Rephonic
Artwork for The Better SMB Podcast

The Better SMB Podcast

The Better SMB Limited
New Zealand
Leadership
Governance
Government Policy
Drain Ninjas
Productivity
Better SMB
Small and Medium Business
Manufacturing
New Zealand Government
Architectural Glass Products
Agile / Lean Manufacturing
Data / Analytics
Burnout
Lean
Management
Team Empowerment
Architectural Glass Profiles
North West Country Business Association
Callaghan Innovation

Join hosts David Altena and Rob Bull as they delve into the subject of small and medium- business productivity in New Zealand. With a focus on driving operational excellence and business improvement, The Better SMB Podcast is your go-to resource for strategies, insights, and success stories from the front lines of the SMB sector. Despite New Zealand’s historical challenges with productivity compar... more

PublishesMonthlyEpisodes36Founded2 years ago
Number of ListenersCategories
BusinessManagement

Listen to this Podcast

Artwork for The Better SMB Podcast

Latest Episodes

New Zealand earns $21 billion a year from dairy exports. Yet the performance gap between the best farms and the rest is enormous — and it has almost nothing to do with technology, weather, or market access. It's leadership.

Tennielle Ellingham has s... more

What does it take to build a high-performing business — and then hand it on to the next generation?

David and Rob sit down with Jeff and Sasha Langham, the father-daughter team behind Drain Ninjas — a West Auckland drainage company and winner of the... more

It might be a bit late in posting, but David and Rob came back after the summer break to kick off 2026 with a look under the hood — reflecting on what's worked, what's ahead, and how you can help shape the conversation.

With 31 episodes now in the w... more

YouTube

Every construction project generates thousands of documents, drawings, decisions, and specifications. Then the project ends — and most of that intelligence disappears, buried on USB sticks or lost in SharePoint folders nobody revisits.

In this epis... more

YouTube

Key Facts

Accepts Guests
Accepts Sponsors
Contact Information
Podcast Host
Number of Listeners
Find out how many people listen to this podcast per episode and each month.

Similar Podcasts

People also subscribe to these shows.

Recent Guests

Jon Sinclair
Digital Services Director at Performance Building Technologies
Performance Building Technologies
Episode: Ep 33. You're Building Two Assets — Are You Tracking Both?
Peter Crow
Advisor, director, chair; governance expert
Independent governance consultant
Episode: Ep 32. From Compliance to High Performance: Rethinking Governance with Peter Crow
Sean Doherty
Former Callaghan Innovation executive with deep experience in engineering, product development, and manufacturing
Callaghan Innovation
Episode: Ep 31. Innovation Is a Choice: Moving from Comfort to Courage
Ray Everest
Founder/Co-owner of Future Focus Early Learning Centers
Future Focus
Episode: Ep 30. Scaling with Purpose: Ray Everest on Leadership, Innovation & Impact
Chris Parnell
Co-founder and CEO of SetSeed
SetSeed
Episode: Ep 29. Panic to Platform to Partnership: Chris Parnell’s Bold Journey with SetSeed and The Better SMB
Danielle Hancock
Manager of North West Country Business Association
North West Country Business Association
Episode: Ep 28. The Power of Community: Danielle Hancock on Strengthening Local Business in North West Country Business Association
Patrick McKibbin
Chief Executive of Hutt Valley Chamber of Commerce
Hutt Valley Chamber of Commerce
Episode: Ep 27. Beyond the BA5: Redefining What a Chamber of Commerce Can Be With Patrick McKibbin
Katia Holland
Associate at McCaw Lewis in Hamilton, Maori-focused commercial lawyer
McCaw Lewis
Episode: Ep 25. Beyond the Quarter: Tikanga Māori, Values and Long-Term Success with Katia Holland
Chris Penk
Honorable Minister for Small Business and Manufacturing, MP for Helensville
New Zealand Government
Episode: Ep 22. Leadership from the Top: Hon Chris Penk on Aligning Government and Business

Hosts

David Altena
Host of The Better SMB Podcast
Rob Bull
Co-host of The Better SMB Podcast

Chart Rankings

How this podcast ranks in the Apple Podcasts, Spotify and YouTube charts.

Talking Points

Recent interactions between the hosts and their guests.

Ep 19. The Deliberate Path to High Performance in Manufacturing: Lessons from AGP Managing Director Dave Bunting
Q: How do you handle decision rights in a flat organization?
Decision rights are assigned to individuals with comparative advantage; leaders do not hold all final rights, but ensure accountability when decisions are made, with a strong emphasis on trust and responsibility.
Ep 19. The Deliberate Path to High Performance in Manufacturing: Lessons from AGP Managing Director Dave Bunting
Q: What were the core steps you took to embed continuous improvement from day one?
They focused on hiring for the right cultural fit, instilling a continuous improvement mindset, building an ecosystem to track and solve problems data-first, and promoting a bottom-up approach where operators drive improvements.
Ep 19. The Deliberate Path to High Performance in Manufacturing: Lessons from AGP Managing Director Dave Bunting
Q: Welcome to the show, can you tell us about the factory and its scale?
Dave describes AGP as a double-glazing manufacturer serving the APL network across NZ, with a massive facility (417m by 108m) and a culture built around deliberate operational excellence and a bottom-up improvement approach.
Ep 33. You're Building Two Assets — Are You Tracking Both?
Q: Where do you see the biggest performance losses due to missing or inaccessible data?
The conversation centers on the transition from project life to operations, with data silos and misaligned information causing long-term inefficiencies after handover.
Ep 33. You're Building Two Assets — Are You Tracking Both?
Q: What headed you towards construction?
Jon explains his background in environmental science and IT, and how his experience in managed services within construction motivated him to focus on the tech of construction to improve outcomes.

Audience Metrics

Listeners, social reach, demographics and more for this podcast.

Listeners per Episode
Gender Skew
Location
Interests
Professions
Age Range
Household Income
Social Media Reach

Frequently Asked Questions About The Better SMB Podcast

What is The Better SMB Podcast about and what kind of topics does it cover?

The show focuses on improving productivity and performance for small and medium businesses in New Zealand. Across episodes, core themes include leadership and culture, governance, regional economic development, data-driven operations, customer experience, and the role of government policy in enabling growth. Guests range from builders of regional business ecosystems to technology and governance experts, all sharing practical steps SMBs can take—whether it's implementing asset memory, adopting lean and leadership practices, or navigating regulatory and funding landscapes. The format tends to blend personal journeys with actionable takeaways, often anchored by NZ-specific context and regional case studies. A standout attribute is the emphasis... more

Where can I find podcast stats for The Better SMB Podcast?

Rephonic provides a wide range of podcast stats for The Better SMB Podcast. We scanned the web and collated all of the information that we could find in our comprehensive podcast database. See how many people listen to The Better SMB Podcast and access YouTube viewership numbers, download stats, audience demographics, chart rankings, ratings, reviews and more.

How many listeners does The Better SMB Podcast get?

Rephonic provides a full set of podcast information for three million podcasts, including the number of listeners. View further listenership figures for The Better SMB Podcast, including podcast download numbers and subscriber numbers, so you can make better decisions about which podcasts to sponsor or be a guest on. You will need to upgrade your account to access this premium data.

What are the audience demographics for The Better SMB Podcast?

Rephonic provides comprehensive predictive audience data for The Better SMB Podcast, including gender skew, age, country, political leaning, income, professions, education level, and interests. You can access these listener demographics by upgrading your account.

How many subscribers and views does The Better SMB Podcast have?

To see how many followers or subscribers The Better SMB Podcast has on Spotify and other platforms such as Castbox and Podcast Addict, simply upgrade your account. You'll also find viewership figures for their YouTube channel if they have one.

Which podcasts are similar to The Better SMB Podcast?

These podcasts share a similar audience with The Better SMB Podcast:

1. The Diary Of A CEO with Steven Bartlett

How many episodes of The Better SMB Podcast are there?

The Better SMB Podcast launched 2 years ago and published 36 episodes to date. You can find more information about this podcast including rankings, audience demographics and engagement in our podcast database.

How do I contact The Better SMB Podcast?

Our systems regularly scour the web to find email addresses and social media links for this podcast. We scanned the web and collated all of the contact information that we could find in our podcast database. But in the unlikely event that you can't find what you're looking for, our concierge service lets you request our research team to source better contacts for you.

Where can I see ratings and reviews for The Better SMB Podcast?

Rephonic pulls ratings and reviews for The Better SMB Podcast from multiple sources, including Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Castbox, and Podcast Addict.

View all the reviews in one place instead of visiting each platform individually and use this information to decide if a show is worth pitching or not.

How do I access podcast episode transcripts for The Better SMB Podcast?

Rephonic provides full transcripts for episodes of The Better SMB Podcast. Search within each transcript for your keywords, whether they be topics, brands or people, and figure out if it's worth pitching as a guest or sponsor. You can even set-up alerts to get notified when your keywords are mentioned.

What guests have appeared on The Better SMB Podcast?

Recent guests on The Better SMB Podcast include:

1. Jon Sinclair
2. Peter Crow
3. Sean Doherty
4. Ray Everest
5. Chris Parnell
6. Danielle Hancock
7. Patrick McKibbin
8. Katia Holland

To view more recent guests and their details, simply upgrade your Rephonic account. You'll also get access to a typical guest profile to help you decide if the show is worth pitching.

Find and pitch the right podcasts

We help savvy brands, marketers and PR professionals to find the right podcasts for any topic or niche. Get the data and contacts you need to pitch podcasts at scale and turn listeners into customers.
Try it free for 7 days