Business Is Boring

Te Kahukura Boynton is on a mission to give more Māori financial independence. Through her Māori Millionaire media and financial literacy platform she has empowered thousands of rangatahi to take control of their finances. Hear how she shares her wealth journey, investment resources, podcasts and education, to leading a conversation about financial literacy, independence and sovereignty, especially for Māori. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As an artist, designer, and co-founder at Indigenous Design and Innovation Aotearoa (IDIA), Dr. Johnson Witehira works with organisations like Auckland Airport and Waka Kotahi to bring Māori culture to the urban environments we live, work, and travel through. He joins Simon Pound to talk about his journey, the work so far, and using business as a tool for cultural change. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When Anvil Bañez created Dennison Technologies, he had a dream of helping his father to walk again. Now, the team at Dennison has developed a new actuator material capable of exerting a force 10,000 times its weight. In a conversation with Simon Pound, Anvil discusses how this lightweight, incredibly strong technology could serve as the foundation for future exoskeletons, potentially realising his lifelong dream. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In a 2022 report Stuff tested the major local eco-cleaners, Cleanery's just-add-water sachets of cleaning concentrate were named as the clear favourite. Now sold in over 1,500 stores across the Tasman, Cleanery is beginning to fully roll out into New Zealand supermarkets. Co-founder Ellie Brade joins Simon Pound to discuss the long journey to this point, and the bright road ahead for Cleanery. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Why does playing golf continue to require carrying around a heavy bag full of clubs? In this episode, Simon Pound speaks to Simon Moore, the founder and CEO of Q Golf, a company that aims to revolutionize the way we play golf. They discuss Simon's new invention - a single adjustable club that replaces an entire bag, making golfing more accessible and less cumbersome. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Green Lip Mussels are native, super sustainable and have scientifically proven benefits for joint health, so why are they still not as widely used as they could be? Simon Pound talks to Kōrure founder Ron Park who's out to change this through selling Green Lip Mussels supplements for humans and pets, pioneering science for better processing and being on a mission to be NZ’s mussel champion. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Can you actually use cauliflower as a milk substitute? EatKinda is doing just that. Their cauliflower based ice-cream is vegan, better on the planet and uses produce that would otherwise go to waste. Mrinali (Milli) Kumar joins Simon Pound to talk about the journey so far, and how she managed to get her product into Hell Pizza stores nationwide. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How can we make sure the people making our tech represent the whole of our society? Pacific people make up just under 3% of the tech industry. In response, international brand strategist Julia Arnott-Neenee co-founded Fibre Fale; a tech platform for Pacific people working to increase digital equity and representation. She talks with Simon about the long journey to starting Fibre Fale and her hopes for its future. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Vinyl has become one of the greatest comeback stories of all time. However, until a few years ago, there was no way to press vinyl for local artists. Ben Wallace and Joel Woods decided to change that, founding Holiday Records. Since then, they have become the staple vinyl presser across Australasia, pressing the albums of some of the world's most well-known artists. They join Simon Pound to discuss how they grew the company and what's next for their business. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Entrepreneurship is not just for the founder anymore. Clem Devine is an 'intrepreneur' building a brand practice inside one of NZ’s top architectural firms, Jasmax. He talks with Simon Pound about becoming one of the country's most well known designers, and how he turns the sensory disability he was born with into a superpower in his work. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tim Brown is an ex-professional footballer turned co-founder of internationally recognised, Wellington-based footwear company Allbirds. They have just announced a world-first zero carbon shoe that Tim hopes can change the industry for good. He chats with Simon Pound about Allbirds' kaupapa, growing a business overseas, and the reality of sustainable business. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Flip Grater decided to give up her career in music to pursue her other passion of vegan delicatessens. Now, her meat-free versions of chorizo, pastrami, and turkey have launched her business and landed her products in foodstuffs supermarkets. She talks to Simon Pound about starting Grater Goods, its rapid success, and expanding it using a grassroots investment website. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Why is it still so hard to find a good plant-based cheese substitute? After asking herself this exact question Daisy Lab co-founder Irina Miller has come up with her own solution - precision fermentation. She sits down with Simon Pound to discuss her process, their pioneering research and how she makes cheese without a cow in sight. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

After going through the court system herself, Jenny Rudd noticed how difficult it is for low income people to gather the resources necessary to compile accurate records of their communications. To fix this, she founded Dispute Buddy, which aims to narrow the power divide that permeates the legal system. She sits down with Simon Pound to discuss her hatred for inequity, the need for more investment in women's businesses, and her role as an investor and mentor. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Most venture capitalism funds have very high buy-in minimums that can be above $50,000. Matū is a local fund that's allowing retail investors to join in the VC fun from just $1,000. Dr Andrew Chen has been a driving force behind Matū and he joins Simon to talk about how accessible investing in deep tech can help the environment and the New Zealand economy. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Did you know that more than 16 million tubes of toothpaste enter New Zealand landfills every year? Solid Oral Care are out to change the impact we make when we brush. Founder Laura Nixon talks with Simon about their kaupapa, expanding from a garage operation, and how they're using PledgeMe to fund it. Support Solid Oral Care's PledgeMe capaign here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Why is it becoming harder to achieve debt-free status? Money Sweetspot is a new company that uses compassion and incentives to help people pay off their debts. Co-founder Sasha Lockley talks to Simon about using gamification to increase financial literacy, breaking the cycle of poverty, and how she intends to leave the finance industry better than how she found it. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

New Zealand is well behind the rest of the world when it comes to transferring money between banks. Shane Marsh and James McEniery discovered this when they were living in Singapore and started Aotearoa’s first real time payment mobile wallet. They aim to bring banking in New Zealand into the 21st century, and they chat with Simon about how they plan to do it. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When Pete Gillespie co-founded Garage Project in 2011 over 50% of craft beer in New Zealand was consumed in Wellington. Now, his passion for beer has become a national phenomenon. Pete talks us through how they brewed their success, constant experimentation, and changing the industry. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How do you go from being a local comedian to becoming CEO of the government agency charged with growing the country's global brand? Hear from David Downs, business leader, cancer survivor and CEO of The NZ Story Group. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Did you know that nearly half of all produce grown in New Zealand is thrown away? When Wendy Zhou discovered the scale of food waste she created a network of growers around the country to donate their produce to her. With this produce, Wendy has gone on to create cauliflower ice-cream, gourmet tomato paste, and her charity Perfectly Imperfect. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

SUPERPOD is back! And for 2022, we're bigger than ever! Hosted by Gone By Lunchtime's Toby Manhire and featuring Jane Yee and Alex Casey from The Real Pod, Duncan Greive from The Fold, Leonie Hayden from Nē?, Simon Pound from Business Is Boring, The Spinoff editor Madeleine Chapman and The Spinoff Podcast Network's Te Aihe Butler, SUPERPOD 2022 is our multiverse of madness. From the Black Ferns' historic win to Mike King's villainous turn on Celebrity Treasure Island, we cover the incredible highs and lows of what has been a terribly special year. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What does it mean to truly shop sustainably? Crushes is a second hand store that is challenging the norms of consumption-hungry shopping. Stocking entirely locally made, vintage and sustainable items, Co-founder Rose Hope aims to give the consumer back the right to know exactly where their products came from. She talks with Simon about her journey, Karangahape Rd, and the success of their free clothes swap. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How can we make an actual difference in the lives of people in need? At 20 years old, Orange Sky co-founders Lucas Patchett and Nic Marchesi found themselves asking a similar question. Now, their fleet of vans that offer free laundry and shower services, as well as meaningful conversations, has helped thousands of people across Australia and New Zealand. Lucas joins Simon to discuss the impact their work has had, practical solutions and the importance of connection. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Paint surrounds us for most of the day, but are you aware of the harmful petro-chemicals that are used to create it? Natural Paint Co are out to change this, offering healthier alternatives to use and live with. Co-founders Grace Glass and James Mount share their journey of taking on the status quo, and where to from here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How do New Zealanders make their businesses more sustainable? As the head of innovation at the Ellen MacArthur foundation, Ken Webster literally wrote the book on building a circular economy. He shares his insights from an overseas perspective in this special live episode. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Meet the couple bringing you Tony's Chocolate, Seedlip, McClures Pickles and now, Good Sh*t - the soda that is intriguingly all about your gut health. Becs Caughey and Nick Brown share their expertise in business, music and distributing great brands. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mānuka honey is an internationally known product, but the oil sourced from the plant's leaves can have major skin-care benefits. Stuart Cairns, founder of Mānuka Bioscience, talks to Simon about his mission - Making Mānuka oil New Zealand's next great, natural industry. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Eleven years ago, Frances Shoemack began creating contemporary smelling perfumes with all natural products. Since then, her company has gone global and challenged an industry that overwhelmingly relies on synthetic ingredients. How did she achieve this, and where to from here? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Arguably starting the first ever social network, Boyd Multerer is an Xbox live legend who was right in the crux of its inauguration. Implementing an important lesson learnt in his time at Microsoft, Multerer now leads kiwi-born company Kry10 where they're creating a new, flexible operating system for the industrial internet of things. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Having bought his first share at age 12, Sam Stubbs has always had an eye on the economic and financial world. Now co-founder and managing director of Simplicity (the only non-profit KiwiSaver fund manager) he joins the pod to speak on leading the mission of conscious investment and providing financial literacy for New Zealanders. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Over the past 20 years, Sustainable Business Network have taken sustainable business practice from the fringes to front and centre. Founder/CEO Rachel Brown talks the journey, and how all businesses can work with them to improve their impact. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Already having stamped an everlasting mark on the culture, design and creative conference company Semi Permanent have planted their roots and are here to stay. Now heading into its 20th year, director/curator Simon Velvin joins his namesake to shares a candid look on what it takes to stay at the front of things. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Since it was founded in 1992, Matta has helped divert over 60 million tonnes of PVC and rubber waste from landfill, recycling it into safety matting used in playgrounds and workplaces around the world. New managing director Brent Harris joins Business is Boring this week to talk about his unusual career path into the business and how Matta continues to lead the way in new methods and approaches to recycling. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Indian cuisine is more than just butter chicken made at the mall and Perzen Patel is on a mission to bring that to light within the diaspora. With exploration, education and (most importantly) family at the forefront, she started Dolly Mumma: A food business aiming to teach the wonders of Indian food with ease. Known to many listeners for her enlightening stories shared on The Spinoff, Patel's experimental endeavours are routed in tradition and winning over Aotearoa into the future. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Before we gear up full speed ahead towards the flying cars of the future, self driving vehicles are here now. Promising to be a big part of the future too, Nuro is the US-based/NZ-led self driving delivery company envisioning a world where everyday life is bettered through robotics. Co-founder Dave Ferguson joins the pod to chat how he went from industry beginnings working the Mars Rover, to division leadership at Google, to now with Nuro. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You may think Seaweed is just the slimy stuff rudely interrupting your summer swims but when you dive a bit deeper, it is an inventive solution to many agricultural and horticultural issues. An industry we're only just starting to explore, one company at the front of that exploration is AgriSea: a multi-generational Paeroa-based seaweed company with 25 years of innovation in the area. Now under the leadership of CEO Clare Bradley and Chief Innovation Officer Tane Bradley, they join Simon to chat leading the fix to dirty rivers, farting and burping cows, traditional fertiliser, and more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Most contracts made at 16 between best friends don't generally come to fruition, but that isn't the case for Baina co-founders Bailey Meredith and Anna Fahey. Seeing a gap in the market for an ethically made, organic and stylish towel, their mission was set: to build a company reflecting their values, whilst also offering a more thoughtful approach to production. To talk their growth beyond Aotearoa and the journey so far, Bailey and Anna join the pod. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Back in 2014 Kurt Meyer and Paul Organ saw a gap in the market for an app to help boarding schools track student absences. Now Orah has a bigger mission, helping provide a solution for student wellbeing and engagement. The pair joined Business is Boring to talk distributed work, helping schools run better and their journey so far. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Living his life overcoming exterior barriers as a blind individual, Jonathan Mosen understands the importance of hope and belief despite one's disabilities. An advocate for the blind (and disabled community as a whole), making a difference in the space has always been his biggest driver. Now helming the CEO title at Workbridge, Jonathan joins Simon to talk inclusion/diversity in the workplace and how we can improve disabled representation in business. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Imagine being able to manage a herd of cows from your smartphone. That's exactly what the Halter system, founded by ex-Rocket Lab engineer Craig Piggott, allows farmers to do. Halter's solar-powered patented Cowgorithm technology allows farmers to move, manage and monitor their herds remotely and it's been such a success that Halter already boasts a 130-strong team. Craig has been named a Forbes 30 Under 30 leader and he joins Simon Pound to talk about Halter's fascinating agri-tech, the importance of building great teams and the most important thing to consider when raising capital. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In a bid to increase financial literacy and confidence among young people, Kendall Flutey (Ngāi Tahu, Ngāti Kahungunu) co-founded Banqer – a financial education platform used by over 300,000 students in Australasia. On our final episode of Going Global, Kendall joins Simon Pound and Brianne West to talk about how Banqer stepped beyond Aotearoa to help improve the prospects of rangatahi all over the world. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Apprenticeships are common in the trades, but how about one that helps people in companies learn how business works, all whilst developing their soft and hard skills? Rob Woolner, MD at Autex, saw this gap and has created the Business Apprenticeship. Hear about the journey, the need, and how it works as he joins Simon on the pod. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

After conquering the far North's cafe scene in ownership, Debbie and Nigel Stowe started to notice a vital gap in local plant-based options. From that gap, Vince was born. Becoming Northland’s finest multi award winning alternative mince makers, hear their business, health, family and product journey to creating unique veg-packed meat alternatives people (including Simon) are loving! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As the co-founder and COO of Kami, Alliv Samson is helping build the future of online education. She joins Brianne and Simon to talk about creating one of the fastest-growing EdTech companies in the world, and taking it global. Going Global is brought to you in partnership with New Zealand Trade and Enterprise. NZTE wants to help more Kiwi businesses reach their global potential. Visit www.getthere.nz to find out more Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

While many high end brands pride themselves on sole exclusivity, luxury leather goods company Yu Mei is more interested in establishing a welcoming community. Yu Mei founder, Jessie Wong, joins Simon Pound to talk about building a premium brand that values function equally with form to ensure its products are always on trend (and therefore a more accessible fashion investment). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Female pleasure has always been a taboo topic, but Girls Get Off are on a mission to change that. Co-founder Viv Conway joins Simon to chat GGO's place within the wellness world, building a feedback loop between business and culture and what's coming next. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Lucy Blakiston is an unlikely exporter – she’s not sending physical products overseas, but her brand is undeniably international. As the co-founder and CEO of Shit You Should Care About (SYSCA), which has amassed 3.6 million social media followers, Lucy brings new meaning to the term global news, digesting the biggest stories in the world and giving them context relevant to their young audience. She joins Simon and Brianne to talk how it all came to be. Going Global is brought to you in partnership with New Zealand Trade and Enterprise. NZTE wants to help more Kiwi businesses reach their global potential. Visit www.getthere.nz to find out more Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Ironclad Pan Company's mission is simple: to keep things sustainable like they used to be. And to put their money where their mouth is, the New Zealand and Australian-based cookware company offers a 100-year guarantee on their products. Co-founder Joe Carter joins the pod to explain how you do that, caring for their pans to guarantee important longevity, and what’s next for the business. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

An ingenious space satellite solar tech started by three 21-year-old Auckland Uni students, Astrix Astronautics has launched from lessons in the classroom to solar panels in space. Co-founder and CEO Fia Jones joined Business is Boring to talk physics, the science of business, making ideas into reality for the hardest conditions on and off the planet, and what’s next. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices