Ojas Mahapatra, Mars Bioimaging
The Morgo Podcast
Mars Bioimaging has developed a mobile colour CT for high quality scanning of hands and wrists. It has FDA approval in the US and is selling to the orthopaedic & emergency markets in the US & NZ. Ojas became CEO to focus on the commercialisation of the product and lead the push into the market. Key lessons: find your customer (a large market) and only then start throwing money at it. You'll fail a lot more than you win – you need to push through.
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Yoram Benit, Tait Communications
The Morgo Podcast
Tait Communications is a provider of critical communications for public safety, emergency services utilities & enterprises. Yoram became CEO in 2021 and has grown the company from 450 people to over 1300. Plans include a new state of the art manufacturing facility & a Centre of Excellence with over 10 labs. Yoram says the key to the growth is having a strong business case for every R&D project or acquisition and making sure you have the right people.
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Ratu Mataira, OpenStar Technologies
The Morgo Podcast
OpenStar is nuclear fusion company. In this podcast Ratu talks about the pathway of building the business: the science, the people, the funding. The core technology is a levitated dipole containing a plasma at temperatures of millions of degrees, which OpenStar demonstrated recently. Now OpenStar plans larger machines and temperatures of millions of degrees to make medical isotopes and electricity. This requires a team of very smart and very driven people.
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Sigurd Magnusson, Silverstripe
The Morgo Podcast
Silverstripe partners with governments and enterprises to create the digital infrastructure that underpins everyday life in Aotearoa and beyond. Sigurd shares its journey from small startup to a mature company of 70 people whose open-source CMS powers over 200 NZ government websites. Their work is aiding digital transformation internationally too, as in South Africa where they delivered a single digital front door to government services in just 10 weeks.
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Quentin Griffiths, Lutra
The Morgo Podcast
Lutra’s purpose is to protect the environment and the people within in through excellence in management of water and wastewater. Its team are engineers, modelers, data management specialists, content producers, and project managers and its clients are in New Zealand, Australia and other countries. Quentin talks about coming into the CEO role – learning to shift quickly across different areas and the importance of purpose and focus.
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Hamish Findlay, Aspeq
The Morgo Podcast
Aspeq is in the business of providing secure exams and assessments for regulators. It started in the aviation sector: assessing pilots and aircraft engineers in New Zealand. Now it is in 25 countries with test centres, software to book & run exams and a secure browser that allows access only to agreed resources. Aspeq now has 50 people and many more contractors. Hamish talks about his role in expanding the business with clients in all time zones and a long sales cycle.
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Jo Haanstra, Atomic.io
The Morgo Podcast
Atomic.io delivers secure, in-app messaging that helps companies reach customers where engagement is highest, inside their web and mobile apps. By replacing fragmented channels like SMS, calls, and email, Atomic.io enables more trusted, timely, and seamless customer experiences. Jo is driven by scaling category-defining companies and leads Atomic.io in transforming how enterprises connect with customers in the moments that matter most.
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Kendra Ross, Sydekick
The Morgo Podcast
Sydekick provides cyber security for small business. Phishing emails and voice calls have become more sophisticated and everyone needs to be protected. Phil Howie, CTO, started the company. Kendra was an early investor. Then she and Phil agreed to build the company together with Kendra becoming CEO. They work through partnerships with service providers in New Zealand, Australia & the UK. Kendra talks about lessons learned in this business and in a...
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Lisa McDonald, Recollect
The Morgo Podcast
Lisa is the CEO of Recollect, a cloud-based platform for managing and accessing archives. With some large customers in New Zealand and Australia, Recollect is now focused on expansion in the US and Canada. Lisa says she’s been surprised by how much the customers appreciate the customer service Recollect offers. And she talks about the continuing need to focus to get the most out of the resources they have and the need to have a trusted circle of advisors.
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Bridgit Hawkins, Humble Bee Bio
The Morgo Podcast
The Humble Bee Bio journey began with rare bees, whose genomes it sequenced to uncover novel molecules, including one with a rare and potent property — elastin stimulation. This molecule will soon be available as a hero ingredient for formulation of anti-ageing products. Bridgit is not the founder, she joined to build the business. She says the skills of leading a company are transferable but you need to learn about a new sector and build a network for it.
info_outlineSydekick provides cyber security for small business. Phishing emails and voice calls have become more sophisticated and everyone needs to be protected. Phil Howie, CTO, started the company. Kendra was an early investor. Then she and Phil agreed to build the company together with Kendra becoming CEO. They work through partnerships with service providers in New Zealand, Australia & the UK. Kendra talks about lessons learned in this business and in a previous one she built.