Ep 47. The Better SMB | State of the Better SMB: Building a Business Worth Backing
The Better SMB PodcastShow Notes
There’s no guest on this one. David and Rob step back from the usual format to look at where The Better SMB has got to, what they’ve learned, and what’s coming next. They’ve published 44 episodes and expect to reach 50 by the end of the year, and plays per episode are up 50% since January. They look back at some standout moments: Sean Doherty on innovation being a leadership choice rather than a funding issue, Ray Everest on building a business that runs without its founder, Patrick McKibbin on collaboration as a competitive advantage, and Peter Crow’s “cork in the washing machine.” Election interviews with the Labour Party and The Opportunity Party are also coming. Then come the new initiatives: Better Business Moments: a short-form video series from David, featuring founders who have built and sold their businesses. Every year around 50,000 NZ businesses simply shut their doors, and only about one in 20 is sold. The Better Business Brief: a new monthly blog that carries on from our NZ Manufacturer column. It’s built on the idea that a business’s performance is in the owner’s control. PerformIQ: the free Better SMB community. Members get performance data, leadership insights and partner offers, starting with Thryv’s “getting found online” check-up. The idea behind all of it is a country of businesses that work without their owners, not because of them. These are businesses worth backing by customers, staff, banks, investors and, most of all, the owner. The government isn’t coming to save you. Grab a login at thebettersmb.com and take control.
The Better SMB Everything for the NZ SME on a high-performance journey. 🔗 thebettersmb.com What’s New Better Business Moments: short-form video conversations with founders who’ve built and sold their businesses The Better Business Brief: our new monthly blog, with the first article out in October PerformIQ: performance intelligence for NZ SMBs. You get free tools, data and exclusive partner offers when you join the Better SMB community. Partner Offer: Thryv Small business marketing software, including a free “how well can you be found online” check-up for Better SMB community members. Sign up at thebettersmb.com to access it. 🔗 thryv.co.nz Episode Sponsor: Setseed The business diagnostic tool built for New Zealand SMEs. Benchmark your performance, find your gaps, and map out your growth. 🔗 setseed.co.nz Key Topics: Business Performance | Exit Readiness | Succession | Owner Dependency | Productivity | PerformIQ | Better Business Brief | Better Business Moments Follow & Subscribe: Find The Better SMB on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts. Got a guest or topic you’d like us to cover? Message us on LinkedIn or by email. And if you know an owner who’s working in the business instead of on it, share this episode with them.
More from The Better SMB Podcast
Part of Better SMB's Election 2026 series — sitting down with each major party's small business spokesperson ahead of 7 November. Before two decades in the NZ Army and now Parliament, Dan Rosewarne struggled at school and found his path through vocational training. He walks David and Rob through Labour's Small Business Action Plan ("A Fair Go") and its follow-up, Small Business First — and what it would actually mean for a tradie, a café owner, or a sole trader. In this episode: The real story behind the 15-day payment rule: a $15k materials bill, a 90-day wait, and why "paid on time" isn't yet the law Scrapping Investment Boost for a $10,000 instant asset write-off — and Labour's answer to the "$5 billion tax grab" criticism Raising the GST threshold to $80,000, taking 35,000 of the smallest operators out of GST altogether The 15% target for government contracts going to small business — and who's accountable if it's missed Capability, AI support, and the case for "earning the right to automate" before pushing adoption What two decades in the military and a cancer diagnosis taught Dan about leading under pressure
With hosts David Altena & Rob Bull | Guest: Qiulae Wong, Leader, The Opportunity Party New Zealand has been unable to meaningfully lift productivity for 40+ years, despite inquiries, restructures and reforms. Qiulae Wong — leader of The Opportunity Party, with a career in sustainable and ethical business including the B Corp movement — joins David and Rob to test her party's policies against one simple question: not whether they sound good, but whether they'd genuinely help SME owners build capability, capacity and confidence.
With hosts David Altena & Rob Bull and special guest: Dr Paul Wood, author of Better Never Stops.
With hosts David Altena & Rob Bull | Guest: Elise Balsillie, Head of Thryv Australia & New Zealand Three-quarters of NZ business owners think their online presence is strong. Only about half their own customers agree. Elise Balsillie draws on Thryv's 2025 Business Index — 2,000+ SME decision-makers and customers across Australia and NZ — to unpack that gap, and what it now takes to get found when customers are asking AI, not just Google, who to trust. In this episode: The confidence gap: why owners rate their own online presence far higher than customers actually experience it GEO vs SEO in plain English — what changes now that AI tools do the "searching" on a customer's behalf What ChatGPT or Google's AI Overview actually looks at when it recommends a plumber, accountant, or bookkeeper Why reviews and response speed matter more than a flashy website redesign The one hour a week that moves the needle further than a full rebrand A simple starting point: 15 minutes a week Googling your own business and three competitors, from your phone Key quote: "Being listed is not the same as being discoverable." — David Altena 🔗 Thryv — Small Business Marketing Software: www.thryv.com📊 Benchmark your own business with PerformIQ: www.thebettersmb.com/nz-manufacturer-signup/🌐 The Better SMB: www.thebettersmb.com🎙️ The Better SMB Podcast: open.spotify.com/show/0VmzaRqeU5g94kzfPRKQlq Proudly sponsored by Setseed — www.setseed.com #BetterSMB #Thryv #GEO #SEO #SMBMarketing #NZBusiness
Smart people, sensible ideas, real effort — and yet the business isn't moving as fast as it should. David and Rob unpack why: it's rarely a strategy problem, a people problem, or a technology problem on its own. It's a connection problem — and it's quietly cancelling out good work in businesses everywhere. In this episode: The All Blacks analogy for misalignment: brilliant forwards, brilliant backs, no shared game plan Why only half of NZ SMEs have a documented plan — and why the rest run on reactive management The "hamster wheel" trap: teams return from training or conferences inspired, then slide straight back to status quo How to actually get a team to own the plan — devolved, military-style leadership over top-down mandates Why throwing technology at a broken process just makes chaos happen faster A simple test for your own business: ask your three most senior people to write down their top three priorities, independently Key quote: "The behaviours of your people are the result of the system that you built." — Rob Bull, quoting W. Edwards Deming 📊 Find out where your dots aren't connecting — benchmark your business with PerformIQ: www.thebettersmb.com/nz-manufacturer-signup/📰 Read the article this episode is based on — Connecting the Dots, NZ Manufacturer, The Last Word, June 2026🌐 The Better SMB: www.thebettersmb.com🎙️ The Better SMB Podcast: open.spotify.com/show/0VmzaRqeU5g94kzfPRKQlq Proudly sponsored by Setseed — www.setseed.com #BetterSMB #NZManufacturing #Leadership #BusinessAlignment #SMBNZ