Shortages caused by Covid earlier this year brought attention to the fact that although we grow plenty of oats here in New Zealand – and know a thing or two about milk – we have been importing all commercial oat milk. Boring Oat Milk founder Morgan Maw was in a place to do something about that, knowing oats through her first oat biscuit venture. To talk about the three-year journey she had to go on to get onto shelves, the state of the oat and alternative milk industry here, how she’s using brand and storytelling and what’s next, she joined Business is Boring via Zoom this week.-This is the last episode of Business is Boring. Thank you so much to everyone who has listened, shared the podcast, got in touch, talked to me about it and been a supporter. It’s been an enormous privilege to have been able to talk to an interesting person doing cool things every week for five years.We’re going to take a little bit of time off and come back with a new concept. I’m really looking forward to changing things up a little to keep hopefully providing value to you all, and to keep trying to do our bit to share some of the great stories of tomorrow in Aotearoa.I hope that now after five years, more than 200 episodes, and more than half a million downloads, we’ve proven that business is not boring.-Business is Boring is presented by The Spinoff in association with Callaghan Innovation. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Business Is Boring

The last Business is Boring business is Boring

Luke Nutting is an electrician who eight or so years ago saw that solar would be the future. He went from being a man in a van to now leading Lightforce, a company that does 20% of New Zealand’s solar installs, with more than 80 staff around the country. Now he has big plans to help create alternative energy choices by helping people sell their excess power back to the grid. Business is Boring is presented by The Spinoff in association with Callaghan Innovation. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The electrician behind 20% of NZ’s new solar installations

Vignesh Kumar is a partner in Global from Day 1, or Gd1, a local venture capital fund which recently announced the first close of its third fund -- a $130m infusion of capital to invest in New Zealand companies wanting to scale to be worldwide successes. The company has partnered with a bunch of global experience across finance, marketing, venture, operations and hardware – including Vignesh, who was previously a hardware scaling leader at Apple. To talk about the VC world, his personal purpose and what Apple was like, he joined Business is Boring by Zoom this week.Business is Boring is presented by The Spinoff in association with Callaghan Innovation. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The former Apple leader helping NZ companies go global

Ockham Residential co-founder Mark Todd is not your usual property developer. Over the years Ockham has helped make Auckland a more compact and liveable city by building the kind of apartments people actually want to live in and have as neighbours. The company is pioneering build to rent, Iwi partnerships, offering more Kiwibuild options than a bank manager might recommend and giving back through their foundation, the Ockham Collective. But it might be the example they are setting, and the uncomfortable conversations they are starting, that will have the most impact. To talk about his journey, Ockham’s mission and how they’re changing the conversation, Mark joined Business is Boring via Zoom.Business is Boring is presented by The Spinoff in association with Callaghan Innovation. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The property developer helping build better communities

Batteries are an ethical minefield, and it’s an issue that often gets overlooked in the important move to green tech. Now a New Zealand startup is helping solve the problem. Dr Shalini Divya is the co-founder of TasmanIon, who are commercialising her research into using the earth-abundant aluminium to make a new generation of more recyclable, sustainable and equitable batteries. To talk about the mission, the science and the journey, Dr Divya joined Business is Boring this week.Business is Boring is presented by The Spinoff in association with Callaghan Innovation. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The NZ startup changing batteries for the better

A couple of years ago Maggie Marilyn designer and founder Maggie Hewitt debuted her first collection straight onto Net-a-Porter, one of the most desirable doors in the world. Maggie Marilyn has since become a pioneer in sustainable luxury, being made in New Zealand and pioneering better production practices. Recently the brand has started moves to become carbon positive, and released lines that are more affordable and that run to larger sizes, two accessibility issues the industry struggles with. To talk about that journey, making it work internationally from New Zealand and what’s next, Maggie joined Business is Boring via Zoom.Business is Boring is presented by The Spinoff in association with Callaghan Innovation. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The local label pioneering carbon positive fashion

Samantha Gadd founded Humankind about ten years ago as a new kind of HR, people and culture company. Over time, Humankind has specialised to focus on the growing area of employee experience, helping some of our biggest, best and most successful organisations – from growth companies like Sharesies or Supreme Coffee through to government departments – design better culture to get better results. Samantha joined Business is Boring this week to talk about her journey, EX design and how HR is changing.Business is Boring is presented by The Spinoff in association with Callaghan Innovation. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The importance of employee experience

When Theresa Gattung became CEO of Telecom at 37, she became the first woman to run an NZX top 50 company. It was a glass ceiling shattering moment, but over 20 years later there still remain huge gender opportunity and achievement gaps in business. So to do more at the structural level, Theresa has just announced she will work with Auckland University to create a new hub to help increase participation and excellence in entrepreneurship for women by funding the Theresa Gattung Chair of Women in Entrepreneurship. To talk about that, launching Tend and why we need to start taking burnout more seriously, Theresa returned to Business is Boring. Business is Boring is presented by The Spinoff in association with Callaghan Innovation.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Theresa Gattung on dealing with burnout in business

Jodie Imam and Lance Hodges are the COO and general partner of Tractor Ventures, a group offering debt financing to Australian and New Zealand startups. Both startup legends in their own right, they tell Simon Pound why they wanted to be part of this new model and how it all works.Business is Boring is presented by The Spinoff in association with Callaghan Innovation.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

A new way for startups to raise capital

Melanie Spencer is the co-CEO of Socialites, a company that’s helping businesses big and small succeed on social media. She joins Simon Pound on Business is Boring this week to talk about her journey, agency culture and staying on top of the rapidly changing social media landscape.Business is Boring is presented by The Spinoff in association with Callaghan Innovation.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

How Socialites stays on top of the social media game

Ten years ago, if you said New Zealand would soon be one of the handful of countries in the space club, regularly sending satellites to space and famous for its space industry, you’d probably have been laughed out of the room. But that’s exactly what has happened, and the driving force behind this change has been Peter Beck at Rocket Lab.To get the company off the ground he’s had to pull together some of the world’s biggest investors, have international laws changed and successfully pioneer innovations in making and sending rockets that are now industry standards. It was wildly unlikely at most every step, but today Rocket Lab is on the verge of a massive listing on the US stock exchange, and a big shift to larger rockets.To talk about the journey, his perseverance and New Zealand becoming a member of the space club, Simon Pound met Peter Beck at the Rocket Lab’s Mount Wellington HQ.Business is Boring is presented by The Spinoff in association with Callaghan Innovation.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

How NZ joined the space club, with Rocket Lab’s Peter Beck

Lauren Peate is the founder and CEO of Multitudes, a New Zealand software company that helps measure and improve companies’ culture and performance. She came up with the idea while running Ally Skills NZ, a diversity, equity and inclusion consultancy for tech companies. She’s worked in and with startups in the Middle East and as a management consultant with Bain & Co in San Francisco, and received a degree in economics from Stanford. To talk about that journey and what Multitudes is here to do, Lauren joined Simon Pound for a chat.Business is Boring is presented by The Spinoff in association with Callaghan Innovation.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

How Multitudes is helping businesses measure and improve team culture

Shotgun co-founder Dan Necklen joins Simon Pound to talk about designing a new type of kids’ bike seat and taking it to the world. From a couple of mountain biking mates turning over an idea – what if a child could sit between the arms of the rider and have their own set of handlebars – the idea has grown to now be sold all over the world. With new products in the works, the company now has a bigger goal of helping get kids off screens and ultimately raise the next generation of mountain bikers.Business is Boring is presented by The Spinoff in association with Callaghan Innovation.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Shotgun’s ride from mountain biking brainwave to global business

Jane Ormsby is an online ad industry innovator. She built online advertising inventory network Response Directive into an Australasian market leader before using her online publishing expertise to work with APN (now NZME) as it tackled digital, leading the paywall at The Listener and launching Bite. Her current company is Scroll Media, a network of trusted publishers and advertisers. To talk about the journey, the future of advertising and share tips for selling a business, Jane joined Business is Boring this week for a chat.Business is Boring is presented by The Spinoff in association with Callaghan Innovation.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

How to sell a fast growing company, and other tips from an advertising entrepreneur

Thomas Dietz is the founder and CEO of Woop – short for world on our plate – a company whose inventive offering has found a strong foothold in the hyper-competitive food box space. He joined Business is Boring this week to talk about his journey from France to New Zealand, and from makeup marketing to food boxes.Business is Boring is presented by The Spinoff in association with Callaghan Innovation.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

What Woop does differently with their food boxes

Business is Boring is a weekly podcast series presented by The Spinoff in association with Callaghan Innovation. Host Simon Pound speaks with innovators and commentators focused on the future of New Zealand.

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