Open the Pod Bay Doors

Have trouble understanding Quantum Physics? Don’t worry - it's hard to get a grasp on the theory. This week on the pod however, we spoke with an incredibly fascinating guest who articulately explained quantum mechanics in layman's terms, and described how his product is disrupting the future of quantum computers. We #OTPBD to Professor, Michael J. Biercuk: quantum physicist and technologist at the...

We're pleased to welcome Kevin Baum and Justin Webb, cofounders of AgriWebb on this week's episode of Open The Pod Bay Doors. AgriWebb is Australia's market leader of software for livestock farmers, designed to “digitise the notebooks that sat in the top pockets of Australian farmers". The platform digitises record-keeping and takes audit and compliance data to help farmers make better decisions a...

Last week, we hosted a breakfast with Sarah Leary, the phenomenal founder of US-unicorn, Nextdoor, as they launched their social network for neighbourhood communities in Australia. For those not lucky enough to attend, fear not, Ian brought along his recording gear so we could capture Sarah’s amazing story and experience for building great communities and share with you. Nextdoor was launched in t...

Welcome to episode 52 of Open The Pod Bay Doors. This week we dive into career and experience of Michelle Deaker, Managing Parter at OneVentures. The firm has $330M in funds under management. Michelle serves on the investment committee of OneVentures three main Funds, leads the technology practice within the firm and is responsible for investor relations managing the supervisory boards of OneVentu...

AgriDigital This week on the pod we are joined by cofounder and CEO of , Emma Weston. Former lawyer and experienced grain farmer Emma Weston co-founded AgriDigital in 2015, with the goal to solve the current problems facing the agricultural supply chains with blockchain technology. Emma experienced first hand the inefficiencies within the agricultural supply chain and is passionate about ensuring...

We're back with our second ‘Sunrise Island’ special of Open The Pod Bay Doors. A few weeks ago, the Innovation Bay team along with over 1000 founders, investors, students & enthusiasts, set-sail for the infamous Cockatoo Island, also known as, Sunrise Island. Blackbird Ventures annual conference was back, bigger and better than ever. The day long event featured inspiring keynote speakers, an a...

This week is the first of two ‘Sunrise Island’ special episodes of Open The Pod Bay Doors. A few weeks ago, the Innovation Bay team along with over 1000 founders, investors, students & enthusiasts, set-sail for the infamous Cockatoo Island, also known as, Sunrise Island. Blackbird Ventures annual conference was back, bigger and better than ever. The day long event featured inspiring keynote sp...

This week, we ‘Open The Pod Bay Doors’ with Craig Blair, cofounder and managing partner of AirTree Ventures – a startup venture fund on a mission to invest in ambitious founders who are looking to transform industry’s with software. AirTree like to be on the journey with founder from the beginning, often writing the first cheque. The first fund in 2014 was $60M which they deployed in 2 years, maki...

Last month, we visited the thriving ecosystem in Adelaide, and were lucky enough to sit down with two cofounders of one of the best local startups, Noelle and Ben Smit from Teamgage. A positive company culture is an undeniable asset for any successful business, but monitoring and tracking corporate culture is hard to do. Step in Teamgage, which offers actionable and elegant workplace analytics in...

This week on the pod we're turning our focus to the importance of founder health and wellbeing. We invited Aaron Birkby, CEO Startup Catalyst and Co-founder of Peak Persona, and welcomed back Amanda Price Head of High Growth Ventures to the pod discuss this topic. KPMG Australia’s High Growth Ventures just released the findings from their Startup Founder Survey, supported by Blackbird Ventures, Ai...

This week on the pod we're discussing the role of Government in helping to build sustained tech ecosystems with Dr Kate Cornick, CEO of LaunchVic. LaunchVic is an independent agency established by the Victorian Government with a $60M fund to support and grow the state's startup ecosystem, increase investment and create jobs. Rather than investing in startups directly, they've made over 50 investme...

This week we open the pod bay doors with Jane Lu, founder & CEO of Showpo, an Australian online fashion retailer. Jane is a remarkable woman with a remarkable story. The only child of Chinese immigrants she moved to Australia when she was 8 years old. Like many immigrant families, her parents provided her with every encouragement and opportunity to be a success in her now native Australia. She...

James Cuda is the CEO and Founder of Savage Interactive. Based in Hobart Tasmania, Savage Interactive, http://savage.si/ is the creator of the number one creativity app for ipad globally, Procreate.    James started life as an artist in Sydney, taught himself multimedia design, started a consulting firm, which he shut down to focus 100% on building Procreate.  His vision and passion was to build t...

This week on Open The Pod Bay Doors we chat to Sam Wong, Partner at Blackbird Ventures, an Australian venture fund who back exceptional founders with big ambitions to build global businesses. They provide equity capital for Seed, Series A and later stage - no cheque is too early. With a portfolio of over 40 companies, Blackbird has backed some of Australia’s startup powerhouses like Canva, Safety...

Episode 41 of the pod we’re happy to be joined by Dean Dorrell, Principal at boutique venture fund, Carthona Capital . Carthona is an Australian venture fund focused on early stage investments (pre-Seed, Seed, Series A), with a mandate to invest globally. Established in 2013, when the founding team who were already making separate angel investments came together to pool money, networks to create a...

This podcast is all about sharing the stories of the people making a difference to the Australian ecosystem. Few do more to champion and impact #startupaus then this week’s guest, Annie Parker. A coach, mentor and leader in the Australian startup community, Annie is passionate about helping founders achieve their full potential. She believes in the importance diversity, inclusion, and of paying ev...

On this week’s episode, we're delighted to welcome Emma Lo Russo, founder & CEO of Digivizer, one of Australia’s leading social web analytics technology company. Emma has been working in leadership positions since the age of 19 when she left an advertising agency to start in the marketing team at Macquarie Bank. She was soon labelled the ‘next big thing’. Numerous leadership roles led Emma to...

This week on Open The Pod Bay Doors, we turn our attention to the New Zealand startup ecosystem as Ian Gardiner speaks with kiwi native, serial entrepreneur and investor, Rowan Simpson. Rowan started his career as an IT consultant working on mainly Government projects in Sydney. A software engineer at heart, Rowan began tinkering with web tools and developed his first startup FlatHunt to help peop...

This week on the pod Phaedon Stough was lucky enough to talk with Steve Killelea; accomplished entrepreneur, business magnate, one of Australia’s most prolific philanthropists and founder of a global think tank, the Institute for Economics and Peace. You may never have heard of Steve, he's one of those quiet over-achievers, who has spent most of his business life working under the radar, yet has s...

This week on pod, we talk everything blockchain and cryptocurrency with Australia’s leading thinkers on the subject, George Samman. A blockchain consultant/advisor, George Samman has co-founded and worked with numerous startups in the bitcoin and blockchain space since 2013. George strongly believes that blockchain and financial technologies are here to change how business is done across every ind...

On this episode of the pod, we open the doors with the brilliant thinker, Jost Stollmann. German-Australian Jost has lived many lives as a Founder, Consultant, Corporate Executive, Politican, Adventurer, Investor, CEO and Student. Jost recently stepped down as the Chairman of Tyro Payments , one of Australia's most successful fintech institutions specialising in merchant credit , debit, and EFTPOS...

This week on the pod, we have one of Australia’s most creative and well respected research commercialisation specialists. Dr. Steve Brodie talking everything innovation. Steve is passionate about all things science. Steve brings more than 20 years’ experience in research and development, commercialisation and open innovation with stints at major universities and now working with CSIRO. In his curr...

We welcome to the pod entrepreneur, investor, mentor and startup evangelist, Alan Jones. With a career spanning over 50 roles; from working for some of largest tech companies in the world, to mentoring with Australia’s leading tech incubators and accelerators, to investing in an amazing portfolio of early stage tech startups. Few people have impacted the local tech ecosystem like Alan. Alan's care...

Larry Lopez has been driving innovation for over 25 years. He has worked with start-ups, venture capital funds, institutional investors and government agencies, with a long track record of developing outstanding teams that deliver successful outcomes. Larry spent 17 years in technology finance with Silicon Valley Bank, before moving to Australia in 2006. His current role as Director of Acceleratin...

After a little break we're back and ready to open the pod bay doors again. To kick off the year we thought we'd let our co-founders, Ian Gardiner and Phaedon Stough interview one another. This year Innovation Bay celebrates 15 years of supporting Australian founders and the startup ecosystem. It's been quite a ride from those initial gatherings of a few people in a dingy bar to a national communit...