Simon sits down with Phil Walters, founder of Metalbird, for a conversation about what happens when a street art project becomes a $100M+ Brand.
Phil built a metal bird into one of New Zealand's most recognised physical products, won NZ Exporter of the Year, a Purple Pin and now says might not actually want a business that size again.
Phil started as an industrial designer, cut his teeth in a 72-person Amsterdam studio in the late eighties, and spent years back in New Zealand doing commercial work for banks, telcos, and oil companies.Metalbird began in 2009 as a Banksy-inspired project. When his wife Helena died in August 2012, the birds became something else entirely.
They go deep into the economics of building a genuine Blue Ocean product from a backyard band saw, Phil's "one piece, one process" design philosophy that made the whole thing scalable, how a local supply chain quietly saved the business during COVID, and what $42M in peak revenue actually cost him.
Phil's ideal today is a $10M business with 5 people generating $2M EBIT. That shift in perspective is the spine of this conversation.
This episode is about what success looks like when the revenue number stops being the answer.
