Startup Theatre Podcast

Janine Grainger is one of the most requested shows we’ve had to date.

Janine is a kiwi-born entrepreneur and a highly respected leader in tech. She's the co-founder and CEO of Easy Crypto, New Zealand's leading cryptocurrency trading platform. Easy Crypto was established in 2017 to offer a secure, simple and easy-to-understand way for everyone to get involved in the cryptocurrency market, and has since helped hundreds of thousands of people get started with crypto.

Janine is on the Executive Council for FinTechNZ and sits on a number of government advisory and working groups, both in NZ and internationally.

Follow Janine - http://linkedin.com/in/janine-grainger

Follow Easy Crypto - https://linkedin.com/company/easy-crypto/

Thank you to our sponsor:

https://www.talent.army/

In this episode, we chat with Ralph Highnmam only days after his company Volpara was acquired for $300m by Lunit.

Ralph is no stranger to success as he founded and built a medical imaging AI company in Oxford, UK that was also acquired.

In this conversation, we go deep into how he has achieved this and why he decided to move to Wellington NZ, and help our ecosystem to grow further.

Follow Ralph - linkedin.com/in/ralph-highnam-a9352314

Follow RPH Ventures -https://www.rphventures.co.nz/

Thank you to our sponsor:

https://www.talent.army/

If you have not heard of a highly successful startup runn in New Zealand then you must be living under a rock.

Tim Copeland was one of the founders of SilverStripe, one of New Zealand's leading digital transformation companies, equally famous for our open-source content management system used today by tens of thousands of companies.

Now Tim has turned his passion to resource management software for the modern workforce and Runn is growing very fast globally. ⁠

Follow Tim - https://www.linkedin.com/in/timcopeland/

Follow runn -https://www.linkedin.com/company/runwithrunn

Thank you to our sponsor:

https://www.talent.army/

In this episode we chat with Leighton Roberts the Co-CEO & Co-Founder of Sharesies.

It’s the second WFLS episode on Sharesies and we explore the growth story of how Sharesies has become the success story it is today.

This podcast explores the highs and lows of the Sharesies story coming about partly from Leighton’s school friends investment club.

Follow Leighton - http://linkedin.com/in/leightonroberts

Follow Sharesies - https://www.linkedin.com/company/sharesies

Thank you to our sponsor:

https://www.talent.army/

Bron Thomson founded Springload in 2002 and grew it to one of Aotearoa's most successful and longest-standing independently-owned digital agencies.

Springload is a bi-cultural lead, purpose lead digital agency and Bron is one of the nicest and most admired founders in Wellington.

Troy and Bron talk about the highs and lows of service businesses and teaches us how to navigate the highs and lows of business.

Follow Bron:

linkedin.com/in/bron-thomson

Follow Springload: https://www.linkedin.com/company/springload-te-pipitanga/

Thank you to our sponsor:

https://www.talent.army/

Asantha Wijeyeratne QSM provides us with our most emotional and uplifting episode to date.

From founding Smart Payroll, the most successful SMB payroll company in NZ above a bakery in Lower Hutt.

To then selling it to Datacom and now re-upping and founding Paysauce to now be the best in the world.

In 2013 he was awarded the Queen's Service Medal for his duty to NZ business and community.

We talked with Asantha to learn how he has decided he could not retire and is now building a product that is bigger than ever.

Follow Asantha - linkedin.com/in/asanthawijeyeratne

Follow Paysauce - ⁠https://www.paysauce.com/

Thank you to our sponsor:

Talent Army - ⁠⁠https://www.talent.army/

Mahesh Muralidhar has done it all.

From helping to take Canva globally as employee number 25, to launching PhaseOne Ventures in New Zealand and even running for Auckland Central in politics.

We talk with Mahesh to learn how he has been helping founders to take on the world from NZ and listen to his sage advice from being so early at Canva and now sharing this with his home in NZ.

Follow Mahesh - linkedin.com/in/maheshmuralidhar

Follow PhaseOne - https://www.phaseone.ventures/

Thank you to our sponsor:

Talent Army - ⁠https://www.talent.army/

Creative HQ recently released their 20 years of Impact report where they provide insights on the 1029 founders they’ve worked with.

We wanted to share the learnings of this highly impactful organisation who has helped create $1.3B in total valuation for the startup industry.

Catherine Jones is the highly talented CEO of Creative HQ and we discuss the opportunity of wealth that the startup ecosystem has for us all. For the founders, investors and more importantly for the NZ Government and us tax payers.

Watch how some 1029 founders have provided Creative HQ with the compounding knowledge over 20 years to help you on your journey today!

Follow Catherine: http://linkedin.com/in/catherine-jones-431213b

Follow Creative HQ: https://www.linkedin.com/company/creative-hq/

Thank you to our sponsor:

Talent Army - https://www.talent.army/

Too many Kiwi startups spend so much time getting things right in the New Zealand market before heading overseas. 

We need to go global from day one!

Hear how Tim Boyle took Whip Around to the US immediately and found product market fit in the United States before they had even picked up a kit customer. 

Our host Troy Hammond talks with Tim who has recently joined HealthNow as their Chief Marketing Officer to help simplify employee benefits For modern companies. We ask him what he has learned from his first startup, what he failed, and what changes he will make this time around. 

Follow Tim - linkedin.com/in/timothyjboyle

Follow HealthNow - https://healthnow.co.nz/

Thank you to our sponsors 

Talent Army - ⁠https://www.talent.army/⁠

Talent Army is NZ's premier startup recruitment company

Oxygen Advisors - https://www.oxygenadvisors.co.nz/
For 8 years, Oxygen Advisors has stood behind
over 100 New Zealand innovators

Healthcare is broken. We all know it, though too many were scared to take on the behemoths who have owned this space forever.

Enter Vital.io the product built by kiwi Te Riu Warren as their founding CTO.

Hear how Te and Founder & CEO Aaron Patzer formally of Mint.com got together and Decided to take on the United States healthcare tech industry from New Zealand.

Our host Troy Hammond talks with Te about his journey. They discuss the challenges of not being able to just build an MVP in healthcare and how they’ve been able to succeed.

Follow Te - https://www.linkedin.com/in/teriu

Follow Vital - https://vital.io/

Thank you to our sponsor - ⁠https://www.talent.army/⁠

Talent Army is NZ's premier startup recruitment company.