Open the Pod Bay Doors
There is a lot of activity in the Australian startup ecosystem. Ideas, talent, and money are all flowing into this sector at an unprecedented rate. This weekly podcast brings in-depth interviews with the best people making the biggest difference. It's brought to you by Ian Gardiner and Phaedon Stough, technology entrepreneurs helping to grow the startup sector in Australia and New Zealand. Ian and Phaedon co-founded Innovation Bay with a clear mission to help technology entrepreneurs succeed.
Episodes
In this episode, Ian sits down with Evan Walden, CEO of Getro—a startup rethinking how VCs support their portfolio companies through meaningful connections and talent networks. From his early days at General Assembly to leading a platform used by top-tier VC firms, Evan shares candid insights on leadership, founder relationships, startup career pathways, and why authentic networking matters ...
In this episode of Open The Pod Bay Doors, Host Ian Gardiner is joined by Chris Morgan, Co-CEO of Oxygen Advisors, a fast-growing outsourced CFO service supporting early-stage tech startups across Australasia. Chris shares the story of how Oxygen grew from a one-man band in New Zealand to a 45-person team, helping more than 100 startups scale and raise capital.
...In this special live edition of Open The Pod Bay Doors, Ian sits down with independent MP Allegra Spender in front of a live audience at Jelix Ventures. With a federal election in Australia just weeks away, Allegra offers candid insights into her journey as a parliamentarian, Australia’s economic crossroads, and the critical reforms needed to ensure a thri...
For this episode of Open the Pod Bay Doors host, Ian Gardiner, is joined by Rob Sibo, Head of AI/ML Customer Engineering ANZ, Google.
Ian and Rob sat down in late 2024 to discuss all things AI. From demo's to production: Scaling AI in 2025. Rob’s focus for the coming year is clear: move beyond quick wins and proofs of concept to real production use cases. He anticipates a leap in <...
Open the Pod Bay Doors is back for 2025!
To kick off the year, host Ian Gardiner sits down with Stuart Dullard, Partner at Ashurst, for a deep dive into the challenges and opportunities facing founders in today’s venture landscape.
Ashurst is a global corporate law firm with over 30 offices worldwide. Stuart leads the High Growth and Venture Capital team in Australia and is the global co-head of the Tech M&A practice. Des...
After a brief hiatus, Open the Pid Bay Door is back with an exciting new episode! Host Ian Gardiner sits down with Bryan Williams, Founder of Hockey Stick Advisory, to dive into the world of strategic partnerships and growth acceleration.
Hockey Stick Advisory provides market leading strategic partnerships advisory, operational and executional guidance with accountability for growth alongside prioritised partners. We empower ambiti...
In today’s episode, we’re thrilled to welcome Taryn Pieterse, Partner at Rampersand VC. Rampersand is a pioneering Australian venture capital firm, known for being one of the first funds in Australia and its early investment in founders with abnormal potential. With a focus on being a founder-first investor, they stay closely aligned with their portfolio companies. Currently, they are deploying their fourth fund of $50 million. Tar...
Join our host Ian Gardiner as he chats to Nick Gainsley, Partner at One Ventures and Aurora Community Member, on episode 183 of Open the Pod Bay Doors.
Nick is Partner at OneVentures and leads the debt fund strategy, which was launched 5 years ago to address gaps in the Australian market. The fund offers non-dilutive alternative funding options through 3-4 year loans with interest and small equity options for growth stage companies...
Earlier this year, Innovation Bay brought more than 250 of Australia’s leading tech founders and investors together at Inspire, held at Sydney’s Australian Chamber Orchestra (ACO) on May 22-23, 2024.
Set under the overarching theme ‘The Future is…’, Inspire was a platform for the exchange of revolutionary thoughts and ideas about what the future holds for the startup ecosystem across the next 5-10 years.
Our co-founder and podcast...
Earlier this year, Innovation Bay brought more than 250 of Australia’s leading tech founders and investors together at Inspire, held at Sydney’s Australian Chamber Orchestra (ACO) on May 22-23, 2024.
Set under the overarching theme ‘The Future is…’, Inspire was a platform for the exchange of revolutionary thoughts and ideas about what the future holds for the startup ecosystem across the next 5-10 years.
As he does, our co-founder...
Join us for part 2 of our “studio on the road” at Sunrise, Blackbird’s annual festival of the startup ecosystem.
Armed with his roving podcast mic, Innovation Bay’s Co-Founder and podcast host, Ian Gardiner, was lucky enough to tap the mind’s of some of Sunrise’s stellar speakers.
During this ep, you’ll hear from:
🌅 Karl Durrance, Stripe - discusses Stripe’s mission to increase the GDP of the internet, it’s broad customer b...
A few weeks back Blackbird held their annual conference Sunrise - a festival and celebration of the the startup ecosystem in Australia; or as Ian describes it “real life LinkedIn”.
Our fearless Co-Founder, host of Open The Pod Bay Doors, and arguably one of the most connected humans in the ecosystem, Ian Gardiner, took the studio on the road.
Ian chatted to 9 incredible speakers who featured on Sunrise’s epic line up, to pick t...
Our guest for episode 176 is Clive Burcham, a highly influential, philanthropic and impact driven individual. Clive is one of the founding partners of Global Citizen, $46bn New York based juggernaut whose mission is to end extreme poverty. He is also the founder of what he terms a “side hustle” called Compadres, where he works with founders and CEOs to help them achieve "a better life, a better business, a better you".
From grow...
Our guest this week is Leah Kaplan, APAC Sustainability Business Lead at Google Cloud. Leah’s passion for sustainability stems from her deep love of nature. Leah held a number of consulting technology roles before her dream job came up at Google Cloud - where she now sits at the nexus of technology and sustainability.
Sustainability has been a core value at Google for 25 years who are looking to minimise their impact on the plan...
Our guest this week is Bernadette Olivier, CEO & Co-Founder of The Volte - a groundbreaking peer-to-peer fashion rental marketplace that's redefining the way we experience fashion globally. From its humble beginnings to its dazzling rise, The Volte seamlessly connects borrowers and lenders, while promoting a sustainable, circular economy.
Bernadette takes us through the evolution of The Volte, from its early days catering to ...
Proud Canberran and past North Carolina coleslaw wrestling competitor, Olympia Yarger is an incredibly resilient, dedicated, inspiring and super hands-on Founder & CEO of Goterra, a waste management technology company that uses autonomous robotic systems to process food waste using insects. The company enables a circular economy by creating agricultural commodities from the waste stream.
Goterra is paving the way for a circu...
Our guest for episode 172 is Tom Amos, CEO and Co-Founder of Sidekicker - a platform that matches thousands of businesses to pre-qualified temporary staff.
During this chat, Tom reflects on Sidekicker's journey from the genesis of the idea as sparked by 'The 4-Hour Workweek', through to the milestone of turning over a million dollars in a month. Tom's journey is not just about business but also about building a culture where car...
Our guest this week is James Bowe, the Co-Founder of OwnHome alongside Tim Harley. With shelter as a fundamental human need, OwnHome aims to transform access to homeownership in Australia, allowing aspirational homeowners to enter the property market without a 20% deposit, helping them get there for just 2% upfront.
With enviable and impressive resumes and backgrounds across consulting and consumer tech with the likes of Bain &a...
Human beings have an innate need to belong to a group or tribe. Large parts of our brain are dedicated to engaging and interacting with others. Belonging triggers the release of chemicals in our brain that promote trust, empathy, and social bonding. Building belonging is essential in a fractured world and requires understanding and addressing our default setting.
During this very special episode recorded during the Innovation Bay p...
Popular Podcasts
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Listen to 'The Bobby Bones Show' by downloading the daily full replay.
Latino USA is the longest-running news and culture radio program in the U.S. centering Latino stories, hosted by Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Maria Hinojosa Every week, the Peabody winning team brings you revealing, in-depth stories about what’s in the hearts and minds of Latinos and their impact on the world. Want to support our independent journalism? Join Futuro+ for exclusive episodes, sneak peaks and behind-the-scenes chisme on Latino USA and all our podcasts. www.futuromediagroup.org/joinplus