Ben Keighran is an intelligent and down-to-earth founder, advisor and investor, who knows all about growing a great business and what it takes to make it in Silicon Valley. Phaedon Opened the Pod Bay Doors to Ben so we could talk about Caffeine, a social broadcasting platform for gaming, sport…
Continue ReadingThis week on Open The Pod Bay Doors we chat to Sam Wong, Partner at Blackbird Ventures, an Australian venture fund who back exceptional founders with big ambitions to build global businesses. They provide equity capital for Seed, Series A and later stage – no cheque is too early. With…
Continue ReadingEpisode 41 of the pod we’re happy to be joined by Dean Dorrell, Principal at boutique venture fund, Carthona Capital. Carthona is an Australian venture fund focused on early stage investments (pre-Seed, Seed, Series A), with a mandate to invest globally. Established in 2013, when the founding team who were…
Continue ReadingThis week on Open The Pod Bay Doors, we turn our attention to the New Zealand startup ecosystem as Ian Gardiner speaks with kiwi native, serial entrepreneur and investor, Rowan Simpson. Rowan started his career as an IT consultant working on mainly Government projects in Sydney. A software engineer at…
Continue ReadingThis week on the pod, we have one of Australia’s most creative and well respected research commercialisation specialists. Dr. Steve Brodie talking everything innovation. Steve is passionate about all things science. Steve brings more than 20 years’ experience in research and development, commercialisation and open innovation with stints at major…
Continue ReadingWe welcome to the pod entrepreneur, investor, mentor and startup evangelist, Alan Jones. With a career spanning over 50 roles; from working for some of largest tech companies in the world, to mentoring with Australia’s leading tech incubators and accelerators, to investing in an amazing portfolio of early stage tech…
Continue ReadingLarry Lopez has been driving innovation for over 25 years. He has worked with start-ups, venture capital funds, institutional investors and government agencies, with a long track record of developing outstanding teams that deliver successful outcomes. Larry spent 17 years in technology finance with Silicon Valley Bank, before moving to…
Continue ReadingFlavia is my favourite rocket scientist. Passionate, driven, intelligent and with unbelievable amounts of tenacity, it seems there is nothing that Flavia can’t do if she puts her mind (and talents) to it. Fleet is a space business providing free global satellite connectivity for the internet of things. Over the…
Continue ReadingKaren is the CEO of corporate startup accelerator Slingshot. She has spent most of her career in various tech roles, most recently as CEO of News-owned job site Career One. Slingshot has delivered programs for several major Australian corporates over the last 3 years, including NRMA, HCF, Qantas and Lion….
Continue ReadingNiki Scevak is the founder of Australian accelerator program Startmate as well as a founding partner at VC Blackbird. He’s been passionately involved in the Australian startup sector since 2008 when he returned home from the USA. Niki has done about as much as anyone I know to support and…
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