The Startup Playbook Podcast

The Startup Playbook Podcast

Rohit Bhargava - Entrepreneur | Blogger | Podcaster. I help launch, grow and fund startups and online businesses

Each week I interview successful founders, investors and subject matter experts on their story, the strategies they used to succeed and their advice to current and next generation entrepreneurs.

1 hour 29 minutes

Ep199 – Jaimie Fuller (Former CEO & Chairman – SKINS) on building SKINS and bouncing back from bankruptcy
The Startup Playbook Podcast
Insights and lessons from the world's best entrepreneurs and investors
- Twitter
- Facebook
- YouTube
- Instagram
Ep199 – Jaimie Fuller (Former CEO & Chairman – SKINS) on building SKINS and bouncing back from bankruptcy
- October 31, 2024
- rohitbhargava
- Podcast
My guest for Ep199 of The Startup Playbook Podcast was Jaimie Fuller.

Jaimie’s journey has been full of highs and lows.

He is best known as the former CEO and Executive Chairman of compression apparel company SKINS.

SKINS was a global phenomenon with elite athletes and sporting teams all around the world using their products. The business had incredible global growth before ultimately filing for bankruptcy in 2019.

Outside of his work with SKINS, Jaimie was also an activist within sports, through #ChooseTheRightTrack tackling doping in sports and #NewFIFANow to call out corruption in football leading to a number of arrests in FIFA in 2015.

Jaimie is now back with his latest company, eo, which is helps accelerate human progress through innovative sports technology.

In this episode we covered a range of topics including:
- The ups and downs of the SKINS journey
- How he personally dealt with the fallout from filing for bankruptcy
- How SKINS was able to use brand to build a premium offering and compete with the likes of Nike all over the world
- The vision and mission behind eo
- and much more!
Timestamps:
- 1:49 Jaimie’s background
- 3:33 His first printing business
- 7:25 The challenges of growing at a rapid pace beyond 250 employees
- 13:49 Doing the right thing in business
- 26:10 The founding journey of SKINS
- 32:56 What gave him the conviction to go all in on SKINS
- 42:53 Importance of brand and storytelling
- 52:01 Maintaining a challenger brand ethos as you scale
- 1:05:32 replacing himself as CEO
- 1:08:01 Filing for bankruptcy
- 1:21:13 The decision to start again with eo
- 1:26:15 The mission of eo
Our partners:

A big thank you to Dean Hawkins and Anthony Gregorio for their help with this interview!

Also a big shout out to our partners for the show:

Scendar

Scendar is the OG startup accounting firm in Australia catering to all stages of your business’ life. If you’re busy running your startup, you don’t have time to do your own books and forecast. Instead, fully outsource your finance function, giving you time and resources back to focus on what you do best in growing your business. Find out more at Scendar.com

Vanta

Vanta helps businesses get — and stay — compliant by automating up to 90% of the work for the most in-demand compliance frameworks. And with over 300 integrations, you can easily monitor and secure the tools your business relies on.
Join over six thousand fast-growing companies that use Vanta to manage risk and prove security in real time.
Startup Playbook Podcast listeners get access to an exclusive offer of USD$1000 off their plans. Head over to vant a.com/playbook to get access to this exclusive discount.

Links mentioned:

Jaimie’s links:
People mentioned:
Companies mentioned:
- SKINS
- Essendon Football Club
- Nike
- Adidas
- Puma
- Eatbigfish
- NSWIS
- UBS
- Amazon
- International Athletics Federation
- Sport 2000
Feedback/connect/say hello:

[email protected]
@RohitBhargava7 (Twitter)
/rohbhargava (LinkedIn)
@rohit_bhargava (Instagram)
My Youtube Channel

Credits:

Music: Paycheck

Other channels:

Find all of the links for the podcast on Linktree here
https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/startupplaybook/Ep199_-_Jaimie_Fuller.mp3
Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed
Subscribe: RSS
1. - admin
  - January 1, 2014
  Reply
  Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat
2. - admin
  - January 1, 2014
  Reply
  Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat
  - admin
    
    January 1, 2014
    
    Reply
    Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat.
Copyright © 2015 - Live Composer
The post Ep199 – Jaimie Fuller (Former CEO & Chairman – SKINS) on building SKINS and bouncing back from bankruptcy appeared first on Startup Playbook.
31 October 2024, 1:37 am
1 hour 4 minutes

Ep198 – Rohan Workman (Co-founder & CEO – Skalata) on taking risks & balancing speed with discipline
The Startup Playbook Podcast
Insights and lessons from the world's best entrepreneurs and investors
- Twitter
- Facebook
- YouTube
- Instagram
Ep198 – Rohan Workman (Co-founder & CEO – Skalata) on taking risks & balancing speed with discipline
- October 24, 2024
- rohitbhargava
- Uncategorized
My guest for Ep198 of The Startup Playbook Podcast was Rohan Workman.

Rohan is the Co-founder & CEO of Skalata, a seed stage venture capital firm that was established in 2018 and count a portfolio of over 80 companies across their 2 funds.

Prior to this, he was the Director of MAP, Melbourne Uni’s Accelerator program that he built to become the 8th ranked program in the world.

Rohan also previously founded RosterCloud, a cloud-based software management tool for events and catering businesses. RosterCloud was acquired by Rision in 2016.

In this interview we covered a range of topics including:
- What his first job out of uni, working in corporate recovery, taught him about business
- Lessons from his first startup, Roster Cloud
- Why Skalata evolved from an accelerator program to a more traditional fund structure
- & much more!
Timestamps:
- 1:43 Rohan’s background
- 4:02 Importance of health & fitness as a founder
- 12:08 Tough lessons from his time at McGrathNicol
- 15:25 Advice for navigating challenging people situations in business
- 21:24 Balancing speed with discipline
- 26:50 Mistakes and lessons from RosterCloud
- 30:36 Time at Melbourne Accelerator Program in the early days
- 39:45 The genesis for Skalata
- 46:35 Skalata’s investment thesis and process
- 57:10 Taking risks and being bold
Our partners:

A big thank you to Maxine Lee, Laura Williams and Rosemary Workman for their help with this interview!

Also a big shout out to our partners for the show:

Scendar

Scendar is the OG startup accounting firm in Australia catering to all stages of your business’ life. If you’re busy running your startup, you don’t have time to do your own books and forecast. Instead, fully outsource your finance function, giving you time and resources back to focus on what you do best in growing your business. Find out more at Scendar.com

Vanta

Vanta helps businesses get — and stay — compliant by automating up to 90% of the work for the most in-demand compliance frameworks. And with over 300 integrations, you can easily monitor and secure the tools your business relies on.
Join over six thousand fast-growing companies that use Vanta to manage risk and prove security in real time.
Startup Playbook Podcast listeners get access to an exclusive offer of USD$1000 off their plans. Head over to vant a.com/playbook to get access to this exclusive discount.

Links mentioned:

Rohan’s links:
- Rohan’s LinkedIn
- Skalata VC
People mentioned:
Companies mentioned:
Feedback/connect/say hello:

[email protected]
@RohitBhargava7 (Twitter)
/rohbhargava (LinkedIn)
@rohit_bhargava (Instagram)
My Youtube Channel

Credits:

Music: Paycheck

Other channels:

Find all of the links for the podcast on Linktree here
https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/startupplaybook/Ep198_-_Rohan_Workman.mp3
Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed
Subscribe: RSS
1. - admin
  - January 1, 2014
  Reply
  Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat
2. - admin
  - January 1, 2014
  Reply
  Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat
  - admin
    
    January 1, 2014
    
    Reply
    Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat.
Copyright © 2015 - Live Composer
The post Ep198 – Rohan Workman (Co-founder & CEO – Skalata) on taking risks & balancing speed with discipline appeared first on Startup Playbook.
24 October 2024, 4:10 am
46 minutes 58 seconds

Ep197 – Paul Stovell (Founder & CEO – Octopus Deploy) on turning a weekend project to a $100M ARR business
The Startup Playbook Podcast
Insights and lessons from the world's best entrepreneurs and investors
- Twitter
- Facebook
- YouTube
- Instagram
Ep197 – Paul Stovell (Founder & CEO – Octopus Deploy) on turning a weekend project to a $100M ARR business
- September 12, 2024
- rohitbhargava
- Podcast
My guest for Ep197 of The Startup Playbook Podcast was Paul Stovell.

Paul is the Founder & CEO of Octopus Deploy, a company he started as a “nights and weekends” project for 2 years before going full time in 2012.

The company was bootstrapped for almost a decade until 2021 when they raised USD$172.5M (roughly AUD$222M) from New York based Insight Partners which is the second largest VC funding round by an Australian company ever.

Octopus Deploy is now over 300 people and just crossed $100M in ARR.

I got to sit down with Paul at the Something Tech 2024 conference to do a live podcast interview and in this conversation we covered a range of topics including:
- Why more founders should consider bootstrapping
- Using customers as investors
- Balancing culture of striving for quality vs bias for action
- Why Paul decided to take on external funding and how it changed the business
- & much more!
Timestamps:
- 2:09 Paul’s Background
- 5:32 The origin story of Octopus Deploy
- 8:15 Balancing quality with speed
- 10:00 The tipping point where he went all in on Octopus Deploy
- 11:37 Competing with well resourced incumbents
- 19:12 The decision to take on investors
- 23:31 How the company changed after taking on capital
- 25:54 Operating as a profitable company
- 32:43 Attracting talent and testing for fit during the hiring process
- 40:08 How to ensure company values are upheld as you grow
- 45:10 Advice to founders just getting started
Our partners:

A big thank you to Michael Noonan, Bob Walker and Simon Galbraith for their help with this interview!

Also a big shout out to our partners for the show:

Scendar

Scendar is the OG startup accounting firm in Australia catering to all stages of your business’ life. If you’re busy running your startup, you don’t have time to do your own books and forecast. Instead, fully outsource your finance function, giving you time and resources back to focus on what you do best in growing your business. Find out more at Scendar.com

Vanta

Vanta helps businesses get — and stay — compliant by automating up to 90% of the work for the most in-demand compliance frameworks. And with over 300 integrations, you can easily monitor and secure the tools your business relies on.
Join over six thousand fast-growing companies that use Vanta to manage risk and prove security in real time.
Startup Playbook Podcast listeners get access to an exclusive offer of USD$1000 off their plans. Head over to vanta.com/playbook to get access to this exclusive discount.

Links mentioned:

Paul’s links:
People mentioned:
Companies mentioned:
Feedback/connect/say hello:

[email protected]
@RohitBhargava7 (Twitter)
/rohbhargava (LinkedIn)
@rohit_bhargava (Instagram)
My Youtube Channel

Credits:

Music: Paycheck

Other channels:

Find all of the links for the podcast on Linktree here
https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/startupplaybook/Ep197_-_Paul_Stovell.mp3
Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed
Subscribe: RSS
1. - admin
  - January 1, 2014
  Reply
  Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat
2. - admin
  - January 1, 2014
  Reply
  Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat
  - admin
    
    January 1, 2014
    
    Reply
    Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat.
Copyright © 2015 - Live Composer
The post Ep197 – Paul Stovell (Founder & CEO – Octopus Deploy) on turning a weekend project to a $100M ARR business appeared first on Startup Playbook.
12 September 2024, 5:01 am
1 hour 25 minutes

Ep196 – Cam Falloon (Founder & CEO – BFT) on overcoming adversity and scaling to 700+ studios globally
The Startup Playbook Podcast
Insights and lessons from the world's best entrepreneurs and investors
- Twitter
- Facebook
- YouTube
- Instagram
Ep196 – Cam Falloon (Founder & CEO – BFT) on overcoming adversity and scaling to 700+ studios globally
- August 22, 2024
- rohitbhargava
- Podcast
My guest for Ep196 of The Startup Playbook Podcast was Cam Falloon.

Every great story starts with overcoming adversity and Cam is no different.

Cam picked up a serious back injury which made it difficult for him to walk…to the point where it would take him 15mins to walk a 12m hallway and being told by doctors that he wouldn’t be able to workout again.

That life-altering injury sparked his passion for strength, conditioning, and training, not only to rehabilitate his own back but also to help others achieve peak physical health.

Cam’s expertise took him to the highest levels of personal training, including working with none other than Princess Diana and high-performance roles in the English Premier League with Derby County, as well as several AFL teams.

In 2015 he launched BFT, a group strength training studio that started with just four studios in Melbourne. Today, BFT has exploded into a global phenomenon with over 700 studios across 11 countries.

The growth and success of BFT hasn’t always been obvious with Cam having to navigate through the lockdown period during COVID and overcoming an aggressive $50M lawsuit from the largest competitor in the industry

In this episode, Cam shares lessons from his career so far and we cover topics such as:
- The back injury that changed Cam’s life and set him on a path to becoming a leader in the fitness industry.
- Cam’s experience working with Princess Diana and his role in high-performance training within the English Premier League and AFL.
- The founding and rapid global expansion of BFT, growing from 4 to 700+ studios in just under a decade.
- How BFT navigated the challenges of COVID-19 without shutting down any studios.
- The $50M legal battle with a major competitor and what it taught Cam about resilience and perseverance in business.
Timestamps
- 1:59 Cam’s background
- 6:31 Hurting his back, how that led to fitness
- 15:59 Training Princess Diana in London
- 19:20 Working with Derby County Football Club
- 27:14 Keeping things simple in business
- 30:51 Challenges working in sports
- 32:48 Applying lessons from sport and high performance to business
- 36:22 Overcoming health challenges his wife was having
- 40:24 Launching BFT
- 47:47 Avoiding 7 as a feedback score
- 50:21 Getting sued for $50M
- 1:01:51 Navigating COVID
- 1:07:49 Surrounding yourself with the right people in business
- 1:14:04 How he gets a lot done while still finding balance
Our partners:

A big thank you to John Glancy, Dave Aitchison, Sarah Nehme and Steve Latham for their help with this interview!

Also a big shout out to our partners for the show:

Scendar

Scendar is the OG startup accounting firm in Australia catering to all stages of your business’ life. If you’re busy running your startup, you don’t have time to do your own books and forecast. Instead, fully outsource your finance function, giving you time and resources back to focus on what you do best in growing your business. Find out more at Scendar.com

Vanta

Vanta helps businesses get — and stay — compliant by automating up to 90% of the work for the most in-demand compliance frameworks. And with over 300 integrations, you can easily monitor and secure the tools your business relies on.
Join over six thousand fast-growing companies that use Vanta to manage risk and prove security in real time.
Startup Playbook Podcast listeners get access to an exclusive offer of USD$1000 off their plans. Head over to vanta.com/playbook to get access to this exclusive discount.

Links mentioned:

Cam’s links:
People mentioned:
Companies mentioned:
Feedback/connect/say hello:

[email protected]
@RohitBhargava7 (Twitter)
/rohbhargava (LinkedIn)
@rohit_bhargava (Instagram)
My Youtube Channel

Credits:

Music: Paycheck

Other channels:

Find all of the links for the podcast on Linktree here
https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/startupplaybook/Ep196_-_Cam_Falloon.mp3
Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed
Subscribe: RSS
1. - admin
  - January 1, 2014
  Reply
  Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat
2. - admin
  - January 1, 2014
  Reply
  Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat
  - admin
    
    January 1, 2014
    
    Reply
    Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat.
Copyright © 2015 - Live Composer
The post Ep196 – Cam Falloon (Founder & CEO – BFT) on overcoming adversity and scaling to 700+ studios globally appeared first on Startup Playbook.
22 August 2024, 1:38 am
1 hour 1 minute

Ep195 – Leigh Jasper (Co-founder & Co-CEO – Firmable) on jumping back in the founder seat after a $1.6B exit
The Startup Playbook Podcast
Insights and lessons from the world's best entrepreneurs and investors
- Twitter
- Facebook
- YouTube
- Instagram
Ep195 – Leigh Jasper (Co-founder & Co-CEO – Firmable) on jumping back in the founder seat after a $1.6B exit
- August 15, 2024
- rohitbhargava
- Podcast
My guest for Ep195 of The Startup Playbook Podcast was Leigh Jasper.

This is a special edition of the podcast.

A few weeks ago, we celebrated hitting 8 years of the podcast. To celebrate the milestone, we hosted an in-person event with our community which included a “live” podcast recording with returning guest Leigh Jasper.

I first interviewed Leigh for the show in November 2016. Back then he was the Co-founder & CEO of Aconex, a construction tech company that had publicly listed 2 years prior and had a market cap of $1B.

Since that interview, Aconex was acquired by Oracle for $1.6B and Leigh has and continues to hold several positions such as Chair of LaunchVic, Victorian governments startup agency, Co-founder and Chair of SecondQuarter Ventures, the first secondaries fund in Australia and NZ among several other board roles.

If that isn’t enough, Leigh decided to jump back into the founder seat as the Co-founder & Co-CEO of Firmable, which helps companies drive smarter decisions and outperform by allowing them to know more about their leads, customers and candidates. Firmable recently raised a $9M funding round led by AirTree.

We covered a lot of ground in this live interview including:
- Lessons from launching, growing and eventually exiting a $1B+ startup
- Leigh’s journey post Aconex (given he didn’t want to sell the company)
- Why founders should take chips off the table via secondaries
- What’s changed for Leigh as a second time founder
- & much more!
Timestamps:
- 3:12 What Leigh has been working on since the last interview in 2016
- 4:43 What it was like going from CEO of a private company to a public company
- 7:21 The decision to sell Aconex to Oracle for $1.6B
- 10:25 Navigating significant changes in a company as the founder/CEO
- 12:34 What Leigh did after the Aconex acquisition, losing that identity
- 18:40 Getting involved with LaunchVic
- 20:53 Founding SecondQuarter Ventures
- 22:15 When founders should take money off the table via secondaries
- 25:49 Effective boards for startups
- 32:56 The decision to start a new company (Firmable)
- 34:41 Lessons from Aconex he’s applying to Firmable
- 38:59 Finding the right investment partners for Firmable
- 42:21 What drives Leigh today?
- 44:26 How he stays calm under intense pressure
- 47:27 How to balance being open/transparent with the team on everything happening in the business
- 49:48 Thoughts on the current state of technology and the Australian startup ecosystem
- 51:44 Audience Q&A
Our partners:

A big thank you to Paul Perrett and Andrew Sypkes for their help with this interview!

Also a big shout out to our partners for the show:

Scendar

Scendar is the OG startup accounting firm in Australia catering to all stages of your business’ life. If you’re busy running your startup, you don’t have time to do your own books and forecast. Instead, fully outsource your finance function, giving you time and resources back to focus on what you do best in growing your business. Find out more at Scendar.com

Vanta

Vanta helps businesses get — and stay — compliant by automating up to 90% of the work for the most in-demand compliance frameworks. And with over 300 integrations, you can easily monitor and secure the tools your business relies on.
Join over six thousand fast-growing companies that use Vanta to manage risk and prove security in real time.
Startup Playbook Podcast listeners get access to an exclusive offer of USD$1000 off their plans. Head over to vanta.com/playbook to get access to this exclusive discount.

Links mentioned:

Leigh’s links:
People mentioned:
Audience questions:
Companies mentioned:
- Aconex
- Oracle
- MYOB
- LaunchVic
- Playbook Ventures
- Canva
- EVP
- McKinsey & Company
- IBM
- Stripe
- Airtree
- Fidelity Investments
- Blackbird
- Square Peg
- SEEK Growth Fund
- Xero
- Slack
Feedback/connect/say hello:

[email protected]
@RohitBhargava7 (Twitter)
/rohbhargava (LinkedIn)
@rohit_bhargava (Instagram)
My Youtube Channel

Credits:

Music: Paycheck

Other channels:

Find all of the links for the podcast on Linktree here
https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/startupplaybook/Ep195_-_Leigh_Jasper.mp3
Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed
Subscribe: RSS
1. - admin
  - January 1, 2014
  Reply
  Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat
2. - admin
  - January 1, 2014
  Reply
  Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat
  - admin
    
    January 1, 2014
    
    Reply
    Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat.
Copyright © 2015 - Live Composer
The post Ep195 – Leigh Jasper (Co-founder & Co-CEO – Firmable) on jumping back in the founder seat after a $1.6B exit appeared first on Startup Playbook.
15 August 2024, 5:49 am
1 hour 2 minutes

Ep194 – Jon Gregory (Founder & CEO – Vitruvian) on product led growth and relentless positivity
My guest for Ep194 of The Startup Playbook Podcast was Jon Gregory.

Jon is the Founder & CEO of Vitruvian.

Vitruvian is an all-in-one digital home gym that uses AI to adjust resistance in real time to help users get the most out of their workout.

Since launching in 2018, they have gone on to raise USD$27M, with customers all around the world and working with a number of athletes such as Olympian and world champion sprinter, Justin Gatlin and the worlds strongest man, Thor Bjornsson.

We covered a wide range of topics in this interview including:
- The value in doing hard things
- The challenges around building and raising capital for hardware products
- How to build using product led growth
- & much more
Timestamps:
- 2:28 Jon’s background
- 6:08 How his science background helped him think through business problems
- 7:49 The initial idea for Vitruvian
- 16:35 Going from idea to product and iterating
- 18:55 The early days of Vitruvian, attracting customers, partners and investors
- 23:40 How COVID affected the business
- 28:34 Having a product led philosophy
- 30:52 Making decisions as a founder
- 36:53 Having a community focus early on in the business
- 40:38 Product led growth in practice for Vitruvian
- 44:05 Fundraising tips for hardware startups
- 46:48 Challenges building a global business from Perth
- 50:35 The future of hardware and AI
- 54:25 Developing a positive mindset
Our partners:

A big thank you to Weibke Hensen for her help with this interview!

Also a big shout out to our partners for the show:

Scendar

Scendar is the OG startup accounting firm in Australia catering to all stages of your business’ life. If you’re busy running your startup, you don’t have time to do your own books and forecast. Instead, fully outsource your finance function, giving you time and resources back to focus on what you do best in growing your business. Find out more at Scendar.com

Vanta

Vanta helps businesses get — and stay — compliant by automating up to 90% of the work for the most in-demand compliance frameworks. And with over 300 integrations, you can easily monitor and secure the tools your business relies on.
Join over six thousand fast-growing companies that use Vanta to manage risk and prove security in real time.
Startup Playbook Podcast listeners get access to an exclusive offer of USD$1000 off their plans. Head over to vanta.com/playbook to get access to this exclusive discount.

Links mentioned:

8 year podcast event:
- Live Podcast event with Leigh Jasper (Registration)
Giveaway:
- Details for how to enter the giveaway
Jon’s links:
- Jon’s LinkedIn
- Vitruvian
People mentioned:
- Jeff Bezos
- Wiebke Hensen
Companies mentioned:
- Peloton
- Amazon
Feedback/connect/say hello:

[email protected]
@RohitBhargava7 (Twitter)
/rohbhargava (LinkedIn)
@rohit_bhargava (Instagram)
My Youtube Channel

Credits:

Music: Paycheck

Other channels:

Find all of the links for the podcast on Linktree here

The post Ep194 – Jon Gregory (Founder & CEO – Vitruvian) on product led growth and relentless positivity appeared first on Startup Playbook.
8 August 2024, 8:47 am
55 minutes 18 seconds

Ep193 – Llew Jury (General Partner & Exec Chairman – Sprint Ventures) on nurturing talent and building generational companies
My guest for Ep193 of The Startup Playbook Podcast was Llew Jury.

Llew is the General Partner and Executive Chairman of Sprint Ventures, a Queensland based VC with two funds and 18 portfolio companies that is investing in companies that build a better future. He has just helped Sprint secure funding from QIC’s VCDF for his third early stage Seed fund.

Prior to launching Sprint Ventures, Llew founded a number of successful businesses.

Between 2006 and 2016, Llew was the Founder and Managing Director of The Reload Group, one of Australia’s largest digital & eCommerce marketing agencies. Llew built the Reload business to 90 staff and 300 clients before Reload was acquired by Hardie Grant Media in 2022.

From 1999 to 2006 Llew was co-Founder of leading Queensland web, eCommerce and digital agency Alfresco, that was sold to a consortium led by the ASX listed STW Group.

In this episode we covered a range of topics including:
- The common mistakes founders make when it comes to sales and marketing
- Llew’s approach to backing and building generational businesses
- How to leverage partners for growth
- How to nurture relationships and talent
- and much more!
Timestamps:
- 1:58 Llew’s background
- 7:10 Launching his first business Alfresco, growing it and getting acquired
- 10:10 Lessons from first business and how he’s applied that to subsequent businesses
- 11:55 Advice to founders on balancing life and work
- 14:56 Things he looks for when investing in founders
- 16:32 The story of finding his co-founder at The Reload Group
- 19:46 Nurturing talent
- 23:31 The process of expanding internationally out of Australia
- 27:30 Tactics and common founder mistakes in sales, marketing and partnerships
- 37:45 Sprint Ventures investment thesis
- 42:57 His thoughts on the current investment landscape in Australia
- 46:52 Running a services business vs high growth business
- 49:28 Building relationships and playing the long game
Our partners:

A big thank you to Kylie Merritt, Ian Campbell and Craig Sommerville for their help with this interview!

Also a big shout out to our partners for the show:

Scendar

Scendar is the OG startup accounting firm in Australia catering to all stages of your business’ life. If you’re busy running your startup, you don’t have time to do your own books and forecast. Instead, fully outsource your finance function, giving you time and resources back to focus on what you do best in growing your business. Find out more at Scendar.com

Vanta

Vanta helps businesses get — and stay — compliant by automating up to 90% of the work for the most in-demand compliance frameworks. And with over 300 integrations, you can easily monitor and secure the tools your business relies on.
Join over six thousand fast-growing companies that use Vanta to manage risk and prove security in real time.
Startup Playbook Podcast listeners get access to an exclusive offer of USD$1000 off their plans. Head over to vanta.com/playbook to get access to this exclusive discount.

Links mentioned:

8 year podcast event:
- Live Podcast event with Leigh Jasper (Registration)
Llew’s links:
- Llew’s LinkedIn
- Sprint Ventures
People mentioned:
Companies mentioned:
Feedback/connect/say hello:

[email protected]
@RohitBhargava7 (Twitter)
/rohbhargava (LinkedIn)
@rohit_bhargava (Instagram)
My Youtube Channel

Credits:

Music: Paycheck

Other channels:

Find all of the links for the podcast on Linktree here

The post Ep193 – Llew Jury (General Partner & Exec Chairman – Sprint Ventures) on nurturing talent and building generational companies appeared first on Startup Playbook.
25 July 2024, 3:03 am
1 hour 15 minutes

Ep192 – Rohit Bhargava (Host – The Startup Playbook Podcast) on lessons from 8 years of podcasting (AMA episode)
Welcome to a special milestone edition of the podcast, celebrating 8 years of the show!

On this day in 2016, I published the first 6 episodes of this podcast.

Over the last 8 years I’ve sat down with almost 200 successful entrepreneurs and investors to unpack their journey, lessons and insights.

I’m so thankful to all of the great guests who have made the time to come on this show, but I am also incredibly grateful to all of you in the Startup Playbook community who have listened, supported and shared this podcast over the last few years. The success, quality of guests and everything we have been able to achieve over the last 8 years would not have been possible without all of you, so I just wanted to say a quick thank you to all of you!

For this milestone ep, I wanted to do something a little different. So for this episode, my good friend James Harrisson is taking over the hosting duties and I’m jumping on the other side of the table to answer some questions from James and from our community in this AMA edition of the podcast.

In this episode, James and I spoke about lessons from the last 8 years and advice to anyone thinking about starting out on their own podcasting/business journey.

I also answered a number of community submitted questions on podcasting, PR, investing and much more!

Timestamps
- 3:17 The original intention for the podcast and how that’s evolved over time
- 8:28 Whether he would do anything differently if starting over
- 11:32 Why he’s taken two extended breaks from publishing over the last 8 years and how that’s helped the show in the long run
- 19:30 How the topics of the show have evolved over time as he’s evolved as a person, finding his own style
- 35:51 Long term games vs short term games
- 39:08 Should someone start a podcast today?
- 43:35 What would his life be like if he never started the podcast?
- 47:17 How he got initial followers and key initial growth tactics
- 52:35 PR advice
- 56:36 Advice for people starting a podcast
- 59:08 How to get great guests for a podcast
- 1:03:59 Best way to pitch investors and partners
- 1:08:16 How running his own high growth startup affected his approach to podcasting and investing
Our Partners

Our partners

A big thank you to our partners for the show:

Scendar

Scendar is the OG startup accounting firm in Australia catering to all stages of your business’ life. If you’re busy running your startup, you don’t have time to do your own books and forecast. Instead, fully outsource your finance function, giving you time and resources back to focus on what you do best in growing your business. Find out more at Scendar.com

Vanta

Vanta helps businesses get — and stay — compliant by automating up to 90% of the work for the most in-demand compliance frameworks. And with over 300 integrations, you can easily monitor and secure the tools your business relies on.
Join over six thousand fast-growing companies that use Vanta to manage risk and prove security in real time.
Startup Playbook Podcast listeners get access to an exclusive offer of USD$1000 off their plans. Head over to vanta.com/playbook to get access to this exclusive discount.

Links mentioned

8 year podcast event:
- Live Podcast event with Leigh Jasper (Registration)
People mentioned:
Companies mentioned:
Feedback/connect/say hello:

[email protected]
@RohitBhargava7 (Twitter)
/rohbhargava (LinkedIn)
@rohit_bhargava (Instagram)
My Youtube Channel

Credits:

Music: Paycheck

Other channels:

Find all of the links for the podcast on Linktree here

The post Ep192 – Rohit Bhargava (Host – The Startup Playbook Podcast) on lessons from 8 years of podcasting (AMA episode) appeared first on Startup Playbook.
18 July 2024, 6:34 am
1 hour 12 minutes

Ep191 – Stew Glynn (Co-founder & Managing Partner – TEN13 VC) on lessons from investing $100M
My guest for Ep191 of The Startup Playbook Podcast was Stew Glynn.

Stew started his investing career after joining Shark Tank’s Steve Baxter in building out his family office, Transition Level Investments.

In 2019, they then launched TEN13 VC, where Stew is a Co-founder & Managing Partner. TEN13 is a global deal by deal venture capital firm that has invested $100M across 80 portfolio companies.

They have built up an incredible portfolio of companies including the likes of Linktree, Go1, Clipchamp and me&u (formerly known as Mr. Yum).

In this episode we covered a wide range of topics including
- How his childhood experiences in Zimbabwe shaped his view towards risk and business
- The pros and cons of the deal by deal investing model
- TEN13’s approach to network based investing
- Lessons from investing $100M across 80 companies
- & much more
Timestamps
- 2:05 Stew’s background
- 15:11 How growing up in Zimbabwe shaped his views on innovation and investing
- 19:34 Advice to founders on overcoming challenging times
- 30:07 Staying in the game long enough to find product market fit
- 35:47 Meeting and working with Steve Baxter, the origins of TEN13
- 40:37 The decision to make TEN13 a community based, deal by deal investing structure compared to a traditional venture fund
- 48:23 Benefits and challenges of the deal by deal structure for founders and investors
- 53:41 Investing in Australian vs international startups
- 58:32 How TEN13 supports their portfolio companies
- 1:03:43 How Stew supported the Mr Yum team on their merger with me&u
- 1:08:23 The sectors Stew is currently excited to invest in
Our partners

A big thank you to Holly Cardew, Brendan Hill and An Vo for their help with this interview!

Also a big shout out to our partners for the show:

Scendar

Scendar is the OG startup accounting firm in Australia catering to all stages of your business’ life. If you’re busy running your startup, you don’t have time to do your own books and forecast. Instead, fully outsource your finance function, giving you time and resources back to focus on what you do best in growing your business. Find out more at Scendar.com

Vanta

Vanta helps businesses get — and stay — compliant by automating up to 90% of the work for the most in-demand compliance frameworks. And with over 300 integrations, you can easily monitor and secure the tools your business relies on.
Join over six thousand fast-growing companies that use Vanta to manage risk and prove security in real time.
Startup Playbook Podcast listeners get access to an exclusive offer of USD$1000 off their plans. Head over to vanta.com/playbook to get access to this exclusive discount.

Links mentioned

Stew’s links:
People mentioned:
Companies mentioned:
- Transition Level Investments
- KPMG
- General Electric
- Eight Sleep
- Nike
- Clipchamp
- Carted
- Instant
- SAP
- Tola Capital
- Microsoft
- Spotify
- Go1
- Y Combinator
- Atlassian
- Canva
- River City Labs
- PIPE Networks
- TPG
- Car Next Door / Uber Carshare
- DoseMe
- Playbook Ventures
- Rockfish Data
- Mr Yum / me&u
- Airtree
- Everlab
Feedback/connect/say hello:

[email protected]
@RohitBhargava7 (Twitter)
/rohbhargava (LinkedIn)
@rohit_bhargava (Instagram)
My Youtube Channel

Credits:

Music: Paycheck

Other channels:

Find all of the links for the podcast on Linktree here

The post Ep191 – Stew Glynn (Co-founder & Managing Partner – TEN13 VC) on lessons from investing $100M appeared first on Startup Playbook.
11 July 2024, 6:49 am
57 minutes 37 seconds

Ep190 – Taryn Pieterse (Partner – Rampersand) on Rampersand’s AAA approach to investing
My guest for Ep190 of The Startup Playbook Podcast was Taryn Pieterse.

Taryn is a Partner of Rampersand VC, a dedicated seed fund that has invested over $100M across its funds, counting companies such as Sendle, Skedulo and Expert360 as part of its portfolio.

Prior to joining Rampersand, Taryn worked in Investment Banking at Goldman Sachs across Australia, the UK and Europe and at the family office of Radek Sali, the fomer CEO of Swisse Wellness.

In this episode we covered a range of topics including:
- Taryn’s journey from Investment Banking into Tech & VC
- Rampersand’s AAA approach in to investing in and supporting startups
- How to think about financial modeling as an early stage founder
- and much more!
Timestamps:
- 1:28 Taryn’s background and journey to VC
- 13:34 Building your reputation and personal brand
- 20:44 Early career, working on the Campaign Monitor deal
- 25:17 Things founders commonly overlook when pitching to investors
- 33:39 Giant Warm Intro program for founders and investors to connect
- 37:10 How to foster relationships with investors before you fundraise
- 42:48 When to start charging customers and how to figure out pricing
- 47:54 Rampersand’s AAA process for investing
- 52:38 How to think about financial modeling as an early stage founder
- 55:14 Advice to founders navigating a fundraise in this current challenging environment
Our partners

A big thank you to Paul Napthali and Chaz Heitner for their help with this interview!

Also a big shout out to our partners for the show:

Scendar

Scendar is the OG startup accounting firm in Australia catering to all stages of your business’ life. If you’re busy running your startup, you don’t have time to do your own books and forecast. Instead, fully outsource your finance function, giving you time and resources back to focus on what you do best in growing your business. Find out more at Scendar.com

Vanta

Vanta helps businesses get — and stay — compliant by automating up to 90% of the work for the most in-demand compliance frameworks. And with over 300 integrations, you can easily monitor and secure the tools your business relies on.
Join over six thousand fast-growing companies that use Vanta to manage risk and prove security in real time.
Startup Playbook Podcast listeners get access to an exclusive offer of USD$1000 off their plans. Head over to vanta.com/playbook to get access to this exclusive discount.

Links mentioned

Taryn’s links
People mentioned
Companies mentioned:
- Goldman Sachs
- Campaign Monitor
- Light Warrior Group
- SABMiller
- AB InBev
- Swisse
- Wanderlust
- Made by cow
- Amazon
- Hatch
- The Iconic
- Sapia
- Expert360
- Cake
Feedback/connect/say hello:

[email protected]
@RohitBhargava7 (Twitter)
/rohbhargava (LinkedIn)
@rohit_bhargava (Instagram)
My Youtube Channel

Credits:

Music: Paycheck

Other channels:

Find all of the links for the podcast on Linktree here

The post Ep190 – Taryn Pieterse (Partner – Rampersand) on Rampersand’s AAA approach to investing appeared first on Startup Playbook.
4 July 2024, 12:49 am
52 minutes 22 seconds

Ep189 – Jalal Shaik (Founder & CEO – GAMEFACE AI) on AI, persistence and M&A pitfalls

The Startup Playbook PodcastInsights and lessons from the world's best entrepreneurs and investors Twitter Facebook YouTube Instagram Ep189 – Jalal Shaik (Founder & CEO – GAMEFACE AI) on AI, persistence and M&A pitfalls June 27, 2024 rohitbhargava Podcast My guest for Ep189 of The Startup Playbook Podcast, was Jalal Shaik. Jalal is the Founder & […]

The post Ep189 – Jalal Shaik (Founder & CEO – GAMEFACE AI) on AI, persistence and M&A pitfalls appeared first on Startup Playbook.

27 June 2024, 8:11 am
More Episodes? Get the App

About The Startup Playbook Podcast

Links

Listeners Also Subscribed To

Your feedback is valuable to us. Should you encounter any bugs, glitches, lack of functionality or other problems, please email us on [email protected] or join Moon.FM Telegram Group where you can talk directly to the dev team who are happy to answer any queries.