Open The Pod Bay Doors

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 install

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

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

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 u

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

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

E163 - Clément Aglietta, Co-Founder & CEO, Edda    Our guest this week is Clément Aglietta, Co-Founder & CEO of Edda, a collaborative tool for private equity investors. Edda is an all-in-one solution for deal flow, portfolio management, and LP’s relationship management. The tool is designed to be user-centric and integrates with external databases and other tools. Edda has recently launched into the ANZ market via a partnership with Innovation Bay’s VC community, Aurora.    Clément began his career at CERN, the biggest physics laboratory in Europe, where he learned about quantum physics. He then went on to study design. This gave him the opportunity to join the dots between physics and design and discover a new method of solving problems - a passion that led to the creation of Edda.    Clément’s desire to be an entrepreneur led him to attend conferences and meet investors. He worked at Rebag, a luxury handbag marketplace, and was later invited to join LG Labs as a VC. As a designer turned VC, he notic

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Our guest this week is Fintech expert Alan Tsen, Head of fmX, IAG’s corporate accelerator program.    Currently in the middle of its fifth season, fmX invites 8 startup companies per cohort to engage in a 12 week program giving participants a unique opportunity to learn how to infiltrate their product successfully into the insurtech ecosystem.    Across the entirely free program, participants gain hugely valuable knowledge through training and face to face workshops to learn how to structure and position their businesses while giving them access to internal technical and design outlets to explore insurance use cases. One unique element of fmX is the potential for startups to partner with IAG.    With an enviable resume which includes practicing international tax law, a tenure as the GM of Stone & Chalk Melbourne, Chair and board member of Fintech Australia and Director of Revenue for startup Chipper Cash, Alan is also a lover of fine wine, even studying to become a sommelier, and writes a hugely knowledge

Did you know that dogs get cancer at the highest rate of any mammal in the world? Or that 80% of dogs get dental disease? How about that 50% of cats and dogs are overweight or obese? Pretty startling statistics, right?    Well, Anna Podolsky, Founder & CEO of direct to customer pet wellness business, Lyka, is on a mission to make our furry friends healthier and live longer, more fulfilled lives. Named after Anna’s 14 year old border collie, the concept for the business was borne when Lyka showed signs of being unwell and, after not recognising any of the ingredients in her generic food, began cooking for her fur baby.    Lyka employs 160 staff - doubling almost every 6 months - each with a deep love and care for animals. The company has so far raised $40 million in funds and has created 15 million meals for their loyal and very sticky customer base of furry friends and pet parents.    Ian and Anna cover a range of topics including:  Building the foundations for business success as a management consultant

Our guest this week is Anuj Goel, Head of Technology Sector and Executive Director at Macquarie Capital.    Anuj joined Macquarie’s Technology, Media, Entertainment and Telecommunications (TMET) team in 2006 following a short period working as an actuarial consultant.​   Today, Anuj focuses on helping Technology companies with M&A, IPO, trade sales, capital raising and other strategic priorities. In addition, Anuj is actively involved in Macquarie’s principal investing activities having been involved with companies such as Seek, oOh!media, PEXA and Temple & Webster. ​Leading a team of 22 staff across advisory and investment, some days Anuj will be solving complex problems with a large ASX company - the next - helping a Series A company think about their growth and investments.    Anuj and his team have a broad technology coverage across online businesses, classifieds, FinTech and software, and are building capabilities in emerging sectors like AgTech.   Ian and Anuj discuss a number of topics includin

E158 - Adam Schwab, CEO and Co-Founder at Luxury Escapes   Adam Scwhab runs at a million miles an hour - literally, he runs barefoot marathons! The CEO and Co-Founder of Luxury Escapes, Adam Schwab is our guest this week.    Outside of running one of the country’s most successful, bespoke travel sites, and running really far without shoes, Adam is also a contributing journalist and writer, podcast host, father of two young children, is on the investment committee of Save The Children, and is an angel investor.    An ex-lawyer, Adam and Luxury Escapes co-founding partner Jeremy Same (an ex-banker), started their first business in 2004 - apartment accommodation for backpackers. Fast forward to 2023, Luxury Escape has 510 staff on its books across Australia, Sri Lanka, India, Brazil, Ukraine, and New Zealand and will turn over close to $1b this year.    Ian and Adam discuss a heap including: Taking asymmetric risks  How COVID affected the business and helped them pivot their product offering  That every great f

E157 James Petrie, CEO & Co-Founder, Nourish    There’s a shift happening in the food that we eat. That is, we’re seeing a transition to plant based food. According to Bloomberg, the plant based food industry is projected to hit $162 billion in the next decade. With a projected population of 10 billion people on earth by 2080, it will be impossible to feed that many mouths with animal-based proteins. Enter Nourish.    Our guest this week is James Petrie, the CEO & Co-Founder of Nourish. Cutting his teeth as a research scientist at CSIRO, James was part of the lipid engineering team, and responsible for one product that mimicked fish oil - all from a canola crop. These learnings inspired the formation of Nourish.    Though not a trivial exercise to make plant-based proteins delicious, Nourish is responsible for the production of fats that have made a breakthrough in the taste and experience of alternative proteins. Nourish engineer yeasts and fungal streams that behave in the same way as animal fats -

Our first guest of 2023 is Adam Theobald, CoFounder & CEO of Ordermentum, a double sided marketplace and platform for hospitality suppliers and venues to make orders and payments.    Despite a potentially promising career in cricket and a desire to become a physio, Adam studied Computer Science at university going on to complete a Master degree in Commerce. Beginning his career as a stockbroker focusing on technology stocks, Adam moved into roles with voiceover IP company Freshtell (comparable to Skype) and web-based video conferencing company Parkslide (akin to Zoom). With a love of coffee, Adam founded order ahead app Beat The Queue (since rebranded to Hey You who have recently merged with delivery app Yello).    Ordermentum was born in 2014 with 10 customers signed up - the first being Lion Nathan. Despite the COVID curveball that threatened to all but completely wipe out the entire hospitality industry, the company became a savior to locked down dog walkers ordering coffees.    Ordermentum now boast a

On November 10 and 11, Sunrise, Australia’s leading ideas and innovation festival run by our friends at Blackbird, returned to Sydney for their most ambitious event since its inception in 2014. Taking over Sydney’s iconic Carriageworks, Sunrise opened its doors, inviting around 1,000 of its closest pals, all primed to explore the optimism and wonder of human achievement. Armed with a microphone, and less a wisdom tooth (which was removed around halfway through the festival - by a professional dentist), Innovation Bay’s Co-Founder and familiar host of Open The Pod Bay Doors, Ian Gardiner, tapped 21 people on the shoulder for series of pow wows about business, innovation, a retrospective at what has got them to now, a fast forward of what’s to come for our industry and what’s exciting them, and of course…what they’re hearing, seeing and feeling at Sunrise. Part 3 features an admirable group of people including Flavia Tata Nardini (Fleet Space Technologies), Andy Tsao (Silicon Valley Bank), Matthew Pearson (Flee

On November 10 and 11, Sunrise, Australia’s leading ideas and innovation festival run by our friends at Blackbird, returned to Sydney for their most ambitious event since its inception in 2014. Taking over Sydney’s iconic Carriageworks, Sunrise opened its doors, inviting around 1,000 of its closest pals, all primed to explore the optimism and wonder of human achievement. Armed with a microphone, and less a wisdom tooth (which was removed around halfway through the festival - by a professional dentist), Innovation Bay’s Co-Founder and familiar host of Open The Pod Bay Doors, Ian Gardiner, tapped 21 people on the shoulder for series of pow wows about business, innovation, a retrospective at what has got them to now, a fast forward of what’s to come for our industry and what’s exciting them, and of course…what they’re hearing, seeing and feeling at Sunrise. Part 2 features a bunch of incredible humans including Joel Connolly (Blackbird), Alex Apoifis (Blackbird), Jekaterina Viktorova (Syenta), Andrea Gardiner (J

On November 10 and 11, Sunrise, Australia’s leading ideas and innovation festival run by our friends at Blackbird, returned to Sydney for their most ambitious event since its inception in 2014. Taking over Sydney’s iconic Carriageworks, Sunrise opened its doors, inviting around 1,000 of its closest pals, all primed to explore the optimism and wonder of human achievement.    Armed with a microphone, and less a wisdom tooth (which was removed around halfway through the festival - by a professional dentist), Innovation Bay’s Co-Founder and familiar host of Open The Pod Bay Doors, Ian Gardiner, tapped 21 people on the shoulder for series of pow wows about business, innovation, a retrospective at what has got them to now, a fast forward of what’s to come for our industry and what’s exciting them, and of course…what they’re hearing, seeing and feeling at Sunrise.    Part 1 features a bevy of incredible humans including:  - Matt Fairhurst (Skedulo)- Al Coleman (Folklore)- Kristen Durham (Zendesk)- Mary Minas (Sense

Our guest for episode 152 is Mina Radhakrishnan, Co-CEO & Co-Founder of Proptech startup :Different. Mina co-founded the company alongside her husband, with whom she shares CEO duties. :Different is property management as a service for real estate agents with their mission being to take care of homes and the people in them.    Born in Canada, Mina has spent a lot of time in the US, kick starting her career at Goldman Sachs in New York. She chose a role as Product Manager at Google over Business School and was one of the first employees of Uber, where she went on to become Head of Product and was part of the team that introduced surge prices during busy periods. While running her consultancy on the side to keep close to product and startups, Mina worked with a couple of venture firms (Cowboy Venture and Redpoint) as an advisor and entrepreneur in residence. Through all of this wealth of experience, she knew she wanted to be a founder.    During a round the world trip, Mina and her husband came up with the

Mark Tanner is the Co-Founder and COO of Qwilr - an online platform that allows the customer to easily create visually compelling sales and marketing collateral at speed. The aim is to deliver a better buyer experience by combining content, price quotes, e-sign, and sales transactions into a single, mobile-friendly webpage. It’s the ultimate productivity boost for sales and marketing teams, with automation, analytics, code-free design and collaboration capability, all in one platform.   In this episode we hear about Mark’s passion for politics and study of History, Government & International Relations at Sydney University. How Google poached him from a startup to help launch Google Play Books, Google Play Magazines & Google Newsstand. Returning from a couple of years in New York we learn how reconnecting with old school friend Dylan Baskind led to the creation of Qwirl.    Ian and Mark discuss Qwilr’s journey and deep dive into Mark's expertise in sales and go-to-market plan. Tune in to hear more on:

WinVC is a women VC investor-led initiative aiming to facilitate the success of women VC investors and women-led VC firms, and attract more women from diverse backgrounds into VC investment roles. WinVC’s aim is to bring together women in VC to learn from one another, develop new opportunities, facilitate collaboration and help foster female talent in the industry.  On this week’s episode, our guests are WinVC’s incredible founders, Andrea Gardiner, CEO & Founder of Jelix Ventures; Ingrid Maes, Founder & Managing Director of W23; and Michelle Deaker, Founding Partner & Managing Director of OneVentures.  According to a recent report by Deloitte and SBE titled Accelerating women founders: The untapped investment opportunity, only 0.7% of all private start-up funding in FY22 went to solely female founding teams, despite funding increasing tenfold between FY18 and FY22. A separate AIC report highlights that just 25% of VC investors are female, with VC female partners sitting at 15%. Andrea, Ingrid and