The Company Road Podcast E87 Con Frantzeskos: The Unashamed Capitalist: Building AI Ventures and Billions in Revenue
In this episode of The Company Road Podcast, Chris Hudson speaks with Con Frantzeskos, a visionary marketing and technology leader who has generated billions in revenue for giants like Emirates, Coca-Cola, and ANZ. Con is the former founder of digital strategy consultancy Penso and is currently building AI-native ventures like SalesChef.ai and Ansett.Travel.
Buckle up friends, this is a hard-hitting conversation that contrasts the short-termism often seen in Australia with the ambitious, long-term vision of the Middle East and the US.
Con shares why 70% of ASX 200 companies fail to outperform a lump of gold, and what leaders must do to stop managing decline and start designing the future.
In this episode, you’ll hear about:
- "Strategy Karaoke": Why most companies are just reading lyrics off a screen rather than building genuine strategy.
- The Gold Standard Test: Con’s analysis revealing that 70% of ASX 200 companies have underperformed against gold over the last 20 years.
- Legacy vs. Blank Canvas: A fascinating comparison between Delta Airlines (incumbent) and Riyadh Air (startup) on what they envy about each other.
- Ruthless Prioritisation: How Matt Comyn at CBA destroyed physical touchpoints during COVID to lead the mortgage market.
- The "Rattle" Test: A brilliant story from Emirates about service design—"If you shake an A380, anything that rattles is service."
- Why "The Lucky Country" is not a compliment, and how it breeds complacency in Australian business.
- The five determinants of companies that actually grow: R&D, long-term strategy, export bias, and governance.
Key Links
SalesChef.ai: www.saleschef.ai
Ansett.Travel: www.ansett.travel
Con Frantzeskos LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/confrantzeskos/
About our guest
Constantine (Con) Frantzeskos is one of the world’s most visionary marketing and technology leaders. He is currently building AI-native ventures such as SalesChef.ai and Ansett.Travel, while providing AI and digital strategy consulting to enterprises across Australia, Asia, and the Middle East. Previously, Con founded and exited the international digital strategy consultancy PENSO.
He has held leadership positions at Edelman, DDB, and Ogilvy, designing campaigns and products that delivered billions in new revenue for brands like Emirates, Coca-Cola, ANZ, and Total Tools. Con is a regular columnist in the Australian Financial Review and a former Director of Victoria’s startup agency, LaunchVic.
About our host
Our host, Chris Hudson, is an Intrapreneurship Coach, Teacher, Experience Designer and Founder of business transformation coaching and consultancy Company Road.
Company Road was founded by Chris Hudson, who saw over-niching and specialisation within corporates as a significant barrier to change.
Chris considers himself incredibly fortunate to have worked with some of the world’s most ambitious and successful companies, including Google, Mercedes-Benz, Accenture (Fjord) and Dulux, to name a small few. He continues to teach with University of Melbourne in Innovation, and Academy Xi in CX, Product Management, Design Thinking and Service Design and mentors many business leaders internationally.
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