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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 3 minutes
    Ep204 – George Hartley (Co-founder & Co-CEO – Bluethumb) on lessons from building a $100M art marketplace

    The Startup Playbook Podcast

    Insights and lessons from the world's best entrepreneurs and investors

    Ep204 – George Hartley (Co-founder & Co-CEO – Bluethumb) on lessons from building a $100M art marketplace

    My guest for Ep204 of The Startup Playbook Podcast was George Hartley.

    George is the Co-founder & Co-CEO of Bluethumb, Australia’s largest art marketplace.

    Since its launch in 2012, Bluethumb has grown into the leading art marketplace platform, connecting over 23,000 artists with buyers and selling more than $100 million worth of artwork.

    In addition to Bluethumb, George was also the Co-founder and CEO of SmartrMail, an email marketing platform designed to help e-commerce businesses delight their customers and boost sales. SmartrMail’s success led to its acquisition by Relay Commerce in 2022, delivering a 5x return to its seed investors.

    In this episode, George shares insights into:

    • Why Bluethumb waited three years to raise their seed round and why they’ve stayed bootstrapped since
    • The importance of continuously taking risks and experimenting to drive growth
    • The unique challenges and strategies for scaling consumer marketplaces versus SaaS companies

    Timestamps:

    • 1:49 George’s background
    • 7:30 His journey from music to tech
    • 11:33 How to know when to stick with something vs pivot
    • 15:45 The early days of Bluethumb
    • 19:52 Staying true to your vision despite external noise
    • 24:18 The fundraising journey for Bluethumb
    • 32:03 The SmarterMail journey
    • 38:02 Identifying and hiring talent
    • 45:34 How he thinks about taking risks and running experiments
    • 52:54 US Expansion

    Our partners:

    A big thank you to Freddy Grant and Ed Hartley 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:

    George’s links:

    People mentioned:

    Companies mentioned:

    Feedback/connect/say hello:

    Credits:

    Music: Paycheck

    Other channels:

    Find all of the links for the podcast on Linktree here

    https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/startupplaybook/Ep204_-_George_Hartley_Bluethumb.mp3

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    23 January 2025, 3:46 am
  • 1 hour 9 minutes
    Ep203 – Ben Pfisterer (Co-founder & CEO – Zeller) on becoming the fastest Australian company to achieve unicorn status

    The Startup Playbook Podcast

    Insights and lessons from the world's best entrepreneurs and investors

    Ep203 – Ben Pfisterer (Co-founder & CEO – Zeller) on becoming the fastest Australian company to achieve unicorn status

    My guest for Ep203 of The Startup Playbook Podcast is the Co-founder & CEO of Zeller, Ben Pfisterer.

    Ben is a returning guest on the show. Our last interview was in August 2020 when Ben had left his role as Country Manager for Square to launch his new company, Zeller, which had just come out of stealth mode to announce their $6.3M funding round.

    Since then Zeller has become the fastest Australian company to a $1B valuation, reaching that milestone in less than 2 years. Zeller has 85,000 customers, 260 staff and to date has raised $180M in funding from leading investors.

    In this interview we covered a range of topics including:

    • The challenges that come with scale
    • How raising capital changes from Seed to Series B stage
    • How hiring and company culture evolves as you scale the company
    • Why Ben doesn’t do any one-on-ones with any of his direct reports
    • And much more!

    Timestamps:

    • 2:06: Ben’s background
    • 7:09: How to find your path in career
    • 8:36: The background of Zeller
    • 11:05: The storytelling aspect of raising capital
    • 15:07: The unexpected challenges that came from taking on the big banks
    • 21:05: How transparent should you be with your company and investors?
    • 23:22: Hiring talents and maintaining culture as you scale
    • 39:19: How he thinks about product at Zeller
    • 47:41: How he’s worked with investors as Zeller grows
    • 56:50: How he structures his time
    • 1:01:21: The horizon theory
    • 1:05:07: The mission and objective with Zeller
    • 1:06:17: How he’s found his own balance with work and life

    Our partners:

    A big thank you to Josh McNichol for his 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:

    Ben’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/Ep203_-_Ben_Pfisterer.mp3

    Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed

    Subscribe: RSS

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    16 January 2025, 4:35 am
  • 57 minutes 40 seconds
    Ep202 – Josh Ball (Co-founder – Farmers Pick) on using tech to save 7 million kg of food waste

    The Startup Playbook Podcast

    Insights and lessons from the world's best entrepreneurs and investors

    Ep202 – Josh Ball (Co-founder – Farmers Pick) on using tech to save 7 million kg of food waste

    My guest for Ep202 of The Startup Playbook Podcast was the Co-founder of Farmers Pick, Josh Ball.

    Farmers Pick helps save food waste by rescuing wonky food that is often discarded by supermarkets and making it available to order by consumers.

    Since launching in 2020, they have saved 7 million kilograms of produce and the company now has 120 employees and generated $16M in revenue last year. 

    In this interview we covered a range of topics including:

    • The importance of having a strong mission and values to help guide strategic business decisions
    • balancing frugality with 100% YoY growth
    • Why they decided to go down the equity crowdfunding path rather than raising from traditional VC funds
    • Scaling storytelling to both their staff and to their customers
    • And much more!

    Timestamps:

    • 1:45 Josh’s background
    • 7:12 The origin story of Farmers Pick
    • 12:29 How he validated the initial idea
    • 18:27 The operational complexities of growing a physical goods business
    • 27:52 Finding the balance between focussing on new customers vs expansion of existing customers
    • 29:50 Using social media to grow the brand
    • 31:05 The decision to crowdfund vs raise venture capital
    • 35:29 Negotiation advice
    • 37:41 Making sure the vision/mission stays consistent across whole company as you grow
    • 42:43 Thinking about expansion
    • 48:04 How his role has evolved as the business has grown
    • 54:00 Staying out of the weeds and making strategic decisions
    • 55:40 What’s next for Farmers Pick

    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:

    Josh’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/Ep202_-_Josh_Ball.mp3

    Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed

    Subscribe: RSS

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    19 December 2024, 1:28 am
  • 1 hour 14 minutes
    Ep201 – Cheryl Mack (Co-founder & CEO – Aussie Angels) on how to get started as an angel investor

    The Startup Playbook Podcast

    Insights and lessons from the world's best entrepreneurs and investors

    Ep201 – Cheryl Mack (Co-founder & CEO – Aussie Angels) on how to get started as an angel investor

    My guest for Ep201 of The Startup Playbook Podcast was Cheryl Mack.

    Cheryl started her journey launching and growing Startcon, which was Australia’s largest startup conference at the time.

    She’s now involved with a number of different projects including The Pillars, 361 Angel Club and the First Cheque Podcast but she is best known as the Co-founder & CEO of Aussie Angels.

    Aussie Angels is a platform that manages the backend infrastructure of investments, allowing angel investors to invest in startups via syndicates. To date, over 1,700 angels have invested $23M through their platform.

    In this interview we covered a range of topics including:

    • The importance of brand, marketing and storytelling
    • How to get started with angel investing
    • What founders should look for when adding angel investors to their cap table
    • What investors really mean when they say they look for “good” founders, markets and investment opportunities
    • & much more!

    Timestamps:

    • 1:43 Cheryl’s background
    • 3:54 Growing up in Canada and moving to Australia
    • 8:25 Building StartCon, Australia’s biggest startup conference in Australia at the time
    • 14:31 Choosing themes/sectors as an Angel Investor
    • 20:49 What Cheryl looks for when personally investing in companies
    • 29:26 Learnings from early mistakes as a new Angel Investor
    • 35:41 Advice for new Angel Investors
    • 38:00 Benefits of joining a syndicate
    • 47:43 How founders should think about taking money from angel investors
    • 54:06 Signals investors should look for when deciding whether to invest
    • 1:00:44 Challenges and benefits of working with your partner, balancing family life
    • 1:10:13 Redistributing wasted toys

    Our partners:

    A big thank you to Tom Worden and Alexandra Lewis 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:

    Cheryl’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/Ep201_-_Cheryl_Mack.mp3

    Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed

    Subscribe: RSS

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    12 December 2024, 11:27 pm
  • 1 hour 12 minutes
    Ep200 – Jason Wyatt (Co-founder & CEO – Marketplacer) on shutting down 8 companies to go all in on Marketplacer

    The Startup Playbook Podcast

    Insights and lessons from the world's best entrepreneurs and investors

    Ep200 – Jason Wyatt (Co-founder & CEO – Marketplacer) on shutting down 8 companies to go all in on Marketplacer

    My guest for Ep200 of The Startup Playbook Podcast was Jason Wyatt, the Co-founder & CEO of Marketplacer.

    Jason’s journey started with a bike marketplace called BikeExchange, the global success of this marketplace led to others wanting to create and launch their own versions of marketplaces. These opportunities led to him launching 8 Joint Ventures in different verticals.

    Despite some success with this model, Jason saw a much bigger opportunity for this solution as a “platform” play that could scale and grow globally. As a result, he ended up wrapping up the JVs to go all in Marketplacer.

    Marketplacer is a marketplace platform that allows enterprise companies to scale and grow their ecommerce operations, counting companies such as Qantas, Tesco and Optus as customers.

    Marketplacer has quickly become a global leader in marketplace technology, powering over 100 marketplaces worldwide and facilitating billions of dollars in transactions. To date, they have raised over $85M from leading investors around the world.

    In this episode we covered a range of topics including:

    • Why Jason decided to shut down eight different companies to go all in on Marketplacer
    • Lessons from launching, growing, and hiring globally
    • The importance of having strategic investors like Salesforce Ventures
    • and much more!

    Timestamps:

    • 2:22 Jason’s background
    • 4:46 Business and sport experiences as a teenager
    • 10:58 Starting BikeExchange
    • 17:23 Where the conviction for BikeExchange came from
    • 23:35 Trying to launch into other verticals with The Exchange Group and how that led to Marketplacer
    • 27:31 Getting their first enterprise customers
    • 30:23 The decision to switch off 30% of revenue to focus on the bigger opportunity
    • 32:38 Having a productive board relationship
    • 37:05 Pulling yourself out of the day to day to see the bigger picture in business
    • 40:40 Finding and recruiting talent
    • 45:27 Expanding Globally
    • 51:54 Finding strategic investors
    • 55:43 Balancing business with family
    • 1:02:50 Getting through tough times, dealing with the loss of his father and brother

    Our partners:

    A big thank you to Bob Schwartz, Richard Hankin and Sam Salter 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:

    Jason’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/Ep200_-_Jason_Wyatt.mp3

    Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed

    Subscribe: RSS

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      • January 1, 2014
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    28 November 2024, 5:45 am
  • 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

    Ep199 – Jaimie Fuller (Former CEO & Chairman – SKINS) on building SKINS and bouncing back from bankruptcy

    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 vanta.com/playbook to get access to this exclusive discount.

    Links mentioned:

    Jaimie’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/Ep199_-_Jaimie_Fuller.mp3

    Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed

    Subscribe: RSS

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    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

    Ep198 – Rohan Workman (Co-founder & CEO – Skalata) on taking risks & balancing speed with discipline

    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 vanta.com/playbook to get access to this exclusive discount.

    Links mentioned:

    Rohan’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/Ep198_-_Rohan_Workman.mp3

    Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed

    Subscribe: RSS

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    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

    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

    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

    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

    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

    Ep195 – Leigh Jasper (Co-founder & Co-CEO – Firmable) on jumping back in the founder seat after a $1.6B exit

    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:

    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

      • 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

        • 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 […]

    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
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