Curveball
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Top 10 Curveball Episodes
Goodpods has curated a list of the 10 best Curveball episodes, ranked by the number of listens and likes each episode have garnered from our listeners. If you are listening to Curveball for the first time, there's no better place to start than with one of these standout episodes. If you are a fan of the show, vote for your favorite Curveball episode by adding your comments to the episode page.
BONUS — Fable Food takes on more investment as mushroom meat makes it into fast food chains
Curveball
10/04/21 • 23 min
Remember when Michael Fox first joined us on Curveball? He’d clawed his way back from a bruising collapse of his first start-up Shoes of Prey to build a new company.
Fable Foods creates a meat-alternative from shiitake mushrooms and Michael and his co-founders had convinced celebrity chef Heston Blumenthal to be part of their journey.
But Covid had hit and Michael wasn’t sure his newly-established food manufacturing plant would survive the pandemic.
Michael Fox is the ultimate optimist and since he last joined us on season 1 of Curveball, he’s secured more investment, scaled up his company, and now expanded into several fast food chains.
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Curveball is a production of Deadset Studios. Leaders reveal their darkest moments and share tips on how the deal with those things you just can’t see coming.
Keep up to date with Curveball by following @_deadsetstudios on Twitter and @deadsetstudios on instagram.
Want more from your leadership journey? To get more wisdom and life lessons from top leaders delivered to you directly, sign up to Curveball’s LinkedIn newsletter!
Find out more about the show or suggest a guest by visiting www.curveballshow.com
This was episode was produced Liam Riordan. Curveball’s executive producers are Rachel Fountain and Kellie Riordan.
We acknowledge Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the First Australians and Traditional Custodians of the land on which this show was made.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
09/28/21 • 23 min
Olivia Humphrey has taken her company Kanopy from her spare bedroom in Perth to San Francisco... and turned down some pretty enticing investment offers along the way.
She stuck to her guns, keeping her values front of mind at all times, and it paid off. I mean – it really paid off! Kanopy has sold for an eye-watering price.
In part two of this revealing interview, Olivia Humphrey walks us through the sale of Kanopy to a private equity firm. It’s the little-told part of many business stories. It also lands Olivia back in Australia where she’s already working on a range of exciting investments and philanthropic projects.
And if you haven’t heard part one, go and download it right now! Olivia Humphrey tells Curveball how she came up with the idea to streamline the way universities could secure rights for films and documentaries for students. Her journey building Kanopy from scratch is incredible and it’s one of Australia’s greatest start-up success stories.
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Curveball is a production of Deadset Studios. Leaders tell us how they thrive in challenging times.
Keep up to date with Curveball by following @_deadsetstudios on Twitter and @deadsetstudios on instagram.
To get more wisdom and life lessons from top leaders delivered directly, sign up to Curveball’s LinkedIn newsletter.
And hey, do suggest a guest by visiting www.curveballshow.com
This was episode was produced and edited by Grace Pashley and Liam Riordan, with sound design by Krissy Miltiadou.
We acknowledge Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the First Australians and Traditional Custodians of the land on which this show was made.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
02/23/21 • 63 min
With his wetsuit zippers blown open, his flotation vest filling fast with water, and his diaphragm heaving, Andrew Stark thought his time was up. But a monster wave on one of Hawaii’s most feared breaks was no match for Stark, a leader who thrives when faced with a threatening swell.
Whether it’s mounting world-renowned events at Bell’s Beach or Sunset, or convincing the world that surfing is professional sport, Stark rides every wave all the way to the shore.
A tragic family event when Stark was young forged a connection with the ocean that carries him through every tough challenge: “Surfing saved me. I could have gone in any direction, but all I wanted to do was go to the beach.”
So with the pandemic threatening the future of all pro surfing events, he’s more determined than ever to harness that passion into a successful recovery.
And he tells you more about that in a bonus episode, available in your podcast feed now.
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Curveball is the show where leaders are honest about their darkest moments. We take you inside a company at a pivotal moment, and share tips on how to thrive in challenging times.
Keep up to date with Curveball by following @_deadsetstudios on Twitter and @deadsetstudios on instagram.
Find out more about the show or suggest a guest by visiting www.curveballshow.com
We acknowledge Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the First Australians and Traditional Custodians of the land on which this show was made.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
02/01/21 • 73 min
When Mother Cricket calls, Justin Langer answers.
With Australian cricket in crisis, imploding amid the ‘sandpaper scandal’, Langer was offered a leadership role many considered a poisoned chalice, but the lure of rebuilding the sport he loved was too strong.
His tough-love leadership style doesn’t always win him friends, but the former batsman is determined to see his vision through.
Still, nothing quite prepares you for the pressure of a leadership role under this much scrutiny... and the next curveball would be a health scare of a huge magnitude.
Langer credits mindset, meditation and a trusted network of mates and mentors with giving him the tenacity to turn things around.
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Curveball’s the podcast that takes you inside a company or a leadership team at a pivotal moment. Leaders share tips with you on how to thrive in challenging times.
And we love, love LOVE hearing your stories. How have you adapted on the run? What’s been your curveball moment? Use your phone to record a voice memo and email it to [email protected]
Keep up to date with Curveball by following @_deadsetstudios on Twitter and @deadsetstudios on instagram and you can also sign up to Curveball’s LinkedIn newsletter! It's a weekly dose of the best advice leaders have that helps you with your own career. Subscribing is totally free.
Make sure you leave us a review for the Curveball podcast in your podcasting app. There’s more about Curveball at www.curveballshow.com or you can follow @_deadsetstudios on Twitter and @deadsetstudios on instagram.
We acknowledge Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the First Australians and Traditional Custodians of the lands where we live and work.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
And we’re live – Why Gaven Morris launched a 24-hour news channel before it was ready PART 1
Curveball
11/22/21 • 31 min
Gaven Morris is the man behind most of the news you consume on a daily basis. As the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s Director of News, Gaven’s led many of the country’s top reporters and best-loved programs.
But now he’s stepping away from this leadership role, and reflecting on his time in one of the most rapidly changing industries.
Journalism isn’t the most logical path to leadership. When he was deciding whether or not to take a leadership role at the ABC, Gaven realised he was in a pretty tough spot: he’d become an expert in everything but how a great leader should operate.
In part 1 of this candid interview, Gaven gives you a rare glimpse into the defining moments in his career: traumatic experiences, reporting from far-flung places, and the delayed effects of this on his mental health.
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Curveball is a production of Deadset Studios. Leaders reveal their darkest moments and share tips on how the deal with those things you just can’t see coming.
Keep up to date with Curveball by following @_deadsetstudios on Twitter and @deadsetstudios on instagram.
Want more from your leadership journey? To get more wisdom and life lessons from top leaders delivered to you directly, sign up to Curveball’s LinkedIn newsletter!
Find out more about the show or suggest a guest by visiting www.curveballshow.com
This episode was produced by Liam Riordan with sound design by Justin Rouillon.
The executive producers are Rachel Fountain and Kellie Riordan.
We acknowledge Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the First Australians and Traditional Custodians of the land on which this show was made.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
BONUS — Fable Food takes on more investment as mushroom meat makes it into fast food chains
Curveball
10/04/21 • 24 min
Remember when Michael Fox first joined us on Curveball? He’d clawed his way back from a bruising collapse of his first start-up Shoes of Prey to build a new company.
Fable Foods creates a meat-alternative from shiitake mushrooms and Michael and his co-founders had convinced celebrity chef Heston Blumenthal to be part of their journey.
But Covid had hit and Michael wasn’t sure his newly-established food manufacturing plant would survive the pandemic.
Michael Fox is the ultimate optimist and since he last joined us on season 1 of Curveball, he’s secured more investment, scaled up his company, and now expanded into several fast food chains.
+++
Curveball is a production of Deadset Studios. Leaders reveal their darkest moments and share tips on how the deal with those things you just can’t see coming.
Keep up to date with Curveball by following @_deadsetstudios on Twitter and @deadsetstudios on instagram.
Want more from your leadership journey? To get more wisdom and life lessons from top leaders delivered to you directly, sign up to Curveball’s LinkedIn newsletter!
Find out more about the show or suggest a guest by visiting www.curveballshow.com
This was episode was produced Liam Riordan. Curveball’s executive producers are Rachel Fountain and Kellie Riordan.
We acknowledge Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the First Australians and Traditional Custodians of the land on which this show was made.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
09/28/21 • 32 min
Olivia Humphrey was having lunch in a Napa vineyard when a billionaire stepped in to help turn her genius start-up into a fully-fledged global streaming platform.
A former Village Roadshow employee, Olivia came up with the idea to streamline the way universities could secure rights for films and documentaries for students.
As streaming took off and Kanopy became a digital platform much like Netflix or Stan, Olivia took her Perth-based company to the US where she quickly stitched up libraries too.
The billionaire backer gave her the confidence to scale Kanopy beyond her wildest dreams.
But it’s what happened next that so few business owners discuss openly. Especially very successful founders. The sale. How exactly does that work? Who are the winners, what are the risks, and what should you look out for?
Listen to both episodes to hear Olivia’s rise to start-up superstar.
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Curveball is a production of Deadset Studios. Leaders reveal their darkest moments and share tips on how the deal with those things you just can’t see coming.
Keep up to date with Curveball by following @_deadsetstudios on Twitter and @deadsetstudios on instagram.
Want more from your leadership journey? To get hot tips from top leaders delivered to you directly, sign up to Curveball’s LinkedIn newsletter!
Find out more about the show or suggest a guest by visiting www.curveballshow.com
This was episode was produced and edited by Grace Pashley and Liam Riordan, with sound design by Krissy Miltiadou.
We acknowledge Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the First Australians and Traditional Custodians of the land on which this show was made.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
08/23/21 • 60 min
Elizabeth Broderick has been fighting for equality since she was in utero.
Growing up with a twin sister helped instil a burning sense of fairness in young Liz. She’d go on to become a trailblazing lawyer, Special Rapporteur to the United Nations, and Australia’s longest-serving Sex Discrimination Commissioner.
Elizabeth Broderick is a leader who’s spent her whole career negotiating in hostile environments.
She’s been across the table from the Trump administration on reproductive rights, battled for paid parental leave, fought against sexual harassment and discrimination, and been instrumental in changing attitudes to family violence.
And through all that time negotiating in halls of power with important people, Liz Broderick has never lost her passion for justice, nor the unique understanding of the people for whom she fights.
Curveball is a production of Deadset Studios. Leaders reveal their darkest moments and how they keep going in the face of adversity.
Keep up with Curveball by following @_deadsetstudios on Twitter and @deadsetstudios on instagram.
Want more from your leadership journey? For more life lessons from top leaders, sign up to Curveball’s LinkedIn newsletter!
Find out more about the show or suggest a guest by visiting www.curveballshow.com
This was episode was produced and edited by Grace Pashley with sound design by Kristina Miltiadou.
The executive producers are Rachel Fountain and Kellie Riordan.
We acknowledge Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the First Australians and Traditional Custodians of the land on which this show was made.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
02/15/21 • 44 min
When Covid restrictions meant an immediate intermission for anyone working in live entertainment, Jeremy Fleming made a phone call no 40-something likes to make. He called his parents to say the shutdown spelt the end for his business and he’d be moving his family of four in with his parents.
Staging company Stagekings lost millions in revenue overnight, when client after client called to cancel events.
But ever the innovator, CEO Jeremy Fleming was determined the show must go on.
With a warehouse full of semi-assembled sets and a country under house arrest, Jeremy saw an opportunity. Cue, IsoKing: flat-packed furniture built for lockdown. WFH? They’ve got desks! Play from home? Puzzle boards! Just at home, constantly, with no respite? Wine racks!
This risky pivot has paid off, but the ride has been anything but smooth. Diving headfirst into a new business (in the middle of a pandemic) had set the scene for likely disaster.
Luckily, Jeremy knows a thing or two about set design, and he’s sharing his toolkit with the rest of us.
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Curveball gives you a glimpse inside a company at a pivotal moment. Leaders share their stories of thriving in challenging times.
We love hearing your stories. How have you adapted on the run? What’s been your curveball moment? Use your phone to record a voice memo and email it to [email protected]
Keep up to date with Curveball by following @_deadsetstudios on Twitter and @deadsetstudios on instagram and you can also sign up to the Curveball newsletter on LinkedIn.
Find out more about the show at www.curveballshow.com
We acknowledge Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the First Australians and Traditional Custodians of the lands where this show was made.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
10/24/22 • 54 min
Think back to the toughest challenges you've ever faced - the longest grind, the lowest low... What would you do if, almost as soon as it ended, you were told you had to do it all again?
For Kath Koschel, former New South Wales cricketer, this question isn’t hypothetical. She’d already faced loss of her fiancé and was overwhelmed with grief. And after months of rehab following a debilitating back injury, she wanted to get back on the pitch, but couldn’t. She still wasn’t able to lift her toes, which means she wasn’t able to bat. So her doctor suggested she give triathlons a go.
So as if she hadn’t faced enough punishment yet, she fell headlong into training, eventually deciding that a normal triathlon wasn’t good enough. No, she was going to train for the ultrawoman event. WTF!
But as she crossed the Sydney Harbour Bridge on a morning training session, she was struck down by a passing car, and sent to surgery, yet again.
How do you face down the most brutal of curveballs, when you barely survived the first time?
Kath Koschel is the impressive force behind the not-for-profit organisation The Kindness Factory which has expanded to The Kindness Curriculum, available in many schools in Australia and beyond.
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Curveball is a production of Deadset Studios. On Curveball you get the lowdown on how people grow in extraordinary times. Host Kellie Riordan takes you inside the someone’s curveball moment. They’ve been thrown a challenge, dealt a tough hand, the stakes are high. A decision could change the course of their life.
Keep up to date with Curveball by following @_deadsetstudios on Twitter and @deadsetstudios on Instagram.
Want more from your leadership journey? To get more wisdom and life lessons from top leaders delivered to you directly, sign up to Curveball’s LinkedIn newsletter!
Find out more about the show or suggest a guest by visiting www.curveballshow.com
This was episode was produced by Rachel Fountain and edited by Liam Riordan.
The executive producers are Rachel Fountain and Kellie Riordan.
We acknowledge Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the First Australians and Traditional Custodians of the land on which this show was made.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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FAQ
How many episodes does Curveball have?
Curveball currently has 115 episodes available.
What topics does Curveball cover?
The podcast is about Society & Culture, Entrepreneurship, Podcasts and Business.
What is the most popular episode on Curveball?
The episode title 'And we’re live – Why Gaven Morris launched a 24-hour news channel before it was ready PART 1' is the most popular.
What is the average episode length on Curveball?
The average episode length on Curveball is 36 minutes.
How often are episodes of Curveball released?
Episodes of Curveball are typically released every 5 days, 18 hours.
When was the first episode of Curveball?
The first episode of Curveball was released on Nov 2, 2020.
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