The Dion Guagliardo Podcast

Premonition was an AI driven logistics company that helped couriers orchestrate their drivers and deliveries in the most efficient manner. In 2022, one of Australia’s largest startups - Shippit, acquired Premonition for $20.5 million. Throughout the episode, Brad explains how logistics makes up 20-30% of man-made emissions and by making the space more efficient, Premonition and Shippit are having...

HotDoc is Australia’s largest platform that connects doctors to patients. Patients can easily book appointments with their favourite clinics while doctors can easily manage their patients. Founded in 2012, Ben has grown the business to now have 11 million patients and 20,000 doctors on the platform. Throughout the episode, Ben talks about how staying within the niche of GPs has allowed them to bec...

Spreets was a deal comparison website that famously sold for $40 million only 12 months after it started. MadPaws is his current business - an all in one marketplace for all of your pet needs. Throughout the episode, Justus emphasizes the importance of skill, luck and timing all contribute toward being successful. Justus also mentions how sometimes you need to unlearn previous experience to grow a...

In this episode, I interview Dorry Kordahi, founder of DKM Blue, Swanky Socks and the former owner of Illawarra Hawks Basketball team. DKM Blue, Dorry’s main business, specialises in the development and delivery of promotional merchandise, corporate uniforms and PPE. Starting in 2002, Dorry has grown the company to now be generating tens of millions in annual revenue. Throughout the episode, Dorry...

Agworld is an agriculture technology startup that creates data management tools to help farmers and agronomists work more efficiently. Founded in 2009, Doug and his co-founders grew the business and eventually sold in 2021 for $100 million. Throughout the episode, Doug talks about the importance of staying the course of your business and persisting even when times are tough. He also emphasises the...

Linktree is a tool allows you to create a directory to multiple websites from one URL link. Starting in 2016, Nick and his co-founders have grown the company tremendously to now have over 40 million users and was valued last year at $1.3 billion dollars. Throughout the episode, Nick talks about the difficulty of trying to control a rapidly growing business. He discusses the importance of clearly d...

In this episode, I interview Daniel Petre, Co-Founder of AirTree - one of the largest VC firms in Australia and New Zealand. Over it’s lifetime, AirTree has been an early investor in some of the country’s biggest startups, such as Canva, Mr Yum and LinkTree. Founded in 2014, Daniel has helped grow the business to now manage over $1.3 Billion with over 80 active investments. Throughout the episode,...

Deutsch Miller is one of the top boutique legal firms in Australia specialising in corporate law and dispute resolution. After moving across the world from London, Paul recalls how he started the business from scratch and his journey along the way. Throughout the episode, Paul talks about the importance of networking and relationship management as you never know where potential work and opportunit...

In this episode, I interview Bruce Mackenzie, founder of Humanforce. Humanforce is a workforce management software company which has been recently acquired for $60 million. Humanforce specifically targets the “standing-workforce”, making software products to help manage shift and roster driven workers such as retail and hospitality staff.  Founded in 2002 after the dotcom bubble, Bruce talks about...

Internet 2.0 is one of Australia’s leading cybersecurity companies and is now worth $50 million. Founded in 2018, the company has gone on to make various cybersecurity products including Malcore which made headlines for exposing exactly how much data social media companies take from us. Spoiler alert, TikTok was over double the amount compared to the others. Being an ex-officer, David explains the...

Being in the firm for 25 years, Grant has helped grow MPH Lawyers into one of the most successful law practices in Western Australia. Since 2002, he has also worked extensively in the innovation space such as AI, robotics and automation through advising founders on investment, partnerships and scaling. Throughout the episode, Grant talks about the power that communication plays in a workplace and...

28 is an online fitness platform and community that provides workouts that anyone can do in under 28 minutes. Founded in 2016, Sam has grown the platform to help over 500,000 people stay fit and has recently sold the company for $71 million.  Throughout the episode, Sam explains the importance of building a strong team to offset your weaknesses is essential to high-speed growth. He goes on to reca...

Car Next Door was a peer-to-peer car sharing service that set out to challenge the one person, one car mentality. Starting in 2013, Will and his co founders grew the company up until their recent deal with Uber at an estimated valuation of 50 million to create Uber car share. Throughout the episode, Will talks about the intricacies of building a two-sided marketplace and how starting in a niche ma...

Judo Bank is one of Australia’s largest and most trusted banks for small to medium-sized enterprises. Starting from a PowerPoint idea in 2016, Joseph and his co-founders have grown the business to now be valued at over $1.5 billion, have over 600 staff and a loan book of $9 billion. Throughout the episode, Joseph talks about Judo’s philosophy of measure twice, cut once - emphasizing the importance...

Stu is a third-generation publican of his family business that now owns around 90 venues and is worth an estimated 1.4bn dollars. Throughout the episode, Stu talks about how consumer behaviour has changed over time, the strategy of acquiring venues and words of wisdom from his friends and mentors such as Gerry Harvey. Stu also discusses the benefits and challenges of working in a family business....

Arkose Labs is a SAAS company that protects its customers against cyber criminals. Founded in 2016, the company has raised 130m USD and has grown to now protect some of the biggest tech companies such as Microsoft, Twitter, Roblox and many more. Throughout the show, Kevin lets us in on the fascinating world of defending against cybercrime, the importance of learning sales and why working with the...

Working as a receptionist at his Mum’s business, Mark quickly became frustrated at the repetitive processes and boldly claimed “How hard could it be to build software”. Since then, Mark started and grew his childcare software company Xplor to a substantial 100 million dollar valuation. Only two weeks after “retiring”, Mark founded his second company Kismet - a healthcare service provider platform...

Sidekicker is Australia’s largest online staffing platform that is re-inventing casual and temporary work for businesses and workers. Founded in 2012, Tom and his co-founder Jacqui have grown the company to now have 130 employees and raise $43m to date including Seek as a major investor. Throughout the episode, Tom explains the importance of not getting too overjoyed on wins and too down on losses...

Shippit is Australia's leading multi-carrier shipping software and connects stores with the best courier at the time of purchase. Founded in 2014, William and his co-founder Rob, have grown the company to now have 175 employees and tens of millions of dollars in annual revenue. They've raised over $100 million in capital with a valuation of over $300 million. Throughout the episode, Will...

AgriWebb is a digital platform that helps livestock producers with record-keeping, compliance and productivity. Starting in 2014, AgriWebb has now grown to the point where 25% of Australia’s farm animals are managed under the platform. To date, they've raised over $40 million at a market cap of over $100 million. Throughout the episode, John discusses the history of technology’s impact on the...

In this episode, I interview Geoffroy Henry, founder of Ofload. Ofload is a digital B2B platform that helps shippers and road freight carriers connect to minimise wasted space in vehicles. In only three years from 2019, Geoffroy has raised $100m in funding which has led to the company now having 120 employees and making $100m in annual revenue. Throughout the episode, Geoffroy talks about how the...

In this episode, I interview James Bruce and Stafford Fox from boutique beverage company StrangeLove. Starting out in Byron Bay, the guys grew the business to become one of Australia’s trendiest drinks companies and have recently been acquired by Asahi. Throughout the episode, James talks about how differentiating themselves through creative and unique branding massively helped the growth of the b...

In this episode, I interview Giovanni Pino, co-founder of Sourci. Sourci is Australia’s largest sourcing company that connects individuals and businesses to manufacturers in China, India, Vietnam and many more. Starting out in 2017, Sourci has grown exponentially, expanding from a two-person startup to a team of almost 30 generating tens of millions in revenue annually. Throughout the episode, Gio...

In this episode, I interview Jeremy Mujis - founder of Grown Alchemist. Grown Alchemist is a skincare company that produces a range of innovative skin and beauty products. Recently, global beauty giant L’Occitane Group bought a large stake in the brand for a reported $50 million. Throughout the episode, Jeremy provides deep insight into the traditional commerce industry. Specifically, as the compa...

In this episode, I interview Vu Tran - founder of Go1. As described by Vu, Go1 is the Netflix or Spotify of workplace learning. They aggregate training programs from all around the world and bring them into one platform - making them available for any company. Recently, the company’s valuation hit an astonishing $2.8 billion after a $140 million raise. Throughout the episode, Vu talks about the im...