Business Is Boring

Nature Baby is the organic baby wear company creating natural, long-lasting and well-made clothing, with a retail model that’s big on community. Co-founders Jacob and Georgia Faull have built to four stores, 55 staff and stockists around the world, and have ridden many waves of business, fashion and commerce to get there. To talk the journey, what’s next and their new circularity initiative Worn Again, co-founder Jacob Faull joins the pod. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When a client didn’t pay Max Semmons-Russell’s plumbing business for a completed $30k job it nearly knocked his company over. When it happened again he decided there had to be a better way. Asking around he saw the problem was huge, and there might be a solution that had fallen out of use. Escrow is a concept where people put a payment with a trusted third party until the product or service has been delivered. Max built Green Light Escrow to make it easy for trades businesses to use escrow to have certainty of payment, and customers to know they only pay when the job is delivered. To talk solving the big problem, starting a tech business on top of a successful plumbing business and what’s next, Max Semmons-Russell joins Simon Pound.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Kimberley Gilmour, the founder and CEO of Sprinklr, is a seasoned people leader known for her pivotal roles in scaling companies like Icebreaker and Vend. In this discussion, she emphasizes the crucial need for startups to invest in people operations early on. Kimberley shares insights on transforming human resources from mere compliance to nurturing a supportive culture. She highlights how understanding human behavior can drive business success and advocates for effective talent recruitment to ensure sustainable growth.

Concrete is one of the biggest contributors to climate change, with around 8% of global carbon emissions linked to its manufacture and use - but it wasn’t always like this. Local sustainable startup Neocrete has taken inspiration from 2000-year-old Roman methods to make concrete with half the carbon emissions today and a path to being entirely carbon neutral in a few years.This world leading innovation has attracted top international VC support, and the co-founders Matt Kennedy-Good and Zarina Bazoeva are now poised to make huge impact on the biggest of industries. Kennedy-Good joins the pod to discuss making change in an established practice, the path to innovation and what’s next for the concrete industry. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Daylight is an advertising and communications agency that was born out of The Spinoff newsroom, from the amazing work Toby Morris and Siouxsie Wiles did with Covid explainer gifs which grabbed the eye of the World Health Organisation. Daylight CEO Lee Lowndes has built the agency to add web and digital capability, leading to local and international growth in the hardest of markets. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In 2012 Mike Brown was hit by a car and became paralysed from the waist down. The transition to using a wheelchair and navigating a world not built for accessibility meant Mike saw a lot of things that could be improved to help improve access, enjoyment and opportunity.He started Adaptdefy, where their first hero product, the LapStacker, helps wheelchair users more easily secure items in their laps with straps, and is a hit that is up for a Best Design Award this year. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tom Wallace, founder of Re-Leased, revolutionizes property management by tackling inefficient software. He reveals how his company now manages 350,000 tenants worldwide and boasts a substantial rent roll. The conversation dives into the innovative SaaS solutions inspired by popular tech, the need for strategic funding, and the growing role of AI in automating tasks. Tom also shares insights on revitalizing urban areas through technology and the significance of community engagement in transforming the property landscape.

Megan Wyper started her career working with New Zealand coffee pioneers Millers coffee, before getting experience overseas in every element of the coffee business. On her return to New Zealand she joined Acme cups, a company you might not have heard of, but whose cups you’ve definitely drunk out of. They make the tulip cups you’ve seen in a variety of colours at specialist coffee stores (or bought from homeware and retail stores far and wide). To talk the journey, running a hospo-adjacent business and where Acme goes next, Meg Wyper joins the pod. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In a few short years, Anihana have gone from a small New Zealand brand to being on the shelves of 6000+ stores in America. Their shower steamers, shampoo bars, bath bombs and friendly fun sustainable packaging have helped them grow so fast they’re currently doing a capital raise through Snowball Effect to service demand and growth. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Roughly half of all people experience periods, so why aren’t period products more accessible? In Aotearoa today, if you are dealing with period-related issues and happen to be in a public place - a mall, cinema, office workplace or university, for example - it’s likely that you won’t have access to any free products that might help.Ads on Pads is here to change this. Founder Aditi Gorasia’s goal is to make period products free by placing advertising on them, while ensuring the products themselves are natural, biodegradable and made of the safest possible materials.To talk the journey, the problem today, and how more companies can support the battle for accessible period care, Aditi joined the pod. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices