Startup Theatre Podcast

In this episode, we talk with Ben Pujji who is the CEO of Atomic.io a SaaS platform that helps companies engage their customers more effectively inside their apps.  Ben's early career was in banking, creative agencies, and government, before joining Atomic in 2015. In 2018 Ben stepped into the CEO's shoes, pivoting Atomic to focus on its new Action Card platform. Atomic helps businesses include their customer experience with web-based and in-app engagement. Its existing customers include ANZ, Foodstuffs, Kiwibank, and BNZ and its latest fundraising round is aimed at helping Atomic expand in Australia. Investors joining the Series A round include well-established venture capital firms Movac and Sir Stephen Tindall’s K1W1, Xero co-founders Rod Drury (who also serves as a director of Atomic) and Hamiah Walker, and former Trade Me executives and shareholders Sam Morgan and Rowan Simpson via their investment vehicles Jasmine Investments and Hoku, respectively. Ben talks about his journey into the role of a CEO that started as a school dropout. He shows how if you say yes to opportunities and work hard, you can be a CEO of a successful startup like Atomic.  If he sees two out of three pillars of an idea. He jumps in. Jump into this podcast and listen to Ben's story. 

In this episode, we chat with Diana Minnée who is a Chief Operating Officer for startups. She helps us to understand what a COO does in a startup and how she is able to pattern match across a lot of verticals to help support an Exec team. Diana founded The BizOps Agency to help startups scale. She and her BizOps Agents help organisations fill the gaps for the short term or long term. Previously as Head of Delivery at Trade Me, Diana focused on optimising Lean and Agile practices for over 50 teams across three offices, which her team of Delivery Coaches. As an Agile practitioner since 2008, she focuses on Modern Agile values, pragmatic operational design, and enabling everyone to do their best work. Diana is a pragmatic Senior Exec focused on high-tech startups - Operational leader covering all aspects of #bizops such as: Product and delivery Processes and Policies Organisational change and strategy CISO and engineering Workplace and staff People and Culture Compliance and regulatory Marketing, Sales and CS Financial strategy Diana is also a strong advocate for Women in Tech, mentoring women and Women in Leadership. Known for 'Getting s#$%T done', her transparent frankness, where to find a great gin and tonic, and always coming up with a way forward no matter what the problem. We hope you enjoy listening to this as much as we did.

Mike Dawes founded and runs the IT Heavy Hitters charity boxing match, which has raised over $600k for charity. All proceeds from his events next year go to Voices of Hope. Mike is not usually one to put himself into the spotlight and would rather profile his charities. Mike is not usually one to put himself into the spotlight and would rather profile his charities. But as a good mate of Mike's, our host Troy felt it his honor and duty to tell his story too. No stranger to IT himself, his focus over the last 24+ years has been primarily delivering core infrastructure and technology service-orientated solutions, sales, and infrastructure design to delivery of network and server infrastructure, and leadership of infrastructure and operational teams, delivering quality solutions in large enterprise environments. Mike is also a volunteer firefighter and an around great guy. As someone who has gone through the IT Heavy Hitters fight camp, our host Troy Hammond is a massive advocate of others doing the same. So far IT Heavy Hitters has raised over $600,000 for local suicide prevention causes and they are currently working with the team to pull this together again for 2023, with shows in Wellington on May 6th, Auckland City on May 13th, and Auckland North Shore on May 20th. They'll take a group of IT professionals, provide qualified training and instruction and glove them up. The result is an evening of explosive boxing action. You don't need any experience to fight at IT Heavy Hitters, you'll be trained by professional coaches and helped with all aspects of theory and practical boxing.  On the night you'll choose your walkout song, step into the arena and put all of your training into 3x2 minute rounds, scored and refereed by qualified officials. Sign up here to become an IT Heavy Hitter and help Mike, Voices for Hope and everyone involve K.O. suicide for good.

In this episode on the We F*@KIN love podcast, we speak with Auriga Martin, a positive force in nature the world needs more of. Auriga is an American who moved to New Zealand and has filled her cup with her two passions, the arts, and SaaS product. Auriga is ever-focused on moving the needle and bringing beneficial and lasting change.  Having been one of the founding first ten employees at tech education unicorn lynda.com for more than a decade has given Auriga a unique set of skills about fast word-of-mouth growth and product-led organizational design.  Lynda.com provided Auriga with early product management proving ground that resulted in the $1.7B USD sale to LinkedIn in 2016.   Auriga has led tech teams for more than twenty years to develop and deliver innovative products that bring real and positive outcomes.  Always keeping purpose at the center of what Auriga does she brings full authenticity as a people leader, prioritizing providing the right environment for teams to thrive and move at pace. www.ventana.co.nz

In this episode on the We F*@KIN love podcast, we speak with Simon Small who we literally pulled off the street to join us on the podcast. Simon was one of the OG SaaS sales leaders who found his way into a startup by meditating. Simon has a background in the Arts & Media and started Livestreaming and created three shows: SaaS on the Street is my chance to connect with the brightest SaaS Founders in the world Ride the Next Tech Wave is a profile on Global Tech Leaders (for NZ's TechWeek) Rooibos with Simon Small is offering help with career guidance (launched during COVID) He has also created some Mastermind Training programmes and throughout 2020 he began having a massive impact on SaaS Founders. He says some added several millions to their company valuation. Simon is launching the inaugural website for SaaS Elevator which encompasses all of the training he has developed and delivered, plus some exciting collaborations with global experts. He has also built a close network of investors and is beginning to raise money for SaaS Founders through a new division of his personal company (Moonshot Studio Limited) called SaaS Elevator Capital. He created SaaS Elevator Capital because he wants SaaS Founders to remember they have a choice and says capital raising avenues are largely unconventional (and inaccessible).

In this episode on the We F*@KIN love podcast, we speak with Alicia McKay who is very well-known globally for her No-bullshit approach to leadership training and strategy execution. Alicia has been in strategy for all of her career - building business cases for infrastructure investment, developing long-term plans for corporates and communities, designing organisational transformation, and supporting teams and leaders to execute business change. Now, Alicia runs strategic development programmes for people and organisations. If you’re a clever, curious professional who wants to do great work with less stress and more intention, chances are she can help. Alicia is a policy analyst by trade, reformed management consultant, published author, keynote speaker, workshop facilitator, course creator, podcaster, blogger, and aspiring novelist. She is also the brains - and face! - behind Not An MBA. As a consultant and thought leader, Alicia has worked across almost every industry sector - FMCG, transport, retail, manufacturing, engineering, technology, utilities, professional services, education, health, peak bodies, NGOs and social services... but she says her heart will always lie in local government, where her career began. Alicia has supported thousands of NZ and Australian leaders to become strategists through in-house training, large-scale corporate leadership programmes, public training events, and online courses like Not An MBA and Meetings that Matter. 📚 Alicia wrote From Strategy to Action: A Guide to Getting Shit Done In The Public Sector, published in 2019. In 2021, she published "You Don't Need An MBA: Leadership Lessons that Cut Through the Crap." 🎓 Alicia founded the Not An MBA executive leadership program in 2021. naMBA has changed the lives of hundreds of leaders: less stress, more fulfilment and more progress on work that matters. Watch them talk about their transformation journeys on this YouTube playlist: ➡️ https://bit.ly/3qPuacg 💁🏼‍♀️ She launched Meetings that Matter in 2020, a proven system for leaders and facilitators to tackle ineffective workshops and drive progress. You can take MTM, or other strategic planning courses, here ➡️ https://academy.aliciamckay.co.nz 👍🏻 Alicia makes helpful free tools for strategy, planning, change, leadership, productivity and personal development. ➡️ http://www.aliciamckay.co.nz/free 🎤 Alisia speaks at and MC conferences, runs workshops and masterclasses, and goes live on LinkedIn on Fridays at 8AM for the Alicia McKay Show. Listen to past episodes where-ever you get your podcasts. 📧 Every week, Wednesday Wisdom reaches over 10,000 readers, with actionable tools and tips to help you live, work and lead more strategically. Check out the link here to join.

In this episode on the We F*@KIN love podcast, we speak with Serge van Dam who is very well-known in the NZ SaaS community. Serge van Dam is an active Investor / Director of going-global Kiwi software / SaaS companies, including Montoux, Re-Leased, Tourwriter, Raygun, and Cogo.   Originally an Organisational Psychologist, Serge is most interested in growth strategies and has expertise in B2B sales, marketing, and distribution. He spent a decade as an acknowledged thought leader in fintech, having been part of the leadership team at M-Com - the world’s leading mobile banking and payments platform - which was acquired by Fortune 500 company Fiserv in 2011.   Serge is an Operating Partner at New Zealand’s most successful venture capital firm - Movac - and is an advisor to various New Zealand Government agencies. He was also named New Zealand’s Angel Investor of the Year for 2020.   Serge grew up in Argentina, is married with two children, and lives in Wellington. When not helping grow companies, you will find him in the great outdoors, arguing over politics or with a novel in hand.