



Open The Pod Bay Doors - Matt Loop, Rippling
In this episode of Open the Pod Bay Doors, Ian Gardiner sits down with long-time friend and tech leader Matt Loop, now Head of Asia Pacific at Rippling. Matt has been at the heart of SaaS for two decades. From opening Salesforce’s first Australian office out of his Bondi apartment, to helping Link…

EP.190 Evan Walden, Getro
In this episode, Ian sits down with Evan Walden, CEO of Getro—a startup rethinking how VCs support their portfolio companies through meaningful connections and talent networks. From his early days at General Assembly to leading a platform used by top-tier VC firms, Evan shares candid insights on le…

EP 189. Chris Morgan, Co-CEO, Oxygen Advisors
In this episode of Open The Pod Bay Doors, Host Ian Gardiner is joined by Chris Morgan, Co-CEO of Oxygen Advisors, a fast-growing outsourced CFO service supporting early-stage tech startups across Australasia. Chris shares the story of how Oxygen grew from a one-man band in New Zealand to a 45-pers…

EP.188 Allegra Spender, Independent MP
In this special live edition of Open The Pod Bay Doors, Ian sits down with independent MP Allegra Spender in front of a live audience at Jelix Ventures. With a federal election in Australia just weeks away, Allegra offers candid insights into her journey as a parliamentarian, Australia’s economic c…

EP. 187 Rob Sibo, Head of AI/ML Customer Engineering ANZ, Google
For this episode of Open the Pod Bay Doors host, Ian Gardiner, is joined by Rob Sibo, Head of AI/ML Customer Engineering ANZ, Google. Ian and Rob sat down in late 2024 to discuss all things AI. From demo's to production: Scaling AI in 2025. Rob’s focus for the coming year is clear: move beyond qui…

EP 186 Stuart Dullard, Partner, Ashurt
Open the Pod Bay Doors is back for 2025! To kick off the year, host Ian Gardiner sits down with Stuart Dullard, Partner at Ashurst, for a deep dive into the challenges and opportunities facing founders in today’s venture landscape. Ashurst is a global corporate law firm with over 30 offices world…

EP 185 Bryan Williams, Founder, Hockey Stick Advisory
After a brief hiatus, Open the Pid Bay Door is back with an exciting new episode! Host Ian Gardiner sits down with Bryan Williams, Founder of Hockey Stick Advisory, to dive into the world of strategic partnerships and growth acceleration. Hockey Stick Advisory provides market leading strategic par…

E184 - Taryn Pieterse, Partner, Rampersand VC
In today’s episode, we’re thrilled to welcome Taryn Pieterse, Partner at Rampersand VC. Rampersand is a pioneering Australian venture capital firm, known for being one of the first funds in Australia and its early investment in founders with abnormal potential. With a focus on being a founder-first…

E183 - Nick Gainsley, Partner, OneVentures
Join our host Ian Gardiner as he chats to Nick Gainsley, Partner at One Ventures and Aurora Community Member, on episode 183 of Open the Pod Bay Doors. Nick is Partner at OneVentures and leads the debt fund strategy, which was launched 5 years ago to address gaps in the Australian market. The fund…

E182 – Inspire 24 (Part 2) FT Craig Blair, Elaine Stead, Chris Capon
Earlier this year, Innovation Bay brought more than 250 of Australia’s leading tech founders and investors together at Inspire, held at Sydney’s Australian Chamber Orchestra (ACO) on May 22-23, 2024. Set under the overarching theme ‘The Future is…’, Inspire was a platform for the exchange of revo…