Interview with Ray Bradbery

Oct 2

OCTOBER 2, 2024 | 00:47 | Episode 39

From IT Tycoon to Greek Café Owner—the Power of Saying Yes

Ray Bradbery, a former IT professional and entrepreneur, shares his journey from working in the IT department of a major bank to starting his own consulting practice and later owning a cafe and restaurant. He emphasizes the importance of understanding customers, doing thorough research before starting a business, and having the grit to overcome challenges. Ray also discusses the lessons he learned from his time at Borland, including the power of saying yes and the importance of product management. He shares stories of successful entrepreneurs he has worked with and highlights the need for optimism and resilience in the startup world.

ABOUT MY GUEST

Ray Bradbery

Ray spent the early part of his working career in the IT Department of Australia’s largest bank. During that time he covered a broad range of IT roles. Major achievements during this time were implementing the first ATMs in Australia, and the first EFTPOS network in Australia. His final role was as CIO for the Bank’s Insurance Division.

Post his role with the Bank, Ray joined Borland Software where he and Jothy met, where he had an initial role to start a consulting practice something that was a new function for Borland Software. Ray went on to Managing Director of the Australian and New Zealand operations of Borland and later as VP, Asia Pacific where he oversaw the launch of Borland operations in China, India and South Korea.

Since Borland days Ray has worked for a number of global software companies in VP< Asia Pacific roles; including Rogue Wave Software, Seagull Software and E2E Software. In a gap in his IT career Ray took time out to open and operate a Greek Café and a Greek Restaurant. Ray is a qualified Barista and a Greek cook.

Ray has worked with a number of Startups in the IT industry as a mentor advising on sales and marketing and transitioning businesses to offshore markets.

For 6 years Ray worked for ServiceRocket, Atlassian’s longest serving partner as global head of their Atlassian practice. Ray then went back to mentoring IT startups for a few years before returning to ServiceRocket to launch their partnership with Miro, the Virtual Whiteboard company. Ray is now working for Datalynx an Australian Data Management company helping them grow their enterprise software sales practice.

In his outside of work life Ray is a keen cyclist having ridden several times from Sydney to the Gold Coast, a distance of 640 miles. Ray is married with two daughters and a son. One daughter and his son have accompanied him on his marathon rides, the final daughter thinks he is a lunatic, perhaps she is right.

Summary

Takeaways

Do thorough research and understand the market and customers before starting a business
Have the grit and resilience to overcome challenges and keep pushing forward
Say yes to opportunities and be open to trying new things
Product management is crucial for getting the product right and understanding customer needs
Optimism and a positive mindset are important traits for entrepreneurs