ScaleHQ Podcast

If you’re wondering what steps you should take as a Founder before you make material investments in building a sales team or are scratching your head about how to make the most of the investment in your existing team… you need to listen to this episode. Tony Hughes has been recognised as ‘the’ expert on B2B selling, the #1 sales blogger globally, a Top 3 Sales Thought Leader globally and the most...

There’s many ways to think about how to grow your company from a strategy and tactics perspective, but have you considered trust or inspiration as enablers of scale AND multipliers of performance? You’re going to love listening to the world’s leading authority on trust and inspiration in the workplace, Stephen M R Covey. Having stood on the shoulder of a giant (his father was Stephen Covey of 7 Ha...

What is the Growth Trap and what are the giveaways? What does changing your neighbourhood mean and why is it so important for entrepreneurs? How can you practically reduce the fears that you don’t realise are holding you and therefore your business back? You’ll have oodles to take away this week from Mark Green, Founder and President of Performance Dynamics Group who after coaching Founders and CE...

Can you imagine growing your company from 0 to 4000 team members across 25 locations? Consider how it would feel when you sit down to do next year’s budget and you see that your team is on track to deliver 400-500m in revenue! Incredible. There’s so much to learn this week from Marc Meili, Founder and Managing Director of Protech and Cernova about building brand promises that matter to your custom...

If there’s one very common issue in businesses that are sub 20m in revenue… it’s brand.  Who are we, what do we stand for, what should our positioning be,  what space do we want to own, what words do we want to own in the minds of our customers, how can we most effectively and consistently communicate that? The list goes on! Enjoy listening to Belinda Wall, Director of Brand Amplified th...

Between 2005 and 2016 Pete and his partners and team built their (originally) promotional, brand activation and entertainment marketing business from the ground up to 30m in revenue, in 2014 they started expanding internationally and by 2019 had 220 team members.  After some major adaptation work during COVID but now returning to core business, they’ve seen their business soar to a likely fin...

Debt, venture debt, strategic equity, preferred equity, convertible notes, pre-seed angel investments, venture capital, IPOs… help!! Over your time as a Founder you end up needing different amounts and kinds of funding to support your growth to ensure you can maximise your impact.  But where to start? This week we’ve brought back Roby Sharon-Zipser, Founder and CEO of hipages who’s had experi...

This is a story of persistence, of passion, of pivoting until the sweet spot was found. Nihal Advani, Founder and CEO of Qualsights (formerly Georama) has had an incredible ride and has built in 10 years America’s #1 fastest growing market research company (Inc 5000). With 65 FTE and growing, he’s disrupting the traditional qualitative research market by generating deep and authentic insights for...

Is the goal I’m going after, worth the price I’m going to have to pay to achieve it? What’s really driving my motivation, head or heart? Is the essence of the culture I’ve developed and the impact of my product or service such that it will create positive ripples if we scale? Or will we be scaling something unhealthy? You’ll love learning from Maryanne Mooney from the Worthy Leader who has incredi...

Think about it for a minute.  Accounting is not boring.  Far from it.  The Accountants get to see all the juicy stuff! The fails.  The partnership blow ups.  The cash issues.  The incorrectly structured businesses that end up paying too much tax.  The list goes on.    What they’ve seen go wrong and the resulting lessons learned can be incredibly in...

Imagine starting a company that has nothing to do with your area of expertise.  And, as a first time Founder, then taking that to 35m in revenue in just 5 short years.   That’s precisely what Owen Franklin did starting in 2016 with his ecommerce business Blue Summit Supplies.  Now Amazon's top third-party supplier of office supplies. You’ll love listening to the mind of Owen …. he’s...

What do you think it would take to scale your company beyond 100m in revenue? Some pretty significant smarts, blood, sweat and tears.  Now imagine doing it three times in 30 years! Incredible.   In this episode, we speak with John Katzman, the Founder and CEO of three companies that have sailed past $100m in revenue and still going; Princeton Review, 2U and Noodle.  An unbelievable...

Like to learn the secrets of selling that have helped mid-market companies on 3 continents add multi-million dollar deals they didn’t think they could win? Over the last 20 years Peter Strohkorb has discovered what has changed with buyers and how organisations need to adapt.   You’ll love hearing in this episode Peter’s views on the problems with the current sales funnel, what “Smarketing” is...

Can you imagine growing your business to 50m in 15 years? What about scaling your 28m business to 50m in just 3 years?  That’s precisely what Owen Firth did between 2007 and 2021 with his education brands within the Gradability group; Performance Education and ReadyGrad. Learn in this episode about Owen’s views on how to consciously build culture.  His insights into the first thing he th...

How can you 4x-5x your business in 5 years? How can you think more strategically about your category and where you can redefine it? In this episode with Anneke van den Broek, Founder and CEO of Rufus & Coco I guarantee you’ll come away inspired.  She’s taken some huge risks.  From starting the business pregnant with her first child, to putting her house on the line, to backing an int...

How do I accelerate my growth trajectory? Should I take on a capital partner? If so, who would I choose and why? How can they help me? Do they take full control of my business? Help! Learn all about what a growth-equity investor does in this illuminating episode with Mark Bryan from Pemba Capital.  For those who’ve not been exposed to a strategic capital partner you’ll find it a super insight...

ASX listed hipages gives homeowners a fast and smart way of connecting with local tradies who can get their jobs done right and gives tradies the technology they need to manage their workflow, record-keeping and more. CEO of hipages, Roby Sharon-Zipser truly embodies a learning and growth mindset. He’s innovating in their category, has successfully led the company through transformative organisati...

As former Chief Growth and Strategy Officer of the Publicis Group, third largest communications firm in the world with 82,000 FTE and a globally renowned speaker and author Rishad Tobaccowala inspires leaders to stay relevant in a world that is changing fast.   Rishad has a clear vision, informed by 37 years of experience in growth, strategy and innovation on how to succeed in scaling and ach...

Envirobank makes recycling rewarding. They’ve developed and executed clear strategy, innovated and leveraged technology to stay ahead of their peers and taken a lead on social responsibility, caring for the environment and empowering their team.  The result of their efforts? Significant positive environmental and economic impact.  Oh year.. and revenue growth from 5m to 23m in 5 years an...

Vantage Performance is such a unique business. They’ve completed more than 170 successful turnaround engagements, saved over 19,000 jobs, have a 100% success rate in securing more time and support from financiers, have won the most National Turnaround Awards of any company (14) and have now launched a unique system for fast-tracking business growth for any business seeking to scale. Leading this i...

Aspen Medical is more than just a health business. It is a company that is transforming people’s lives and creating positive change throughout the world. At the helm of this incredible enterprise is Glenn Keys, a man who believes that both integrity and fabulous staff are key components when taking your business to the next level. With a focus on better understanding cultural differences, discover...

How do you differentiate yourself in an ultra-competitive market that’s pretty much been doing the same thing for last 50 years? And how do you scale from a standing start to 2m and expand globally in the middle of a global pandemic? That’s precisely what Steve Grace from the Nudge Group has done, and this is off the back of growing a recruitment firm from 2m to 45m over 9 years. HERE'S WHAT WE CO...

Founders face challenges every day and every week.  Sometimes it feels like all you deal with is problems but that of course is part of the fabric of building a successful business. Some challenges represent major learning moments, and it’s in that space that companies and their ability to succeed in the future are often defined. Elyse Dickerson has solved some big ones in her six and a half...

Not totally sure whether this week’s guest actually sleeps, but somehow he’s built and/or sold 12 recruitment businesses in less than two decades, and is still going!  Some of his insights regarding seeking out top talent and attracting them to your opportunity and automating everything you possibly can, seem sensible.  Rational.  Logical even.  But how many of us are really na...

When do you stop saying yes to all customer types and all jobs for those customers when aspiring to grow? Should you niche down, or stay broad? Can you keep scaling if you niche down on a key customer type? How do you get yourself out of the way if you’re no longer the best person to run the business operationally? Will your ego cope with that? These are precisely the kinds of challenges that Chri...