The Business Lounge with Siimon Reynolds

In 1987, David migrated from South Africa and founded Com Tech Communications, one of Australia's first specialist supplier of IT networking and communications products. Fourteen years later, he sold the business to Dimension Data at an enterprise value of over $1 billion making him the first Australian 'unicorn'.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In Sydney, a city obsessed by property, few know more about it that John McGrath. He is founder, Managing Director and CEO of McGrath Estate Agents and a former director of Realestate.com. Here he shares with Siimon how he started out, the challenges early on and his candid thoughts on the property industry.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

For 23 years, Craig has run the luxury streetwear brand Ksubi, becoming one of Australia's foremost fashion brands worn by the likes of Kylie Jenner, Ruby Rose and rapper A$AP Rocky. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What lessons can special forces military teach about business? Quite a few as it turns out. Hear how training for special forces intentionally tries to break your spirit, why combat is not the time for a chat over walkie-talkie and why our guest, this week, has to remain anonymous.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Her Melbourne restaurant Stephanie's changed the local restuarant scene. Her kitchen guide The Cook's Companion was an international bestseller, and she has just published her 18th book. Hear how she changed Australia's food scene, how being a librarian helped her and why doing the little things well is important in any business.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jack arrived from Canada in the late 1960s and seeing the lack of fast food places in Australia, saw an opportunity. Since then, he has built his Hungry Jack's and Dominoes Pizza empire and is now worth an estimated $4.36 billion.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Fred Schebesta is a business leader, best known for founding internet comparison site, Finder.com, he's also known as Australia's king of Crypto. Here he talks to Siimon about how to make change quickly and profitably and the sacrifices you have to make to make it big.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A former Telstra Australia Business Woman of the Year and Entreprenuer of the year, at the age of 18, Creswell bought a small local hand-made muesli business for $1,000, where she had worked and founded her own brand, Carman's Fine Foods. Her company now exports to over 32 different countries. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You'll hear how a vet backpacking around Europe created one of the world's bigest travel agents. Hear how Flight Centre survived lockdown as COVID-19 destroyed the global travel indistry and what solutions lie ahead for Qantas as they face its current crisisSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

How do you disrupt an entire mode of business? In 1997, Matt Rockman together with three others founded Seek.com and took on the mighty classified media giants and won. In 2005, the company was floated on the ASX for over $587 million. Hear how they did it.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.