Episodes
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How do you revolutionise medicine, helping develop an entire new field of medical science in this country? Well, back when he was a young doctor Professor Gab Kovacs did just that. By starting small and taking 1 step at a time he helped change the practice of reproductive medicine, by pioneering IVF in this country – “test tube” babies they used to be called - as an option for infertile couples to have children in the late 1970’s. Professor Kovacs worked with the greats, lead by Dr Carl Wood and Alan Trounson, those doctors and scientists who researched, tested, achieved breakthroughs and broke down barriers, to change the way infertility was treated and managed.
This team was so successful, after years of hard work they built a thriving business that has enabled thousands of Australian women, and many more around the world, to have babies when their bodies’ biological doors seemed closed forever.
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In late 2023 we brought you an interview with serially successful entrepreneur Mark Woodland, who co-created and built the Kismet platform to provide digital tools to help NDIS participants easily link up with approved providers, reducing fraud and overcharging & improving compliance along the way. Kismet only began life as a business in August 2022, after Mark had kept the idea in his bottom drawer for 13 years. Then in early 2023 Mark raised a whopping $4 million from venture capital veterans AirTree Ventures, Daniel Petre AO and others, an enormous tick of approval for Mark Woodland, a former soldier and proud product of a single mum household. Now the latest news in September 2024, is Kismet completed a successful $32.5 million seed funding round from venture capital investors. Wow. Not bad for just over 2 years in business! Then again, Mark had already built successful childcare business, xplor, to streamline the admin process for parents and childcare operators alike, which he sold in 2020 to US private equity, reportedly making xplor worth $100 million, and putting Mark onto the Financial Review Young Rich List. Mark’s is such a remarkable startup journey, we thought we’d share it with you again. Enjoy.
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Babak Moini came to Australia with his family as an 8 year old, from Iran. He studied hard, went to university and became an actuary, earned good money. So far a fairly typical immigrant story. But Babak’s journey diverged considerably when he discovered retailing, of all things – his first foray was a small souvenir shop in Cairns - and he fell in love with the world of business, buying and selling. He dumped his actuarial career and with a co-founder friend, they ended up building a non-invasive beauty treatment empire, in Laser Clinics Australia, with some 80-plus clinics. What a wild ride it has been. Hope you enjoy Babak Moini.
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After coming to Australia with just $600 in her pocket and a dream to see the world, young Mandy Foley fell into waitressing. What she found was a haphazard industry for workers, with little structure or professionalism. So over the past almost 4 decades Mandy set about changing that, building up her Stedmans Hospitality Services business, which she a couple of friends started from scratch in the mid-1980s. Stedmans agency essentially offers outsourced hospitality staff for events, parties, caterers and boardrooms, thereby she says, taking the worry out of hiring casual staff. For the workers she offers them structure, training, professionalism, and a family-type environment. Though she’s lived through many ups and downs, which she happily shares in our interview, Mandy has not only survived, she’s thrived, and gives back a hell of a lot, to charities and the community.
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You’ve probably never heard of GROW Super or GROW Inc. And that’s just the way co-founder and CEO Mathew Keeley likes it. But GROW Inc is solving some of the logjam problems in the “back office” administration of our massive Superannuation Funds. GROW Inc instigated a new way for Superannuation fund customers like you and I, to better access and engage with our Super Funds, by creating and building an innovative administration software using blockchain, or Distributed Ledger Technology. GROW Inc claims its platform transforms legacy systems and business models and allows fund managers and their funds to offer more streamlined, real time information to customers about their Super.
So how did a 5th generation farm boy, end up revolutionising the way Superannuation Funds interact with clients and members, giving as easy an experience for fund members as Amazon gives their online shoppers?
And how the heck did Mat Keeley, with a tiny team of only 36 employees at the time, persuade one of the world’s biggest wealth managers, the US giant Vanguard – with something like $10 Trillion in their care – to take a punt on his Super fund “back office” platform GROW Inc? Well, tune in right now and you’ll find out. Enjoy Mathew Keeley’s extraordinary journey with GROW Inc.
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Tasmania born, schooled in Hong Kong, now working in Melbourne, scientist Nick Murphy is on the frontier of IVF reproductive medicine. Nick and his small highly skilled team developed a world-first genetic screening test for IVF embryos capable of detecting several thousand severe genetic diseases and life threatening conditions. And it’s done in one single, simple test, via whole genome sequencing of the pre-implantation embryo. It’s commercialised by Nick’s startup, GenEmbryomics. Dr Murphy will offer this test through existing IVF clinics, at as low a price as possible, and to as many couples going through IVF as need it.
While not available commercially yet in Australia, GenEmbryomics is in the process of securing patents for the test in the massive IVF market in the USA, worth some $9billion. There are plans to list the startup on New York’s NASDAQ exchange by mid-2024. It’s been a wild and fascinating journey for this genetic scientist turned entrepreneur, since the GenEmbryomics business began in 2019. Hope you enjoy Dr Nick Murphy.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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An immigrant child of Polish Jewish parents, Jack Gance ended up disrupting several entire industries with HIS model of shopkeeping through suburban Australia. The pharmacist turned into an entrepreneur by chance really. After gaining his Pharmacy degree, Jack and his brother Sam started with just 1 pharmacy in the early 1970’s, which they slowly built on. Along the journey, Jack Gance totally upended the way traditional pharmacies in Aussie suburbs operate, by essentially making all the other products chemists sell aside from prescriptions, much more enticing and cheaper for shoppers. He also built a distribution business in the process.
After 51 years in business Jack Gance, with Sam and co-founder Mario Verrocchi spent the past two-plus decades building their Chemist Warehouse business and brand into a household name, thereby revolutionising not just the pharmacy model, but the entire retailing landscape, by offering discounts on every product in the store. Now with 500 partner/franchise stores and a recently announced deal to merge with Sigma Healthcare, in order to expand the business, we’re replaying the interview we did in 2023 where Jack reflects, just a little, on that amazing entrepreneurial journey. And why he can’t stop!
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Host Helen Dalley interviews plenty more inspiring Aussie entrepreneurs in new episodes coming up in 2024! Both established superstars and newbie startup founders who have nurtured an idea from scratch, building it from nothing into a sustainable successful business.
In each episode Founders reveal deep frustrations, challenges, their doubts and near failures but also how they overcame them, offering up practical insights on how to create and build a fantastic business.
Be sure to stay tuned to Build It. They’ll Come in the new year, after we take a little break.
Thankyou for being great listeners and supporters. See you in January 2024!
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Not every budding entrepreneur wants to start a new bank. Banking is risky, highly regulated, and in this country dominated by the big 4 banks that could squash any little minnow that tries to challenge them. But my guest Joseph Healy has been a career banker, in fact a successful senior executive in 2 of those the big traditional banks, and his disillusionment with their modus operandi led him to start his own. After extensive chats with mate David Hornery, over beers at the local on a Friday, the pair decided on a vision for a new bank to service small to medium sized businesses, a neglected sector in their opinion. So they set out to back themselves into building that vision into something successful and sustainable.
Healy and Hornery founded Judo Bank in 2019, in the eye of the Covid storm. But they say that made the bank stronger, and they claim to have delivered what they promised for small to medium-sized businesses.
Now a higher interest rate environment produces new challenges for the minnow bank. Despite its shares being marked down, Judo’s lending book is now $9bill (as of June 30, 2023), and it achieved a strong 2023 profit. And Joseph Healy reckons they are building the culture, mind-set and model to ensure Judo grows into a sustainable success.
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Soldier-turned-entrepreneur Mark Woodland reckons he learned some tough lessons in the Army. The most fundamental that he brought with him into the startup world was how to be resilient. This self-confessed university dropout draws on his internal resilience he reckons every day, while scaling up his Kismet healthcare platform. Resilience, coupled with setting in stone the internal culture of your business right from the get-go, and staying humble are foundation stones for Kismet’s success.
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Serially successful entrepreneur Mark Woodland, co-created and built the Kismet platform to provide digital tools to help NDIS participants easily link up with approved providers, hopefully reducing fraud and overcharging & improving compliance along the way. Kismet only began life as a business in August 2022, after Mark had kept the idea in his bottom drawer for 13 years, but in early 2023 it raised a whopping $4million from venture capital veterans AirTree Ventures, Daniel Petre AO and others, an enormous tick of approval for Mark Woodland, a former soldier and proud product of a single mum household.
Then again, Mark had already built substantial childcare business, xplor, to streamline the admin process for parents and childcare operators alike, which he sold in 2020 to US private equity, reportedly making xplor worth $100million, and putting Mark onto the Financial Review Young Rich List. Hope you enjoy his remarkable startup journey.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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What’s next in Jack Gance’s Chemist Warehouse journey, is Optometrist Warehouse, yes indeed, his latest venture to disrupt the Optometry landscape is coming to a suburb near you. And could an IPO still be on the table? Plus, he explains how hocking everything in the early days was crucial to build up his retail and distribution chain, but how being completely debt-free since the early 1990’s has its advantages. And he pays tribute to his wife Evelyn, his family and his Jewish faith as the foundation stone in his life.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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An immigrant child of Polish Jewish parents, Jack Gance ended up disrupting several entire industries with HIS model of shopkeeping. The pharmacist turned into an entrepreneur by chance really. After university he and his brother started with just 1 pharmacy in the early 1970’s, which they slowly built on. Along the journey, Jack Gance totally upended the way traditional pharmacies in Aussie suburbs operate, by essentially making all the other products chemists sell aside from prescriptions, more enticing and cheaper for shoppers. He also built a distribution business in the process.
Over 51 years in business Jack Gance built up his Chemist Warehouse business and brand into a household name, thereby revolutionising not just the pharmacy model, but the entire retailing landscape. Now with 500 partner/franchise stores and around $8billion turnover a year, Jack reflects, just a little, on that amazing entrepreneurial journey.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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When you sell your small successful travel startup to one of the world’s biggest companies, isn’t that when the champagne pops and you sit back to revel in your success? Well no, according to serial entrepreneur Zac Altman, that’s when you effectively take on 2 full-time jobs. Navigating the transition presents a whole new set of challenges to meld both companies together seamlessly. In Part 2 of our interview Zac explains just what it takes. He also elaborates on how to scale up and why years of hard work iterating a product is the reality is preferable to the dream of the “overnight success”. Zac also believes founders need to protect their employees’ well-being and care for their own mental health, to avoid burnout.
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Sydney-sider Zac Altman’s first legit startup was a taxi booking app called Taxi Pro that Zac developed and built in his final year of high school. Before Uber had hit the ground running in Australia.
Greater success was to come with his 2nd venture. Still in his teens Zac moved to San Francisco and created and co-founded with 2 new mates the travel startup called LoungeBuddy, which enabled travellers to discover, book, and access over 400 airport lounges around the world, via the LoungeBuddy website or app.
After 7 years of slogging it out building up the business, with myriad challenges along the way, the trio built LoungeBuddy to have over 100,000 users every month. In 2019, the young founders sold LoungeBuddy to global giant American Express, reportedly for in excess of $100million. Zac Altman was in his mid-20’s. So how do you build not 1, but 2, successful startups, and where to from here for Zac Altman? 1/2See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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George Vicino learnt from boyhood the value of family and a strong work ethic. In Part 2, George reveals how these drivers have been key in his entrepreneurial journey with SYPAQ, and why they underpin his ambition to be a world-leading engineering systems integrator. How his love of science and physics helped he and his in-house team of engineers to develop the highly advanced, autonomous, biodegradable cardboard drones that are now a secret weapon in Ukraine’s fight against the Russian invasion. Find out how his startup used adversity to kickstart growth. Here’s Part 2 of George Vicino.
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Systems engineer George Vicino started a small advanced engineering consultancy some 30 years ago, with experience and training from his years in the Australian Air Force under his belt. But he always had big ideas for his little company, SYPAQ. Not only has SYPAQ grown to help major Federal Government departments and large corporates integrate complicated technology systems into customer-friendly, seamless experiences, but the group now manufactures highly advanced engineering products for the Australian Defence Department. The latest is their Corvo fully autonomous aircraft, in the form of a smart drone. Or as George calls it, a clever flying box. But this is not just any ordinary drone, SYPAQ drones are made from cardboard, rubber bands and glue, and they’ve become a secret and much respected weapon in Ukraine’s fight against the Russian invasion.
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Perx Health co-founder and CEO Hugo Rourke reveals the “secret sauce” that drives the success of the Perx smartphone App, to help patients better manage treatment plans for their chronic health conditions like diabetes or heart disease. Also, right now, trying to crack into and expand in the biggest health market in the world, the United States, is surely the Holy Grail for a medical therapeutics App like Perx, but hear about the considerable challenges alongside the opportunities. And then how does a small start-up build trust with outside funders including governments and large corporates to support your vision and help you turn the start-up into a scale-up, and then build it into something substantial and sustainable? Take a listen to Hugo Rourke in Part 2 of our chat.
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While working as a management consultant at McKinsey’s, advising large retailers and others on loyalty programs and customer engagement, Hugo Rourke had the bright idea that if he could use the same tricks and tactics to help those with serious, chronic health conditions who had a greater need to engage and comply with treatments, it could be more beneficial for society. He and a mate Scott Taylor created an app that rewards those who must manage chronic illnesses likes diabetes and heart disease on a daily basis. They reward them by better engaging those patients via an app, offering enticements like movie tickets and gift vouchers if aspects of their treatment plans are carried out. But Perx is not just any old health or wellness app. This entrepreneurial duo worked with the University of Sydney to put it to the test by conducting a randomised trial to see if it improves health outcomes, with published results in the British Medical Journal. To date, they’ve not only attracted financial backing from venture capital, but they’ve won over the interest of major health providers and insurers both in Australia and the US. Here’s how they’re building Perx Health.
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Alex Badran’s startup digital platform, Spriggy, was the realisation of his dream to help children learn about better managing money and to help parents improve and streamline the pocketmoney routine inside households. But Spriggy’s success from the get-go meant that Alex and his co-founder had to deal with myriad challenges… including how not to go broke. In Part 2 of our chat he reveals how to avoid those treacherous pitfalls as a startup entrepreneur and just how he intends to expand and spend the roughly $50 million already raised from investors.
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