Brent Valle is a speaker and entrepreneur known for starting award-winning technology company NGage and The Future Phase.
Brent started NGage Technology with his close friend Jarrod Bloomfield, growing it to a $27 million dollar business. After suffering a snowboarding incident in New Zealand, Brent sold NGage and started The Future Phase, which provides adrenaline-packed Business adventure workshops that help provide momentum for people to take their life to the next level.
Brent on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brentbreaksbread/
The Future Phase: https://thefuturephase.com.au/
Verbatim from the transcripts — each quote links to the moment.
“Then he popped them, popped the two, uh, bells out of the molds, and then he got these plastic, uh, sandwich bags, chopped the corners off each of them, had a heat gun, and he like heats her up, shrunk it up, he goes, there's a finished product. And I'm like, fuck me, what have I done?”
“And I remember like in the foetal position on the floor like crying for about an hour, what the fuck's happened with my life?”
“I just took full 100% ownership for everything in my life, and that was the starting point for probably— it was November in 2009, uh, 2018, um, and then August last year I just felt better and happy and alive again.”
“I've been living out of a renovated garage at my mum's place for the past 12 months, and I've never been happier.”
“And you open it up and there's a birth certificate with a completely different name, completely different— all the details are all different. You're like, who the fuck am I?”
“If we love someone... how are they going to feel? They're going to— that guy fucking wasn't like the other 99% of the population.”
“You can't buy happiness at the end of the day. It's fucking pretty fucking straightforward and simple. You can't.”
How do you know when to leave a relationship versus work through problems?
A relationship only works if both people are 100% committed; if that's not the case, it will involve compromise that erodes it, and recognizing genuine incompatibility (not just conflict) is key to deciding to leave.
How should you support a friend going through a divorce or major life crisis?
Just be there for them consistently—show up, call every day, help practically (like moving), and don't try to say the perfect thing; being a steady presence matters more than advice.
How do you figure out who you really are after a major identity crisis?
Go into a room alone, play music that makes you feel empowered, and write down your values, beliefs, personality, talents, and skills—then compare that to how you're actually living to see where the gaps are.
Brent describes spotting the surf wax business for sale on Facebook, negotiating the price down via DM, and visiting the previous owner's garage in Torquay to learn the hands-on wax-making process using a rice cooker and molds.
Brent recounts building Engaged Technology Group from $2,000 to $27 million revenue, then having a concussion while snowboarding that prompted him to want out; two weeks later a publicly listed company offered to buy the business, eventually selling for $2.5 million after negotiations dropped from an initial $4.5 million.
Brent describes his divorce, feeling he had lost his money, team, and identity, crying on the floor at his coastal house, briefly taking antidepressants that numbed his emotions, then throwing them away and taking full ownership of his recovery.
Brent details contacting the Department of Human Services, attending a group session with other adoptees to receive his adoption file, using the Yellow Pages to track down his biological mother's family, and the emotional first meeting in Melbourne where he learned she was 16 and had been sexually abused.
Drawn from the episode transcripts.
He saw a Facebook post in 2017 saying the business (Bell Surf Wax, formerly Pure Performance) was for sale with assets including a trademark, two bell-shaped molds, and a rice cooker used to melt wax; he DMed the owner, negotiated the $10,000 asking price down to $8,000, and later rebranded it around the Bells Beach Australia name and trademark.
From episode 586→After contacting the Department of Human Services and attending a facilitated session with other adoptees to receive his adoption file (which included a birth certificate under a different name), he looked up his birth mother's surname in the Yellow Pages, called a number that turned out to be his grandmother's, then found a single Shepparton listing that connected him to her sister, and met his biological mother two days later.
From episode 586→Brent and a business partner started it in 2011 with $2,000 each and grew it to $27 million in annual revenue within five years; after a snowboarding accident prompted him to reconsider his life, they sold the business to a publicly listed company for $2.5 million (down from an initial $4.5 million offer after prolonged negotiation).
From episode 586→Every episode featuring Brent Valle on The Daily Talk Show.
