Day One®

How to Build Distribution Before You Build the Product with Frank Greeff from Kinso (Replay Ep)

Fri, 03 Apr 2026 06:00:00 +1100

Frank Greeff, the founder behind a $180M exit and the viral Founders Table series, is back, this time building Kinso, an AI messaging aggregation tool set to change how businesses communicate. Instead of retiring after one of Australia’s biggest tech acquisitions, Frank is diving back into the grind, sharing why momentum and purpose keep him building.

In this episode, Frank reveals the AI hacks that surprised even his engineers, why scrappy MVPs may not survive in today’s fast-moving AI wave, and how personal branding gives founders a hidden moat. Georgie and Frank also dig into what it takes to self-fund after top VCs said no, attracting A+ engineering talent in a competitive market, and why “taste” will define which AI products win.

Plus, Frank unpacks Meta’s $100M AI hires, the rise of deepfakes and how he protects his family, and answers listener questions on planning exits, building AI startups, and navigating AGI, UBI, and the future of work, all while playing a spicy rapid-fire round.

Time Stamps

03:20 – What is Kinso and why aggregate business messaging

06:15 – Why Frank couldn’t retire after a $180M exit

10:45 – Hack of the Week: how non-technical founders can challenge engineers with AI

14:30 – Why Frank thinks MVPs can’t be scrappy anymore

18:00 – Building a founding team: attracting top AI engineering talent

23:30 – Meta’s $100M AI hires and how Kinso competes

26:40 – Why VCs rejected Kinso and why Frank’s self-funding

30:50 – Taste as a moat: what makes great AI products stand out

33:00 – How building an AI startup differs from RealBase

36:00 – Planning for exits: documentation and timing

40:30 – Deepfakes and Frank’s “secret password” strategy

43:20 – Rapid Fire: AGI, UBI, future of work, and more

Resources Mentioned

🌐 Kinso – https://www.kinso.ai/

🔗 Frank Greeff on LinkedIn – / frankgreeff

✨ Connect with Georgie Healy

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/georginahealy/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/georgina_healy/

Twitter: https://x.com/georgina__healy?lang=en

The Day One Network

In The Blink of AI is part of Day One, the podcast network dedicated to founders, operators & investors.

What the ISM AI Update Actually Means for Cyber Teams

Thu, 02 Apr 2026 06:00:00 +1100

Episode Summary

The ISM has been updated again, and this time AI is front and centre. In this episode of Secured, Cole Cornford is joined by returning guest Toby Amodio, Practice Lead at Fujitsu Cybersecurity Services, for another instalment of Policy Wonks and Gronks, cutting through the vendor noise to talk about what the March 2026 update actually means in practice.

They explore where AI is genuinely delivering value for cyber professionals, from automating compliance mapping and vendor assessments to streamlining pen test reporting and SOC triage. But they are equally candid about the risks: the erosion of foundational skills as junior roles get outsourced to AI, the creeping fatigue of reviewing outputs at scale, and the danger of skipping straight to full automation without the expertise to validate what the machine is doing.

The conversation also tackles bigger picture concerns unique to Australia, sovereign AI capability, the risk of a brain drain to the US, and whether a small country can afford to decentralise its AI infrastructure. Toby closes with a sharp reminder for government CISOs: AI is just another system, and how people use it matters far more than the certifications attached to it.

Timestamps

00:00 Episode Trailer

01:01 Chainguard ad

01:28 Intro and the March 2026 ISM update

03:00 AI hype vs real world utility

05:00 Governance and compliance use cases

08:00 Vendor assessments and knowledge base automation

11:00 Skill erosion and the junior roles question

14:00 AI in pen testing: reporting, scoping and customer experience

17:30 The maturity model for AI adoption

21:00 Vibe coding, slop assurance and fatigue at scale

25:00 Agents watching agents and the bot vs bot future

28:30 Australian AI sovereignty and the brain drain risk

32:00 Top tip for government CISOs on AI risk

35:00 Shadow AI and DNS log visibility

37:00 Closing remarks

🐙 Secured is grateful to be sponsored and supported by Chainguard.

Chainguard is the trusted source for open source. Get hardened, secure, production-ready builds so your team can ship faster, stay compliant, and reduce risk. Download your free CVE Reduction Assessment at https://dayone.fm/chainguard

Secured is part of Day One.

Day One helps founders and startup operators make better business decisions more often.

To learn more, join our newsletter to be notified of new First Cheque episodes and upcoming shows.

This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis:

Podtrac - https://analytics.podtrac.com/privacy-policy-gdrp
Spotify Ad Analytics - https://www.spotify.com/us/legal/ad-analytics-privacy-policy/

(Replay Ep) Leading Change in Cybersecurity: Tara Whitehead’s Approach to Security Engagement

Thu, 26 Mar 2026 06:00:00 +1100

Episode Summary

Tara Whitehead is Security Engagement Manager at MYOB. Prior to becoming a cybersecurity specialist, Tara had an eclectic career, including working in advertising and international relations. In this episode Tara chats with Cole about how her non-technical background has in many ways been an asset working in security, leading change management in large enterprises, the importance of great communication skills, and plenty more.

Timestamps

7:15 - Tara's first days in AppSec

10:00 - How to influence people

12:30 - Why we should dial back on the doomsday conversation

14:10 - Find your change champions

21:30 - Is a non-technical background help or hindrance?

23:30 - Communication and influencing key skills

26:00 - Communicating with execs

28:20 - Rapid fire questions

🐙 Secured is grateful to be sponsored and supported by Chainguard.

Secured is part of Day One.

Day One helps founders and startup operators make better business decisions more often.

To learn more, join our newsletter to be notified of new First Cheque episodes and upcoming shows.

Mentioned in this episode:

Download your free CVE Reduction Assessment

Chainguard is the trusted source for open source. Get hardened, secure, production-ready builds so your team can ship faster, stay compliant, and reduce risk.

December 2025 - Chainguard

The Right and Wrong Way to Use AI Agents in Customer Service with Jason Maynard, CTO of Zendesk

Fri, 20 Mar 2026 06:00:00 +1100

Episode Summary

Jason Maynard, CTO of Zendesk, joins Georgie Healy for a conversation that cuts through the AI automation hype and gets to what is actually happening on the front lines of customer service.

Jason shares the framework every business needs right now for deciding where automation genuinely helps customers and where it quietly destroys trust. He introduces the dolphin problem, the counterintuitive reason why the brands that listen hardest to complaints end up winning the most. And he explains why, despite everything you are hearing about AI replacing jobs, customer service job postings in the United States went up 10% in 2025.

They also get into digital snap and how to design your way out of it, why your AI agent is really just an extension of your brand identity, a brand new role emerging inside service organisations that looks a lot like what happened to marketing in the early 2000s, and three rapid fire scenarios that reveal exactly when you need a human and when you do not.

This is one of the most grounded and practical conversations we have had on the show about what AI in customer service actually looks like when it is done well.

✨ Connect with Georgie Healy

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/georginahealy/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/georgina_healy/

Twitter: https://x.com/georgina__healy?lang=en

The Day One Network

In The Blink of AI is part of Day One, the podcast network dedicated to founders, operators & investors.

Can Crypto Be the Future of Finance?

Thu, 19 Mar 2026 06:00:00 +1100

For most people, crypto is still a speculative asset. Something you buy in the hope that it increases in value. But advocates argue that crypto is much more than that. They believe it’s a technology that could fundamentally change how money moves, how assets are owned, and who has access to financial systems.

In this episode, Andy Jones speaks with Jason Titman, CEO of Swyftx, about whether crypto can move beyond hype and deliver real-world utility. They explore decentralisation, stablecoins, cross-border payments and the tokenisation of assets, alongside the risks of volatility, scams and regulatory uncertainty. The question isn’t whether crypto exists. It’s whether it can mature into something that meaningfully reshapes finance.

How to Turn Happy Customers Into Your Best Sales Channel

Wed, 18 Mar 2026 06:00:00 +1100

Most founders who've tried PR will tell you the same thing: it was a waste of money and they never got in the media. But when Marie Dowling digs deeper, the real answer is usually that they weren't involved enough to make it work.

In this episode, Alan is joined by Marie Dowling, founder and CEO of Newsary, a hybrid AI and human PR platform built for startups and small businesses. Marie walks through how Newsary works, why PR is becoming the new SEO, and how she landed enterprise client Flixbus, generating over 300 pieces of Australian media coverage.

Alan challenges Marie to think beyond founder-led sales, pushing her to consider referral incentives, agency partnerships, and her LinkedIn audience as scalable distribution channels. If you're a founder who's written off PR, this episode might just change your mind.

Time Stamps

02:13 – Meet Marie Dowling and her path from PR agency to founder

04:37 – Why bigger clients mean less interesting press releases

06:09 – What Newsary does and who it's for

07:02 – The pivot: from "how to write" to "what is a good story"

08:01 – Why PR is the new SEO

09:09 – How Newsary works: interview-style, not AI-generated

11:05 – Pricing: what Newsary costs vs. a traditional agency

12:32 – How Marie finds customers (and what they all say about PR)

13:39 – The real reason most PR fails: founder involvement

15:14 – Alan's challenge: scaling beyond founder-led sales

18:03 – The Flixbus campaign: 300+ pieces of coverage

19:14 – Who's behind Newsary: the team and advisors

20:16 – Co-hosting industry events: lessons learned

23:18 – Platform rebuild and January launch plans

25:10 – Marie's one ask of listeners

Resources Mentioned

💸 Newsary: https://www.newsary.co/

🎙 Ask Alan a Question – https://speakpipe.com/pickmybrain

🎧 More from Alan Jones – https://www.startupfoundercoach.com

Sponsors:

Pick My Brain is supported by our wonderful sponsors:

Galah Cyber offers the Foundations of Application Security course: a practical, hands-on AppSec course built for engineers who actually ship code. Two days of real-world lessons you can apply immediately. Learn more at galahcyber.com.au/learn.

The Day One Network

Pick My Brain is part of Day One, the podcast network dedicated to founders, operators & investors.

To learn more, join our newsletter to be notified of new and upcoming shows. The only content we create is content that will help Australian founders.

How to build faster with AI in 2026

Fri, 13 Mar 2026 06:00:00 +1100

Episode Summary

Jeanne DeWitt Grosser, Chief Operating Officer at Vercel, joins Georgie in Sydney to discuss what the shift to agentic AI actually means for developers, founders, and enterprise teams in 2026. Jeanne shares why the primitives required to build reliable agents at scale have only just arrived, and what that means for companies still stitching together fragmented infrastructure.

They explore Vercel's product suite, the real-world application of vibe coding for non-technical builders, and why Next.js has become the default framework that AI models reach for unprompted. Jeanne also breaks down the go-to-market and engineering alignment model Vercel has built internally, and the design partnership approach, refined at Stripe, that turns customer relationships into a product roadmap.

The conversation covers what founders should prioritise right now, why small and fast beats big and planned in the current AI landscape, and how to get genuine signal from customers before you try to sell them anything.

Time Stamps

0:00 Intro

03:07 The Role of Engineers in AI Development

06:01 Transitioning from Tech Giants to Startups

08:56 Vercel's Impact on Development in Australia

12:10 Understanding Vercel's v0 and Next.js

14:53 The Future of AI and Development Tools

18:10 Bridging the Gap Between Technical and Sales Teams

21:10 Feedback Loops and Customer Insights

24:03 The Emergence of Go-to-Market Engineers

27:02 Empathy in Sales and Engineering

29:50 Advice for Navigating AI Overwhelm

✨ Connect with Georgie Healy

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/georginahealy/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/georgina_healy/

Twitter: https://x.com/georgina__healy?lang=en

The Day One Network

In The Blink of AI is part of Day One, the podcast network dedicated to founders, operators & investors.

Why Every Founder & Investor Needs to Understand Open Source AI (Replay Episode)

Mon, 09 Mar 2026 06:00:00 +1100

Episode Summary

In this episode of First Cheque, Cheryl and Maxine sit down with Laura Chambers, CEO of @Mozilla to dive into the transformative power of open source technology and its role in shaping the future of the internet and artificial intelligence. Laura shares insights on Mozilla’s unique nonprofit structure, the importance of transparency and accessibility in technology, and the critical need for an open AI ecosystem to drive innovation and equity. From the historical impact of open source software like Firefox to the current challenges of balancing ethical AI development with business needs, this conversation is packed with lessons for early-stage investors and tech enthusiasts alike. Laura also provides an inside look at Mozilla Ventures and the Builders Program, which are supporting the next wave of open-source innovators. Whether you're an investor, founder, or just curious about the future of tech, this episode is a must-listen!

Time Stamps

00:00 Intro & Guest Highlights

00:21 Why We're Excited About Laura Chambers

03:14 Interview Begins: Laura's First Investment at Age 10

05:20 Open Source 101: What It Is & Why It Matters

07:08 Firefox vs Internet Explorer: The Open Source Origin Story

09:58 How Healthy Is the Internet Today?

13:50 Can You Actually Make Money From Open Source?

15:45 What If the Internet Had Stayed Behind Paywalls?

17:33 Gen AI Is the New Model T: We're Missing the Seatbelts

19:37 The Case For & Against Closed Source AI

21:35 Why Researchers, Academics & Governments Need Open Access

22:17 Where Are We in the Gen AI Infrastructure Cycle?

24:18 AI in Education: What Skills Do Kids Actually Need?

26:36 Older Generations & the AI Learning Gap

29:16 Open vs Closed: Who's Winning Right Now?

33:49 Meta's Llama & the Strategic Logic of Going Open

35:21 Advice for Founders & Investors Building on Open vs Closed Models

39:21 Inside Mozilla Ventures: What They're Investing In

41:31 Prompt Engineering Tips From a CEO (Say Please!)

46:13 The Biggest Brave Moment: Moving Her Family & a 17-Year-Old Dog to Australia

49:20 The Weight of Being CEO & What That Feels Like

Resources

1) Mozilla Ventures: Supporting startups focused on privacy, AI, and open source innovation. (https://mozilla.vc/)

2) Mozilla Builders Program: Investing in and mentoring early-stage entrepreneurs building ethical tech solutions. (https://builders.mozilla.org/)

3) Harvard University Study: Open Source Software’s $8 Trillion Economic Impact A study on the global economic value created by open source technology. (https://www.hbs.edu/ris/Publication%20Files/24-038_51f8444f-502c-4139-8bf2-56eb4b65c58a.pdf)

4) Anthropic Report on Bias in AI: Research highlighting the impact of bias and the importance of transparency in AI models. (https://www.anthropic.com/research/mapping-mind-language-model)

First Cheque is part of Day One.

Day One helps founders and startup operators make better business decisions more often.

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The Future of AI Payments: Agents, Stablecoins and Going Global

Fri, 06 Mar 2026 06:00:00 +1100

Episode Summary

Stripe’s Head of Startups, Hayley Hopwood, joins Georgie to unpack what the next era of commerce actually looks like and why founders need to rethink payments now, not later.

They start with something unexpected: vibe coding a household chore app in 20 minutes. But the conversation quickly moves into much bigger territory. From OpenAI’s arrival in Australia to agentic commerce and Stablecoins, Hayley explains how AI is reshaping the final mile of every transaction and why payments are no longer just infrastructure, they are strategy.

They dive into frictionless checkout, tokenisation, and the psychology of “one click” buying. Hayley shares why Australia will not build the next foundational LLM but can absolutely dominate in niche AI verticals like health, insurance, agriculture and education. She also unpacks why founders must build for global from day one, even if they are only selling locally, and how ignoring tax, currency and billing models early can quietly kill your scale later.

Plus: is B2B SaaS actually dead, what jobs will change first in the AI era, why mediocrity will not survive, and what founders should do in 2026 to stay ahead of the curve.

This is a masterclass in building durable infrastructure in a world moving at AI speed.

In the Blink of AI is made possible by our wonderful partners

Stripe

For early-stage, venture-backed founders – Stripe Startups is where to start. Enrol in the program and receive access to credits on Stripe fees, expert insights, and a focused community of other founders building on Stripe.

Apply for Stripe Startups at https://www.dayone.fm/stripe

✨ Connect with Georgie Healy

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/georginahealy/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/georgina_healy/

Twitter: https://x.com/georgina__healy?lang=en

The Day One Network

In The Blink of AI is part of Day One, the podcast network dedicated to founders, operators & investors.

Mentioned in this episode:

Stripe Startups

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AI in AppSec: Hype, Layoffs and What's Actually Real

Thu, 05 Mar 2026 06:00:00 +1100

Episode Summary

Artificial intelligence is dominating headlines in cybersecurity, but how much of it holds up under scrutiny? In this solo episode of Secured, Cole Cornford, founder and CEO of Galah Cyber, shares his unfiltered take on three of the biggest AI narratives making waves in the AppSec space right now.

Cole breaks down the Claude Code security announcement and why the market reaction dramatically overstated its real-world impact, arguing that the most meaningful security vulnerabilities have never been the ones static analysis tools can easily catch. He then examines Aikido's continuous penetration testing proposition, raising serious questions around noise, cost, resilience, and whether most organisations are even architected to support it.

Finally, Cole tackles the AI job displacement narrative head-on, making the case that most high-profile tech layoffs are less about AI capability and more about mismanaged businesses using automation as convenient cover for decisions driven by poor performance and investor pressure.

Timestamps

00:00 – Intro & Cole's hot take on AI hype

01:30 – Claude Code Security: what it is and why markets overreacted

03:30 – Why meaningful vulnerabilities need context, not static analysis

05:30 – Autofix, token waste, and who's actually using Claude Code

08:00 – Aikido Infinite: the continuous pen testing promise

10:00 – Cost, resilience, and noise concerns with Aikido

12:49 – The AI jobs narrative: Cole's verdict

14:30 – WiseTech, Block, and the smokescreen theory

16:00 – Jobs shift, not job loss

17:03 – Closing thoughts and solo format feedback

🐙 Secured is grateful to be sponsored and supported by Chainguard.

Secured is part of Day One.

Day One helps founders and startup operators make better business decisions more often.

To learn more, join our newsletter to be notified of new First Cheque episodes and upcoming shows.

Mentioned in this episode:

Call for Feedback

The Swyftx Story: Building Australia’s Fastest-Growing Crypto Exchange

Thu, 05 Mar 2026 06:00:00 +1100

In 2019, two founders launched Swyftx to make buying crypto easier and cheaper for everyday Australians. Seven years later, the platform processes over a billion dollars in monthly trades and serves 1.5 million users.

In this episode, Andy Jones speaks with Jason Titman, CEO of Swyftx, about the company’s remarkable growth journey. Jason shares his path from auditing banks at KPMG to building e-commerce platforms, and what convinced him to dive into crypto. We explore the early days of Swyftx, the culture that has driven its success, and what the Australian crypto landscape looked like when the company launched during a brutal bear market.

From a few hundred dollars a month to over a billion, this is how Swyftx became one of Australia’s largest crypto exchanges.

The Copyright War That Will Shape the Future of Music and AI | With Holly Rankin (aka Jack River)

Fri, 27 Feb 2026 06:00:00 +1100

Episode Summary

Every time you ask an AI to write a song, generate a script, or mimic a creative style, there's a good chance it learned how to do that by consuming someone's life's work, without asking, without paying, and without them ever knowing.

In October 2025, the Albanese Government became the first in the world to rule out a text and data mining exception to copyright law, a landmark win for creators that is now being actively challenged by the tech industry. It's the backdrop to everything Holly and Georgie discuss here.

Holly Rankin, the artist behind Jack River and founder of cultural strategy company Sentiment Agency, has testified before Australian Parliament and become one of the most articulate voices in the fight to ensure the AI economy doesn't get built on the back of stolen human culture. In this episode she and Georgie get into the staggering labour that goes into making a single song, why the "it's too complicated to license" argument from Big Tech is a convenient myth, and what the Anthropic book piracy settlement really signals about where this is all heading. But underneath the policy detail is a bigger question: if we let machines consume and replicate everything that makes us human, what exactly are we left with?

Jack River - https://www.jackrivermusic.com/

Holly Rankin Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/holly-rankin-3535912b3/

In the Blink of AI is made possible by our wonderful partners

Stripe

Apply for Stripe Startups at https://www.dayone.fm/stripe

✨ Connect with Georgie Healy

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/georginahealy/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/georgina_healy/

Twitter: https://x.com/georgina__healy?lang=en

The Day One Network

In The Blink of AI is part of Day One, the podcast network dedicated to founders, operators & investors.

Mentioned in this episode:

Stripe Startups

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Can Crypto Deliver? Series Trailer | Swyftx & Jason Titman

Fri, 27 Feb 2026 06:00:00 +1100

Two founders. A bear market. And a few hundred dollars in monthly trading. Six years later, Swyftx is doing over a billion dollars a month.

In this trailer for Episode 1 of Can Crypto Deliver?, Day One host Andy Jones sits down with Jason Titman, CEO of Swyftx, one of Australia's largest cryptocurrency exchanges, serving more than 1.5 million Australians.

Episode 1 goes beyond the growth story. Jason shares his own journey from KPMG auditor to hotel investor to crypto CEO, why he believes the traditional financial system has far more intermediaries than it needs, and why he thinks we are still at the very beginning of what crypto can become.

According to Jason, Swyftx grew its customer base by 70% in the last 12 months alone, and with independent studies suggesting another 20-25% of Australians are expected to invest in crypto in the next two to three years, the story is only getting bigger.

If you've ever been curious about crypto but not sure where to start, or you're already invested and want to understand the bigger picture, this one is worth your time.

Can Crypto Deliver? Episode 1 drops Thursday. Subscribe so you don't miss it.

Cracking AI Growth & Retention: How Instant & Relume scaled from $0 to $10m

Thu, 26 Feb 2026 06:00:00 +1100

How do AI companies scale this fast without breaking?

Eight figure revenue in competitive markets. Products that double revenue in a single month. Customers who tattoo your logo on their body. Not growth hacks. Not hype. Real traction, earned the hard way.

Brendan Hill sits down with Daniel Slater from Relume, Liam Millward from Instant, and Sally Yu from King River Capital to unpack what actually drives breakout AI companies in 2025. The answer is not building more features. It is obsession with distribution, ruthless focus on speed to value, and teams that move faster than their competitors think is possible.

Relume did not start as an AI startup. It started as an agency. Building websites manually, feeling the pain firsthand, and removing the work that should never have existed. Instant did not find product market fit once. It found it three times, killing products, rebuilding teams, and learning the hard way that revenue without stickiness is a mirage. And from Silicon Valley, Sally Yu shares what she sees across the fastest growing AI companies in the world, why community is becoming the real moat, and why founders with unwavering conviction now win disproportionately.

They talk candidly about churn, mistakes, hiring A players, monthly execution cycles, and why most AI products fail not because the tech is bad, but because the company moves too slowly. This is a conversation about momentum. About earning distribution. About building products people would fight to keep.

If you want to understand how modern AI companies actually scale, and what it takes to stay ahead once you do, this episode is for you.

Oversubscribed is proudly supported by our sponsor Vanta 🦙

Vanta is the all-in-one solution for startups to become compliant quickly and build a security foundation with ease. Startup customers get $1000 off Vanta at vanta.com/oversubscribed

The Day One Network

Oversubscribed is part of Day One, the podcast network dedicated to founders, operators & investors.

Guest Founders:

Relume: relume.io

Connect with Daniel: https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniel-james-slater-13079288/

Instant: instant.one

Connect with Liam: https://www.linkedin.com/in/liammillward/

King River Capital:http://www.kingriver.co/

Connect with Sally: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sally-tech/

Stay Updated:

Listen to the Oversubscribed Podcast on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6rZ9SajGVXkO8oxuvEHAsk?si=I2yR92GgRZa-Fdqbp8T4bw

Listen to the Oversubscribed Podcast on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/oversubscribed/id1848789610

Please note that the content here is for informational purposes only; should NOT be taken as legal, business, or investment advice or be used to evaluate any investment or financial product. Brendan Hill is an investor in Everlab, Relevance AI and A1Base.

About the Host:

Brendan Hill is a Venture Partner at TEN13 and an angel investor in Australia’s fastest-growing startups, including Everlab, Heidi Health, Relevance AI and Instant. If you are interested in finding out more about angel investing, connect with Brendan on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/itsbrendanhill/

How to Make Your Fintech Pitch Unforgettable | James Horan from Phinly

Wed, 25 Feb 2026 06:00:00 +1100

Episode Summary

Consumers lose billions to scams and miss out on trillions in potential savings every year. So what if everyone had their own AI-powered financial assistant working 24-7?

In this episode of Pick My Brain, Alan Jones is joined by James Horan, founder of Phinly, an AI-driven personal finance platform designed to help consumers automate savings, prevent fees, and optimise their financial lives. James walks through his live pitch for Phinly, outlining the problem with doom-scrolling money advice, the rise of AI agents in personal finance, and a bold vision for owning the AI money assistant category.

Phinly connects to over 20,000 institutions, identifies cost savings opportunities, and enables one-tap actions from cancelling subscriptions to switching providers. With early partnerships secured, backing from a global AI accelerator, and a savings-based revenue model, the startup is raising $800,000 on a pre-seed SAFE to scale toward $4.5M ARR in 18 months.

But Alan’s feedback goes deeper than traction and TAM. He challenges James to avoid blending in with every other AI fintech startup in the room. Instead of leaning purely on logic and numbers, Alan pushes for something more memorable: behavioural insights that surprise the audience about their own financial habits. The goal is simple. Make investors go home and say, “Did you know that…?” and have that sentence start with something you taught them.

If you’re building in fintech, AI, or any crowded category, this episode is a masterclass in standing out when everyone else looks the same.

Time Stamps

02:08 – Meet James Horan and his founder journey

03:14 – Lessons from a failed two-sided marketplace

04:28 – The Phinly pitch begins

05:40 – Money advice, TikTok, and the cost-of-living crisis

06:50 – How Phinly works: AI-powered money automation

07:45 – Traction: 20,000 institutions connected and major partnerships

08:30 – Revenue model: percentage of savings and future subscriptions

09:10 – Alan’s first reaction: good foundation, but blends in

11:45 – The power of surprise in a crowded fintech room

12:30 – Using behavioural economics to stand out

14:00 – Stop reading your slides

15:30 – Supporting your story instead of replacing it

17:00 – Bringing emotion into a rational fintech pitch

18:00 – How to create a pitch people repeat to others

Resources

💸 Phinly – https://phinly.com

🎙 Ask Alan a Question – https://speakpipe.com/pickmybrain

🎧 More from Alan Jones – https://www.startupfoundercoach.com

Sponsors:

Pick My Brain is supported by our wonderful sponsors:

The Day One Network

Pick My Brain is part of Day One, the podcast network dedicated to founders, operators & investors.

To learn more, join our newsletter to be notified of new and upcoming shows. The only content we create is content that will help Australian founders.

AI Bias, Sex Robots & The Algorithms Radicalising Your Kids

Fri, 20 Feb 2026 06:00:00 +1100

Episode Summary

Tracey Spicer is one of Australia’s most respected journalists and the author of Man-Made: How the Bias of the Past Is Being Built into the Future. In this episode, Georgie sits down with Tracey for a sharp, funny, and occasionally jaw-dropping conversation about what happens when we treat AI like neutral math instead of what it really is: opinion written in code.

They unpack why algorithmic bias is getting worse in the generative AI era, how recommendation engines can quietly radicalise people (from Andrew Tate pipelines to hyper-performative “tradwife” culture), and why “move fast” without guardrails is a dangerous blueprint. The discussion also goes into the weird and unsettling frontier of humanoid home robots, privacy risks in always-on devices, and what Tracey learned researching sex robots, including the disturbing ways consent is engineered out of the product.

Plus: why Tracey’s favourite AI tool is Claude, what she thinks about Grok and the chaos machine of X, why we are not getting a four day work week anytime soon, and her case for “regulatory sandpits” to test AI safely before it hits the rest of the world.

Time Stamps

01:10 – Tracey’s TEDx “The lady stripped bare” moment and why it still matters

04:45 – Beauty standards, AI filters, and why expectations on young women have intensified

08:20 – Man-Made and the epiphany that sparked Tracey’s AI obsession

11:10 – The AI arms race, speed, and why we are in the “seatbelt era” of tech

14:30 – Digital natives vs critical thinking: the hallucination blind spot

16:45 – Tracey’s AI stack: why Claude is her daily driver

19:05 – Humanoid home robots: convenience vs surveillance

21:55 – Strength vs security: what actually scares Tracey about robots

24:35 – Sex robots and the consent problem manufacturers do not talk about

28:10 – Algorithms as “opinions in code” and how radicalisation happens

33:10 – Removing bias: conversations, perspective checks, and inclusive design

35:00 – Grok, MechaHitler, and what happens when platforms mirror their owners

36:45 – Deepfake porn, consent, and why regulation is finally catching up

38:10 – No, AI will not magically deliver a four day work week

41:10 – Future jobs: law, AI assistants, and why juniors still need fundamentals

44:15 – Indigenous knowledge, language revitalisation, and the full-circle AI story

46:50 – Rapid fire: brain chips, Waymo, smart glasses, and AI “snog marry avoid”

49:55 – What we should do now: regulatory sandpits and real guardrails

In the Blink of AI is made possible by our wonderful partners

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Twitter: https://x.com/georgina__healy?lang=en

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How AI Pen Testing Actually Works (and Where It Breaks)

Thu, 19 Feb 2026 06:00:00 +1100

Episode Summary

AI is starting to change penetration testing, but most people are asking the wrong question. In this episode of Secured, Cole Cornford sits down with Brendan Dolan-Gavitt, AI researcher at XBOW and former NYU professor, to unpack what autonomous pen testing really is, what it can reliably do today, and what still needs humans.

They explore why AI agents are great at scaling the boring parts of testing, like authenticated workflows and broad vulnerability coverage across huge attack surfaces, and why that does not automatically translate to deep, context-aware exploitation. The conversation also gets into the messy parts: AI systems overclaiming “serious” findings, business logic flaws that are hard to verify, audit expectations, and why scope control needs real guardrails, not vibes. From agent traces and validation models to cost curves and creative exfiltration tricks, this episode is a grounded look at where AI helps AppSec and where it can still cause damage if you trust it too much.

Timestamps

00:00 – Intro

03:10 – From academia to building autonomous security tools

05:00 – Human pen testers vs AI agents: what is actually different

06:40 – Where AI helps most: boring tasks and low hanging fruit

08:30 – Scale: a thousand targets vs hiring a thousand testers

10:20 – Accessibility, economics, and Jevons paradox

12:30 – Accountability: audit evidence, traces, and “who signs off”

14:40 – Scope control: avoiding prod and preventing out-of-scope actions

16:20 – Safety checkers, overseer agents, and persuasion resistance

18:40 – The cost question: VC money, inference pricing, and efficiency

21:20 – When AI wastes money and why prioritisation matters

23:50 – Failure mode: overclaiming business “vulnerabilities”

26:10 – Validation agents and adversarial peer review

28:40 – The scary clever stuff: exfiltrating files as images

31:00 – What AI finds well: XSS, SQLi, file traversal, hard proof bugs

33:10 – What AI struggles with: business logic and contextual judgement

35:20 – Hype vs skepticism and why nobody has a crystal ball

🐙 Secured is grateful to be sponsored and supported by Chainguard.

Why Enterprise AI Fails and How to Fix It

Fri, 13 Feb 2026 06:00:00 +1100

Episode Summary

Enterprise AI is past the hype phase and into the hard part: scaling what works without breaking security, blowing out costs, or shipping chaos into production. In this episode, Georgie chats with AWS technologist Rada Stanic about using AI as a “study buddy” to renew technical certifications faster, and why tools like AWS QuickSight can generate strong first drafts of strategy docs when you provide the right templates and context.

They go deep on AIOps: the operational discipline enterprises need to deploy agents and GenAI reliably at scale. Rada breaks AIOps into five practical pillars: defining agent intent, identity and security boundaries, policy and governance, observability and evaluation, and managing the rapid model lifecycle as new LLMs drop constantly. The conversation also covers why security questions dominate every enterprise AI project, why data quality still makes or breaks outcomes, and why “RAG” is fading as a buzzword even though retrieval is still foundational.

Finally, Rada shares a sharp concern for the next generation: what happens to junior roles when AI fills the entry level work, and why the pace of change itself may become the next generation’s greatest advantage.

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Twitter: https://x.com/georgina__healy?lang=en

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How to Pitch Growth to Investors and Revenue to Publishers

Wed, 11 Feb 2026 06:00:00 +1100

Episode Summary

If you have to pitch the same product to two totally different audiences, should you use one deck or two?

In this episode of Pick My Brain, Alan Jones is joined by Michelle Chen, founder of Mental Jam, a startup turning real lived experiences of depression and anxiety into cozy, story-driven mobile games. Michelle is preparing to pitch in two worlds at once: to investors who care about venture-scale growth, and to game publishers who care about commercial upside and licensing rights.

Alan breaks down why one pitch is rarely enough, and introduces a simple framework: three decks for each audience. A teaser deck to spark curiosity, a pitch deck to support your live story, and a leave-behind deck packed with detail for later review. They also get tactical about what makes a pitch land: fewer words on slides, stronger emotional delivery in the first 10 to 15 seconds, and building trust by keeping the audience focused on the founder, not the deck.

Michelle also shares the real nerves behind pitching, including stage anxiety and how it impacts performance. Alan offers a mindset shift that helps founders separate their personal fear from the “role” they’re playing on stage, plus practical tips for pitching on video calls. They finish with concrete improvements: shorten the character section, add a clear team slide, and capture customer reactions on video to show emotional impact, not just quotes.

If you’re pitching a product with multiple buyers, fundraising while still building, or struggling with confidence on stage, this episode is a masterclass in making your pitch clearer, shorter, and more human

Time Stamps

02:10 – Michelle’s origin story: from PhD research to startup

04:10 – Why Catalyzer mattered for a migrant founder

05:20 – Two audiences: investors vs game publishers

06:05 – Should you build two pitches? Alan’s answer: yes, tailor

08:05 – The 6 deck framework: teaser, pitch, leave-behind for each audience

13:05 – Ideal slide counts: teaser 3 to 5, pitch 10 to 15, leave-behind as needed

14:00 – Why founders accidentally read slides and lose the room

15:00 – Video call tip: pin the person, not your slides

16:15 – Michelle’s pitch: Mental Jam and Boba Rista

23:15 – Alan’s feedback: scripting, emotion, and the first 10 seconds

26:00 – Handling stage anxiety while pitching

29:20 – Cut words per slide: aim for fewer than 10 words

31:10 – Too many characters: use one or two for investors

31:40 – Add a team slide and show real customer feedback

33:00 – Use video testimonials for emotional proof

Resources Mentioned

🎮 Mental Jam – https://hellomentaljam.com

🎙 Ask Alan a Question – https://speakpipe.com/pickmybrain

🎧 More from Alan Jones – https://www.startupfoundercoach.com

Sponsors:

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To learn more, join our newsletter to be notified of new and upcoming shows. The only content we create is content that will help Australian founders.

How to Pick Your First Market for International Expansion

Mon, 09 Feb 2026 06:00:00 +1100

Episode Summary

Frontline’s Brennan O’Donnell has spent two decades helping companies expand across borders, first as an operator at Google and later as a growth investor backing Series B to D businesses. In this episode, Cheryl and Maxine unpack what’s shifted at growth stage in the last 12 months, why the market is still a barbell of “hot or not” deals, and how AI is finally producing application layer companies mature enough for growth rounds.

They go deep on Frontline’s transatlantic model: seed investing across Europe to help founders raise a Series A and enter the US earlier, and growth investing in the US to help companies expand into Europe with a hands on, concentrated portfolio approach. Brennan breaks down the four pillars Frontline uses to drive international expansion timing, go to market, talent and org design, and location plus the biggest traps founders fall into, like trying to launch in too many markets at once or optimizing for revenue targets instead of learning.

You’ll also hear why the UK and Ireland are the default first step for 97 percent of US companies entering Europe, when Europe becomes a CEO level priority, how relationship driven sales cycles vary across countries, and why developer led community building can beat traditional sales led expansion for certain AI products. Brennan closes with his Big Cojones moment: moving to the Bay Area for a temporary Google job with everything in storage, then doing it again to help build Google’s European HQ in Dublin.

Time Stamps

03:14 Brennan’s first investment: Mode Analytics and a lawn mowing business in Texas

06:49 What’s changed at growth stage and why “growth” is a different world

08:30 Why AI enablement came first and app layer is finally ready for Series B plus

10:10 The new risk: fast revenue that’s concentrated and not yet durable

14:22 Frontline’s model: Europe seed plus US growth and why it’s unique

15:58 What Frontline looks for: category leaders and a line of sight to a 5x outcome

16:20 The rough revenue range where growth starts paying attention

23:22 The four pillars of expansion: timing, go to market, talent, location

26:00 Timing: the 10 percent pull, exec maturity, and why waiting too long is risky

29:36 Why Europe expansion has to be a CEO level company priority

38:04 Build or buy: why most companies compete into new markets rather than acquire

39:10 Developer community expansion as a new go to market wedge

41:44 Market selection: why nearly everyone starts with London or Dublin

43:56 “Success amnesia” and why you must optimize for learning not quotas

48:28 Relationship driven sales cycles and how Europe varies market to market

52:43 Big Cojones moment: taking a temp Google job and betting on himself

54:26 Doing it again: moving to Dublin in three weeks to help build Google Europe

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What It Takes to Build a $100M AI Company at 17

Fri, 06 Feb 2026 06:00:00 +1100

Episode Summary

Liam Millward is one of Australia’s most watched young founders, but this conversation goes way beyond the headline of raising a record pre-seed at 17. Liam breaks down how Instant is building an AI powered marketing manager for e-commerce brands, why retention marketing is the real lever for growth, and how personalisation at scale changes the economics of marketing teams.

Georgie and Liam unpack what it actually takes to win in B2B SaaS right now, why “nice-to-have dashboards” are getting crushed, and what young founders should do instead of spending their time posing with VCs. Liam also shares the downside of raising big too early, his bet on Google winning the model race, and the one tool he has mandated across Instant’s engineering team.

Plus: why New York (not SF) is the next chapter for Instant, how Australian buying habits can create painful customers, and Liam’s spicy prediction that AI agents will become the majority of internet traffic shockingly soon.

Time Stamps

01:35 – Meet Liam Millward and the record-breaking pre-seed story

03:40 – Using AI to hire better and have deeper interviews

07:55 – What Instant actually does and why retention beats acquisition

12:00 – How AI personalization changes loyalty, margins, and growth

16:30 – Is B2B SaaS dead or just getting ruthless?

20:45 – Raising big too early, age bias, and proving people wrong

28:30 – Teenage founders, VC hype, and why starting small still wins

34:15 – New York expansion, Google vs OpenAI, and Claude Code

43:50 – AI agents, Australia’s talent drain, and what comes next

44:38 – Saying no to customers: Australia’s “buy from friends” trap

45:32 – Structure at Instant: obsession, speed, and a tiny leadership team

46:42 – Australia’s talent drain and what could change it

In the Blink of AI is made possible by our wonderful partners

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Twitter: https://x.com/georgina__healy?lang=en

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AI, Hiring, and Trust: Why Shortcuts Break Interviews

Thu, 05 Feb 2026 06:00:00 +1100

Episode Summary

Hiring is still a human process, no matter how much AI gets injected into it. In this episode of Secured, Cole Cornford sits down with Kim Acosta, Managing Director at UCentric and former Amazon talent acquisition leader, to unpack how AI is actually changing recruitment and where it is quietly breaking trust.

They explore how candidates are using AI in applications and technical assessments, why misuse often damages long term employability more than failing an interview, and why recruiters and hiring managers are responding with stricter controls, in person assessments, and AI detection. Kim shares what she is seeing across data, analytics, and AI roles, where demand is growing, and why human judgment, rapport, and credibility still matter far more than perfect answers.

The conversation also covers embedded recruitment and RPO models, why soft skills matter more as teams get smaller, and what the next hiring cycle is likely to look like as big tech contracts while smaller companies continue to grow. For candidates, hiring managers, and founders alike, this episode is a grounded look at why shortcuts rarely pay off and why trust is still the real signal.

Timestamps

00:00 – Intro

01:24 – Meet Kim Acosta and UCentric

02:06 – From Amazon to starting a recruitment consultancy

04:19 – Data engineering demand vs AI hype

05:31 – What data engineering roles actually look like

07:27 – Adapting business models to real market needs

10:04 – Where AI genuinely helps recruiters

11:09 – Custom GPTs and interview preparation

13:43 – One way interviews and candidate slop

15:09 – Technical assessments and AI misuse

17:19 – Trust, failure, and reapplying the right way

18:29 – Spotting AI generated answers in interviews

20:19 – Rapport, eye contact, and human signals

22:19 – Hiring for values and team fit

23:52 – Agency vs internal vs embedded recruiters

27:59 – RPO models and cost tradeoffs

28:47 – Layoffs, market shifts, and salary reality

30:57 – Where hiring is still strong

33:10 – Why hiring and podcasts still need humans

🐙 Secured is grateful to be sponsored and supported by Chainguard.

Why the Next AI Breakthrough Is Robotics

Fri, 30 Jan 2026 06:00:00 +1100

Episode Summary

Is the next AI breakthrough hiding in robotics, not chatbots?

This week on In the Blink of AI, Georgie Healy is joined by cognitive robotics researcher Colm Flanagan for a grounded look at the next phase of artificial intelligence beyond large language models. While tools like ChatGPT live comfortably in the cloud, robots do not have that luxury. A self-driving car, drone, or warehouse bot cannot wait seconds for an answer. Decisions have to happen instantly, on device. Colm explains why this constraint could force a fundamental rethink of how we build AI, pushing models to become smaller, faster, and rooted in real-world experience rather than just trained on internet text.

The conversation explores whether LLM progress is starting to plateau, what a “data ceiling” really means, and why chasing AGI might be the wrong goal altogether. From robots that form memories like humans to the privacy tradeoffs of machines that watch and learn from us, they unpack the technical limits, the hype cycles, and what actually matters for builders today. If you want a clear-eyed take on where AI is genuinely heading, and why the next breakthroughs may be physical rather than digital, this episode connects the dots.

In the Blink of AI is made possible by our wonderful partners

Stripe

Apply for Stripe Startups at https://www.dayone.fm/stripe

✨ Connect with Georgie Healy

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/georginahealy/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/georgina_healy/

Twitter: https://x.com/georgina__healy?lang=en

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NiceGit: Making Git usable for everyone, not just engineers

Thu, 29 Jan 2026 06:00:00 +1100

What if your designers, PMs, and writers could safely ship changes to a codebase without waiting weeks for engineering backlog?

In this episode of Pick My Brain, Alan Jones is joined by Dan Borthwick, founder of NiceGit, a startup rethinking source control for the reality of modern product teams. Dan pitches NiceGit as a single button way to use Git, keeping the power of version control while stripping away the terminal commands, scary UI, and workflow friction that locks non engineers out of making changes.

Alan and Dan unpack why Git has become a productivity bottleneck as more of the world builds software, especially now that over half of GitHub’s users are not programmers. They explore the hidden cost of routing every small change through developers, from UX tweaks to copy updates, and why “good enough” often wins simply because teams cannot afford the delays.

They also go deep on go to market strategy for technical products, including why engineers resist traditional marketing, how Atlassian used meetups and peer conversations to grow early, and how to think about whether you are selling a headache pill or a vitamin pill. Dan shares why game studios may be the ideal beachhead, how inbound interest is already forming through LinkedIn, and why team leads are often the real buyer even when end users feel the pain.

Along the way, Alan offers practical guidance on positioning, taglines, multivariate testing messaging, and how to equip champions inside an organisation with the right “cheat sheet” to win internal buy in. They finish with sharp, Australia specific advice on fundraising timing, investor targeting, and why warm coffee conversations beat sending a deck too early.

If you are building B2B SaaS, developer tools, or selling into teams with multiple stakeholders, this episode is packed with practical insight you can use immediately.

Sponsors:

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Pick My Brain is part of Day One, the podcast network dedicated to founders, operators & investors.

To learn more, join our newsletter to be notified of new and upcoming shows. The only content we create is content that will help Australian founders.

Inside Neural Decoding: How AI Turns Brain Signals Into Meaning

Fri, 23 Jan 2026 06:00:00 +1100

Episode Summary

Josh Vinson works at the edge where AI meets the human brain. With a background in psychology and machine learning, he is part of a growing group of engineers exploring neural decoding, the emerging field focused on translating brain signals into meaningful insights about thought, intent, and experience. While the idea of “reading thoughts” still sounds like science fiction, Josh explains why parts of it are already real, and why recent advances in large language models have quietly accelerated progress in this space.

In this episode of In The Blink of AI, Georgie Healy sits down with Josh to unpack how brain computer interfaces actually work, what separates invasive implants like Neuralink from noninvasive approaches such as EEG, and why the hardest challenges are not ethical or philosophical but technical. They explore the twin problems of noisy hardware and radically different brains, and what it would take for neural decoding to become reliable enough for clinical and everyday use.

The conversation stretches beyond medicine into the future of communication itself. From experience transfer and lucid dreaming headsets to brain wearables that could track attention, presence, and mental fatigue, Josh shares a clear-eyed view of what might be possible and what should give us pause. If you’re curious about where human cognition and artificial intelligence truly begin to blur, this episode offers a grounded look at what’s coming and why it matters.

In the Blink of AI is made possible by our wonderful partners

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✨ Connect with Georgie Healy

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Twitter: https://x.com/georgina__healy?lang=en

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PSPF Changes Explained for Security Leaders

Thu, 22 Jan 2026 06:00:00 +1100

Episode Summary

The Protective Security Policy Framework is meant to guide how government manages security risk, but constant updates make it harder to implement than to understand. In this episode of Secured, Cole Cornford is joined by Toby Amodio, Practice Lead at Fujitsu Cybersecurity Services and former senior cybersecurity leader across Australian government, to break down what actually changed in the latest PSPF update and why it matters in practice.

They examine the growing focus on personnel security and foreign interference risk, the inclusion of AI guidance that adds little beyond basic risk assessment, and the long overdue recognition of Secure Service Edge and SASE as compliant gateways. The conversation also explores why deny lists and centralised risk sharing sound sensible on paper but are far harder to enforce in reality, and why most security failures still come down to behaviour, accountability, and how technology is actually used rather than what policy says.

Timestamps

00:00 – Intro

01:18 – What the PSPF is and why it exists

02:49 – Annual updates, directives, and policy advisories

04:19 – What actually changed in the 2025 PSPF update

05:36 – AI in the PSPF and why it adds little value

08:14 – Tool hype vs implementation risk

10:32 – The AI policy advisory and trusted vendors

14:25 – Directive 3 and clearance disclosure risks

17:21 – Personnel security and enforcement reality

19:41 – Secure Service Edge and SASE recognition

23:39 – Commonwealth Technology Management directive

25:28 – Deny lists, transparency, and security through obscurity

28:05 – Centralised risk sharing and assessment overload

29:52 – Policy wonk or policy gronk

31:12 – Final takeaways and closing

🐙 Secured is grateful to be sponsored and supported by Chainguard.

Mentioned in this episode:

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How to Prove Impact in Mental Health Without Medical Data | Clement Baissat from Hope Stage

Wed, 21 Jan 2026 06:00:00 +1100

What do you do when your life story suddenly stops making sense?

In this episode of Pick My Brain, Alan Jones speaks with Clement Baissat, founder of mental wellbeing startup Hope Stage, about a journey that doesn’t follow the usual startup narrative. It begins with ambition and company building, then runs into depression, bankruptcy, and a bipolar diagnosis that arrives with clarity, but no instructions.

Clement shares growing up in France, knowing early that he wanted to build things on his own terms, and then spending years moving through startups, jobs, and burnout without understanding the patterns behind his highs and lows. A walk through a Paris park, a phone call to his mother, and two psychiatrists later, everything finally had a name. What remained unanswered was how to live with it.

That question became the foundation of Hope Stage. Not as a breakthrough moment, but as a practical attempt to understand bipolar disorder, build stability, and keep functioning. The conversation covers community, acceptance, routine, and the everyday systems that make progress possible, from sleep and structure to professional support. It also touches on why conditions like bipolar disorder and ADHD appear so often among founders.

As always, the discussion stays grounded and conversational. Alan brings curiosity and humour as they talk through business models, pricing, NGOs versus startups, and what it means to build something meaningful with limited resources.

This episode is about working with reality rather than fighting it, about replacing guesswork with systems, and about turning personal experience into something that may help others.

Sponsors:

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To learn more, join our newsletter to be notified of new and upcoming shows. The only content we create is content that will help Australian founders.

ProcurePro’s AI Playbook for Construction Procurement

Fri, 16 Jan 2026 06:00:00 +1100

Episode Summary

Tom Newby, Head of AI and co-founder at Procure Pro, joins Georgie Healy for a fast, candid tour through the most useful, controversial, and surprisingly human parts of the AI wave.

They start with Tom’s favourite under-the-radar tool in Australia, Hex, and its new “AI data analyst” agent that can actually do analyst work, not just answer simple queries. Georgie shares her own weekend hack: using AI to redesign a very average rental outdoor area with photo-based before-and-afters.

From there, the conversation turns to the bigger questions: whether using LLMs makes us “lazy”, why the blank page problem is real (and how AI helps you get to a wrong answer fast so you can refine), and what it takes to build AI features that actually matter inside a product. Tom breaks down Procure Pro’s mission to save a billion hours of construction admin and explains “bid leveling”, the messy PDF-to-spreadsheet reality that procurement teams face every day.

Georgie also brings the headlines. They unpack Australia’s surge in commercial data centre construction (and why the export narrative might not hold), plus Tom’s spicy take on OpenAI’s recent cadence, model naming chaos, and why distribution and “apps” could matter more than raw model gains.

They finish with rapid-fire stories: Tom’s accidental three-hour job, a 7-Eleven game exploit turned Slurpee rewards, a surprisingly thoughtful answer on ADHD and LLM workflows, plus a practical trust framework for everyday AI users.

In the Blink of AI is made possible by our wonderful partners

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✨ Connect with Georgie Healy

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Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/georgina_healy/

Twitter: https://x.com/georgina__healy?lang=en

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How to Pitch Deep Tech to Investors With Competing Priorities | Paul Bevan from Magic Valley

Wed, 14 Jan 2026 06:00:00 +1100

Could real meat grown without animals be cheaper than traditional farming? And could Australia become one of the best places in the world to launch it?

In this episode of Pick My Brain, Alan Jones is joined by Paul Bevan, founder of cultivated meat startup Magic Valley, to explore how second-generation food tech is reshaping the economics and investability of cultivated meat. Paul pitches Magic Valley’s approach to growing real meat from animal cells, without livestock, and explains why minced products like lamb and pork are the logical first step to reaching commercial scale.

Alan and Paul unpack why earlier cultivated meat companies struggled, how advances in equipment and cell culture media have dramatically lowered costs, and what that means for investors assessing deep tech risk today. They also dig into Australia’s surprisingly strong regulatory framework for novel foods, Magic Valley’s decision to launch locally first, and how to raise deep tech capital without burning hundreds of millions of dollars.

Along the way, Alan shares practical advice on investor communication, momentum, and signalling progress, while Paul reflects on the challenge of telling one coherent story to impact investors, deep tech funds, and commercial partners at the same time.

If you are building in food tech, climate tech, deep tech, or navigating complex investor messaging, this episode is packed with hard-earned insight.

Sponsors:

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Pick My Brain is part of Day One, the podcast network dedicated to founders, operators & investors.

To learn more, join our newsletter to be notified of new and upcoming shows. The only content we create is content that will help Australian founders.

The Australian Venture Playbook for 2026

Mon, 12 Jan 2026 06:00:00 +1100

Episode Summary

As 2026 kicks off, Cheryl and Maxine open the year with their annual First Cheque wrap, a grounded, opinionated take on what actually shifted in Australian tech and venture, and what that means for the year ahead.

They break down why 2025 marked a genuine inflection point for the ecosystem, from Canva’s secondary and a surge in M&A to fresh signals that long-awaited liquidity is finally starting to flow. Despite minimal government support, Australia quietly proved itself as one of the most capital-efficient venture markets globally, producing unicorns at roughly twice the rate of the US per dollar invested.

The conversation also tackles the harder truths investors and founders need to reckon with in 2026: early-stage funding compressing while late stage heats up, corporate venture capital retreating, and the gender funding gap sliding backwards. Looking forward, Cheryl and Maxine share their predictions for the year ahead, where funding volumes may land, why seed remains the toughest stage, how AI valuations could trigger a market correction, and why energy and infrastructure may emerge as the next premium asset class.

Time Stamps

00:00 – Intro: End of year energy: why 2025 felt different to 2024

03:55 – Election fallout and the government’s “nothingburger” for startups

05:24 – Canva’s secondary and the first real signs of liquidity returning

09:49 – Aussie tech M&A heats up: Canva, Linktree, Jolt, and more

12:09 – The stat that changed the narrative: Australia’s unicorn efficiency

16:14 – The weirdest trend of the year: early stage down, late stage up

18:27 – Tech jobs, data centers, and the infrastructure bet Australia is making

22:52 – Why deep tech and climate are pulling venture dollars again

28:21 – The gender funding gap got worse (and why)

33:09 – Corporate VC is pulling out: what happened to strategic capital

37:02 – 2026 predictions: funding totals, seed pain, and where capital flows next

44:00 – AI bubble risk: tourism, ROI pressure, and the domino effect

47:42 – Hot take: electricity is the next valuation premium

49:00 – Will diversity bounce back in 2026? (vibes, but also logic)

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Why Australia Is Falling Behind on AI and How to Fix It

Fri, 09 Jan 2026 18:00:00 +1100

Episode Summary

Australia has a new AI strategy, but does it match the speed of the moment? Dr Tom Kelly, CEO of Heidi Health, and Anish Sinha, founder of UpCover, sit at the coalface of deploying AI in two of the most regulated industries in the country: healthcare and insurance. They have both built companies where safety, compliance, and real-world adoption are not optional, and they bring that builder perspective to a frank assessment of the government’s latest plan.

In this episode of In The Blink of AI, Georgie sits down with Tom and Anish for a practical conversation on what Australia’s AI strategy gets right, what it completely misses, and what it would take to move from vague principles to measurable outcomes. They argue the plan needs sharper priorities, clearer success metrics, and a more decisive approach to accelerating adoption in industries where AI can lift productivity quickly.

Tom unpacks why Australia is non-competitive on energy and compute, why chip availability and latency matter if we want world-class AI experiences locally, and what policy levers could make Australia a serious data centre and infrastructure contender. Anish explains why tech-neutral regulation is a relief for startups, why government should focus on long-term market-making rather than short-term accelerators, and why Australia should look to Canada for inspiration instead of trying to copy the US or China.

This is a sharp, builder-led episode for anyone trying to understand what Australia should actually do next in AI, from infrastructure and sovereignty to education, public sector productivity, and stopping bad actors without slowing innovation.

In the Blink of AI is made possible by our wonderful partners

Stripe

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✨ Connect with Georgie Healy

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/georginahealy/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/georgina_healy/

Twitter: https://x.com/georgina__healy?lang=en

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In The Blink of AI is part of Day One, the podcast network dedicated to founders, operators & investors.

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The Architect’s Dilemma: Why Security Design Keeps Failing (and How to Fix It)

Thu, 08 Jan 2026 06:00:00 +1100

Episode Summary

Most security architects are not actually doing architecture. They are doing assurance work, following checklists, and hoping standards will save them. But as systems get more complex and attackers get faster, that approach is no longer good enough.

In this episode of Secured, Cole sits down with Ken Fitzpatrick, founder of Patterned Security and creator of securitypatterns.io, a resource built during the lockdown years that has since grown into one of the clearest frameworks for designing meaningful, context-aware security architecture.

Ken shares why so many architects fall into the trap of compliance thinking, how security design becomes a tick box exercise, and why threat modeling without understanding context is pointless. They unpack the four foundational steps every architect should follow, why traceability matters more than ever, and how modern teams can stop copying best practice and start solving the real problems in front of them.

The conversation also digs into secure by design in different industries, why the term has lost its meaning, and how modern defensible architecture is resetting expectations for what good looks like. Cole and Ken also dive into AI and its impact on the architecture function, separating hype from reality and exploring which roles are at risk as AI improves.

If you work in engineering, architecture, AppSec, risk, or are building a product and want a practical way to think about secure design, this is an episode you should not miss.

Timestamps

00:00 – Intro

00:48 – Chainguard Ad

01:20 – Meet Ken Fitzpatrick and Patterned Security

02:19 – How a cancelled Canada trip sparked securitypatterns.io

04:08 – Why architecture needs practical guidance, not more frameworks

05:18 – The four step method for real security architecture

07:23 – Moving beyond box ticking and why engineering experience matters

09:39 – Teaching architecture fundamentals and selecting the right controls

11:37 – Traceability and making defensible design decisions

13:14 – Architecture vs assurance and who securitypatterns.io is for

16:31 – Embedding secure by design into PMO processes and scale up use cases

19:58 – What secure by design means across different industries

23:05 – Inconsistent definitions in security and the need for clarity

23:50 – Modern defensible architecture and Zero Trust guidance

24:44 – AI’s role in architecture and which tasks get replaced

28:25 – AI in AppSec and reducing false positives with context

30:24 – AI sales bots, hype cycles, and the loss of human reciprocity

33:28 – Ken’s call for collaboration on repeatable architecture patterns

34:28 – Closing and how to connect with Galah Cyber

🐙 Secured is grateful to be sponsored and supported by Chainguard.

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December 2025 - Chainguard

How Heidi Health Built Its Accuracy Advantage (Re-release ep)

Fri, 19 Dec 2025 06:00:00 +1100

Episode Summary

Heidi Health has quietly become one of the most widely used AI products in Australia, powering nearly two million clinical visits a week and transforming how doctors document care. In this re-release of the year’s most downloaded episode, Georgie sits down with Heidi cofounder and CEO Dr Tom Kelly to unpack how this runaway success was built, why clinicians trust it, and what the rise of medical agents means for the future of healthcare.

Tom shares the technical decisions that shaped Heidi’s accuracy advantage, including the surprising reason they ditched live transcription, how batch processing boosts note quality, and why a two percent gain in transcription accuracy can unlock a forty percent jump in adoption. He also breaks down what non technical founders absolutely must understand about LLMs, how he evaluates off the shelf models, and why compliance and regional infrastructure shape every product decision.

The conversation stretches far beyond medical notes. Tom dives into why rag is failing many real world use cases, how giant context windows could reshape patient care, and which AI startups may struggle as models get faster and cheaper. There are hot takes on personal branding, the attention hacking era, and the types of B2B SaaS companies he believes will not survive. Plus, Georgie and Tom play Late Stage Startup Bingo and share two very usable AI hacks.

This episode is a sharp, founder friendly deep dive into building AI products people rely on in the real world. A perfect refresher as we head into a huge 2026 for Australian AI.

In the Blink of AI is made possible by our wonderful partners

Stripe

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✨ Connect with Georgie Healy

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/georginahealy/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/georgina_healy/

Twitter: https://x.com/georgina__healy?lang=en

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Pain is a Moat: How Australia’s Top AI Founders Are Building Global Giants

Fri, 12 Dec 2025 07:00:00 +1100

What does it take to build world class AI companies out of Australia, and why does San Francisco still move 6 to 9 months faster? In this episode, Brendan sits down with three of the most ambitious technical founders in the country: Pasha Rayan (CEO & Co-Founder at A1Base), Anshul Jain (Co-Founder at Everlab) and Jacky Koh (Founder at Relevance AI).

They break down the rise of agentic AI, how engineering culture in SF accelerates innovation, and why the next generation of founders need to think in $100B outcomes. They dive into everything from 10 to 20 times engineering productivity gains, to building autonomous healthcare, to creating the communication layer for AI coworkers that everyday people will talk to like friends.

They also unpack what Australia must do to stay competitive, how to build teams that love hard problems, and why ambition, pace and hands-on founders matter more than ever. It’s a rare inside look at the operators defining the next era of AI infrastructure, agent orchestration and human health.

If you want to understand where AI agents are really going, and how Australia can catch up to the frontier, get subscribed.

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Betting on Slope: Seed Investing, AI Moats, and Founder Psychology with Uncork’s Amy Saper

Fri, 12 Dec 2025 06:00:00 +1100

Episode Summary

Amy Saper sits at the intersection of Silicon Valley’s AI boom, early-stage company building, and deep operator experience. Now a General Partner at Uncork Capital in San Francisco, she cut her teeth at Twitter, Uber, and Stripe before becoming one of the most sought-after seed investors backing the next generation of AI infrastructure and applications.

In this episode of In The Blink of AI, Georgie sits down with Amy for a wide-ranging conversation on how AI is rewriting early-stage investing, what real moats look like in an era of fast-moving models, and why she evaluates founders on slope, not pedigree.

Amy breaks down how she invests in AI-enabled apps and infra, why Gamma’s “overnight success” actually took five years, how non-technical investors can still win deeply technical deals, and what founders get wrong about market size. She also shares candid advice about hiring top AI talent (hint: bring your walking shoes), how to stand out as a seed-stage company, and why she’s bullish on cities and policies that embrace innovation.

This is an energising, thoughtful, and highly tactical episode for anyone building or backing AI in 2025.

In the Blink of AI is made possible by our wonderful partners

Stripe

Apply for Stripe Startups at https://www.dayone.fm/stripe

✨ Connect with Georgie Healy

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/georginahealy/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/georgina_healy/

Twitter: https://x.com/georgina__healy?lang=en

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Setback, Comeback, and New Year: Pick My Brain Update

Wed, 10 Dec 2025 06:00:00 +1100

How are you, fans of the show? You might have noticed there’ve been no new episodes for a while. Honestly, I didn’t really want to say anything earlier, but I’m starting to feel like I owe you an explanation.

Earlier this year, I got a cancer diagnosis. That sucked. But I had surgery at the end of September, and it looks like it was successful. So maybe now I update my LinkedIn profile to say “cancer survivor” — I don’t know.

With all that going on, I dropped a few things, and new episodes of Pick My Brain was one of them. And here we are in December. I feel much, much better than I did a few months ago, but that break in recording means we won’t have any new episodes for you until early January.

The good news is we’re recording again now. We’ve made some big improvements to the show, and I hope you’re going to love what we have in store for you starting January 2026.

If you need more listening in the meantime, I highly recommend First Check, Perspective X, In The Blink of AI, and our newest show Oversubscribed with angel investor Brendan Hill, which goes deep into the stories behind Australia’s best performing startups.

Anyway, I hope you have a safe, happy, and fun summer break. I hope it’s full of friendship, love, and good times. And I hope your startups are doing well too.

See you in January.

Top 10 AI Hacks Of The Year

Fri, 05 Dec 2025 06:00:00 +1100

Episode Summary

2025 was the year AI stopped being hype and started showing up in the real world, in our phones, our homes, our hospitals, and even our holidays. But with the pace of change accelerating, how do you separate the genuine life-changing tools from the noise?

To close out a huge year of In The Blink of AI, Georgie has hand-picked the top ten AI hacks shared by founders, CTOs, designers, researchers, and creative experimenters on the show so far. These are the tools and prompts they actually use every day, to travel smarter, remove mental load, make better decisions, get up to speed fast, and even check their own blind spots.

In this special holiday edition, you’ll learn how to turn an AI into your personal tour guide, save hours of context-setting with one drag-and-drop move, let your kids solve the dinner dilemma, challenge your thinking before you hit publish, and unlock the real power of voice mode for deeper, more personalised results. Whether you’re a total beginner or already living in the multi-agent future, these hacks are your shortcut to a smarter 2026.

Grab your phone, open your favourite LLM, and try these out for yourself.

Time Stamps

00:00 — Why AI hacks matter more than ever

01:25 — Hack 1: A tour guide in your ear with voice mode (Dr Thomas Kelly)

03:59 — Hack 2: Poke, the life-organising bot hiding in iMessage (Maddie D Reese)

05:37 — Hack 3: Making personalised music with Suno

07:25 — Hack 4: Drag-and-drop context files to save hours (Isaac Peiris)

09:18 — Hack 5: AI-powered art hunts in Rome

11:46 — Hack 6: No more “What’s for dinner?” with fridge-vision prompts (Katherine Boiciuc)

14:49 — Hack 7: Why everyone is sleeping on voice for prompting (Mike Keating)

18:29 — Hack 8: Using AI to reveal your own blind spots (Sarah Kaur)

22:31 — Hack 9: The party-table prompt that gets personal fast (Kunal Gupta)

25:40 — Hack 10: Stress-testing technical architecture as a non-technical founder (Frank Greeff)

38:22 — What to expect from In The Blink of AI in 2026

In the Blink of AI is made possible by our wonderful partners

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✨ Connect with Georgie Healy

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/georginahealy/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/georgina_healy/

Twitter: https://x.com/georgina__healy?lang=en

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GitHub’s VP on the New Era of No-Code + AI

Fri, 28 Nov 2025 06:00:00 +1100

Episode Summary

AI is lowering the barrier to software development faster than anyone expected, and GitHub’s APAC VP Sharryn Napier has a front row seat. In this conversation, she shares how she built a personal to-do list app in under an hour with GitHub Copilot and Spark, despite not writing code herself. Georgie and Sharryn explore why millions of new developers are joining the platform, how 80 percent of new signups use Copilot within their first week, and what the explosion of no-code experimentation means for both beginners and seasoned engineers.

They also unpack the chaos and opportunity of the multi-agent era, where GitHub’s new Agent HQ aims to keep developers productive, secure, and in control. From open source culture and the next wave of technical talent to enterprise adoption, risk, and the future of software creation, this episode offers an inside look at how AI is transforming who builds software and how it gets made.

Do you have a follow-up question about a topic discussed in today’s episode, or want a quick summary to reshare on LinkedIn? Just ask Top Road AI:

https://toproad.chat/in-the-blink-of-ai-with-sharryn-napier

In the Blink of AI is made possible by our wonderful partners

Stripe

Apply for Stripe Startups at https://www.dayone.fm/stripe

✨ Connect with Georgie Healy

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/georginahealy/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/georgina_healy/

Twitter: https://x.com/georgina__healy?lang=en

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Is AI Failing Women? A Reality Check with Dr Elise Stephenson

Fri, 21 Nov 2025 06:00:00 +1100

Episode Summary

Artificial intelligence is reshaping everything from work to healthcare to the way we interact online, but it’s also exposing deep gender gaps that we can’t afford to ignore. At the eSafety Summit in Canberra, Georgie sits down with award-winning researcher and gender equality expert Dr Elise Stephenson for a live conversation on the uncomfortable truth behind AI’s gender problem.

Only 22% of the global AI workforce is women.

Only 2% of Australian startup funding goes to female founders.

And when generating images of British women, some AI models label them as models or prostitutes 30% of the time.

In this episode of In The Blink of AI, Georgie and Elise dig into how bias creeps into AI systems, who’s responsible, and what needs to change, from data collection to funding incentives to the way we teach young people about online safety. They also explore the surprising ways women are using AI, why representation matters at every layer of the stack, and what a truly gender-responsive AI future could look like.

This is one of the most important episodes we’ve made, equal parts confronting and constructive, and a must-listen for anyone who cares about building tech that works for everyone.

Time Stamps

00:00 — Intro

02:31 — What AI actually is (and what it definitely is not)

04:00 — How AI is showing up in daily life: usage trends among women and men

06:40 — Physical AI, robotics, and Grace Brown’s loneliness-fighting invention

08:44 — The hidden gender power imbalances behind AI development

09:29 — A history lesson: how women were pushed out of computing

11:19 — Privacy, consent, and the fear of being recorded by your own doctor

12:35 — Deepfakes, blackmail, and why women are disproportionately targeted

14:45 — The “ghost workforce”: who actually labels the data AI learns from

15:26 — How unrepresentative datasets become harmful outcomes

16:35 — When Google Photos labeled a Black man as a gorilla

18:04 — The case for optimism: can AI reduce bias if we design it right?

21:32 — Who’s responsible for gender-safe AI: companies, funders, or users?

23:30 — The Inclusive Innovation Playbook: how to build fairer AI ecosystems

25:40 — Why regulating AI is so hard (and why countries disagree wildly)

27:23 — Dual-use tech, human oversight, and what companies like Unilever get right

29:03 — AI we should be excited about: healthcare, diagnostics, and robotics

31:39 — When an AI coworker goes rogue: who’s accountable?

32:56 — What a gender-responsive AI future actually looks like

34:08 — Top recommendations: feminist tech diplomacy and moving beyond critique

36:28 — Where to find Georgie and Elise

In the Blink of AI is made possible by our wonderful partners

Stripe

Apply for Stripe Startups at https://www.dayone.fm/stripe

✨ Connect with Georgie Healy

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/georginahealy/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/georgina_healy/

Twitter: https://x.com/georgina__healy?lang=en

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Inside the Startups Powering the Physical AI Revolution ($100 Trillion Opportunity)

Thu, 20 Nov 2025 04:00:00 +1100

Episode Summary

Is AI in the Physical World the next $100 Trillion Opportunity?

In this episode of Oversubscribed, we go deep into the "Hard Tech" revolution. From defence-grade autonomy to data infrastructure for robots, we dive deep into the frontier of hard tech with the founders building it.

Brendan Hill sits down with Michael Irwin (Co-Founder at Breaker), Joe Harris (Founder at Alloy), and returning guest Charlie Gearside (Co-Founder at Eucalyptus / Build Australia) for a wild conversation about robotics, physical AI, national ambition, and why Australia needs to start making things again.

They talk building AI that lives on the edge, the ethics of defence, hiring A-players for impossible problems, and why the next industrial revolution might start right here. It’s an unfiltered look at the people shaping Australia’s place in the age of autonomy.

Time Stamps

00:00 – Intro: Founders, frontier tech, and Australia’s new wave of builders

02:00 – Breaker’s origin story: building robots that act on human intent

05:00 – From drones to defense: autonomy, privacy, and life on the edge

08:20 – The hardest problems left to solve (and why easy ones are gone)

10:40 – Sponsor: Vanta – building trust and compliance for startups

12:00 – Alloy’s story: from Eucalyptus to building the data brain for robots

16:00 – Why Joe left a rocket ship to start from zero

19:30 – Building for the age of robotics: data, telemetry, and the next frontier

23:00 – Finding A-players: how ambitious missions attract ambitious people

25:00 – Culture, conviction, and what passion really looks like inside startups

27:00 – The defense dilemma: ethics, values, and the post-Ukraine mindset

30:00 – Going global: why Australia’s best founders build beyond its borders

34:00 – Build Australia: a new movement for ambition and national pride

38:00 – Manufacturing, energy, and why we stopped making things

43:00 – How robotics could solve Australia’s affordability crisis

46:00 – The humanoid debate: specialized vs. general intelligence

50:00 – Life in 2035: what robots at home might really look like

52:00 – Data, autonomy, and the next AI arms race

56:00 – How Breaker and Alloy could power each other’s missions

59:00 – Skynet, manipulation, and the ethics of AI power

1:03:00 – Competition, collaboration, and the Cambrian explosion of robotics

1:06:00 – Founder stories: from CB radios to humanoids in hack houses

1:09:00 – Building the next industrial revolution from Australia

1:10:00 – Final pitches: why you should join Breaker, Alloy, and Build Australia

1:11:00 – Outro: Vanta, Ten13, and building what comes next

Oversubscribed is proudly supported by our sponsor Vanta 🦙

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What are VC Fund Secondaries?

Mon, 17 Nov 2025 06:00:00 +1100

Episode Summary

Max Kausman is the founder and solo GP of Advance VC, Australia's first dedicated fund-of-funds with a focus on secondaries.

Advance VC buys existing positions in Australian and New Zealand VC funds—acquiring stakes from investors seeking liquidity and giving new LPs diversified access to mature, validated portfolios across multiple vintages dating back to 2012.

In this conversation, they discuss why secondaries won't "save" all of venture (only the top performers), how discounts actually work (spoiler: the average is 30-35% but it's wildly bespoke) and why vintage diversification matters as much as portfolio diversification.

Time Stamps

02:47 – Max's first investment: lessons as a 14-year-old basketball coach

07:08 – Defining secondaries and Advance VC's unique LP fund focus

09:44 – Why vintage diversification matters as much as company diversification

13:57 – How secondary transactions actually work: the three-way deal between buyer, seller, and fund

19:24 – What Max learned looking under the hood of Australian VCs firms across different funds and vintages

24:09 – Why Max decided on a secondary Fund of Funds (FoF) model

34:16 - Pricing secondaries

42:20 – What discounts actually look like in practice

47:40 – Will secondaries save venture? The truth about liquidity and why it's concentrated in top performers

50:16 – Building Advance VC and the founder journey of becoming a fund manager

Resources

Max Kausman - https://www.linkedin.com/in/maxkausman

Advance VC - https://www.advancevc.com/

Ethics in AI with Justin Tauber from Salesforce

Fri, 14 Nov 2025 06:00:00 +1100

Episode Summary

Justin Tauber has spent nearly a decade inside one of the world’s biggest tech companies, first in strategic innovation, now leading Salesforce’s global work on ethical and human use of AI. With a background in cognitive science and design thinking, he’s become one of Australia’s most insightful voices on how technology and ethics can (and must) evolve together.

In this episode of In The Blink of AI, Georgie Healy sits down with Justin to unpack what “agentic AI” really means beyond the hype, and how enterprises can adopt it responsibly. Justin shares how scenario planning helps teams prepare for unpredictable futures, why prediction matters less than rehearsal, and how ethical constraints often spark the most original innovations.

They also dig into the growing problem of “shadow AI” inside companies, the trade-offs between startups and enterprises, and why Australia’s best AI opportunity might not be moving fastest, but safest.

If you’ve ever wondered what trust, transparency, and technology look like when they collide, this episode is your blueprint.

Time Stamps

00:00 - Intro

05:20 - The rise of multimodal thinking

08:05 - Scenario planning and future rehearsal in AI

09:01 - Inside Salesforce: what an ethical AI team actually does

11:47 - Strategy vs policy: why most “AI strategies” aren’t strategic

13:00 - Safe hammers, safe chainsaws, and the real meaning of safety

15:45 - Trust = character + competence

17:15 - Prediction is less important than rehearsal

19:39 - Why ethics often drives innovation (bendy straws, accessibility, and more)

24:50 - Training ethical thinking like a muscle

26:01 - Shadow AI: the hidden risk inside every company

28:39 - Where bias really comes from, and how to design around it

32:12 - When to use generative vs deterministic AI

36:01 - The privacy paradox: consent, choice, and control

39:00 - Agentic AI explained through drum machines and creativity

46:13 - Startups vs enterprises: who’s taking bigger risks with AI

52:48 - Australia’s AI opportunity: becoming the world’s “safety lab”

Resources

🙋🏻‍♂️ Justin Tauber: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tauber/

In the Blink of AI is made possible by our wonderful partners

Stripe

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✨ Connect with Georgie Healy

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/georginahealy/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/georgina_healy/

Twitter: https://x.com/georgina__healy?lang=en

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How to Build Cool Stuff With AI (No Code Needed) | Maddie Reese

Fri, 07 Nov 2025 06:00:00 +1100

Episode Summary

When Maddie Reese discovered AI tools in June, she’d never written a line of code. Six months later, she’d won multiple hackathons, built viral projects like Startup Obituary and Pet Hero Comics, and quit her job to go full-time as a vibe coder.

In this episode of In The Blink of AI, Georgie Healy sits down with Maddie to unpack what “vibe coding” actually is, and why joy might be the best productivity hack of all. From debugging API keys with ChatGPT to using Lovable, Cursor, and Replit to build entire web apps in hours, Maddie shares her exact workflow, her biggest “LLM gaslight” moment, and how she’s turning play into a career.

Expect practical tips for no-coders, hilarious guinea-pig side quests, and a refreshingly real take on the future of AI creativity.

Time Stamps

00:00 – Welcome to In The Blink of AI with Georgie Healy

03:50 – AI Hack of the Week: Poke bot + Suno music app

08:37 – Maddie’s first project: cloning Google Drive in 4 hours

14:03 – Startup Obituary: a memorial for your failed startup 💀

15:35 – Debugging 101: what to do when API keys break everything

19:15 – Roast My App: Guinea Pig of the Day 🐹

22:24 – Using ChatGPT + Cursor + Lovable together

27:06 – Snog / Marry / Avoid: Lovable, Replit & Cursor

28:36 – Quitting her family business to go full-time in AI

30:46 – Getting through frustration (and proving ChatGPT wrong)

33:45 – Why you should hit “Publish” even if it’s not perfect

37:24 – How to recover when a prompt breaks your build

38:44 – Which tool to use: Lovable vs Cursor vs GitHub

39:33 – Is vibe coding dying or hotter than ever?

41:45 – What happens if vibe coding actually does die?

42:46 – Hot Takes 🔥 Non-engineers are the future of tech

49:10 – What’s next for Maddie Reese

Resources

🙋‍♀️ Maddie Reese: https://www.linkedin.com/in/maddiedreese

🪩 Maddie’s Projects: https://maddiedreese.com/

🐦 Twitter / X: https://x.com/maddiedreese

💻 YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@maddiedreese

✨ Lovable: https://www.lovable.dev

💬 Cursor: https://cursor.sh

💡 Replit: https://replit.com

🎵 Suno Music AI: https://www.suno.ai

📱 Poke by Interaction: https://poke.com/

In the Blink of AI is made possible by our wonderful partners

Stripe

Apply for Stripe Startups at https://www.dayone.fm/stripe

✨ Connect with Georgie Healy

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/georginahealy/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/georgina_healy/

Twitter: https://x.com/georgina__healy?lang=en

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How Kali Healthcare is Reimagining Fetal Monitoring to Improve Pregnancy Outcomes | A/Prof Fiona Brownfoot & Dr. Emerson Keenan

Thu, 06 Nov 2025 06:00:00 +1100

Episode Summary

A/Prof Fiona Brownfoot and Dr. Emerson Keenan are the co-founders of Kali Healthcare, a company determined to improve fetal monitoring — technology that has remained largely unchanged since the 1960s.

Kali Healthcare has developed an electrical sensing wearable patch for fetal monitoring, providing clinicians with real-time information leading to improved patient outcomes.

Fiona and Emerson discuss the power of consumer-centric design (like making the hardware look like a makeup compact), and offer key lessons on how to secure funding and integrate new technology into complex healthcare systems.

Time Stamps

02:45 – Fiona and Emerson speak about their backgrounds

03:26 – Origins of Kali Healthcare

06:00 – How Kali Healthcare's electrical sensing wearable patch works

07:27 – How clinicians are making use of the real-time insights

10:00 – What makes Kali Healthcare’s wearable different to existing solutions

13:33 — Breakthroughs they’ve experienced

16:00 – Stepping into the founder role and the "ultimate rollercoaster"

20:02 – Fundraising lessons: why it always takes longer than you think

21:09 – Advice for other healthcare founders

Resources

🌐 Kali Healthcare - https://www.kalihealthcare.com/

Assoc. Prof. Fiona Branford - https://www.linkedin.com/in/a-prof-fiona-brownfoot-871036b8

Emerson Keenan - https://www.linkedin.com/in/emersonkeenan

Acknowledgment of Country

We acknowledge the Traditional Owners of the land on which we record and pay our respects to their Elders, past and present. We recognise their continuing connection to land, waters, and culture.

Disclaimer

The New Script is a podcast created for educational and awareness-raising purposes only. The conversations you’ll hear are not intended to be medical advice.

Please consult a qualified healthcare professional for any personal medical concerns or decisions.

✨ Connect with Frances and Makenzie

Frances LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/frances-goh/

Makenzie's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/makenziethomas/

The Day One Network

The New Script is part of Day One, the podcast network dedicated to founders, operators & investors. https://dayone.fm/newsletter

How Agentic AI Actually Works (and What’s Still Hype)

Fri, 31 Oct 2025 06:00:00 +1100

Episode Summary

Before AI was cool, Dominick Ng was already building it. From a tiny country town in regional NSW to a PhD, a Fulbright Scholarship, and nine years at Google, Dom’s journey is the definition of technical brilliance meets humility. Today, he’s the Director of Engineering at Relevance AI, one of Australia’s fastest-growing agentic AI startups, backed by global investors and reshaping how teams build with large language models.

In this episode of In The Blink of AI, Georgie Healy sits down with Dom to talk about the real limits of agentic AI, why Australia needs to embrace experimentation, and how to build world-class engineering teams that can move fast without losing soul.

Dom explains how AI-assisted coding is changing what engineers can do in a weekend, what makes a great AI hire, and why “if you can’t onboard a person, you can’t onboard an agent.” He also breaks down why Meta’s hiring strategy looks so extreme, what China’s AI talent boom really means, and the cringe misconceptions about AI “making us lazy.”

If you’ve ever wanted to truly understand what’s behind the hype, this conversation will make you smarter (and probably a bit more patient with your next API error).

Resources

👨‍💻 Dominick Ng (LinkedIn): https://www.linkedin.com/in/dominickng/

🏗️ Relevance AI: https://www.relevanceai.com/

🧠 Vibe Sliding (Relevance AI feature): https://chat.relevanceai.com/

In the Blink of AI is made possible by our wonderful partners

Stripe

Apply for Stripe Startups at https://www.dayone.fm/stripe

✨ Connect with Georgie Healy

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/georginahealy/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/georgina_healy/

Twitter: https://x.com/georgina__healy?lang=en

The Day One Network

In The Blink of AI is part of Day One, the podcast network dedicated to founders, operators & investors.

Mentioned in this episode:

Vanta Ad_BAI Jul25

Vanta Ad_BAI Jul25

Inside the Playbooks of Australia’s Million-Dollar Founders

Thu, 30 Oct 2025 04:00:00 +1100

Every great startup is an act of alchemy, turning panic into progress, chaos into clarity, and conviction into something that can’t be killed.

Welcome to the first episode of Oversubscribed, where Brendan Hill brings together Thomas Kelly (Co-Founder and CEO at Heidi Health), Liam Millward (Co-Founder and CEO at Instant), and Charlie Gearside (Co-Founder at Eucalyptus), to dissect the decisions that separate endurance from extinction. They talk about near-death pivots, hiring A-players, and why distribution so often beats product. No theory. No vanity metrics. Just the real psychology of building under pressure.

The Day One Network

Oversubscribed is part of Day One, the podcast network dedicated to founders, operators & investors.

This is Oversubscribed

Mon, 27 Oct 2025 04:00:00 +1100

In venture capital, being oversubscribed means everyone wants in, too much demand, not enough room. It’s what happens when a vision, a founder, or a company becomes undeniably magnetic.

That’s the energy behind this show, Where Australia’s most ambitious founders and investors sit down for unfiltered, in-person conversations about building through chaos, from near-death moments and brutal pivots to the art of hiring killers, raising capital, and scaling conviction.

Think All-In, Flagrant, and Full Send, but for the next generation of Australian startups. No theory. No polished PR. Just raw, honest insight from the people actually doing the work.

This is Oversubscribed with Brendan Hill

Measuring Human Emotion with AI: Harrison Kennedy on Building ReFresh

Fri, 24 Oct 2025 06:00:00 +1100

Before he was a VC-backed founder, Harrison Kennedy was walking for Louis Vuitton, Saint Laurent, and Tiffany & Co., a teenager from the Gold Coast suddenly living a global modeling career. When COVID hit, that world stopped. What began as a mental health podcast with a friend became Really Mental, a media company backed by Amazon, reaching 25 million people and hundreds of millions of collective followers.

Now, Harrison’s building ReFresh, an emotional intelligence platform that helps companies detect how their people are feeling. Using AI models that analyse tone, text, and behavioural signals across tools like Slack and Google Workspace, ReFresh helps organisations measure mental wellbeing, burnout risk, and compliance, all while keeping employees anonymous.

In this episode of In The Blink of AI, Georgie Healy and Harrison talk about the evolution from creator to founder, how AI can be used to understand humans rather than replace them, and what it really means to build a values-driven company. Harrison shares lessons on patience, communication, and curiosity, and why in a world that’s more “connected” than ever, loneliness is still one of tech’s biggest unsolved problems.

Resources

🙋‍♂️ Harrison Kennedy: https://www.linkedin.com/in/harrison-kennedy-81b7171a1/

💡 ReFresh: https://www.refr-esh.com/

🎧 Really Mental (Podcast): https://pods.to/reallymental

In the Blink of AI is made possible by our wonderful partners

Stripe

Apply for Stripe Startups at https://www.dayone.fm/stripe

✨ Connect with Georgie Healy

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/georginahealy/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/georgina_healy/

Twitter: https://x.com/georgina__healy?lang=en

The Day One Network

In The Blink of AI is part of Day One, the podcast network dedicated to founders, operators & investors.

Mentioned in this episode:

Vanta Ad_BAI Jul25

Vanta Ad_BAI Jul25

Why Male Fertility Matters More Than You Think | Ashwin Ramachandran

Thu, 23 Oct 2025 06:00:00 +1100

Episode Summary

In this episode of The New Script, Makenzie Thomas and Frances Goh sit down with Ash Ramachandran, founder and CEO of Sapyen, an at-home male fertility testing company that’s helping men take charge of their reproductive health.

Ash shares how his background in research, venture capital, and global health led him to build Sapyen, and what he’s learned about the hidden factors affecting male fertility. He explains how sperm health reflects overall wellbeing, why lifestyle and early testing matter, and what needs to change in how we talk about fertility and family planning.

The conversation also explores the realities of building a medtech startup from Australia, the challenges of fundraising in healthcare, and the importance of supporting founders’ mental health along the way.

Time Stamps

02:27 – From asteroid mining and venture capital to founding Sapyen

03:32 – The idea behind Sapyen and rethinking male fertility testing

05:20 – How fertility clinics are changing and where gaps remain

05:54 – Breaking the stigma around male fertility

08:39 – What sperm quality tells us about health and fertility

10:37 – Why including men improves outcomes for couples

12:36 – The emerging research on sperm health and pregnancy

14:17 – How the Sapyen test works and what users can expect

15:41 – Building a global health company from Australia

17:11 – From investor to founder: lessons in healthcare fundraising

22:30 – Learning from early challenges and “favorite failures”

26:54 – Managing wellbeing and founder mental health

29:39 – Why men’s health matters for the future of fertility

31:34 – What’s next for Sapyen

35:00 – If Ash could rewrite the script on men’s health

Resources

🌐 Sapyen – http://www.sapyen.co/

👨‍🔬 Ash Ramachandran (LinkedIn) – https://www.linkedin.com/in/ashwinramachandran1/

Acknowledgment of Country

We acknowledge the Traditional Owners of the land on which we record and pay our respects to their Elders, past and present. We recognise their continuing connection to land, waters, and culture.

Disclaimer

The New Script is a podcast created for educational and awareness-raising purposes only. The conversations you’ll hear are not intended to be medical advice.

Please consult a qualified healthcare professional for any personal medical concerns or decisions.

✨ Connect with Frances and Makenzie

Frances LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/frances-goh/

Makenzie's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/makenziethomas/

The Day One Network

The New Script is part of Day One, the podcast network dedicated to founders, operators & investors. https://dayone.fm/newsletter

Why “Boring” Businesses Make the Best Startups (Replay Ep with Matthew Browne)

Mon, 20 Oct 2025 06:00:00 +1100

Episode Summary

Matt Browne is the Co-founder and Managing Partner of Black Nova Venture Partners, one of Australia’s most active early-stage funds. Before becoming an investor, Matt founded multiple companies, including enterprise software firm Dunsafe, which sold to global corporates like Suncorp and Brickworks, and learned firsthand what it takes to turn “boring” B2B SaaS into beautiful business.

In this episode, Cheryl and Maxine sit down with Matt to unpack what “boring but mission-critical” really means, why operators often make the best early-stage investors, and what it’s actually like to co-found a venture fund. Matt shares his frameworks for identifying resilient software businesses, the economics behind long-LTV enterprise customers, and how his founder experience shapes the way Black Nova supports startups today.

They also dig into the differences between SMB and enterprise sales, why going from enterprise → small business is nearly impossible, and what it takes to build a fund that’s more startup than finance firm. And, in true Matt style, he caps it off with his Big Cojones moment, jumping off Auckland’s Sky Tower to win a customer.

Sponsors:

First Cheque is supported by our wonderful sponsors:

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Galah Cyber: Galah Cyber are perfect for founder-lead and SAAS businesses. Galah provides advice, education, and training. Get in touch with Galah Cyber for a complimentary call to make sure you’re secured.

https://dayone.fm/galah

First Cheque is part of Day One.

Day One helps founders and startup operators make better business decisions more often.

To learn more, join our newsletter to be notified of new First Cheque episodes and upcoming shows.

Velocity & Vibes: How Enhance Labs Raised Millions Before Building Anything

Fri, 17 Oct 2025 06:00:00 +1100

Episode Summary

When Mike Keating and Haziq Nordin founded Enhance Labs, they raised millions without a product, a pitch deck, or even a bank account. Backed by Blackbird and QIC, they became known for their unfiltered takes, chaotic energy, and refusal to ship something they didn’t believe in, even as the rest of the AI world raced to launch.

For months, they experimented in the shadows, building, pivoting, and learning why most AI startups were destined to fail. Then came the breakthrough: a way to let every user design their own personal internet, a “living interface” that could reshape how humans interact with software.

In this episode, Mike and Haziq share why they chose velocity and vibes over hype, how playfulness and curiosity became their competitive edge, and why founders must know when not to finish something. They break down what AI products will collapse by 2026, the open problems that still need a Nobel Prize, and why the next wave of innovation will come from the weird ones, the teams laughing the loudest while everyone else plays safe.

Resources

🙋‍♂️ Mike Keating: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikekeating/

🤖 Haziq Nordin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/haziq-nordin-1a6623107/

🚀 Enhance Labs: https://enhancelabs.ai/

In the Blink of AI is made possible by our wonderful partners

Stripe

Apply for Stripe Startups at https://www.dayone.fm/stripe

✨ Connect with Georgie Healy

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/georginahealy/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/georgina_healy/

Twitter: https://x.com/georgina__healy?lang=en

The Day One Network

In The Blink of AI is part of Day One, the podcast network dedicated to founders, operators & investors.

Mentioned in this episode:

Vanta Ad_BAI Jul25

Vanta Ad_BAI Jul25

ANZ Needs AI Deepfake Laws ASAP | Replay Episode with Laura McClure

Fri, 10 Oct 2025 06:00:00 +1100

Episode Summary

Laura McClure, Member of Parliament for the ACT Party in New Zealand, joins In the Blink of AI to unpack her viral deepfake experience, her groundbreaking member’s bill, and why tech regulation must protect victims without stifling innovation.

In a powerful conversation, Laura reveals how she created a deepfake of herself in minutes—and why it’s a wake-up call for policymakers worldwide. She shares insights on balancing tech freedoms with responsible safeguards, why regulation is about behaviour not banning tools, and how New Zealand’s slow policy-making could leave them lagging behind.

Laura also discusses how ACT’s libertarian values shape her pro-innovation, pro-startup stance and why deepfakes are a threat not just to teenagers, but to democracy itself. From the electricity grid challenges that could stall New Zealand’s AI adoption to the opportunities in agriculture and defence, this is a must-listen for founders, policymakers, and anyone passionate about the future of technology.

Time Stamps

02:20 – Meet Laura McClure (ACT Party MP): From accidental politician to tech advocate

07:25 – Why Laura Entered Politics: Tackling New Zealand’s alarming government debt

09:13 – AI Hacks of the Week: Game-changing educational tech and viral LinkedIn strategies

13:24 – Going Viral with a Nude Deepfake: The shocking truth behind Laura’s Parliament demonstration

23:47 – Why Target Individuals, Not Tech: How Laura’s bill tackles deepfake abuse effectively

27:16 – Pro-Tech, Not Pro-Regulation: Laura’s vision to accelerate AI adoption in NZ and Australia

35:01 – The Infrastructure Challenge: What NZ must fix to power an AI-driven future

39:57 – Skills for the AI Era: Why critical thinking trumps rote learning

44:50 – Laura’s AI-Powered NZ: Her 5–10 year vision of an AI-enabled economy

In the Blink of AI is made possible by our wonderful partners

Stripe

Apply for Stripe Startups at https://www.dayone.fm/stripe

✨ Connect with Georgie Healy

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/georginahealy/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/georgina_healy/

Twitter: https://x.com/georgina__healy?lang=en

The Day One Network

In The Blink of AI is part of Day One, the podcast network dedicated to founders, operators & investors.

Mentioned in this episode:

Vanta Ad_BAI Jul25

Vanta Ad_BAI Jul25

How Hormony Is Helping Women Decode Perimenopause | Mayra Hurtado

Thu, 09 Oct 2025 06:00:00 +1100

Episode Summary

After two decades leading global marketing at Adidas and in biotech, Mayra Hurtado hit a wall, fatigue, sleeplessness, migraines. It wasn’t burnout; it was her hormones. That realisation set her on a new mission to close one of medicine’s most overlooked gaps: women’s hormonal health.

In this episode of The New Script, Makenzie Thomas and Frances Goh sit down with Mayra, co-founder and CEO of Prelude Health, the Singapore-based startup behind Hormony, the world’s first rapid, at-home saliva hormone test for women navigating perimenopause.

Mayra shares how Hormony blends science, technology, and behavioural insights to help women get “back in tune” with their bodies, why perimenopause is still misunderstood, and how education and early testing can transform preventive care. She also opens up about building a global team across Singapore, Mexico, and New Zealand, raising capital in a sector that still receives less than 3% of venture funding, and reframing failure as redirection.

You’ll hear why hormonal health is the next frontier in women’s wellbeing, how healthy women drive healthy economies, and why mental and physical health can’t be separated, for founders or for anyone.

Time Stamps

02:05 – Mayra Hurtado’s journey from global marketing to femtech founder

05:57 – Why hormones have been ignored in medical research for decades

07:55 – Perimenopause vs menopause — what really happens to your body

11:38 – The meaning behind “Hormony” and the science of hormonal balance

12:06 – How Hormony works: personalised saliva testing and daily habit design

16:37 – From corporate leadership to startup life — lessons in transition

18:22 – Building a global team across Singapore, Mexico & New Zealand

20:54 – Raising capital in women’s health and closing the gender funding gap

26:17 – Failures, feedback, and learning to treat setbacks as redirections

28:35 – Mayra’s non-negotiables: sleep, gratitude, and mental health connection

32:28 – The case for holistic health and why women’s wellbeing powers economies

36:28 – If Mayra could rewrite the script: teaching hormonal health from childhood

Resources

🧬 Hormony by Prelude Health – https://www.findhormony.com/

👩‍💼 Mayra Hurtado (LinkedIn) – https://www.linkedin.com/in/mayrahurtado/

Acknowledgment of Country

We acknowledge the Traditional Owners of the land on which we record and pay our respects to their Elders, past and present. We recognise their continuing connection to land, waters, and culture.

Disclaimer

The New Script is a podcast created for educational and awareness-raising purposes only. The conversations you’ll hear are not intended to be medical advice.

Please consult a qualified healthcare professional for any personal medical concerns or decisions.

✨ Connect with Frances and Makenzie

Frances LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/frances-goh/

Makenzie's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/makenziethomas/

The Day One Network

The New Script is part of Day One, the podcast network dedicated to founders, operators & investors. https://dayone.fm/newsletter

Inside Super Returns: How the Biggest Investors Pick Venture Funds

Mon, 06 Oct 2025 06:00:00 +1100

Episode Summary

What happens when hundreds of the world’s biggest capital allocators get together behind closed doors to talk about venture, private equity, and where the next $30B is going? Maxine found out firsthand at Super Returns Asia, where she chaired the LP–GP relations stage.

In this episode, Cheryl turns the tables and grills Maxine on everything she learned, from why India and Japan are suddenly hot, to why Southeast Asia is struggling, and why Australia didn’t even make the winners or losers list.

They break down how institutional investors really think about funds, what “look-through ownership” means for angels and VCs alike, and why co-investing has LPs hot under the collar. Maxine also shares how family offices are thriving in the current market, what mega-funds like a16z’s $30B raise mean for everyone else, and why building long-term LP relationships is the only real way to get “super returns.”

Time Stamps

01:00 – What Super Returns is, and why it matters for VCs and angels

06:43 – The LP landscape explained: super funds, sovereign wealth funds, and family offices

10:40 – Winners and losers in APAC: India, China, Japan… but not Australia

18:00 – Why Australia needs a better “brand story” to attract capital

19:54 – Hot topic: co-investing and why LPs love it

23:39 – Look-through ownership: why everyone’s just trying to own the outliers

26:43 – Why emerging managers are struggling in today’s fundraising market

33:49 – Family offices having “the time of their lives” in this cycle

34:23 – Mega-funds, evergreen funds, and the $30B a16z raise

39:30 – Will Sequoia and a16z ever lose their dominance?

42:19 – Why APAC liquidity markets matter more than ever

45:30 – The question nobody asked at Super Returns

49:22 – How to actually build LP relationships that work

53:55 – Maxine’s big takeaway: putting Australia on the winners list

Sponsors:

First Cheque is supported by our wonderful sponsors:

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First Cheque is part of Day One.

Day One helps founders and startup operators make better business decisions more often.

To learn more, join our newsletter to be notified of new First Cheque episodes and upcoming shows.

How to Stay Creative in the Age of Average AI | Christina Jones, Canva

Fri, 03 Oct 2025 06:00:00 +1100

Episode Summary

There’s a lot of AI slop out there, bland prompts, generic images, boring text that all blends together. But how do you stand out when everything looks the same?

In this episode of In The Blink of AI, Georgie Healy sits down with Christina Jones (aka CJ), Head of Design for Generative AI at Canva, for an unfiltered conversation about creativity, originality, and why taste is the new moat in AI.

CJ shares her journey from experimenting with a “cat editor” chatbot called Lemon to leading the design of Canva’s Magic Studio. She explains why AI should be a creative companion, not a micromanager, and how the “Steelman approach” can turn models into your best critic instead of your biggest cheerleader.

They cover why productivity isn’t the whole story, why creativity is especially essential during a cost-of-living crisis, and why observing the world around you is the fastest way to sharpen your originality. Plus: Georgie’s first ever AI rant, spicy takes on AI boyfriends, and the eternal love for the em-dash.

If you’ve ever worried that AI is dulling your creative edge, this episode is your permission slip to embrace originality, and maybe get a little emo about it.

Time Stamps

00:00 – Welcome + Georgie’s husky “bug not a feature” voice

03:15 – CJ’s role as Head of Design for GenAI at Canva

05:10 – Why CJ stopped using AI to edit her writing

08:29 – AI Hack of the Week: The “Steelman” method

12:00 – Georgie’s first-ever AI rant: The guinea pig app that never launched

14:20 – Big picture: how to actually think about AI in your life

17:00 – How CJ uses AI to audit her calendar

19:14 – Beyond productivity: where AI really adds value

23:24 – Why creativity matters in a cost-of-living crisis

27:23 – Trends in AI art + training your own diffusion models

32:38 – Is taste the real differentiator in AI?

34:43 – How to grow original thought + creativity fast

38:44 – The ethics (and paradox) of AI companions

43:06 – Spotting “AI slop” in writing

45:03 – Do you need to be a software engineer to survive the AI era?

46:47 – Takeaways: observe, get out of your bubble, grow your creative muscle

Resources

🙋‍♀️ Christina (CJ) Jones: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrisjonesish/

✍🏻 Jonesish Substack: https://jonesish.substack.com/about

🍎 Jonesish Website: https://www.jonesish.com/

In the Blink of AI is made possible by our wonderful partners

Stripe

Apply for Stripe Startups at https://www.dayone.fm/stripe

✨ Connect with Georgie Healy

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/georginahealy/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/georgina_healy/

Twitter: https://x.com/georgina__healy?lang=en

The Day One Network

In The Blink of AI is part of Day One, the podcast network dedicated to founders, operators & investors.

Mentioned in this episode:

Vanta Ad_BAI Jul25

Vanta Ad_BAI Jul25

How Ovum is Closing the Gender Health Gap | Dr. Ariella Heffernan-Marks

Thu, 02 Oct 2025 06:00:00 +1100

Episode Summary

Why does it still take women an average of five years to get diagnosed with a chronic health condition — and up to 12 years for endometriosis? In this episode of The New Script, Makenzie Thomas and Frances Goh sit down with Dr. Ariella Heffernan-Marks, medical doctor, award-winning researcher, and founder of Ovum, to explore how technology and data are rewriting women’s healthcare.

Ariella shares the lightbulb moment that inspired Ovum — a “blue book” for women’s health — and how she’s building the first holistic AI health assistant designed to empower women across every stage of life. She explains how Ovum integrates longitudinal health data, generates doctor-friendly summaries, and creates the largest dataset yet to address decades of bias in medical research and AI.

Beyond the tech, Ariella reflects on her journey from medical student to startup CEO, what she learned raising $1.7M in pre-seed funding, and why setting boundaries as a founder is just as important as breaking them.

You’ll also hear surprising insights from her early research, why women are more open to AI in healthcare than expected, and how Ovum is redefining women’s health from “pink and siloed” to holistic, integrated, and equitable.

Time Stamps

01:14 – Why women are fearful of the healthcare system

02:05 – Introducing Dr. Ariella Heffernan-Marks, founder of Ovum

03:34 – The lightbulb moment: creating a “blue book” for women’s health

06:23 – What Ovum does and how it works in practice

09:28 – Making doctors listen: generating usable health reports

12:39 – Surprising insights from Ovum’s research & trials

15:31 – Why women welcome AI in healthcare

16:16 – The power of an integrated lifespan approach

18:47 – Building a longitudinal women’s health dataset

20:55 – Data privacy, transparency & research partnerships

22:00 – Fundraising $1.7M pre-seed as a female founder

26:44 – From clinician to founder: navigating the transition

31:45 – Lessons, failures, and the pivot to AI

34:31 – Best advice received & believing in yourself

35:21 – Prioritising energy, boundaries & health as a founder

39:18 – Ovum’s impact on the healthcare system & workforce

42:19 – What’s next for Ovum in the next 12 months

43:55 – If Ariella could rewrite the script on women’s health…

Resources

🌐 Ovum: https://www.askovum.com/

👩‍⚕️ Dr. Ariella Heffernan-Marks: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-ariella-heffernan-marks-935401120/

Acknowledgment of Country

We acknowledge the Traditional Owners of the land on which we record and pay our respects to their Elders, past and present. We recognise their continuing connection to land, waters, and culture.

Disclaimer

The New Script is a podcast created for educational and awareness-raising purposes only. The conversations you’ll hear are not intended to be medical advice.

Please consult a qualified healthcare professional for any personal medical concerns or decisions.

✨ Connect with Frances and Makenzie

Frances LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/frances-goh/

Makenzie's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/makenziethomas/

The Day One Network

The New Script is part of Day One, the podcast network dedicated to founders, operators & investors. https://dayone.fm/newsletter

Replay Ep - Building AI Support So Good, You’ll Wonder: Is This Really AI? | Steve Hind, Lorikeet

Sat, 27 Sep 2025 06:00:00 +1100

Episode Summary

Replay Episode! When this conversation with Lorikeet co-founder Steve Hind first aired, the company had just raised $14M. Fast forward a few short months and they’ve doubled their valuation, become the hottest name in Australian AI, and poached some of the best engineers in the country. With so many new subscribers since then, we’re bringing this one back.

In this episode, Georgie Healy sits down with Steve to unpack how Lorikeet built Rae, an AI platform powering complex support for banks, healthcare, SaaS, and beyond. Steve explains why Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) isn’t the silver bullet everyone thinks, what “agentic frameworks” really mean (and why it’s mostly marketing), and how starting with the hardest customer problems creates a defensible product.

They also dive into what makes AI support feel truly human, why empathy matters more than “personality,” and how to balance technical brilliance with marketing clarity. Along the way, Steve shares his favourite AI tools, what he looks for when hiring, and why founders should stop being insecure about not training their own models.

Whether you’re building in AI, hiring AI talent, or just curious about where the hype ends and real customer value begins—this replay is a masterclass in scaling smart AI support.

Time Stamps

01:52 – What makes Lorikeet different from other AI support tools

02:49 – Why banks and healthcare companies need AI-driven customer support

09:00 – What is RAG, and why does it matter for AI-powered customer service?

14:09 – The biggest mistake AI chatbots make in customer support

16:26 – What does "agentic reasoning" really mean?

19:12 – The cost of running AI models and why RAG reduces compute power

27:46 – AI tools Steve uses every day (and his take on Perplexity and Replit)

30:36 – How to stand out when applying for an AI job

39:18 – What people get wrong about AGI and AI scaling laws

In the Blink of AI is made possible by our wonderful partners

Stripe

Apply for Stripe Startups at https://www.dayone.fm/stripe

✨ Connect with Georgie Healy

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/georginahealy/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/georgina_healy/

Twitter: https://x.com/georgina__healy?lang=en

The Day One Network

In The Blink of AI is part of Day One, the podcast network dedicated to founders, operators & investors.

Mentioned in this episode:

Vanta Ad_BAI Jul25

Vanta Ad_BAI Jul25

How CarbonHQ Is Digitising the Broken Carbon Credit Market - with Allen Fan

Wed, 24 Sep 2025 06:00:00 +1100

Episode Summary

Carbon credits are meant to help the world fight climate change, but the reality is messy: project developers are still managing everything in spreadsheets, emails, and PDFs, making credits slow, opaque, and hard to trust.

In this episode of Pick My Brain, Alan Jones sits down with Allen Fan, co-founder of CarbonHQ, a B2B SaaS startup building the operating system for carbon project developers. Together they unpack how CarbonHQ is cutting issuance time from months to weeks, why credibility and transparency matter as much as climate impact, and what it really takes to sell software in a market still run on paper.

Allen also shares how he met his co-founder through a layoff talent directory, why sales never came naturally to him, and how repeated “reps” are helping him get better. Alan Jones dives in with advice on pricing strategy, investor communications, and building trust through authentic storytelling, the real ingredients behind startup growth.

Whether you’re tackling climate tech, B2B SaaS, or just wrestling with sales as a founder, this episode is packed with practical takeaways.

Time Stamps

01:15 – What CarbonHQ really does (and why it’s not carbon accounting)

03:40 – The pitch: fixing carbon credit issuance with software

06:15 – Co-founder story: meeting through a layoff talent directory

08:20 – Breaking down CarbonHQ’s 3-year journey and first $100K ARR

09:40 – Learning sales as a founder who isn’t “a salesperson”

12:10 – Why trust is the foundation of every sale

14:20 – Early-stage websites, product storytelling, and pricing psychology

19:55 – How to think about pricing when you don’t know your market yet

20:30 – Raising capital vs. focusing on revenue growth

23:40 – Why regular investor updates and pitching on stage build credibility

Resources Mentioned

🎙 Ask Alan a Question - https://www.speakpipe.com/PickMyBrain

👨‍💻 Allen Fan – https://www.linkedin.com/in/allen-fan-618b9864/

🌏 CarbonHQ – http://carbonhq.earth/

Mentioned in this episode:

Vanta PMB May 2025_01

Standard Ledger

How Prosus Ventures Became an “Honorary Australian” Fund | Sachin Bhanot

Mon, 22 Sep 2025 06:00:00 +1100

Episode Summary

Sachin Bhanot leads Southeast Asia & ANZ investments at Prosus Ventures, a global fund with $100B+ in assets. Though based in Singapore, Sachin has become an “honorary Australian fund manager”, with nearly half of Prosus’s regional portfolio now in Australia and New Zealand.

In this episode, Cheryl and Maxine dive into why Prosus ramped up in Australia during a downturn, what paradoxical traits they see in winning founders, and how Singapore and Southeast Asia really compare as markets for expansion.

They unpack the playbook for Australian startups going regional, what Singaporean family offices are actually looking for, and why relationship-building is the real cheat code in Southeast Asia. Sachin also shares his biggest Big Chon moment, and how building coffee chains in the Philippines and Malaysia reshaped his view of what it takes to be an investor.

Time Stamps

02:53 – Sachin’s first and most important investment (hint: not a startup)

07:31 – The paradoxical traits of winning founders

10:26 – Singapore vs Southeast Asia: the tale of two ecosystems

18:12 – Why Prosus doubled down on Australia in 2022

28:40 – Tips and traps for Aussie founders expanding regionally

34:44 – When is the “right” time to enter Southeast Asia?

42:11 – The rise of the Australia–India–Singapore innovation corridor

48:34 – Singapore family offices and the art of relationship-driven capital

51:59 – Sachin’s Big Chon moment: learning empathy by building businesses himself

Resources

Resources Mentioned

🙋🏻‍♂️ Sachin Bhanot - https://www.linkedin.com/in/sachin-bhanot-15551913a/

💰 Prosus Ventures - https://www.prosus.com/prosus-ventures

Sponsors:

First Cheque is supported by our wonderful sponsors:

https://www.aussieangels.com/

https://dayone.fm/galah

First Cheque is part of Day One.

Day One helps founders and startup operators make better business decisions more often.

To learn more, join our newsletter to be notified of new First Cheque episodes and upcoming shows.

Exposing the Gaps in Women’s Healthcare | Sally Hasler

Thu, 18 Sep 2025 06:00:00 +1100

Episode Summary

Why are women still being misdiagnosed, dismissed, or left out of medical research altogether? In this very first episode of The New Script, Makenzie Thomas and Frances Goh sit down with Sally Hasler, CEO of Women’s Health Victoria, to explore the systemic inequities shaping women’s health today, and what it will take to change them.

Sally introduces powerful concepts like medical misogyny and below the bikini line health, and explains how gender-blind services and unconscious bias affect the way women and gender diverse people receive care. She also shares candid insights on the barriers to abortion access, the ongoing stigma in reproductive health, and why equity must be at the heart of reform.

Beyond policy and advocacy, Sally talks about her leadership journey, the importance of collective action across government, health, and community, and how she balances the demands of running a statewide organisation with her own wellbeing.

You’ll also hear why including women in medical research from the start is essential, how initiatives like 1800 My Options and the Labia Library are changing the conversation, and why this moment in women’s health must be used to create lasting systems change.

Time Stamps

01:09 – Welcome to The New Script

02:35 – Introducing Sally Hasler, CEO of Women’s Health Victoria

06:22 – Sally’s career path and passion for gender equity

08:25 – Where the gaps in women’s health exist today

11:50 – Defining gender-blind services, gender bias & medical misogyny

17:27 – Social determinants of health and structural inequity

20:05 – Barriers to abortion access and “abortion deserts”

23:40 – Why stigma persists even after decriminalization

25:45 – Inside Women’s Health Victoria: services, advocacy & the Labia Library

28:35 – How collective advocacy drives systems change

31:29 – Sally’s leadership journey and lessons as a first-time CEO

34:46 – Balancing advocacy work with personal health and energy

37:05 – The missing conversation in women’s health: abortion as mainstream care

38:55 – Looking 10 years ahead: embedding lasting reform

40:43 – If Sally could rewrite the script: women in medical research

42:12 – Closing reflections and what’s next

Resources Mentioned

🙋‍♀️ Sally's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sallyhasler/

📞 1800 My Options: https://1800myoptions.org.au/

— free, confidential phone and web service for contraception, abortion, and sexual health

🌐 Women’s Health Victoria: https://whv.org.au/

— statewide feminist health organisation leading advocacy, research, and services

📚 The Labia Library: https://labialibrary.org.au/

— celebrates body diversity and breaks stigma around anatomy

🤝 Counterpart: https://counterpart.org.au/

— peer support service for women and gender diverse people affected by cancer, run by Women's Health Victoria

📰 “Medical misogyny” — investigative series by The Age and Sydney Morning Herald:

https://www.whv.org.au/ceo-blog-the-age-medical-misogyny/

— Sally Hasler reflects on the powerful reporting and its impact

Acknowledgment of Country

We acknowledge the Traditional Owners of the land on which we record and pay our respects to their Elders, past and present. We recognise their continuing connection to land, waters, and culture.

Disclaimer

The New Script is a podcast created for educational and awareness-raising purposes only. The conversations you’ll hear are not intended to be medical advice.

Please consult a qualified healthcare professional for any personal medical concerns or decisions.

✨ Connect with Frances and Makenzie

Frances LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/frances-goh/

Makenzie's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/makenziethomas/

The Day One Network

The New Script is part of Day One, the podcast network dedicated to founders, operators & investors. https://dayone.fm/newsletter

The New Script - Trailer

Mon, 15 Sep 2025 06:00:00 +1100

Welcome to The New Script

Fix the Flag: Rethinking Secure Code Training with Pedram Hayati

Fri, 12 Sep 2025 06:00:00 +1100

Episode Summary

CTFs are fun, but do they actually make developers write more secure code? In this episode of Secured, Cole Cornford is joined by Pedram Hayati (Founder of SecDim & SecTalks) to explore why most developer security training fails, and how SecDim’s “Fix the Flag” approach is changing the game.

From contrived WebGoat-style examples to frameworks that quietly eradicate entire bug classes, Cole and Pedram dive deep into the intersection of AppSec and software engineering. They unpack why developer experience is non-negotiable, why security needs to borrow design patterns from engineering, and how real-world incidents (like GitHub’s mass assignment bug or the Optus breach) make concepts stick far better than acronyms like “XSS” or “SSTI.”

This is a technical, opinionated episode for anyone who’s ever struggled to get developers engaged with security.

Timestamps

01:10 – Why Pedram built SecDim, the problem with pen test reports, and why CTFs don’t train developers

04:42 – From “Capture the Flag” to “Fix the Flag”: making training realistic and Git-first

06:30 – Training inside developer workflows and why contrived examples fail

10:28 – Using modern stacks, AI-tailored labs, and real-world incidents to make concepts stick

12:35 – Why security names suck (XSS vs. “content injection”) and the Optus hack as a teaching moment

17:37 – Secure design patterns vs. vague slogans, and why secure defaults beat secure by design

21:15 – Frameworks like React, Rails, and Angular that kill entire bug classes

23:23 – Engineering by-products: reproducibility, immutability, and orthogonality in secure coding

30:36 – PHP’s bad reputation, language quirks, and what’s actually most popular in security training today

33:41 – Why AppSec pros need to build and deploy apps (not just know vulnerability classes)

37:44 – Getting started with SecDim and hands-on secure coding

Mentioned in this episode:

Call for Feedback

How Stripe Uses AI to Make Global Payments Feel Local

Thu, 11 Sep 2025 06:00:00 +1100

Episode Summary

What if the next big unlock in payments wasn’t just faster checkouts, but bots buying on our behalf? In this episode of In the Blink of AI, Georgie Healy sits down with Karl Durrance, Managing Director for Australia and New Zealand at Stripe, to explore how AI is reshaping money movement at a global scale.

Karl reveals how Stripe is tackling fraud versus scams (and why scams are now the bigger threat), why AI startups are hitting revenue milestones at unprecedented speed, and what agentic commerce could mean for the way we shop. From buy now pay later’s misunderstood role in credit to why stablecoins may be the real future of internet-native money, Karl shares candid insights on where payments are heading next.

You’ll also hear why global expansion no longer requires a move to San Francisco, how single-use virtual cards could make agentic commerce safe, and why bots might soon handle life’s least joyful purchases, freeing us up for the ones that matter.

Time Stamps

02:18 – Karl’s role at Stripe and the $1.4T payments scale

05:51 – Startups hitting $5M ARR in under a year

06:57 – AI Hacks: family holiday planning & cutting through bureaucracy

12:34 – Do Australian founders really need to move to SF?

17:39 – Explaining agentic commerce (AI buying for you)

20:34 – Shopping bots, travel assistants, and Amazon’s “Buy for Me”

22:25 – How Stripe protects against rogue AI agents

25:14 – Ticket scalpers, bots, and the arms race of fraud prevention

27:01 – Fraud vs. scams: what’s really costing the economy

31:51 – Why slowing payments down can actually prevent scams

37:21 – Spicy takes: BNPL, crypto & stablecoins

40:43 – BNPL vs. credit card debt — Karl’s contrarian view

41:24 – Stablecoins: solving volatility and internet money movement

45:51 – When stablecoins meet agentic commerce (next 5 years?)

47:41 – Stripe’s Sydney Tour: launches, thought leaders & what’s next

Resources

🦘 Stripe Tour Sydney: https://tour.stripeevent.com/sydney?rshow=sydney

🙋🏻‍♂️ Karl Durrance: https://www.linkedin.com/in/karldurrance/

💳 Stripe: https://stripe.com/au

In the Blink of AI is made possible by our wonderful partners

Stripe

Apply for Stripe Startups at https://www.dayone.fm/stripe

✨ Connect with Georgie Healy

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/georginahealy/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/georgina_healy/

Twitter: https://x.com/georgina__healy?lang=en

The Day One Network

In The Blink of AI is part of Day One, the podcast network dedicated to founders, operators & investors.

Mentioned in this episode:

Vanta Ad_BAI Jul25

Vanta Ad_BAI Jul25

Trent Daniel – Azupay’s Big Move with NAB

Tue, 09 Sep 2025 06:00:00 +1100

Episode Summary

In this episode of FintechFun, Chris Titley talks with Trent Daniel, Chief Customer Officer at Azupay, about the company’s landmark partnership with National Australia Bank. Trent explains how Azupay went from being first to market with Dynamic PayID and PayTo to now powering NAB’s enterprise customers with real-time payment solutions.

The conversation covers:

Why NAB’s endorsement is a game-changer for credibility and adoption
How Azupay is rewriting direct debit with PayTo
The role of trust, user experience, and regulation in scaling payments
What’s next for innovation, from portability to omni-channel payments

And for a lighter finish, Trent shares his unusual past as a competitive axe thrower and his current love of spearfishing.

Fintechfun is part of Day One.

Day One helps founders and startup operators make better business decisions more often.

To learn more, join our newsletter to be notified of new First Cheque episodes and upcoming shows.

Why Australia’s AI Opportunity Is Bigger Than We Think

Mon, 08 Sep 2025 06:00:00 +1100

Episode Summary

Tom Humphrey, Partner at Blackbird and former operator, joins Cheryl and Maxine to reframe the conversation around Australia’s AI ecosystem. While headlines paint a picture of Australia falling behind, Tom argues we’re quietly sitting on world-class talent, global-first AI companies, and a capital-efficient edge that’s being overlooked.

They unpack Tom’s recent AFR opinion piece on the AI talent landscape, why Australia’s university-to-startup pipeline is broken (and slowly improving), and how “boomerang” PhDs are returning from Anthropic, Meta, and DeepMind to build ambitious companies onshore. Plus, Tom breaks down how product-led growth is evolving in the AI era, why enterprise motions are happening sooner, and what the new GTM playbook looks like when AI agents are selling to AI agents.

Time Stamps

02:21 – Tom’s first investment: BHP shares via his parents, now passing on the habit to his son

05:19 – Robinhood, meme stocks, and the shift to founder-led brands

07:06 – Why Tom wrote the AFR piece: Australia’s culture of doubt vs the US lens of opportunity

08:08 – Australia’s untapped AI talent advantage: 8% of APAC experts, top-tier unis, and PhD immigration

12:18 – Six model releases, global leaderboard wins… that no one in Australia talks about

14:03 – The dangerous cost of silence: how lack of domestic celebration dampens ambition and capital

17:33 – Why Australia is absurdly capital-efficient (and how we squeeze every dollar)

19:23 – Commercialisation bottlenecks at Aussie unis, and what’s slowly changing

25:39 – How this affects investors: AI engineering vs AI research, the boomerang effect, and talent arbitrage

30:56 – Time zones, USD revenue, and Australia’s secret weapon: the 43% R&D tax credit

33:17 – Role gaps and brand new roles: the rise of AI architects and forward deployed engineers

34:27 – What PLG really means, and why it’s not just a freemium sign-up form

39:31 – Spammy AI agents, SEO collapse, and why brand and community are back

45:15 – Why enterprise motions are showing up earlier (and how that changes GTM)

48:32 – Single-player AI value unlocks a different sales motion: fast, bottom-up adoption

51:15 – AI fits into your workflow, not the other way around

54:14 – Picking your motion: don’t force PLG if it’s not a natural fit

55:05 – Capital-starved ecosystems and why enterprise is still harder to fund in Aus

56:15 – Tom’s Big Cojones moment: three boys under six and a startup-founder partner

Resources

👤 Tom Humphrey LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/tomhumphrey1/

🚀 Blackbird Ventures – https://blackbird.vc/

Sponsors:

First Cheque is supported by our wonderful sponsors:

https://www.aussieangels.com/

https://dayone.fm/galah

First Cheque is part of Day One.

Day One helps founders and startup operators make better business decisions more often.

To learn more, join our newsletter to be notified of new First Cheque episodes and upcoming shows.

Mentioned in this episode:

November 2024 - Galah Cyber

Aussie Angels - the preferred fund and syndicate admin platform for emerging managers in Australia

Show Notes: If you’re an investor or keen to write your first angel check, please check out some of the syndicate tickets on www.aussieangels.com

February 2025 - Aussie Angels

How Digital Twins & AI Are Saving Billions in Infrastructure Costs | Jack Curtis from Neara

Fri, 29 Aug 2025 06:00:00 +1100

Episode Summary

What if we could simulate extreme weather before it strikes, and use AI to prevent billions of dollars in damage?

In this episode of In the Blink of AI, Georgie Healy sits down with Jack Curtis, Chief Commercial & Operations Officer at Neara, the startup building digital twins of critical infrastructure like electricity grids. Together, they unpack how AI is reshaping energy, data centers, and even Australia’s role in the global technology race.

From the true drivers of rising energy bills to why “climate tech is far from dead,” Jack shares a candid inside look at the intersection of AI, infrastructure, and policy. You’ll hear why digital twins are more than just a buzzword, what governments are getting right (and wrong) on AI, and how Australia can seize its moment to lead.

Time Stamps

02:11 – Meet Jack Curtis and his role at Neara

03:00 – Digital twins: what they are and why they matter

04:45 – Using AI to model cyclone bombs and prevent grid damage

06:00 – AI Hack of the Week: Gong & NotebookLM for extracting insights

11:20 – Replacing manual, error-prone inspections with scalable modeling

14:50 – Why digital twins are critical in high-stakes infrastructure

17:45 – Adoption friction: humans vs. AI in enterprise contexts

18:40 – Breaking down the real drivers of spiralling electricity bills

22:20 – Can smart data centers help lower consumer energy costs?

25:10 – Data center siting: desert or grid-adjacent?

28:35 – Cooling and water trade-offs in data center economics

30:21 – Is Australian government AI adoption too slow?

35:30 – Can Australia win the global AI–data center “space race”?

37:20 – Why “waiting five years to see how AI plays out” is too risky

39:00 – Climate risk in the next decade: why infrastructure is already under stress

41:50 – Is climate tech still relevant or “not sexy”?

43:30 – Jack’s take on Scott Farquhar’s 5-point AI plan for Australia

49:55 – Rapid fire: digital apprenticeships, APIs, and easing AI into government workflows

50:30 – Jack’s sign-off: Neara is hiring ML engineers!

Resources

⛅️ Neara – https://neara.com/

🙋🏻‍♂️ Jack Curtis (LinkedIn) – https://www.linkedin.com/in/jack-curtis-399b182a/

💻 Gong – https://www.gong.io/

🎥 Andrej Karpathy: Neural Networks – Zero to Hero – https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLAqhIrjkxbuWI23v9cThsA9GvCAUhRvKZ

In the Blink of AI is made possible by our wonderful partners

Stripe

Apply for Stripe Startups at https://www.dayone.fm/stripe

✨ Connect with Georgie Healy

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/georginahealy/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/georgina_healy/

Twitter: https://x.com/georgina__healy?lang=en

The Day One Network

In The Blink of AI is part of Day One, the podcast network dedicated to founders, operators & investors.

Mentioned in this episode:

Mumbition Promo

Cole Cornford on Protecting Startup Attack Surfaces | Galah Cyber

Wed, 27 Aug 2025 06:00:00 +1100

Episode Summary

For most founders, cybersecurity feels like something to worry about “later.” But what if ignoring it now could kill your business before it even gets off the ground?

In this episode of Pick My Brain, Cole Cornford, founder of Galah Cyber, joins Alan Jones to unpack the real security risks early-stage startups face, and why they’re not always the ones you expect. Forget hoodie-wearing hackers: the bigger risks might be your Instagram account, your payments funnel, or the invoices sitting in your inbox.

Alan and Cole explore how to think about attack surfaces without jargon, when frameworks like ISO and SOC 2 actually matter, and why introducing just the right amount of friction can save you from catastrophic mistakes. They also talk branding, talent, and how Galah’s bright pink approachability helps win the right kind of customers.

If you’re building a B2B SaaS startup or scaling towards enterprise clients, this episode will help you avoid costly security missteps and focus on the protections that really matter.

Time Stamps

01:40 – Cole’s childhood dream: video games, Team Fortress, and eSports sponsorship

05:22 – Why Galah Cyber’s mascot is a pink galah (and not a scary hawk or snake)

07:36 – The three buyer journeys in cybersecurity: proactive, reactive, and compliance-driven

09:29 – What “attack surface” actually means, minus the jargon

10:08 – Who counts as a “threat actor”? From clumsy insiders to international hackers

12:07 – The overlooked risks: protecting marketing funnels and payment channels

14:20 – Why adding friction to payments can stop scams

16:09 – The opportunity cost of over-investing in security too early

17:28 – What ISO and SOC 2 certifications mean (and when founders should care)

19:25 – When enterprise customers will demand compliance

19:42 – Where founders should go for security advice that actually makes sense

21:08 – MFA (multi-factor authentication): better than nothing, even if it’s just SMS

21:25 – Why approachable branding makes Galah stand out in a serious industry

Resources

🙋🏻‍♂️ Cole Cornford: https://www.linkedin.com/in/colecornford/

🛡️ Galah Cyber: https://www.galahcyber.com.au/

🔒 Secured Podcast: https://www.galahcyber.com.au/podcasts/

Sponsors:

Pick My Brain is supported by our wonderful sponsors:

The Day One Network

Pick My Brain is part of Day One, the podcast network dedicated to founders, operators & investors.

To learn more, join our newsletter to be notified of new and upcoming shows. The only content we create is content that will help Australian founders.

Mentioned in this episode:

Vanta PMB May 2025_01

Standard Ledger

The Truth About AI Agents: Real Wins, Real Failures

Fri, 15 Aug 2025 06:00:00 +1100

Episode Summary

At a Relevance AI community event, Georgie Healy speaks with Beth Lovell (FoBoH), Sam Garven (Hello Canopy) and Sally (King River Capital) about building AI agents that deliver real results. They share practical hacks, first-use cases, and lessons learned on data hygiene, onboarding and keeping humans in the loop. The panel also explores why women are adopting AI at lower rates and how non-engineers can use their unique strengths to create better tools.

Time Stamps

01:05 – Beth’s journey from Woolies X to FoBoH: COVID supply chains, failed portals & why AI is different

04:07 – Sam’s origin story: unsafe workplaces, no safe way to speak up, and building Hello Canopy

06:15 – Sally’s investor lens: hundreds of agents tested, why she backs Relevance AI

07:32 – Favourite hacks you can steal: Replit, sticky notes → tables, system preferences for style

12:26 – First useful agents: outreach automation, policy-scraping, VC inbound triage

17:28 – What we wish we knew before building: expect errors, keep it simple, chain tasks, onboard like a teammate

20:07 – Designing for reality: data hygiene, human-in-the-loop, guardrails

22:27 – Dream agents: life OS, product-copy deployer, Excel-beating modeller

25:10 – Why women adopt AI less — and why that must change

30:32 – Strengths non-engineers should lean into: empathy, domain expertise, communication

33:27 – Career & workflow tips to start tomorrow: post weekly, try tools, ask for opportunities, get to “no” fast

Resources

👾 Relevance AI - https://relevanceai.com/

✨ FoBoH - https://www.foboh.com/

🙋‍♀️ Hello Canopy - https://www.hellocanopy.com/

🤴🏻 King River Capital - http://www.kingriver.co/

In the Blink of AI is made possible by our wonderful partners

Stripe

Apply for Stripe Startups at https://www.dayone.fm/stripe

✨ Connect with Georgie Healy

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/georginahealy/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/georgina_healy/

Twitter: https://x.com/georgina__healy?lang=en

The Day One Network

In The Blink of AI is part of Day One, the podcast network dedicated to founders, operators & investors.

The 4 Things Every Investor Wants to Hear in Your Pitch

Wed, 13 Aug 2025 06:00:00 +1100

Episode Summary

Tap, beep, done. Australia’s payment experience is one of the world’s most convenient, but also one of the most expensive. Small businesses lose thousands a month in card and scheme fees, while everyday Australians pay hundreds each year just to access their own money.

In this episode of Pick My Brain, Gaurav Rana, co-founder of GANI Pay, joins Alan Jones to pitch his mobile-first payment platform designed to bypass the legacy card system entirely. GANI Pay uses NPP, PayID, and PayTo to enable instant, secure QR payments, with flat monthly fees for merchants and cash-back rewards for consumers.

Alan and Gaurav dig into the economics of “tap and go,” how to convince both merchants and customers to switch, and why regulatory trust is just as important as slick tech in fintech. They also explore GANI Pay’s go-to-market focus on high-volume, low-ticket retailers, and what it takes to turn a payment product into a movement.

If you’re building in fintech, payments, or tackling an entrenched incumbent, this is a masterclass in pitching, positioning, and finding your wedge.

Time Stamps

01:40 – What is GaniPay? Mobile-first QR payments without the card fees

03:00 – Gaurav’s early ambitions: from science to entrepreneurship

04:15 – The problem: why tap payments quietly cost Australians billions

06:10 – How GaniPay works: bypassing Visa/Mastercard with NPP & PayTo

08:20 – Merchants’ biggest question: will customers adopt it?

09:50 – Building trust: compliance, security, and banking partnerships

12:15 – Go-to-market: targeting high-volume, sub-$100 transactions

14:30 – Competing with Afterpay & co: different problem, different value

15:55 – Alan on finding the most promising merchant verticals

17:40 – Fundraising plans: seeking $600k to scale tech & marketing

18:35 – How to become an “investable” fintech in 60 days

20:45 – Movement vs product: can GaniPay spark a payments revolution?

Resources

🙋🏻‍♂️ Gaurav Rana – https://www.linkedin.com/in/gauravrana841/

💰 GaniPay – https://ganipay.com.au/

Sponsors:

Pick My Brain is supported by our wonderful sponsors:

The Day One Network

Pick My Brain is part of Day One, the podcast network dedicated to founders, operators & investors.

To learn more, join our newsletter to be notified of new and upcoming shows. The only content we create is content that will help Australian founders.

Mentioned in this episode:

Standard Ledger

Vanta PMB May 2025_01

How VCs Really Assess AI Startups | Cheryl Mack, Maxine Minter and Georgie Healy

Mon, 11 Aug 2025 06:00:00 +1100

Episode Summary

In this crossover episode of First Cheque and In The Blink of AI, Cheryl Mack (Aussie Angels) and Maxine Minter (Co Ventures) team up with host Georgie Healy to unpack how investors are thinking about AI, beyond the hype. From pitch decks to product demos, they reveal the frameworks and gut checks they use to spot real value in AI startups, even when they’re not technical experts themselves.

You’ll also get a behind-the-scenes look at how Cheryl and Maxine are integrating AI into their own workflows, not just as investors, but as operators. From using ChatGPT to summarise founder meetings, to leveraging Prompt Cowboy and NotebookLM for due diligence and research prep, they walk through real examples of how AI is saving them time, sharpening decision-making, and helping them stay ahead in deal flow. And yes, we finally answer the question: what is an agent… and does anyone actually have one?

Time Stamps

02:15 – Are Cheryl and Maxine AI skeptics or advocates?

06:00 – What's actually fueling the AI hype?

10:45 – Are we in a bubble—or just early in the cycle?

16:20 – Valuations, FOMO, and how investors are pricing AI

21:00 – What angel investors should look for in AI startups

27:30 – AI’s biggest red flag: When it all just sounds like magic

31:00 – Are agents real or is everyone faking it?

36:40 – AI in venture workflows: What Maxine actually automates

41:30 – The real power of personal brand in VC

44:50 – How Cheryl preps for founder calls with Google NotebookLM

49:00 – Weekly AI hacks: From flat lays to voice-mode strategy sessions

52:10 – Founder FOMO: Prompt Cowboy, Juno, and other hot startups

54:00 – The case for non-technical founders in AI

58:00 – Are one-person billion-dollar startups real?

Resources

😇 Angel Academy: The most comprehensive angel investing course for Australia & NZ – www.venture.academy

🦘 Aussie Angels: Cheryl’s platform for angel investing – https://www.aussieangels.com/

💰 Co Ventures: Maxine’s venture capital firm – https://www.coventures.vc/

Sponsors:

First Cheque is supported by our wonderful sponsors:

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https://dayone.fm/galah

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November 2024 - Galah Cyber

Angel Academy - Best online angel investing course in Australia and New Zealand

Don't forget to check out the best online angel investing course in Australia and New Zealand, Angel Academy. It's fun, engaging, and packed full of insights from experienced investors to help you get started or level up your angel investing, visit www.venture.academy

February 2025 - Angels Academy

How VCs Really Assess AI Startups | Cheryl Mack, Maxine Minter and Georgie Healy

Fri, 08 Aug 2025 06:00:00 +1100

Episode Summary

Time Stamps

02:15 – Are Cheryl and Maxine AI skeptics or advocates?

06:00 – What's actually fueling the AI hype?

10:45 – Are we in a bubble—or just early in the cycle?

16:20 – Valuations, FOMO, and how investors are pricing AI

21:00 – What angel investors should look for in AI startups

27:30 – AI’s biggest red flag: When it all just sounds like magic

31:00 – Are agents real or is everyone faking it?

36:40 – AI in venture workflows: What Maxine actually automates

41:30 – The real power of personal brand in VC

44:50 – How Cheryl preps for founder calls with Google NotebookLM

49:00 – Weekly AI hacks: From flat lays to voice-mode strategy sessions

52:10 – Founder FOMO: Prompt Cowboy, Juno, and other hot startups

54:00 – The case for non-technical founders in AI

58:00 – Are one-person billion-dollar startups real?

Resources

02:15 – Are Cheryl and Maxine AI skeptics or advocates?

06:00 – What's actually fueling the AI hype?

10:45 – Are we in a bubble—or just early in the cycle?

16:20 – Valuations, FOMO, and how investors are pricing AI

21:00 – What angel investors should look for in AI startups

27:30 – AI’s biggest red flag: When it all just sounds like magic

31:00 – Are agents real or is everyone faking it?

36:40 – AI in venture workflows: What Maxine actually automates

41:30 – The real power of personal brand in VC

44:50 – How Cheryl preps for founder calls with Google NotebookLM

49:00 – Weekly AI hacks: From flat lays to voice-mode strategy sessions

52:10 – Founder FOMO: Prompt Cowboy, Juno, and other hot startups

54:00 – The case for non-technical founders in AI

58:00 – Are one-person billion-dollar startups real?

In the Blink of AI is made possible by our wonderful partners.

Vanta is the all-in-one solution for startups to become compliant quickly and build a security foundation with ease.

Startup customers get $1000 off Vanta at http://vanta.com/blink

✨ Connect with Georgie Healy

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/georginahealy/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/georgina_healy/

Twitter: https://x.com/georgina__healy?lang=en

The Day One Network

In The Blink of AI is part of Day One, the podcast network dedicated to founders, operators & investors.

Mentioned in this episode:

Vanta Ad_BAI Jul25

Vanta Ad_BAI Jul25

Mastering Money Management: Jason Leong on Bootstrapping PocketSmith and Empowering the Home CFO

Mon, 04 Aug 2025 06:00:00 +1100

Episode Summary

In this episode of the Fintech Fun podcast, Chris Titley sits down with Jason Leong, CEO and co-founder of PocketSmith, a bootstrapped New Zealand fintech helping households worldwide take control of their finances.

Jason shares the 17-year journey of transforming PocketSmith from a simple cash flow calendar into a global platform used in 190 countries. He explains the concept of the “home CFO,” why true financial data ownership matters, and how Consumer Data Right (CDR) in Australia is reshaping open banking.

From handling unexpected expenses to tackling bill shock, Jason discusses practical budgeting approaches, the psychology of money management, and how PocketSmith adapts to the evolving needs of budget planners, investors, and digital nomads. He also opens up about the role AI should play in personal finance, cultural differences in money mindsets, and his personal passions for travel hacks and sneaker collecting.

Tune in to discover how you can become your own “pocket smith,” crafting a financially confident future for yourself and your household.

Time Stamps

00:00 – 00:14: Introduction to Jason Leong and PocketSmith’s global reach.

00:14 – 01:37: Founding story of PocketSmith, naming the company, and bootstrapped origins.

01:37 – 04:09: The “home CFO” concept and solving the time drain of managing finances.

04:09 – 06:26: Understanding net worth, data ownership, and the rise of open banking.

06:26 – 08:20: Segmenting personal finance users – planners, investors, and digital nomads.

08:20 – 11:35: CDR’s role in Australia, data access challenges, and global integration.

11:35 – 13:11: How Australians think about money vs. Kiwis and the cultural differences.

13:11 – 15:28: Managing financial emotions, reducing stress, and time-saving benefits.

15:28 – 19:40: Evolution of PocketSmith’s features and customer-driven product changes.

19:40 – 23:14: Handling unexpected expenses, rollover budgeting, and financial flexibility.

23:14 – 24:59: Tracking savings goals, budget optimization, and behavior-driven insights.

24:59 – 27:11: Shifting financial aspirations and Gen Z’s surprising money habits.

27:11 – 29:54: The Australian fintech ecosystem, partnerships, and CDR’s progress.

29:54 – 33:21: AI’s role in finance, risks of hallucinations, and cautious adoption.

33:21 – 35:30: PocketSmith’s future roadmap and feature improvements.

35:30 – 42:24: Founder spotlight – Jason’s reflections on life, travel, and sneaker collecting.

42:24 – 43:55: How to get started with PocketSmith and its human-centered approach.

Resources

Jason Leong's Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasonleong/

PocketSmith - https://www.pocketsmith.com/

Fintechfun is part of Day One.

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Dr. Prash on Building a $100M+ Crypto Brokerage and Pioneering Psychedelic Therapy

Mon, 04 Aug 2025 06:00:00 +1100

Episode Summary

From surgeon to psychiatrist, Bitcoin investor to billion-dollar crypto brokerage founder, Dr. Prash Puspanathan has lived one of the most unconventional founder journeys in tech. After co-founding and scaling Caleb & Brown into a global crypto powerhouse, later acquired by SwiftX in 2025, Dr. Prash is now pioneering the future of mental health with Enosis Therapeutics, using VR to transform psychedelic-assisted therapy integration.

In this episode of Perspective X, Dr. Prash shares how a single psilocybin experience completely reshaped his worldview, steering him away from surgery and into psychiatry, entrepreneurship, and eventually, crypto. He reveals the parallels between fiscal freedom in decentralized finance and cognitive freedom in mental health, the scrappy early days of arbitrage trading, and the challenges of scaling a white-glove brokerage to serve high-net-worth clients worldwide.

We also dive into the future of psychedelic medicine, why integration is the “real work,” how technology can lower costs and increase access, and why prevention, not just treatment, will define the next era of mental health. From paradigm-shifting psychedelics to building billion-dollar ventures, this is a conversation about liberation, of thought, finance, and human potential.

Time Stamps

00:00 – Intro: Dr. Prash’s unconventional founder journey

02:00 – From surgery to psychiatry: psychedelics as a turning point

06:30 – The transformative psilocybin experience and shifting paradigms

10:30 – Understanding psychedelic therapy and integration work

16:00 – Why psychedelics challenge power structures and cultural norms

22:00 – Fiscal freedom and cognitive freedom: psychedelics and Bitcoin

30:00 – Founding Caleb & Brown and building a billion-dollar brokerage

37:00 – Global scaling, high-net-worth clients, and leadership transitions

42:00 – Preparing for acquisition: the 9-month journey to SwiftX

50:00 – Running a dual life as psychiatrist and founder

55:00 – Enosis Therapeutics: VR-powered integration for psychedelic therapy

01:02:00 – Building tools for patients, therapists, and the future of mental health

01:10:00 – The vision for a psychological digital twin

01:15:00 – Psychedelics in the next 10–50 years: from treatment to prevention

01:20:00 – Translating research into real-world impact and future mission

Resources

💰 Caleb & Brown – Global crypto brokerage: https://calebandbrown.com

🩺 Enosis Therapeutics – Tech for psychedelic-assisted therapy: https://www.enosistherapeutics.com/

👤 Dr. Prash on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drprash/

Sponsors:

Perspective X is supported by our wonderful sponsors:

Vanta:

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Startup customers get $1000 off Vanta at

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Mighty Partners:

Mighty Partners is a growth lender supporting ambitious Australian companies with bespoke debt funding solutions.

Day One listeners are invited to book a complimentary venture debt consultation with Mighty Partners. To schedule your call, simply follow the link and mention "Day One Free Consult"

dayone.fm/mighty

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Mentioned in this episode:

Mighty Partners_PX_May 2025

Vanta_PX_May 2025

Beyond a $180M Exit: Frank Greeff on Purpose and Building Kinso AI

Fri, 01 Aug 2025 06:00:00 +1100

Episode Summary

Time Stamps

03:20 – What is Kinso and why aggregate business messaging

06:15 – Why Frank couldn’t retire after a $180M exit

10:45 – Hack of the Week: how non-technical founders can challenge engineers with AI

14:30 – Why Frank thinks MVPs can’t be scrappy anymore

18:00 – Building a founding team: attracting top AI engineering talent

23:30 – Meta’s $100M AI hires and how Kinso competes

26:40 – Why VCs rejected Kinso and why Frank’s self-funding

30:50 – Taste as a moat: what makes great AI products stand out

33:00 – How building an AI startup differs from RealBase

36:00 – Planning for exits: documentation and timing

40:30 – Deepfakes and Frank’s “secret password” strategy

43:20 – Rapid Fire: AGI, UBI, future of work, and more

Resources

🌐 Kinso – https://www.kinso.ai/

🔗 Frank Greeff on LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/frankgreeff

In the Blink of AI is made possible by our wonderful partners.

- Vanta: Vanta is the all-in-one solution for startups to become compliant quickly and build a security foundation with ease.

Startup customers get $1000 off Vanta at http://vanta.com/blink

✨ Connect with Georgie Healy

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/georginahealy/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/georgina_healy/

Twitter: https://x.com/georgina__healy?lang=en

The Day One Network

In The Blink of AI is part of Day One, the podcast network dedicated to founders, operators & investors.

Mentioned in this episode:

Vanta Ad_BAI Jul25

Vanta Ad_BAI Jul25

How to Win Clients When Everyone’s Using the Same AI

Wed, 30 Jul 2025 06:00:00 +1100

Episode Summary

Would you trust AI to help close a multi-million dollar acquisition? That’s exactly what Deeligence is helping lawyers do faster and with fewer headaches.

In this episode of Pick My Brain, Elena Tsalanidis, co-founder of Deeligence joins Alan Jones to pitch her AI-powered legal tech startup. Elena shares how her platform streamlines the M&A due diligence process for lawyers, cutting review time in half while delivering greater accuracy.

Alan and Elena dive deep into B2B SaaS sales strategy, how to stand out in a sea of AI wrappers, and what actually makes a startup defensible when everyone’s using the same language models. They explore how founders can navigate complex enterprise sales cycles, why law firms resist change, and how product distribution (not tech) is the real moat.

If you’re building in legal tech, enterprise AI, or B2B SaaS, you’ll want to take notes.

Time Stamps

01:40 – What is Deeligence? AI-powered legal due diligence for M&A lawyers

03:05 – Elena’s background: ex-lawyer, ex-legal tech startup operator

04:15 – Childhood ambitions: politics, drill sergeant energy, and leadership

06:00 – The challenge: how do AI startups prove real product differentiation?

08:30 – Alan on “thin wrappers” vs customer experience as a moat

10:10 – Building trust in professional services: security, UX, and reliability

11:40 – Why distribution beats tech in B2B AI

14:10 – What makes a moat in the era of fast, AI-powered software

16:05 – How deal size affects sales cycles in enterprise SaaS

17:15 – Selling into law firms: why Hobart offices can be a strategic wedge

20:00 – Innovation teams: gatekeepers, champions… or blockers?

22:00 – The danger of general-purpose tools vs specialist point solutions

25:05 – How to respond when clients say “we’ll build it in-house”

27:00 – Why law firms are fast-moving money machines (and hate friction)

Resources

👩‍⚖️ Elena Tsalanidis – https://www.linkedin.com/in/elenatsalanidis

⚖️ Deeligence – https://www.deeligence.ai

🎧 More from Alan Jones – https://www.startupfoundercoach.com

Sponsors:

Pick My Brain is supported by our wonderful sponsors:

The Day One Network

Pick My Brain is part of Day One, the podcast network dedicated to founders, operators & investors.

To learn more, join our newsletter to be notified of new and upcoming shows. The only content we create is content that will help Australian founders.

Mentioned in this episode:

Standard Ledger

Vanta PMB May 2025_01

Decode the VC Dictionary Before Your Next Raise

Mon, 28 Jul 2025 06:00:00 +1100

Episode Summary

Some investor phrases sound helpful. Others feel like a riddle. In this episode, Cheryl and Maxine crack open the language investors use when talking to founders, and translate what’s actually being said behind phrases like “not a fit,” “too early,” or “let’s have one more meeting.”

They walk through the subtle (and not-so-subtle) cues that signal a pass, explain what “conviction” actually means in VC-speak, and share tactics founders can use to get clearer answers during fundraising. You’ll also hear the behind-the-scenes realities of ghosting, deal timelines, internal partner politics, and why “we’d love to stay close” usually means… they won’t.

Plus: a rapid-fire rundown of the weirdest (and most cringe) investor slang, from “due dilly” to “foundies.”

Whether you’re raising your first round or managing investor relationships post-close, this episode helps you spot the signals, ask better questions, and avoid wasting time.

Time Stamps

01:45 – “Not a fit”: Why investors love this vague phrase

03:40 – What they mean when they say “you’re too early”

08:30 – “You’re too late”, how stage mismatches work both ways

15:30 – “We’ll circle back” and other signs of a slow no

17:10 – How long does VC diligence really take?

19:15 – Why June 30 is a terrible time to raise

24:10 – Optionality: The excuse behind “we love what you’re doing”

28:00 – “Let the lawyers sort it out”: A red flag or not?

30:15 – The weirdest investor slang (please don’t say “due dilly”)

33:30 – Term sheet vs. side letters: what’s actually worth negotiating

36:00 – Understanding info rights vs. investor updates

38:50 – How to share bad news without burning relationships

45:20 – The shifting goalposts of traction and growth metrics

47:00 – Spotting investor doubts through team questions

48:10 – Final thoughts for both founders and investors

Resources

😇 Angel Academy: The most comprehensive angel investing course for Australia & NZ – www.venture.academy

🦘 Aussie Angels: Cheryl’s platform for angel investing – https://www.aussieangels.com/

💰 Co Ventures: Maxine’s venture capital firm – https://www.coventures.vc/

Sponsors:

First Cheque is supported by our wonderful sponsors:

https://www.aussieangels.com/

https://dayone.fm/galah

First Cheque is part of Day One.

Day One helps founders and startup operators make better business decisions more often.

To learn more, join our newsletter to be notified of new First Cheque episodes and upcoming shows.

How to Build a Defensible AI Startup – With Dr. Thomas Kelly from Heidi Health

Fri, 25 Jul 2025 12:45:00 +1100

Episode Summary

Dr. Tom Kelly, founder of Heidi Health, is building one of Australia’s fastest-growing AI startups, and he’s doing it differently. In this episode, Tom reveals how Heidi Health transforms messy doctor-patient conversations into medical-grade notes in seconds, why batch transcription beats live, and why trust and time, not flashy features, are the future of healthcare AI.

Georgie and Tom unpack why most B2B SaaS startups may not survive, what not to do as a non-technical founder in AI, and how to build trust in high-stakes industries. They also explore personal branding, attention hacking, agents, and AI's limits in life-or-death decision-making.

Plus, Tom shares a killer AI travel hack and plays Late Stage Startup Bingo, guessing the hottest Aussie AI companies, from Relevance AI to Leonardo.

Time Stamps

03:20 – What is Heidi Health and how does it work?

07:30 – Doctors spend half their time on documentation

10:45 – How many Australians have unknowingly used Heidi

12:15 – Does every AI founder need a personal brand?

14:20 – Attention hacking vs. building real trust

18:00 – AI Hack of the Week: voice agents as personal tour guides

20:00 – Gemini’s financial report guessing game

23:00 – Late Stage Startup Bingo: Aussie AI edition

28:30 – The batch processing decision that made Heidi better

31:10 – Why 2% better quality led to 40% more adoption

35:45 – How non-technical founders can get AI-literate fast

40:30 – Should you fine-tune models early on?

44:30 – RAG vs. unlimited context: what comes next

49:10 – The dream of lifelong medical memory

50:50 – Rapid Fire: B2B SaaS, AI agents & Aussie gov support

Resources

🌐 Heidi Health: https://heidihealth.com

🔗 Dr. Tom Kelly on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tomkeykong/

In the Blink of AI is made possible by our wonderful partners.

- Vanta: Vanta is the all-in-one solution for startups to become compliant quickly and build a security foundation with ease.

Startup customers get $1000 off Vanta at http://vanta.com/blink

✨ Connect with Georgie Healy

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/georginahealy/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/georgina_healy/

Twitter: https://x.com/georgina__healy?lang=en

The Day One Network

In The Blink of AI is part of Day One, the podcast network dedicated to founders, operators & investors.

Mentioned in this episode:

Vanta Ad_BAI Jul25

Vanta Ad_BAI Jul25

ISM 2025 Explained: What CISOs, Devs and Security Leads Need to Know - with Toby Amodio

Thu, 24 Jul 2025 06:00:00 +1100

Episode Summary

The Australian Information Security Manual (ISM) just got a major update, and not everyone’s thrilled. In this special episode of Secured, Cole Cornford is joined by Toby Amodio (Head of Professional Services, Fujitsu Cyber) to break down what’s changed, what’s missing, and what it all means for CISOs, AppSec teams and public sector security leads.

From the new cybersecurity principles (and why they feel like yak shaving) to the long-overdue expansion of software security controls, Cole and Toby navigate the mess of frameworks, missing maturity models, and babushka-doll-style mappings that have left many teams overwhelmed. They also reflect on what “secure-by-default” really means in a world of legacy codebases, overstretched resources, and one-person AppSec teams.

Timestamps

01:02 – Why ISM Updates Matter (Even If They’re Late)

02:32 – New Principles: Nice Idea, Hard to Implement

04:08 – Yak Shaving and the Complexity Cascade

07:48 – Mapping Mayhem: PSPF, E8 and Governance Overload

10:25 – Losing the Maturity Model: Who Does That Help?

13:46 – Secure-by-Default and the Problem with OWASP-as-a-Proxy

18:13 – Integration, Incentives, and Cyber vs. Business Silos

20:34 – The Talent Gap and Why Code Reviews Still Matter

22:58 – Galah Cyber, Capability Building & Doing AppSec Right

23:57 – Why Buying Tools Isn’t the Same as Building Capability

25:21 – What Red, Amber, Green Tools Really Miss

26:01 – One ISM to Rule Them All… If You Can Implement It

26:52 – Final Thoughts (and a Funding Stick for CISOs)

Mentioned in this episode:

Call for Feedback

The History of the Australian Startup Ecosystem Documentary - except by NotebookLM

Mon, 21 Jul 2025 22:26:00 +1100

A few years back, we interviewed over 100 people from Australia's modern and early startup community to pull together a deep 6-part series documenting the origins of Australia's startup ecosystem.

But, the full documentary runs for almost 6 hours.

If you don't have that much time. Here's an AI-generated version by NotebookLM.

We fed it all the interviews that the Day One team conducted, including the final 6 documentary epsidoes and told it to summarise it.

How BuildShip Is Building the Future of Dev Tools (With Harini Janakiraman & Shams Mosowi)

Fri, 18 Jul 2025 06:00:00 +1100

Episode Summary

Harini Janakiraman and Shams Mosowi are the powerhouse co-founders behind BuildShip, a platform helping businesses automate complex backend and AI workflows in minutes. In this episode, they unpack what it really takes to build a fast-moving AI startup that developers not only use, but love.

Georgie dives into their founding story (from Antler hire to co-founder), their approach to vibe coding with tools like Claude and Cursor, and why product alone isn’t enough in today’s AI landscape. The trio also plays “hit or miss” with popular dev tools like Midjourney, Replit, Cursor, and GitHub Copilot, and they don’t hold back.

Harini and Shams share honest lessons on building for tech-literate users, hiring remotely, and turning branding into a technical moat. Plus: the viral power of great merch, why Shams temporarily moved to San Francisco, and how developers can earn exclusive BuildShip swag by shipping real tools.

Time Stamps

02:43 – What makes a great startup partnership work

05:23 – Harini’s AI hack: voice-activated workflows for home and transport

07:21 – Shams’ AI hack: pitch deck evaluator and vibe coding with Claude + Cursor

09:40 – Comparing LLMs: ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, Perplexity

14:11 – Tech hits & misses: Midjourney, Replit, Cursor, Copilot

21:44 – Where to prioritise capital pre-product-market-fit

24:49 – Is moving to San Francisco worth it for AI startups?

27:43 – Remote hiring lessons: trial projects, red flags, and finding fit

29:54 – Why brand is BuildShip’s moat (and how merch plays a role)

36:11 – How to earn BuildShip merch: hackathons and shipping tools

37:24 – Rapid fire: worst hires, dream users, and impossible customers

40:38 – Social media fails and that awkward “Hey Captain” email

42:07 – Final shoutouts: BuildShip tools, demo challenge, and how to get started

Resources

🛠️ Try BuildShip: https://www.buildship.com

✨ BuildShip Tools (vibe-code your backend): https://www.buildship.com/tools

📣 Harini on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/harinijanakiraman/

💻 Shams on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shams-mosowi/

In the Blink of AI is made possible by our wonderful partners

Stripe

Apply for Stripe Startups at https://www.dayone.fm/stripe

✨ Connect with Georgie Healy

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/georginahealy/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/georgina_healy/

Twitter: https://x.com/georgina__healy?lang=en

The Day One Network

In The Blink of AI is part of Day One, the podcast network dedicated to founders, operators & investors.

Mentioned in this episode:

Mumbition Promo

How to Build a Community-Led Startup | with James Davie from Miyagi

Wed, 16 Jul 2025 06:00:00 +1100

Episode Summary

James Davie is the Co-founder and CEO of Miyagi, an AI-powered platform helping tech companies run more efficient and engaging online communities. In this episode, Alan sits down with James to explore what it takes to build a startup when you’ve never sold a thing in your life, and why community might just be the next frontier in customer experience.

They talk founder-led sales, credibility building on LinkedIn, and how James is navigating the messy middle between MVP and product-market fit. You’ll also hear real insights into Miyagi’s pilot customers, the importance of owning your distribution channel early, and why building your personal brand can unlock your first 100 users, even before the product is “done.”

This is essential listening for early-stage founders, community managers, and product leaders who know the power of customer engagement, but also know how hard it is to scale it.

Time Stamps

01:44 – James’ surprising path to becoming a founder

06:39 – What is Miyagi, and who is it for?

10:30 – The hidden cost of running a community without ownership

12:45 – Founder-led sales when you’ve never sold before

13:17 – Learning to ask for the sale: how James is building muscle

15:54 – Imposter syndrome and credibility as an unknown founder

17:39 – Why LinkedIn alone won’t build your funnel

18:51 – Using small events and meetups as growth channels

21:29 – From attendee to speaker: how to build “expert magic”

24:35 – Becoming a panelist, host, or community organiser

25:58 – Why different roles across the org all touch “community”

26:56 – Founder brand vs company brand: what comes first?

Resources Mentioned

👨🏻‍💻 James Davie on LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-davie/

🏗️ Miyagi – https://www.linkedin.com/company/miyagi-ai/

Sponsors:

Pick My Brain is supported by our wonderful sponsors:

The Day One Network

Pick My Brain is part of Day One, the podcast network dedicated to founders, operators & investors.

To learn more, join our newsletter to be notified of new and upcoming shows. The only content we create is content that will help Australian founders.

Mentioned in this episode:

Standard Ledger

Vanta PMB May 2025_01

Scaling Solo: How Charles Hudson Built a High-Volume VC Model at Precursor Ventures

Mon, 14 Jul 2025 06:00:00 +1100

Episode Summary

Charles Hudson is the Founder and Managing Partner at Precursor Ventures, a solo GP fund that has backed over 450 startups across five funds, including dozens of category-defining companies led by underrepresented founders. In this episode, Maxine and Cheryl sit down with Charles to explore how he built one of the most successful high-volume venture strategies in the world, all while staying a solo decision-maker.

They dive deep into what being a “solo GP” actually means, how Charles balances scale with intimacy across a massive portfolio, and why trust, not likability, is his north star when supporting founders. You’ll also hear his first-ever investment, the courage it took to leave a top-tier firm to start Precursor, and how he still handpicks every company Precursor backs, often long before they’re obvious.

Time Stamps

03:20 – Charles’s first investment: ExxonMobil shares… mailed by cheque

06:50 – What is a solo GP fund, and how Precursor operates with one partner and 14 staff

10:28 – The pros and cons of solo decision-making in venture

12:50 – How Precursor supports 450+ companies (and avoids “orphaned” portfolios)

15:44 – Why Charles shifted from unlimited founder support to intentional check-ins

19:18 – Trust vs likability, and why real feedback matters more than being liked

24:25 – How Charles handles saying “no” to follow-ons, and still earns trust

29:31 – The case for “challenger” VCs over cap-table cheerleaders

32:11 – What Precursor looks for in a founder: not great employees, but great CEOs

36:39 – High volume investing: Why meeting 2000+ startups matters

39:00 – Global allocation: why Charles bet early on African and LatAm FinTech

42:30 – The return of themes (like AI & Women’s Health), and why they can kill judgment

47:52 – When Precursor steps in (and when they don’t): being the “surgeon, not the bandaid”

54:04 – Charles’s biggest Big Cojones moment: leaving Uncork to build Precursor from scratch

56:15 – Why most fund managers are “post-employment” and proud of it

Resources

👤 Charles Hudson LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/chudson/

🌎 Precursor Ventures – https://precursorvc.com/

First Cheque is part of Day One.

Day One helps founders and startup operators make better business decisions more often.

To learn more, join our newsletter to be notified of new First Cheque episodes and upcoming shows.

Mentioned in this episode:

Aussie Angels - the preferred fund and syndicate admin platform for emerging managers in Australia

Show Notes: If you’re an investor or keen to write your first angel check, please check out some of the syndicate tickets on www.aussieangels.com

February 2025 - Aussie Angels

How to Build a Magnetic AI Brand - With Pistachio’s Isaac Peiris

Fri, 11 Jul 2025 06:00:00 +1100

Episode Summary

Isaac Peiris, founder of the growth agency Pistachio, has helped scale media brands like Mamamia and The Daily Aus through organic content and audience-first strategies. In this episode, he breaks down why brand matters more than ever for AI startups, the importance of knowing your audience, and how emotional connection beats transactional marketing.

Georgie and Isaac unpack famous brand fails like Google Glass and the Metaverse, and dissect Duolingo’s recent AI messaging stumble. They also highlight success stories like Waymo’s patient trust-building and Magic Brief’s smart organic content flywheel.

Isaac shares practical advice for AI founders on prioritising spend, validating through social engagement, and building your “thousand true fans.” Plus, hear his insights on AI as a creative accelerator, when it helps, and when it hurts.

Time Stamps

06:20 – Who are Pistachio’s clients? Bridging knowing and doing social media

08:50 – The modern “business card”: personal brands, podcasts & newsletters

09:15 – Hack of the Week: context docs for better AI chats

12:45 – AI travel hack: Using Gemini & Google Maps in Rome

14:00 – Brand fails: Why Google Glass & Metaverse missed the mark

19:00 – Duolingo’s AI-first messaging misstep and audience insight

25:00 – Brand wins: Waymo’s slow, trust-first rollout of driverless cars

28:45 – Magic Brief’s Canva acquisition & organic content mastery

35:30 – AI brand strategy essentials for founders: audience + use case

40:00 – Where to invest early-stage funding: content & organic reach

45:20 – Isaac’s newsletter & the power of a thousand true fans

48:00 – Emotional storytelling beats transactional marketing: Wise example

50:30 – Aura Ring’s campaign flipping health marketing on its head

55:30 – Rapid fire: acquisitions, brand fails & AI’s creative impact

Resources

🙋 Isaac Peiris on LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/isaacpeiris

📧 Free email course on organic content & brand building: https://brandchemistry.co/c/modern-media-masterclass

🎯 Pistachio: https://www.pistachio.so

📰 Magic Brief’s Internet Ads Club newsletter: https://internetadsclub.com/

✨ Connect with Georgie Healy

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/georginahealy/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/georgina_healy/

Twitter: https://x.com/georgina__healy?lang=en

The Day One Network

In The Blink of AI is part of Day One, the podcast network dedicated to founders, operators & investors.

Mentioned in this episode:

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Securing the Gaps: M Brennan on Integration, Context and Developer Experience

Thu, 10 Jul 2025 06:00:00 +1100

Episode Summary

With a career that spans mainframes, integration platforms, and developer experience, M Brennan brings a unique lens to the world of application security. In this episode, M joins Cole Cornford to unpack why integration is often the riskiest layer in software systems, how context is everything when choosing security controls, and what it really takes to build security into developer workflows without adding friction.

They dive into stories from government and enterprise environments, the overlap between security and resilience, and how thinking in terms of energy and empathy, not just tools, can lead to better outcomes for everyone. Plus, a surprisingly effective stereo-selling strategy, some well-earned AI scepticism, and a jam-jar analogy you’ll never forget.

Timestamps

03:45 From COBOL to Developer Experience in Security

06:37 Choosing the Right Security Control for the Right Risk

10:00 Reducing Developer Friction with Secure Defaults

14:10 How Threat Modelling Creates Real Value

17:57 Fixing Access and Provisioning for Devs and Security

20:09 Virtual Dev Environments and Automating the Boring Stuff

24:04 Smarter Security Adoption and the Jam Jar Effect

28:48 AI, Developer Toil and the Problem with Overpromising

31:03 Using AI to Kickstart Threat Modelling and Resilience

33:56 Why Some Tech Trends Aren’t Worth the Hype

36:09 The Risk of Letting Chatbots Handle Security Promises

37:16 Final Takeaways on Empathy, Context and Collaboration

Mentioned in this episode:

Call for Feedback

The Hidden Criteria Behind a YC Yes: Yotam on Founder Signals, and the Real Work Behind a Yes

Mon, 07 Jul 2025 06:00:00 +1100

Episode Summary

Yotam Rosenbaum never planned to be a startup founder, let alone one of Australia’s most active investors in Y Combinator companies. He started out as a musician, marketing his own band in Los Angeles, until the frustration of promoting music online became the spark for building Earbits, a platform once described as “Google AdWords for music.” What began on a traffic-jammed freeway turned into a five-year journey through Y Combinator, product-market chaos, and a successful exit.

Since then, Yotam has backed over 400 YC startups, built one of the only Australian-led funds inside the program, and helped founders at home think far beyond local markets. He reflects on what actually matters at the earliest stages, why founder relationships trump early traction, and how to spot the quiet signals of a breakout team. There’s also a reality check for anyone raising capital: most investors won’t give you a clear no, and that’s the real cost.

From Craigslist drum lessons to portfolio unicorns, Yotam’s story is anything but typical. But it’s proof that trusting your sense of direction, without needing the whole map, can still get you somewhere remarkable.

Time Stamps

00:01:17 – Embracing Uncertainty: Yotam’s Philosophy on Direction Without a Map

00:06:41 – From Funk Band to Founder: The Origins of Earbits

00:11:05 – The Aha Moment: Building the Google AdWords for Music

00:14:58 – Joining Y Combinator: Early Traction & Getting In

00:20:04 – Life at YC: Feeling Out of Place, Finding Belonging

00:24:29 – Investing in 400+ YC Startups: How It Started Post-Exit

00:31:19 – Moving to Australia: The Hot DesQ Bet That Paid Off

00:36:35 – Comparing Ecosystems: SF vs Brisbane Startup Mindsets

00:41:09 – The Importance of Community: No Founder Builds Alone

00:45:39 – The 77 Partners Venture Challenge: Who It’s For

00:50:24 – What Investors Look For (It’s Not Just Revenue)

01:03:01 – How Founders Can (And Should) Think About AI

Resources Mentioned

🥇 First Peak Ventures - https://www.linkedin.com/company/first-peak-ventures/

🤝 77 Partners – http://www.77partners.vc/

🙋🏻‍♂️ Yotam Rosenbaum on LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/yotamrosenbaum/

👂🏻 Earbits – https://www.earbits.com/

Sponsors:

Perspective X is supported by our wonderful sponsors:

Vanta:

Vanta is the all-in-one solution for startups to become compliant quickly and build a security foundation with ease.

Startup customers get $1000 off Vanta at

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Mighty Partners is a growth lender supporting ambitious Australian companies with bespoke debt funding solutions.

Day One listeners are invited to book a complimentary venture debt consultation with Mighty Partners. To schedule your call, simply follow the link and mention "Day One Free Consult"

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Perspective X is part of Day One.

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Why Notion Is Betting on AI Building Blocks – with Andrew McCarthy, GM ANZ at Notion

Fri, 04 Jul 2025 06:00:00 +1100

Episode Summary

This week’s episode of In The Blink of AI is a special one, recorded live at UNSW in front of a sold-out audience. Georgie sits down with Andrew McCarthy, General Manager at Notion for Australia, New Zealand, and Asia, to explore how one of the world’s most loved productivity tools is quietly reshaping the way teams work with AI.

Andrew shares how Notion’s modular “building block” approach is changing the game for startups and enterprise alike, why simplifying workflows beats chasing the next shiny tool, and how students, founders, and even origami fans are building powerful systems without writing code.

They cover the anti-SaaS philosophy behind Notion’s design, what startups can learn from OpenAI’s use of AI for internal ops, and how AI can bridge the gap between newcomers and tenured employees, giving everyone superpowers at work.

Plus: Notion skincare routines, sports dreams, and a very wholesome story about digital journaling and self-love.

Time Stamps

02:19 – Meet Andrew McCarthy, GM of Notion for ANZ & Asia

06:55 – Why Notion Chose Sydney as Its APAC HQ

09:42 – Notion’s Anti-SaaS Philosophy & Why It Matters

12:58 – The Real Notion Origin Story: From Near-Death to Kyoto

15:13 – The Power of UI/UX & the Race to the Application Layer

18:46 – What Notion AI Can Do, And What Users Are Loving

20:07 – Work as a Flow: The Case for Native AI Integration

20:20 – Why Templates Are a Hidden Superpower

21:38 – A Nepalese Student’s Side Hustle That Blew Andrew’s Mind

22:10 – From Hype to Value: How to Cut Through the AI Noise

24:36 – Most Unexpected Notion Use Case? Origami Knowledge Base

27:25 – Scaling Notion: Focus on What’s Already Working

28:48 – Enterprise AI Adoption (Hi, Toyota 👋)

30:44 – Should You Learn Python or Logic? Frameworks vs Tools

31:23 – Non-Tech Companies and AI: The Two-by-Two Matrix

34:01 – Rapid Fire: Sports Dreams, Dinner Guests & Parenting in the AI Era

38:02 – A Notion Page That Brought a Tear to His Eye

Resources

Andrew McCarthy on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/awmccarthy/

Notion’s Startup Program (6 Months Free) - https://www.notion.com/startups

✨ Connect with Georgie Healy

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/georginahealy/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/georgina_healy/

Twitter: https://x.com/georgina__healy?lang=en

The Day One Network

In The Blink of AI is part of Day One, the podcast network dedicated to founders, operators & investors.

Why Australia Builds More Unicorns per Dollar Than Anyone | with Ben Grabiner from Side Stage Ventures

Wed, 02 Jul 2025 06:00:00 +1100

Grab your copy of the Dealroom and SideStage Ventures report we talked about on the show with Cheryl Mack and Maxine Minter here - https://www.sidestage.vc/outliers-report-2025

Episode Summary

Ben Grabiner is the Co-founder and General Partner at Side Stage Ventures, and the author of a landmark new report in collaboration with Dealroom and AWS. In this episode, Cheryl and Maxine sit down with Ben to unpack the data behind Australia’s rapid rise as one of the most efficient and exciting venture ecosystems in the world.

They explore how Australia produces more unicorns per dollar invested than any other country, what makes the ecosystem so resilient and capital-efficient, and why the next decade might belong to Aussie tech. From funding gaps to founder grit, from global capital flows to angel investor opportunities, this is essential listening for allocators, founders, and emerging fund managers alike.

You’ll also hear Ben’s story, from buying Tottenham Hotspur shares as a teenager, to moving across the world mid-COVID, to becoming a key builder in Australia’s startup ecosystem.

Time Stamps

04:49 – Ben’s first investment: £250 in Tottenham Hotspur

06:34 – What makes Australian unicorns so capital-efficient?

09:14 – Unicorn efficiency vs gross unicorn creation: what matters more

13:15 – How Australia quietly matches Israel and India on decacorn creation

14:35 – Why foreign investors see the opportunity more clearly than locals

18:41 – The power of local exits like Afterpay, and how they inspire allocation

21:19 – Can Aussie startups scale globally from home? Or must they go abroad?

23:40 – Why this next wave of operators will be our ecosystem’s secret weapon

25:54 – What global LPs need to understand about Australian venture

30:17 – Why pre-seed funds and angel investors matter more than ever

Resources

🙋🏻‍♂️ Ben’s LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/bengrabiner/

💳 Side Stage Ventures - https://www.sidestage.vc/

🦘 Aussie Angels makes it easy for accredited investors to back early-stage startups alongside experienced syndicate leads. With no platform fees and minimum cheques from $2,500, you can build a diversified portfolio of high-growth companies with confidence.

https://www.aussieangels.com/

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Day One helps founders and startup operators make better business decisions more often.

To learn more, join our newsletter to be notified of new First Cheque episodes and upcoming shows.

Hiring in 27 Seconds: Luke Marshall on Growth, Gen Z & Video-First Recruitment with UseVerb

Wed, 02 Jul 2025 06:00:00 +1100

Episode Summary

Can a 27-second video replace a cover letter?

In this episode, Alan sits down with Luke Marshall, Head of Growth at UseVerb, a startup reinventing the way frontline teams hire with short-form video job applications. Luke shares his journey from big-budget media agencies to lean startup teams, the lessons learned from building and rebuilding UseVerb, and why Gen Z is redefining how we think about recruitment, content, and connection.

You’ll hear why UseVerb is doubling down on portrait video, how they’re targeting multi-location retailers and hospitality groups, and what their experiments in landing pages, email outreach, and TikTok-style branding have revealed so far.

If you’ve ever tried hiring at scale or building a startup in a noisy market, Luke’s insights on growth, product-market fit, and trust-based hiring will hit home.

Time Stamps

02:02 – Childhood dreams, Jurassic Park, and marine dinosaurs

03:12 – From media agency life to the startup world

04:34 – The origin story of UseVerb and what went wrong the first time

07:41 – Rebooting the startup: What’s different now

08:40 – The power of a 27-second video job application

10:57 – Why Gen Z gets video — and how that’s a hiring advantage

12:07 – Who UseVerb is built for (and how to reach them)

14:37 – Why TikTok changed everything for startup marketing

16:46 – UseVerb’s omnichannel growth strategy

18:18 – Creating content for portrait video vs landscape: Lessons from Gen Z

22:43 – Personalised landing pages: Too creepy or just right?

24:39 – How UseVerb uses AI to write emails that don’t sound like AI

29:25 – Why diversity in case studies matters for conversion

31:34 – The heartbreak of bounce rates and browser tab 76

33:26 – Final thoughts + a callout for user research participants

Resources Mentioned

🙋🏻‍♂️ Luke’s Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/marshwah/

🗣️ UseVerb – https://www.useverb.com/

🧊 SmartLead – https://smartlead.ai/ – tool for cold outbound

🕸️ Make.com – https://www.make.com/ – no-code automation for landing page generation

📋 Microsoft Clarity – https://clarity.microsoft.com/ – session replay for landing page behaviour

Sponsors:

Pick My Brain is supported by our wonderful sponsors:

The Day One Network

Pick My Brain is part of Day One, the podcast network dedicated to founders, operators & investors.

To learn more, join our newsletter to be notified of new and upcoming shows. The only content we create is content that will help Australian founders.

Mentioned in this episode:

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The Billion-Dollar AI Opportunity No One’s Talking About - With Asseti’s Aonghus Stevens

Fri, 27 Jun 2025 06:00:00 +1100

Episode Summary

Aonghus Stevens, founder of Asseti, built his first drone business as a teenager and now leads one of Australia’s most fascinating AI infrastructure startups. In this episode, he shares why the real money in AI isn’t in the apps, but in the unsexy, invisible backend of enterprise and asset management.

Georgie and Aonghus unpack the surprising power of drones and defect detection, why asset degradation is a billion-dollar problem, and how Asseti is using AI to transform the way buildings, warehouses, and industrial sites are monitored and managed. They also dive into what makes a great VC partner, how to talk AI without sounding like a buzzword machine, and why drone delivery startups might be more hype than hope.

Plus, Aonghus names the one boring AI workflow that’s actually revolutionising how massive global clients manage their assets, and why most legacy systems are still stuck in 1995.

Time Stamps

02:19 – Aonghus’ Origin Story: From Teen Drone Dealer to Founder

05:03 – Drones 101: Fixed Wing, Multirotor, and Enterprise Use Cases

08:13 – AI Hack of the Week: SQL Without Writing a Line of Code

11:29 – Why Drones Are Just the Beginning at Asseti

14:16 – Turning PDF Reports Into Live Asset Intelligence

16:20 – How AI, Imagery & Photogrammetry Power Asseti

18:41 – Startup Trade-Offs: When to Spend vs. Let It Burn

22:56 – The Broken Workflows in Asset Management

25:31 – Ideal Clients for Asseti & The Scale Problem in Inspections

30:14 – Lame or Lucrative: Drone Coffees, Google Wing, Flying Cars

36:17 – What Makes a Great VC (and Why Timing Is Everything)

40:15 – Form vs. Function, Flying Cars & Startups with Grit

42:45 – Where to Find Asseti and Why It’s a Quiet Game-Changer

Resources

🙋🏻‍♂️ Aonghus Stevens Linkedin https://www.linkedin.com/in/ajbstevens/

👶 Aonghus Stevens on Forbes 30 Under 30 https://www.forbes.com/profile/aonghus-stevens/?ctpv=searchpage

🛩️ Asseti https://www.asseti.co/

✨ Connect with Georgie Healy

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/georginahealy/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/georgina_healy/

Twitter: https://x.com/georgina__healy?lang=en

The Day One Network

In The Blink of AI is part of Day One, the podcast network dedicated to founders, operators & investors.

What It Really Takes to Scale to $100M: Ricky Sevta on Burnout, Breakthroughs, and Building Again

Mon, 23 Jun 2025 06:00:00 +1100

Episode Summary

Ricky Sevta isn’t afraid of hard truths, or hard problems. As the former Chief Revenue Officer at simPRO, Ricky helped scale the company from $10M to $100M ARR, led a $550M capital raise, and expanded the business into global markets. Now, as CEO of Deep Space and a partner at Venture On, he’s back at the beginning, building again.

In this episode, Ricky shares the behind-the-scenes realities of scaling a company beyond product-market fit, why founders underestimate the cost of growth, and the personal sacrifices that come with chasing unicorn status. He also reveals how Deep Space is tackling fragmented workflows in construction with modern, AI-powered software, and why pricing, timing, and hiring are all about ruthless clarity.

From celebrating too little, to learning how to protect time with family, Ricky unpacks the emotional toll of leadership, how to spot premature market entry, and why customer obsession isn’t optional, it’s survival.

Time Stamps

02:00 – Ricky’s transition from engineer to CRO and global scale-up leader

05:30 – The messy middle: scaling simPRO from $10M to $100M ARR

08:20 – Building structure into chaos: onboarding, playbooks, and the “Lego” method

11:00 – Why product-market fit is never static—especially across geographies

13:30 – Market trumps team: Ricky’s framework for evaluating expansion risks

16:50 – Don’t skip the customer: 40% of Ricky’s time was spent on the ground

19:00 – What “Chief Revenue Officer” really meant at simPRO

22:00 – The traits Ricky looks for when hiring early-stage startup leaders

24:40 – The emotional cost of startup life: family, friendships, and isolation

28:00 – Why founders often create businesses to fix something in themselves

33:00 – Leaving simPRO: starting again with Deep Space and Venture On

37:00 – Building in public and launching an AI-powered construction OS

43:10 – Why the construction industry isn’t “behind”—it’s been underserved

50:00 – Deep Space’s AI agent “Kai” and the platform’s competitive edge

56:00 – How modern architecture unlocks personalization and speed

01:02:00 – Ricky’s take on AI disruption, job loss, and market overreactions

01:10:00 – Pricing strategy: why Deep Space chose fixed pricing over revenue-based models

01:16:00 – Signs it’s time to enter a new market (hint: it’s not when you are ready)

01:22:00 – Product feedback loops and building a customer-driven roadmap

01:27:00 – Celebrating small wins and creating a culture of recognition

01:30:00 – Ricky on joy, drive, and why he’d do it all again—burnout and all

Resources Mentioned

🔧 Deep Space – AI construction management platform https://www.deepspacegroup.ai/

👤 Ricky Sevta on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/rickysevta/

Sponsors:

Perspective X is supported by our wonderful sponsors:

Vanta:

Vanta is the all-in-one solution for startups to become compliant quickly and build a security foundation with ease.

Startup customers get $1000 off Vanta at

dayone.fm/vanta/pauline

Mighty Partners:

Mighty Partners is a growth lender supporting ambitious Australian companies with bespoke debt funding solutions.

Day One listeners are invited to book a complimentary venture debt consultation with Mighty Partners. To schedule your call, simply follow the link and mention "Day One Free Consult"

dayone.fm/mighty

Perspective X is part of Day One.

Day One helps founders and startup operators make better business decisions more often.

To learn more, join our newsletter to be notified of new Perspective X episodes and upcoming shows.

Mentioned in this episode:

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Sarah Kaur on Human-Centred AI, Design Ethics, and Reimagining Tech from the Ground Up

Fri, 20 Jun 2025 06:00:00 +1100

Sarah Kaur is not your typical technologist, and that’s the point. As Principal Design Strategist at Portable, she brings an artist’s eye and a community-first mindset to the world of AI and justice tech. In this episode, Sarah joins Georgie Healy to explore what it really means to build AI that works with people, not just on them.

They dive into the hidden biases in design, the pitfalls of “black box” systems, and the real cost of leaving communities out of the development process. From building tools in Australia’s family law system to dreaming up a sovereign digital twin that protects your data, Sarah’s approach to ethical innovation is bold, reflective, and deeply grounded in care.

Whether you’re designing for scale or simply wondering how AI can be made more equitable, this conversation will give you a new lens on what it means to build technology that respects, adapts, and listens.

Time Stamps

03:20 – From Artist to AI Strategist: Sarah’s Unconventional Path

07:42 – What Human-Centred AI Actually Means

11:57 – Sitting in Ambiguity: The Black Box Camera Experiment

14:40 – Using ChatGPT to Surface Personal Bias

18:20 – What the Public Doesn’t Understand About AI Design

22:32 – Why Co-Design Matters More Than Ever

30:32 – Designing With Communities, Not Just for Them

35:40 – When Explainability Matters More Than Accuracy in AI

40:00 – Inside Portable’s AI Sprint Model

43:02 – Ethical AI vs. Imaginative AI

47:31 – Dream Tech: A Sovereign Digital Twin That Asks for Consent

Resources

👩‍💻 Sarah Kaur on LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarahkaur/

🏢 Portable – https://www.portable.com.au/

📘 Amica (Family Law Tool) – https://www.amica.gov.au/

🛠️ AI Sprint Model by Portable – https://www.portable.com.au/articles/ai-design-sprints

✨ Connect with Georgie Healy

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/georginahealy/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/georgina_healy/

Twitter: https://x.com/georgina__healy?lang=en

The Day One Network

In The Blink of AI is part of Day One, the podcast network dedicated to founders, operators & investors.

How to Build Ethical AI for Artists: Kartini Ludwig Pitches Koup Music

Wed, 18 Jun 2025 06:00:00 +1100

Would you play a guitar without tuning it? Of course not. So why use AI music tools that you can’t control? That’s the thinking behind Koup Music.

In this episode of Pick My Brain, Kartini Ludwig, co-founder and CEO of Koup Music, shares her vision for an ethical, artist-first AI music platform. Kartini explains how Koup allows artists to fine-tune and collaborate with AI models to unlock new sonic possibilities, while still maintaining creative control.

Alan Jones dives deep into Koup’s pitch, offering tactical advice on simplifying IP rights, presenting a stronger fundraising narrative, and testing paid marketing before hiring a CMO. They also explore why community-driven tools need clear go-to-market strategies, and how to make investors feel safe in uncharted territory.

Time Stamps

01:33 – Kartini’s background, creative roots, and how Koup Music began

03:00 – What Koup Music is: empowering artists with tunable AI music models

04:50 – Industry validation: APRA stats and ethical concerns in AI music

06:05 – How Koup Music works: live performance demos and remix capabilities

09:35 – Alan’s feedback: clarify visuals, showcase real artists in action

11:22 – Business model: pay-as-you-go credits, future subscriptions, and a model marketplace

14:39 – Who owns AI-generated music? IP rights, artist licensing, and transparency

18:42 – Fundraising strategy: what $1M in seed funding will achieve for Koup

22:04 – Growth goals: 100K users, CAC targets, and early marketing experiments

Resources

🙋🏻‍♀️ Kartini Ludwig – https://www.linkedin.com/in/kartiniludwig/

🎶 Koup Music – https://www.koupmusic.com/

Sponsors:

Pick My Brain is supported by our wonderful sponsors:

The Day One Network

Pick My Brain is part of Day One, the podcast network dedicated to founders, operators & investors.

To learn more, join our newsletter to be notified of new and upcoming shows. The only content we create is content that will help Australian founders.

Mentioned in this episode:

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Why Laura Shared a Nude Picture of Herself in Parliament

Fri, 13 Jun 2025 06:00:00 +1100