Scaling up: Lessons from the world's best CEOs and Founders

About Scaling up: Lessons from the world's best CEOs and Founders

“Scaling Up” is a podcast that tells the scaling stories of great growth companies from around the world, as experienced by their founders and CEOs. With the aim of inspiring and educating the next generation of entrepreneurs, as well as helping current business leaders, this podcast series hopes to give insight into what it takes to scale a business to hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue. Hosted by Ed Cowan and supported by TDM Growth Partners.

Publisher

TDM Growth Partners

Category

business

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

1 Nov 2019

Latest episode

4 Feb 2026

Latest episodes

14 of 59 episodes have a transcript.

1. 

   4 Feb 2026TRANSCRIPT

   Mission Zero - Global Money Movement Reimagined: Kristo Käärmann, co-Founder and CEO Wise (LON:WISE) [S10:E1]

   Kristo Käärmann, co-Founder and CEO of Wise, discusses reimagining global money movement by eliminating hidden fees and building transparent systems, in this interview.

2. 

   25 Oct 2025TRANSCRIPT

   From Olympic Gold to ASX 200 - Grant Hackett, CEO Generation Development Group (ASX: GDG) [S9:E8]

   Grant Hackett is a three-time Olympic gold medallist and undoubtedly one of the greatest distance swimmers of all time. Since stepping out of the pool more than 15years ago, he’s crafted a second chapter as an executive and now as CEO of Generation Development Group (ASX:GDG), a diversified financial services business that has grown fifteen-fold under his leadership to become an ASX 200 company. Grant is a unicorn leader. His experiences as not just an elite sportsperson, but one of Australia’s greatest, give him a unique perspective on leadership, motivation, discipline, and resilience. He’s not someone you’d want to back against — and that mentality has flowed through into how GDG has intentionally scaled its culture as it has grown. This is both a personal and business story of reinvention, drive, strategy, and thoughtfulness.

3. 

   14 Oct 2025TRANSCRIPT

   The Next Chapter: Relevancy and Reinvention - Bruce Buchanan, CEO and Co-Founder, Rokt

   We last sat down with Bruce Buchanan in late 2019 —at the time, Rokt was in hyper-growth, having just raced through the US$100 million revenue mark. The business was laser-focused on the transaction moment — unlocking its potential for merchants, advertisers, and consumers alike. In the six years since, Rokt’s revenue has grown more than eightfold. The company is now strongly profitable and has built on its original insight  - the power of relevancy. Bruce and his team have transitioned the business to a suite of AL powered  products and with each new capability deepened e-commerce partner stickiness, expanded both sides of the network, and delivered greater returns for merchants and advertisers. This episode dives into Rokt’s next chapter of growth, and the role it is playing as a neutral, trusted intermediary for first-party data, how the business is positioned to become an intelligence layer for ecommerce in a world mthat is seeing real time technological change with the rise and capability of AI agents. Just as importantly, we’ll discuss what the last six years have revealed about Rokt’s culture, and how Bruce has leaned into the hard decisions needed to scale the business for the long term. Without doubt, this period has cemented Bruce Buchanan as one of Australia’s greatentrepreneurs and leaders. And yet, the story is still being written.

Inside a recent episode

Mission Zero - Global Money Movement Reimagined: Kristo Käärmann, co-Founder and CEO Wise (LON:WISE) [S10:E1]

Published 4 Feb 2026 · Transcript excerpt

[…] I think you're looking for a kind of an historical connection. So both my co -founder and I grew up just through the time as the Berlin Wall fell, and we got our own country back, which had nothing. So I think the interesting thing that's kind of hard to fathom is in early 90s, Estonia didn't have any business. It had zero banks to begin with. There was, there wasn't even such concept, and all of the businesses had to be invented. So there's a generation ahead of us, so not us, but between us and our parents, anyone who had, like, a working arms and legs, will become entrepreneurs. And for sure, there's an element of inspiration for us. […]

Who has been a guest on Scaling up: Lessons from the world's best CEOs and Founders

Names identified in recent episode analyses. Showing up to five guests.

• Kristo Käärmann
• Michael Schneider
• Steven Marks
• Tim Doyle
• Silvija Martincevic

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

Apple Podcasts (US)

5.0 / 5

3 ratings

Spotify

4.8 / 5

28 ratings

Podcast Authority Score: 33 / 100

A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.

Quality

30

Social presence

0

YouTube

0

Engagement

90

Contact Scaling up: Lessons from the world's best CEOs and Founders

Guest appearances

Does not typically book guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.

Shows with a similar audience

• 

  How I Made It

• 

  Straight Talk with Mark Bouris

• 

  Australian Investors Podcast

• 

  Equity Mates Investing Podcast

• 

  Masters of Scale

• 

  The Twenty Minute VC (20VC): Venture Capital | Startup Funding | The Pitch

Questions about Scaling up: Lessons from the world's best CEOs and Founders