The Spotlight Series - Don’t just survive, thrive!

That’s a wrap for Season 3 of “The Spotlight Series – Don’t Just Survive, Thrive” podcast for 2021.  Here are podcast mashup highlights from this year talking to startup founders and senior tech leaders.  ⭐Maree Beare, Founder of Wanngi (and more recently Clinials) talking about disrupting health tech and her purpose behind Wanngi (0:33- 2:58)⭐Tony Ryan, Education Futurist, talking about the future of work and if there is a 50% chance that we live in a computer simulation (3:02-5:12)⭐Stewart Marshall discussing how SaaS companies can scale and grow (5:15- 7:15)⭐🦜 Jeff Jaraved and Taryn Syratt, Founders of CAAsie, talking about how they are revolutionising billboard advertising and their purpose behind CAASie (7:18- 10:13)⭐Rosie Attwell discussing how she went from a degree in Art to a career in AI (10:16- 12:20)⭐Mike Seidle from Pivot CX providing advice to aspiring entrepreneurs about how to start up, persevere and succeed (12:23- 13:44)⭐David Davies, Founder of AgUnity, talking how smartphone and blockchain technology helps smallholder farmers lift themselves out of poverty (13:47- 15:26)⭐Ken Auer, Founder of Role Model Software, talking about the key characteristics of high performers (15:29- 18:36)⭐Simon Keefe, former Atlassian tech leader, advising how to recruit and retain high performing teams (18:39- 21:18)⭐Justin Falk, Founder of TalentVine, provides about hiring in a highly competitive market (21:20-24:46)⭐Adam Amos, Founder of Robotic Systems, telling his story and how his company was ranked in the Deloitte Technology Fast 500 (24:49- 26:19)⭐Madhu Sundararajan & Abhinav Raje talking about their humble beginnings in India to successful IT careers in Australia and tips for migrants (26:22-28:04)⭐Leanne Kemp ★★★      康灵安, Founder of Everledger, about why she turned down an investment (29:07-30:56)⭐Vijay Solanki🦄, Founder of Parental EQ, about being an older startup founder and how Parental EQ helps with children’s emotional health (30:59-34:16)⭐🤖 Yaniv Bernstein Bernstein, former Head of Engineering at Google and Airtasker, talking about the highlights of his career (34:19- 36:58)⭐Miriam van Heusden, Founder of Maralytics, and how her core values have driven her culture (37:01- 38:56)⭐Eli Harrell, Founder of Valhalla.team, advising how to grow and nurture high performing remote teams (38:59- 42:01)⭐Evan Cummack, CEO of Fin.com, providing advice to aspiring entrepreneurs and succeeding in Silicon Valley (42:04-43:55)⭐Mary Callaghan, Senior Director of Product Management at Hitachi Energy, discussing what the key characteristics of high performing product teams (43:58- 45:13) 

Anthoney Rimmer is the Co-Founder of Edsure, a growing edtech startup which specialises in student information and management systems.  Prior to Edsure, Anthoney lead a large R&D team at Technology One where he worked for over 17 years.In this episode, Nicola Steel, Founder of JJP Talent Solutions, discovers more about Anthoney's personal story and career highlights including growing up in Toowoomba, moving to Brisbane at 18 and travelling the world.  Anthoney discusses the challenge of being a technologist dealing with non-technical people.  Overcoming this challenge and learning to communicate what was going on with non-technical people is one of the reasons for his success as a technical leader as he progressed his career to Director level at TechOne.Edsure specialises in student information and management systems with the mission to make universities in Australia more successful and students to get on the right study pathways.  Edsure's core values are:Be respectfulBe creativeHave funAnthoney discusses how founding a tech startup compares to working for a large corporate organisation.  His advice to potential startup founders is ensure that you really know what you are getting involved with.

Michael Collet has over 30 years technical leadership expertise including over 8 years at Super Retail Group as Head of IT Infrastructure & Operations and then Head of IT Procurement & Asset Management.Michael talks about his career starting in the 1980s in South Africa and how he secured his first leadership role.  He migrated to Australia in 2004 and struggled to find a role initially because he was considered to be overqualified. He eventually secured a role at Super Retail Group through his connections.  After 8 years at Super Retail Group, he started a successful career in property development.Michael is highly engaging, positive and optimistic in this podcast episode with Nicola Steel from JJP Talent Solutions.

Andy How has extensive technical leadership experience in SaaS startups and scaleups as well as corporate environments. In this episode, Nicola Steel, Founder of JJP Talent Solutions and Andy How talk about the start of his career in the late 1990s as the world moved from analog to digital. Andy provides advice to people starting out in their tech careers. He talks about the important lessons he has learnt along the way.  Andy also explains what he thinks makes a great leader which includes:👀 Vision ❤️ Compassion 👄 CommunicationHe provides some critical advice on work/life balance together with his book recommendations: 📖 Atomic Habits by James Clear 📖 Mindset by Carol Dweck 📖 Dare to Lead by Brene Brown  

Scott Lawry is a Senior Leader with extensive expertise in Digital Transformation and Programme Management.  He has worked in a variety of sectors including over 10 years at Rio Tinto.In this episode, Scott talks to Nicola Steel, Founding Director of JJP Talent Solutions. He explains how he secured his first role in IT back in 1999 - the year the world faced the Millennium Bug!  He provides advice to graduates and emerging professionals who are looking for their first tech role and also for those aspiring to be tech leaders.The biggest challenge for Scott over the last 25 years has been the pure velocity of change in technology.  It is next to impossible to remain qualified across everything!  Instead, he believes that it is important for leaders to have enough knowledge of the technical changes and impacts to provide the business with informed advice.We also discuss how flexible working has been an incredible opportunity for everyone. It is a great way to retain valuable employees.  He believes that making it work for both employers and employees is crucial although he does believe that employees can become disconnected from the business. 

Nicola Steel, Founder of JJP Talent Solutions, speaks to Luke Vear, the CTO of YQueue, a startup which is tackling the challenges faced by the Food and Beverage industry.Luke begins by explaining how he was drawn to tech and how he secured his first role in software development.  His advice to aspiring leaders is to make sure taking on a leadership role is something that you 100% want to do and to grab every opportunity that presents itself.  Luke explains that his biggest challenge is the non-engineering elements of being a CTO including managing  relationships between individual team members.  Retaining people in a small team and ensuring that you've got buy-in from everyone within the company, not just direct team members and colleagues, are the things that really keep him up at night.What he loves about working in a startup environment:Freedom to experiment  Can get feedback quickly so can iterate very quickly Intimate knowledge of how the business working   What frustrates him about startups:The rush to get something out of the door so solutions can sometimes be band-aided together  His top productivity hack is to avoid tacking shortcuts! 

Highlights from The Spotlight Series - Don't Just Survive, Thrive podcast in 2023. Guests include:Dinesh PalipanaTony SchirmerHenry BoultonChristin MarshallBen ShapiraKody CookCharlie WoodYas GrigaliunasRithik Illankovan

Nicola Steel speaks to Rithik Illankovan, a highly experienced Delivery Lead/ Project Manager. Rithik is also the Founder of a startup called Gezzin. Gezzin's mission is to promote peace in the world by connecting and uniting families.Rithik tells his personal and professional story migrating from India to Australia as a young student in the early 2000s. He describes his achievements and challenges over the last 20 years.  Rithik's idea for the Gezzin app started when he was living alone and missing his family back home. This made him consider how he could bring families together on a daily basis sharing their moments. It was this thought that led to him creating a free app with a family tree where users can upload photos, videos, host parties and be involved in group chats.The word Gezzin means Cousin in African and Family in Dutch which Rithik believes is a perfect word to describe how his app is uniting families with their extended families from around the world.Download the free Gezzin app from the AppStore and PlayStore.

Yas Grigaliunas is an Impact Entrepreneur and the Founder of Circonomy.  She has many accolades including Global 100 Inspirational Leader of 2022 alongside the likes of Jacinda Ardern, Bill Gates, Elon Musk, Sheryl Sandberg, Sara Blakeley and Oprah.Yas tells her story from pizza delivery driver to her first startup followed by the World's Biggest Garage Sale and now the CEO of Circonomy.  She talks about being an impact entrepreneur and how Circonomy is creating a world without waste and that includes human potential. She is passionate about the global Sustainable Development Goals and building a business that is bigger than just sales and metrics.Yas always brings her authentic self and is proud that she shows up every day as herself regardless of what is going on in her life.  She believes that one of her greatest strengths is being coachable and being able to have real conversations. The secret to her success is being comfortable in the uncomfortable.Yas is very values driven and her core values are:Love Optimism Empathy Growth Integrity Resilience TransparencyTo help Yas on her mission, go to Circonomy- renewed furniture, tech, apparel, toys at affordable prices 

Charlie Wood is the CEO of Wiise, the fastest-growing cloud ERP platform. He has over 25 years of tech experience.  Charlie is a successful Sydney-based entrepreneur and business leader, who formerly headed up Dropbox ANZ, held leadership roles at Microsoft and Salesforce, and has built and mentored several startups.In this episode, Nicola and Charlie discuss his main career highlights and challenges.  They discuss what qualities he looks for in new team members when building high performing teams.  They talk about what factors drive successful business transformations and the traps that cause businesses to fail.Charlie describes his plans for Wiise over the next 12 months as well as what he looks for when assessing aspiring entrepreneurs.  They finish the podcast discussing Charlie's main business lessons he has learnt over the course of his career and what habits really drive his success. 

Kody Cook is the Head of Software at Gilmour Space Technologies.  Kody has extensive experience of space and aerospace technologies working at the Australian Space Agency, Fleet Space Technologies and Boeing.  His experience encompasses mechatronics, software and systems engineering.  Gilmour and Kody's team are working towards launching Australia's first sovereign made orbital launch vehicle.Kody demonstrated his engineering credentials from an early age when he started building computers out of junk shop parts from his pocket money around Grade 2. He then progressed to setting his parents' house on fire and electrocuting himself! It is Kody's innate sense of wanting to understand how things work and to solve problems that attracted him to space technology.In this episode, Kody and Nicola talk about the importance of aerospace technology in Australia.  They discuss how many people don't see or understand the benefits of space technology as well as the lack of government support in the development of future space technologies.

Ben Shapira has extensive experience in the digital advertising and marketing industry. More recently, he has become a tech founder, solving problems in the financial services industry with his innovative tech solutions.  His newest venture is dineiro - a mobile app focusing on the interactions between consumers, mortgage brokers and financial advisors.Ben and Nicola discuss a variety of topics including:💲 the future of tech in financial services💲 the democratisation of financial data 💲 the importance of financial literacy, particularly for young people💲 how young people get can get on the housing ladder

Christin Marshall is the Founder of Sol & Sonder.  Sol means sun and Sonder is the realization that each person has a life as vivid and as complex as their own.  Sol + Sonder is a lifestyle brand which is looking to integrate renewable energy into everyday accessories which use solar energy so that people can have access to the power of the sun at any time.  Her first product is a solar travel wallet which combines solar power banks wrapped in leather with beautiful colours.Christin talks about her career and personal background.  Her experience of investing and equity crowdfunding.  She explains the challenges of not getting as much capital as her male counterparts.Christin's words to her 16 year old self - “You should be so incredibly proud of the resilient woman that you’ve become...you should be extremely proud, and you'll come across a few roadblocks, hard things to get across, but you’ll make it out the other side and you’re gonna do well” 

Henry Boulton is the Chief Innovation Officer and CoFounder of FocusBand. He is an innovator, entrepreneur and performance coach. FocusBand has created a wearable brain sensing headset that helps people improve their performance. Henry explains that only 2 out of 10 people are actually engaged at work.  Many people are "time travelling" into the future or they are stuck in the past rather than being in the present moment. We need tools to overcome this with neurofeedback to train the brain. Many people are leaving work feeling exhausted or stressed. FocusBand helps people enjoy going to work and being more efficient so that they can get the best out of their day in the shortest amount of time!Henry explains how he was obsessed with golf growing up.  He studied electronic engineering and wanted to take technology into sports. He initially developed 3D sensors on the body and realised that something was still missing so he started measuring the brain and mental processes with wearable products that could be used in motion on the golf course. Henry also talks about other career highlights such as working with Facebook/ Meta. Henry describes how the headsets can help people improve their performance by picking up brain frequencies. He talks about flowstate which is an optimal state where you are free of emotion and judgement and can get things done faster. We also talk about brain analytics and how his workplace engagement platform provides insights and training for people to sustain optimal performance. Henry believes that the secrets to his success are having a pioneering spirit and believing that anything is possible. If he was to do anything differently, he would simplify his offering. Building the right team has been very challenging and he would ensure that he had a dedicated sales and marketing team together with a good UI/ UX and Data team.

Tony Schirmer is the CEO of CQSola and Co-founder at Neocreative.  CQSola builds cutting edge technology which reduces losses in Solar Farms by up to 25%.Tony explains how he studied Mechatronics at university but ended up dropping out to set up his own business. In this episode, he talks about the various highlights and challenges in his career.Tony talks about both the benefits and problems of solar power. For example, if one solar panel fails then the whole string fails. A simple everyday comparison is when one Christmas light fails then the whole lot fails. Tony explains how the technology at CQSola overcomes this problem. Tony discusses the future of solar power in both Australia and on a global scale.  The episode concludes with the secrets to his success and if Tony would do anything differently.

In the first episode of Season 5 of the "Don't Just Survive, Thrive" podcast, Nicola talks to Dinesh Palipana OAM.  Dinesh is a doctor, lawyer, disability advocate and the first quadriplegic medical intern in Queensland. He has many accolades including Queensland Australian of the Year. Nicola talks to Dinesh about his personal story including his highlights and challenges.  They discuss how tech and his research project, Project BioSpine, is helping people with spinal cord injuries.  They also explore the impact of automation and robotics on medicine and how it can give back the most important element - the doctor/ patient relationship.They finish by talking about how his disability has set him free and what he would say to his younger self prior to the accident.  To discover more, read Dinesh's book "Stronger" - Stronger - Palipana, Dinesh | 9781760984786 | Amazon.com.au | Books

How can data and geospatial analytics help us understand climate change and climate adaption?  Gopal Erinjippurath is CTO and Head of Product at Sust Global, a Climate Intelligence SaaS company based in San Francisco. Gopal has an impressive background.  He moved from India to the US to study electrical engineering to then work in a research lab, studying a PhD and working as a research scientist. He believes that this background in academia and research has helped build his foundations and passion for enabling widespread use of the application of fundamental research to commercialise products. For example, Gopal drove the research, development, and technical delivery of an imaging IP portfolio for Dolby Vision which was licensed to tier-1 media players including Sony and Apple. Prior to founding Sust Global, he was Senior Director of Analytics Engineering at Planet where he built and scaled 4 diverse Agile engineering teams.  Gopal’s advice for building high performing teams includes: •             Focus on diversity •             Respect each other •             Have a unified mission & purpose  Gopal finishes our conversation by explaining that he would tell his 15 year old self to stay hungry for more information and knowledge.  Basically, maintain your curiosity!

What would you say is the secret to your success?  Which of the following resonates most with you:  ⭐ Being in the right place at the right time ⭐ Knowing when to quit and when to quit early ⭐ Being willing to take risks in decision making  Rav Raniga, Partner Lead at tech startup ELARA, believes all of the above are the secrets to his success.  After a brief break from podcast recording, I was thrilled to speak to Rav who has extensive expertise in Mathematics and algorithmic software solutions.  I find it fascinating how he has the ability to deconstruct complex problems and create elegant solutions using customer-centric design.  Rav is also just a fantastic and humble person so it is always a delight to speak to him!  Rav tells the story of his father’s upbringing in Fiji and how his determination and work ethic led him to a career in pharmacy and then a pivot to law!  The family moved to Australia and Rav says that he had a privileged life which allowed him to follow his interests in arts, sciences, mathematics and the science of decision making.  We talk about his role at Elara.AI, a well-funded early-stage tech startup which has a totally unique proposition.  It is a programmable AI platform which is bridging the gap between business and technology by improving the developer experience and providing business with the best insights so it can make intelligent decisions.  Rav and I discuss his predictions about AI, Machine Learning and data optimisation.   Rav talks about the highlights of his career including the opportunity to travel, meet different types of people and making an impact.  We talk about the problems of communicating with both technical people and the business to provide the best solution.  Rav is helping build a highly talented team at Elara.  The characteristics he looks for in new team members are:  ⭐ Passion for problem solving  ⭐ Customer first ⭐ Trust ⭐ Innovative  I ask Rav what his advice is for attracting and retaining high performance tech teams.  He starts by saying use a really good recruiter who takes the time to understand the business (I didn’t pay him to say this, I promise!).  He also says that paying a competitive salary should be a given as well as the opportunity to work on exciting tasks with clear end goals.  

Jonathan Girroir is Technical Evangelist at Tech Soft 3D, a company which provides 3D software development toolkits that power world class engineering applications.  Jonathan has 25 years experience in the software development industry and has a passion for building the next generation of 3D software. Jonathan talks about Tech Soft 3D’s main software – HOOPS – 3D software development toolkits (SDKs) which power world-class engineering applications. HOOPS is an anagram for Hierarchy of Object-Oriented Picture System. We talk about how HOOPS is enabling the AR industry and his advice for handling massive data sets with web and mobile engineering applications.Nicola Steel and Jonathan discuss Jonathan’s career highlights including being part of a startup after college, being a lecturer at Harvard University, travelling the world and taking a major investment in Tech Soft 3D.  They also talk about his main challenges which include living in a small US city and overcoming the 2008/2009 Global Financial Crisis.Jonathan believes that the crucial characteristics of high performers are:⭐A desire and hunger to make a difference⭐A doer⭐Ability to learn and be teachable⭐Shared valuesJonathan’s values are integrity, hard work and kindness. His company values are be agile and responsive, have fun, build positive relationships, pursue excellence!

In this first episode of Season 4, Nicola Steel talks to Colin Goudie and Charles Connell. Colin is a serial co-founder of various tech startups including Userlot - Customer Success Management, Social Pinpoint and Dogeared. Charles is the other Co-Founder of Userlot - Customer Success Management and was also a Co-Founder at Social Pinpoint. They begin by talking about their backgrounds and purpose behind Userlot and Social Pinpoint as well as their core values which are be customer driven and get stuff done!Nicola asks what advice they would give to startups when they are being acquired based on Colin and Charles’ experience of the acquisition of Social Pinpoint by MySite Group. Their advice is to be friends with your competitors - listen to learn why this makes sense. They also believe that the secret to building high performing tech teams is to create a really good network and have your team fully understand what customer success is.And finally, I asked what advice would they give their 21 year old selves:⭐ “You got to love what you do and stick with it” – Colin⭐ “Work hard, take risks, enjoy the ride!” - Charles