Diaspora NZ with David Booth

Adrian Macneil grew up packing kiwifruit in rural New Zealand, now he’s building the core infrastructure powering the future of robotics. After leading engineering teams at Cruise and Coinbase, Adrian co-founded Foxglove, a developer platform used by robotics companies worldwide, from autonomous tractors to warehouse bots.

In this episode, Adrian shares how Foxglove emerged from an internal Cruise demo, why robotics is finally having its “PC moment,” and what it really takes to build a startup that lasts. We cover:

• How Cruise helped pioneer self-driving cars (and what went wrong post-acquisition)

• Why developer tools are the missing layer holding robotics back

• Lessons from Coinbase, Cruise, and scaling teams from 30 to 1,200

• The case for Kiwi founders to leave New Zealand, at least for a while

• What robotics startups can learn from the rise of SaaS

• The value of building boring robots that just move rice

We also dive into Adrian’s early days hacking e-commerce in Thailand, how government jobs don’t prepare you for startups, and why he believes the robotics industry will 100x in the next decade.

03:30 When an internal tool became a startup idea

07:42 Cruise vs GM: Startup chaos inside a legacy giant

12:47 Foxglove’s customer base: From tractors to warehouses

16:15 Why Foxglove won’t build robots — and what they’re building instead

21:54 The “1980s PC” moment for robotics

27:41 If not Foxglove — what robotics startup would Adrian build?

30:15 From kiwifruit packhouses to automation inspiration

36:35 Why ambitious builders still need to go to Silicon Valley

41:36 The 10-year mindset needed to build a real company

47:50 How the Kiwi diaspora can supercharge the next generation

🧠 Adrian Macneil’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adrianmacneil/

🛠️ Foxglove – Developer tools for robotics: https://foxglove.dev

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Xavier Collins, London-born and New Zealand-raised, is no stranger to building marketplaces that scale. After early days at Uber, Xavier joined Nexus Notes before launching Deliveroo into dozens of UK cities and spearheading Turo’s growth across Europe. Now he’s applying his marketplace magic to the film industry with Wonder, an AI-native creative studio backed by Blackbird, LocalGlobe, and a host of world-class angels.

In today’s episode, Xavier takes us deep into the creative frontier of AI and storytelling, exploring how technology can unlock new levels of creativity, reshape entertainment financing, and give more filmmakers a voice. We cover:

• How AI is redefining storytelling and enabling more scripts to reach production

• Lessons from building successful marketplaces at Uber, Deliveroo, Turo, and Nexus Notes

• The keys to marketplace success: seeding liquidity, focusing on quality supply, and defining user experience

• Why the entertainment industry is overdue for disruption (and how Wonder is leading the charge)

• How filmmakers and creatives can harness AI to amplify their vision

We also dive into Xavier’s unique journey—from narrowly missing a consulting career to hustling his way through startups, and the unforgettable Cannes moment that launched Wonder.

02:49 The Cannes moment: Realising AI will reshape filmmaking

07:18 Using AI to rescue stories that wouldn’t otherwise be told

10:56 The life-changing phone call that sent Xavier into startups

19:37 Early lessons on marketplace liquidity from Deliveroo and Turo

25:52 Price, selection, and service: The three pillars of marketplace success

32:16 Services vs SaaS: Rethinking business models in the AI age

41:05 Financing films 101: Inside Xavier’s other venture, Lumiere Ventures

48:26 Xavier’s advice to young people: Lean into AI now

🙋🏻‍♂️ Xavier Collins’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/xaviercollins/

✨ Wonder – AI-native creative studio: https://www.wonder.inc

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Anton Jackson Smith is a synthetic biologist, Stanford PhD, and founder of b.next—a startup building synthetic cells from scratch to make biology truly programmable. Think of it as rewriting life’s codebase, with applications ranging from cancer treatments and diagnostics to lab-grown foods and smart crops.

In today’s episode, Anton breaks down what synthetic cells actually are (and why they matter), how his open-source platform Nucleus is changing the way biology is engineered, and why the future of medicine, agriculture, and climate tech might be written in DNA.

We also dig into his journey, from coding in Queenstown and law school in Otago, to cutting-edge research in Silicon Valley, and how a random article on programmable E. coli changed everything.

In this conversation, we cover:

• How synthetic cells could power the next generation of therapeutics and diagnostics

• Why biology needs its own “AWS moment” and how open source can unlock it

• The real business model behind synthetic biology (and why it's not just science)

• How Kiwi strengths in agriculture and biotech could shape a global future

• What New Zealand needs to do to retain and return its brightest minds

Anton also shares his vision for a safer, more ethical bio-economy, and how we can build powerful new tools without repeating the mistakes of the past.

01:21 What is a synthetic cell—and why should you care?

06:44 How Anton fell into biology (thanks to an E. coli article in Vietnam)

11:12 Why modifying real cells isn’t enough—and what BNext is doing differently

16:30 The near-term use cases: cancer, diagnostics, and food

22:47 How Nucleus is creating the open-source toolkit for biology

30:14 Three phases of BNext’s business model: Boot → Build → Bazaar

37:10 The big vision: programmable biology that saves lives

44:18 What New Zealand’s biotech future could look like

47:30 Returning talent, building bridges, and bringing brains back home

🙋🏻‍♂️ Anton Jackson Smith on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/antonjacksonsmith

🧬 b.next : https://www.bnext.bio

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Growing up in Wellington, New Zealand, with parents in the police force and government, a career in film and TV wasn’t exactly on the radar for Georgia Rippin. But after studying law and Māori at Vic, she made a bold leap to New York, armed with only a suitcase, a dream, and a few blocks of Whittaker’s chocolate that she used to slip into mailrooms of the biggest studios on the planet. That scrappiness paid off: Georgia wound up producing mid-form shows (those 10- to 20-minute episodic pieces that can eventually scale into full series), teaming up with major networks, and ultimately founding Kold Open, a platform reshaping how creators monetise their IP and get discovered.

In this episode, Georgia digs into the pitfalls of legacy media, why YouTube fails episodic creators, and how AI-driven product placement might unlock new revenue streams for independent filmmakers. She also shares the real story of how she broke into the industry, from dressing like an assistant to cold-knocking on studio doors, and why she believes being just the right amount of naïve can be an entrepreneur’s superpower. Finally, she offers insights for fellow Kiwis eager to chase creative careers on the world’s biggest stages.

00:00 – Intro

02:16 – From legal briefs to scripts: Why she picked New York over LA

04:18 – Mid-form explained: How shows like Workaholics and It’s Always Sunny began

08:01 – Why YouTube’s algorithm hurts episodic creators—and how Kold Open fixes it

10:20 – Cracking the first big studio deal: Lessons in hustle, grit, and chocolate bribes

14:19 – Being ‘productively naïve’: Georgia on forging a path without industry connections

18:07 – AI’s silver lining for indies: New tools that help with coloring, sound, and distribution

25:37 – Rise of FAST channels: Why “free TV” is the next frontier for content creators

31:53 – The founder journey: Building a startup in NYC and hitting sustainable revenue

35:54 – AI-driven ad placement: Adding a digital Pepsi cup post-production (and getting paid)

40:48 – Advice for aspiring Kiwi creators: Collaboration, comedic storytelling, and never giving up

- Kold Open – Georgia’s mid-form platform: https://www.koldopen.com

- Georgia Rippin on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/georgia-rippin/

- Viva La Dirt League (NZ’s comedy YouTubers mentioned): https://www.youtube.com/c/VivaLaDirtLeague

Bowen Pan’s career is a playbook on turning hidden opportunities into global products. Currently the VP of Product at Common Room (a $52M Series B startup backed by Greylock and Index Ventures), Bowen previously shaped major products at Facebook and Stripe. At Facebook, he discovered latent buying and selling behaviour buried in groups, leading to the creation of Facebook Marketplace, now serving over 500 million people worldwide. Later, at Stripe, Bowen built their apps platform, creating an ecosystem empowering small businesses around the globe.

Bowen’s product philosophy hinges on ruthless curiosity, finding underserved markets, and cultivating teams focused on impact, not visibility. From his formative days at Trade Me in New Zealand, through launching ambitious new verticals at Facebook, to redefining payments at Stripe, Bowen shares how Kiwi generalism laid the foundation for his product-led approach.

In today’s episode, we cover:

• How Bowen uncovered and scaled Facebook Marketplace from a simple SQL query

• Why high-impact, low-visibility projects are career superchargers

• How New Zealand shaped Bowen’s holistic view of product building

• The secret to spotting hidden user behaviour that others overlook

• The skills you should build (and ignore) to be an exceptional product leader

• Why truth-seeking is the greatest career skill of all

• How Common Room is reinventing go-to-market by putting people first

We also explore Bowen’s thoughts on investing in passionate founders, the future of product management amidst AI-driven tools, and how Kiwi companies can better leverage global opportunities.

00:32 Bowen’s journey from Trade Me to Facebook, Stripe, and Common Room

02:27 Spotting hidden opportunities: the power of latent user behaviour

09:45 Building Facebook Marketplace from scratch

21:00 How Bowen validated Marketplace’s potential

28:43 Stripe’s mission and building a platform for SMBs

35:43 What defines excellent product management?

47:26 The future of product leadership in the age of AI

55:18 How New Zealand shaped Bowen’s global career

59:25 Using New Zealand as a global testing ground

01:03:55 Investing philosophy: finding founders with secret insights

Bowen Pan’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bowenpan/

Common Room - Reinventing go-to-market software: https://www.commonroom.io

Joel Little is one of the world's top music producers, quietly shaping global hits behind the scenes - from co-writing Lorde’s breakthrough "Royals" to producing massive tracks for artists like Taylor Swift, Imagine Dragons, and Khalid. Despite Grammys, multi-platinum records, and billions of streams, Joel remains remarkably down-to-earth, bringing a uniquely Kiwi sensibility to Hollywood and beyond.

In this special live episode, Joel flips roles with early Trade Me engineer and investor Rowan Simpson, uncovering the striking similarities between creating hit songs and building startups. They dive into the art of discovering and shaping raw talent, how Kiwi humility can be a secret weapon (and sometimes a weakness), and the critical role that producers, mentors, and early supporters play in global success stories.

In today’s episode, we cover:

• Joel’s wild ride from recording Royals in two days to topping global charts, winning Grammys, and producing some of the decade’s biggest songs

• What music producers actually do, and why creative collaboration often feels like therapy

• Why Joel sold his song catalogue (and how that’s like a startup “exit”)

• The parallels between startups and music: from finding product-market fit, to pivoting when something’s not working, to knowing how to scale authentically

• How Kiwi humility can be both a superpower and a stumbling block on the world stage

• The backstory of Joel’s non-profit Big Fan, building studios and stages for the next generation of Kiwi artists

We also hear about Joel’s own personal growth, from musician in Goodnight Nurse to world-renowned producer, and Rowan’s perspective from the early days of Trade Me and Xero, reflecting on how creativity and business blend in unexpected ways.

00:00 Intro

01:19 Meet Joel Little: Grammy-winning Kiwi producer behind Royals, Taylor Swift, Khalid, and more

03:07 What does a producer actually do? Joel breaks down his creative process

10:22 The making of Royals: how a song recorded in two days became a global hit

15:58 Life after Royals: from struggling musician to Grammy-winning producer

19:08 Working with global superstars: Imagine Dragons, Khalid, Taylor Swift

22:04 How Joel avoided the classic rockstar pitfalls (and stayed authentically Kiwi)

23:12 Why Kiwi humility is both Joel’s secret weapon and greatest challenge

28:00 Early days at Trade Me - Rowan shares his journey from scrappy startup to Kiwi tech icon

30:16 What Joel looks for in creative collaborators—and how startups can learn from his approach

42:12 Selling his catalogue: Joel’s version of a startup “exit”

46:30 Big Fan: Joel’s nonprofit building studios and stages for the next generation of artists

Joel Little’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/iamjoellittle

Rowan Simpson's Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rowansimpson/

Big Fan – Joel’s nonprofit for emerging Kiwi artists: https://bigfan.co.nz

Royals by Lorde (Grammy-winning single produced by Joel Little): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nlcIKh6sBtc

Young Dumb & Broke by Khalid (Joel’s biggest streaming hit): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IPfJnp1guPc

Kathryn Zealand founded Skip to help people stay active and independent through aging and injury, inspired by her grandmother’s painful fall and the inadequate technology available at the time. Skip's flagship product, the MoGo, is an innovative, lightweight robotic exoskeleton that acts like an e-bike for walking, offering just the right amount of assistance, whether hiking up mountains or standing from a chair.

Kathryn brings her unique perspective as a physicist-turned-founder and former project lead at Google X, Alphabet’s moonshot factory, where she learned the art of rapid prototyping and building breakthrough technologies. In this conversation, Kathryn shares Skip’s journey from idea to hardware startup, the nuances of building consumer robotics, navigating FDA approval, and tackling the manufacturing challenge of moving from prototype to scale.

In today’s episode, we cover:

• How a personal mission became a company, and why mobility impacts mental health as much as physical well-being

• What Skip’s MoGo exoskeleton is and how it empowers people to reclaim active lives

• Behind the scenes at Google X: spinning out projects, rapid prototyping, and taking big bets

• Navigating the complex hardware funding landscape: equity, grants, pre-orders, and venture debt

• The art and science of robotic mobility: why understanding user intent matters

• Why Skip chose outdoor brands like Arc'teryx as their first partners, and what’s next in consumer robotics

• The skills Kat had to learn (and unlearn) to become a successful CEO and founder

We also talk about Kat’s unconventional career path, from astrophysics to humanitarian law to deep-tech entrepreneurship, and her advice to aspiring founders looking to change the world with impactful technology.

00:41 Meet Kat Zealand: Founder, physicist, and former Googler making robotic exoskeletons

02:07 How a grandmother’s fall became Skip’s origin story

03:32 Introducing MoGo: “An e-bike for walking”

05:11 Why mobility technology impacts mental health and quality of life

07:50 Partnering with Arc'teryx: From mountain trails to everyday use

08:44 Preparing to scale: From 50 handcrafted prototypes to 10,000 units

10:23 Navigating FDA approval and the medical vs consumer hardware divide

12:53 The robotics software challenge: Predicting user intent accurately

15:58 Behind the scenes at Google X: How Alphabet’s moonshot factory works

22:34 Spinning out from Alphabet: Lessons from Skip’s journey

24:00 Funding hardware startups: Venture capital, non-dilutive grants, and customer pre-orders

34:37 Leadership lessons Kat had to unlearn as a Kiwi CEO in Silicon Valley

Kathryn Zealand’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kathryn-zealand/

Skip website and MoGo rentals & pre-orders: https://www.skipwithjoy.com

Google X (Alphabet’s moonshot factory): https://x.company

Founders, Inc – SF-based startup community: https://f.inc

When Jamie Beaton co-founded Crimson Education, his goal was simple: help ambitious students get into the world’s best universities. Fast forward ten years, Crimson has 800+ staff, global offices, and a suite of education platforms spanning admissions coaching, an international online high school, and AI-powered study tools.

Jamie’s personal journey is just as remarkable—Harvard undergrad, four master's degrees, a JD from Yale, a PhD from Oxford, a Rhodes Scholar. His expertise? Elite admissions, scaling global businesses, and the changing economics of education.

In today’s episode, we cover:

• Why the traditional university model is broken and which institutions will survive

• How AI is making elite education accessible (and why most schools aren’t ready)

• Why New Zealand’s smartest students need to get out—and when to return

• The right way to build a world-class company, from hiring to leadership

• How top universities actually admit students (hint: it’s not just grades)

We also hear about Jamie’s biggest mentors, his leadership lessons, and the future of Crimson Education after its recent Series D.

01:11 The wildest education history: Harvard, Yale, Oxford & beyond

03:40 Crimson’s 10-year journey from a bold pitch to a global business

06:48 How the real college admissions process works (and what most Kiwis get wrong)

09:52 Buying vs. building: How Jamie makes big bets on acquisitions

14:55 The myth of online education and why self-motivation changes everything

18:08 How Crimson finds the next generation of ambitious Kiwis

25:17 The AI revolution: Private tutoring for everyone—at 1% of the cost

35:53 Is there a reckoning coming for the long tail of higher education?

44:02 Why Kiwis need to get out—and when to do it

56:06 The biggest leadership lessons Jamie had to unlearn

Jamie Beaton’s Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamiebeaton/

Crimson Education – Global admissions and education platform: https://www.crimsoneducation.org/

Crimson Global Academy – Online international high school: https://www.crimsonglobalacademy.school/

Revision Village – IB study resource platform: https://www.revisionvillage.com/

Need-Blind Financial Aid at Harvard – How top universities fund students: https://college.harvard.edu/financial-aid

Listen/subscribe on 

* Apple podcasts

* Spotify 

He’s been Murray Hewitt, Psycho Sam, Norman from Yes Man, Guy Mann, Hypno-Potamus, a stand-up comedian, a sit-down band manager, a children’s book author, a soldier… and now Binkle-bonk the Tree Goblin in upcoming “Badjelly the Witch” 🤩

In this week’s Diaspora pod, legendary Kiwi comedian Rhys Darby joins us - live from L.A - to talk through his rise from Canterbury to Edinburgh to Hollywood in a career that’s seen him star in multiple comedy specials, voice over countless animated shows and co-star with everyone from Jim Carrey to Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson. 

Rhys hasn’t made the journey alone: also joining us is his incredible wife & long-time manager, Rosie Carnahan Darby, who talks about her career in entertainment management, production, writing comedy, how comedians can get ahead, how entertainers can be devastated by changes in AI and tech… and shares the creative projects of their two sons in this very funny family. 

In today’s episode, we discuss

* Rosie and Rhys’s entwined journeys over 25 years in the global comedy industry, dating back to Rhys's "Dad's Army"-inspired entry into the NZ Army, and Rosie's rise as one of the most sought after comedy club managers in NZ.

* The business of comedy: how they think about new opportunities, structure and finance their ventures... and what the future holds.

* Tall poppy syndrome in NZ, and imposter syndrome in the U.S... how NZ's (over?) orientation towards equality and "fairness" actually holds back our highest achievers, and can drive them offshore.

* Raising a family in L.A. vs. NZ, finding balance and getting the best of both cultures.

* How some projects Rosie and Rhys write together don’t succeed, though the pair focus on creating future opportunities for other projects. 

* How Rhys found the next phase of his career after Flight of the Conchords finished.

* Why and how Rhys is now using Substack to build a direct connection with fans

* Advice on how to break out as a comedian and what managers like Rosie are looking for — comparing finding emerging creative talent with seeing talent in startups, from the POV of a talent manager/agent vs. venture capitalist.

* Whether AI might be able to help actors and voice actors, and whether AI is taking human jobs in a future in which screen entertainment might be created by robots

Make sure you head on over to Rhys’s substack and subscribe!

—

Also - quick shout-out from me: Blackbird’s Sunrise festival is coming up soon — November 26th in Wellington, NZ.

As we like to say, this is our love letter to startups and the people building them … a one-day festival that brings together ~500 tech founders, operators, policy people and ecosystem supporters to be inspired, challenged and entertained. 

Tickets are half gone and won’t be around for long… IF you’ve been looking for an excuse to get back to Wellington, this is it! Head over to thesunrise.live for more info + tickets!

Listen/Subscribe on:

* Apple Podcasts

* Spotify

Hint Health co-founder and CEO Zak Holdsworth retains a strong Kiwi accent - after all, he grew up on a farm near Gisborne. It was no ordinary farm, however, as Zak tells us.

Considering his mother was a diplomat and his father an inventor and pioneer of pultrusion, Zak developed a taste for innovation in the wider world, and eventually headed off to Stanford Graduate School of Business to achieve his MBA. Zak worked briefly as a VC prior to joining the founding team ofWellnessFX in 2011, a California company which diagnosed health conditions through blood analysis.

He then went on to co-found Hint Health in 2014 – a platform which has raised $64 in investment and today handles over a billion dollars worth of payments per year.

Based in San Francisco, Hint is a vertical SaaS platform powering Direct Primary Care practitioners allowing them to to focus on patients in an industry which has until recently been far too dependent on the insurance system to cover patient costs and which - as Zak tells us - wastes more money annually than NASA’s 60-year budget. Disrupting the $4 trillion US healthcare industry is a topic also shared by our previous guest Dr Zachary Tan.

Zak joins us to share his ideas about finding and investing in disruptive startups, the future of cryptocurrency, and how New Zealand might be a great place to run the next Xero from.

In today's episode, we discuss:

* Hint Health’s mission to step away from insurance, give everyone a transparent rate of costs and connect patients with unlimited access to primary care, telemedicine, urgent care and other services - the way Zak remembers it when he was a child in NZ

* Getting into Stanford business school, realising which paths weren’t ideal, before taking on US healthtech with Hint Health

* How Zak’s passion for startups included forays into venture capitalism as well as patenting a phone charger

* The staggering percentage of each dollar Zak feels is wasted when handled through health insurance.

* Reasons for lack of change in US healthcare

* Becoming respected in the healthtech community with the Hint Summit annual conference

* Whether the startup community's expectations of how quickly a startup should triple or 100x its revenue are fair expectations or not.

* DeFi Summer, and lessons learned while investing in crypto currency

* Faith in Bitcoin

* Zak's balance between being plugged into Silicon Valley but having peace and tranquility to focus on his family.

* …and whether New Zealand’s tech startup ecosystem is ready to host another Xero.

Referenced:

* Hint Health

https://www.hint.com/

* Stanford Graduate School of Business

https://www.gsb.stanford.edu/

* The Hint Summit

https://summit.hint.com/

Where to find Zak Holdsworth:

* LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/zakholdsworth/

X/Twitter https://x.com/zakholdsworth?lang=en