The Raise

Sharesies co-CEO Leighton Roberts: When scaling hits gravity

In the dynamic world of fintech, few companies have revolutionised wealth management quite like Sharesies. Co-CEO and founder Leighton Roberts joins us to share insights on the journey of Sharesies, from its inception in 2017 to becoming a household name in New Zealand and Australia, serving hundreds of thousands of customers. I reflected on a time before Sharesies, where household investors had clunky apps, high fees, and limited market access. Today, Sharesies is more than just an investment app - it's a "heart of wealth" platform, aiming to be deeply integrated into people's financial lives. During our conversation, Leighton gives the backstory into the evolution of this vision, the challenges of scaling a tech company, and the surprising opportunities that have emerged, including their strategic move into B2B services and their outlook on the transformative power of AI in financial advice. Listen and find out what Sharesies is taking on next 👉 *spoiler - Leighton hasn’t ruled out cryptocurrency…

James Fuller Isn't Giving Up Hnry's First-Mover Advantage

I’m always on the lookout for SaaS products that don’t just digitise old processes but fundamentally reimagine them. Recently on The Raise, I had the chance to speak with James Fuller, co-founder and CEO of Hnry, a company that’s transforming the lives of freelancers and contractors across New Zealand, Australia, and the UK. What started as a side project born from personal pain has become a venture-backed, fast-growing business that’s helping their customers manage self-employment tax as they would salaried job. James didn’t set out to build a global fintech—he just wanted to help people facing the same headaches as he was. With competition now hot on their heels, they Hnry team knows the only way to win is to keep delighting their customers. Listen to find out what that means in reality 👉

Delivereasy Co-founder Tim Robinson on Valuing Local Growth

I’m always fascinated by the stories behind the platforms that quietly become part of our daily lives. Recently, I sat down with Tim Robinson, co-founder of Delivereasy [https://www.delivereasy.co.nz/], to unpack how three friends with $700 each and a handful of battered scooters turned a scrappy side hustle into one of New Zealand’s leading food delivery services. What follows is a raw, inspiring look at grit, hustle, and the strategic pivots that fuelled Delivereasy’s nationwide growth 👉

How to win media and influence people with Encour founder Jessy Wu

Welcome to The Raise. In our latest edition, I spoke with the dynamic Jessy Wu [https://www.linkedin.com/in/jessyzwu/], founder of Encour [https://www.encour.co/]. Encour are a strategic communications powerhouse who’ve partnered with some of Australia's leading fintech, marketplace, and healthtech startups. Jessy has a knack for storytelling in the context of innovation, capital raising, and world-building. Before founding Encour, Jessy was an investor at Afterwork Ventures, where she championed innovative companies like Everlab, Primary, and OwnHome. Her insights are regularly featured in top-tier publications such as Forbes and the Australian Financial Review. Jessy generously shares her expertise in communications strategy across the tech sector. Scroll on to hear Jessy’s answers to these burning questions for on the minds of entrepreneurs 👉 * When should my startup start doing PR? * Do investors care how good founders are at storytelling or should they stick to building the tech? * Should I DIY comms and PR or use an agency? * How do I respond when my company makes a mistake and our reputation is on the line? * I naturally shy away from the spotlight…what can I do?

Wicked entrepreneurship with Luke Campbell from VXT

Welcome back to season two of The Raise ⏩️ This week, I spoked with Luke Campbell, co-founder of SaaS startup, VXT. Honestly, going into this interview I thought we would get more into the tactics and technicalities of running a SaaS company. Instead, the story that unfolded during my conversation is so much more than an archetypal founder story. What I discovered about Luke is that he’s someone who puts fun at the heart of everything, isn’t ashamed of his ambition to one day make it into space, and has a deep desire to learn and grow as a leader and entrepreneur. He has a huge respect for the people who’ve helped him create VXT, emanating the entrepreneurs who inspired him as a teenager. Taking a leaf out of Ben Horowitz’s book, he once made the bold move of driving five hours without an appointment to get a meeting with the CEO of Two Degrees Mobile in the early days of building VXT.  Don’t let the fact that Luke almost flunked university make you think he hasn’t worked hard either. Like many entrepreneurs, the traditional path was never going to be for him. Fast forward to now, and in the 12-months, with co-founder Lucy Turner, VXT has tripled its ARR to almost $3m, servicing customers in the UK, the US, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Ireland, and Canada. They happily call New Zealand their smallest market. Their team of 17 “really, really like working at VXT and people who don't work at VXT, when they find out about what it's like to work at VXT, really, really want to come and work at VXT.”