Build It. They'll Come.

Richard Sattler’s entrepreneurial journey from Tassy farmer to owner of world-class golf courses was far from straightforward… there were lots of bunkers and bogeys (to go with the golfing metaphor) thrown up in his path. After creating the almost instantly successful Barnbougle links course – attracting golf enthusiasts from the mainland as well as overseas --  how Sattler went on to battle and eventually win a legal stoush with former partners, when he came to build his 2nd links course, Lost Farm, became a painful lesson in perseverance. Then when the Covid19 pandemic hit the island leisure destination in 2020, and Tasmania was shut down for the best part of several months, find out how Richard Sattler and his dedicated team of workers turned that near-disaster to their distinct advantage. He also talks of the true impact family support has been through it all. Enjoy Part 2 of my chat with Richard Sattler.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

How non-golf player Richard Sattler saw the potential &seized the opportunity to transform his cattle & potato farm into one ofthe best champion links golf courses in the world. The former shearer, who’dnever played golf before, took a massive risk on backing the idea of developinga top-quality links course amongst the pristine sand dunes of his coastalstretch of North-East Tasmania, and ended up having to underwrite the 2-yearbuilding project of Barnbougle Links course, The Dunes. But he quickly realisedthe concept of building a wilderness experience for golf might mean they couldcreate a whole new market for themselves in remote Tassy, and that’s exactlyhow Barnbougle became not just a local, but a world golf destination. Years of hard slog battling huge hurdles in his businessjourney in the island state of Tasmania – from the devastating Pilots’ strikeof 1989, and the ’91 recession which saw interest rates of 20%  meanalmost crippling debt – equipped Sattler with the experience, tenacity andpassion to go all out on the Barnbougle experiment. But it paid off, andhandsomely. Not only has Sattler expanded his links courses empire, butBarnbougle sits comfortably in the Top 50 golf courses in the world! And itremains one of the few courses in Australasia, where those golf enthusiasts whomake the pilgrimage, rarely come away disappointed!  Hope you enjoy Part 1 of my chat, on the roller coasterbusiness ride of golfing entrepreneur and empire builder Richard Sattler.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

When Liz Ann Macgregor was lured from the UK to take on the job of turning around & re-building the moribund Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA) in 1999, she knew it would be a massive financial challenge. As a kid growing up in remote Orkney Islands in northern Scotland she had experience on the margins, so she figured how hard could a museum be, at the other ends of the earth in Sydney, despite seeing newspaper headlines emblazoned “Gallery no-one goes to” and “Money for Wankers”. But on arrival downunder and learning not only was the MCA so close to bankruptcy, but a fight with some of her board members within her first 48 hours, meant she almost turned on her heels and fled. Lucky for the MCA, Sydney and Australia that she didn’t, and for the next few years Liz Ann and her small team knuckled down, kept a tight rein on cash flow, persuaded politicians (sweetly , of course!), and enticed both audiences from all parts of the community and more donors. Over the past 2 decades, Liz Ann took the business of contemporary art, often seen as elitist and inaccessible to audiences, and turned it on its head. How Liz Ann Macgregor marshalled all resources she could lay her hands on to re-build the harbourside museum, visitor by visitor, supporter by supporter, blockbuster exhibition by blockbuster exhibition and transform it into one of Australia’s most visited and loved cultural institutions is a masterclass in entrepreneurialism, innovation and true engagement with customers. Does she think of herself in those terms? Well, take a listen to this chat with the indefatigable Liz Ann Macgregor OBE and find out.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Tony Nash’s school & uni life didn’t work out the way he had planned. While he knew he wasn’t studious, didn’t concentrate, he equally understood he had enormous stores of passion, energy and enthusiasm when it came to a project he wanted to pursue. When it came to creating e-commerce bookselling site, Booktopia, initially from a tiny office in suburban Sydney, Tony’s unbridled energy and enthusiasm helped he and his co-founders to build it into one of Australia’s truly homegrown digital success stories. But it was, well, a medical diagnosis that came only in more recent years that finally gave him clarity and helped him improve his business as well as personal life. Hope you enjoy Part 2 of my chat with maverick entrepreneur Tony Nash.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Despite dropping out of university, having no publishing experience and not even being a book lover, Tony Nash decided he could take a punt on the commercial possibilities he saw in online book-selling, in the internet’s infancy. Shrugging off the risks of going up against the already dominant player in that same market – Amazon – Tony convinced a few family members to support his vision, and started Booktopia, an entirely Aussie home-grown online book seller. What began as a small hustle on the side – Tony’s brother gave him a budget of $10 a day to create Booktopia, & he had to continue doing his day job at the same time – was built over the next 15 years into an e-commerce success story. Booktopia is set to achieve almost $220 million in revenue this financial year, employing 250 people, with a healthy chunk of all online book sales. But along that journey to success for Booktopia, exactly what impact did Jessica Seinfeld’s best-selling memoir have? And was there ever a single lightbulb moment for Tony Nash? Well, listen and you’ll find out. Hope you enjoy Part 1 of Tony Nash’s unorthodox entrepreneurial storySee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

After 17 years building up their Aconex software platform into a globally renowned game-changer for construction & infrastructure process & document management, founders Leigh Jasper & Rob Phillpot knew they needed access to more capital to continue growing worldwide. But when they took Aconex public in 2014, life as a publicly-listed company dealt them plenty of downside, along with the advantages! So how did they deal with short sellers, share price roller-coaster rides and more? And what really drove the decision to sell out completely, to US giant Oracle – was it just the massive pile of money offered?  Well in Part 2 of my chat with co-founder leigh Jasper he reveals some home truths on the entrepreneur’s journey in public company land, and why he is now trying to support & guide other startups based on amazing ideas through the maze of potential pitfalls. Enjoy!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

When Leigh Jasper was helping out in his dad’s car business, as a kid in north-eastern Victoria, he of course couldn’t foresee that he would create and build one of Australia’s great innovation success stories of recent years. But that’s exactly what Jasper, with co-founder and long-time mate Rob Phillpot, did when the pair came up with the idea that the project management part of what they saw as the messy, uncoordinated and document-heavy construction sector needed streamlining, to help the industry itself become more efficient. They created Aconex in 2001 as a web-based platform where all documents relating to a project build could be stored and accessed on one digital platform, by every participant in the project, from the owner and builder right through to all sub-contractors. Aconex suddenly offered better transparency, improved cost controls for all participants in a building project, thereby reducing risks of cost overruns and delays or disagreements. Within 2 decades Aconex grew to become an ASX 200 listed public company, offering their SaaS (software as a service) product to massive engineering, construction and infrastructure projects across global markets. Projects like the large 3rd lock expansion to the Panama Canal, and the Marina Bay Sands complex of buildings dominating the Singapore skyline. Before selling out eventually in 2018 to US giant Oracle, which valued Aconex at over $1billion, company revenue hit almost $200million. So how did they do it? Well like many great success stories, it started with a lightbulb moment. Enjoy Part 1 of my chat with Leigh Jasper.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

When medically trained Dr Lisa O’Brien took over The Smith Family as CEO, some 10 years ago, the venerable charity was on a fairly solid footing – it had a long history with a recognisable, highly respected brand name. But to make it in the crowded welfare charity sector, genuinely addressing the real & underlying needs of disadvantaged children at risk of falling through the cracks, The Smith Family needed transforming into a more streamlined & focused organisation. But perhaps even more importantly, Lisa O’Brien set her considerable entrepreneurial mindset & honed management skills on making it far more accountable, with laser-like focus on measurable outcomes. After all, she and a group of her women friends had already started up a decade before, a homeless women’s drop-in centre, called Lou’s Place, in the heart of Sydney’s Kings Cross. So at The Smith Family Lisa wanted to ensure the entire organisation with its several thousand volunteers as well as leadership team were all fighting for the same mission – to ensure they could deliver and then measure the outcomes of services to help alleviate disadvantage for children in our community. And while The Smith Family prior to Lisa’s time was already on track providing education support, it was under Lisa O’Brien’s guidance as Chief Executive that the organisation expanded its reach into disadvantaged families, concentrating wholly on kids’ education. The charity now provides its Learning for Life education program to 56,000 children, while a total 170,000 disadvantaged children and young people across the country now participate in Smith Family programs, an increase of 30% over the past 5 years. As Lisa O’Brien now moves on from running The Smith Family, she built and leaves behind a sustainable legacy at one of Australia’s most loved and important charitiesSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

When Olivia Humphrey decided to take on the giant and tough US market, to grow her Kanopy film streaming business into the educational and public library sectors there, she didn’t count on the often unscrupulous actions of some competitors. But armed with some private equity investment from billionaire & Phoenix Suns NBA team owner Jahm Najafi, Olivia fought to win over the large Public Library market to her film streaming service. She eventually built Kanopy into an impressive global streaming empire offering 30,000 film titles into some 5,000 University & Public Library branches in the US and Australia, with over 100 staff globally, and more than 8 million active monthly users, who can access the service at no cost to them, with simply a swipe of their library card! So why did she eventually sell Kanopy, & how has massive wealth changed her life? And how is she now helping next gen entrepreneurs? Find out, in Part 2 of my chat with Olivia Humphrey.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

While Netflix, Stan and Disney streaming services are the dominant juggernauts in the on demand, online entertainment world, a young Australian entrepreneur, Olivia Humphrey has quietly built a smaller, but no less significant player that has managed to match the big guys at their own game. What she started from the front room of her house in Perth 13 years ago, as a small, arthouse film DVD service, selling to university libraries to help improve their film collections, Olivia proceeded to build into an online streaming service that now includes 30,000 independent, foreign and arthouse film & documentary titles, available through university and local public libraries across the United States and Australia. It took years of hard slog -- Olivia even moved her young family to America to better manage the rapid scale-up of her business -- struggling to survive the cut-throat competitors in the tough US market who wanted to crush her out of business. But Olivia Humphrey succeeded in building a multi-national empire.   And the beauty of Olivia’s Kanopy product? These thousands of films cost nothing for the end customer, and are accessible with just the swipe of a library card.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.