The weekly podcast from Luke Curry and Mark Baker, discussing all things business, tech, creative, health, and general lifestyle advice. Each Wednesday join the brothers in-law, as they interview an eclectic range of guests from blue collar grafters to multi-millionaire investors, each with their own stories to tell, and lessons learned along the way. If you have a side hustle, want to start a passion project, or just want to hear some great career and life advice, this is the podcast for you.
Episodes
Wednesday Nov 04, 2020
Wednesday Nov 04, 2020
What is up SharkNation!
This week Luke and Mark sit down with this Real Estate Entrepreneur turned full time Artist - John Fitzgerald (https://johnfitzgeraldart.ie/).
John is perhaps Ireland's best known and successful equine Artists.
This one will speak to any of our listeners who are looking to transition into making a business out of their passion and design a creative life that also financially viable.
We cover:
1. John's first career move into sales after college. Ireland was starting to boom and Real Estate is where fortunes were being made.
2. How John went into business with his family and set up their own Real Estate agency.
3. The ups and downs of owning and running a business through the boom and bust cycles of the Irish property market.
4. John's realisation that a lifestyle designed around creating art was the path to fulfilment. He tells a story about his first big painting sale and how it effected him.
5. John tells a very personal story as to why he committed to the art career full time, what drove him to make that decision and how his business skills honed in his Real Estate career stood to him in the art business.
And much more...
If you feel like supporting the podcast and like audio books, sign up for your free Audible account below!
Audible link here:https://www.amazon.co.uk/Audible-Free-Trial-Digital-Membership/dp/B00OPA2XFG?tag=sharkpod-21.
For feedback you can reach us on: Luke@shark.ie
Wednesday Oct 28, 2020
Wednesday Oct 28, 2020
What is up SharkNation!
This week Luke and Mark sit down with James Cluskey - Founder of High Calibre Collective (https://hccollective.co/about-us/).
James is a former tennis professional and former tennis coach of Sir Richard Branson.
We cover:
1. Step by step how to become a professional tennis player (and his personal journey)
2. Being a college athlete in the US (LSU) and what it was like being courted by colleges from places like Malibu -CA.
3. What it's like when you achieve your goals of becoming a professional athlete and what it's like transitioning to a regular career.
4. Meeting Richard Branson, travelling to Necker Island and coaching Branson in tennis.
5. What James learned working close to Branson and what he took away from the experience.
6. James's start up adventure - The High Calibre Collective. How it aims to give more choice to employees when it comes to how they use their wellness benefits.
And lots more....
If you feel like supporting the podcast and like audio books, sign up for your free Audible account below!
Audible link here:https://www.amazon.co.uk/Audible-Free-Trial-Digital-Membership/dp/B00OPA2XFG?tag=sharkpod-21.
For feedback you can reach us on: Luke@shark.ie
Wednesday Oct 21, 2020
Wednesday Oct 21, 2020
What is up SharkNation!
This week, Luke and Mark sat down with serial entrepreneur Garret Flower. Founder of Krüst Bakery and Cafés, Parkpnp (like airbandb for your car parking space), and ParkOffice - a rapidly expansing SaaS Business helping corporates manage their parking needs.
They cover:
1. Starting business straight out of college, working with SharkPod Alum
Devan Hughes.
2. How he set up Krüst with his partner delivering pastries cate to cafe first and how they grow that into a multifaceted business in B2B as well as B2C, and how he grew their team to around 45 employees while still in his 20s.
3. We talk about the importance of a technical cofounder and how he went from baked goods to tech entrepreneurship after a chance encounter.
4. How his latest venture (ParkOffice) is growing during the pandemic and his plans for the future of the company.
And lots more!
If you want to get to know Garret Flower better, subscribe to his youtube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/user/Garretflowe
If you feel like supporting the podcast and like audio books, sign up for your free Audible account below!
Audible link here:https://www.amazon.co.uk/Audible-Free-Trial-Digital-Membership/dp/B00OPA2XFG?tag=sharkpod-21.
For feedback you can reach us on: Luke@shark.ie
Wednesday Oct 14, 2020
Wednesday Oct 14, 2020
What is Up SharkNation!
Recently the guys have spoken to a few startup founders that had gone through the NDRC accelerator program.
NDRC has to date built and invested in more than 250 companies, which have secured a total of more than €152m in follow-on investment.
The guys got a chance to sit down with David Scanlon (@dscanlon) (Venture Investment Leader) to dig into what investors are looking for when they are being pitched new business opportunity.
We cover:
1. What the NDRC is and how it helps entrepreneurs
2. The value of validating a business and what investors are looking for.
3. Some exciting startups that Ireland has produced recently to watch out for.
4. Differences between investing in Ireland vs the Middle east when it comes to startups and business culture.
5. Defining a venture capital friendly startup and who should be seeking funding.
And much more!
If you feel like supporting the podcast and like audio books, sign up for your free Audible account below!
Audible link here:https://www.amazon.co.uk/Audible-Free-Trial-Digital-Membership/dp/B00OPA2XFG?tag=sharkpod-21.
For feedback you can reach us on: Luke@shark.ie
Wednesday Oct 07, 2020
Wednesday Oct 07, 2020
What is Up SharkNation!
Neil Lesher is the Founder and CEO of LeshTronix Drone Systems. He has invented a drone device for your phone (The PhoneQuad).
Serial Entrepreneur, Neil has developed and sold multiple Retail (Brick &
Mortar) businesses as well as having decades of I.T. experience in the
Investment Banking sector. His professional background as a Sr. Market
Data Business Analyst encompasses Market Data software/Hardware,
Real-Time Data Feed products, cost analysis, Trade Desk support,
Exchange & vendor relations, audits, compliance initiatives and enterprise
wide project management expertise.
If you'd like to check out thee product design you can see it here: WWW.MYPHONEQUAD.COM
We cover:
1. The concept, where the idea came from
2. Getting the PhoneQuad off the ground, so to speak.
3. How his interests in flight as a child led him to the design of this product.
4. Doing business in America and the American attitude towards entrepreneurship.
5. A deep dive on the future of drone technology for society.
6. And of course the lightening round.
If you feel like supporting the podcast and like audio books, sign up for your free Audible account below!
Audible link here:https://www.amazon.co.uk/Audible-Free-Trial-Digital-Membership/dp/B00OPA2XFG?tag=sharkpod-21.
For feedback you can reach us on: Luke@shark.ie
Keep Moving Forward!
Friday Oct 02, 2020
Friday Oct 02, 2020
What is Up SharkNation!
Luke and Mark are skipping Sober-October this year, there just isn't a lot of drinking going on in their lives this year, but they wanted to take October to try better themselves anyway.
Mark thought about it and pitched KOCH-TOBER to Luke...
Here's the Plan/Challenge:
1. Read Four books by Business Strategy Guru Richard Koch.
- The Star Principle
-The 80/20 Principle
- Unreasonable Success and How to achieve it
- Super-Connect - Harnessing the power of Networks
2. Strict 4 Hour Body diet for the whole month.
3. 80/20 Analysis of 2 areas of life and implementation of results.
4. Body fat reduction of 2% as measured by Renpho scales.
They'll do a break down of KOCH-TOBER at the end of the month in a full episode.
KEEP MOVING FORWARD!
Wednesday Sep 30, 2020
Wednesday Sep 30, 2020
What is Up SharkNation!
If you are looking to start your own eComm business this episode is for you.
Dan is the co-founder of Ambr Eyewear, a company selling primarily through their online store (ambreyewear.com), as well as, through Ireland's premier department store Brown Thomas.
Dan started the business out of his apartment with his co-founder and they have grown the brand both in Ireland and the US over the last few years.
We cover:
1. Leading with your core strengths when starting a business. Dan leveraged his skill set built during his time working for digital marketing agencies to figure out what to sell online (his story on idea gen included).
2. Sourcing, this is an issue for any ecommerce startup. We talk about getting the product supplier right and steps they took in finding the right manufacturing partner.
3. Tactics for getting noticed online and the importance of SEO.
4. Dan's thoughts on advertising online and how to get the most our of your budget.
5. Some of the tech used in running a successful ecommerce business.
If you feel like supporting the podcast and like audio books, sign up for your free Audible account below!
Audible link here:https://www.amazon.co.uk/Audible-Free-Trial-Digital-Membership/dp/B00OPA2XFG?tag=sharkpod-21.
For feedback you can reach us on: Luke@shark.ie
Keep Moving Forward!
Wednesday Sep 23, 2020
Wednesday Sep 23, 2020
What is Up SharkNation!
This week Luke and Mark chat to Co-Founder and CTO of one of Ireland's most promising Startups - WorkVivo based in Cork.
They cover:
1. How the two founders got started and and how their experience of working in CoreHR led them to want to start their own venture.
2. Building the user base and reaching free cash flow before looking for investors.
3. How they received backing form ZOOM founder Eric Yuan.
4. How WorkVivo fits perfectly into the future of work by helping employees feel more engaged with the company mission, culture and values.
5. How failing in the music tech space led to valuable lessons learned, and how the niche he was trying to address in his last startup is still up for grabs.
6. The guys talk about the pros and cons of the startup environment in Ireland.
7. They also get tangential and go off on what YouTube channels they are into, music, business Ideas etc.
And much more...
If you feel like supporting the podcast and like audio books, sign up for your free Audible account below!
Audible link here:https://www.amazon.co.uk/Audible-Free-Trial-Digital-Membership/dp/B00OPA2XFG?tag=sharkpod-21.
For feedback you can reach us on: Luke@shark.ie
Keep Moving Forward!
Wednesday Sep 16, 2020
Wednesday Sep 16, 2020
What is Up SharkNation!
This week, Luke and Mark chat to Founder and CEO of Animis Labs - a software platform that helps modern sales teams collaborate on, and close more deals.
We cover:
1. Danny's background and his time in the Dell sales org.
2. How his experience designing training for Sales people in Dell helped to form the basis for his idea.
3. Great advice he received on where to start and how to minimise risk at the beginning of his venture.
4. His time in the NDRC accelerator program and how that helped Danny focus and get the business off the ground.
5. They talk about how modern sales teams should work together and how Animis is trying to standardise his approach.
And much more...
If you feel like supporting the podcast and like audio books, sign up for you r free Audible account below!
Audible link here:https://www.amazon.co.uk/Audible-Free-Trial-Digital-Membership/dp/B00OPA2XFG?tag=sharkpod-21.
For feedback you can reach us on: Luke@shark.ie
Keep Moving Forward!
Wednesday Sep 09, 2020
Wednesday Sep 09, 2020
What is Up SharkNation!
This week Luke and Mark continue chat to the Co-Founder of Qwilr - Mark Tanner (@marketanner)- a sales proposal software solution that Luke first came across while working at Hubspot.
Qwilr is Based in Sydney Australia and Mark joined us from there.
Qwilr is modernising the bottom of funnel for sales teams by providing them with the tools they need to close more new business and delight their prospects with proposals that make sense for their business.
Qwir have raised about $9 million in Series A finding and have acquired 1000s of customers so far.
We cover:
1. Idea generation: How serendipity helped Mark and his partner get started.
2. Scaling up: How they started to sign their first customers and the importance of cashflow in the SaaS industry.
3. What's wrong with the other sales tools out there and how Qwilr helps sales teams close more deals
4. Raising money - funding the Dream
5. How to manage a distributed workforce and looking beyond boarders for sales and talent.
and much more!
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Audible link here:https://www.amazon.co.uk/Audible-Free-Trial-Digital-Membership/dp/B00OPA2XFG?tag=sharkpod-21.
For feedback you can reach us on: Luke@shark.ie
Keep Moving Forward!