Open the Pod Bay Doors

Join us for part 2 of our “studio on the road” at Sunrise, Blackbird’s annual festival of the startup ecosystem.   Armed with his roving podcast mic, Innovation Bay’s Co-Founder and podcast host, Ian Gardiner, was lucky enough to tap the mind’s of some of Sunrise’s stellar speakers.    During this ep, you’ll hear from:   🌅 Karl Durrance, Stripe - discusses Stripe’s mission to increase the GDP of the internet, it’s broad customer base from startups to large enterprises, and the challenges and strategies in the financial infrustructure space.   🌅 Kate Mason, PhD - shares her career journey from Google to founding her own firm, insights on effective communication and power dynamics, and details of her Sunrise talk about how confidence is actually unhelpful and authenticity is powerful!   🌅 John McDuling, Capital Brief - chats through the challenges and successes of launching a new media outlet, Capital Brief’s focus on the new Australian economy and providing valuable intelligence, and the subscription model and importance of quality journalism.   🌅 Maxine Minter, Co Ventures - discusses her solo GP fund, their focus on pre-seed investments and accelerating companies internationally, and some quality insights on what makes a successful founder and investor.   🌅 Kevin Jochelson, Upsize & Tech Rooport - shares his approach to helping startups scale and the importance of distribution, the impact of AI on startups, and winning the debate at Sunrise on whether investment success us nice skill than luck.   Tune in for many many more nuggets from the mind’s of this all star line up.    This podcast episode is brought to you by Vanta.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A few weeks back Blackbird held their annual conference Sunrise - a festival and celebration of the the startup ecosystem in Australia; or as Ian describes it “real life LinkedIn”.   Our fearless Co-Founder, host of Open The Pod Bay Doors, and arguably one of the most connected humans in the ecosystem, Ian Gardiner, took the studio on the road.   Ian chatted to 9 incredible speakers who featured on Sunrise’s epic line up, to pick their brains on their area of expertise and the industry at large.   During part 1, you’ll hear from:   Adam Gilmour, Gilmour Space Technologies - discussing the challenges in the space industry, Gilmore Space’s upcoming first orbit launch and future plans including reusable rockets and lunar missions (SO COOL!)   Kristen Durham, Zendesk - about her recent promotion, the integration and future AI in Zendesk's customer support strategy.   Tova Angsuwat, Series Build (ex-Google) - about her transition from Google to founding Series Build, insights on effective recruitment strategies for startups, and the importance of diversity in startup teams.   Bronwen Clune, Capital Brief - on her background and shift to Capital Brief (one of the newest and fastest growing tech and innovation focused media outlets), about Capital Brief’s mission to cover the new economy, and the challenges and highlights in startup journalism.   It’s a mixed bag of brilliant minds, set against the backdrop of the electrifying hum of Sunrise 2024.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Our guest for episode 176 is Clive Burcham, a highly influential, philanthropic and impact driven individual. Clive is one of the founding partners of Global Citizen, $46bn New York based juggernaut whose mission is to end extreme poverty. He is also the founder of what he terms a “side hustle” called Compadres, where he works with founders and CEOs to help them achieve "a better life, a better business, a better you".    From growing up in a beef and dairy farming family in regional West Australia, to jumping into TV at 15 and becoming a media executive at the age of 25, to moving to New York to run the Search for a Supermodel television show and working with leading advertising, design and branding agencies. Clive's life has been varied and rich with experiences.    Armed with a whole lot of technical knowledge from his time in NY, Clive moved back to Australia to undercut the local advertising industry to create better quality creative and content for clients. Taking his company from zero to hero in just 3 years, Clive sold a large stake to leading advertising holding company WPP, later buying it back to rebuild it.    With a penchant for giving, a captivating and wise mind, a values-led existence, and a heart of gold, Clive has founded and aligned himself with organisations that aim to make better and illuminate the human experience. “We’re put on this earth to make a difference to other people and to live in a community and be connected,” he says.    Tune in to learn of Clive’s fascinating journey, one we could all take a leaf from!    Quickfire Round:  Book: ‘Who Not How’, Dan Sullivan  Podcast: Your Move with Andy Stanley  News Source: Reuters  Productivity Tool: Calendar  CEO: Dan White, Luke Harris, Steven Marks   App: Instagram  TV Show: WeCrashed  TEDTalk Topic: How do we use our power to influence good       Get in touch with Clive at https://wearecompadres.com | and follow along on Instagram @wearecompadres   This episode is brought to you by Vanta. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Our guest this week is Leah Kaplan, APAC Sustainability Business Lead at Google Cloud. Leah’s passion for sustainability stems from her deep love of nature. Leah held a number of consulting technology roles before her dream job came up at Google Cloud - where she now sits at the nexus of technology and sustainability.    Sustainability has been a core value at Google for 25 years who are looking to minimise their impact on the planet while helping others to do the same. In 2007, Google became the first major company to become carbon neutral. In 2017 Google was the first company to achieve a 100% renewable energy match - this means purchasing renewable energy that covers all energy usage for all of Google which they’ve done every year since. Google has data centres running 24/7 solely on carbon free energy. One of their key goals by 2030 is to have every data centre around the world run on carbon free energy. Google is forecast to spend $10B on renewable energy this year alone!    As  the whole world struggles with climate change, how do businesses begin to understand the impact climate change is going to have on them in the future? Leah’s role as Sustainability Business Lead for APAC at Google is fascinating and impactful, with an emphasis on encouraging and helping corporate customers to achieve their sustainability goals via the Google Cloud platform. There are myriad sustainability areas to focus on - not just gas emissions. These include water stewardship, waste reduction, circulatory in products, optimisation - all areas that technology can help with - particularly AI.    One of the pressures Leah observes with the customers she engages with is that many of those in younger generations are willing to pay more for products that are sustainably sourced and will show loyalty to brands that have a sustainability mission. Leah helps companies tackle these challenges by working with them to assess a measurement framework and benchmark, help them to become compliant against regulation, assist companies to make data-driven critical business decisions, guide them in optimising with what they do have, and help to seek out aligned sustainability growth opportunities. She also emphasises that companies with strong sustainability initiatives attract top talent.   This hugely educational and fascinating discussion cover so much more... take a listen.   Interested in learning more about how Google Cloud can assist you to reach sustainability goals? Head to Google Cloud’s website, sign up for free and receive $300 in credit, or reach out to your Google rep or Innovation Bay who will put you in touch.     Book: Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen and Ancillary Justice, Ann Leckie Podcast: The Energy Gang and Stuff You Should Know  News Source: The Guardian  Productivity Tool: Calendar and Kanban Board  CEO: Melanie Perkins, Canva  App: Signal  TV Show: The Wire  TEDTalk Topic: Geospatial analytics and its impact on sustainability   This episode is brought to you by Vanta. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Our guest this week is Bernadette Olivier, CEO & Co-Founder of The Volte - a groundbreaking peer-to-peer fashion rental marketplace that's redefining the way we experience fashion globally. From its humble beginnings to its dazzling rise, The Volte seamlessly connects borrowers and lenders, while promoting a sustainable, circular economy.   Bernadette takes us through the evolution of The Volte, from its early days catering to fashionistas to its transformation into a platform embraced by mainstream consumers. She reflects on the complexities of remote work, the importance and challenges of strategic partnerships, and the challenges faced during the tumultuous times of COVID-19. The Volte not only weathered the COVID storm, but has since experienced remarkable growth in orders and active users.    She candidly reflects on the importance of trust, dedication, and alignment within a startup team, where she shares co-founder duties with four other women - Genevieve Hohnen, Kym Atkins and Jade Hirniak. From bootstrap beginnings to securing funding from Angels and VCs including eBay Ventures,The Volte defied the odds to become a trailblazer in the fashion rental industry.   Bernadette shares the uniqueness of The Volte's model - which is focused on occasion-based rentals rather than traditional subscriptions - as well as insights into the company's distinctive unit economics. From leveraging strategic investments, harnessing the power of AI for personalised customer experiences, and visions of international expansion into Europe, Bernadette paints a compelling picture for The Volte's future.   Quickfire Round  Book: 'Atonement' by Ian McEwan, 'Burn Book' by Kara Swisher Podcast: Hard Fork, The Business of Fashion  News Source: New York Times  Productivity App: ClickUp  CEO: Anthony Eisen (Afterpay)  Favourite App: Calm  TV Show:  'Vanderpump Rules' and 'The Morning Show' Movie: ‘Barbie’, ‘Oppenheimer’  TED Talk Topic: Changing consumption habits - moving from disposable, one-off usage to reusing, safekeeping and passing onto the next owner.    This episode is brought to you by Vanta. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Proud Canberran and past North Carolina coleslaw wrestling competitor, Olympia Yarger is an incredibly resilient, dedicated, inspiring and super hands-on Founder & CEO of Goterra, a waste management technology company that uses autonomous robotic systems to process food waste using insects. The company enables a circular economy by creating agricultural commodities from the waste stream.    Goterra is paving the way for a circular economy by transforming waste into agricultural commodities, all while significantly reducing truck movement and processing costs. Learn about the remarkable environmental impact of Goterra's technology, which eliminates noxious gasses and slashes emissions by an impressive 97%.   Having spoken to her on the podcast 3 years ago, it was our pleasure to touch base with Olympia again on her fascinating journey from sheep farmer to maggot farmer, the incredible growth Goterra has had over the past 3 years while being incredibly efficient with the capital they have raised (just $20M since 2019) all with a laser focus on Goterra's mission to redefine waste management for a more sustainable future.    On the topic of mental health, Olympia has been working from home more frequently to limit distractions and, after a tough year personally in 2023, has made a commitment to ride her horse at least 5 times a week. As part of Innovation Bay’s Summit community, Olympia has had some of her most meaningful experiences at Summit events. Though it can be difficult to get to the events amongst the day to day commitments of running the business, each time she’s gone she mentions it refills the bucket and gains perspective from other founders doing the same thing.     Olympia and Ian also spend some time unravelling the State of Australian Startup Funding report, particularly around the pressing issues of gender inequality and diversity in the ecosystem that the report reveals. Olmypia says, “It’s disgusting and we should be ashamed.” She calls out that as an industry we shouldn’t be using any female founder as an example because the number of female founders receiving funding is still far too low and this needs to change. With deeptech, an even more polarising sector of the industry, Olympia adds: “The sheer limited number of women “making it” are an anomaly, not an attribute and we’ve got to change something.”   Quickfire Round:  Book: Women Who Run With the Wolves by Clarissa Pinkola Estés Podcast: Agtech So What  News Source: Al-Jazeera Productivity Tool: Notion  CEO: Tom Loeffler or Keaton Okkonen  App: Instagram  TV Show: Yellowstone, Vikings  TEDTalk Topic: What building climate tech means    Connect with Olympia Yarger and visit https://goterra.au/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Our guest for episode 172 is Tom Amos, CEO and Co-Founder of Sidekicker - a platform that matches thousands of businesses to pre-qualified temporary staff.    During this chat, Tom reflects on Sidekicker's journey from the genesis of the idea as sparked by 'The 4-Hour Workweek', through to the milestone of turning over a million dollars in a month. Tom's journey is not just about business but also about building a culture where caring for each other is at the core.    Sidekicker has been backed with $40million in funding, the initial amount of $100,000 primarily from Seek Investments. They have not only disrupted the market but have also become a vital player in the space. Sidekicker work with around 2,000 customers per year, ranging from small catering companies to large organisations like Australia Post.    From the nuts and bolts of Sidekicker to the broader landscape of business and innovation, Tom offers valuable insights into:  the future of work the role of AI - sharing how Sidekicker innovatively uses AI for data automation, matching engines, and award compliance the potential challenges the economy may face in the next 24 months   Quickfire Round:  Book: 'The Year of the Locust' Podcast: 'No Laying Up', 'Acquired'  News Source: Twitter Productivity Tool: ChatGPT Favorite CEO: Elon Musk App: Uber TV shows: ‘Slow Horses’, ‘Boys Swallows Universe’ TEDTalk Topic: Golf OR How to kick a standard career away and begin a startup without technical experienceSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Our guest this week is James Bowe, the Co-Founder of OwnHome alongside Tim Harley. With shelter as a fundamental human need, OwnHome aims to transform access to homeownership in Australia, allowing aspirational homeowners to enter the property market without a 20% deposit, helping them get there for just 2% upfront.    With enviable and impressive resumes and backgrounds across consulting and consumer tech with the likes of Bain & Company, Morgan Stanley, UBS, Macquarie, Wise Ltd, and Herbert Smith Freehills between them, James and Tim were driven to start OwnHome after reflecting on some of the biggest challenges they personally face (financial security being at the top of the pile) and how they want to spend the brief period of time they have left on this planet.    After participating in Commonwealth Bank’s accelerator program from overseas, working their day jobs during UK day time and the accelerator program from 10pm - 4am, they finished in the top spot for the accelerator and received $150,000 funding. Now armed with little to no excuses to jump into OwnHome full time, the pair returned to Australia, and raised their seed round while in hotel quarantine in Sydney. Own Home has since received backing from Entrez, Global Founders Capital, Square Peg, and Commonwealth Bank's X15 Ventures and recently raised $31 million in their series A round.    OwnHome combines technology and human services for a seamless experience. Through OwnHome, aspiring homeowners can wave goodbye to renting forever and forgo intergenerational support as the only avenue to owning a home. Their offer allows those with just 2% deposit on the home value access to a licensed buyer’s agent, split loan structures, choice of home loan and comprehensive support through the process. Over the past two and a half years, they have received well over 20,000 applications and supported 50 families in becoming homeowners. Across the next 12 months, OwnHome aspired to support $500 million of property purchases in the next 12 months.    Quickfire Round  Book: Amp It Up!, Frank Slootman & Black Belt, Joseph HealyPodcast: All-In Newsource: The Economist, Twitter App: Twitter Productivity Tool: Siri CEO: Jeff BezosTV Show: SuccessionTEDTalk Topic: Solving the challenges of housing affordability in Australia  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Human beings have an innate need to belong to a group or tribe. Large parts of our brain are dedicated to engaging and interacting with others. Belonging triggers the release of chemicals in our brain that promote trust, empathy, and social bonding. Building belonging is essential in a fractured world and requires understanding and addressing our default setting. During this very special episode recorded during the Innovation Bay panel at SXSW Sydney's inaugural event in October 2023, an all star panel featuring Phil Morle (Main Sequence Ventures), Jenny Li (Scarlare Partners), Joel Connelly (Blackbird), and Skye Riggs (Ripple Opportunities) join moderator and guest Open The Pod Bay Doors host, Cameron Webb (Innovation Bay) to share insights on how to build belonging at speed and scale. They share strategies for welcoming new members and creating meaningful connections that keep people engaged over the long term. This episode is proudly brought to you by propodcast.com.au See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Our guest this week is Dan Sturrock, Investment Director at Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA). With a decade of experience at ARENA, Dan has witnessed the organisation's remarkable evolution and growth. As an ARENA board observer representative, he provides invaluable insights into the exciting work of propelling startups towards solving colossal challenges - companies like Sundrive and RayGen, who are making huge strides in the solar energy sector.   ARENA's mandate is to accelerate decarbonisation with a focus on renewable energy. By providing grant funding for groundbreaking projects in renewable energy, energy storage, and electric vehicles, they are taking the battle against climate change to a whole new level. The monumental task of decarbonisation requires an all-encompassing approach across various sectors, and both the government and corporate giants are stepping up to the plate. ARENA's core focus is reducing risks and igniting innovation in renewable energy generation.   The fourth installment of the Innovation Bay & ARENA Renewables Startup Showcase for 2023 happens next week on Wednesday 1 November at Melbourne’s Cargo Hall. This event brings together 100+ of the country's leading angel investor, VC, PE and CVC community. Get ready to be blown away by four of the most remarkable founder pitches from the renewables, cleantech, and climatetech sectors. It's not just an event; it's a spark for networking and an education in the latest developments in the renewable startup universe. This year's stars include Renewable Metals, Hysata, Sicona, and Novalith.    Tickets are limited and available now https://innovationbay.com/event/arena-november/    Quickfire Round:  Book: Love Stories, Trent Dalton Podcast: Positive Climate News Source: New York Times  Productivity Tool: turning off notifications and avoiding distractions Favourite CEO: Allan Moss, Nick Moore Favourite App: Spotify  TV Show: Alone Australia TEDTalk Topic: Alternative approaches to creativity in children and challenging some of the accepted paradigms around education   Connect with Dan Sturrock via LinkedIn or email.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Cath Rogers is a Partner at Antler, a global fund with 900 portfolio companies, have dealt with 5,600 founders, with $4 billion in total portfolio value, working across 27 locations. Cath’s career trajectory showcases an interesting and diverse path into the venture capital industry.    Starting in a Goldman Sachs venture-backed startup in London in the very early 2000’s during the original dot-com boom, bubble and bust. She later worked in investment banking and strategy consulting before moving into venture capital. Cath spent three years in Abu Dhabi, working in a sovereign wealth fund focused on global cleantech VC - her foray into VC investing.    Upon returning to Australia in 2011/2012, Cath had a stint in Private Equity. After leaving to start her own business, she crossed paths with Daniel Petre and was offered to join him at a fund he was starting up - Airtree. Here she gained valuable mentorship and firsthand experience in early-stage VC before taking a period of time to raise her children - after which she joined Antler, the world’s day zero fund. Antler’s approach to due diligence is unique whereby they observe founders over a 12-week period. The VC firm aims to institutionalise early-stage venture capital and provide founders with a near-term path to capital.   Among so much more, Ian and Cath discuss, how the path to becoming a VC is now incredibly diverse, how the fundraising environment for VC funds has become more challenging, how investors are more cautious and have higher expectations in terms of risk appetite and exits, that quality funds and founders can still find capital, and how VC funds offer attractive returns compared to traditional investments.   Quickfire:  Book: Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace Podcast: Pivot - Kara Swisher & Scott Galloway, Serial  News Source: Axios, Capital Brief  App: Blinkist Productivity App: Tactic, Calendly, Motion, Asana  Favourite CEO: Warren Buffett, Kate Morris (Adore Beauty)  TV Show: The Bureau (SBS)  TEDTalk Topic: What children learn at school and how that positions them for creativity, innovation and adaptation to the world.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week’s podcast episode features our special guest harrison.ai, CEO and Co-Founder, Aengus Tran.   harrison.ai started with the problem statement of healthcare capacity. According to Aengus, one of the biggest problems of our time is how to look after such a huge population with increased health needs. harrison.ai is looking to scale the global capacity of healthcare by building automation with AI systems and providing clinicians with superpowers of scale. Aengus says, "of all the things being done in in healthcare, scale will be the solution of quality healthcare globally."   After moving to Australia from Ho Chi Minh in Vietnam, Aengus was one of very few Vietnamese students at an English-speaking Australian school so quite quickly had to learn the English language. After school Aengus went on to study medicine at university after advice from none other than Paul Ramsay of Ramsay Healthcare - a company that has gone on to invest in harrison.ai.   While working through his medical degree, Aengus realised how much in terms of scale was missing from medicine. During his final years of training, Aengus was involved in a research project building technology along with Vertex Health to select human embryo; opening his eyes to the capabilities of AI systems and how they can scale.   After starting out in Australia and New Zealand, harrison.ai’s radiology arm is regulated with FDA clearance in 38 countries with 1 million live touches and one in four radiologists using their technology in Australia alone. Their north star is to touch 1 million lives per day with their technology. harrison.ai has gone on to raise $US120M in series A and series B with investments from Skip Capital, Blackbird, Horizon Ventures and specialist, strategic, corporate investors Sonic Healthcare and Ramsay Healthcare.   Quickfire Round: Book: Prediction Machines, The Simple Economics of Artificial Intelligence, Ajay Agrawal, Joshua Gans, Avi Goldfarb Podcast: Lex Fridman on YouTube News Source: Medium, mainstream news App: VS Code, Rise Productivity Tool: very basic reminders app and keeping notes, Slack Favourite CEO: Mark Zuckerberg TV Show: House TEDTalk Topic: The health equality and impact that is possible through the scalability of AI   harrison.ai are continuously hiring in their AI teams. If you'd like to learn more or are you're curious about the tool, reach out to harrison.ai. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Our guest this week is Max Cunningham, CEO of FCX. FCX is Australia’s only end-to-end registry, capital raising and trading platform for private companies whose aim is to make owning and transacting private company shares simpler.    Max is an industry veteran. From his early career experiences to the development of a groundbreaking technology platform, Max's story is one of passion, expertise, and innovation. His LinkedIn profile is short, though his tenures have been long held - spending approximately 10 years each at Macquarie, Goldman Sachs, and the ASX before developing and launching FCX.    Max takes us on a journey through the realms of public and private markets, shedding light on the fundamental differences and the rapid growth of private markets in Australia. He explains how FCX was born out of the need for simplifying ownership of private company shares and the revolutionary concept of regularly trading private company shares.   With a firm belief in the FCX ecosystem, Max outlines the platform's unique features and its ability to provide instant atomic settlement, granting companies immediate access to capital. He delves into FCX's vision of creating a secondary market for privately listed tech companies, offering liquidity to staff, early investors, and shareholders.   Plus so much more…    Quickfire Round  Book: Arafat: The Biography, by Andrew Gowers and Tony Walker Podcast: Unholy: Two Jews on the News News Source: New York Times App: RunKeeper Productivity Tool: Empiraa CEO: Yuval Rooz, Digital Asset  TV Show: Succession TEDTalk Topic: Tokenisation of capital markets   Check out FCX https://fcx.com.au/  And get in touch with max@fcx.com.au or josh@fcx.com.au to find out more. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week’s special guest is Silvija Martincevic, CEO & Board Director of Deputy. Silvija is a passionate advocate for purpose-driven companies and brings a wealth of experience to Deputy from her background in socially responsible investing and previous roles at Groupon.   Deputy, founded over a decade ago, is a leading company specialising in smart scheduling and workforce management. Their software solution is used by over 1.3 million shift workers in more than 100 countries, empowering 330,000 businesses with tools for compliance and communication.   Silvija's journey from Croatia to the United States, combined with her experience in socially responsible investing, has shaped her leadership approach. She aims to take Deputy to new heights by creating a more flexible and transparent workplace for hourly workers.   Deputy's mission is to become a global platform for hourly workers, providing technology solutions to increase productivity and engagement. Despite the significant number of hourly workers in the world, there is a lack of tailored technology tools for them. Deputy is addressing this gap, currently serving over 1.5 million hourly workers and 330,000 workplaces.   Silvija's insights on responsible scaling, company culture, and bridging the gap between employers and hourly workers are valuable for understanding Deputy's approach. Their focus on diversity and exploration of AI to improve workforce management and customer support are also noteworthy.   Quickfire Round: Book: Leading Lightly by Jody Michael Podcast: Pivot with tech journalist Kara Swisher and NYU Professor Scott Galloway News Source: Wall Street Journal, The Economist, Fortune, CNN, Buzzfeed, The Australian  App: Spotify  CEO: Alison Deans Productivity Tool: WhatsApp  TV Show: Working: What We Do All Day (Barack Obama)  TEDTalk Topic: Resilience and grit   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week’s very special episode was recorded at our recent full community event. The Globe, hosted by Macquarie, brought together our four communities of early and later stage founders and CEOs, VCs and angel investors, to connect, learn, discuss and shape the future of our industry. Ian sat down with five of our incredible members for this all star line up featuring: Yash Varma, Founder & Partner, Empress Capital (Aurora & Horizon member) Phil Morle, Partner, Main Sequence (Aurora member) Georgia Barkell, Managing Partner, Sprint Ventures (Aurora member) Lisa Vincent, CEO & Founder, HowToo (Summit member) Alon Greenspan, Partner, Mind Ventures (Aurora member) Cameron Webb, SVP of Member Experience and Managing Partner, Innovation Bay (Innovation Bay team) With the taste of celebratory champagne at our cocktail party on their lips, Ian and our members discuss (among plenty more): Their own background, progressions and evolution in the ecosystem Some of the recent challenges they’ve faced Their pulse on the current market and focuses in their respective roles Their experiences and takeaways from this year’s incredible The Globe event The benefits and why being a part of the Innovation Bay community is awesome For more information on our events, or to apply for membership, visit innovationbay.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.