Build It. They'll Come.

Helen Dalley
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Candid interviews with successful Self-starters. On Build It. They'll Come, you'll hear from some amazing Australian entrepreneurs who bet big to build great businesses. Journalist Helen Dalley interviews business innovators and visionaries on how they turned their lightbulb idea into a viable, sustainable enterprise. This podcast is about the human face behind taking a simple idea and turning it into a business or movement. It's the beating heart behind what it takes to build an empire, from concept to execution, and how they actually achieve it. Fuelled by blind faith and hard slog, how they transform their dream idea into concrete reality.

  1. May 20

    De Bortoli Wines - Darren De Bortoli on heritage, hustle and helping build an iconic wine empire (while navigating challenges of a global wine glut, declines in wine consumption and even water shortages)

    When he took over the family wine business in 1994 at the tender age of 33, Darren De Bortoli continued a legacy his father Deen had built on that was De Bortoli Wines, centred around the vineyard his grandfather planted in the NSW Riverina. Darren was a young superstar, having created as a newly qualified winemaker in 1982, the acclaimed Noble One Botrytis Semillon – to this day a globally renowned, medal-winning sticky wine, and a wine that quickly catapulted De Bortoli Wines into massive growth. The company moved into other wine districts like the Yarra Valley, King Valley and more recently Rutherglen in Victoria, and also the Hunter Valley. Under Darren’s leadership they pioneered environmentally sustainable winemaking practices and today they grow wheat, barley and oat crops using eco-friendly waste water from the wineries. Today De Bortoli Wines is the 6th largest wine company in Australia by revenue, yet still Australian and family owned and run. But as he reflects on the great legacy he’s helped build, Darren De Bortoli is candid about the considerable challenges he and others face: namely water access and climate change, a global wine glut and a downturn in wine consumption.  Hope you enjoy Darren De Bortoli. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    1h 26m

  2. Mar 24

    Michael Reid Galleries – Michael Reid building a global art business “ecosystem” – from Sydney to Berlin, the NSW Southern Highlands to Los Angeles, while bootstrapping his scaleup and gathering people along the way

    After years as an art critic writing about art, art consultant Michael Reid decided to take the plunge into the business side of the market and become a gallerist. He had his university degrees, but Michael Reid knew his strongest foundation actually came from his time spent honing expertise and his business sense inside Christie’s, the massive global art world juggernaut. Based in London, Michael discovered that exposure to art and auctions and the business of art on the international stage was the best qualification he could possibly have. This self described boy from country NSW, who describes himself as super ambitious, who is building and growing his “world” as he calls it,  who has built physical galleries, online platforms, food destinations, a current pop-up gallery in Los Angeles with plans for a permanent exhibition space there, who loves to drop names and sells to some of the finest collectors in Australia, operates his global business from his quiet, peaceful home in a tiny town, yes … back in country NSW. And he’s not finished yet. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    1h 26m

  3. Jan 11

    Macquarie Technology Group - David Tudehope disrupts telco giant Telstra, building a phone, internet, cyber security, data centres and AI group to support business, now worth over $1.5 billion

    David Tudehope left the finance world in the early 1990’s with a dream to service small to medium business who complained of poor service and overcharging by the monopolist at the time, Telstra.  Tudehope wasn’t a digital expert nor a highly trained computer engineer. But he understood numbers, and that customers wanted good service, not delays and obfuscation. So he had his brother Aidan started a small business they called Macquarie Telecom, back in 1992, with only the savings the pair could scrounge up, and forged headlong into the ultimately capital-intensive telco space. This is long before the internet and smart mobile phones. But they took on the slow-to-change Telstra and stuck to their mission of offering better customer service and cheaper prices to the business customer.  In just over 3 decades they’ve built (now named) Macquarie Technology Group into one of the Top 300 listed companies in Australia, with a market capitalisation of over $1.5 billon, offering major clients like the ATO, Officeworks and PayPal still telecom, but now cloud-based, cyber security services as well as massive investments in data centres to support the boom in AI.  David appeared on the Australian Financial Review’s Rich List 2024 alongside brother Aidan with an estimated net worth of over $900 million. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    1h 6m

  4. 12/07/2025

    OOXii Global – Dr Sarah Crowe helps more people see, with her mobile OOXii Vision Kit getting low cost, durable, prescription eye glasses to the millions who need better vision but cannot access eye glasses

    Since Dr Sarah Crowe had her lightbulb idea, and invented her completely mobile, vision testing and glasses kit, then ran a trial in remote Papua New Guinea and started to show  the impact her OOXii Vision Kit could have, to medical professionals in India and Vanuatu, she was inundated with positive reaction. Here was a complete system not only offering mobile eye testing, but also durable glasses frames, with prescription lenses in them, were then dispensed on the spot to people in remote or under-served communities, thereby improving their vision right there and then, in their home communities. It was life-changing.  A fantastic entrepreneurial idea to fix a massive global problem. But Sarah’s journey with OOXii Global and her mission to help fix the world’s vision has not been without its challenges and significant hurdles along the way. Listen to Dr Sarah Crowe take up the story. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    1h 2m

  5. 09/28/2025

    Kantoko – Zac Altman 2.0 innovating with an ADHD telehealth service, offering professional diagnosis and care for adults, via a subscription model

    While navigating Australia’s mental health system to deal with his personal assessment and ongoing care, entrepreneur Zac Altman felt frustrated and thought, quite simply, there must be a better way to help the huge number of adults with ADHD get the proper care and support they need. To help solve what he saw as a very large unmet demand problem, Zac created and built the start-up Kantoko, a telehealth service offering online assessments and ongoing care for adults with ADHD, but using an unusual business model – subscription services. Kantoko has been operational since early 2024, with patients accessing Kantoko’s team of experienced ADHD psychiatrists and GPs focusing on mental health. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    1h 3m

  6. 09/07/2025

    Luxury Escapes – Adam Schwab building a new, complete one-stop travel booking platform, still with deals and discounts

    When we last spoke to Luxury Escapes co-founder Adam Schwab, back in 2020, the online business had hit almost $500 million in sales. Today the luxury deals and discounts travel brand is ringing up over $1 billion in sales revenue, a doubling in 5 years. And it’s founder says it’s growing profitably, adding not only retail outlets, but Loyalty programs as well, to its online offering for travellers. Adam says he’s learned a heck of a lot in that time… hope you enjoy Adam Schwab. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    1h 7m

  7. 07/20/2025

    EncompaaS – Jesse Todd helps companies manage the massive burden and risk of data compliance

    When Jesse Todd did grunt work on the IT “Help” desk in an investment bank many moons ago, he developed a passion for managing corporate data and information better. Over recent decades, as companies have got bigger, needing to hold ever more mountains of data and documents for compliance -- one of business’ biggest headaches -- Jesse saw a huge opportunity witnessing the way companies struggled to deal with those massive mountains of information, and turned his passion into reality by working away on a superior and elegant solution. He and a small clever team he pulled together created and developed EncompaaS, a software platform that helps large companies and govt departments, mostly in highly regulated industries, manage and organise their massive amounts of data -  be it files, documents, emails, legal contracts, photos, videos - into a compliant  and efficient library of information. This not only allows the organisation to know what’s IN their data, and how to locate it quickly, but it can then leverage that for the company’s good use. Jesse Todd has raised $30 million so far from investors, as he continues to develop EncompaaS to help solve the massive headache for corporates, that is data compliance and risk. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    1h 3m

  8. 06/22/2025

    Vittoria Food & Beverage – Les Schirato turning Australians into Italian coffee lovers at home

    You could say Les Schirato had a key advantage in his early business journey… he married the boss’s daughter! The western Sydney born and bred son of Italian and Maltese migrants, Les started work at Vittoria Coffee before he’d even left school, loved it, and was asked back into the business while waiting for his HSC results. Les did indeed marry Luisa Cantarella, but he’d already earned his business stripes in the eyes of her father Orazio Cantarella, who’d started Vittoria in 1947 with his brother, importing Italian foods like cheese, pasta and mineral water. Les also had a successful stint outside the family business, having climbed executive ranks at Fiat. But since those early days, once Les and Luisa Schirato gained control of Vittoria,  with other family members and more recently their son and daughter, they’ve built Vittoria into one of the largest and most successful family owned and run food and coffee groups in Australia. Along the way they turned Australia into a nation of coffee snobs and espresso lovers. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    1h 14m
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Ratings & Reviews

4.8
out of 5
5 Ratings

About

Candid interviews with successful Self-starters. On Build It. They'll Come, you'll hear from some amazing Australian entrepreneurs who bet big to build great businesses. Journalist Helen Dalley interviews business innovators and visionaries on how they turned their lightbulb idea into a viable, sustainable enterprise. This podcast is about the human face behind taking a simple idea and turning it into a business or movement. It's the beating heart behind what it takes to build an empire, from concept to execution, and how they actually achieve it. Fuelled by blind faith and hard slog, how they transform their dream idea into concrete reality.

Information

  • Creator
    Helen Dalley
  • Years Active
    2020 - 2026
  • Episodes
    131
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Helen Dalley

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