KAN Podcast

How does someone go from doing admin at a mortgage brokerage to running the software business that now automates the same tasks he used to spend 40 minutes on?In this episode, Warwick sits down with Jacob Munoz, founder of Afterburner, to break down the buy versus build question every advice business is quietly asking, and where AI actually earns its place in the day-to-day.Jacob pulls back the curtain on the moment he almost automated himself out of a job at Float, his rule for only using AI where nothing else can do it, why Gen Z clients are quietly turning anti-AI, and the "no keyboard" advice business he thinks the whole industry is heading towards.

How do you go from a decade in the police to advising first home buyers on their mortgage in just four years?

In this episode, Warwick sits down with Brad Whitfield from Discovery Financial Services to break down what a 10-year career in policing transferred straight into the advice business, and what he had to unlearn along the way.

Brad pulls back the curtain on the interviewing framework he brought from the police to his client meetings, the pizza delivery moment that taught him everything about de-escalation, the emergency fund he tells every new adviser to build before making the jump, and why year two is when the referrals actually start rolling in.

How does a napkin-scrawled business plan at the pub become one of New Zealand's fastest-growing multi-product advice firms with IPO ambitions in just over four years?In this episode, Warwick sits down with Lucas Young, co-founder of Invicta, to break down the playbook behind scaling to 20+ staff across three cities and where he is planning to take the business next.Lucas pulls back the curtain on the 48-hour advice turnaround Invicta is chasing, why they hire ex-athletes and ex-real estate agents over experienced advisers, the LinkedIn discipline that turned into a recruitment pipeline, and the shareholder buy-in model built so managers cash out alongside the founders. He also talks about the move from Hong Kong to a Christchurch boarding school at 13 with no English, and the drive that has fuelled everything since.

How do you actually work out what an advice business is worth in a market where buyers are lining up but every firm gets valued completely differently?

In this episode, Warwick sits down with Simon Rolland, CEO of Zurix, for his return to the KAN Podcast to break down what really moves the needle on an advice business valuation.

Simon pulls back the curtain on the line between selling a book and selling a business, why the percentage of revenue tied to the principal adviser makes or breaks the multiple, how mortgage, KiwiSaver and insurance books each trade at very different numbers right now, and where the market is heading as retiring advisers with mature books meet younger advisers ready to buy.

You can check out Zurix's website and business appraisal tool at zurix.co.nz. The tool is a lighter alternative to a full valuation and gives advisers a ballpark of where their business sits in today's market.

What does it take to bring a global insurance model into a market as small, tight and adviser-led as New Zealand's?
In this episode, Warwick sits down with Len Elikhis, Chief Operating and Financial Officer of PPS New Zealand, to break down what the launch has actually involved and what it's taught him about how different our advice industry is from the rest of the world.
Len pulls back the curtain on the mutual model that returns profits to members instead of shareholders, why NZ advisers still have the flexibility Australian advisers lost, the story behind severity-based trauma taking off here when it flopped across the Tasman, and where he sees retirement, income protection and health insurance heading as the worker-to-retiree ratio keeps shrinking.