Business in Between

Welcome to Business in Between our podcast channel, that features long-form chats with some of NZ's most interesting business minds. This week we hear from Simon Graafhuis who is the CEO of the Chiefs Rugby Club about the business of sport. Before taking the top job, Simon was a Board Member at the Chiefs and spent 18 months as the Interim Chair. All while he was also holding down the role of the Chief Financial Officer at Gallagher Group, where he had spent 14 years building his corporate knowledge after previous finance roles within the dairy industry. Simon is also a small business owner with his start up craft beer operation Bootleg Brewery who were one of the first supporters of the Between Two Beers Podcast. His thoughtful insights into the business of rugby make for interesting listening as the national sport fights to stay relevant in a congested entertainment market. And he takes us behind the scenes of the Chiefs who are one of the few in New Zealand to weave Te Ao Māori concepts into the values and behaviours of the organisation. One that we were privileged to enter earlier this year to see firsthand. Enjoy.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Marc Ellis was always a dream guest for us, and he delivered the goods in our original episode recorded back in early 2023! It’s been our most popular episode to date and if you listen back to the conversation in its entirety you’ll understand why. His unpredictable brand of hijinks and gags came to life after years out of the spotlight, and his infectious personality rubbed off on us both. But behind the laughs and wild stories is an incredibly driven, successful, thoughtful guy. Marc said that his life can be viewed in chapters and he’s probably done enough in his life to have a podcast episode dedicated to each. He played rugby for Otago, North Harbour, the Blues, the Highlanders and the All Blacks, then he crossed codes to rugby league to play for the Warriors and Kiwis; after sport he was one of New Zealand’s top television stars for over a decade with Matthew Ridge, before fading into anonymity. For this episode of Business in Between we focus on the chapter dedicated to the story behind the rise of Charlie’s Juice – which Marc co-founded and eventually sold to Asahi for $129 million after 10 years in business. We pick up the conversation with Marc talking about what life looks like for him now. There's still an exciting opportunity available to sponsor this channel, if this interests you, please get in touch. Follow and subscribe to this Business in Between channel in your podcast app. We’ve got big plans to grow this space, so following, liking, subscribing and all that stuff means the world to us. Enjoy.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Welcome to the latest episode of Accidental Business Owners. It's a podcast about business, life, mindset, relationships and the inside story of a pretty wild last five years. This is the 11th episode in the series, but they all stand alone – so you don’t have to go back to the start. In this one, we reflect on our fifth birthday and the best lessons learned from five years as podcasters. There's still an exciting opportunity available to sponsor this show. If this interests you, please get in touch. Lastly, please follow and subscribe to this Business in Between channel in your podcast app. Enjoy.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hamish Pinkham is the co-founder and director of Rhythm and Vines and Endeavour Live - NZ's friendliest promoter of live events. When we recorded this Between Two Beers episode in 2023, we were in the process of transitioning into a business, so to hear insights on how Hamish and two of his flatmates from the University of Otago had turned their idea of a party for their friends at a Gisborne vineyard into New Zealand's premier live music festival was inspiring. R&N turned 21 last year and it is now a part of the events portfolio that Hamish has been able to build which includes a sister New Year festival – 'Rhythm and Alps' in Wanaka, and the Phoenix Summit - a one day meeting of creative minds held in Auckland. He is passionate about the development of the music, events, tourism and creative industries and has conceived and delivered some of the country's best loved music events and international tours over the last 20 years. But the story of how R&V grew from a gathering of 1,800 mates to a sold out 30,000 revelers at its peak remains one of the greats. If you’re not familiar with back story we’ve got it for you here in detail, and after confirming Shay and I weren’t too old to attend R&V we start this episode of Business in Between at the beginning of the origin story in Dunedin. We're also super stoked to have Hamish on the books of B2B Speakers, so if you like what you hear in this episode, and would love her at your function or event, flick us a message by going to B2B Speakers – Podcast, Speakers & MCs. Finally, there's still an exciting opportunity available to sponsor this channel, if this interests you, please get in touch. Follow and subscribe to this Business in Between channel in your podcast app. We’ve got big plans to grow this space, so following, liking, subscribing and all that stuff means the world to us. Enjoy.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Welcome to the latest episode of Accidental Business Owners. It's a podcast about business, life, mindset, relationships and the inside story of a pretty wild last five years. This is the 10th episode in the series, but they all stand alone – so you don’t have to go back to the start. In this one, our business coach Di Foster takes us through some couple's therapy! We talk about end of year goal setting, how to not take business personally and Seamus and Steve explore each other’s strengths and weaknesses. There's still an exciting opportunity available to sponsor this show. If this interests you, please get in touch. Lastly, please follow and subscribe to this Business in Between channel in your podcast app. Enjoy.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week on Business in Between we hear from Cassie Roma. The American-born kiwi is an award-winning global thought leader in creative ideation, media, brand strategy, digital innovation, and executive leadership. She's also an author, brand ambassador, storyteller, broadcaster, emcee, and keynote speaker. For over 20 years Cassie held high-flying marketing roles at big-name businesses including Air New Zealand, ANZ Bank, The Warehouse Group, Mighty River Power and NZME (New Zealand’s leading newspaper, radio, and digital media corporation). After leaving the corporate world, Cassie became a household name thanks to her appearances on The Apprentice Aotearoa and Celebrity Treasure Island, and went out on her own, launching CR & Co and relocating the States. But she’s back in New Zealand and brings business lessons to us, all underpinned by kindness and her love of connecting with people across ideas, channels, and communities. We're also super stoked to have Cassie on the books of B2B Speakers, so if you like what you hear in this episode, and would love her at your function or event, flick us a message by going to B2B Speakers – Podcast, Speakers & MCs. Finally, there's still an exciting opportunity available to sponsor this channel, if this interests you, please get in touch. Follow and subscribe to this Business in Between channel in your podcast app. We’ve got big plans to grow this space, so following, liking, subscribing and all that stuff means the world to us. Enjoy.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Welcome to the latest episode of Accidental Business Owners. It's a podcast about business, life, mindset, relationships and the inside story of a pretty wild last five years. This is the ninth episode in the series, but they all stand alone – so you don’t have to go back to the start. In this one, we're talking about building the Between Two Beers empire. We talk about what success means to us, what the plans are for the business next year - and for the next five, what’s holding us back - and why Steve thinks we’ve had a successful year, and why Di thinks we could have done better! There's still an exciting opportunity available to sponsor this show. If this interests you, please get in touch. Lastly, please follow and subscribe to this Business in Between channel in your podcast app. Enjoy.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Tim Brown had been a dream guest for us since we started the Between Two Beers podcast in 2019 – and he didn’t disappoint when we recorded with him at the end of 2023. This is one of our favourite episodes and we left this original recording feeling incredibly inspired. Tim was a professional footballer who played 112 times for the Wellington Phoenix and earned 30 caps for the All Whites. But at the same time, he was forming an idea for a woollen, environmentally friendly, sustainable shoe. That idea became Allbirds, and nine years after co-founding the company it went public on the Nasdaq with a valuation close to $4 billion US dollars. In this episode we talk about the realities of being the CEO of a billion-dollar company, all the most interesting steps on his journey from a Wellington flat to worldwide footwear industry leader, partnering with Leonardo di Caprio and meeting Barack Obama, the challenges the company faced in 2023 and why he stepped down as co-CEO. Since recording this in 2023, Tim’s co-founder Joey Zwillinger has followed in his footsteps, with a team of executives with more traditional footwear and retail roles steering a restructure at Allbirds. Meanwhile Tim has also joined Icehouse Ventures as a Venture Partner focusing on US businesses and has became a minority shareholder at Auckland FC, the newest professional football franchise in New Zealand where his sporting insights will be invaluable. For this episode of Business in Between we pick up our conversation with Tim after he had retired from football at the age of 31 to pursue a master’s degree in management at the London Business School. There's an exciting opportunity available to sponsor this channel, if this interests you, please get in touch. Follow and subscribe to this Business in Between channel in your podcast app. We’ve got big plans to grow this space, so following, liking, subscribing and all that stuff means the world to us. Enjoy.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Welcome to episode 8 of our new show: Accidental Business Owners.It's a podcast about business, life, mindset, relationships and the inside story of a pretty wild last five years.This is the eighth episode in the series, but they all stand alone – so you don’t have to go back to the start.In this one, we're talking money.One of our long-time listeners messaged us asking us if we could talk about what the financial change has looked like across the different chapters in our podcast business. So we did. We talk about how podcasts make money, how ours didn't for the first three years, how our contracts have changed over time and why we needed a crash course on GST. There's still an exciting opportunity available to sponsor this show. If this interests you, please get in touch. Lastly, please follow and subscribe to this Business in Between channel in your podcast app. Enjoy.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Welcome to the latest episode of Business in Between... it's our new series, on our new podcast channel, that features long-form chats with NZ's most interesting business minds. This week we hear the incredible story of how a Kiwi entrepreneur turned an idea for a fitness goal setting app into a global business with customers in over 150 countries and revenue exceeding $80 million a year. It’s the story of Adam El-Agez and his app called The Conqueror. Adam started his fitness goal setting app in 2012 after 10 years of being an entrepreneur with limited success. The idea was relatively simple, instead of ‘just’ going for a run, walk, a ride or swim, you’re working towards a virtual fitness goal, immersed in community and with a tangible race medal delivered on completion. Over six years and hundreds of thousands of dollars later the app was floundering. All the signs were pointing to giving up all together and he even started getting his CV together and applying for jobs. Then, in 2019 he met Raul, a “marketing guy”, online. In a bizarre series of events, he ended up hiring Raul, who lived in Romania, to run the digital marketing with immediate results. Raul started growing sales and from an annual revenue of under $100k they grew to $2m in the first year. The next year they did $40m and $75m in the following two, having secured licensing agreements with franchises like The Lord of the Rings, Game of Thrones, Star Wars and Harry Potter. The business has now expanded globally with around 70 staff in 6 countries with customers in over 150 countries. Adam’s story – and the growth of his company – is insane. We talk about navigating a cyberattack, how they built their Facebook community with 378,000 people in it, and why they were spending $250,000 a day on marketing. This story will blow your mind - and it’s the first time it’s been told. Come for the storytelling and stay for Adam’s brilliant business lessons at the end. This is an ep not to be missed. There's an exciting opportunity available to sponsor this channel, if this interests you, please get in touch. Follow and subscribe to this Business in Between channel in your podcast app. We’ve got big plans to grow this space, so following, liking, subscribing and all that stuff means the world to us. Enjoy.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.