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Interview

Inspiring Others with Her ‘Why’ – Lina Xu

  • July 26, 2023July 26, 2023
  • by Claire

If you’re inspired by people who have a worthy and clear purpose or mission then you’re going to love our episode this week. 

Our guest is Lina Xu, co-founder of a Medtech startup called Telecare which offers under-served people living in regional and rural areas virtual access to specialists and other healthcare professionals.

When Chinese born and raised Lina moved to Australia seven years ago and became a mum shortly after, she felt very isolated, out of touch with her new country and alone. 

Whilst still breastfeeding her second son four years ago, Lina realised she needed to make a change and do something more in her new country and so this quietly spoken and determined woman, along with her husband, co-founded Telecare. 

Two doctors joined them as co-founders and all were inspired by the potential of Telecare to fill a vital healthcare gap by enabling regionally based patients to have affordable access to city based specialists and allied healthcare professionals. 

As luck would have it, Telecare was founded just 6 months before Covid happened, so their foresight and careful stakeholder management has really paid off. So much so that Lina was awarded a Cartier Women’s Initiative Fellowship this year as one of Oceania’s leading female entrepreneurs. 

In this episode you’ll hear how:

  • A family tragedy helped Lina develop the resilience and adaptability that’s so valuable as a female founder
  • How having a clear and impact-focused Mission has made it much easier for Telecare, and Lina personally, to garner supporters 
  • How she and her co-founders are making headway with innovative technology in what is a very conservative and risk averse healthcare sector; and  
  • Why relationships are so important to her. 

What struck us about this inspiring conversation with Lina is how clear she is about her ‘Why’ and how that’s morphed into becoming something much bigger and even more meaningful with her business. 

We think you’ll love this episode with the humble and mission-driven Lina Xu. 

 

Useful Links

Telecare Website 

Lina Xu on LinkedIn

Cartier Women’s Initiative 

Interview

From Side Hustle to Multi Million Dollar Business –…

  • September 19, 2022September 20, 2022
  • by Claire

Our guest on the show today is a successful entrepreneur who has leveraged the power of social media to grow her one-time side hustle into a multi million dollar business. 

Chi Mai, was born and raised in Hanoi in Vietnam. She came to Australia to study and it was in Melbourne some years later that her career took an unexpected turn. 

Instead of the corporate career she’d always imagined, she ended up with no experience and barely in her 20’s, starting a jewelry business.

In just two short years since its founding in 2018, Chi’s business, called S-kin Studio Jewelry, was taking off.

In this episode you’ll learn: 

  • The marketing strategy that changed everything and created an explosion in the growth of Chi’s business 
  • How and when Chi decided to let go of her day job and devote herself full time to S-kin Studio
  • What she’s learnt as an introvert so she can successfully lead and delegate to her team of 9 staff; 
  • How having a baby has changed her work habits; and 
  • What success looks like for Chi.

Without further ado, enjoy this fascinating episode with the entrepreneurial and passionate Chi Mai.

P.S. You’ll only hear Greta this week as poor Claire lost her voice with a flu virus. 

 

Useful Links

Chi on LinkedIn

S-kin studio website

S-kin studio on Instagram

S-kin studio on Facebook

S-kin studio on Pinterest

S-kin studio on Tiktok

Future Proof Me Mini Episode

Future Proof Me – Crowdfunding Success

  • November 23, 2021November 24, 2021
  • by Claire

This week’s mini episode is all about crowdfunding and in particular equity crowdfunding. 

Equity crowdfunding is where retail investors can buy a share in a young company which is seeking funding without having to list on the stock exchange or take on formal VC capital. 

Capital raising can be such a time consuming occupation for a Founder yet if you have the right offer for equity crowdfunding, then this can be a great way to proceed. 

One of our guests has proven to be a master at successfully completing two extremely impressive equity crowdfunding campaigns. We’re talking about Brianne West, the New Zealander serial entrepreneur and founder of global sustainable cosmetics company, Ethique. 

Brianne has a bold and pioneering mission, to rid the world of single-use plastics. She started Ethique to replace all those plastic-bottled products we use in our bathrooms, from shampoos to moisturisers, with solid bars of concentrated product. 

Brianne crowdfunded twice to grow her business: once in 2015 when she raised NZ$200,000 in 10 days; and again in 2017 when she raised an extraordinary $500,000 in just over an hour!

Ethique continues to grow, has taken on other types of investment and is now found in more than 20 countries. It’s become a B Corp as well. 

In this mini episode you’ll hear Brianne explaining why she felt crowdfunding was best for her and then shares her views on what it takes to be successful if you’re wondering if crowdfunding is for you. 

Enjoy this mini episode. 

 

 

Useful Links

Brianne’s full interview

Ethique Website

Brianne on Instagram

Equitise – Crowdfunding platform

Interview

Sonika Manandhar – & Her Fintech Changing Lives in…

  • August 31, 2021August 31, 2021
  • by Claire

Our latest episode takes you on a journey all the way to Kathmandu in Nepal.

We speak with Sonika Manandhar, a Nepalese entrepreneur and former senior software developer for Microsoft, who’s now a fintech founder committed to improving the lives of women small business owners in Nepal. 

Sonika is co-founder and CTO of Aeloi Technologies, an innovative social enterprise and fintech that uses digital tokens to facilitate affordable loans to Nepali small businesses that are working in a sustainable and climate-friendly fashion. Think things such as electric mini buses and sustainable agriculture. 

She also happens to be one of Nepal’s highest flyers, almost literally, as she was selected to participate in International Space training at the Korean AeroSpace Research Institute. 

Not only that. Sonika was named a National Geographic Explorer for 2020, a UN Young Champion of the Earth in 2019, and she attended Singularity University where exponential thinking is cultivated. 

In this episode you’ll hear:

  • How Sonika is going about creating change when her customers have low literacy levels
  • Her advice for introverts
  • How her use of digital tokens is helping to build trust between financiers and female-run businesses; and 
  • Her inspiring advice for women who want to start their own business.

So come on this journey with us and enjoy this episode with the purposeful and pioneering Sonika Manandhar.

 

Useful Links

Sonika on LinkedIn

Sonika on Instagram

Aeloi Technologies Website

Singularity University

 

Future Proof Me Mini Episode

Future Proof Me: 3 Founder Essentials

  • August 24, 2021August 24, 2021
  • by Claire

We’ve been thinking about the impact the global pandemic has had on peoples’ careers and one thing that’s been happening is many folk have been wondering whether it’s time for a career change and, in particular, whether they should start their own business. 

So for today’s mini episode, we’ve chosen to share some brilliant advice for founders and potential founders from the successful British entrepreneur, Debbie Wosskow OBE.

Debbie is well known for building and selling her online home exchange business, Love Home Swap for £53 million. 

Not only that, Debbie is now co-founder of another business called AllBright, an education and networking organisation designed to provide skills and connections to working women particularly in the UK but also internationally. We talked all about AllBright when we first spoke with Debbie on the show some years ago. 

Having sold her own start-up and also being a start-up investor, Debbie knows first hand what it takes to build a business from scratch and, as you’ll hear, there are 3 key things she believes founders need. 

 

 

Useful Links

Debbie’s full interview episode – Debbie Wosskow, OBE – What It Takes To Be A Successful Female Entrepreneur

AllBright Website 

The AllBright Academy 

TheAllBright on Twitter 

Debbie on Linkedin 

Debbie on Twitter 

Book on Grit – by Angela Duckworth 

 

 

Future Proof Me Mini Episode

Future Proof Me – Just Ask!

  • August 10, 2021August 10, 2021
  • by Claire

Greetings everyone! 

This week’s mini episode is all about challenging our beliefs about who we can and can’t ask for help. 

A couple of years ago we spoke with serial entrepreneur, and now author, Rebekah Campbell about her career journey and her childhood growing up in New Zealand. 

Rebekah happened to mention that she met with the Prime Minister of New Zealand when she was just 12 years of age as part of a school project she was doing. She went on to explain how this seminal meeting, that she had arranged herself, became an incredibly valuable lesson for her as she started her entrepreneurial career. 

We love this story and its lesson that reminds us all to get better at asking people (when we have a good question for them) even if they seem way more senior or more powerful than us. 

Enjoy this entertaining and valuable story from Rebekah.

Useful Links

Rebekah’s website

Rebekah’s new book 138 Dates

Rebekah on LinkedIn

Interview

Allison Kent-Smith – Not your Typical Entrepreneur

  • June 22, 2021June 29, 2021
  • by Claire

Our episode this week features an American woman who abandoned the security and prestige of working with some of the world’s most sought after ad agencies to start her own businesses.

Her name is Allison Kent Smith and one thing that really stands out about her is that she has consciously refused to pretend to be someone she’s not when trying to find VC investors for her startup.   

That startup, giide.com, is a new platform for creating rich audio learning experiences featuring a host of multimedia options such as links, articles and graphics.

In our conversation you’ll hear how

  • Allison has experienced a few seminal moments when she just knew she had to leap out of her comfort zone work-wise
  • What a Silicon Valley VC told her when she met with him for funding that nearly made her give up
  • Why she asks herself how can she do less when she wakes up 
  • And how she’s found her tribe of investors and supporters by staying true to herself  

So sit back and enjoy this episode with the not so typical entrepreneur, Allison Kent Smith. 

 

Useful Links

Giide Website

Sign up and make and listen to giides! 

iOS app in the app store

Allison on LinkedIn

Interview

Connie Mckeage – Resilience and Perspective

  • May 25, 2021May 25, 2021
  • by Claire

This week, we’re really thrilled to be able to share our conversation with experienced founder, CEO and all round impressive operator, Connie Mckeage.

Connie recently sold OneVue, the listed fintech business she ran in Sydney for 14 years. It was a dramatic journey at times, particularly when OneVue was left being owed $31 million dollars by another company which had collapsed. 

Connie is Canadian and has spent most of her career in financial services. With OneVue she and her 200 employees were looking to disrupt the funds management market by creating a new digital model that aimed to cut out the middleman and reduce fees for end investors. 

Connie has an impressive list of awards to her name including being awarded the Centenary Medal for contribution to Australian business leadership; as well as twice being named CEO of the Year at the Women in Finance Awards, including last year at the same time she was fighting to keep her business afloat when it was owed $31 million. 

In this episode you’ll hear: 

  • How Connie started her career in financial services by accident 
  • How she dealt with her husband’s vehement opposition to her business for years on end
  • What she learnt from the hardest 18 months of her career; and   
  • Her advice if you’re looking to disrupt an industry. 

So get comfy and listen now because Connie has such wise and thoughtful insights on so many topics …

Useful Link

Connie on LinkedIn

Future Proof Me Mini Episode

Future Proof Me – Founders’ Reality

  • May 4, 2021June 1, 2021
  • by Claire

This week we look at the realities of being a startup founder. Becoming an entrepreneur and a founder is increasingly popular, even with school students where a recent survey showed that 40% of them now want to be entrepreneurs when they complete their studies. 

But it’s not all fame, fortune and delightful autonomy if you intend to build a business that will scale and survive. And we figured, who better to hear what being a founder is really like than one of Australia’s most successful female entrepreneurs, Cyan Ta’eed, the Co-Founder of the hugely successful digital marketplace, Envato (valued at over a billion dollars). 

Cyan is also the founder of the ethical chocolate company Hey Tiger and go milkshake, an app for Instagram influencers. 

In this episode she shares with us just how hard she and her co-founders worked to get Envato off the ground. It didn’t mean that they couldn’t choose where they’d work those long hours as you will hear in this fascinating insight into this Founders reality. 

Enjoy this mini episode. 

 

Useful Links

Cyan Ta’eed’s full interview

Cyan’s personal Instagram

Hey Tiger Instagram

Hey Tiger website – order your chocolate here (delivery to Australia, NZ & US for now)

Milkshake Instagram

Envato Instagram

Envato website

Interview

Lesley Eccles – When Founding Another Global Startup was…

  • March 2, 2021March 2, 2021
  • by Claire

Have you ever felt totally blindsided or cheated? 

That’s exactly what happened to our guest this week who spent more than ten years building a startup into a huge success, only to find the company sold by the other investors without receiving a cent. Just two years later the business was valued at over 11 billion dollars!

There’s no doubt that serial Scottish entrepreneur Lesley Eccles has ridden the startup rollercoaster on a grand scale. What we find so incredible and inspiring is how she’s bounced back from the devastating loss of her and her co-founders’ first business hit, FanDuel, to focus on starting a business all over again.

Lesley says she felt she had no alternative but to start from scratch again – but this time she’s brought her knowledge of running and scaling a technology business to build the number one  relationship and self care app, Relish.

As Lesley shares her fascinating journey you’ll learn how:

  • Lesley, her husband and their 3 other co-founders weren’t sure if their start up would be successful until they were 7 years in
  • How their team, headquartered in Scotland, managed to become successful in the US market of fantasy sports building a team of 500 employees with 6million users
  • What lessons Lesley learnt as a result of the gut-wrenching sale of FanDuel
  • And why Relish is all about making the world a happier place.

Lesley’s story and lessons really are remarkable so don’t miss this episode with the resilient and gutsy Lesley Eccles. 

 

Useful Links

Relish in the Apple App Store

Relish website

Lesley Eccles on LinkedIn

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