Dynamic Duos: Livewire’s Indy Khabra and Brad Manuel
In this week's Dynamic Duos, Livewire co-founders and joint CEOs Indy Khabra and Brad Manuel tell Mumbrella how a chance meeting at a Mumbrella Sport conference led to a friendship, and later a business partnership that saw a new business idea survive the odds of COVID and expand across multiple continents.
In Dynamic Duos, Mumbrella each week asks two members of the same organisation with a professional and personal affiliation to share with readers the importance of workplace relationships in an increasingly hybridised world of work.
Indy Khabra:
The first time I met Brad was about 7 years ago at the Mumbrella Sport conference where I bumped into him at an exhibition both. He was leading Business Development for the Adelaide Crows and we got chatting about sports, AFL and the Crows! We discovered that Brad and my wife worked together at the youth cancer charity CanTeen and several years later (2020) while on holidays she shared a LinkedIn post from Brad speaking about esports & gaming. I was really interested in the space and reached out to him to hear more about what he was up to.
After working together in late 2020 on a project within gaming talent management, we came to a fast conclusion that gaming marketing was not only a future growth area but a blank canvas of opportunities. We launched Livewire in February 2021 and it’s been late nights, long days and soo much fun! I learn something new every day from my business partner and we’re ultra-focused on creating global leader.
Brad is incredibly driven, detailed and a SME. As we’ve grown the business to now 4 global markets and soon to be several more, we take the mindset of bringing our ‘working boots’ to the office every day and executing against a clear vision for Livewire. It’s just been so much fun, and our GIF battles are epic!
Brad Manuel:
We first met 6-7 years ago at a sports marketing conference when I worked for the Adelaide Crows, I bumped into Indy and we got talking about sport and his previous role at Dentsu and stayed in touch sporadically, but never worked on a project together. We worked out at the conference that I previously worked with Indy’s wife at CanTeen, who became the catalyst for launching Livewire when she saw my AFL Stream King ft Fortnite event and told Indy to get in touch with me.
Ironically an in-game media publisher reached out to both of us simultaneously to exclusively represent their inventory in APAC while I was leading a gaming talent agency, which started a new conversation about what brands need to best understand gaming marketing.
Since we decided to start Livewire, Indy and I have been inseparable (though only meeting three times in the first 8 months in person due to COVID), working 14-16 hour days on average and building Livewire to now include UK, India and SEA arms within our first 16 months.
I value Indy’s knowledge and calmness; nothing ever phases him and as we have transitioned from Australian start up to global scale up its important to stay focused on creating both a business and a category. More than anything it’s a hell of a lot of fun, talking to people around the world about and building a business with someone who I see more each day than my wife!
Indy on Brad:
Most memorable moment with Brad: Our first trip overseas as a start up
Describe Brad in one word: Pragmatic
Brad’s most annoying habit or endearing behaviour: He has incredible humility 🙂
Brad on Indy:
Most memorable moment with Indy:My birthday dinner in the UK our UK team and partners was surreal
Describe Indy in one word: Tactical
Indy’s most annoying habit or endearing behaviour: He can read my mind!
If you and a colleague would like to submit your story to Dynamic duos, please email kwelch@mumbrella.com.au.
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