business targets
Where to find our about Hey You:https://heyyou.com.au
Welcome to the first episode of Sit Down and Start Up!
In this episode, I speak to Caleb Gibbons of Cache Invest. We had a really interesting conversation covering his whole journey of how he started his own FinTech company, starting with his time at university. We explore his experience at university, working at MinterEllison Law Firm, transitioning into his own company and all the challenges that came with it. We also discuss a range of other exciting topics such as investing, leadership, the startup climate in Australia and much more.
About our guest:As a successful investment funds lawyer at MinterEllison, Caleb saw how the financial system was built to meet the needs of bankers and wealthy investors – well beyond the reach of ordinary people. So he started Cache with the goal of building financial products that empower ordinary people to make good investment decisions and grow their wealth over time. Caleb has helped build multi-billion dollar investment products for some of the largest investment managers in the country, including Blackrock, Vanguard, Perpetual, Betashares, Colonial First State, Challenger, AMP Capital, and Magellan.
Where to find out about Cache:https://cacheinvest.com.au