Startup Theatre Podcast

Startup Theatre Podcast A podcast about the heroes of the NZ tech Startup community. We F* Love Startups

01/04/2026

Want to know how to build the best prompt to start building with SI?

Ask me questions untilโ€ฆ..

See the full episode with from Sterling AI in the link in our bio

05/12/2025

Are Engineers just over complicating tasks to give merit to their high salaries?
gives his view on this ๐Ÿ’ฐ

Todayโ€™s the day! 100th episode. Head to our YouTube channel to watch live
23/11/2025

Todayโ€™s the day! 100th episode.
Head to our YouTube channel to watch live

Why  is back and wants more leaders who are in the tech. Ben Gracewood is one of those rare tech leaders whoโ€™s done the ...
20/05/2025

Why is back and wants more leaders who are in the tech.

Ben Gracewood is one of those rare tech leaders whoโ€™s done the whole arc, starting in low-level code, scaling product and engineering teams at Vend through to a $450 million exit, and now leading in a world where AI is rewriting the playbook.

With a deep background in software development and executive leadership, Ben has built teams, shaped product strategy, and helped grow one of New Zealandโ€™s most successful SaaS companies.

But heโ€™s not stuck in nostalgia.

Today, heโ€™s laser-focused on what comes next and heโ€™s convinced that we can now do more with fewer people.

This podcast was brought to you by our amazing sponsor inย โ Vantaโ ย ๐Ÿ™Œ๐Ÿป

Get USD $1000 off Vanta using the link in our bio

Understanding AI GTM strategy with  ๐Ÿš€For nearly two decades, Heather has worked across strategy, operations, product mar...
19/05/2025

Understanding AI GTM strategy with ๐Ÿš€

For nearly two decades, Heather has worked across strategy, operations, product marketing, sales, and executive go-to-market roles in ๐—ฆ๐—ถ๐—น๐—ถ๐—ฐ๐—ผ๐—ป ๐—ฉ๐—ฎ๐—น๐—น๐—ฒ๐˜† startups and multinational companies.

We discuss the impact of AI on business and the importance of ๐—ฒ๐˜…๐—ฝ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐—บ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐˜๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐˜„๐—ถ๐˜๐—ต ๐—”๐—œ ๐˜๐—ผ๐—ผ๐—น๐˜€ to stay competitive.

Heather shares her insights on the future of work, the necessity of adapting to new technologies, and theย ๐—ฑ๐—ฒ๐—บ๐—ผ๐—ฐ๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ถ๐˜€๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ป ๐—ผ๐—ณ ๐˜๐—ฒ๐—ฐ๐—ต ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฟ๐—ผ๐˜‚๐—ด๐—ต ๐—”๐—œ.

Watch the full episode with links in our bio

Hamish Edwards hasnโ€™t told his story in detail before. and so you get to hear it for the first time. Renowned for co-fou...
02/04/2025

Hamish Edwards hasnโ€™t told his story in detail before. and so you get to hear it for the first time.

Renowned for co-founding with Rod Drury in 2006 in his accounting companiesโ€™ boardroom, before they ever moved to said apartment.

As a practicing accountant at the time and working with Rod, Hamish played a pivotal role in Xeroโ€™s early growth, shaping the product and expanding its customer base across New Zealand, Australia, and the United Kingdom by closely collaborating with accounting firms.

In this episode, Hamish tells us how and why Xero was founded and what he is doing now with Firmcheck.

We discuss the importance of obsession in achieving success and whether all founders have to be obsessed or not.

Now worth in the vicinity of $300 million, we ask Hamish:
Has success changed you?

If you are a founder looking to go global, this one is not to be missed.

This podcast is brought to you by our amazing sponsor in and could not be done without them.

โ€œThe financial landscape is evolving, weโ€™re making it easier for startups to operate globally.โ€  Lowry Gladwell has been...
24/03/2025

โ€œThe financial landscape is evolving, weโ€™re making it easier for startups to operate globally.โ€

Lowry Gladwell has been at the forefront of some of New Zealandโ€™s most iconic companies, from law to payments, tech partnerships to sales.

Playing a key role in Vendโ€™s journey through to their successful exit in 2021 and leading Xeroโ€™s embedded finance strategy and ex*****on, Lowry knows his domain well.

Now, as Head of New Zealand at Airwallexโ€”an Australian unicorn transforming banking and financial service, Lowry is focused on building the local team and introducing Airwallexโ€™s game-changing product to the New Zealand market.

In this episode, we discuss all things revenue and channel partner growth, and how you should build a function and hire a team.
If you are a product company looking to go global, this one is not to be missed.

Thanks to our sponsor in for making the episode happen. Get $1000 USD off www.vanta.com/startuptheatre

Full episode linked in bio ๐Ÿ”—

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โ€œThe most successful people are the ones who fail the most, because they are the ones who try the most.โ€  Rowan Simpson ...
09/03/2025

โ€œThe most successful people are the ones who fail the most, because they are the ones who try the most.โ€

Rowan Simpson has been at the heart of New Zealandโ€™s most successful technology companies.

As a founding team member at Trade Me and Xero , he witnessed firsthand how great companies are built through consistent ex*****on.

His subsequent investments and hands-on work with ventures like Vend and Timely have helped shape a generation of high-growth companies.

We sat down with Rowan to go deeper on some of these lessons.

Thanks to our sponsor in for making the episode happen. Get $1000 USD off www.vanta.com/startuptheatre

Full episode linked in bio ๐Ÿ”—

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23/05/2024

WFLS is BACK with Mahesh Muralidhar ๐Ÿ’ฅ
New Zealand. You too can change the WORLD! ๐ŸŒ

Mahesh Muralidhar has done it all.

From helping to take โ Canvaโ  globally as employee number 25, launching โ Phase One Venturesโ  in New Zealand and even running for Auckland Central in politics.

We talk with Mahesh to learn how he has been helping founders to take on the world from NZ and listen to his sage advice from being so early at Canva and now sharing this with his home in NZ.

Watch the full episode on YouTube or listen on Spotify with ๐Ÿ”— in the comments below๐Ÿ‘‡๐Ÿป

Brought to you by:
๐ŸŽ™: Troy Hammond
๐ŸŽฅ: Jono Tucker
๐Ÿ’ฐ: Talent Army

17/04/2024

๐€๐ซ๐ญ๐ข๐Ÿ๐ข๐œ๐ข๐š๐ฅ ๐ˆ๐ง๐ญ๐ž๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ข๐ ๐ž๐ง๐œ๐ž ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ก๐ž๐ซ๐ž ๐ญ๐จ ๐ฌ๐จ๐ฅ๐ฏ๐ž ๐ก๐ž๐š๐ฅ๐ญ๐ก๐œ๐š๐ซ๐ž: ๐ˆ๐ญโ€™๐ฌ ๐•๐ˆ๐“๐€๐‹ ๐Ÿš‘

Healthcare is broken. We all know itโ€ฆ.

Though too many were scared to take on the behemoths who have owned this space forever.

Enter โ Vital.io the product built by kiwi โ Te Riu Warren as their founding CTO.

Hear how Te and Founder & CEO โ Aaron Patzerโ  formally of Mint.com got together and Decided to take on the United States healthcare tech industry from New Zealand ๐Ÿ‡ณ๐Ÿ‡ฟ

Our new merch is launching soon ๐Ÿ‘€
Tag a friend below to go into the draw to win our first full set of merch ๐Ÿš€

Watch the full episode on YouTube or listen on Spotify with ๐Ÿ”— in the comments below๐Ÿ‘‡๐Ÿป

Brought to you by:
๐ŸŽ™: Troy Hammond
๐ŸŽฅ: Empire Films
๐Ÿ’ฐ: Oxygen Advisors

15/04/2024

"๐…๐š๐ฅ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ง ๐ฅ๐จ๐ฏ๐ž ๐ฐ๐ข๐ญ๐ก ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐ฉ๐ซ๐จ๐›๐ฅ๐ž๐ฆ, ๐ง๐จ๐ญ ๐ฃ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ญ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐ฌ๐จ๐ฅ๐ฎ๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง"

This was the sage advice Erika Palmer gave when we asked her:

"๐˜ž๐˜ฉ๐˜ข๐˜ต ๐˜จ๐˜ฐ๐˜ต ๐˜บ๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ ๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ๐˜ต ๐˜ฐ๐˜ง ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฑ๐˜ช๐˜ต ๐˜ฐ๐˜ง ๐˜ฅ๐˜ฆ๐˜ด๐˜ฑ๐˜ข๐˜ช๐˜ณ ๐˜ฅ๐˜ถ๐˜ณ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜จ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ต๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ๐˜จ๐˜ฉ ๐˜ต๐˜ช๐˜ฎ๐˜ฆ๐˜ด ๐˜จ๐˜ฆ๐˜ต๐˜ต๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜จ Cupla ๐˜ฐ๐˜ง๐˜ง ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜จ๐˜ณ๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ?"

What advice would you give people in the pit of despair right now?
Comment below ๐Ÿ‘‡๐Ÿป

Watch the full episode ๐Ÿ‘‰๐Ÿป https://lnkd.in/g6DU6buT

Address

Level 2, 45 Courtenay Place
Wellington
6011

Opening Hours

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Tuesday 9am - 5pm
Wednesday 9am - 5pm
Thursday 9am - 5pm
Friday 9am - 5pm

Telephone

+64275128642

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