Great Business Minds

Our guest this week is an archaeologist turned telecoms and data centre top global leader and shaker of the status quo.
 
One of his favourite hobbies is to coach baseball and he is a U2’s music fan, be it with or without you, on a beautiful day or a Sunday bloody Sunday in a city of blinding lights.
 
We’re talking of no one else but Bill Barney, CEO of recently launched Turbidite, chairman and managing partner of Asian Century Equity, board member of IT&E and also a board member of CtrlS Datacenters, plus a host of his own podcast, Digging Into The Future.
 
In this episode, Bill shares his journey from graduating with a BA in archaeology at Wesleyan to become a top digital infrastructure business executive. From the latest archaeological findings that have made the news to talking about several firsts, like being Asia Netcom’s, a China Unicom subsidiary, first foreign CEO, Bill opens up on what keeps him motivated and how he generates new ideas.
 
He also digs into the latest developments in data centre and telecoms spaces, especially around financial developments and how the industry coped and helped the world through the COVID-19 pandemic. Furthermore, Bill shares tips for Asia’s entrepreneurs looking at starting their business within the digital infrastructure space.
 
With a plethora of projects on the horizon for his latest venture – Turbidite -, Bill lifts the lid on what is to come, as well as other businesses he is involved with.
Here at the GBM podcast, we hope you enjoy this episode and do leave us a review and share it with your contacts. We invite you back again for next week’s episode with another big name in the internet space.
If you want to get more from the definitive podcast for the business of digital infrastructure, make sure you subscribe to Great Business Minds.
See you next week!
 
 ///////////////////////
This episode features our commercial partner Enboarder, the first Experience-Driven Onboarding platform and the new way businesses onboard. Check them out here.
///////////////////////
 
Get more from the GBM Podcast on:
Official Website
LinkedIn
Facebook
Instagram
Twitter
YouTube

From selling old pianos for £10 in the south of London as a teenager to being one of the world’s leading digital infrastructure investors and visionaries, our guest this week is one of the key builders of our digital world. He is a serial investor, a hugely successful entrepreneur, an author, a philanthropist and above all, a maverick.
 
Michael Tobin has been involved with some of the biggest names in the digital space including Telecity, Equinix, Fujitsu. Today, he also works with several other big brands including EdgeConneX, Audioboom, and Sungard.
 
In 2014, he was awarded an OBE for his ‘Services to the Digital Economy' by HRH Prince Charles. Michael Tobin is also known for his charity work and some incredible campaigns to raise awareness and money for important causes.
 
Speaking to GBM, Michael shares his personal story as well as advice on how to take on life when it gets challenging. He tells us of how he generates new ideas and how entrepreneurs can make the best of their situation, no matter their circumstances in life.
 
He shares his views on the data centre market as well as what work he is doing having recently become the face of one of the latest industry investment movements, SPACs – or Special Purpose Acquisition Companies.
 
Here at the GBM podcast, we hope you enjoy this episode and do leave us a review and share it with your contacts. We invite you back again for next week’s episode with another big name in the internet space.
 
If you want to get more from the definitive podcast for the business of digital infrastructure, make sure you subscribe to Great Business Minds.
 
See you next week!
 
 ///////////////////////
This episode features our commercial partner Enboarder, the first Experience-Driven Onboarding platform and the new way businesses onboard. Check them out here.
///////////////////////
 
Get more from the GBM Podcast on:
Official Website
LinkedIn
Facebook
Instagram
Twitter
YouTube

Have you ever struggled with going from idea to scale relatively fast? Dean Nelson, founder and chairman of Infrastructure Masons, is a master of scale and has over the years built a tremendous community with thousands of movers and shakers who together represent over $150 billion in infrastructure projects spanning 130 countries.
Owner of a seasoned technology executive career spanning 31 years of building and operating global digital infrastructure portfolios, he also serves as CEO of Virtual Power Systems, he is the founder and CEO of Dean Nelson Incorporated, a co-founder of the Just Let me Learn foundation, as well as a co-host to his podcast, The Next Wave.
Throughout his conversation with the GBM podcast, Dean shares past experiences, reveals what is non-negotiable in business, and what drives him to keep going when it gets tough. Dean also shares his thoughts on the role of digital infrastructure and the real impact it has on everyone’s lives and on the planet.
On Infrastructure Masons, he takes GBM behind the scenes, from when the idea of uniting the builders of the digital age first came up to deciding on the name and what the organisation is doing from sustainability to investing in the leaders of tomorrow.
Beyond iMasons, Dean talks about his other projects today, and hints at what his next big adventure will be, which he reveals will launch in the autumn of 2022.
Here at the GBM podcast, we hope you enjoy this episode and do leave us a review and share it with your contacts. We invite you back again for next week’s episode with another big name in the internet space.
If you want to get more from the definitive podcast for the business of digital infrastructure, make sure you subscribe to Great Business Minds.
See you next week!
 
 ///////////////////////
This episode features our commercial partner Enboarder, the first Experience-Driven Onboarding platform and the new way businesses onboard. Check them out here.
///////////////////////
 
Get more from the GBM Podcast on:
Official Website
LinkedIn
Facebook
Instagram
Twitter
YouTube

Hi everyone, I’m João Marques Lima, your host for the Great Business Minds podcast. 
I wanted to kick off this new podcast and the season in a way that you can get to know the podcast and I a bit better before we dive into the world of digital entrepreneurship.
I’m a London-based journalist and I started my work back in 2015 covering the exciting world of IoT and data centres. This gave me a unique chance to taste just what was the beginning of a very exciting and fast-paced journey in a sector that often goes unnoticed.
We frequently joke about the fact that the majority of the people working in the data centre space fell into it by chance, and the same can be said of myself. 
I’m part of what I call a new generation of “mediatrepreneurs” and throughout my career, I have reported from over 30 countries worldwide, filming interviews with CEOs of big tech companies, government figures, leading investors and creators, amongst others.
As I built this portfolio, I started noticing that there is a lack of platforms for digital infrastructure entrepreneurs – established and those who are just starting up – to share their experiences, lessons and advice. Some have confined with me on how hard it is to find inspiration that they can take on to go and build, manage and create new or existing businesses.
This got me thinking that a podcast around this industry and focused on entrepreneurs and leaders’ could do this sector wonders.
So I made this the mission of your newest podcast, Great Business Minds. 
From idea to scale, we live in a new entrepreneurial age where leadership thinking needs to cut through the noise to deliver on a vision and blueprint to success. 
The Great Business Minds podcast goes inside the business with the leaders, inventors, investors, executives, trendspotters and visionaries of today to explore what it really takes to build a brand beyond conventional wisdom and disrupt the marketplace with the next big leap in entrepreneurship innovation. 
I’m super excited to embark on this discovery journey with you to hear from prominent business makers and achievers within the data centre, cloud computing, hyperscale and the IT infrastructure space as a whole.
You can expect a fresh episode every week to learn from our guests’ experience around how to create value for your own business ideas, deal with every type of scenarios you will be certainly faced with in the digital business world and how to build not only a brand but use that to make the world a better place. 
Thank you so much for joining this podcast. I’m so glad to have you here and to stay up to date with the latest we produce and share it with your own networks, do give us a follow across our social media channels which you can find on our website, www.greatbusinessminds.com. 
You are also invited to sign up to the Great Business Minds Podcast newsletter, which goes out once a month to our subscribers with a short summary of that month’s guest episodes and some extras. 
I hope you enjoy this upcoming season and do get in touch with tips and ideas of questions and people you would like to see sitting down with the Great Business Minds podcast.
And again, if you want to get more from the definitive podcast for the business of digital infrastructure, make sure you subscribe to Great Business Minds.
See you next week!
 
///////////////////////
More from the GBM Podcast:
Official Website
LinkedIn
Facebook
Instagram
Twitter
YouTube