Airtasker is part of the Australian vernacular. Tim Fung co-founded Airtasker with Jonathan Lui in Feb 2012. In this hard hitting interview, Tim discusses how they raised money and built Airtasker into a global business and all the issues they face. Airtasker has 1.5m customers, and provides $200m per annum in work to Taskers (people who do the work) . It also has operations in the USA and UK. The interview covers how Airtasker ensures the revenue split is fair and why one should still use Airtasker even if you can go direct to the Tasker. Airtasker is listed on the ASX since March 2021, and Tim discusses the poor performance of the share price and why the priority is global growth.
Tony Grist - Non Exec Chair and Co-founder Amcom Sept 1997 - July 2015
Tony co-founded Amcom and sold it to Vocus. In this interview, he describes that journey, the TPG acquisition of 19.9% and the extra-ordinary lengths he went to, to get the merger with Vocus across the line. He then details his experience after the merger with M2 and his thoughts of the issues encountered.
In 2004 James packed his bag and went to live in Ukraine. where he learnt to to speak fluent Russian.
In Ukraine, James met Viktoria, a native Ukrainian whom he married in 2007.
James and Victoria live in Sydney.
When the Russians invaded Ukraine, James decided he wanted to make some contribution to the war effort. First he bought 2 second hand ambulances and delivered them himself to the front line in Ukraine. But then decided that 4WD cars were better suited to the terrain so now he buys these cars and has them converted into ambulances. James has a fund raising page - https://www.gofundme.com/f/ausukraineaid - and all contributions go directly to this cause with nothing being paid for administration. James pays for his trips to Ukraine himself. This is a great way to support Ukraine. This is his story
James founded Vocus and grew Vocus from a small telco to the 4th largest telco in Australia
James explains his rationale for merging with M2 and the issues with the merger
The Taking of Vocus - Class Action - Going Private - Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance
The Taking of Vocus - Everything changes yet some things remain the same
New CEO Kevin Russell appointed
Jon Brett and Rhoda Phillipo retire
In this frank, hard hitting interview, Chris outlines his experiences at Vocus and sheds further light on some incidences in the podcasts.
Matt Hollis - 23rd employee at Vocus
Sales and Marketing Director - Corporate and Wholesale
July 2010 - Dec 2016
The Year of Changes
Vaughan Bowen elected Chair following David Spence's resignation
Christine Holman resigns
Jancor Partners takes a significant stake
John Ho appointed to board
New divisional structure
Julie Fahey appointed to board
Geoff Horth Resigns
Vaughan resigns and Bob appointed as chair
New management structure
Denise Hanlon - Human Resources Director -Vocus
Led HR and Human Resource function from April 2015 to Sept 2017
The taking of Vocus
- Trying to appoint a new CEO
- 2 takeover bids
- New Directors
- Writing off $1.5 billion
- David Spence resigns
4 traits of great leaders - Trying to understand the M2 numbers - Profit Downgrades - First takeover offer
Ep7, the beginning of 2017 and the appoint of Bob Mansfield
Nextgen Networks, Boardroom Coups
The merger between Vocus and M2 would created the fourth largest telco in Australia and the third largest in New Zealand. The earnings after synergies should be around $370m.
how Vocus acquired Amcom despite an ostensible blocking vote of 20% held by TPG
Vocus and the battle for Amcom
- TPG the spoiler
The Taking of Vocus, boardroom coups and what went wrong with a $2bn merger
The story of how Vocus grew from a market cap of $25m to over $5bn at its peak.
The story of a $bn acquisition and how one of the largest corporates tried to stop it.
The story of a multi $bn merger, and the inside story of what went wrong.
Inside the boardroom of one of Australia's largest telcos