Build It. They'll Come.

Mixing and experimenting with a home brew from his kitchen bench, brewer Ben Holdstock came up with the Heaps Normal zero-alcohol “recipe”. From there the 4 co-founders turned on its head the traditional way of building a beer company, by forgoing building their own expensive brewery from the get-go. But the real mic drop moment for their little company was being accepted into the Startmate accelerator program, that gave them access to some great mentors, and crucial investment dollars, and set them on a rapid scale-up.  But what gets founder Pete Brennan out of bed each day is the purpose behind why they’re doing what they’re doing with Heaps Normal. (2/2)See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

With no less a mission than to change perceptions and actions around drinking alcohol, Heaps Normal founder Pete Brennan & 3 mates created from scratch a beer with zero alcohol but, they reckon, still full of great flavour. In just 2 years the foursome have built an impressive new brand in Heaps Normal, the non-alc beer now sold in over 4,000 bottle shops, restaurants, even supermarkets in Australia & overseas. And while Brennan and the team have been on a wild, scale-up journey with their startup, in the beginning they were almost laughed out of town. 1/2.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

After building a sustainable & successful industrial oil waste recycling business servicing Australia’s east coast, entrepreneur Dexter Dunworth craved other challenges… and what he chose came with considerable risks! The professional boxing ring! And as it turned out, not just for the exercise or discipline, but he wanted to actually fight far younger boxers on the pro circuit in the US. So how did that leap into the unknown then lead him into “giving-back” to the community back on home soil? Hope you enjoy Dexter Dunworth 2/2.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

From a standing start back in the late-1970s, young uni-dropout Dexter Dunworth, along with his older brother David, started out with 1 truck collecting used industrial oils from car and truck service centres around Sydney, cold-calling potential customers promising to get rid of their smelly oil waste. It was oil recycling long before recycling became part of our business lexicon.  From that humble beginning, the brothers scaled up to include collection, treatment plants, then recycling it as fuel to other customers in need, and over 4 decades the pair built a major oil waste recycling business throughout Australia’s east coast, with customers like Shell, BHP Steel at Port Kembla and most coal-fired power stations in the Hunter Valley. Grabbing every opportunity became Worth Oil’s mantra, especially when it came to the key decision whether to sell out or not.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

With reproductive rights in the US now so uncertain, serial entrepreneur and campaign builder Wendy McCarthy knows exactly how to try to protect those rights in Australia; why she believes in bringing other women into the tent to succeed; and why she thrives on change. Pt2/2See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

One-time teacher turned women’s advocate & activist Wendy McCarthy loves to shake cages, but then painstakingly build consensus around an idea that needs action. Over 5 decades she’s founded her own mentoring business & built from scratch organisations, movements, even political campaigns that focus on bettering the world for women and their families. She’s what you might call a portfolio entrepreneur!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The onslaught of the COVID-19 pandemic completely whacked for 6 so many in the food and restaurant industry. Matt Moran’s successful fine dining restaurant empire was no exception. In Part 2 of our chat, Matt talks about the terrifying first few days and weeks when Covid hit, in March 2020, when their revenue just stopped. Overnight, stopped. How he and his teams got through that, including several lockdowns, reveals a lot of about this particular entrepreneur, but Matt’s story is no doubt replicated in thousands of restaurants, cafes and bars across Australia. Then his empire was dealt another crushing blow by the floods earlier this year that hit SE Qld.  But aside from those challenges & how he dealt with them, Matt Moran also shares his views on the “no meat” meat movement – particularly tricky when you are a producer of meat, like Matt; what’s next in post-Covid dining and he reveals a secret recipe for the humble roast chook.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Uber-celebrity chef and restaurateur Matt Moran takes us into the heart of his food, farming and produce world. After falling instantly in love with cooking, namely French cooking, as a wide-eyed, teen apprentice back in the 80s, he talks of how he then built a restaurant, cookbook and consultancy empire, with the help and support of several great mates and mentors, having opened and operated about 30 restaurants in 35 years. This high-flying Sydney-based entrepreneur now has a massive new plan and project, and it might just surprise you where his happy place is.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

While Covid panicked share markets in early 2020, BetaShares ETFs co-founder Alex Vynokur says a curious thing happened: it was markedly less so in ETF investing. In fact he had managed to grow to $10 billion in Funds under Management (FUM) within BetaShares’ first decade, but somewhere in these past 2, pandemic-dominated years their FUM skyrocketed to $20billion. The reason? Well it’s a revolution called Millennials and Gen Z’ers, who are flocking to invest in ETFs. Alex Vynokur calls this trend “democratised access to wealth creation for young Australians”, many of whom feel locked out of home ownership. Index fund managers like BetaShares are reaping the benefit. Alex also gives his tips and insights into the emerging trends in ETFs.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

When Alex Vynokur emigrated to Australia from Ukraine as a 16 year old, he was struck by the choice and opportunity offered by his new home, compared with the deprivations growing up in Soviet Ukraine. Even though the teen spoke no English when he arrived here he set about taking full advantage of what was on offer. After completing university, he moved into financial services, working in funds management, including a stint working for Malcolm Turnbull’s financial business, in his pre-PM days. But Vynokur wanted to back himself as an entrepreneur, so he jumped off the deep end into the then little-known world of exchange traded funds, betting that local investors would invest their capital in funds that track any number of Indexes, be they the S&P 500 or ASX 200, or much more innovative indexes, to get a return. Vynokur was not a stock picker, nor was he an “active” investor, but he helped disrupt investing traditions in this country by taking on the global big dogs – Vanguard, State Street, BlackRock – to build the BetaShares ETFs empire of now some 65 different funds, managing $23Billion in funds under management. In Part 1 of our chat, Alex reveals just what role mastering the game of chess plays in his business game.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.