Business Beyond Borders

In this episode of Business Beyond Borders I chat to Dai Williams, Chief Growth Officer at SiteMinder. Siteminder started as a two-person operation working out of a rental home on Sydney’s northern beaches. Just over a decade later it employs more than 800 people and services more than 35,000 hotels around the world. Today, SiteMinder generates more than AU$100 million in annual recurring revenue and is considered one of the 20 greatest pioneering technology companies to come out of Australia and New Zealand. Dai is responsible for SiteMinder’s entry into new markets, and the growth and diversification of the disruptive Software-as-a-Service model that has made SiteMinder a technology pioneer. Tune in to find out: • How to know when to ‘go global’ • The best way for software companies to choose an international market • Why knowing the size of your Total Addressable Market is key to international scale-up success • Strategies that Siteminder has used to overcome cross-cultural challenges in global mark

Lee Hackett is CEO of BluprintX, a company which helps CMOs, CROs and CEOs of mid-to-large-sized businesses to grow revenue by using data and technology. Lee set up the firm in the UK 2013 and has expanded its footprint to four countries. Before Bluprint X, Lee played a leading role in creating and scaling seven startups in four continents over the last decade. Several of these startups became market leaders within 1-3 years, and were sold to FTSE 200 organisations and global companies. But Lee hasn’t always been an entrepreneur and before he got into business, he was a professional footballer with Wigan Athletic FC, in the UK. In this episode, Lee and I are chat about Brexit, his transition from football to business, the creation of BluprintX and how Lee took it global. Tune in to find out: Why every company needs to think about ‘going global’ How Lee made the transition from athlete to entrepreneur What football taught Lee about leading a company Top tips on dealing with the distraction created by global gr

Today, we’re doing something a little different. I’m talking to my colleague, Zach Selch, the Global Sales Mentor. Zach is the VP Global Sales for a high tech medical company and has spent his career solving international sales challenges that CEOs can’t fix. He’s passionate about driving incremental improvement across every inch of the sales process and every nut and bolt in the sales organization. Zach is the person that companies have called in, time and again, when they have tried to grow a market or their international division and simply haven’t been able to get off the ground. Over the past almost 30 years, Zach has built up the international sales of several companies, from start-ups to publicly traded companies, four times growing sales by more than 1000%, three times bringing in the single largest purchase order in a product’s history; adding hundreds of millions of dollars to the value of mid-market companies by increasing their international footprint. Zach has sold in more than 135 countries

In this episode of the Business Beyond Borders podcast, I caught up with Vanessa Garrard who has been ranked in Australia’s Top 30 Female Entrepreneur list every year since 2010. Vanessa’s entrepreneurial journey started by selling lollies and sweets at the ripe old age of 12 to now establishing Adventure Operations, a group consisting of 17 companies providing consumer products to retailers all over the globe. Currently, 1 in 2 Australians own a product that Vanessa’s company has produced and her group continues to expand its global footprint with offices in Australia, China and the US. Her experience has led her to share her journey to inspire other women in business to scale up, build confidence and think bigger. As a result of her passion for business, she has also received countless awards and is internationally recognised for her entrepreneurial achievements. Tune in to my interview with Vanessa to hear her share: • Her experience as a woman in business • The things to look out for when ‘going

This week Cynthia Interviews Angus Raine, leading real estate commentator and fourth generation member of the family that created the Raine & Horne Group. After starting his career outside the company Angus came back, joined the family business and has been instrumental in expanding the company’s vision and taking it overseas. At 135 years old, Raine & Horne is one of the oldest privately-held companies in the Southern Hemisphere, and now has over 12 offices throughout Australia, Malaysia, The UAE, India, Fiji and Vietnam. Tune in and find out: • Why being part of a family-held company is an advantage in Asian markets • Why having the right team is key to ‘going global’ Raine & Horne’s strategies for choosing new international markets • How Raine & Horne maintains its culture across international offices. • How Angus uses his ‘brains trust’ to solve tough challenges. Angus shares his thoughts on what it takes to make it when going global with your business, with an emphasis on the importance of buil