We end 2018 with some reflection, picking up on an episode we recorded almost a year ago to the day. It was episode 100, when Rooster Radio co-host James Begley unpacked what was the hardest year of his life, in raw detail. A number of our listeners were a bit stunned - it seems not many people understand the financial and personal impact that running a startup can have. After posting the episode, there were more than a few phone calls from concerned mates asking if Begs was holding up ok. (But ...
Dec 16, 2018•34 min
Tobi Pearce and his fiancee Kayla Itsines are behind the remarkable Adelaide based fitness empire Sweat, which is hitting around $100 million in annual revenue, and saw the couple's wealth valued at $486 million on the AFR Young Rich List in 2018. The company was initially built on the back of Kayla's unbelievable social media presence (which by the way has passed 10 million followers on Instagram and 23 million on Facebook) and their product, the Bikini Body Guide - giving users a work out plan...
Nov 27, 2018•46 min
Dr Michelle Perugini is an academic, entrepreneur, and an internationally renowned expert in health, medical research, advanced analytics, and cognitive AI. Michelle spent the first 13 years of her career in health and medical research, specialising in predictive genetics and translational medicine. Michelle then co-founded global technology company ISD Analytics with her husband Don, who is also an accomplished scientist, selling the business to Ernst and Young (EY) in 2015. With little time to...
Nov 16, 2018•50 min
"I opened my cab door that morning, and watched the first plane crash into the building above our heads." Antony Ceravolo was living the corporate life as an investment banker in New York's World Trade Center when he saw the 9/11 attacks happen in front of his eyes. It was the series of moments that would change the world, including his own. In the fallout, many investment bankers lost their jobs and Antony was forced to turn to his own business ideas. Now, Antony is known for building global te...
Nov 11, 2018•48 min
It has been quite some time since our last episode (sorry), we took a break from Rooster HQ to focus on our REAL businesses. But now we're back with our SouthStart series, which we're excited about. We're interviewing some of the stars of the Southstart Conference, which celebrates the collision of people, ideas and technology in Adelaide on November 21 to 23. And first cab off the rank is the man behind SouthStart in 2018, Craig Swann. SouthStart fell into the hands of Craig and his business pa...
Nov 06, 2018•1 hr 2 min
Dr Phillp Alvelda is one of America's Leading tech engineers and minds. A pioneer in Artificial Intelligence, Dr Alvelda has been developing anthropomorphic AI and machine learning tools, digital twins, and synthetic personalities. He is the founding CEO of Cortical.AI, and is formerly of NASA and the Defense Advanced Research Agency (a department of the US Defence Force). He also founded Mobi TV, the first company to bring live TV to mobile devices. Dr Alvelda is at the forefront of a world whe...
Jun 11, 2018•28 min
Most governments and leaders are grappling with the challenge of transitioning to a culture of innovation where both people and business prosper. Finland has done this, and more. Rooster Radio jumped onto Skype and called in to Helsinki for an interview with Andre Noel Chaker, who has spent more than 25 years living in Finland studying it's business culture. His books, The Finnish Miracle and The Finnish Miracle - One Hundred Years of Success, are best sellers, revealing Nordic insights into ach...
May 28, 2018•26 min
Back in episode 86 we talked to Paul van der Linden, who quit his job at IBM to start his own technology company, outThought. At the time, Paul talked about the hopes, fears and challenges of leaving the corporate life to pursue his dreams (If you missed the chat, click here http://roosterradio.biz/blog/2017/7/24/ep-86-the-jump-case-study-part-1-paul-van-der-lindens-hopes-and-fears-after-quitting-ibm) Almost a year later, we sit down with Paul again for Part 2 to talk about how his journey has p...
May 15, 2018•41 min
Brad Krauskopf is an entrepreneur and workplace innovator who is a leading voice in coworking and flexible work. He is the founder of Hub Australia, the country's largest co-working community with spaces in Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney. But first, you may be wondering what co-working actually is. Typically, it's where independent workers come together at shared workspaces, renting desks or offices under flexible membership arrangements, creating communities of entrepreneurs, freelancers and st...
Apr 20, 2018•43 min
This episode was first published on Off-Field, the podcast that focuses on the world of sport outside of the arena - find out more at off-field.co Jason 'Dizzy' Gillespie was one of the world's great fast bowlers during the mid 2000s when Australia was dominating international cricket. He took 259 test match wickets, and who could forget the double century he made against Bangladesh in 2006. If not for injuries, his record could've been even better. He's now a highly respected cricket coach, and...
Apr 03, 2018•51 min
In this episode we have an in depth discussion about the future of work with Marina Pullin. Marina works with some of Australia's largest organisations, helping them take the step towards commercial innovation. She also invented a platform called Jungal, a private platform to match great people with great opportunities. Marina is at the intersection of our transforming world of work. We talk about the move towards the gig economy - the rapidly growing workforce of independent workers who take up...
Mar 22, 2018•55 min
In this episode we're live at the Adelaide Podcast Festival with Ben Fitzsimons. Ben was one of our first guests on Rooster Radio - a true entrepreneur, property developer and former CEO of the Adelaide 36ers in the NBL. Now, he's CEO of WeCann, pioneering the medical cannabis industry in Australia. In a 15-minute rapid fire session at the Podcast Festival, we talked about the huge health and commercial opportunities that medicinal cannabis can bring, the barriers that are currently preventing t...
Mar 04, 2018•16 min
When Rob Dean and Dan Mendelson launched Burger Theory from a converted caravan in Adelaide back in 2011, it kicked off a food truck movement and a burger revolution. Foodies would eagerly await the next Burger Theory tweet to find out the truck's next location. The line ups were notoriously huge. Rob and Dan then moved into bricks and mortar, with three well known restaurants and an enviable brand. An expansion into China didn't work out but business still seemed to be good. Then we heard that ...
Jan 26, 2018•56 min
Andrew Zweck is one of the most influential men in international live music. Andrew has worked with Pink Floyd, the Rolling Stones, Queen, The Who, David Bowie, Elton John, The Police, Bob Dylan, Depeche Mode, Madonna, Justin Bieber .. to name just a few of the huge names he has acted for as a promoter or agent. He worked alongside Bob Geldof on the famous Live Aid concert and partied with the likes of Freddie Mercury. It's a remarkable career for a man born in Blyth, in country South Australia....
Jan 17, 2018•1 hr 13 min
In 2014, Kevin Graham was doing pretty well for himself in South Australia, working in online marketing and doing a few property investments. Then he decided to drop everything and move to Chiang Mai, Thailand .. even though he'd never even travelled to Asia before! We sat down with Kevin for a really interesting case study on how to go from a fairly typical suburban life to 'digital nomad' in a matter of months. Even though the term is a little cliche, 'digital nomads' are basically people who ...
Jan 09, 2018•1 hr 6 min
We deliver this episode to you a week later than planned. Looking back on 2017, and 100 episodes of this podcast, the conversation got personal and cathartic, and we did question whether we'd better off keeping some content out of the public forum. But in the end, true to Rooster Radio values, we've published the chat in full, because we believe the stories shared will bring you value. James Begley, co-host of Rooster Radio and CEO of PickStar, was forced to "surrender to the unknown" in 2017. T...
Dec 31, 2017•1 hr 3 min
We're back after an early Christmas break, thanks for sticking with us! As you know we talk to interesting people doing amazing things, and this couldn't be more true for our guest, Dr Elaine Stead. Elaine is Head of Venture Capital at Blue Sky Investments, which includes overseeing South Australia's $50 million VC fund. More broadly Blue Sky manages $3 billion worth of investments across infrastructure, real estate and private equity. A lot of people think of VCs as khaki wearing white men with...
Dec 14, 2017•1 hr 8 min
No Australian has had greater success at the Paralympics than Matt Cowdrey. He won 23 medals throughout his Paralympic career including 13 gold, remarkably from just three Games. He also has a long list of world records to his name. Born with a congenital amputation at his lower left arm, Matt never saw any limitations. He played multiple sports and took up swimming in his backyard pool. That evolved into daily 4am training sessions, before making his Paralympic debut in 2004 as the youngest com...
Nov 14, 2017•43 min
Andrew Buttery shares the story of his remarkable business adventure in China, which proved incredibly lucrative, before it hit a Great Wall of a different kind. It started with Gemtree Wines, the Buttery family business of which Andrew was managing director. Business was good, but upon meeting a Chinese investor, things took a dramatic turn. It took three years for Andrew to facilitate the relationship and then a partnership in China, but it paid off for the company, big time. Gemtree was growi...
Oct 31, 2017•58 min
This is yet another episode where we ask dumb questions of smart people, in fact maybe that should be the tagline of our show. We tackle the topic of quantum computing with Michael Brett, CEO of Q xBranch, a company based in Adelaide and the US, developing tools and applications powered by quantum computing. Michael says "Quantum computing is the biggest change in computing since computing" and it's set to change the world. It's being embraced by aerospace, defence and finance industries, partic...
Oct 22, 2017•46 min
Greg Mackie OAM is one of South Australia's most influential people in arts and culture, and current Chief Executive of History SA. For Greg, the journey started with his family bookstore which built a cult following in the Adelaide CBD. His in-store events took a life of their own, and were the genesis of what would become the Adelaide Festival of Ideas, founded by Greg. He then applied for the state's most senior Arts gig, CEO of Arts SA, and to his surprise got the job. It was a steep learnin...
Oct 12, 2017•1 hr 11 min
The great thing about having an office nestled amongst Adelaide's small bars is we get lots of visitors, many who are looking for someone to have a drink with. And on this day, we decided to put the microphone in front of a couple of them. Early Rooster Radio listeners will remember Josh Baker from RRE2, our first interview which is still one of our most popular, despite our cringeworthy production (please don't go back and listen to it!). And he was overdue for a follow up interview. Josh is Ad...
Oct 04, 2017•50 min
Dr Troye Wallett and Dr Sebastian Rees are changing with way GPs do business through their company, GenWise. As GPs themselves, Troye and Sebastian built GenWise to solve their own problems around practice management in the aged care sector. Now the platform is being embraced by doctors and patients Australia wide. GenWise was recently crowned Australian Business of the Year at the prestigious Telstra Business Awards. GenWise is a virtual practice with no bricks and mortar clinic, boosting effic...
Sep 26, 2017•1 hr 3 min
How much do you know about the Leader of the South Australian Liberal Party, Steven Marshall? Not much, a lot of South Australians would confess. Some others would say "he's negative". Steven says his image is influenced by a daily media cycle where the most he can often hope for is a few seconds to criticise the State Government. This, he says, is the frustrating "curse of the Opposition." During our interview at Parliament House, Steven is anything but negative. He's relaxed, engaging and jovi...
Sep 17, 2017•43 min
In this episode, Rooster Radio enjoyed a professional recording setting for the first time, taking over a studio at ABC Adelaide for an interview with presenter Ali Clarke. Unfortunately, Ali didn't hit the red button and put us live to air. But we did record an interesting and insightful chat with one of South Australia's top media personalities. Now occupying the premium breakfast slot on ABC Radio, Ali in fact first made a name for herself on commercial radio. It's a career that began at Mix ...
Sep 10, 2017•51 min
Michael Johnson is 'The Mojo Master', a man who has built a thriving, global business by helping people shift their mindsets to grow personally and financially. Michael had a tough childhood. He struggled at school - academically and socially. He was told he'd never make it and was ultimately expelled for fighting, a response to years of bullying. He battled depression to the point of considering suicide. But there were a couple of key transition points that helped Michael completely shift his m...
Sep 03, 2017•1 hr 8 min
Ben Baker is one of the world's most sought-after portrait photographers. He has photographed the last four US Presidents and their families, as well as countless celebrities including Oprah, Kanye West, Bono, Jay-Z, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Leonardo Dicaprio and so many more. Growing up in Adelaide, Ben couldn't have dreamed of being in such a position. However, having spent a lot of time following his Dad through the Outback, he knew that an office job wasn't for him. Eventually he lobbed into N...
Aug 17, 2017•1 hr 11 min
Rooster Radio had the rare opportunity to enter the Supreme Court of South Australia and spend an hour with the Honourable Chris Kourakis, Chief Justice of South Australia. The Chief Justice breaks down many misconceptions about Judges, the Justice System and the Law. He's personable, approachable, progressive and tech savvy. He communicates even the most complex legal issues in plain english. It all forms part of his mission to make justice inclusive and accessible to all. Such values were inst...
Aug 10, 2017•1 hr 1 min
At a recent family dinner, Rooster Radio's Andrew finally got to have a decent chat with the English lad who will soon marry his cousin, Emma .. Joshua Burchell. After hearing Josh's business story, he had to get him onto Rooster Radio. At 17, Josh started his first business from his bedroom with little more than 1000 pounds and the name of a Chinese manufacturer, which was given to him by a friend. This was in the early 2000s before the online shopping boom. After successfully importing and sel...
Aug 01, 2017•1 hr 5 min
The one topic that resonates with Rooster Radio listeners the most is 'the jump'. The challenge of leaving the safety net of a comfortable full time job to pursue your dreams in business. Over a few beers, Rooster Radio co-host James recently got talking to Paul van der Linden, a man who is going through this exact process. He's an experienced systems architect, who has spent the last seven years in a senior role at IBM. It's a great gig. And yet, he's quit to start his own business. Paul has ag...
Jul 23, 2017•49 min
