Matt Brown Show - Conversations That Power The Business World.

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MBS095 - LIVE SHOW - #CryptoTraderZA (Ran Neu-Ner & Luke Martin) Jan 17, 2018

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This is the full version of the LIVE Matt Brown show held in January in Johannesburg. It was the biggest cryptocurrency event ever held in South Africa and I'm proud that the Matt Brown Show is at the forefront of connecting the cryptocurrency community together. This event is sponsored by Centbee (www.centbee.com) and Uprise Markets (www.uprisemarkets.com)This is my 6th back-to-back SOLD OUT crypto live show, and features Luke Martin AKA Venture Coinist - one of the worlds best crypto traders and Ran Neu-Ner, host of #CryptoTrader the first televised cryptocurrency trading show answering your cryptoasset trading questions

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MBS094 - Pepe Marais & Gareth Leck, Joe Public [Sponsored by Entrepreneur Magazine] Jan 09, 2018

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There is an old saying that nothing worth having comes easy and the story of Gareth Leck and Pepe Marais is no different. The idea was to take big agency thinking to the man in the street under a concept called “take away advertising” and a mission to disrupt the advertising space. Today the company Joe Public is South Africa’s largest independent agency with a turnover of R700 million and gross profits in excess of R200 million. But getting to where they are today was no easy feat and it involved an exit to a multinational corporate, the re-purchase of the company, bankruptcy and the rebuilding of the company from the ground up on more than one occasion. This is a classic story of the hardship and realities of entrepreneurship and running a business.

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MBS093 - LIVE SHOW 0 #CryptoJHB, Blockchain/Bitcoin & Initial Coin Offerings (ICO's) Dec 21, 2017

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So, turns out #CryptoJHB was a yet another sold out live show – and I’d like to just say thank you to everyone who has supported my crypto focused events, without your support these events wouldn’t be possible. Twitter was going crazy again on the night – in fact, #CryptoJHB was the #1 trending hashtag on Twitter in South African on the night, this is another first for Matt Brown Media and the first podcast to trend in the #1 position in the history of South African media. I’ve also received a ton of feedback from attendees throw these events more frequently and to go deeper into subjects like Cryptocurrency Trading, Alt Coins & ICO’s, Blockchain/Bitcoin for beginners and mining for bitcoin. Unfortunately, we’ve run out of runway for the 2017 but I’m already underway with the planning for three more events in Cape Town, Johannesburg and for the first time a crypto focused event in Durban. Now, the best way to get notified of new events it to follow me on Twitter using the handle #mattbrownza or to subscribe to the Digital Kungfu newsletter at digitalkungfu.co.za. So, finally, a quick thank you our sponsors the Park House of events, Fractal Solutions and the Blockchain Academy. So, without further adeu let’s get on with the show!

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MBS092 - Mark Keating, CEO SALESGURU Dec 07, 2017

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We all know that sales is the life blood of any business but the ability to make sales doesn’t come naturally to many of us. It’s arguably why many of us hate cold calling so much because when we were young we were told “not to talk to strangers”. The ability to make sales is further impacted when the economy sucks and the market is just not spending money the way it would in a bullish market, so if this is the case, how do you become a rockstar at sales and make a killing even in a flat market? To get the answer I reached out to Mark Keating, he is the CEO of SALESGURU, Africa’s leading sales training company and without question one of the experts on how to make sales. To give you an idea of what Mark can do, when he launched the SALESGURU magazine he had R2 million rand in the bank from magazine subscription sales before they had even printed a single copy of the magazine. How about them apples?

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MBS091 - LIVE SHOW - #CryptoCPT, Blockchain/Bitcoin & Initial Coin Offerings (ICO's) Dec 06, 2017

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So, blockchain/bitcoin is seemingly a very hot subject right now in SA. #CryptoCPT was my third sold out live show in a row and this time we explored the inner workings of initial coin offerings (ICO’s) and token sales. The event was sponsored by Bitcoin events, Blockchain Academy, Luno and PwC came to the table and on the night my Twitter feed was going crazy – you can checkout the hashtag #cryptocpt to catch what was being discussed on the night – there was one picture which was retweeted so many times I think it may have been the most retweeted picture of a blockchain panel ever. Your panelists for the event were Sonya Kuhnel, founder of the Blockchain Academy, Simon Dingle, CEO Phantom Design, Werner van Rooyen from Luno, SA’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, Paul Mitchell, PwC Fintech and Blockchain Lead and Samer Saab, Head of Product Development for Get Wala. Here we go…

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MBS090 - The Pivotal Group [Sponsored by Entrepreneur Magazine] Dec 01, 2017

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When Paul Hutton, Joel Stransky and Bruce Arnold launched Pivotal Group in 2012, they did so with a wealth of experience and business relationships on their side. But it was still a start-up. They worked from home and then the SLOW Lounge, and they raised some angel funding, accessed personal capital, significantly reduced monthly income and took out personal loans to make it work. They had a vision, and they were determined to be disruptors. In this episode of the Matt Brown Show, we share the story of how they’ve built what they believe to be the foundations of a successful group of businesses and in only five years. But perhaps most importantly, we unpack the realities of being a team of founders that have to overcome significant challenges unique to Africa and what they have learnt as a management team and about themselves in the process of building Pivotal group to where it is today

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MBS089 - Michael Van Straaten, CEO Verimark Nov 26, 2017

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Hey guys, so today I want to talk to you about Toys R Us. In 2012, they were a $12 billion company with a massive retail network of 1600 stores. In September 2017 – that’s just last month – they went bankrupt. In fact, Toys R Us is just 1 of over 300 retail brands have filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy in the past 9 months alone. So, how does a $12 billion a year company go bankrupt in just 5 years? Well, there are several factors in play ranging from crippling debt, a consumer which is moving to the online shopping space and perhaps most obvious is a distinct lack of innovation – apart from a fulfillment partnership with Amazon they almost ignored the Internet completely. As the world continues to evolve on a seemingly cyclical basis, stories like this are becoming ever more common place and in my view, it is becoming increasingly harder to find stories of companies that have truly stood the test of time. But one of those companies isn’t a global story – it is in fact a local story – that almost all of us would have heard about at some point or another over the past 40 years or so. It is the story of Verimark – a direct marketing and direct response TV play. Verimark was founded in 1977 with a capital base of R5,000, a staff of 2 people and a dream. Fast forward to today however, and it is a R500 million a year company which employs over a thousand staff. In short, it is a brand and business that has truly stood the test of time. I reached out to the CEO Michael Van Straaten, to find out what he has learnt in the process of building Verimark into a household brand, a global leader in home shopping network innovations and most importantly, how we as entrepreneurs can with stand the pressures of an ever changing business environment.

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MBS088 - Robin Olivier, CEO Digicape [Sponsored by Entrepreneur Magazine] Oct 25, 2017

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We’ve seemingly heard it all before – you know, that classic rags to riches story of an entrepreneur who despite all the odds has built a business that has stood the test of time. Well, here’s the thing. For me, these stories are becoming rarer to get ahold of. It is becoming harder to build big businesses from scratch – especially for aspiring entrepreneurs who haven’t acquired what seasoned entrepreneurs often refer to the MBE or Masters in Business Experience. It’s for this reason that when stories of entrepreneurs who have succeeded are shared with other entrepreneurs – lessons and insights are invariably and ultimately, this can make the difference in your business succeeding or failing. One of these stories is the one of Robin Olivier who launched his first business with two partners and just R5 000 between them and a dream – fast forward to today, and Digicapeis a R240-million business with highly engaged and empowered employees, and the goal is to hit R400 million by 2020. This is the story of how Robin and his partners have built an entirely self- funded business that’s heading for the half a billion mark.

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MBS087 - Clive Butkow, Venture Capitilist & CEO Kalon Venture Partners Oct 20, 2017

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So, yesterday I was giving a talk to a group of entrepreneurs from the entrepreneur’s organization. I was talking about the worlds Unicorn club – essentially a term used for a billion-dollar valued company. I was asked by one the delegates, why South Africa has not produced a Unicorn of its own yet when more Unicorns have been produced in the last 2 years than at any given point in our history. There is no short answer to this – but what is generally pointed to is the fact that South Africa’s startup ecosystem is not where it should be - despite us having the 5th largest private equity market in the world. But after consulting to numerous startups in South Africa the current status-quo is that the venture capital market in South Africa is also not where it should be – one startup founder even told me that the irony with South African VC’s is that they don’t really venture. But in my view, there is no hard and fast rule with this stuff – if you are a startup and you have some traction it is very worthwhile exploring the local VC market because there are some very experienced players who are looking to put their funds behind your business. One of the players is Kalon Venture Partners based in Johannesburg who has made investments into startups both locally and abroad. I reached out to Clive Butkow the CEO of Kalon to get his views on the VC market in South Africa and abroad. Clive also shares some little known insights and lessons into alternative funding vehicles like initial coin offerings (ICO’s).

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MBS086 - Jen Su - Pop Star, Master Networker & Socialite Oct 13, 2017

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Hey guys so today I want to talk to you about the power of having a personal brand. You know, when I started this podcast it was called the Digital Kungfu show but as you now know it’s called the Matt Brown Show. Since I rebranded the show it has literally 10x’d the listenership but more importantly, I now enjoy multiple income streams from the reputation equity my podcast has created for me. For example, I regularly speak at conferences and companies around the country telling my story and the Matt Brown Show has led to the formation of Matt Brown Media – where we help business create their own podcasts or shows and I attribute a lot of my deal flow to the personal brand behind the company. And this has all happened since I decided to stick my actual name into the name of my show. So, you can trust me when I say that the power of a personal brand should not be underestimated in business. So, to help you understand how to build a personal brand of your own, I reached out to Jen Su, the TV & Radio Presenter who shares her tips with me on personal branding for entrepreneurs and shares her personal challenges and experiences building her own massive personal brand, and more specifically, the way entrepreneurs can better handle difficult interviews, social media challenges and crises, and how to approach media training and PR, to better focus your personal brand. Jen has worn many professional hats, from financial news anchor on Business Day TV and Sky News "The African Business News" as well as a former pop star with five albums released in Asia. She is also a master networker and socialite, having graced celebrity red carpets from the Cannes Film Festival to New York Fashion Week to the MTV EMAs -- and interviewed diverse international personalities such as Oprah Winfrey, Samuel L. Jackson, Tiger Woods, and Bill Clinton.

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