Marc Orchard, Director of Startups at BDO, is often referred to as the “Godfather of startups” in the Brisbane community, bringing his finance background to help entrepreneurs create the exceptional companies of tomorrow, from start up, to scale up, investment, exit and financial literacy thrown in between. Marc talks to me about some of the uncertainties, predictions and surprises he experienced personally and professionally during the pandemic in 2020.

As an executive in the health tech space, Chris shares the hard times, the good times and how doubling down on a freemium offering in the midst of a pandemic helped not only struggling GP clinics but bought it a tribe of passionate and vocal customers advocating the virtues of everything Cubiko.

Face to face business such as beauty clinics had a tough time in 2019. Forced shut-downs left them with no choice but to stand-down much loved staff. Undeterred Francesca Webster is brimming with enthusiasm about what the future has in store.

Dr Jane Thomason has vision and passion to improve the lives and prosperity of people in underdeveloped countries through the power of blockchain technology.  Forget about bitcoin, the real power of crypto is far more wide reaching.  I speak to Jane about how COVID-19 brought forward years of progress in this space but also brought other parts of her life to a sudden (and not so fun) halt. Jane Thomason is a visionary leader, social innovator and an advocate for digital transformation to reduce inequality and vulnerability with a focus on emerging economies.

Jane shares some extraordinary experiences and observations, including insights on the impact of the pandemic on acceleration of technology happening around the world.

Lloyd Heinrich, CEO of The Wine Collective knows a thing or two about online market places but his vision to turn two bricks and mortar businesses into an online international market place driven by smart tech was going to be no mean feat.   As we all turned to online buying in 2020 COVID-19 catapulted many online businesses such as The Wine Collective into a new realm of sustainable growth and blue sky opportunity. Lloyd’s personal life took quite an unexpected twist as well.

Envest is a private, entrepreneurial, equity investment business that focuses on investing and supporting insurance and financial services businesses. In this episode of Executive Stories’ M&A and Deal Maker series, I speak with Partner and MD Greg Mullins, who shares some sage advice on the long game, knowing when to bow out of a deal and only focusing on the things you can control.

Ask any tax advisor about their role in M&A, and they’ll tell you they are fundamental to the process. Pilot Partners’ Murray Howlett is no exception—in this episode of Executive Stories, we find out why. It may not be the sexy side of M&A and deal making, but tax is something you can’t afford to overlook or get wrong.

From Sydney to New York and back to his home shore of Queensland, 10 years at Credit Suisse afforded Evan Kilpatrick some awesome buy and sell side experiences, working with big name clients on some incredibly complex deals. Tune in to this episode of Executive Stories to hear about the pure passion and adrenaline that comes from running some hugely complex deals with big name clients.

In episode three of the M&A Dealmaker Series, Brad chats to Deloitte Transaction Services Partner Rob McConnel. With a career like Rob’s, there’s hardly a stone unturned, but it’s the people side and why he enjoys working with Queensland businesses that will make you want to tune into this one.

In this episode of the M&A and Deal Makers Series we talk with Warwick Face, Corporate Finance Partner at Pitcher Partners about:

• Being a sell side M&A specialist
• Alignment of fees with client interests
• Importance for sellers to deliver on their ‘story’
• The numbers don’t lie.