• What 21 years in the SASR teaches you about leadership, resilience, and taking action under uncertainty
• How two SAS soldiers founded iFly and built the highest-performing ASX IPO of 2013
• The legal battle that stopped iFly’s expansion and forced a pivot to virtual reality
• How Operator XR now serves around 95 US law enforcement agencies with immersive, data-driven tactical training
• Why counter-drone training in VR is now one of the fastest-growing use cases for the platform
• Keeping the engineering culture alive in Australia while scaling the business in the US

• Wayne Jones LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/wayne-jones-637aba58/
• xReality Group: https://xrgroup.com.au

• Peta Ellis (Host): https://www.linkedin.com/in/petaellis/
• BZV Website: https://beatenzone.vc

Produced at our ⁠The Podcast Boss⁠ ⁠podcast studio in Brisbane

• How passive radar works, and why not emitting a signal is the ultimate tactical advantage
• The MAVERICK family of systems, from soldier-portable units to the OmniGuard space domain awareness platform
• The decision to enter the US market and post a co-founder to Virginia
• How Silentium maintains a unified culture as it scales globally
• What the next two years look like as the company focuses on manufacturing scale and global market expansion

• James Palmer LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-palmer-sd/
• Silentium Defence: https://www.silentiumdefence.com.au

• Peta Ellis (Host): https://www.linkedin.com/in/petaellis
• BZV YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@BeatenZoneVenturePartners/videos
• BZV Website: https://beatenzone.vc

Produced at our ⁠The Podcast Boss⁠ ⁠podcast studio in Brisbane

Martin Shaw, President & CEO of Wounded Heroes Australia, joins us in The Briefing Room with frontline stories from supporting veterans and Defence families facing crisis. We discuss the hidden challenge of veteran homelessness, programs like Exercise Stone Pillow and Horses 4 Heroes, and how Wounded Heroes built national trust without government funding. Martin reflects on balancing business experience with charity leadership, the role of innovation in veteran support, and what younger founders can do to create meaningful solutions for those who've served.

🔗 GUEST LINKS

• Martin Shaw LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/martin-shaw-94021052/
• Wounded Heroes Australia: https://www.woundedheroes.org.au/

Host Links

• • Peta Ellis (Host): https://www.linkedin.com/in/petaellis
  • Jake Bostock (Cohost) https://www.linkedin.com/in/jake123456789/

• BZV YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@BeatenZoneVenturePartners/videos

BZV Website: https://beatenzone.vc

Produced by The Podcast boss

Rob Nioa shares the remarkable story of how his parents started the family business in the 1960s selling produce from a roadside trailer, before eventually building one of Australia's most important defence manufacturing companies.

Today, Nioa Group is Australia's largest privately owned supplier of weapons and munitions, operating across Australia, the United States, the United Kingdom, and New Zealand.

Rob explains the company's work across ammunition manufacturing, weapons logistics, missile collaboration programs, and international defence partnerships. We discuss sovereign capability and why domestic manufacturing matters as global security dynamics shift, including the Benalla ammunition factory, guided weapons production capability, and international expansion into the US and UK defence markets.

Guest links

• Rob Nioa LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/robertnioa/
• Nioa Group Website, https://www.nioa.com.au/about
• Rob Nioa Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NIOA

Host Links (for YouTube description / pinned comment):

• Peta Ellis (Host): https://www.linkedin.com/in/petaellis
• BZV YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@BeatenZoneVenturePartners/videos

BZV Website: https://beatenzone.vc

Produced By The Podcast Boss

Kelly Hopkins leads Defence recruitment within one of the world's largest recruitment firms and works across the full spectrum of the industry, from global primes like Boeing and Northrop Grumman to fast-growing Australian defence SMEs.

Finding talent in defence is unlike any other industry. Much of the work is classified, the technology is highly specialised, and the people with the right skills often cannot publicly disclose what they do.

Kelly explains how recruitment in defence relies on deep trust, long-term relationships, and strong connections within the ecosystem. The conversation explores why recruiting for defence is one of the hardest talent challenges in Australia, how the defence sector has evolved from sustainment to advanced technology and innovation, and why recruiters must build genuine ecosystem knowledge to understand the technology they are hiring for.

Guest Links

• • • Kelly Hopkins LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kellyhopkinshays/

Host Links

• • • Peta Ellis (Host): https://www.linkedin.com/in/petaellis
    • BZV YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@BeatenZoneVenturePartners/videos

BZV Website: https://beatenzone.vc Produced By The Podcast Boss

In this episode of The Briefing Room, Sean Singleton, US Venture Partner at Beaten Zone Venture Partners, breaks down what Australian founders really face when entering the United States Defense market.

Sean’s role is simple but hard: to help portfolio companies open doors in the US and 'get on contract'. That means handling the nuance of how the US Department of Defense actually buys technology, not how founders assume it does.

We unpack why the US public sector defaults to what it already has on contract, why Australian founders underestimate the complexity of the US Defence ecosystem, and why relationships and credibility take time to build.

Sean explains the fastest paths to revenue. Why systems integrators like Lockheed Martin and Boeing matter. How master collaboration agreements can compress multi-year timelines down to 12–18 months. And why bringing experienced US operators onto your team is often the difference between progress and stall.

The conversation also covers where founders should actually set up in the US. Which states are business-friendly for Defence and manufacturing? Why incentives, congressional support, and proximity to Defence assets matter. And why staffers on Capitol Hill are often more important than elected officials.

Sean shares his own long career path, from the US Air Force Academy and the F-22 program, through counter-intelligence, federal sales, JP Morgan, and the Defense Innovation Unit. The result is a grounded, experience-led guide for founders serious about building in the US Defence market.

This episode is essential listening for Australian founders, investors, and operators looking to move beyond theory and execute in the US.

Guest Links

• Sean Singleton – LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sean‐ singleton‐b616292/
• Beaten Zone Venture Partners: https://beatenzone.vc

Hosted by: Peta Ellis

Produced By The Podcast Boss

In this episode of The Briefing Room, Dr Will Crowe, Co‐Founder and CEO of HEO, walks through a non‐linear founder journey that ends in orbit.

Will started as a researcher in astrodynamics, completed a PhD at UNSW, explored asteroid mining, and realised his work had immediate, practical value. That insight led to HEO.

Today, HEO enables commercial, resolved non‐Earth imaging by acquiring and analysing satellite data through proprietary software. The company helps satellite operators and governments monitor space assets, manage debris, inspect damaged satellites, and protect both Earth and space infrastructure.

This conversation covers the shift from research to execution, how deep technical work becomes a commercial platform, and what it really takes to build a space company with long timelines and real consequences.

Episode Links • Dr Will Crowe: https://www.linkedin.com/in/william‐crowe‐space

• HEO: https://www.heospace.com

Produced by The Podcast Boss

Veteran and entrepreneur Warwick Penrose reflects on a career spanning CIED and CBRN Army specialisation through to founding EPE, a company trusted to protect soldiers and first responders. We cover capability delivery in counter‑IED, counter‑drone, ISR, and ECM, the pitfalls of selling to Defence, and lessons from building businesses across Asia Pacific and the U.S.

Warwick shares candid thoughts on leadership, culture, and legacy, and advice for the next generation of veteran‑founders shaping Defence innovation.

Guest Links:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/warwick-penrose-8493a819/
• Organisation: EPE – https://www.epequip.com/

Find out more:

Website: https://beatenzone.vc

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@BeatenZoneVenturePartners/videos

Hosts & Cohosts:

• • Peta Ellis – LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/petaellis

• Jake Bostock – LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jake123456789/

Produced by The Podcast Boss