Startup Theatre Podcast

In this episode, we chat with Derek Handley Derek is an entrepreneur known for co-founding alongside Sir Richard Branson The B Team - a global collective advocating economic systems change to protect our natural environment and secure a safe, sustainable, and equitable future for all Before The B Team, Derek was one of the first young Kiwi entrepreneurs to build a global start-up, The Hyperfactory, an early pioneer driving the transition from the PC world to the mobile world. He started it out of University and took from a balcony in Anzac Ave Auckland to offices across the world from New York to India and almost 200 people, before selling to a 100 year old NYSE-listed giant Meredith Corporation. Have served on the Board of Sky TV, sustainability board of Air New Zealand, as Adjunct Professor at AUT; Innovator in Residence at Wharton University of Pennsylvania and as campaign Chair for Prince Harry Duke of Sussex for his sustainable travel initiative “Travalyst”. Founder of Aera VC, a global climate-tech seed fund investing in transformative technologies to radically reverse climate change. Our 25+ portfolio companies have gone on to raise over $2b NZD. Personal angel investor in over 50 start-ups, still actively backing 2-4 companies a year - most recently examples x.Ai Series B and Tracksuit. Awarded Young Entrepreneur of the Year, Sir Peter Blake Leader, and Victoria University Distinguished Alumni awards He is now building his latest company in Aera. Aera is a new Kiwi fintech start-up helping first-home buyers build a deposit in half the time.

Will Palmer is a seasoned entrepreneur with a successful track record in tech, co-founding Movio, Cupla, and DevRamp. As Movio's CEO, he led its growth to dual listings on the NZ and Australian stock exchanges before exiting to build two entirely different businesses. Consumer app start up Cupla and the developer tool, DevRamp. With the massive success of Movio, we talk with Will on his lessons and learnings. Will is not stopping until he’s reached that unicorn status and we can see this happening. Thanks to our sponsor in Talent Army who are NZ’s best IT recruiters

For 8 years, Oxygen Advisors has stood behind over 100 New Zealand startups. Amazingly, only 3% of their startup portfolio have not survived and we wanted to know why. In this episode we chat with Matt Dold the founder and Mike Mandis the Co-CEO. As the founder and Director at Oxygen Advisors, Matt has been at the forefront of empowering start-ups and high-growth businesses across New Zealand for over a decade. Matt's served as a Director, Advisor and CFO partner to many of New Zealand's most successful high growth companies such as Auror, Thematic, Archipro, Woop, Thundergrid, Conqa, Weirdly, Preno, Wipster and many more. Mike is Co-CEO at Oxygen Advisors. Over the past four years he has helped technology companies raise over $150m in capital and has supported companies scaling globally from pre-revenue to $15m+ ARR. Tune in and learn how this company has been able to help the ecosystem so much. Thank you to our sponsor in Talent Army

Simon Pound, Managing Partner at Previously Unavailable and host of the popular Business is Boring podcast, offers a riveting conversation on entrepreneurship amidst adversity. He shares insights on balancing family life with business demands and discusses the innovative strategies that enhance brand visibility. The chat also highlights the evolution of retail resilience during the COVID-19 pandemic and explores trends in non-alcoholic beverages. Simon emphasizes the significance of community support and the importance of authentic storytelling in the evolving media landscape.

Coachmate is a purpose-led tech startup on a mission to help kids stay in sports. Research has shown that kids who remain in sports have better mental and physical outcomes throughout their lives. Enter Michelle Walshe is no stranger to sports after directing sports legends like Venus Williams, Kevin Durant, and Richie McCaw's feature films. Michelle is also the co-founder of the successful Augusto, a hybrid creative and production agency. In 2018, Michelle wanted to create more impact in the community and co-founded CoachMate, a platform dedicated to empowering grassroots sports parents and volunteers with world-class tools to help keep kids in sports. In this episode, Troy and Michelle discuss her background in documentary making, her career in film directing, and how Michelle was compelled to solve the issue of helping volunteers in grassroots sports with technology. Follow Michelle on LinkedIn Follow Coachmate on LinkedIn Thank you to our sponsor: Talent Army

TikTok has arrived and set up an office in New Zealand and we wanted to hear about it. In this episode we chat with TikTok’s NZ country manager. Carsten Grueber is a seasoned leader in the digital marketing and advertising industry, currently serving as the Country Manager for Advertising Partnerships at TikTok in New Zealand. In this role, Carsten has been pivotal in establishing and leading TikTok's commercial business, building strong relationships with key advertisers, and showcasing the platform's value for impactful campaigns. We discuss Carsten’s career after working with Google, Facebook and now TikTok Follow Carsten - http://linkedin.com/in/carsten-grueber-8a9b89 Follow TikTok - https://www.linkedin.com/company/tiktok/ Thank you to our sponsor: https://www.talent.army/

Lance Wiggs has over 10 years of experience as a venture capitalist and considerable experience helping to start, grow, turn around, and exit companies as a consultant, investor, co-founder, and director. He is a principal with Punakaiki Fund and Climate VC Fund, and has invested in well over 40 companies. In this episode, we discuss the importance of making good decisions in business and how Lance helps CEOs and founders make better decisions. We talk about the Government and whether they should invest in our ecosystem and many more topics including Lance’s Aphantasia. Follow Lance: Follow Punakaiki Fund: Thanks to our sponsor - Talent Army

Janine Grainger is one of the most requested shows we’ve had to date. Janine is a kiwi-born entrepreneur and a highly respected leader in tech. She's the co-founder and CEO of Easy Crypto, New Zealand's leading cryptocurrency trading platform. Easy Crypto was established in 2017 to offer a secure, simple and easy-to-understand way for everyone to get involved in the cryptocurrency market, and has since helped hundreds of thousands of people get started with crypto. Janine is on the Executive Council for FinTechNZ and sits on a number of government advisory and working groups, both in NZ and internationally. Follow Janine - http://linkedin.com/in/janine-grainger Follow Easy Crypto - https://linkedin.com/company/easy-crypto/ Thank you to our sponsor: https://www.talent.army/

In this episode, we chat with Ralph Highnmam only days after his company Volpara was acquired for $300m by Lunit. Ralph is no stranger to success as he founded and built a medical imaging AI company in Oxford, UK that was also acquired. In this conversation, we go deep into how he has achieved this and why he decided to move to Wellington NZ, and help our ecosystem to grow further. Follow Ralph - linkedin.com/in/ralph-highnam-a9352314 Follow RPH Ventures -https://www.rphventures.co.nz/ Thank you to our sponsor: https://www.talent.army/

If you have not heard of a highly successful startup runn in New Zealand then you must be living under a rock. Tim Copeland was one of the founders of SilverStripe, one of New Zealand's leading digital transformation companies, equally famous for our open-source content management system used today by tens of thousands of companies. Now Tim has turned his passion to resource management software for the modern workforce and Runn is growing very fast globally. ⁠ Follow Tim - https://www.linkedin.com/in/timcopeland/ Follow runn -https://www.linkedin.com/company/runwithrunn Thank you to our sponsor: https://www.talent.army/