Welcome to another edition of the OTPBD News Special, our fortnightly series which analyses the news that matters for Australian and Kiwi startups.
Meet this week's panel...

• Lauren Capelin, Startmate
• Michael Batko, Startmate
• Alex Scandurra, ex-Stone & Chalk

Topics we discuss: Alex Scandurra stepping down as CEO at Stone & Chalk, Startmate's plan to build an "Innovation City," we get the inside line from our host Ian about Jelix Ventures doing their first $17m close, AfterWork Ventures closing a $10m fund, Canva ranking #3 in the Forbes Cloud 100, the transition of StartupAUS to the Tech Council, Bendigo acquiring Melbourne-based fintech Ferocia for $116m, Latitude acquiring lending fintech Symple for $200m, the 2021 Mid-Year Global CVC Report, & Kevin Rudd joining the advisory board of Crimson Education.

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Ben Pfisterer is the CEO and Co-Founder of Zeller, an alternative to business banking. Prior to founding Zeller, Ben was the country manager for Square in Australia. Zeller was founded in early 2020 and has seen massive growth since then, with several rounds of capital raises and a team of 100. Zeller is just getting started, with sights on becoming a multigenerational business that changes the landscape of the Australian payments industry and expands globally. Ben is an ambitious, fast-moving, and highly capable founder with many insights to share.
Ian sits down with Ben to discuss…

• A high-level view of the payments industry
• How Zeller raised a large amount of money in a short period of time
• Why each employee should be part-owner of the business
• Square’s recent acquisition of Afterpay
• The growth of the Buy Now, Pay Later sector
• How resilience played a role in Ben’s journey
• The mental health pressures that many Founders experience

...and much more!
Quickfire Recommendations

• Book: Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari
• Podcast: The Dropout, How I Built This, The Dollop
• News Source: AFR, The Age, The Australian, Techcrunch
• Tech CEO: Mike Starkey (Athena)
• App: YR (Weather app)
• Productivity Tool: Slack, Figma
• TV Show: Loki, Silicon Valley
• Ted Talk Topic: “Resilience and the difficulties faced when founding a startup”

Zeller is hiring! Check out available opportunities.

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Sam Kroonenburg is the CEO and Founder of A Cloud Guru, a disruptive online learning platform for cloud certification and training. A Cloud Guru has recently been acquired by Pluralsight, a US company, in the largest-ever acquisition of an Australian software company. The story of A Cloud Guru is an amazing example of product-market fit and successfully getting the product into the hands of the customers who need it most.
Sam has an extensive background in software development; he spent years at Microsoft as a Software Design Engineer. Sam also spent time honing his software development skills at Kiandra IT, where he worked as a Software Development Lead and a Software Development Manager.
During their chat, Ian & Sam discuss…

• Sam’s extensive background in software development
• Working in an ever-changing industry
• Engaging customers through education
• The natural progression of adding B2B services
• The process of negotiations that led to the acquisition by Pluralsight
• The unique set of challenges A Cloud Guru faced in raising funds and hiring
• Creating consistency through shared values among employees

...and more!
Quickfire Recommendations

• Book: Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari
• Podcast: Lex Fridman podcast
• News source: Ars Technica, The Age, The Washington Post, WSJ
• Tech CEO: Elon Musk (Tesla)
• App: Calm
• Productivity tool: Superhuman Email
• TV show: The West Wing
• Ted Talk Topic: “The future of education and work” or “the biggest and most exciting ideas in physics”

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Joined by Paul Naphtali (Rampersand), Sarah Nolet (Tenacious Ventures), and Rachel Yang (Giant Leap), Ian sits down for a deep dive into family offices. The panel discusses a variety of topics related to family offices and provides a wealth of information for potential VC investors as well as those looking to learn more about who is behind VC funds.
Ian & the panel discuss…

• The role family offices play in Australia and how it is evolving
• How family offices can help innovation become a core part of the Australian economy
• The differences between a family office and an individual
• The intergenerational nature of family offices
• Deal flow as a determinant of success in first-time funds
• The importance of ESG (environmental, social, governance)
• Trends among family offices

...and more!

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Ashik Ahmed is the Co-Founder, CEO, and CTO of Deputy, a workforce management software platform. Deputy seeks to simplify shift work for hundreds of thousands of customers around the globe. Ashik is a genuine, open, and honest CEO with a multitude of insights on the founder journey.
Ashik is back on Open the Pod Bay Doors to discuss…

• The difficulties Deputy faced during the pandemic and how they overcame them
• How Deputy adapted to place more of a focus on the healthcare industry
• Deputy’s recent rebranding and how it came to be
• The concept of “clocked-in for the customer”
• The startup landscape in Australia and how COVID-19 has impacted it
• How he is largely driven by courage & compassion

...and much more!
Quickfire Recommendations

• Books: Shoe Dog by Phil Knight
• Podcast: The Tim Ferriss Show
• New Source: Facebook video
• App: WiZ App
• Favourite Tech CEO: Jeff Bezos (Amazon)
• Productivity Tool: Screen time on iPhone, turning notifications off
• TV Show: The Playbook
• Ted Talk Topic: “Being selfless and owning that selflessness”

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https://www.deputy.com/careersDeputy is hiring! Check out open roles here:

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Lauren Hall is the Founder and CEO of iVvy, a venue and event management software company. Prior to founding iVvy, Lauren worked across a variety of industries including clothing, pharmaceuticals, FMCG, and technology. Lauren is a tenacious founder with an indomitable spirit; her story is one of talent, hustle, resilience, and success.
Lauren & Ian discuss a wide array of topics including…

• How Taekwondo impacts several areas of Lauren’s business and life
• Growing up in South Africa and how it sparked Lauren’s desire to immigrate to Australia
• The process of healing post tragedy and trauma
• Lauren’s introduction into the events industry and how iVvy came to be
• How Lauren successfully led iVvy through COVID
• The ways in which COVID has impacted the events industry
• Preparation for iVvy’s upcoming IPO
• The existence of hybrid events and the future of the events industry

...and more!
Quickfire Recommendations:

• Book: Scale or Fail by Allison Maslan
• Podcast: The Joe Rogan Experience
• Tech CEO: Mike Cannon-Brookes & Scott Farquhar (Atlassian)
• App: Slack
• Productivity Tool: Monday.com
• TV Show: Bloomberg, Dragons’ Den
• Ted Talk Topic: “The courage, the resilience, and the endurance around delivering success within a person’s world and what it actually takes to be successful.”

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Welcome to another edition of the OTPBD News Special, our fortnightly series which analyses the news that matters for Australian and Kiwi startups.
Meet this week's panel...

• Tessa Court, IntelligenceBank
• Danny Gilligan, Reinventure
• Kevin Jochelson, The Tech Rooport

Topics we discuss:The discussion kicks off with the biggest headline of the fortnight: Square's $39 billion acquisition of AfterPay. The panel dives into the implications of the deal for the BNPL sector, and banking in general. We also discuss the new innovation hub opening up in the new Salesforce Tower in Sydney, Australia's first crypto credit card from CoinJar, the new $270 million VC fund from Airwallex, and new raises by IntelligenceBank and Culture Amp.
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Subscribe to The Tech Rooport for a daily dose of headlines from the ANZ startup ecosystem.

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Adam Boyle is the CEO of Newcastle-based Pegasus, a competency management software and services organisation. Adam joined Pegasus as a General Manager in 2007 and became CEO in 2010, bringing a wealth of knowledge and experience to the role. Pegasus was recently acquired by U.S. company Avetta; the deal was finalised last week after receiving regulatory approval.
During their chat, Ian & Adam discuss many topics including...

• The transition of Pegasus from a labor hire company to a tech company
• Pegasus’s recent acquisition by Avetta and how it came to be
• The benefits and challenges of running a Newcastle-based tech organisation
• Pegasus operating with a growth mindset
• Managing the tension between sales and development
• ...and more!

Quickfire Recommendations

• Book: t by Andy AllenThe Next Elemen
• Podcast: How I Built This
• News Source: The Newcastle Herald, AFR, The Australian
• Favourite Tech CEO: Ryan Smith (Qualtrics)
• Favourite App: HeyYou
• Productivity Tool: Coffee
• Favourite TV Show: Loki, The Footy Show
• Ted Talk Topic: “How my broken leg at 22 became the means for me to change my life”

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Welcome to another edition of the OTPBD News Special, our fortnightly series which analyses the news that matters for Australian and Kiwi startups.
Meet this week's panel...

• Melissa Widner, Lighter Capital
• Peter Dunne, Herbert Smith Freehills & Safety Culture
• Barnaby Marshall, Icehouse Ventures

Topics we discuss:Our panel kicks off with a discussion of the recent call from leading Australian tech investors and founders for a plan to end the lockdown crisis and then transitions to talk about funds, raises, and acquisitions from the Australian and New Zealand startup ecosystem. Some major headlines we cover: new funds from ANZ, Tennis Australia, Our Innovation Fund, and Tractor Ventures and raises and exits by Go1, Rokt, Sweat, Invoice2go, and Employment Hero.
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Horizon, Innovation Bay's angel investor community, is hosting a number of upcoming pitch events. Apply to pitch here.

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James Ferguson is the CEO and co-founder of Immutable, a platform that provides scalable blockchain infrastructure for video games. James is a driven founder with a growth mindset that has led Immutable to build a staff of 100 and raise $20m. James and his brother/co-founder, Robbie Ferguson, have been featured on the ‘Forbes 30 under 30’ list for their impressive work in growing and scaling Immutable.
Ian sits down with James to discuss…

• His journey to founding Immutable
• The process of recruiting a successful team
• Building a team culture centred around a growth mindset
• The gaming industry as a whole
• Immutable operating in a carbon-neutral way
• The history and future of NFTs

...and more!
Quickfire Recommendations

• Book: The Three Body Problem trilogy by Liu Cixin
• Podcast: The Tim Ferriss Show
• News Source: Stratechery by Ben Thompson, Matt Levine newsletter in Bloomberg
• Tech CEO: Patrick Collison (Stripe) & Sam Bankman-Fried (FTX Exchange)
• App: Deliveroo
• Productivity Tool: Polymail (a tool to tackle email)
• TV Show: Drive to Survive
• Ted Talk Topic: “what it means for the world in 10 years if we have programmable immutable digital assets”

hereImmutable is hiring! Check out the open roles .

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