Deputy and Global Workforce Management with Ashik Ahmed

Posted on by James Henderson

Ashik Ahmed’s career is devoted to building technologies that create better, more efficient organisations. In 2008, along with co-founder Steve Shelley, he started Deputy, a global workforce management platform for employee scheduling, timesheets and communication.

Today, Deputy services more than 250,000 workplaces across 120 countries and Ashik’s mission is to improve the lives of shift workers and small business owners worldwide.

For more episodes, follow the program on your favourite podcast app.

Delivery Through Downturn with Shane Delia and Jason Wyatt

Posted on by James Henderson

Today’s guests are partnered on the food delivery marketplace, Providoor. Shane Delia – director of Delia Group Restaurants – and Jason Wyatt, the Co-Founder and Executive Chairman of Marketplacer – a global technology company.

Shane – author, TV host and Brand Ambassador (Mercedes-Benz and HostPlus) – joined Jason – Chartered Accountant (KPMG, Morgan Stanley and General Motors) and Founder of BikeExchange – to establish a premium food service in the height of covid.

For more episodes, follow the program on your favourite podcast app.

Data-Driven Customer Engagement and SevenRooms with Joel Montaniel

Posted on by James Henderson

Joel Montaniel is the CEO and Co-Founder of SevenRooms, a fully-integrated, data-driven guest experience platform for hospitality operators. SevenRooms is venture-backed by Amazon, Comcast Ventures and Providence Strategic Growth and has been named on Inc.‘s Best Workplaces and Forbes’ Best Startup Employers lists. The company’s clients range from independent restaurants to global enterprises including MGM Resorts, Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group, Topgolf and Live Nation. 

Joel’s experience is wide and varied from investment banking – dealing with Commercial Mortgage-Backed Securities (CMBS) – to global AI-powered messaging technology. 

For more episodes, follow the program on your favourite podcast app.

Wine Delivery, Tech and Good Pair Days with Banjo Harris Plane

Posted on by James Henderson

Two-time Australian Sommelier of the Year, and Founder of national industry conference, GROW Assembly, Banjo Harris Plane joins the program as the Founder of Good Pair Days – a wine delivery business, with a subscription box that tailors to customer tastes.

Vogue called it ‘the Netflix of wine’.

Prior to Good Pair Days, Banjo founded a European fine-wine importing business and for five years, was the General Manager of the internationally renowned restaurant, Attica.

For more episodes, follow the program on your favourite podcast app.

Exiting Impos and Developing Doshii with Sean O’Meara

Posted on by James Henderson

Twenty minutes before recording, Sean O’Meara’s first company, Impos, was acquired by Jonas Software –  but his attention remained resolute.

In true tech founder form, Sean started his journey in a garage but his recent company, Doshii, as been backed by Reinventure (Westpac) and Coca-Cola Amatil and aims to change how Point of Sale (POS) systems connect venues to the apps around them.

Sean is a big believer in conceptual design, testing and failing to learn as quickly as possible to solve problems.

For more episodes, follow the show on your favourite podcast app.

Meat Meeting with Alex Shirazi

Posted on by James Henderson

Alex Shirazi is a co-founder of the Cultured Meat Symposium – a Silicon Valley-based conference on lab-grown or cultured meat – he’s the Founder of Phlint, a retail analytics firm and he’s also a really nice guy.  

We first met online, in the lead-up to Global Table – where he chaired a panel on the Future of Meat. Coincidentally, one of those panelists is also coming up on an episode ahead… 

After the conversation you’re about to hear at the WeWork office in Melbourne’s CBD, Alex and I continued our discussion into the early hours of the morning – prompted by the n’th round at the The Black Pearl, to wrap up. 

If you like this episode, Alex has his own podcast called Cultured Meat and Future Food, about cellular agriculture technology.

I hope you enjoy the conversation as much as we did.

For more episodes, follow the program wherever you get your podcasts.

Twice As Hungry with Mark Calabro and Shannon Hautot

Posted on by James Henderson
  • 16 years on from starting the successful Australian point of sale system, OrderMate, Mark Calabro and Shannon Hautot have invested over $2 million in seed funding for another tech startup, HungryHungry.
  • OrderMate put Mark and Shannon in a strong position to understand the retail market providing point of sale software to over two and a half thousand Australian venues and has processed more than three billion dollars worth of food orders – that’s a lot of data. 
  • The subsequent knowledge that that’s brought, now has Mark and Shannon driving this new online ordering platform and QR ‘order at the table’ tech, with HungryHungry.
  • This is an interesting wave in mid-market retail at the moment, that previous guests Stevan Premutico and Kim Teo are also acting on. 
  • If you’re in hospitality retail – tech or ops – this is one to pay close attention to.  

For more episodes, follow the program wherever you get your podcasts.

Digital Farmers’ Market with Alex Stefan

Posted on by James Henderson

Alex Stefan has been backed by Celebrity Chef, Matt Moran, for his new social marketplace for small food producers, Oomami.

Aiming to bring the farmers’ market experience online and connect consumers directly with producers, Alex is applying a life-long career in hospitality, with over half a decade as an educator of Entrepreneurship at Swinburne University.

For more episodes, follow the program wherever you get your podcasts.

Mr Yum with Kim Teo

Posted on by James Henderson

Kim Teo joins us today to share her experience in the startup world and how she’s applied it to hospitality, with her digital menu application, Mr Yum.

During capital raising, Mr Yum attracted the attention of angel investors, bar and restaurant owners and Australian Venue Co to quickly and confidently cover the $700,000 they originally aimed for.

Kim is also a co-founder of Pitchblak, a startup incubator based in Melbourne and is active in the Australian startup community.

For more episodes, follow the program wherever you get your podcasts.