Build It. They'll Come.

Entrepreneur Naomi Simson, aka the Red Shark from tv’s Shark Tank show, took her early vision for RedBalloon gifting website she’d created, and blew it sky high – the vision blossomed along with the hard goal of global sales. She and  new biz partner David Anderson built Big Red Group into a clutch of brands  all offering experiences to customers on their e-commerce marketplaces - be they extreme sport, or lifestyle and luxury experiences. Naomi and her team proudly boast they have now built RedBalloon and Big Red Group into the 3rd-largest experience provider in the world! And that means they have helped grow the small businesses of their 2,000 experience suppliers. But along with the positive side of this journey, there are always the bad days as well. In Part 2 of our chat, Naomi is candid about both, and in particular she reveals how she dealt with tough times as she was growing her business; and why Australia needs great start-ups. How to connect with Naomi Simson : Three LinkedIn Learning Courses Two books One newsletter  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

After grinding away as a freelancer creating marketing plans for household brand names, Naomi Simson decided she wanted to re-set when her own children came along. So she created an idea for an overarching brand that would help market small business operators to much wider markets and audiences. She founded and set about building, with lots of ups and downs along that way, a website around that brand she called RedBalloon. But her genius was in setting that brand around gifting. You could say Naomi Simson was a trailblazer in this space and her RedBalloon website became a mushrooming marketplace for experiences, long before the first world hunger for “experiences” became a massive worldwide trend.  How to connect with Naomi Simson : Three LinkedIn Learning Courses Two books One newsletterSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Philippa McCaffery says she was given the worst piece of advice when she worked as a hospital administrator – “learn to let go”, a former boss told her. But as it turned out, she flipped that on its head, and says that in fact, persistence has been her secret weapon in building her successful, sustainable skincare business. Through a ton of trial and error, fuelled by enormous passion for what she was offering women, plus working hard at nurturing great partnerships across 18 years growing the business, she and her partner Alarna realised their long-held dream. But they also knew that selling their beloved “baby” to a corporate partner with deep pockets, was the best way to ensure their business would flourish into the future. Was it bittersweet? Well, let’s find out. I hope you enjoy Part 2 of my chat with Philippa McCaffery and Alarna Longes.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Dr Philippa McCaffery started her entrepreneurial journey, almost by chance, after becoming just a little disillusioned working first as a GP, and then as a hospital administrator in the public & private health system in Sydney. Nonetheless that early career experience stood her in good stead when she pivoted from public medicine to buying one single suburban skincare clinic, one of the first in Sydney doing laser hair removal. That first clinic was so overwhelmed with women clients needing help with unwanted body hair, that she and her new business partner Alarna Longes, a young uni graduate who came on board initially to help boost marketing, built up their business  -  not only doing hair removal by laser, but also offering a non-surgical, non-oral drug treatment for adult female acne. It proved to be a game-changer. After years of hard work, with a few missteps along the way, the result was many many happy clients. 45 clinics later, the pair had built something substantial, and in mid-2018 they sold their cosmetic skincare clinic business to large ASX-listed company, Australian Pharmaceutical Industries for a cool $127million.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

When Gabby Leibovich migrated to Melbourne from strife-torn Israel in the mid-1980s as a teenager, he had no idea what he wanted to do, besides being obsessed with soccer, having fun and trying to master English. After university he worked in his father’s electronics store and the sales bug bit him. Last Episode Gabby explained how he graduated from working the bricks and mortar shop floor to eventually expanding into selling online, and building with his brother their first e-commerce empire in Catch of the Day. In Part 2 of my chat with Gabby Leibovich, he tells how they pivoted into online food ordering, creating a business that eventually became Menulog and made them another fortune.  He also gives inside tips for budding startup entrepreneurs on the importance of “frenemies” in business, and how being a risk-taker can lead to massive fails as well as successes.  Plus he’s candid about the one great investment opportunity that got away, and why he’s lived to regret it!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

When Melbourne-based Gabby Leibovich, and his brother Hezi stumbled across the internet, they were already experienced salesmen, Gabby had worked for years on the floor of his father’s single electronics shop In the Melbourne suburb of Brighton, interacting with customers and selling product. The brothers had also branched out and sold products at suburban market stalls around Melbourne. Then they jumped to a store on eBay, and the internet‘s vast possibilities hooked them. In Part 1 of my interview with Gabby Leibovich, he explains how that 1st foray into online selling morphed into the brothers’ own e-commerce website that started as deals.com and progressed to the wildly successful Catch of the Day. They built that business up from scratch & ending up selling their Catch Group to giant Wesfarmers in 2019 for $230million. But wait, there’s more! Gabby & Hezi along the way also started Scoopon, and food ordering site called Eat Now, which merged with Menulog, and sold for almost $900million. This is their startup journey.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Martin Hosking, co-founder of Redbubble, discusses his upbringing, career transitions, and the importance of purpose in entrepreneurship. He shares insights on why competitors like Amazon can't replicate Redbubble's success, the benefits of delaying a public listing, and advice for aspiring entrepreneurs. Hosking's journey from a history degree to founding Redbubble showcases the influence of values, perspective, and a clear purpose in building a successful startup.

Martin Hosking, co-founder of Redbubble, shares the challenging journey of building the global design market juggernaut. Despite initial struggles, Redbubble has grown rapidly with almost 7 million customers last year. The impact of COVID-19 led to a surprising boom in sales, showing resilience in uncertain times. The podcast highlights the importance of perseverance, artist support, and strategic efforts in startup success.

Law academic, linguist and theologian Dr Michael Spence AC has been Vice-Chancellor of the University of Sydney for a dozen years, & in that time he’s modernised and simplified the venerated sandstone institution, by essentially bringing together what he saw as a bunch of warring Faculty factions, to unite to make the university more community-facing, rather than inward-looking. Along the way he’s had his critics and some spectacular fails. But one of his enduring successes was the massive Inspired! fundraising initiative instigated by Michael Spence 10 years ago. With an initial target to raise $600million, Spence and his team built the campaign around some winning arguments to potential donors around the exciting future between the university and the community’s needs. And contrary to what many warned him about Australians not giving to higher education, Spence backed his own judgement that Australians would donate generously, if the ask was framed properly.  The Inspired! campaign ended up outdoing itself… the final amount raised was $1 Billion. In this interview Spence talks about how he and the team built and executed that winning campaign. Plus, how he and USyd are managing through the Covid19 crisis, not only with international border closures and absent foreign students, but also with the growing political backlash towards China and its influence affecting universities.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Melbourne-born corporate lawyer Adam Schwab was 24 years old when he and a schoolmate began their entrepreneurial journey. While Adam was still living at home with his parents, the two friends started out sub-letting apartments to backpackers, as a side gig.  Bit by bit, through much trial and error – including waging war on bed bugs! – the pair made enough money to dream bigger. They gave up their lucrative day jobs and they ventured into the digital online space. The co-founders created the successful e-commerce platform, deals.com, before eventually co-founding Luxury Escapes travel package deals website. In this Episode, Adam Schwab tells HOW, in just 7 years, they built Luxury Escapes into a trusted online brand that’s become one of Australia’s fastest-growing boutique consumer travel businesses, with now more than 1.3 million Facebook followers. And how they learnt to truly value and develop customer service, where they’ve made many of their customers “sticky”, becoming Luxury Escapes’ devotees for life.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.