Open the Pod Bay Doors Innovation Bay

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 ro 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. 

 

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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.
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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. 
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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. 
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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. 
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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/ 
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