Ground Breaking Podcast

Welcome to Ground Breaking Podcast.I have a passion for business and when I started to work on my first business idea I thought I should learn as much as possible from those already blazing a trail ahead of me.Each week I'll connect with young entrepreneurs making an impact on the next generation of business. Guests will share the stories behind the businesses they are building, what’s worked, what hasn’t and how they are figuring things out. I look forward to you joining me on the journey. Stay awesome and share the love Eli SmitFounder + HostGroundbreakingpodcast.com 

Welcome to our first episode, this week we are talking with Rees Vinsen the Founder and CEO of Adduco Media.Rees talks with me about starting his business at the age of 15-years-old. The incredibly hard transition from taking an idea and turning it into a real world business; all with no business experience and no capital. He shares his recipe for successfully finding the right customers and the challenges he had to overcome because of his age. Also don't miss his best 3 pieces of advice for any up-and-coming entrepreneurs. Adduco Media is a modern-day Social Media Marketing Company built to unlock value from today’s changing media landscape. His team are focused on helping brands, across New Zealand, USA and parts of Asia, build trust and advocacy amongst their key audiences.I'd love to hear from you, so do leave a comment.Stay awesome and share the loveEli SmitFounder + HostGroundbreakingpodcast.com   

Welcome to our next episode, this week we are talking with Deanna Yang the Chief Cookie Officer of Moustache Milk & Cookie Bar.If you have never tried one of Deanna’s cookies, can I encourage you to jump online and order a pack today, YUM!Deanna dreamt of opening her own Milk & Cookie shop since she was 8 years old. Deanna talks with me about the journey of making this dream a reality. Retailing through both physical and online stores and the cultural change we need to see in New Zealand to help the next generation of young business people thrive.I'd love to hear from you, so do leave a comment and subscribe today.Stay awesome and share the loveEli SmitFounder + HostGroundbreakingpodcast.com

Welcome to epsiode 4 of Ground Breaking Podcast.This week I interviewed Will Hewitt the Managing Director of Ventworks. Will started his career in Nelson, while he was still attending school. He co-founded ThnkBot with his long-term mentor and friend Daniel Farley. ThnkBot produced educational robot kits. From robots to wireless sensing products, Will moved onto his next venture founding Ventworks. His devices are in use in the Nelson/Tasman and Canterbury regions, and work atop of existing networks as well as custom networking solutions. If you love robots, technology and science this episode is for you. I know I geeked out. Will shares solid advice and I was amazed to hear I could start a company for a $100. We talked lemonade stands, resilience and the opportunities available to young entrepreneurs.I'd love to hear from you, so do leave a comment and subscribe today.Stay awesome and share the love Eli SmitFounder + HostGroundbreakingpodcast.com

Hi everyone,Welcome to another week and another episode of Ground Breaking Podcast.This week I speak with Ashutosh Sharma, the CEO and Founder of Sparx Exchange. In a world of AR, VR, cryptocurrency, blockchain and the ecommerce frontier, Ash Sharma is working on some of the products for tomorrow. I was so glad to find some time with Ash who travels regularly outside of New Zealand and I'm sure you will enjoy every minute of this interview as much as I did.Prior to this interview I'd never heard of Bitcoin, ZCash, Monero or Ethereum. After the interview I thought I'd investigate Fintech and what I discovered was whole new world of chatbots, insurtech and open banking.It was interesting looking at the infographic below from the team at Code Brew Labs. I'd love to hear from you, so do leave a comment and subscribe today.Stay awesome and share the love Eli SmitFounder + HostGroundbreakingpodcast.com

I'm super excited this week as I got to meet a princess. Well the Slime Princess.Katharina Weischede is twelve and passionate about slime and putting smiles on peoples faces. Katharina runs a physical and an online store and has expanded to sell Slime Princess merchandise. She has built an awesome brand and is well worth following on Instragram.  I hope you enjoy this episode. So, leave a comment and subscribe today.Stay awesome and share the love Eli SmitFounder + HostGroundbreakingpodcast.com  

Welcome to another amazing episode of Ground Breaking Podcast.When it comes to the recruitment process and landing the ideal hire it can seem like a daunting and nearly impossible task.This week I am talking with Dale Clareburt the founder and CEO of a high-growth kiwi tech company called Weirdly.Dale describes herself as a business Leader, a HRTech expert and a Future of Work enthusiast. She has extensive experience across the recruitment industry. Her passion lies in developing people and challenging traditional business structures.I hope you enjoy this episode. So, leave a comment and subscribe today.Stay awesome and share the loveEli SmitFounder + HostGroundbreakingpodcast.com 

This week's episode saw me speak with Ben Reynolds the Co-Founder and CEO of Spalk.Spalk's offices are based out of the Icehouse and I was amazed by the number of significant businesses that have been connected with this Trust.Spalk’s technology allows broadcasters and content owners to offer hundreds of different audio commentary options alongside their existing live broadcast. They have developed some clever technology which is able to perfectly synchronise remote commentary audio to the existing live video. Spalk works with content partners around the world like FIBA, Rugby Canada and Māori Television and have seen their software power 1,000’s of commentaries for millions of sports fans.I hope you enjoy this episode. So, leave a comment and subscribe today.Stay awesome and share the loveEli SmitFounder + HostGroundbreakingpodcast.com

As careers go Anna Guenther is not doing half bad, with stints working for the New Zealand Government, MIT and a Masters in Entrepreneurship with a focus on crowdfunding. Anna is currently co-founder and Chief Bubble Blower of PledgeMe, New Zealand's first crowdfunding platform.Over five years PledgeMe has had over $15 million pledged and over 1,100 creative, community and entrepreneurial campaigns - ranging from food forests through to a craft brewers. In order to continue to grow in New Zealand, launch in Australia and focus on making equity crowdfunding equitable, PledgeMe are equity crowdfunding equity crowdfunding (again). If you want to join Anna and the PledgeMe team for this journey, please head over to their campaign page.I hope you enjoy this episode. So, leave a comment and subscribe today.Stay awesome and share the loveEli SmitFounder + HostGroundbreakingpodcast.com