Pioneer - The Podcast For Serious Innovators

Eva Chye is the director of PWC’s Business Align and Connect, and is also the co-founder of If Innovation Could Talk. Eva has an immense passion for the innovation landscape, and most importantly, the great innovative minds that cross it. Eva recently joined Wrays’ CEO Rob Pierce to explore what innovation looks like to her and the remarkable people she meets each day. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

As part of our WiTWA in Conversations series, Wrays' Head of Marketing & Business Development, Rebecca Hembling is joined by Iris Smit, the CEO and Founder of The Quick Flick, one of Australia's fastest-growing beauty brands.  Iris started her company whilst still at university in WA. The Quick Flick is now a multi-million dollar business and can be found in stores nationwide, as well as in the UK, USA, Europe and Middle East markets. Last year, Iris also launched a new innovation into the market - the Beauty Fridge.  The 25-year-old entrepreneur remains committed and true to what she believes in, with very clear goals and a strong vision of where she wants the brand to go. We find out more about Iris' experience in this short interview. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

As the excitement grows for this month’s WiTWA 2020 Virtual Conference, we take some time to reflect on one of our highlights from last year’s event. At just 13 years old, Catherine Moolenschot guest wrote her first book, A Rough Road. At 17, she gave her first Tedx talk, Living Your Funnel of Greatness, and today she ghostwrites books for CEO's and professionals. She is also the author of the recently published Jim's Book, a biography of the founder of the iconic Jim’s franchise. Catherine has an impressive resume and is a great inspiration, not only to young people but to everyone who is thinking about starting a business or writing a book. Fresh from appearing in the Youth in Tech panel discussion, Catherine took some time out during the 2019 WiTWA Conference to chat to Wrays’ CEO Rob Pierce about her journey so far. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

As the excitement grows for this month’s WiTWA 2020 Virtual Conference, we take some time to reflect on one of our highlights from last year’s event. Lyndsey Scott was the first African American model to sign an exclusive runway contract with Calvin Klein. She's also a software developer who advocates for women and minorities in tech.  In 2019, Lyndsey was the keynote speaker at the inaugural WiTWA [+] Conference and Tech [+] Awards. She kindly took some time out of her busy schedule to chat to Wrays' CEO Rob Pierce about her experience in the world of coding.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Professor Phil Hansbro from the Centenary UTS Centre for Inflammation - a collaboration between the Centenary Institute and the University of Technology Sydney, speaks to Wrays about how his current research into respiratory diseases has pivoted to look into and understand more about COVID-19. 

RegTech startup Checkbox is a multi-award winning platform that is transforming regulation into software – digitalising complex regulations into automated cloud software without developer coding. But founder Evan Wong started his entrepreneurial career long before he, and his cofounders, created Checkbox. Evan recently took some time out of his busy schedule to chat to Wrays’ CEO Rob Pierce, to discuss the evolution of his startup.

A fireside chat with Australian Wool Innovation CEO, Stuart McCullough who shares his career transition from jackaroo to CEO and provides insights on how a not-for-profit with over 55k wool growers continues to embrace innovation.

Shaun Samaru, Founder of CARDEALS2ME, chats with Rob about his digital innovation that is disrupting the automotive retail industry, and giving the buying power back to the consumer.

For the last two years, Suzanne Nguyen, more popularly known as 'String', has been pioneering videos on social media. She was a Top 20 Meerkat Power User, produced the award winning Snapchat channel “Women In Tech”, and amassed over 200 Facebook Live Interviews with entrepreneurs and startup founders, like Gary Vaynerchuk, Holly Liu (Kabam) and Hugh Forrest (SXSW). In this interview, String joins Rob to share her thoughts on authenticity, knowing your audience and her 'fried chicken' concept to growing your network.

Start-ups, raising capital and the importance of giving back. Rob speaks with Derek Gerrard from Go Capital about one of the greatest challenges that any innovator or entrepreneur can face – raising capital. In this interview, Derek shares his experiences through the Innovation Bay forum and the opportunities he sees for the thriving start up community in Perth. 

Mike Lane, Chairman of REMSAFE Pty Ltd, reveals the inspiration for his invention and the journey for improved productivity. Mike gives insight on the innovative nature of the mining industry and the companies he has collaborated with. He discusses his business growth plan, potential products, and solutions to industry.

Betting on the horse - data science expert brings ground breaking methodology to corporate Australia. Thomas Thurston, Managing Director of WR Hambrecht Ventures and Founder and CEO of Growth Science discusses his experience working along Clay Christensen at Harvard and the ongoing pressure to innovate in today’s business environment. Thomas shares his three key learnings following his work with numerous Fortune 500 companies, and the story of Growth Science in it's unique methodology that is supporting corporate innovators and their decision making.

Leading the way – innovation and culture at Vinomofo. Listen to Michael Ellis, Head of Culture at Vinomofo share his insights on building an innovation culture at one of Australia’s fastest growing companies.

Listen to Stephen Page from Advanced Veterinary Therapeutics share his transition from vet to CEO and the trends he’s seeing across scientific innovation in Australia.

Frank Hurley speaks with Professor Tim Mazzarol from the University of Western Australia who provides his thoughts on how Australia can become an innovation led economy and the priorities needed to achieve this. He draws on examples from The Global Innovation Index and countries and organisations Australia should look to learn from.

Hone Product Design assist SMES and start-ups by transforming ideas from concept to market. Their approach is built around design research, idea generation, conceptual design, detailed design & development, prototyping & 3D visualisation and manufacturer sourcing. In this episode Anthony shares his personal journey as an entrepreneur. He shares the challenges faced so far and how his passion for products, materials and aesthetic has led to this innovative design business.

A Scratch Free Future for 4x4 Vehicle Enthusiasts. In our latest podcast Wrays’ CEO Frank Hurley speaks with Marc Berryman who is CEO at Rhinohide. Marc has experienced great success in his journey so far including the opportunity to pitch the innovative 4WD product to the judges of Channel 10’s Shark Tank.

Combining a passion for safety and innovative thinking to reduce workplace injury. In our latest podcast we speak with Sue Bahn, Director and CEO of Tap into Safety.Tap into Safety is an affordable training platform which handles pre-employment, induction, hazard perception, safety leadership and wellbeing training for workforces around Australia.Sue and her team at Tap into Safety combine leading research with interactive design to create customised training content for workplaces that fits within any budget.

In our latest podcast we speak with Jonathon Wolfe who is not only Director of our strategic consulting business, Wrays Solutions, but also an entrepreneur and business owner. Jonathon has spent over 20 years working in innovation across Australia, Europe, the UK and United States – helping pioneers of all shapes and sizes. Frank Hurley speaks to Jonathon about the changing innovation space in particular the influence of government, changes to funding and digital disruption. Jonathon also shares his thoughts on the importance of developing a culture of innovation within the business and how it can be built into the organisation’s DNA as well as his rules of thumb to successful corporate innovation. 

Frank Hurley is joined by Mr Steve Wildison, CEO of XTD – which stands for ‘cross track digital.’ XTD’s Cross Track Digital media system brings a new era of rail transport communications to the world’s major metro networks. XTD is an Australian-based, internationally focused business offering world-first cross-track digital media systems that bring new revenue streams to major rail operators and outdoor media companies.