Platform Diaries with Shane Williams
Activity Overview
Episode publication activity over the past year
Episodes
The Platform Owner's Guidebook - The un-Audio book.
17 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Bonnie and Clyde delve into my first book 'The Platform Owner's Guidebook' uncovering key themes and practical tips on mastering platform ownership. T...
Mastering Organic Growth with Nathanael Small
17 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In this special "lost episode" of Platform Diaries, host Shane Williams sits down with Nathanael Small, Leadership Adviser and Founder of Wo...
The price is right – finding buyers for your business and securing the best deal
04 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
You’ve scaled your business and its time to sell; how do you find the right buyers and get the best price? Lowell Ricklefs has decades of experience...
Avoiding a down round in a bear market
20 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Few founders or investors like the prospect of devaluing a business; but with market sentiment cooling how do you raise enough to continue to run and ...
Scaling your sales capability – how to shift sales culture to unlock growth
06 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
You’re a founder who’s hired a bunch of sellers to help you drive revenue, but the business is still overly reliant on your ability to sell. How d...
Sustainable high-growth businesses must have an eye on margins
23 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
If you’re going to scale, no matter what kind of business you are in, you need to know how much money it is costing you to deliver each $1 of revenu...
A good time not a long time – why it’s critical to get your ESOP right
09 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Motivating employees to join and stay with your business is a challenge. Employee Share Options Plans are increasingly being adopted in Australia but ...
Making the leap – transforming your team from startup to scaleup
25 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
It’s not uncommon for founders to assume their founding team will be with them for the entire journey; but the reality is that some people move on, ...
Scaling your engineering team – how to successfully leverage offshore talent
11 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Australia is experiencing record employment rates. The competition to secure the best software engineering folks is pushing salaries out of reach for ...
Demystifying startup investment and securing your next raise
28 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In Australia there’s a lot of investment terminology that’s perhaps misused or open to interpretation. Cam Walshe Co-founder and MD of Pitch VC sh...
Dealing with brilliant jerks – how to have a difficult conversation
14 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
They say the behaviour you walk past is the behaviour you accept. But performance and behaviour conversations are difficult, especially in growing tea...
Investor updates – turning obligation into opportunity – tips from a Silicon Valley capital raising pro
31 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
You have a fiduciary obligation to keep your investors updated; but it doesn’t need to be a chore. Nathan Beckord has spent his 20-year career raisi...
Growing your startup business despite a market downturn
17 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Description: Not since the dotcom boom and the GFC have we seen such significant headwinds for startup growth; but in every disruption, there exists o...
How successful B2B scaleup founders prepare for crisis
03 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Cyber-attacks, ransomware, phishing – any of these could be targeted at your business or at your customers via your business. How do you respond? Gr...
A solid foundation for rapid growth and scale
19 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
You’ve taken your business to a position where it’s ready for major investment from outside. But, are you ready? Shane Williams has seen c...
Busting the myths about startup investment
05 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Is there more than one path to getting investment for your startup? How do you, as an investor in your own business, ensure a solid return? Jordan Gre...
When and who should founders turn to for help?
22 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In the early stages of a start-up, the founder and early team wear many hats, but as the business scales we often need to call in the experts. Seb Poo...
Striking a balance between vision and commerciality
08 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
When the vision that drives a founder to create their start-up isn’t serving the market, how should they respond? Craig Crowther CEO at Cahoot L...
The secrets to a foolproof funding pitch
24 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Getting your pitch right can be the difference between changing the world and getting lost in the cracks. Ferdi Reynolds is an entrepreneur, founder a...
Legendary founders and the importance of people strategy in scaleups
10 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
What differentiates a legendary founder? Mary Butler is a people strategy expert who specialises in enabling founders and scaleups to build legendary ...
Leveraging platforms to enable your start-up to scale
27 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Building a scalable product and proving the market is difficult, but scaling a business is harder. Whilst start-ups are often proudly scrappy, it take...
Navigating privacy – how to win in a changing ecomm landscape
13 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
More than ever before, the focus of scale-ups on their data privacy posture is critical. With the increasing demands of regulators to secure personal ...
How improved ways of working unlock scale in software engineering teams
27 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
There’s any number of theories on how to scale engineering, but only those who’ve been on the journey can truly tell what works and where ...
Human-centred Agile Organisational design
06 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Jamie Pride is founder of ‘humanly agile’ and author of ‘Unicorn Tears: Why Startups Fail & How To Avoid It’. Former CEO o...
Implementing Complex Systems
30 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Recorded in November 2020 as research for the book that would become ‘The Platform Owner’s Guidebook’ Nigel Dalton social scientist, AI thought ...
Demand & Delivery
16 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Recorded in October 2020 as research for the book that would become ‘The Platform Owner’s Guidebook’, Mike Kasparian is CIO at Forre...
Sustaining high performance in platform teams (Re-release)
02 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Just like professional athletes, platform teams are expected to continually and consistently produce exceptional results. Is the secret to a perpetual...
Storytelling – the superpower that unlocks investment and transformation
19 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
It’s not always the best idea that wins. Often, it all depends who has the best told story that captures the hearts and minds of stakeholders. B...
From Start-up to Scale-up Part 2 - How Xero reimagined its ways of working to enable hyper-growth
05 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Part 2 of 2 in a series on organisational design. When start-up’s mature they experience the growing pains of success. Those who successfully ac...
From Start-up to Scale-up Part 1 – Engineering for success, how platform teams play their part in a large technology business
21 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Part 1 of 2 in a series on organisational design. Jason van Lint, Head of Delivery at Flybuys (Loyalty Pacific) knows the struggle and satisfaction of...
Mergers and Acquisitions – What does it mean for platforms and teams?
07 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
M&A activity creates both uncertainty and opportunity for businesses and platform teams. Nadia Herriott, Separation Stream Lead at Trustpower, sha...
Data driven decision and predictive analytics? Na, I’ll stick with my spreadsheet
24 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Many organisations attempt to drive value through data visualisation and reporting and yet end up never getting away from their individual spreadsheet...
Standing on the shoulders of giants – building platforms supported by platforms
10 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Rolf Krolke and his team build platform software that provides investigative analysis capabilities for organisations across the globe. Underpinning th...
Getting the most from your partner relationship – Part 4
26 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
This is the fourth of a multipart series on selecting and working with System Integration Partners. Philip Moon, Senior Manager of ERP at REA Group sh...
Getting the most from your partner relationship – Part 3
12 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
This is third of a multipart series on selecting and working with System Integration Partners. Matt Owens, Director of Sales & Marketing at Annexa...
Getting the most from your partner relationship – Part 2
29 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
This is the second of a multipart series on selecting and working with System Integration Partners. Brendan Connolly, Head of Technology Sales @ Accen...
Getting the most from your partner relationship – Part 1
15 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The first of a multipart series on selecting and working with System Integration Partners. Lee Tsiamis, associate partner at IBM, shares a rare insigh...
Speed to value – using platforms to realise value sooner
01 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Digital transformation projects seem to be increasing in time and complexity, but in the post pandemic world, business leaders can afford little time ...
They’re going to find you out! – Tackling Imposter Syndrome
18 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
“That person is capable of so much more”, “I just got lucky”, or “I shouldn’t be here” - These are the manif...
Sustaining high performance in platform teams – avoiding burnout
04 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
We often hear “people are our most important asset”, yet frequently leaders and organisations will rely on an EAP program to deal with the...
Platform Governance: A practical approach
20 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Governance – it can bring on fear and loathing but it doesn’t need to. Rob Pickering, GM of Technology at the AFL, offers a unique perspec...
Marketing Technology: What it takes to be a great platform leader in Martech
06 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Marketing technology (martech) is a rapidly evolving technology space. Nerida Cook, Director of Marketing, Data and Technology at Deloitte Digital sha...
Business Transformation Part 2: the key to success is your executive relationships
23 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
A whole of business transformation can be a long, complex and expensive process – but there’s a few critical must-do’s to ensure suc...
Business Transformation Part 1: it’s hard work but the rewards are worth it!
09 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Business transformation is hard work, especially if we lead with technology and forget the people. Rebekah Vesali, Transformation Implementation Direc...
Diversity of thought – how tech and non-tech experience is equally as valuable in a platform team
25 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Gavin Diamond MD of Box.com shares his career story to emphasise the non-linear nature of careers in the platform space. Gavin also discusses with hos...
From purpose to action – the power of culture?
11 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Highly autonomous multi-disciplinary teams working towards a clear shared purpose – is this the utopia of high-performance platform capability? ...
Employee value proposition - Why would anyone work for you?
28 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
With so many exciting roles and organisations to choose from, what set’s your team apart from the rest? How will you attract and retain the righ...
Adoption – a vendor’s perspective
14 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Is your gym membership ‘expensive’ or a good investment in your health? Getting value from your platform investment is often hinged on how...
Life at the top – becoming a Salesforce celebrity
28 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Platform vendors have millions of customers but only a handful become their keynote clients. Rudi Khoury and Fisher & Paykel appliances are one su...
Architecture? But it’s out of the box!
14 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
You’ve heard terms like ‘no-code’ and ‘low-code’ used to describe SaaS platforms. So, surely, concepts like ‘archi...
Sustaining high performance in platform teams
31 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Just like professional athletes, platform teams are expected to continually and consistently produce exceptional results. Is the secret to a perpetual...
A new podcast series for leaders in enterprise software
24 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Shane Williams chews the fat with entrepreneurs, start-up founders and thought leaders on what it takes to traverse the wall between start-up and scal...