Open the Pod Bay Doors

Ashik Ahmed is the Co-Founder, CEO, and CTO of Deputy, a workforce management software platform. Deputy seeks to simplify shift work for hundreds of thousands of customers around the globe. Ashik is a genuine, open, and honest CEO with a multitude of insights on the founder journey. Ashik is back on Open the Pod Bay Doors to discuss… The difficulties Deputy faced during the pandemic and how they o...

Lauren Hall is the Founder and CEO of iVvy, a venue and event management software company. Prior to founding iVvy, Lauren worked across a variety of industries including clothing, pharmaceuticals, FMCG, and technology. Lauren is a tenacious founder with an indomitable spirit; her story is one of talent, hustle, resilience, and success. Lauren & Ian discuss a wide array of topics including… How...

Welcome to another edition of the OTPBD News Special, our fortnightly series which analyses the news that matters for Australian and Kiwi startups. Meet this week's panel... Tessa Court, IntelligenceBank Danny Gilligan, Reinventure Kevin Jochelson, The Tech Rooport Topics we discuss: The discussion kicks off with the biggest headline of the fortnight: Square's $39 billion acquisition of AfterPay....

Adam Boyle is the CEO of Newcastle-based Pegasus, a competency management software and services organisation. Adam joined Pegasus as a General Manager in 2007 and became CEO in 2010, bringing a wealth of knowledge and experience to the role. Pegasus was recently acquired by U.S. company Avetta; the deal was finalised last week after receiving regulatory approval. During their chat, Ian & Adam...

Welcome to another edition of the OTPBD News Special, our fortnightly series which analyses the news that matters for Australian and Kiwi startups. Meet this week's panel... Melissa Widner, Lighter Capital Peter Dunne, Herbert Smith Freehills & Safety Culture Barnaby Marshall, Icehouse Ventures Topics we discuss: Our panel kicks off with a discussion of the recent call from leading Australian...

James Ferguson is the CEO and co-founder of Immutable, a platform that provides scalable blockchain infrastructure for video games. James is a driven founder with a growth mindset that has led Immutable to build a staff of 100 and raise $20m. James and his brother/co-founder, Robbie Ferguson, have been featured on the ‘Forbes 30 under 30’ list for their impressive work in growing and scaling Immut...

Matthew Koertge, Managing Director of Telstra Ventures, is an unsung hero of the Venture Capital industry with a portfolio including 78 investments, 28 liquidity events, 12 unicorns, and a staff of 19 globally. He is a passionate and dynamic advocate for the startup industry, where he has been active since 1998. Prior to starting at Telstra Ventures in 2011, Matthew worked across a variety of indu...

Welcome to another edition of the OTPBD News Special, our fortnightly series which analyses the news that matters for Australian and Kiwi startups. Meet this week's panel... Holly Cardew, Carted Hugh Stevens, Galileo Ventures Topics we discuss: Our panel discusses how border closures and lockdowns are holding back Australian startups, as well as recent raises by Gilmour Space, Fl0, Skedulo, and Cu...

Federico Collarte is the co-founder and CEO of Baraja, a rapidly growing startup creating LiDAR technology for self-driving cars. Baraja recently closed a $40m Series B, is scaling globally, and is quickly approaching a headcount of 200. Prior to co-founding Baraja, Federico worked in product development and systems engineering, with experience spanning the industrialisation of high volume telecom...

Welcome to another edition of the OTPBD News Special, our fortnightly series which analyses the news that matters for Australian and Kiwi startups. Meet this week's panel... Elicia McDonald, Airtree Ventures John Croll, Truescope Topics we discuss: Ian and the panel discuss the new Sydney lockdown, why Andreessen Horowitz is getting into publishing, a new early-stage fund, confusingly called "The...

Darren Miller is the CEO of the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA). Darren Miller has more than 25 years’ experience across a range of sectors including renewable energy, electricity retail, technology, finance, media and entertainment. Prior to joining ARENA Darren was the co-founder and CEO of Mojo Power, an innovative electricity retailer. In this conversation with Phaedon about Austral...

Welcome to another edition of the OTPBD News Special, our fortnightly series which analyses the news that matters for Australian and Kiwi startups. Meet this week's panel... Cheryl Mack, Stone & Chalk Richard Lin, AirTree This week our panel talks about some of the massive acquisitions and rounds recently raised in the Australian ecosystem, including the $2b acquisition of A Cloud Guru, the $1...

Welcome to another edition of the OTPBD News Special, our fortnightly series which analyses the news that matters for Australian and Kiwi startups. Meet this week's panel... Hannah Field, Folklore Ventures Andrew Coppin, Farmbot Topics we discuss: Our panel discusses the newest COVID lockdown in Victoria, Artesian's new report about the growth of Australian VC over the last decade, workplace comms...

Andrew Nunn is Co-Founder, Chairman and Executive Director of JBS&G Australia—one of Australia’s largest privately-owned environmental consulting companies. Andrew also acts as Director for several companies focussed on property development, private equity investments, and entertainment opportunities. In partnership with his wife Alexandra Dimos, he founded the Nunn Dimos Foundation, a philant...

Welcome to another edition of the OTPBD News Special, our fortnightly series analysing the news that matters for Australian and Kiwi startups. Meet this week's panel... Danny Kennedy, New Energy Nexus Imogen Baxter, Square Peg Capital Matt Pearson. Airspeeder Topics we discuss: Our panel discusses the open letter regarding climate change Aussie tech leaders penned to the government, whether or not...

Warrick Cramer was most recently the CEO of Vodafone’s Global Centre for Innovation in Europe, known as Tomorrow Street – a joint venture between Vodafone and the Government of Luxembourg to scale late-stage start-ups, assisting them to reach key global markets and make real change. Warrick sits on the board of a Silicon Valley based venture capital fund and is a Non-Executive Director for Advance...

Welcome to another edition of the OTPBD News Special, our fortnightly series analysing the news that matters for Australian and Kiwi startups. Meet this week's panel... Mike Zimmerman, Partner at Main Sequence Ventures Andrew Horsley, Co-founder & CEO at Quantum Brilliance Sarah Nolet, Partner at Tenacious Ventures Topics we discuss: Our panel discusses Main Sequence Ventures' new $250m deep t...

Peter Dunne is one of Australia’s leading venture capital and private equity lawyers, specialising in private capital raisings and M&A. Peter has advised on multibillion-dollar transactions, including acquisitions, buy-outs, disposals, joint ventures and recapitalisations, involving some of Australia’s largest public and private organisations; his clients include Atlassian, Canva, Deputy, Cult...

Welcome to another edition of the OTPBD News Special, our fortnightly series analysing the news that matters for Australian and Kiwi startups. Meet this week's panel... Dean Dorrell, Partner at Carthona Capital Robyn Foyster, Director of Foyster Consulting Gautam Mishra, Founder of Inkl Topics we discuss: Canva's massive valuation, Coinbase IPO and the future of media are all hot topics in the lat...

Nick Carter is the is one of Australia’s leading energy experts; he is currently Senior Vice President of Energy Tech and Solutions at Macquarie in Australia where works across a range of areas from energy storage to renewable energy. He is an engineer by trade and has worked around the world for companies like Toyota, General Motors and Tesla. Nick has a real passion for electric vehicles (EVs) a...

Welcome to another edition of the OTPBD News Special, our fortnightly series analysing the news that matters for Australian and Kiwi startups. Meet this week's panel... Evan Hinchliffe, Technology Industry Lead for Macquarie Business Banking Paul Smith, Technology Editor at AFR Cate Hull, Founder and CEO of Freight Exchange Topics we discuss: SPACs, ASX listings, cyber-attacks, tech ministry appoi...

David Warren is a co-founder and non-executive director of ASX200 software company Altium. David grew up in the suburbs of Launceston, Tasmania and attended the University of Tasmania (UTAS) where he studied physics and astronomy as an undergraduate, honours and postgraduate student in the late 1970s and early 80s. David recently gifted $2.6 million to UTAS to set up an endowed chair in the field...

Welcome to another edition of the OTPBD News Special, our fortnightly series analysing the news that matters for Australian and Kiwi startups. Meet this week's panel... Alicia Garden, Goanna Ag Cara Waters, The Age & SMH John Henderson, AirTree Ventures Topics we discuss: In this edition, we talk about recently-announced funds in Australia, including LaunchVic's $10m sidecar fund to support wo...

Welcome to another edition of the OTPBD News Special, our fortnightly series analysing the news that matters for Australian and Kiwi startups. Meet this week's panel... Roshan Ghadamian​, VC Catalyst Program Director at Wade Institute Emma Weston, AgriDigital Annie Parker, Microsoft Topics we discuss: In this edition, launched on International Women's Day, the panel starts by talking about the sta...

Kristin Vaughan is the Director of the Clean Energy Innovation Fund, the largest dedicated cleantech investor in Australia, created to invest $200 million in early-stage clean technology companies. Prior to joining CEFC, Kristin spent more than a decade in private equity. Kristin previously worked as a management consultant at AT Kearney and holds a degree in chemical engineering from the Universi...