
202 episodes

Open the Pod Bay Doors Innovation Bay
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- Technology
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4.9 • 48 Ratings
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There is a lot of activity in the Australian startup ecosystem. Ideas, talent, and money are all flowing into this sector at an unprecedented rate.
This weekly podcast brings in-depth interviews with the best people making the biggest difference.
It's brought to you by Ian Gardiner and Phaedon Stough, technology entrepreneurs helping to grow the startup sector in Australia and New Zealand. Ian and Phaedon co-founded Innovation Bay with a clear mission to help technology entrepreneurs succeed.
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E163 - Clément Aglietta, Co-Founder & CEO, Edda
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 noticed the lack of advanced technology in the industry and decided to create Edda. Edda raised the first funding round after building a team and creating the first version of the product.
Edda helps investors manage their deals and portfolio companies by capturing information from emails, synchronizing data, and providing collaboration tools. It provides statistics and creates profiles for companies, while allowing users visibility on the true value of investments and the impact they create, in real time. With a team of 33 (growing to 40 imminently), Edda now has 130 clients in 26 countries and manages around $30 billion in assets across the private and public equity markets. With lofty ambitions to be the global industry leader, and a passion to make a positive impact on people, society and the planet, Edda has big plans for the future.
Quickfire Round:
Book: Build by Tony Fidel, Civilizations by Laurent Binet
Podcast: audio books
News Source: VC news via LinkedIn
Productivity App: Turning off phone notifications
Favourite CEO: Demis Hassabis from DeepMind
TV Show: n/a
TEDTalk Topic: Financing impact
Get in touch with Clèment via LinkedIn and learn more about Edda here https://edda.co/
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E162 - Kate Pounder, CEO, Tech Council Australia
Our guest this week is Kate Pounder, CEO of the Tech Council of Australia. Launched in August 2021, the Tech Council’s mission is to be the peak body representing Australia’s tech ecosystem. The Tech Council addresses 3 key gaps - Research, Policy & Advocacy, and Engagement - across the industry, policy change makers, government and the media.
Launching the day prior to a snap lockdown in Canberra and with two primary school aged children, the last couple of years have been a ride for Kate, but overall a totally energising time. In just under 8 weeks the Tech Council grew from 24 to 100 members and went from 1 full time staffer to 15 in 18 months. With a board made up of some of the most impressive voices in the industry, they have lofty ambitions to reach 1.2 million tech jobs in Australian by 2023 - a goal backed by the federal government who have made it an official national policy.
The currently 160-strong Tech Council membership ranges from representatives from some of the biggest Australian companies (Atlassian, Canva, Seek), up and coming startups (Bryte, AirWallex, Envato), multinational companies (Google, IBM, Microsoft) as well as some of the country’s major employers (Wesfarmers, Woolworths, NBN Co, Commonwealth Bank, NAB). All of them share a common passion to have their seat at the table and be on the forefront of change in the industry, through addressing jobs and skill shortages, reforming migration systems, getting cyber security and privacy reform right, and making sure key tax settings are working effectively to incentivise innovation.
Quickfire Round
Book: Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln
Podcast: Planet Money
News Source: ABC, The Guardian, The Australian, AFR, The Economist
App: Outlook, LinkedIn, Teams, Slack
Productivity Tool: Trello
Fav Tech CEO: No Favourties but Robyn Denholm as Chair of Tech Council
TV Show: Wednesday, White Lotus
TEDTalk Topic: Diversity in the tech sector
For more information on the Tech Council of Australia, visit https://techcouncil.com.au/.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. -
E161 - Alan Tsen, IAG Firemark Collective, Head of fmX
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 knowledgeable Fintech newsletter Fintech Radar.
Quickfire Round
Book: Unreasonable Hospitality, Will Guidara
Podcast: Got Somme - Aussie wine podcast
News Source: Twitter
App: Tana, Oura
Tech CEO: Andy Grove
TV Show: Ru Paul’s Drag Race
TEDTalk Topic: The State of Fintech in Africa
While recruitment for the next season of fmX won’t officially kick off until October this year, Alan is always on the lookout for startups with amazing ideas that might fit the fmX mould. Get in touch with Alan alan.tsen@iag.com.au or follow along on Twitter @alantsen.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. -
E160 - Anna Podolsky, Founder & CEO, Lyka
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 at Bain
Traveling around the world with a border collie
Practicing 10 thousand hours of gymnastics
Her Dad’s kitchen as first production facility
The importance of building a purpose-led culture
And lots more…
Quickfire Round:
Book: The Power of Moments - Chip Heath, Dan Heath
Podcast: Masters of Scale
News Source: Morning Brew
App: Headspace
Tech CEO: Bob Iger
Productivity Tool: Remember The Milk
TV Show: The Block (guilty pleasure)
TED Talk Topic: Kibble is the new cigarette
Get In Touch:
Lyka are always recruiting, check out their open roles: https://lyka.com.au/careers
Have a pup and ready to make the switch? Head to: https://lyka.com.au/
Connect with Anna on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anna-podolsky/
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. -
E159 - Anuj Goel, Head of Technology Sector and Executive Director, Macquarie Capital
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 including:
Macroeconomics and a potential continuation of a flat economy
Trends in the tech debt market and how corporates are going after growth
The difference between VC and PE and the relationship between them
Pre-planning for the IPO market
Investment opportunities in AI
And so much more!
Quickfire Round:
Book: Total Recall - Arnold Schwarzenegger Biography
Podcast: Alan Watts on YouTube
News Source: Letter of Intent, AFR
App: YouTube, Outlook
Tech CEO: all CEOs bring different things, Shemara Wikramanayake (Chief Executive Officer of Macquarie Group) is inspirational.
Productivity App: n/a
TV: Carl Pilkington
Ted Talk: How do you find your purpose?
Learn more about Macquarie Capital HERE
Connect with Anuj Goel HERE
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. -
E158 - Adam Schwab, CEO and Co-Founder at Luxury Escapes
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 founder balances incredible self confidence with consistent paranoia
His podcast From Zero
And so much more.
Quickfire Round
Book: The Everything Store: Jeff Bezos and the Age of Amazon
Podcast: Pivot, What The Flux
News Source: AFR, Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg
App: BOM
Tech CEO: Jeff Bezos
Productivity Tool: WhatsApp
TV Show/Movie: WeWork, Super Pumped, The Crown - fact based fiction
Ted Talk Topic: n/a
Luxury Escapes are always hiring and Adam’s DM’s are open. Hit him up on Twitter.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Customer Reviews
Open the Pod Bay Doors
Great podcast
Listen to everyone
It works, insightful and patient two way discussion
This podcast works, insightful and patient two way discussion about start ups in Australia and elsewhere, start ups on their own and at risk of being oxymoronic, start ups in larger corporate entities
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Extremely useful resource for founders. I find each guest offers something very valuable to the table.