The High Flyers Podcast with Vidit Agarwal

#253 Andrew Fraser: Uranium mines, malaria, broke in Africa — now President of $2B Halter, backed by Founders Fund

Vidit Agarwal — Tue, 7 Apr 2026 19:00:00 +0000

Episode #253 features Andrew Fraser, President at Halter, the fast-scaling agritech company using smart collars, virtual fencing and AI to transform livestock farming. Founded in 2016, Halter has raised over US$400 million, with their most recent Series E led by Founders Fund.

In conversation with Vidit Agarwal, Andrew shares his journey — from growing up in Auckland with just his mum, to an unexpected detour as a uranium explorer in Ethiopia that nearly cost him his health and his savings, to becoming one of New Zealand's most respected go-to-market leaders.

He breaks down how Halter rebuilt its sales motion from the ground up, why he abolished the customer success function in favour of account managers with targets, the revenue operations secret behind his success across Vend, Lightspeed and Halter, and how a tight-territory outbound model beat inbound every time.

Please enjoy exploring your curiosity.

________

Get in touch with us via email at contact@curiositycentre.com

Join our stable of commercial partners including the Australian Government, Google, KPMG, Vanta, Allens, Macquarie Capital, City of Sydney and more.

Show notes and more episodes here

Get in touch with our Founder and Host, Vidit Agarwal directly here

________

The High Flyers Podcast features in-depth interviews with the world’s most influential figures in business, tech, finance, government and sport. Launched in 2020, it has ranked in the global top ten for past three years, with listeners in 27 countries and over 200+ episodes released, and featured in Forbes, Daily Telegraph, and at SXSW.

Our guests include -- Malcolm Turnbull (Prime Minister of Australia), Anil Sabharwal (Global VP, Product at Google), Jason Collins (Head of BlackRock, Asia Pacific), Jodie Auster (Uber's Global Head of Travel), Stevie Case (Chief Revenue Officer, Vanta), Brad Banducci (CEO, Woolworths), David Haber (GP, a16z), Rob Giglio (CCO, Canva), Jean-Michel Lemieux (CTO, Shopify + Atlassian), Sweta Mehra (EGM, NAB; ex CMO, ANZ), Bowen Pan (Creator, Facebook Marketplace), Sam Sicilia (Chief Investment Officer, Hostplus), Craig Tiley (CEO, US Tennis), John Haddock (CBO, Harvey), Niki Scevak (Co-Founder, Blackbird Ventures), Mike Schneider (CEO, Bunnings), Trent Cotchin (3x Premiership Winning Captain, Richmond FC), Peter Varghese (Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Australian Government), Jack Zhang (CEO, Airwallex), Matteo Franceschetti (CEO, Eight Sleep), Vivek Bhatia (CEO, MUFG), Sanjeev Gandhi (CEO, Orica) and more.

#252 Ethan Choi: Meet Vinod Khosla's pick to run the Khosla Ventures Growth Fund, in his first in-depth interview

Vidit Agarwal — Tue, 31 Mar 2026 17:00:00 +0000

Episode #252 features Ethan Choi, Partner at Khosla Ventures (KV), where he leads their Growth Fund.

In conversation with Vidit Agarwal, Ethan shares his own journey— from growing up in Australia with Korean heritage and often acting as the “mum and dad” in his family, to taking a non-traditional path into investing and earning a seat at one of the world’s most respected firms, Khosla Ventures.

He breaks down how KV actually makes decisions, how Vinod Khosla operates, his learnings from each of the KV partners, why conviction beats consensus, and what it takes to build a growth investing strategy inside a firm known for backing ideas early — including the early bet on OpenAI, and why it didn’t look obvious at the time.

Please enjoy exploring your curiosity.

________

Get in touch with us via email at contact@curiositycentre.com

Join our stable of commercial partners including the Australian Government, Google, KPMG, Vanta, Allens, Macquarie Capital, City of Sydney and more.

Show notes and more episodes here

Get in touch with our Founder and Host, Vidit Agarwal directly here

________

#251 LIVE from EvokeAG: Accessing alternative capital, and what it takes to move innovation into real-world adoption

Vidit Agarwal — Thu, 26 Mar 2026 18:00:00 +0000

Episode #251 features a LIVE conversation recorded on stage recently at EvokeAG (one of the world’s leading agrifood and innovation gatherings) with Ruth Leary (Head of Strategy & Engagement, AgriZeroNZ) and Andi Lucas (Founder, X-Hemp).

In discussion with Vidit Agarwal, they unpack the realities of raising capital in ag and climate tech — from the limits of venture capital and the role of grants, to long timelines, regulatory challenges, and what it takes to move innovation into real-world adoption.

Please enjoy exploring your curiosity.

This episode is brought to you in commercial partnership with EvokeAG. Find out more at: https://www.evokeag.com

________

Get in touch with us via email at contact@curiositycentre.com

Join our stable of commercial partners including the Australian Government, Google, KPMG, Vanta, Allens, Macquarie Capital, City of Sydney and more.

Show notes and more episodes here

Get in touch with our Founder and Host, Vidit Agarwal directly here

________

The High Flyers Podcast features in-depth interviews with the world’s most influential figures in business, tech, finance, government and sport. Launched in 2020, it has ranked in the global top ten for past three years, with listeners in 27 countries, 250+ episodes released, and featured in Forbes, Daily Telegraph, and at SXSW.

#250 Rob Giglio: Canva’s Chief Customer Officer on Staying Relevant, Drivers of Canva’s Growth, Choosing Impact Over Titles

Vidit Agarwal — Tue, 24 Mar 2026 17:00:00 +0000

Episode #250 features a rare in-depth conversation with Rob Giglio, Chief Customer Officer at Canva, the world’s leading visual AI platform serving 200M+ users globally. Previously, he held senior leadership roles at Adobe, DocuSign, and HubSpot and more.

In conversation with Vidit Agarwal, Rob shares the real story behind his career, including growing up in a military family, navigating setbacks like being laid off, and redefining success beyond titles.

He unpacks what it takes to build high-performing teams - hiring top 1–3% talent and balancing performance with genuine care for people, how he’s stayed relevant across decades of change from CPG to SaaS to AI, and how he’s now scaling Canva’s enterprise growth as a visual AI platform. He also shares why he’s intentionally chosen impact, customers, and craft over becoming a CEO.

Please enjoy exploring your curiosity.

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This episode is sponsored by:

→ Allens: Trusted advisors to leading companies including Canva. Visit allens.com.au

→ This episode is part of a special limited series on innovation, supported by the City of Sydney. Explore more at: https://www.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/

________

Get in touch with us via email at contact@curiositycentre.com

Join our stable of commercial partners including the Australian Government, Google, KPMG, Vanta, Allens, Macquarie Capital, City of Sydney and more.

Show notes and more episodes here

Get in touch with our Founder and Host, Vidit Agarwal directly here

________

#249 David Haber: a16z General Partner on Living in the Grey, Building Compounding Advantage and Goldman Sachs Acquisition

Vidit Agarwal — Tue, 17 Mar 2026 18:00:00 +0000

Episode #249 features a rare in-depth conversation with David Haber, General Partner at Andreessen Horowitz, one of the world’s leading venture capital firms (managing $40B+), where he focuses on technology investments in B2B software and financial services. Before that, he founded Bond Street, a fintech startup acquired by Goldman Sachs, where he later worked on strategy, partnerships and new ventures.

In discussion with Vidit Agarwal, David reflects on his journey from growing up in a Mexican-Jewish family, sharing deeply personal and professional insights on identity, ambition and belonging. He unpacks what it really takes to build and sell a company from his own lived experience, the emotional comedown after an acquisition, and the shift from founder to operating inside institutions like Goldman Sachs.

Hear David's perspective on how to spot competitive compounding advantages in people and businesses, recognising talent early, and whether he'd pick Marc Andreessen or Ben Horowitz for his 5 person learning room. David also compares NYC to SF, and the pros and cons of each city.

Please enjoy exploring your curiosity.

________

Get in touch with us via email at contact@curiositycentre.com

Join our stable of commercial partners including the Australian Government, Google, KPMG, Vanta, Allens, Macquarie Capital, City of Sydney and more.

Show notes and more episodes here

Get in touch with our Founder and Host, Vidit Agarwal directly here

________

Our guests include -- Malcolm Turnbull (Prime Minister of Australia), Anil Sabharwal (Global VP, Product at Google), Jason Collins (Head of BlackRock, Asia Pacific), Jodie Auster (Uber's Global Head of Travel), Stevie Case (Chief Revenue Officer, Vanta), Brad Banducci (CEO, Woolworths), Jean-Michel Lemieux (CTO, Shopify + Atlassian), Sweta Mehra (EGM, NAB; ex CMO, ANZ), Bowen Pan (Creator, Facebook Marketplace), Sam Sicilia (Chief Investment Officer, Hostplus), Craig Tiley (CEO, US Tennis), John Haddock (CBO, Harvey), Niki Scevak (Co-Founder, Blackbird Ventures), Mike Schneider (CEO, Bunnings), Trent Cotchin (3x Premiership Winning Captain, Richmond FC), Peter Varghese (Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Australian Government), Jack Zhang (CEO, Airwallex), Matteo Franceschetti (CEO, Eight Sleep), Vivek Bhatia (CEO, MUFG), Sanjeev Gandhi (CEO, Orica) and more.

#248 Vivek Bhatia: Early Bollywood Aspirations to Global CEO — Hard Won Lessons from MUFG, QBE and Wesfarmers

Vidit Agarwal — Tue, 10 Mar 2026 17:45:00 +0000

This episode #248 features a rare and candid conversation with Vivek Bhatia, Global CEO of MUFG Pension & Market Services, a global provider of shareholder and retirement services with 7,000+ employees serving millions of investors across Australia, the UK, Japan and India. He previously served as CEO & Managing Director of Link Group, CEO of QBE Insurance, and CEO of icare NSW.

In discussion with Vidit Agarwal, Vivek reflects on his journey from growing up in India to arriving in Australia as a young migrant working in call centres, before rising to lead some of the country’s most complex financial institutions. Along the way, he shares the cultural lessons that shaped him — including his belief that India taught him ambition, while Australia taught him balance.

Vivek also reflects on the defining moments that shaped his leadership philosophy, from consulting at McKinsey & Company to leading large-scale transformations at Link Group, QBE and icare. He discusses what the CEO job actually involves day-to-day, how to transform legacy organisations without losing the people inside them, navigating global businesses across cultures and markets, and the opportunity for deeper economic and leadership ties between Australia and India.

Please enjoy exploring your curiosity.

________

Get in touch with us via email at contact@curiositycentre.com

Join our stable of commercial partners including the Australian Government, Google, KPMG, Vanta, Allens, Macquarie Capital, City of Sydney and more.

Show notes and more episodes here

Get in touch with our Founder and Host, Vidit Agarwal directly here

________

This is the ninth episode in our special series with the Australian Government and their Centre for Australia–India Relations, spotlighting the growing Australia–India relationship across technology, business, media, culture and sport. Previous guests include Renowned Music Composer Tushar Apte, Australia's High Commissioner to India Philip Green, MUFG's CEO Vivek Bhatia, Ex Secretary of Foreign Affairs Peter Varghese, NAB's EGM Sweta Mehra, Deputy Secretary of Australia's Home Affairs Brendan Dowling, Sports Journalist Bharat Sundaresan, Cricket Legend Lisa Sthalekar and Orica's CEO Sanjeev Gandhi, reflecting the breadth of Indian-Australian leaders at the most senior levels.

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Our guests include -- Malcolm Turnbull (Prime Minister of Australia), Anil Sabharwal (Global VP, Product at Google), Jason Collins (Head of BlackRock, Asia Pacific), Jodie Auster (Uber's Global Head of Travel), Stevie Case (Chief Revenue Officer, Vanta), Brad Banducci (CEO, Woolworths), Jean-Michel Lemieux (CTO, Shopify + Atlassian), Sweta Mehra (EGM, NAB; ex CMO, ANZ), Bowen Pan (Creator, Facebook Marketplace), Sam Sicilia (Chief Investment Officer, Hostplus), Craig Tiley (CEO, Tennis Australia), John Haddock (CBO, Harvey), Niki Scevak (Co-Founder, Blackbird Ventures), Mike Schneider (CEO, Bunnings), Trent Cotchin (3x Premiership Winning Captain, Richmond FC), Peter Varghese (Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Australian Government), Jack Zhang (CEO, Airwallex), Matteo Franceschetti (CEO, Eight Sleep) and more.

#247 LIVE from EvokeAG: Tina Funder & Lucie Semenec on Building Fossil-Free Materials and Reinventing Fashion Supply Chains

Vidit Agarwal — Thu, 5 Mar 2026 18:00:00 +0000

Episode #247 features a LIVE conversation recorded on stage recently at EvokeAG (one of the world’s leading agrifood and innovation gatherings) featuring Tina Funder, Founder & CEO of Alt Leather, and Lucie Semenec, Co-Founder & CEO of Newera Bio — building next-generation bio-materials to replace some of fashion’s most polluting materials.

In discussion with Vidit Agarwal, they explore the realities of scaling deep-tech climate companies, turning lab breakthroughs into global supply chains, and why fashion, automotive and consumer brands are searching for fossil-free alternatives to leather and textile dyes. They also reflect on the long timelines of scientific innovation, the capital required to scale bio-materials, and the opportunity to reinvent global material supply chains.

Please enjoy exploring your curiosity.

This episode is brought to you in partnership with EvokeAG. Find out more at: https://www.evokeag.com/

________

Get in touch with us via email at contact@curiositycentre.com

Join our stable of commercial partners including the Australian Government, Google, KPMG, Vanta, Allens, Macquarie Capital, City of Sydney and more.

Show notes and more episodes here

Get in touch with our Founder and Host, Vidit Agarwal directly here

________

Our guests include -- Malcolm Turnbull (Prime Minister of Australia), Anil Sabharwal (Global VP, Product at Google), Jason Collins (Head of BlackRock, Asia Pacific), Jodie Auster (Uber's Global Head of Travel), Stevie Case (Chief Revenue Officer, Vanta), Brad Banducci (CEO, Woolworths), Jean-Michel Lemieux (CTO, Shopify + Atlassian), Sweta Mehra (EGM, NAB; ex CMO, ANZ), Bowen Pan (Creator, Facebook Marketplace), Sam Sicilia (Chief Investment Officer, Hostplus), Craig Tiley (CEO, Tennis Australia), John Haddock (CBO, Harvey), Niki Scevak (Co-Founder, Blackbird Ventures), Mike Schneider (CEO, Bunnings), Trent Cotchin (3x Premiership Winning Captain, Richmond FC), Peter Varghese (Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Australian Government), Jack Zhang (CEO, Airwallex), Matteo Franceschetti (CEO, Eight Sleep) and more.

#246 David Neal: Oxford Engineer to $240B Global Investor, Building a Sovereign Wealth Fund and Financing AI Infrastructure

Vidit Agarwal — Tue, 3 Mar 2026 17:00:00 +0000

Episode #246 features a rare and candid conversation with David Neal, CEO of IFM Investors, a global asset manager overseeing more than A$240 billion. He previously served as inaugural CIO and later CEO of Future Fund, Australia’s sovereign wealth fund managing more than $200 billion in assets globally on behalf of the Australian Government.

In discussion with Vidit Agarwal, David reflects on his journey from a small English town to leading one of the world’s largest infrastructure investors, unpacking values in finance, trust and professionalism, building Australia’s $200B sovereign wealth fund through the Global Financial Crisis, the operational realities of the CIO job, the tension between purpose and price, and the future of infrastructure in an AI-driven world.

Please enjoy exploring your curiosity.

________

Get in touch with us via email at contact@curiositycentre.com

Join our stable of commercial partners including the Australian Government, Google, KPMG, Vanta, Allens, Macquarie Capital, City of Sydney and more.

Show notes and more episodes here

Get in touch with our Founder and Host, Vidit Agarwal directly here

________

Our guests include -- Malcolm Turnbull (Prime Minister of Australia), Anil Sabharwal (Global VP, Product at Google), Jason Collins (Head of BlackRock, Asia Pacific), Jodie Auster (Uber's Global Head of Travel), Stevie Case (Chief Revenue Officer, Vanta), Brad Banducci (CEO, Woolworths), Jean-Michel Lemieux (CTO, Shopify + Atlassian), Sweta Mehra (EGM, NAB; ex CMO, ANZ), Bowen Pan (Creator, Facebook Marketplace), Sam Sicilia (Chief Investment Officer, Hostplus), Craig Tiley (CEO, Tennis Australia), John Haddock (CBO, Harvey), Niki Scevak (Co-Founder, Blackbird Ventures), Mike Schneider (CEO, Bunnings), Trent Cotchin (3x Premiership Winning Captain, Richmond FC), Peter Varghese (Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Australian Government), Jack Zhang (CEO, Airwallex), Matteo Franceschetti (CEO, Eight Sleep) and more.

#245 Jodie Auster: Uber’s Global Travel Lead on Being Yourself, Leadership in Practice and the Questions That Scale Teams

Vidit Agarwal — Tue, 24 Feb 2026 17:30:00 +0000

Episode #245 features a rare public interview with Jodie Auster, Global Head of Airports & Travel at Uber, and recently the Strategic Advisor to Uber's CEO, Dara Khosrowshahi.

In conversation with Vidit Agarwal, Jodie reflects on her journey from a risk-embracing Melbourne upbringing and early career in emergency medicine to leadership roles across Bain, Scoopon, Thumbtack and Uber, where she scaled Uber Eats through bold marketing bets and later worked directly with CEO Dara Khosrowshahi.

She speaks candidly about burnout during COVID, the craft of executive facilitation, influence without authority, risk as a two-way door, stepping away from a high-profile Regional GM role, and the questions she asks new team members to create the best team culture.

Please enjoy exploring your curiosity!

________

This episode is part of a special limited series showcasing Innovation supported by the City of Sydney. Visit the City’s website here: cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au

To support this podcast, check out our some of our sponsors & get discounts:

→ $1,000 off Vanta: Your compliance superpower — vanta.com/high

If you're keen to discuss sponsorship and partnering with us or recommend future guests, email us at contact@curiositycentre.com today!

Join our stable of commercial partners including the Australian Government, Google, KPMG, Vanta, Allens, Notion and more.

________

Show notes and more episodes here

Get in touch with our Founder and Host, Vidit Agarwal directly here

________

Our guests include -- Malcolm Turnbull (Prime Minister of Australia), Anil Sabharwal (Global VP, Product at Google), Jason Collins (Head of BlackRock, Asia Pacific), Jodie Auster (Global Head of Travel, Uber), Stevie Case (Chief Revenue Officer, Vanta), Brad Banducci (CEO, Woolworths), Jean-Michel Lemieux (CTO, Shopify + Atlassian), Sweta Mehra (EGM, NAB; ex CMO, ANZ), Bowen Pan (Creator, Facebook Marketplace), Sam Sicilia (Chief Investment Officer, Hostplus), Craig Tiley (CEO, Tennis Australia), John Haddock (CBO, Harvey), Niki Scevak (Co-Founder, Blackbird Ventures), Mike Schneider (CEO, Bunnings), Trent Cotchin (3x Premiership Winning Captain, Richmond FC), Peter Varghese (Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Australian Government), Jack Zhang (CEO, Airwallex), Matteo Franceschetti (CEO, Eight Sleep) and more.

#244 Sukhinder Singh Cassidy: Xero's CEO on Intensity as Superpower + Kryptonite, Father’s Influence & Xero's 3×3 strategy in the AI era

Vidit Agarwal — Tue, 17 Feb 2026 17:00:00 +0000

Episode #244 features Sukhinder Singh Cassidy, CEO of Xero — the publicly listed small business platform serving ~4.6 million subscribers across 180+ countries.

In conversation with Vidit Agarwal, Sukhinder reflects on her journey from growing up in a deeply values-driven Sikh household in Canada to leading global teams at Amazon and Google, founding three companies, and now steering Xero through its focused 3×3 strategy, US expansion, and AI transformation.

She speaks with rare candour about intensity as both her superpower and her kryptonite, taking time off before every job and how lessons from banking, Google and her founder missteps now shape her leadership at Xero. Sukhinder also unpacks Xero’s focused 3×3 strategy, the secret to unlocking further growth in the US, Building product in the AI era, filtering customer insights and more.

Please enjoy exploring your curiosity!

________

To support this podcast, check out our some of our sponsors & get discounts:

→ $1,000 off Vanta: Your compliance superpower — vanta.com/high

→ Find out more about the Law Firm Allens and how they can help your company today at www.allens.com.au

If you're keen to discuss sponsorship and partnering with us or recommend future guests, email us at contact@curiositycentre.com today!

Join our stable of commercial partners including the Australian Government, Google, KPMG, Vanta, Allens, Notion and more.

________

Show notes and more episodes here

Get in touch with our Founder and Host, Vidit Agarwal directly here

________

Our guests include -- Malcolm Turnbull (Prime Minister of Australia), Anil Sabharwal (Global VP, Product at Google), Jason Collins (Head of BlackRock, Asia Pacific), Stevie Case (Chief Revenue Officer, Vanta), Brad Banducci (CEO, Woolworths), Jean-Michel Lemieux (CTO, Shopify + Atlassian), Sweta Mehra (EGM, NAB; ex CMO, ANZ), Bowen Pan (Creator, Facebook Marketplace), Sam Sicilia (Chief Investment Officer, Hostplus), Craig Tiley (CEO, Tennis Australia), John Haddock (CBO, Harvey), Niki Scevak (Co-Founder, Blackbird Ventures), Mike Schneider (CEO, Bunnings), Trent Cotchin (3x Premiership Winning Captain, Richmond FC), Peter Varghese (Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Australian Government), Jack Zhang (CEO, Airwallex), Matteo Franceschetti (CEO, Eight Sleep) and more.

#243 Tushar Apte: From Sydney to Broke in Hollywood to Producing Global Hits for Nicki Minaj, Steve Aoki & Chris Brown

Vidit Agarwal — Tue, 10 Feb 2026 18:00:00 +0000

Tushar Apte is a multi-platinum, award-winning Australian songwriter, producer and composer based in Los Angeles, with credits spanning artists including Benson Boone, Demi Lovato, BLACKPINK, BTS, ZAYN, Nicki Minaj and more.

In conversation with Vidit Agarwal, Tushar reflects on growing up in suburban Sydney with Indian heritage, years of obscurity grinding in LA, and the late-breaking moments that finally changed his trajectory. He unpacks how global pop hits are actually written, why taste matters more than technical skill, and how AI is reshaping music creation, plus candid reflections on identity, resilience and building a career measured in decades, not hits.

Please enjoy exploring your curiosity!

________

To support this podcast, check out our some of our sponsors & get discounts:

→ $1,000 off Vanta: Your compliance superpower — vanta.com/high

If you're keen to discuss sponsorship and partnering with us or recommend future guests, email us at contact@curiositycentre.com today!

Join our stable of commercial partners including the Australian Government, Google, KPMG, University of Melbourne and more.

________

Show notes and more episodes here

Get in touch with our Founder and Host, Vidit Agarwal directly here

The High Flyers Podcast is one of the five products at the Curiosity Centre

________

This is the eighth episode in our special series with the Australian Government and their Centre for Australia–India Relations, spotlighting the growing Australia–India relationship across technology, business, media, culture and sport. Previous guests include Philip Green, Peter Varghese, Sweta Mehra, Brendan Dowling, Bharat Sundaresan, Lisa Stahlalekar and Sanjeev Gandhi, reflecting the breadth of Indian-Australian leadership at the most senior levels.

________

Our guests include -- Malcolm Turnbull (Prime Minister of Australia), Anil Sabharwal (Global VP, Product at Google), Jason Collins (Head of BlackRock, Asia Pacific), Stevie Case (Chief Revenue Officer, Vanta), Brad Banducci (CEO, Woolworths), Jean-Michel Lemieux (CTO, Shopify + Atlassian), Sweta Mehra (EGM, NAB; ex CMO, ANZ), Bowen Pan (Creator, Facebook Marketplace), Sam Sicilia (Chief Investment Officer, Hostplus), Craig Tiley (CEO, Tennis Australia), John Haddock (CBO, Harvey), Niki Scevak (Co-Founder, Blackbird Ventures), Mike Schneider (CEO, Bunnings), Trent Cotchin (3x Premiership Winning Captain, Richmond FC), Peter Varghese (Secretary for Foreign Affairs, Australian Government), Jack Zhang (CEO, Airwallex), Matteo Franceschetti (CEO, Eight Sleep) and more.

#242 Mark Suster: Jewish-Latino Roots, Building Upfront & LA’s Tech Scene, Selling to Salesforce, Why Timing Beats Brilliance

Vidit Agarwal — Tue, 3 Feb 2026 18:00:00 +0000

Welcome to this classic episode. Classics are our favorite episodes from the past 5 years, published as frequently as possible. These are N of 1 conversations with N of 1 people. This is a replay of Episode 153, originally released in 2024— one of our most loved classics.

Mark Suster is General Partner at Upfront Ventures, one of LA’s leading early-stage venture firms. Prior to leading Upfront, Mark was a serial entrepreneur having founded two software companies, selling both with the last selling to Salesforce. Mark is also a prolific writer and one of his favourite pieces, Lines Not Dots is a renowned article.

In conversation with Vidit Agarwal — Mark Suster shares his path from a restless, ADHD-driven childhood to founding companies through the dot-com era, selling to Salesforce, and ultimately shaping Upfront Ventures over nearly two decades. Mark breaks down how elite founders decide when to sell, how venture capital really works at seed versus growth, and why discipline, timing, and trust outperform hype, especially in volatile markets.

It’s time to explore your curiosity — please enjoy.

________

To support this podcast, check out our some of our sponsors & get discounts:

→ $1,000 off Vanta: Your compliance superpower — vanta.com/high

If you're keen to discuss sponsorship and partnering with us or recommend future guests, email us at contact@curiositycentre.com today!

Join our stable of commercial partners including the Australian Government, Google, KPMG, Vanta, Allens, Notion and more.

________

Show notes and more episodes here

Get in touch with our Founder and Host, Vidit Agarwal directly here

________

Our guests include -- Malcolm Turnbull (Prime Minister of Australia), Anil Sabharwal (Global VP, Product at Google), Jason Collins (Head of BlackRock, Asia Pacific), Stevie Case (Chief Revenue Officer, Vanta), Brad Banducci (CEO, Woolworths), Jean-Michel Lemieux (CTO, Shopify + Atlassian), Sweta Mehra (EGM, NAB; ex CMO, ANZ), Bowen Pan (Creator, Facebook Marketplace), Sam Sicilia (Chief Investment Officer, Hostplus), Craig Tiley (CEO, Tennis Australia), John Haddock (CBO, Harvey), Niki Scevak (Co-Founder, Blackbird Ventures), Mike Schneider (CEO, Bunnings), Trent Cotchin (3x Premiership Winning Captain, Richmond FC), Peter Varghese (Secretary/Chief, Foreign Affairs, Australian Government), Jack Zhang (CEO, Airwallex), Matteo Franceschetti (CEO, Eight Sleep) and more.

#241 Startup collapse to $21M a16z raise: Sphere's Nick Rudder on Aussie Grit in the US, Selling to CFOs and Superhero wife

Vidit Agarwal — Tue, 27 Jan 2026 18:00:00 +0000

Episode #241 features Nicholas Rudder, Founder & CEO of Sphere — which recently raised a US$21M Series A led by Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), to help some of the world’s fastest-growing companies, including Lovable, Linktree and Deel, navigate complex cross-border tax compliance using AI.

Nick shares the defining crucible of his journey: Growing up in Europe and Australia, then moving to the US chasing a dream, losing a co-founder, rebuilding as a solo founder, navigating a high-risk twin pregnancy that forced his family out of the US, and holding conviction when belief and momentum collapsed.

He breaks down how deep CFO discovery led to Sphere’s model of using AI as a junior analyst to interpret global tax rules, the magic behind zero-churn customer retention, motivating engineers and more— offering rare insight into building a durable company in a high-stakes, regulated industry.

It’s time to explore your curiosity — please enjoy.

________

To support this podcast, check out our some of our sponsors & get discounts:

→ $1,000 off Vanta: Your compliance superpower — vanta.com/high

→ Find out more about the Law Firm Allens and how they can help your company today at www.allens.com.au

If you're keen to discuss sponsorship and partnering with us or recommend future guests, email us at contact@curiositycentre.com today!

Join our stable of commercial partners including the Australian Government, Google, KPMG, Vanta, Allens, Notion and more.

________

Show notes and more episodes here

Get in touch with our Founder and Host, Vidit Agarwal directly here

________

Our guests include -- Malcolm Turnbull (Prime Minister of Australia), Anil Sabharwal (Global VP, Product at Google), Jason Collins (Head of BlackRock, Asia Pacific), Stevie Case (Chief Revenue Officer, Vanta), Brad Banducci (CEO, Woolworths), Jean-Michel Lemieux (CTO, Shopify + Atlassian), Sweta Mehra (EGM, NAB; ex CMO, ANZ), Bowen Pan (Creator, Facebook Marketplace), Sam Sicilia (Chief Investment Officer, Hostplus), Craig Tiley (CEO, Tennis Australia), John Haddock (CBO, Harvey), Niki Scevak (Co-Founder, Blackbird Ventures), Mike Schneider (CEO, Bunnings), Trent Cotchin (3x Premiership Winning Captain, Richmond FC), Peter Varghese (Secretary/Chief, Foreign Affairs, Australian Government), Jack Zhang (CEO, Airwallex), Matteo Franceschetti (CEO, Eight Sleep) and more.

#240 Philip Green: Australia’s Most Senior Diplomat in India — High Commissioner to India (Special series w Australian Government)

Vidit Agarwal — Tue, 20 Jan 2026 18:30:00 +0000

Episode #240 features a rare public interview with Philip Green, Australia’s most senior diplomatic representative to India (High Commissioner). Previously, Philip has served as Australia’s High Commissioner to Singapore and Germany, and at the centre of the Australian government as adviser to Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and Chief of Staff when Rudd was Foreign Minister.

In conversation with Vidit Agarwal, Philip reflects on growing up in suburban Sydney as the first in his family to attend university, before a career spanning senior postings across Africa, Europe and Asia, culminating in his current role in India — which he describes as “the culmination of my thirty-five year diplomatic career.” He unpacks the evolution of Australia–India relations through key drivers, and where the assumptions behind each are most fragile.

Philip also reflects on lessons learned from his wife, why learning Hindi matters as an act of respect, and more.

Please enjoy exploring your curiosity!

________

To support this podcast, check out our some of our sponsors & get discounts:

→ $1,000 off Vanta: Your compliance superpower — vanta.com/high

If you're keen to discuss sponsorship and partnering with us or recommend future guests, email us at contact@curiositycentre.com today!

Join our stable of commercial partners including the Australian Government, Google, KPMG, University of Melbourne and more.

________

Show notes and more episodes here

Get in touch with our Founder and Host, Vidit Agarwal directly here

Contact us via our website to discuss sponsorship opportunities, recommend future guests or share feedback, we love hearing how to improve!

Thank you for rating / reviewing this podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show!

________

This is the seventh episode in our special series with the Australian Government and their Centre for Australia–India Relations, spotlighting the growing Australia–India relationship across technology, business, media, culture and sport. Previous guests include Peter Varghese, Sweta Mehra, Brendan Dowling, Bharat Sundaresan, Lisa Stahlalekar and Sanjeev Gandhi, reflecting the breadth of Indian-Australian leadership at the most senior levels.

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The High Flyers Podcast is described as a "meticulously researched biography" that uncovers the untold stories of remarkable people and companies -- redefining the "high flyer". Launched in 2020, we have ranked in the global top ten podcasts for past two years, with listeners in 27 countries and over 200 episodes released. Excerpts of the podcast have been featured in Forbes, AFR, Daily Telegraph, and showcased at SXSW.

200+ guests have joined host, Vidit Agarwal on the show from 15+ countries. Prominent guests include Malcolm Turnbull (Prime Minister of Australia), Anil Sabharwal (VP, Product for Google Chrome, Photos and Drive), Andy Penn (CEO, Telstra), Stevie Case (Chief Revenue Officer, Vanta), Brad Banducci (CEO, Woolworths), Jillian Broadbent (Board Member, Macquarie Capital), Sweta Mehra (EGM, NAB; ex CMO, ANZ), Bowen Pan (Creator, Facebook Marketplace), Sam Sicilia (Chief Investment Officer, Hostplus), Niki Scevak (Co-Founder, Blackbird Ventures), Mike Schneider (CEO, Bunnings), Trent Cotchin (3x Premiership Winning Captain, Richmond Football Club), Jason Collins (Head of Australasia, BlackRock) and many more.

Our parent company, Curiosity Centre is your on-demand intelligence hub for knowledge, connections and growth to achieve your potential, everyday. Join 200,000+ Investors, Founders, Functional Leaders, CEOs and Emerging Leaders. Learn with the world's best and be 1% better everyday at https://curiositycentre.com

#239 Eucalyptus’ Tim Doyle & Alex Badran Debate Data vs Judgement, Building Without Paralysis and Dreamers vs Leavers

Vidit Agarwal — Tue, 6 Jan 2026 18:00:00 +0000

Welcome to this classic episode. Classics are our favourite episodes from the past 5 years, published every month or two. These are N of 1 conversations with N of 1 people. This is a replay of Episode 120, originally released in Feb 2023.

Vidit Agarwal speaks with Alex Badran (Co-Founder & CEO of Spriggy) and Tim Doyle (Co-Founder & CEO of Eucalyptus) in a new sparring-style format, where Alex and Tim actively challenge each other’s thinking.They debate how founders make decisions under uncertainty, why data should inform judgement—not replace it, and why speed compounds. They unpack founder paralysis at scale, why customers don’t care how big your company is, and why the "superhero" founder perception is incorrect.

It’s time to explore your curiosity — please enjoy.

________

To support this podcast, check out our some of our sponsors & get discounts:

→ $1,000 off Vanta: Your compliance superpower — vanta.com/high

If you're keen to discuss sponsorship and partnering with us or recommend future guests, email us at contact@curiositycentre.com today!

Join our stable of commercial partners including the Australian Government, Google, KPMG, University of Melbourne and more.

________

Show notes and more episodes here

Get in touch with our Founder and Host, Vidit Agarwal directly here

Contact us via our website to discuss sponsorship opportunities, recommend future guests or share feedback, we love hearing how to improve!

Thank you for rating / reviewing this podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show!

________

200+ guests have joined host, Vidit Agarwal on the show from 15+ countries. Prominent guests include Malcolm Turnbull (Prime Minister of Australia), Anil Sabharwal (VP, Product at Google), Brad Banducci (CEO, Woolworths), Jean-Michel Lemieux (CTO, Shopify + Atlassian), Andy Penn (CEO, Telstra), Stevie Case (Chief Revenue Officer, Vanta), Sweta Mehra (EGM, NAB; ex CMO, ANZ), Bowen Pan (Creator, Facebook Marketplace), Sam Sicilia (Chief Investment Officer, Hostplus), Craig Tiley (CEO, Tennis Australia), Niki Scevak (Co-Founder, Blackbird Ventures), Mike Schneider (CEO, Bunnings), Trent Cotchin (3x Premiership Winning Captain, Richmond FC), Jason Collins (Head of Australasia, BlackRock), Peter Varghese (Chief, Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs), Jack Zhang (CEO, Airwallex), Matteo Franceschetti (CEO, Eight Sleep) and many more.

Our parent company, Curiosity Centre is the intelligence platform for the ambitious, trusted by leading organisations across technology, finance, government and sport since 2020.

#238 Inside a Top LP’s Mind: Beezer Clarkson’s Path to Sapphire and Why Legendary VCs Started Small

Vidit Agarwal — Tue, 30 Dec 2025 18:00:00 +0000

Welcome to this classic episode. Classics are our favorite episodes from the past 5 years, published every month or two. These are N of 1 conversations with N of 1 people. This is a replay of Episode 145, originally released in October 2023— one of our most loved classics.

Episode #238 features Beezer Clarkson, Partner at Sapphire Ventures — one of the most respected LPs in global venture capital.

In conversation with Vidit Agarwal, Beezer shares her journey from growing up between the UK and the US to building a career across banking, consulting and venture, before helping shape Sapphire’s LP strategy.

She reflects on formative family influences, her relationship with money, and the mindset that’s guided her career.Beezer unpacks how Sapphire evaluates venture funds, what differentiates emerging managers who endure, and why discipline, clarity and long-term thinking matter, especially in tougher markets and lots more.

It’s time to explore your curiosity — please enjoy.

________

To support this podcast, check out our some of our sponsors & get discounts:

→ $1,000 off Vanta: Your compliance superpower — vanta.com/high

If you're keen to discuss sponsorship and partnering with us or recommend future guests, email us at contact@curiositycentre.com today!

Join our stable of commercial partners including the Australian Government, Google, KPMG, University of Melbourne and more.

________

Show notes here

Get in touch with our Founder and Host, Vidit Agarwal directly here

Contact us via our website to discuss sponsorship opportunities, recommend future guests or share feedback, we love hearing how to improve!

Thank you for rating / reviewing this podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show!

________

200+ guests have joined host, Vidit Agarwal on the show from 15+ countries. Prominent guests include Malcolm Turnbull (Prime Minister of Australia), Anil Sabharwal (VP, Product for Google Chrome, Photos and Drive), Andy Penn (CEO, Telstra), Stevie Case (Chief Revenue Officer, Vanta), Brad Banducci (CEO, Woolworths), Jean-Michel Lemieux (CTO, Shopify + Atlassian), Jillian Broadbent (Board Member, Macquarie Capital), Sweta Mehra (EGM, NAB; ex CMO, ANZ), Bowen Pan (Creator, Facebook Marketplace), Sam Sicilia (Chief Investment Officer, Hostplus), Craig Tiley (CEO, Tennis Australia), Niki Scevak (Co-Founder, Blackbird Ventures), Mike Schneider (CEO, Bunnings), Trent Cotchin (3x Premiership Winning Captain, Richmond FC), Jason Collins (Head of Australasia, BlackRock), Peter Varghese (Chief, Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs), Jack Zhang (CEO, Airwallex), Matteo Franceschetti (CEO, Eight Sleep) and many more.

#237 Brendan Dowling: Deputy Secretary of Cyber Security & Critical Infrastructure, Australian Government

Vidit Agarwal — Mon, 22 Dec 2025 18:00:00 +0000

Episode #237 features a rare public interview with Brendan Dowling, Deputy Secretary for Critical Infrastructure and Protective Security at Australia’s Department of Home Affairs — one of the government’s most senior national security roles. Brendan was previously Australia’s Ambassador for Cyber Affairs.

In conversation with Vidit Agarwal, Brendan shares his journey from growing up in Melbourne with Indian and Irish heritage to operating at the heart of Australia’s national security system. He reflects on the influence of a mother who migrated from Chennai, a scientist father, and a deep sense of service shaped by family, education and community.Brendan unpacks his real career story — working across refugee camps in the Middle East, representing Australia in Washington during President Trump’s first term, negotiating complex international agreements with the United States, and navigating the frontlines of cyber and critical infrastructure security.

It’s time to explore your curiosity — please enjoy!

Note: this episode was recorded on the 14th November, 2025.

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To support this podcast, check out our some of our sponsors & get discounts:

→ $1,000 off Vanta: Your compliance superpower — vanta.com/high

If you're keen to discuss sponsorship and partnering with us or recommend future guests, email us at contact@curiositycentre.com today!

Join our stable of commercial partners including the Australian Government, Google, KPMG, University of Melbourne and more.

________

CLICK HERE to read show notes from this conversation. Please enjoy!

________

Get in touch with our Founder and Host, Vidit Agarwal directly here

Contact us via our website to discuss sponsorship opportunities, recommend future guests or share feedback, we love hearing how to improve!

Thank you for rating / reviewing this podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show!

________

This is the sixth episode in this special series with the Australian Government and their Centre for Australia–India Relations, highlighting the deepening ties between Australia and India across technology, business, media, culture and sport. With nearly one million people of Indian heritage now calling Australia home—the country’s fastest-growing large diaspora—this series brings to light the untold stories of change makers shaping the future of both nations.

Other guests in this series include Peter Varghese, Sweta Mehra, Bharat Sundaresan, Lisa Stahlalekar and Sanjeev Gandhi, reflecting the breadth of Indian-Australian impact at the most senior levels across government, education, sport, business and culture.

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#236 Matteo Franceschetti: Starting Eight Sleep, High Performance, Helping Elon Musk Sleep Better, Learning English at 20

Vidit Agarwal — Tue, 16 Dec 2025 18:00:00 +0000

Welcome to this classic episode. Classics are my favorite episodes from the past 5 years, published every month or two. These are N of 1 conversations with N of 1 people. This is a replay of Episode 159, originally released in March 2024 — one of our most loved classics.

Episode #236 features Matteo Franceschetti, Co-Founder & CEO of Eight Sleep — the category-defining sleep fitness company trusted by Elon Musk, Lewis Hamilton, NFL quarterbacks and Olympic champions, and backed by Khosla Ventures, Founders Fund and Y Combinator.

In conversation with Vidit Agarwal, Matteo shares his journey from a small town near Venice to building a global category-defining sleep company. He reflects on learning English in his mid-20s, starting his career as a lawyer, losing his father early, and walking away from a “safe” path to bet on entrepreneurship.

Matteo unpacks Eight Sleep’s real origin story — early prototypes, repeated YC rejections, the insight that temperature control beat sleep tracking, and the hard realities of building a durable hardware business. He also shares his philosophy on performance, health, leadership and why success comes down to one idea: chop wood, carry water.‍

It’s time to explore your curiosity — please enjoy.

________

To support this podcast, check out our some of our sponsors & get discounts:

→ $1,000 off Vanta: Your compliance superpower — vanta.com/high

If you're keen to discuss sponsorship and partnering with us or recommend future guests, email us at contact@curiositycentre.com today!

Join our stable of commercial partners including the Australian Government, Google, KPMG, University of Melbourne and more.

________

CLICK HERE to read show notes from this conversation. Please enjoy!

________

Get in touch with our Founder and Host, Vidit Agarwal directly here

Contact us via our website to discuss sponsorship opportunities, recommend future guests or share feedback, we love hearing how to improve!

Thank you for rating / reviewing this podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show!

________

200+ guests have joined host, Vidit Agarwal on the show from 15+ countries. Prominent guests include Malcolm Turnbull (Prime Minister of Australia), Anil Sabharwal (VP, Product for Google Chrome, Photos and Drive), Andy Penn (CEO, Telstra), Stevie Case (Chief Revenue Officer, Vanta), Brad Banducci (CEO, Woolworths), Jean-Michel Lemieux (CTO, Shopify + Atlassian), Jillian Broadbent (Board Member, Macquarie Capital), Sweta Mehra (EGM, NAB; ex CMO, ANZ), Bowen Pan (Creator, Facebook Marketplace), Sam Sicilia (Chief Investment Officer, Hostplus), Craig Tiley (CEO, Tennis Australia), Niki Scevak (Co-Founder, Blackbird Ventures), Mike Schneider (CEO, Bunnings), Trent Cotchin (3x Premiership Winning Captain, Richmond FC), Jason Collins (Head of Australasia, BlackRock), Peter Varghese (Chief, Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs), Jack Zhang (CEO, Airwallex), Matteo Franceschetti (CEO, Eight Sleep) and many more.

#235 Steve Hind: Forging Lorikeet’s Exponential Growth With Unlearnings from Bridgewater, Stripe and Debating

Vidit Agarwal — Tue, 9 Dec 2025 18:00:00 +0000

Episode #235 features Steve Hind — Co-Founder & CEO of Lorikeet, one of the fastest-growing AI companies backed by QED Investors, Square Peg, Blackbird and the founders of Canva.

In this conversation, Steve traces his journey from growing up in regional Queensland to competitive debating, and then an unconventional path across BCG, Bridgewater, BuzzFeed, Stripe, Watershed and a Harvard MBA.Steve shares the lessons that shaped him: the discipline and thick skin he built through debating; the customer-first mindset he learned at Stripe and why he left; the performance culture and feedback systems he absorbed at Bridgewater; and the downsides of having strong opinions in environments that demand alignment.

He also breaks down Lorikeet’s early pivot, how the team found real product–market fit after painful false starts, and the company’s rapid rise to US$75M+ raised in under 12 months.

He explains why Lorikeet backs high-accuracy AI agents over copilots, how he thinks about safety and evaluation, and what he’s learned about building product, culture, ambition and customer trust while scaling globally.

It’s time to explore your curiosity — please enjoy.

________

To support this podcast, check out our some of our sponsors & get discounts:

→ $1,000 off Vanta: Your compliance superpower — vanta.com/high

→ Find out more about the Law Firm Allens and how they can help your company today at www.allens.com.au

If you're keen to discuss sponsorship and partnering with us or recommend future guests, email us at contact@curiositycentre.com today!

Join our stable of commercial partners including the Australian Government, Google, KPMG, University of Melbourne and more.

________

CLICK HERE to read show notes from this conversation. Please enjoy!

________

Get in touch with our Founder and Host, Vidit Agarwal directly here

Contact us via our website to discuss sponsorship opportunities, recommend future guests or share feedback, we love hearing how to improve!

Thank you for rating / reviewing this podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show!

________

200+ guests have joined host, Vidit Agarwal on the show from 15+ countries. Prominent guests include Malcolm Turnbull (Prime Minister of Australia), Anil Sabharwal (VP, Product for Google Chrome, Photos and Drive), Andy Penn (CEO, Telstra), Stevie Case (Chief Revenue Officer, Vanta), Brad Banducci (CEO, Woolworths), Jean-Michel Lemieux (CTO, Shopify + Atlassian), Jillian Broadbent (Board Member, Macquarie Capital), Sweta Mehra (EGM, NAB; ex CMO, ANZ), Bowen Pan (Creator, Facebook Marketplace), Sam Sicilia (Chief Investment Officer, Hostplus), Craig Tiley (CEO, Tennis Australia), Niki Scevak (Co-Founder, Blackbird Ventures), Mike Schneider (CEO, Bunnings), Trent Cotchin (3x Premiership Winning Captain, Richmond FC), Jason Collins (Head of Australasia, BlackRock), Peter Varghese (Chief, Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs), Jack Zhang (CEO, Airwallex), Matteo Franceschetti (CEO, Eight Sleep) and many more.

#234 John Haddock: Rare Interview with Harvey’s CBO — Phoenix Desert Trails, Decade Scaling Stripe, AI in Law

Vidit Agarwal — Tue, 2 Dec 2025 18:00:00 +0000

Episode #234 features John Haddock — Chief Business Officer at Harvey, the fast-growing US$700M+ AI startup backed by Sequoia, OpenAI’s Startup Fund, Kleiner Perkins and Elad Gil.

In this conversation with host Vidit Agarwal, John reflects on his childhood in Phoenix, lessons from a decade at Stripe: working closely with the Collison brothers, leading across sales, product and global risk, and helping build foundational products like card issuing — and why he ultimately jumped to Harvey at a pivotal moment in AI.

John also unpacks how he builds credibility, develops teams, stays close to customers, and manages the speed, trust and complexity required to scale enterprise AI globally, including Harvey’s early growth in Australia and the UK.

It’s time to explore your curiosity — please enjoy.

________

To support this podcast, check out our some of our sponsors & get discounts:

→ $1,000 off Vanta: Your compliance superpower — vanta.com/high

If you're keen to discuss sponsorship and partnering with us or recommend future guests, email us at contact@curiositycentre.com today!

Join our stable of commercial partners including the Australian Government, Google, KPMG, University of Melbourne and more.

________

CLICK HERE to read show notes from this conversation. Please enjoy!

________

Get in touch with our Founder and Host, Vidit Agarwal directly here

Contact us via our website to discuss sponsorship opportunities, recommend future guests or share feedback, we love hearing how to improve!

Thank you for rating / reviewing this podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show!

________

#233 Peter Varghese: "One of the most influential architects of foreign policy" (special series with the Australian Government)

Vidit Agarwal — Tue, 25 Nov 2025 18:00:00 +0000

Episode #233 features Peter Varghese — widely regarded as one of Australia’s most influential architects of foreign policy. He currently serves as Chancellor of the University of Queensland and previously held two of the Australian Government’s most senior diplomatic roles: Secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and Australia’s High Commissioner to India.

Born in Kenya and arriving in Australia in the 1960's under the White Australia Policy, Peter rose from “accidental public servant” to one of the nation’s most influential foreign policy leaders — advising Prime Ministers, running Australia’s peak intelligence agency, shaping DFAT, crafting the India strategy, and now driving UQ’s global and Australia–India partnerships.

In this conversation with Vidit Agarwal, Peter reflects on his identity, diplomacy, the craft of clear thinking, Australia-India relations and the lessons from a career defined by courage, conviction and national impact.

It’s time to explore your curiosity — please enjoy.

________

To support this podcast, check out our some of our sponsors & get discounts:

→ $1,000 off Vanta: Your compliance superpower — vanta.com/high

If you're keen to discuss sponsorship and partnering with us or recommend future guests, email us at contact@curiositycentre.com today!

Join our stable of commercial partners including the Australian Government, Google, KPMG, University of Melbourne and more.

________

CLICK HERE to read show notes from this conversation. Please enjoy!

________

Get in touch with our Founder and Host, Vidit Agarwal directly here

Contact us via our website to discuss sponsorship opportunities, recommend future guests or share feedback, we love hearing how to improve!

Thank you for rating / reviewing this podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show!

________

This is the fourth episode in this special series with the Australian Government and their Centre for Australia–India Relations, highlighting the deepening ties between Australia and India across technology, business, media, culture and sport. With nearly one million people of Indian heritage now calling Australia home—the country’s fastest-growing large diaspora—this series brings to light the untold stories of change makers shaping the future of both nations.

________

#232 Jason Collins: Leading BlackRock with Empathy — From Professional Tennis Aspirations to Sweden to Global Finance

Vidit Agarwal — Tue, 18 Nov 2025 18:00:00 +0000

Episode #232 of The High Flyers Podcast features Jason Collins — Head of Australasia at BlackRock, the world’s largest investment management firm, with over USD 13 trillion in assets under management (AUM).

In this conversation, Jason reflects on his competitive upbringing on Sydney’s Northern Beaches, the resilience built through early career setbacks, and the formative years he spent living abroad. He also shares lessons from journalism into finance, working closely with Australia’s multi-billion dollar super (retirement savings) funds, and how mentorship and the influence of his wife shape his leadership today.

It’s time to explore your curiosity — please enjoy.

________

To support this podcast, check out our some of our sponsors & get discounts:

→ $1,000 off Vanta: Your compliance superpower — vanta.com/high

If you're keen to discuss sponsorship and partnering with us or recommend future guests, email us at contact@curiositycentre.com today!

Join our stable of commercial partners including the Australian Government, Google, KPMG, University of Melbourne and more.

________

CLICK HERE to read show notes from this conversation. Please enjoy!

________

Get in touch with our Founder and Host, Vidit Agarwal directly here

Contact us via our website to discuss sponsorship opportunities, recommend future guests or share feedback, we love hearing how to improve!

Thank you for rating / reviewing this podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show!

________

200+ guests have joined host, Vidit Agarwal on the show from 15+ countries, Some of the notable guests on the show include: Anil Sabharwal (He built/led Google Photos, Google Chrome and Google Drive), Malcolm Turnbull (Prime Minister of Australia),
Holly Kramer (Board Director at Woolworths and ANZ), Brad Banducci (CEO of Woolworths), Jack Zhang (Airwallex CEO and Co-Founder), Craig Tiley (Tennis Australia CEO), Elena Verna (Head of Growth at Lovable), Andrew Penn (Telstra CEO), Sweta Mehra (EGM at NAB, Ex-CMO at ANZ), Sam Sicilia (Hostplus CIO), Niki Scevak (Blackbird Partner), Paul Bassat (Square Peg Partner), Andrey Kushid (Miro CEO) and more.

#231 Sweta Mehra: Executive GM at NAB; ex-Chief Marketing Officer at ANZ (special series with the Australian Government)

Vidit Agarwal — Tue, 11 Nov 2025 18:00:00 +0000

Episode #231 of The High Flyers Podcast features Sweta Mehra — Executive General Manager at National Australia Bank (NAB) and Former Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) at ANZ.

Born in Agra, India, Sweta’s journey spans Procter & Gamble, ANZ and NAB. At P&G, she rose to Brand Director, leading global consumer brands across Asia. At ANZ, she became Chief Marketing Officer (CMO), driving transformation, financial wellbeing, and digital growth across 34 markets. Today at NAB, she serves as Executive General Manager, Personal Everyday Banking, leading teams shaping the future of banking in Australia.

In this conversation, Sweta reflects on growing up with 14 cousins in a lively household, learning resilience from her father, navigating the leap from India to Australia, and the lessons from changing industries, building diverse teams and leading with empathy and curiosity.

It’s time to explore your curiosity — please enjoy.

________

To support this podcast, check out our some of our sponsors & get discounts:

→ $1,000 off Vanta: Your compliance superpower — vanta.com/high

If you're keen to discuss sponsorship and partnering with us or recommend future guests, email us at contact@curiositycentre.com today!

Join our stable of commercial partners including the Australian Government, Google, KPMG, University of Melbourne and more.

________

CLICK HERE to read show notes from this conversation. Please enjoy!

________

Get in touch with our Founder and Host, Vidit Agarwal directly here

Contact us via our website to discuss sponsorship opportunities, recommend future guests or share feedback, we love hearing how to improve!

Thank you for rating / reviewing this podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show!

________

#230 Bowen Pan: The creator of Facebook Marketplace — Immigrant Upbringing, Working w Zuck, unpacking world class product building

Vidit Agarwal — Tue, 4 Nov 2025 18:00:00 +0000

Episode #230 of The High Flyers Podcast features Bowen Pan, who led the creation of Facebook Marketplace and held product leadership roles at Trade Me, Meta, Stripe, and Common Room. He now advises startups and serves on boards including NZME and the Auckland University Business School.

Born in China and raised in New Zealand, Bowen shares how learnt English at age nine, how he built Facebook Marketplace from a hackathon, worked directly with Mark Zuckerberg, and led global teams across Silicon Valley. He reflects on lessons in execution, leadership, and returning home to help build the next generation of world-class companies from Australia and New Zealand.

It’s time to explore your curiosity. Please enjoy.

________

To support this podcast, check out our some of our sponsors & get discounts:

→ $1,000 off Vanta: Your compliance superpower — vanta.com/high

→ Get up to 6 months of Notion’s Business plan for free with Notion AI included (worth $12K): Go to - https://ntn.so/highflyers & click “Apply Now”

If you're keen to discuss sponsorship and partnering with us or recommend future guests, email us at contact@curiositycentre.com today!

Join our stable of commercial partners including the Australian Government, Google, KPMG, University of Melbourne and more.

________

CLICK HERE to read show notes from this conversation. Please enjoy!

________

Get in touch with our Founder and Host, Vidit Agarwal directly here

Contact us via our website to discuss sponsorship opportunities, recommend future guests or share feedback, we love hearing how to improve!

Thank you for rating / reviewing this podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show!

________

200+ guests have joined host, Vidit Agarwal on the show from 15+ countries, including The CEO's of multi-billion dollar companies like Telstra, Bunnings, Australia Post, Woolworths, Airwallex, Eucalyptus, Tennis Australia etc; Board Members at Macquarie Bank, ANZ, Reserve Bank etc; Former Prime Minister of Australia; Globally renowned Tech CEO's from Google, Microsoft, Xero etc, Successful Venture Capital and Family Office Investors; CIO's at the world's biggest superannuation funds; Leading Entertainers; Olympic Gold Medal Winning Athletes and interesting minds you wouldn't have heard of that are changing the world.

#229 Jack Zhang: The Relentless Founder of Airwallex — From Rural China to Building a $8B FinTech Powerhouse

Vidit Agarwal — Tue, 21 Oct 2025 18:00:00 +0000

Welcome to this classic episode. Classics are my favorite episodes from the past 5 years, published every month or two. These are N of 1 conversations with N of 1 people. This is a replay of Episode 157, originally released in February 2024 — one of our most loved classics.

Episode #229 of The High Flyers Podcast features Jack Zhang, Co-Founder and CEO of Airwallex, one of the world’s fastest-growing fintech companies valued at over $8 billion. Born in rural Shandong, China, Jack moved to Melbourne at 15, juggling multiple jobs while studying computer science before launching Airwallex in 2015. A former engineer and trader turned global founder, he’s known for his relentless drive, humility, and vision — building a company that powers payments for businesses in over 190 countries.

In this conversation, Jack reflects on his humble upbringing in China, moving to Australia as a teenager with little English, and the years of bartending, coding, and side hustles that shaped his discipline. He shares the early failures and pivots that defined Airwallex’s journey, what it took to convince banks and investors to believe in a startup from Melbourne, and how he rebuilt the business three times before global success.

We go deep into founder psychology, hiring intuition, and leadership under pressure, as Jack opens up about stress, sacrifice, and resilience — from anxiety attacks to moments of clarity that shaped his philosophy that “wealth is fluid, but time is not.”

It’s time to explore your curiosity, please enjoy.

________

To support this podcast, check out our some of our sponsors & get discounts:

→ $1,000 off Vanta: Your compliance superpower — vanta.com/high

→ Get up to 6 months of Notion’s Business plan for free with Notion AI included (worth $12K): Go to - https://ntn.so/highflyers & click “Apply Now”

If you're keen to discuss sponsorship and partnering with us or recommend future guests, email us at contact@curiositycentre.com today!

Join our stable of commercial partners including the Australian Government, Google, KPMG, University of Melbourne and more.

________

Get in touch with our Founder and Host, Vidit Agarwal directly here

Contact us via our website to discuss sponsorship opportunities, recommend future guests or share feedback, we love hearing how to improve!

Thank you for rating / reviewing this podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show!

________

#228 Sam Wong: The Blackbird Partner Redefining VC — Lessons on Identity, Courage and Building a Venture Fund While Pregnant

Vidit Agarwal — Tue, 14 Oct 2025 18:00:00 +0000

Welcome to this classic episode. Classics are my favorite episodes from the past 5 years, published every month or two. These are N of 1 conversations with N of 1 people. This is a replay of episode 129 that originally released in May 2023 — one of our most loved classics.

Episode #228 of The High Flyers Podcast features Sam Wong, General Partner at Blackbird Ventures, one of the leading Venture Capital firms and the first investor in Canva. Born in Perth to Malaysian-Chinese and British-Indian parents, Sam went from packing Sound Blaster boxes to building Blackbird’s New Zealand fund while five months pregnant. A former lawyer turned founder turned investor, she’s known for her humility, conviction, and sharp judgment backing bold founders across Australia and New Zealand.

In this conversation, Sam Wong reflects on her multicultural childhood in Perth, growing up in an entrepreneurial family where dinner-table talk was all business, and how feeling like an outsider shaped her worldview. She shares her journey from law to startups to venture capital, and the pivotal lessons that helped her transition into investing — including the “2 out of 10” feedback from Blackbird co-founder Niki Scevak that changed her career.

We go deep into building Blackbird’s New Zealand fund while five months pregnant, the early challenges of launching a firm from scratch in a new country, and how she defines courage, success, and integrity in venture. Sam also opens up about identity, bias, and belonging, the balance of being a partner, parent, and leader, and the philosophies that guide her — from her annual “fire yourself and reapply” reflection to Barack Obama’s timeless quote, “Keep it about the work.”

It’s time to explore your curiosity. Please enjoy.

________

To support this podcast, check out our some of our sponsors & get discounts:

→ $1,000 off Vanta: Your compliance superpower — vanta.com/high

→ Get up to 6 months of Notion’s Business plan for free with Notion AI included (worth $12K): Go to - https://ntn.so/highflyers & click “Apply Now”

If you're keen to discuss sponsorship and partnering with us or recommend future guests, email us at contact@curiositycentre.com today!

Join our stable of commercial partners including the Australian Government, Google, KPMG, University of Melbourne and more.

________

Get in touch with our Founder and Host, Vidit Agarwal directly here

Contact us via our website to discuss sponsorship opportunities, recommend future guests or share feedback, we love hearing how to improve!

Thank you for rating / reviewing this podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show!

________

#227 Richard Joffe: The Founder Who Wouldn’t Quit — 3 Startups, 300 Rejections, a Divorce, and a $1B+ Legacy

Vidit Agarwal — Tue, 7 Oct 2025 23:00:23 +0000

Episode #227 of The High Flyers Podcast features Richard Joffe, three-time successful founder and now Executive Chair of Honey Insurance. Previously, he built and exited startups in parking tech and HR software across New York and San Francisco.

In this conversation, Richard opens up on growing up in South Africa and Canada in an entrepreneurial family, why he walked away from McKinsey, Morgan Stanley, and Harvard Business School offers to start companies from scratch, and how rejection and restlessness became his fuel. We go deep into how he built Honey Insurance in Australia post-divorce and during COVID with no local network—raising $130M, signing national partners, and scaling to $50M ARR—plus the mental toll, the near-death moments, and his biggest lessons on building teams, co-founder dynamics, emotional plasticity, and founder psychology. He also shares what he’s now searching for after stepping back as CEO.

It’s time to explore your curiosity. Please enjoy.

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Join our stable of commercial partners including the Australian Government, Google, KPMG, University of Melbourne and more.

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CLICK HERE to read show notes from this conversation. Please enjoy!

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Contact us via our website to discuss sponsorship opportunities, recommend future guests or share feedback, we love hearing how to improve!

Thank you for rating / reviewing this podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show!

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#226 Bharat Sundaresan: Sports Commentator, Writer & Storyteller (special series with the Australian Government)

Vidit Agarwal — Tue, 30 Sep 2025 19:00:00 +0000

Episode #226 of The High Flyers Podcast features Bharat Sundaresan, award-winning cricket commentator, writer and storyteller. Based in Adelaide, he’s covered cricket worldwide for over 18 years and is a regular media voice on shows from ABC Breakfast to The Project. Known for his flamboyant style, Bharat was profiled on ABC’s Australian Story in 2025 and is now also pursuing his lifelong passion for pro wrestling in the ring.

In this conversation, Bharat reflects on his unconventional childhood in Mumbai, surviving two drug overdoses and finding his way into journalism after dreams of cricket and heavy metal. He shares a decade with the Indian Express covering Indian cricket, how he honed his craft by listening deeply and building trust, and the gamble of moving to Australia with his wife Isha to start afresh.

Our host, Vidit Agarwal and Bharat explore his transition into global cricket commentary, his philosophy on authenticity and belonging, the realities of racism and identity for the Indian diaspora, and the joy he finds in music, flamboyant self-expression and even stepping into the pro-wrestling ring.

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This is the third episode in a special series with the Australian Government and their Centre for Australia–India Relations, highlighting the deepening ties between Australia and India across technology, business, media, culture and sport. With nearly one million people of Indian heritage now calling Australia home—the country’s fastest-growing large diaspora—this series brings to light the untold stories of change makers shaping the future of both nations

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To support this podcast, check out our some of our sponsors & get discounts:

→ $1,000 off Vanta: Your compliance superpower — vanta.com/high

→ Get up to 6 months of Notion’s Business plan for free with Notion AI included (worth $12K): Go to - https://ntn.so/highflyers & click “Apply Now”

If you're keen to discuss sponsorship and partnering with us or recommend future guests, email us at contact@curiositycentre.com today!

Join our stable of commercial partners including the Australian Government, Google, KPMG, University of Melbourne and more.

________

CLICK HERE to read show notes from this conversation. Please enjoy!

________

Get in touch with our Founder and Host, Vidit Agarwal directly here

Contact us via our website to discuss sponsorship opportunities, recommend future guests or share feedback, we love hearing how to improve!

Thank you for rating / reviewing this podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show!

________

#225 Andrew Penn: The Untold Story of Telstra’s CEO — High School Dropout, Art, Scorecards and Calm Leadership

Vidit Agarwal — Tue, 23 Sep 2025 19:00:00 +0000

Episode #225 of The High Flyers Podcast features Andrew Penn, Recent CEO of Telstra (2015–2022) and Group CEO of AXA Asia Pacific. Today, he chairs Visit Victoria, sits on the Coles board, and advises Government on cybersecurity and national security.

In this conversation, Andy reflects on dropping out of high school and working two jobs before studying nights and weekends to complete his MBA, moving to Australia with AXA and learning empathy through global cultures, leading Telstra’s $30B transformation and 5G rollout, and building calm leadership under public scrutiny while balancing family life. He shares crucible moments, lessons from Kafka, his rituals for performance reviews and carrying bad news, and life today with art, painting, Spanish lessons and a home in Mexico.

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To support this podcast, check out our some of our sponsors & get discounts:

→ $1,000 off Vanta: Your compliance superpower — vanta.com/high

→ Get up to 6 months of Notion’s Business plan for free with Notion AI included (worth $12K): Go to - https://ntn.so/highflyers & click “Apply Now”

If you're keen to discuss sponsorship and partnering with us or recommend future guests, email us at contact@curiositycentre.com today!

Join our stable of commercial partners including the Australian Government, Google, KPMG, University of Melbourne and more.

***

CLICK HERE to read show notes from this conversation. Please enjoy!

***

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Contact us via our website to discuss sponsorship opportunities, recommend future guests or share feedback, we love hearing how to improve!

Thank you for rating / reviewing this podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show!

***

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#224 Chris Wirasinha: Building Pedestrian TV & Linkby, Navigating AI in Publishing, Raising Two Kids & unpacking "GEO"

Vidit Agarwal — Tue, 16 Sep 2025 19:00:00 +0000

Episode #224 features Chris Wirasinha, co-founder of Linkby — the Performance PR platform used by 3,800+ brands and 600 publishers, backed by US$15m in funding and growing 100% YoY across the US & UK. Previously, Chris co-founded Pedestrian Group at 21, scaling it to 100 staff, a ~$100m valuation and an exit to Channel Nine.

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To support this podcast, check out our some of our sponsors & get discounts:

→ $1,000 off Vanta: Your compliance superpower — vanta.com/high

→ Get up to 6 months of Notion’s Business plan for free with Notion AI included (worth $12K): Go to - https://ntn.so/highflyers & click “Apply Now”

→ Find out more about the Law Firm Allens and how they can help your company today at www.allens.com.au

If you're keen to discuss sponsorship and partnering with us or recommend future guests, email us at contact@curiositycentre.com today!

Join our stable of commercial partners including the Australian Government, Google, KPMG, University of Melbourne and more.

***

CLICK HERE to read show notes from this conversation. Please enjoy!

***

Get in touch with our Founder and Host, Vidit Agarwal directly here

Contact us via our website to discuss sponsorship opportunities, recommend future guests or share feedback, we love hearing how to improve!

Thank you for rating / reviewing this podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show!

***

200+ guests have joined host, Vidit Agarwal on the show from 15+ countries, including The CEO's of multi-billion dollar companies like Bunnings, Australia Post, Woolworths, Airwallex, Eucalyptus etc; Board Members at Macquarie Bank, ANZ, Reserve Bank etc; Former Prime Minister of Australia; Globally renowned Tech CEO's from Google, Microsoft, Xero etc, Successful Venture Capital and Family Office Investors; CIO's at the world's biggest superannuation funds; Leading Entertainers; Olympic Gold Medal Winning Athletes and interesting minds you wouldn't have heard of that are changing the world.

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#223 Lisa Sthalekar: 4x World Cup Winner & ICC Hall of Fame Inductee (special series with the Australian Government)

Vidit Agarwal — Tue, 9 Sep 2025 19:00:00 +0000

Episode #223 features Lisa Sthalekar — 4x World Cup Winner and Inductee into both the ICC and Australian Cricket Halls of Fame, recognised as one of the most influential figures in the history of women’s cricket (the first woman to have scored over 1000 runs and taken 100 wickets).

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This episode is part of a special series in partnership with the Australian Government and their Centre for Australia–India Relations. These episodes highlight the growing ties between Australia and India across tech, business, media, culture, and sport. With around one million people of Indian heritage now in Australia—the fastest growing large diaspora—this series shares the untold stories of change makers shaping both nations’ futures.

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To support this podcast, check out our some of our sponsors & get discounts:

→ $1,000 off Vanta: Your compliance superpower — vanta.com/high

→ Get up to 6 months of Notion’s Business plan for free with Notion AI included (worth $12K): Go to - https://ntn.so/highflyers & click “Apply Now”

If you're keen to discuss sponsorship and partnering with us or recommend future guests, email us at contact@curiositycentre.com today!

Join our stable of commercial partners including the Australian Government, Google, KPMG, University of Melbourne and more.

***

CLICK HERE to read show notes from this conversation. Please enjoy!

***

Get in touch with our Founder and Host, Vidit Agarwal directly here

Contact us via our website to discuss sponsorship opportunities, recommend future guests or share feedback, we love hearing how to improve!

Thank you for rating / reviewing this podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show!

***

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#222 Tim Thomas: From Melbourne to India, Singapore and Malaysia; How leadership changes in Financial Services and Government

Vidit Agarwal — Tue, 2 Sep 2025 19:00:00 +0000

Tim Thomas is the recent CEO of the Centre for Australia-India Relations, the federal body set up by the Australian Government to deepen ties between the two nations across business, technology, education, sport, and culture. With a career spanning senior roles at AXA, Prudential, and KPMG, and lived experience building businesses across India, Singapore, Malaysia and Australia, he brings a unique cross-sector and cross-cultural global perspective.

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To support this podcast, check out our some of our sponsors & get discounts:

→ $1,000 off Vanta: Your compliance superpower — vanta.com/high

→ Get up to 6 months of Notion’s Business plan for free with Notion AI included (worth $12K): Go to - https://ntn.so/highflyers & click “Apply Now”

If you're keen to discuss sponsorship and partnering with us or recommend future guests, email us at contact@curiositycentre.com today!

Join our stable of commercial partners including the Australian Government, Google, KPMG, University of Melbourne and more.

***

CLICK HERE to read show notes from this conversation. Please enjoy!

***

Get in touch with our Founder and Host, Vidit Agarwal directly here

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Thank you for rating / reviewing this podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show!

***

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#221 Kelly Vohs: SafetyCulture's CEO on becoming a US Army Green Beret, Inverted Pyramid Leadership and Building for 100M Workers

Vidit Agarwal — Tue, 26 Aug 2025 18:00:00 +0000

Kelly Vohs is the CEO of SafetyCulture, a globally renowned tech company headquartered in Australia. Valued at approximately $2.5 billion, its platform serves 85,000+ organisations across 180+ countries, including major global brands like Toyota, GE, Coles, Qantas, Schneider Electric, Marriott, John Deere, Sodexo, National Health Service (UK), British Airways, and Transport for London. SafetyCulture empowers frontline teams to raise standards, streamline operations, and cultivate a culture of continuous improvement.

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To support this podcast, check out our some of our sponsors & get discounts:

→ $1,000 off Vanta: Your compliance superpower — vanta.com/high

→ Get up to 6 months of Notion’s Business plan for free with Notion AI included (worth $12K): Go to - https://ntn.so/highflyers & click “Apply Now”

If you're keen to discuss sponsorship and partnering with us or recommend future guests, email us at contact@curiositycentre.com today!

Join our stable of commercial partners including the Australian Government, Google, KPMG, University of Melbourne and more.

***

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***

Get in touch with our Founder and Host, Vidit Agarwal directly here

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Thank you for rating / reviewing this podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show!

***

***

#220 Trent Cotchin: One of AFL’s All-time greats on Staying Grounded and Leading Richmond Tigers to 3 Premierships!

Vidit Agarwal — Tue, 19 Aug 2025 18:00:00 +0000

Trent Cotchin is Richmond’s three-time premiership captain, 2012 Brownlow Medallist and one of the AFL’s most respected leaders. Across 16 years and 306 games, Trent led the Tigers from decades of struggle into a golden era, lifting the premiership cup in 2017, 2019 and 2020. He shares lessons on resilience, leadership, and balancing elite sport with family—insights he now brings as an author, mentor and commentator.

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To support this podcast, check out our some of our sponsors & get discounts:

→ $1,000 off Vanta: Your compliance superpower — vanta.com/high

→ Get up to 6 months of Notion’s Business plan for free with Notion AI included (worth $12K): Go to - https://ntn.so/highflyers & click “Apply Now”

If you're keen to discuss sponsorship and partnering with us or recommend future guests, email us at contact@curiositycentre.com today!

Join our stable of commercial partners including the Australian Government, Google, KPMG, University of Melbourne and more.

***

CLICK HERE to read show notes from this conversation. Please enjoy!

***

Get in touch with our Founder and Host, Vidit Agarwal directly here

Contact us via our website to discuss sponsorship opportunities, recommend future guests or share feedback, we love hearing how to improve!

Thank you for rating / reviewing this podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show!

***

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#219 Sanjeev Gandhi: Managing Director & CEO, Orica (special series with the Australian Government)

Vidit Agarwal — Tue, 12 Aug 2025 18:00:00 +0000

Episode #219 features Sanjeev Gandhi, Managing Director and CEO of Orica — a Melbourne-headquartered global leader in mining and infrastructure solutions. Sanjeev spent 26 years with BASF, where he held senior positions including Head of Asia Pacific and member of the Global Board of Directors, becoming the first Indian to serve in these roles. He also contributes his expertise through advisory and leadership positions, including as Chair of the Centre for Australia–India Relations (CAIR) CEO Network.

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To support this podcast, check out our some of our sponsors & get discounts:

→ $1,000 off Vanta: Your compliance superpower — vanta.com/high

→ Get up to 6 months of Notion’s Business plan for free with Notion AI included (worth $12K): Go to - https://ntn.so/highflyers & click “Apply Now”

If you're keen to discuss sponsorship and partnering with us or recommend future guests, email us at contact@curiositycentre.com today!

Join our stable of commercial partners including the Australian Government, Google, KPMG, University of Melbourne and more.

***

CLICK HERE to read show notes from this conversation. Please enjoy!

***

Get in touch with our Founder and Host, Vidit Agarwal directly here

Contact us via our website to discuss sponsorship opportunities, recommend future guests or share feedback, we love hearing how to improve!

Thank you for rating / reviewing this podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show!

***

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#218 How Husband-Wife Duo Pip & Amy Turned Redundancy & AI Into "Springboards"- Raising $5M to Inspire Creativity

Vidit Agarwal — Tue, 5 Aug 2025 19:00:00 +0000

Pip & Amy are the co-founders of Springboards -- an AI platform built for agencies, by agency veterans.

They are also Husband and wife, ex-agency misfits and self described - accidental founders. From media roles in Sydney to creative gigs in San Francisco, with stints at Twitter, Shopify, and deep dives into Web3. When COVID hit, redundancy and a newborn sent them packing for Noosa, QLD. There, they taught themselves to code and teamed up with co-founder Kieran Browne to build Springboards—an AI tool that helps agencies move faster without losing the craft. Today, it powers some of the world’s top creative teams and recently raised $5M from Blackbird Ventures.

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To support this podcast, check out our some of our sponsors & get discounts:

→ $1,000 off Vanta: Your compliance superpower — vanta.com/high

→ Get up to 6 months of Notion’s Business plan for free with Notion AI included (worth $12K): Go to - https://ntn.so/highflyers & click “Apply Now”

If you're keen to discuss sponsorship and partnering with us or recommend future guests, email us at contact@curiositycentre.com today!

Join our stable of commercial partners including the Australian Government, Google, KPMG, University of Melbourne and more.

***

CLICK HERE to read show notes from this conversation. Please enjoy!

***

Get in touch with our Founder and Host, Vidit Agarwal directly here

Contact us via our website to discuss sponsorship opportunities, recommend future guests or share feedback, we love hearing how to improve!

Thank you for rating / reviewing this podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show!

***

***

#217 Elena Verna: Leading Growth at Lovable (the World’s Fastest-Growing Startup today, Reaching $100M in 8 Months)

Vidit Agarwal — Wed, 30 Jul 2025 14:00:00 +0000

Elena Verna is a renowned growth advisor to tech startups, and currently heads Growth at Lovable, one of the fastest growing tech startups globally -- where she helped the AI-native company reach $80M ARR in under seven months with a lean team. Previously, she held senior roles at world leading technology companies such as SurveyMonkey, Miro, Amplitude, and Dropbox, and has advised companies like MongoDB, Superhuman, and Veed.

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To support this podcast, check out our some of our sponsors & get discounts:

→ $1,000 off Vanta: Your compliance superpower — vanta.com/high

→ Get up to 6 months of Notion’s Business plan for free with Notion AI included (worth $12K): Go to - https://ntn.so/highflyers & click “Apply Now”

If you're keen to discuss sponsorship and partnering with us or recommend future guests, email us at contact@curiositycentre.com today!

Join our stable of commercial partners including the Australian Government, Google, KPMG, University of Melbourne and more.

***

CLICK HERE to read show notes from this conversation. Please enjoy!

***

Get in touch with our Founder and Host, Vidit Agarwal directly here

Contact us via our website to discuss sponsorship opportunities, recommend future guests or share feedback, we love hearing how to improve!

Thank you for rating / reviewing this podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show!

***

***

#216 Max Marchione: The 25 year old defying credentials and how "Superpower" Is Redefining Healthcare

Vidit Agarwal — Tue, 22 Jul 2025 19:00:00 +0000

Max Marchione is the co-founde of Superpower, a San Francisco-based digital clinic making preventative, longevity-focused medicine accessible to millions. At just 25, Max has raised a $30M (USD) Series A and is building a healthcare super-app powered by AI, biomarkers, and proactive care. He is also one of the most fascinating people, our host Vidit has met!

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To support this podcast, check out our some of our sponsors & get discounts:

→ $1,000 off Vanta: Your compliance superpower — vanta.com/high

→ Get up to 6 months of Notion’s Business plan for free with Notion AI included (worth $12K): Go to - https://ntn.so/highflyers & click “Apply Now”

If you're keen to discuss sponsorship and partnering with us or recommend future guests, email us at contact@curiositycentre.com today!

Join our stable of commercial partners including the Australian Government, Google, KPMG, University of Melbourne and more.

***

CLICK HERE to read show notes from this conversation. Please enjoy!

***

Get in touch with our Founder and Host, Vidit Agarwal directly here

Contact us via our website to discuss sponsorship opportunities, recommend future guests or share feedback, we love hearing how to improve!

Thank you for rating / reviewing this podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show!

***

***

#215 Brendan Hargreaves: Officeworks CFO on Quiet Influence & Finance Mastery in public and private companies

Vidit Agarwal — Tue, 15 Jul 2025 19:00:00 +0000

Brendan Hargreaves is the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of Officeworks, a $3B+ business with over 170 stores and 8,000+ team members. Previously, he held senior commercial and financial roles at Qantas ($17B+ revenue), Coles (800+ stores), Cleanaway (5,000+ employees), Village Roadshow, and The Warehouse Group (NZX: WHS, ~$3B market cap). Brendan is also a Director and mentor at the Financial Executives Institute (FEI), supporting the next generation of finance leaders through mentorship and professional development.

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To support this podcast, check out our some of our sponsors & get discounts:

→ $1,000 off Vanta: Your compliance superpower — vanta.com/high

→ Get up to 6 months of Notion’s Business plan for free with Notion AI included (worth $12K): Go to - https://ntn.so/highflyers & click “Apply Now”

If you're keen to discuss sponsorship and partnering with us or recommend future guests, email us at contact@curiositycentre.com today!

Join our stable of commercial partners including the Australian Government, Google, KPMG, University of Melbourne and more.

***

CLICK HERE to read show notes from this conversation. Please enjoy!

***

Get in touch with our Founder and Host, Vidit Agarwal directly here

Contact us via our website to discuss sponsorship opportunities, recommend future guests or share feedback, we love hearing how to improve!

Thank you for rating / reviewing this podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show!

***

***

#214 Simon Molnar: Jewellery store learnings to building Afterpay with his brother Nick and now redefining retail with Flagship

Vidit Agarwal — Tue, 8 Jul 2025 19:00:00 +0000

Simon Molnar is the founder and CEO of Flagship, the startup helping retailers use data to optimise their physical stores. Previously, he co-founded Ice Jewellery and led data and marketing at Afterpay, the $39 billion fintech company co-founded by his brother, Nick Molnar, which was acquired by Square (now Block) in 2021.

Raised in Sydney, he now lives in Los Angeles, expanding Flagship’s reach in the U.S. market.

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To support this podcast, check out our some of our sponsors & get discounts:

→ $1,000 off Vanta: Your compliance superpower — vanta.com/high

→ Get up to 6 months of Notion’s Business plan for free with Notion AI included (worth $12K): Go to - https://ntn.so/highflyers & click “Apply Now”

If you're keen to discuss sponsorship and partnering with us or recommend future guests, email us at contact@curiositycentre.com today!

***

CLICK HERE to read show notes from this conversation. Please enjoy!

***

Get in touch with our Founder and Host, Vidit Agarwal directly here

Contact us via our website to discuss sponsorship opportunities, recommend future guests or share feedback, we love hearing how to improve!

Thank you for rating / reviewing this podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show!

***

Our parent company, Curiosity Center is your on-demand intelligence hub for knowledge, connections and growth to achieve your potential, everyday. Join 200,000+ Investors, Founders, Functional Leaders, CEOs and Emerging Leaders. Learn with the world's best and be 1% better everyday at https://curiositycentre.com

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#213 Dr. Bec Sheean: FightMND’s Research Director on Beating Motor Neurone Disease + AFL, Beanies & Big Freeze

Vidit Agarwal — Tue, 1 Jul 2025 19:00:00 +0000

Dr Bec Sheean is the Director of Research and Programs at FightMND, leading strategy across all funded research and initiatives to accelerate progress against Motor Neurone Disease.

With a PhD in neuroscience and a Graduate Certificate in Clinical Research, she champions collaborative, translational science. Bec chairs the International Research Director Forum, co-chairs the MND Research Collective, and serves on the International Alliance’s Scientific Advisory Committee.

This is Bec's first ever in-depth interview.

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To support this podcast, check out our some of our sponsors & get discounts:

→ $1,000 off Vanta: Your compliance superpower — vanta.com/high

→ Get up to 6 months of Notion’s Business plan for free with Notion AI included (worth $12K): Go to - https://ntn.so/highflyers & click “Apply Now”

If you're keen to discuss sponsorship and partnering with us or recommend future guests, email us at contact@curiositycentre.com today!

***

CLICK HERE to read show notes from this conversation. Please enjoy!

***

Get in touch with our Founder and Host, Vidit Agarwal directly here

Contact us via our website to discuss sponsorship opportunities, recommend future guests or share feedback, we love hearing how to improve!

Thank you for rating / reviewing this podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show!

***

***

#212 Shannon Scott: Skiing, Building Palantir as employee #100 to Leading product at Airwallex globally

Vidit Agarwal — Tue, 24 Jun 2025 19:00:00 +0000

Shannon Scott is the Senior Vice President, Global Head of Product at Airwallex, and Executive Director of Airwallex's Australia and New Zealand business entities. Shannon is responsible for Airwallex's product strategy and roadmap, spanning financial infrastructure, business software, and embedded finance solutions.

Prior to Airwallex, Shannon was an early employee of Palantir Technologies, where he founded Palantir's international operations and business development in ANZ and Europe.

This is his first ever in-depth interview.

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To support this podcast, check out our some of our sponsors & get discounts:

→ $1,000 off Vanta: Your compliance superpower — vanta.com/high

→ Get up to 6 months of Notion’s Business plan for free with Notion AI included (worth $12K): Go to - https://ntn.so/highflyers & click “Apply Now”

If you're keen to discuss sponsorship and partnering with us or recommend future guests, email us at contact@curiositycentre.com today!

***

CLICK HERE to read show notes from this conversation. Please enjoy!

***

Get in touch with our Founder and Host, Vidit Agarwal directly here

Contact us via our website to discuss sponsorship opportunities, recommend future guests or share feedback, we love hearing how to improve!

Thank you for rating / reviewing this podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show!

***

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#211 How Go1 Promotes From Within ft. their CEO, SVP Marketing & VP Product (Playbooks Report Feature)

Vidit Agarwal — Sat, 21 Jun 2025 20:00:00 +0000

This episode is part of our recently released Startup Playbooks Report -- unpacking the playbooks of 9 of Australia’s fastest-growing startups and scale ups for the first time. Thanks to the report sponsors - Google Cloud, Vanta and Notion.

Read the Playbooks Report here: http://playbooksreport.com/

In this conversation, we go inside Go1's playbook on hiring, promoting from within, acquisitions and building a high performing culture.

You'll hear from CEO, Chris Eigeland, SVP of Marketing, Madi Shove & VP of Product Kristina Ryan, in conversation with our Founder/Host, Vidit Agarwal.

It’s time to explore your curiosity. Please enjoy.

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To support this podcast, check out our some of our sponsors & get discounts:

→ $1,000 off Vanta: Your compliance superpower — vanta.com/high

→ Get up to 6 months of Notion’s Business plan for free with Notion AI included (worth $12K): Go to - https://ntn.so/highflyers & click “Apply Now”

If you're keen to discuss sponsorship and partnering with us or recommend future guests, email us at contact@curiositycentre.com today!

***

CLICK HERE to read show notes from this conversation. Please enjoy!

***

Get in touch with our Founder and Host, Vidit Agarwal directly here

Contact us via our website to discuss sponsorship opportunities, recommend future guests or share feedback, we love hearing how to improve!

Thank you for rating / reviewing this podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show!

***

The High Flyers Podcast is a "meticulously researched audio biography" that uncovers the untold stories of remarkable people and companies—redefining what it means to be a high flyer. Launched in 2020, it has ranked in the global top ten for past two years, with listeners in 27 countries and over 200 episodes released. A flagship product of the Curiosity Center, it has been featured in Forbes, Daily Telegraph, and at SXSW, offering raw, relatable insights from childhood to career, helping listeners become 1% better every day.

200+ guests have joined Vidit Agarwal on the show from 15+ countries, including The CEO's of multi-billion dollar companies like Bunnings, Australia Post, Woolworths; Board Members at Macquarie Bank, ANZ, Reserve Bank; Former Prime Minister of Australia; Globally renowned tech leaders from Google, Microsoft, Xero; Successful Venture Capital and Family Office Investors; CIO's at the world's biggest superannuation funds; Leading Entertainers; Olympic Gold Medal Winning Athletes and interesting minds you wouldn't have heard of that are changing the world.

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#210 Heidi's US & UK Expansion — Lessons from the Startup Growing Faster Than Canva (Playbooks Report Feature)

Vidit Agarwal — Mon, 16 Jun 2025 23:17:43 +0000

In this conversation, we go deep into Heidi's global expansion journey: how they’ve grown from Australia into the US and UK, what’s worked (and what hasn’t), and the key lessons featured in the report that so many of you have found actionable.

You''ll hear from CEO Tom Kelly, US lead Jesse Creighton, and UK lead Raghav Sharma, in conversation with our Founder/Host, Vidit Agarwal.

Read the Playbooks Report here: http://playbooksreport.com/

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To support this podcast, check out our some of our sponsors & get discounts:

→ $1,000 off Vanta: Your compliance superpower — vanta.com/high

→ Get up to 6 months of Notion’s Business plan for free with Notion AI included (worth $12K): Go to - https://ntn.so/highflyers & click “Apply Now”

If you're keen to discuss sponsorship and partnering with us or recommend future guests, email us at contact@curiositycentre.com today!

***

CLICK HERE to read show notes from this conversation. Please enjoy!

***

Get in touch with our Founder and Host, Vidit Agarwal directly here

Contact us via our website to discuss sponsorship opportunities, recommend future guests or share feedback, we love hearing how to improve!

Thank you for rating / reviewing this podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show!

***

***

#209 Andrew McCarthy: Leading Notion in SEA, India, AU/NZ; Rowing, Grandfather's influence, Learning Sales at LinkedIn

Vidit Agarwal — Wed, 11 Jun 2025 02:50:33 +0000

Andrew is the General Manager (GM) for Australia/New Zealand, South East Asia and India at Notion. With over 20 years of sales and sales leadership experience — including helping launch LinkedIn in Asia Pacific — he’s played a key role in scaling some of the world’s fastest-growing tech companies. Outside of work, Andrew is a proud dad of three and a lifelong volunteer surf lifesaver.

This is his first ever in-depth interview.

+++

To support this podcast, check out our some of our sponsors & get discounts:

→ $1,000 off Vanta: Your compliance superpower — vanta.com/high

→ Get up to 6 months of Notion’s Business plan for free with Notion AI included (worth $12K): Go to - https://ntn.so/highflyers & click “Apply Now”

If you're keen to discuss sponsorship and partnering with us or recommend future guests, email us at contact@curiositycentre.com today!

***

CLICK HERE to read show notes from this conversation. Please enjoy!

***

Get in touch with our Founder and Host, Vidit Agarwal directly here

Contact us via our website to discuss sponsorship opportunities, recommend future guests or share feedback, we love hearing how to improve!

Thank you for rating / reviewing this podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show!

***

***

#208 Simon Baume: Raised on Logic, Hardened by Chaos — The Eucalyptus COO’s First-Ever Interview

Vidit Agarwal — Tue, 3 Jun 2025 19:00:00 +0000

Simon Baume is the Chief Operating Officer (COO) at Eucalyptus, a global healthtech company valued at over $500 million and backed by Investors including Blackbird and Bond. Eucalyptus builds digital preventative healthcare clinics and serves hundreds of thousands of patients across Australia, the UK, Japan and more. Simon leads their Australian business and oversees internal operations including legal, HR, risk, and systems — playing a key role in scaling the company’s complex, multi-brand platform.

This is Simon's first ever interview. It’s time to explore your curiosity. Please enjoy.

+++ To support this podcast, check out our some of our sponsors & get discounts:

→ $1,000 off Vanta: Your compliance superpower — vanta.com/high

→ Get up to 6 months of Notion’s Business plan for free with Notion AI included (worth $12K): Go to - https://ntn.so/highflyers & click “Apply Now”

***

If you're keen to discuss sponsorship and partnering with us, email us at contact@curiositycentre.com today!

Hosted by Vidit Agarwal, Founder of Curiosity Center and The High Flyers Podcast.

It’s now time to explore your curiosity.

***

CLICK HERE to read show notes from this conversation. Please enjoy!

***

Get in touch with our Founder and Host, Vidit Agarwal directly here

Contact us via our website to discuss sponsorship opportunities, recommend future guests or share feedback, we love hearing how to improve!

Thank you for rating / reviewing this podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show!

***

***

#207 Craig Tiley: Rare Interview with One of Tennis’s Most Influential Minds — Army Discipline and Transforming the Australian Open

Vidit Agarwal — Tue, 27 May 2025 01:46:45 +0000

Craig Tiley is the CEO of Tennis Australia and long-time Tournament Director of the Australian Open — the largest annual sporting event in the Southern Hemisphere and the most-watched global sporting event each January, with over 14,000 staff, 800 players, and 2.5 billion viewers worldwide.

This is one of Craig’s most personal and rare long-form interviews. It’s time to explore your curiosity. Please enjoy.

***

To support this podcast, check out our some of our sponsors & get discounts:

→ $1,000 off Vanta: Your compliance superpower. Get it now at https://vanta.com/high

→ Get up to 6 months of Notion’s Business plan for free with Notion AI included (worth $12K): Go to - https://ntn.so/highflyers & click “Apply Now”

***

If you're keen to discuss sponsorship and partnering with us, email us at contact@curiositycentre.com today!

Hosted by Vidit Agarwal, Founder of Curiosity Center and The High Flyers Podcast.

It’s now time to explore your curiosity.

***

CLICK HERE to read show notes from this conversation. Please enjoy!

***

Get in touch with our Founder and Host, Vidit Agarwal directly here

Contact us via our website to discuss sponsorship opportunities, recommend future guests or share feedback, we love hearing how to improve!

Thank you for rating / reviewing this podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show!

***

***

#206 Employment Hero’s Ben Thompson: Business builder, Demistifying Employment and His Son’s Rare Disease

Vidit Agarwal — Tue, 20 May 2025 19:00:00 +0000

Ben Thompson is the Co-Founder and CEO of Employment Hero — one of Australia’s most successful tech companies, valued at over A$2 billion and used by more than 300,000 businesses worldwide. Before that, he bootstrapped multiple companies, blending legal expertise with product thinking to build tools for employers.

In this candid long-form public interview, Ben shares the lessons, missteps, and mindset behind one of the most enduring and quietly influential founder journeys in Australian tech.

***

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***

If you're keen to discuss sponsorship and partnering with us, email us at contact@curiositycentre.com today!

Hosted by Vidit Agarwal, Founder of Curiosity Center and The High Flyers Podcast.

It’s now time to explore your curiosity.

***

CLICK HERE to read show notes from this conversation. Please enjoy!

***

Get in touch with our Founder and Host, Vidit Agarwal directly here

Contact us via our website to discuss sponsorship opportunities, recommend future guests or share feedback, we love hearing how to improve!

Thank you for rating / reviewing this podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show!

***

***

#205 Gill Findlay: Rare Interview ft. the Powerhouse COO Behind SafetyCulture & Immutable; Career Planning & "Friend" over title

Vidit Agarwal — Tue, 13 May 2025 19:00:00 +0000

Gill Findlay is the former COO of SafetyCulture and Immutable — two of most influential tech companies globally to originate from Australia. She scaled SafetyCulture from <$1M to $30M ARR, helped professionalise Immutable during the crypto boom, and built a reputation as the go-to operator for high-growth startups.

In this rare public interview, Gill shares her personal story + the lessons, turning points, and leadership frameworks behind one of tech’s most quietly impactful careers.‍

***

Sponsor offers just for you:

-> Find out more about Vanta's special offer exclusively for you at https://vanta.com/high and get a special offer of $1,000 off to access your very own compliance superpower for your business today.

***

If you're keen to discuss sponsorship and partnering with us, email us at contact@curiositycentre.com today!

Hosted by Vidit Agarwal, Founder of Curiosity Center and The High Flyers Podcast.

It’s now time to explore your curiosity.

***

CLICK HERE to read show notes from this conversation. Please enjoy!

***

Get in touch with our Founder and Host, Vidit Agarwal directly here

Contact us via our website to discuss sponsorship opportunities, recommend future guests or share feedback, we love hearing how to improve!

Thank you for rating / reviewing this podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show!

***

***

#204 Miro’s Founder Andrey Khusid (LIVE): Rare Interview — Scaling from Whiteboard Tool to $17.5B Giant with 90M+ users

Vidit Agarwal — Tue, 6 May 2025 19:00:00 +0000

Andrey Khusid is the founder and CEO of Miro, the world’s leading visual collaboration platform used by 90M+ users with $400M+ in ARR and a $17.5B valuation.

***

Sponsor offers just for you:

-> Find out more about Vanta's special offer exclusively for you at https://vanta.com/high and get a special offer of $1,000 off to access your very own compliance superpower for your business today.

***

In this rare public conversation, recorded live with an audience of top founders and operators in Sydney, Andrey reflects on:

Why Miro waited years to raise VC funding and what changed
Building Miro’s B2C2B motion and expanding into global enterprise
Why only 10–15% of users are design-focused and how that’s often misunderstood
Capital efficiency and his philosophy of “burn little, insure yourself”
Leadership habits as Miro scaled from 10 to 1,600+ employees
Re-calibrating culture, hiring senior leaders, and staying grounded as a global CEO
Prioritising product, distribution, monetisation and culture and what’s stayed constant since 2011
Australian influences on his journey, and what’s next for Miro

***

If you're keen to discuss sponsorship and partnering with us, email us at contact@curiositycentre.com today!

Hosted by Vidit Agarwal, Founder of Curiosity Center and The High Flyers Podcast.

It’s now time to explore your curiosity.

***

Get in touch with our Founder and Host, Vidit Agarwal directly here

Contact us via our website to discuss sponsorship opportunities, recommend future guests or share feedback, we love hearing how to improve!

Thank you for rating / reviewing this podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show!

***

Our parent company, Curiosity Center is where smart leaders get seen and smart brands get results. The home of the global top ranked High Flyers Podcast, 7-Star LIVE Events, Startup Playbooks Reports, Association Series Newsletter and Bespoke Advisory. Join 200,000+ Investors, Founders, Functional Leaders, CEOs and Emerging Leaders. Commercial partners include the KPMG, Google, the University of Melbourne, Vanta, and more.

***

#203 Airtasker’s CEO Tim Fung: Asian-Australian Roots, Happiness, Formula 1 sponsorships, and public company realities

Vidit Agarwal — Wed, 30 Apr 2025 01:25:36 +0000

Tim Fung is the founder and CEO of Airtasker, the leading local services marketplace with over $1.7 billion in job creation and a community of more than 2 million users. Since launching in 2012, Tim has scaled Airtasker from a Sydney startup to a publicly listed company on the ASX, expanding into the UK and US with a bold media-for-equity model and high-impact partnerships—including a recent deal with Formula 1’s Racing Bulls team. A former investment banker at Macquarie, Tim’s career spans modelling agencies, telcos, and marketplaces, underpinned by contrarian thinking and sharp execution.

***

Sponsor offers just for you:

-> Find out more about Vanta's special offer exclusively for you at https://vanta.com/high and get a special offer of $1,000 off to access your very own compliance superpower for your business today.

-> Check out https://remote.com/ and book your demo today and use our exclusive promo code EVREMOTE10 to unlock 10% off their: Employer of Record services on all full-time hires, Contractor Management Plus services and Global Payroll services during your first year with Remote.

***

If you're keen to discuss sponsorship and partnering with us, email us at contact@curiositycentre.com today!

Hosted by Vidit Agarwal, Founder of Curiosity Center and The High Flyers Podcast.

It’s now time to explore your curiosity.

***

CLICK HERE to read show notes from this conversation. Please enjoy!

***

Get in touch with our Founder and Host, Vidit Agarwal directly here

Contact us via our website to discuss sponsorship opportunities, recommend future guests or share feedback, we love hearing how to improve!

Thank you for rating / reviewing this podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show!

***

***

#202 Brad Banducci: Woolworths CEO in a Rare Interview on Identity, Intrapreneurship & Why Directionally Correct Beats Perfect

Vidit Agarwal — Thu, 17 Apr 2025 03:56:31 +0000

Brad Banducci is the Former CEO of Woolworths Group and the newly appointed CEO of TEG (The parent company of Ticketek). His career spans consulting at BCG, early-stage leadership at Tyro Payments, and senior roles at Cellarmasters and Woolworths, bringing together deep experience across startups, retail, private equity and transformation.

This is his first in-depth interview since he finished up as CEO of Woolworths after 8.5 years.

It’s time to explore your curiosity — please enjoy.

________

To support this podcast, check out our some of our sponsors & get discounts:

→ $1,000 off Vanta: Your compliance superpower — vanta.com/high

→ Find out more about the Law Firm Allens and how they can help your company today at www.allens.com.au

If you're keen to discuss sponsorship and partnering with us or recommend future guests, email us at contact@curiositycentre.com today!

Join our stable of commercial partners including the Australian Government, Google, KPMG, University of Melbourne and more.

________

CLICK HERE to read show notes from this conversation.

Get in touch with our Founder and Host, Vidit Agarwal directly here

Contact us via our website to discuss sponsorship opportunities, recommend future guests or share feedback, we love hearing how to improve!

Thank you for rating / reviewing this podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show!

________

200+ guests have joined host, Vidit Agarwal on the show from 15+ countries. Prominent guests include Malcolm Turnbull (Prime Minister of Australia), Anil Sabharwal (VP, Product for Google Chrome, Photos and Drive), Andy Penn (CEO, Telstra), Stevie Case (Chief Revenue Officer, Vanta), Brad Banducci (CEO, Woolworths), Jean-Michel Lemieux (CTO, Shopify + Atlassian), Jillian Broadbent (Board Member, Macquarie Capital), Sweta Mehra (EGM, NAB; ex CMO, ANZ), Bowen Pan (Creator, Facebook Marketplace), Sam Sicilia (Chief Investment Officer, Hostplus), Craig Tiley (CEO, Tennis Australia), Niki Scevak (Co-Founder, Blackbird Ventures), Mike Schneider (CEO, Bunnings), Trent Cotchin (3x Premiership Winning Captain, Richmond FC), Jason Collins (Head of Australasia, BlackRock), Peter Varghese (Chief, Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs), Jack Zhang (CEO, Airwallex), Matteo Franceschetti (CEO, Eight Sleep) and many more.

#201 Carol Schwartz: Pioneering Philanthropy, Driving Boardroom Change, Founding The Women's Leadership Institute & Raising 4 Kids with Purpose

Vidit Agarwal — Tue, 8 Apr 2025 19:00:00 +0000

Welcome to this classic episode. Classics are my favorite episodes from the past 5 years, published every month or two. These are N of 1 conversations with N of 1 people. This is a replay of Episode 142, originally released in September 2023 — one of our most loved classics.

Sponsor offers just for you:

-> Find out more about Vanta's special offer exclusively for you at https://vanta.com/high and get a special offer of $1,000 off to access your very own compliance superpower for your business today.

Claim it at https://ntn.so/highflyers — select Curiosity Centre / The High Flyers Podcast as your referral partner and use code highflyers.

-> Check out https://remote.com/ and book your demo today and use our exclusive promo code EVREMOTE10 to unlock 10% off their:

Employer of Record services on all full-time hires, Contractor Management Plus services and Global Payroll services during your first year with Remote.

***

If you're keen to discuss sponsorship and partnering with us, email us at contact@curiositycentre.com today!

Hosted by Vidit Agarwal, Founder of Curiosity Center and The High Flyers Podcast.

It’s now time to explore your curiosity.

***

Carol is one of most dynamic business and community leaders with a diverse career across property, the arts, finance, investment, entrepreneurship, government and health. Her roles include being Board Member of the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA), Founding Chair of the Women's Leadership Institute, Director of the Trawalla Group, Chair of the Climate Council and more.

This is a rare in-depth public interview, and a replay of the episode that first released in September 2023. Since so many of you loved it then, we're re-releasing this classic!

***

Get in touch with our Founder and Host, Vidit Agarwal directly here

Contact us via our website to discuss sponsorship opportunities, recommend future guests or share feedback, we love hearing how to improve!

Thank you for rating / reviewing this podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show!

***

***

#200 Malcolm Turnbull: Australia's Former Prime Minister (in his most in-depth interview ever)

Vidit Agarwal — Wed, 2 Apr 2025 00:20:15 +0000

Malcolm Turnbull, is a former Australian Prime Minister and one of the most fascinating public figures of our time. He built a global career spanning law, media, business, and tech. He and his wife, Lucy won the Spycatcher case against the British government that rose him to prominence, He was Kerry Packer's Lawyer for many years, and then an investment banker at Goldman Sachs. Malcolm co-founded OzEmail, led key reforms like legalising same sex marriage in Australia, and now invests in technology and renewable energy.

***

Sponsor offers just for you:

-> Find out more about Vanta's special offer exclusively for you at https://vanta.com/high and get a special offer of $1,000 off to access your very own compliance superpower for your business today.

Claim it at https://ntn.so/highflyers — select Curiosity Centre / The High Flyers Podcast as your referral partner and use code highflyers.

-> Check out https://remote.com/ and book your demo today and use our exclusive promo code EVREMOTE10 to unlock 10% off their:

Employer of Record services on all full-time hires, Contractor Management Plus services and Global Payroll services during your first year with Remote.

***

If you're keen to discuss sponsorship and partnering with us, email us at vidit@thehighflyerspodcast.com today!

Hosted by Vidit Agarwal, Founder of Curiosity Center and The High Flyers Podcast.

It’s now time to explore your curiosity.

***

CLICK HERE to read show notes from this conversation. Please enjoy!

***

Get in touch with our Founder and Host, Vidit Agarwal directly here

Contact us via our website to discuss sponsorship opportunities, recommend future guests or share feedback, we love hearing how to improve!

Thank you for rating / reviewing this podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show!

***

***

#199 Farnaz Azmoodeh: Iran to LA, Mastering Engineering at Google, Monetising Snapchat, and becoming CTO at Linktree

Vidit Agarwal — Tue, 25 Mar 2025 18:00:00 +0000

Farnaz is the CTO at Linktree, a platform with 70M+ users helping creators and businesses unify and monetise their online presence.

She started at Google in the 2000s during their OG era, working on ad tech and ML, then joined Snap (375M+ daily users today), leading AR monetization and later platform engineering.

This is a rare public interview with Farnaz Azmoodeh.

Hosted by Vidit Agarwal, Founder of Curiosity Center and The High Flyers Podcast.

It’s now time to explore your curiosity.

***

Sponsor offers just for you:

-> Find out more about Vanta's special offer exclusively for you at https://vanta.com/high and get a special offer of $1,000 off to access your very own compliance superpower for your business today.

-> Check out https://remote.com/ and book your demo today and use our exclusive promo code EVREMOTE10 to unlock 10% off their:

Employer of Record services on all full-time hires, Contractor Management Plus services and Global Payroll services during your first year with Remote.

***

If you're keen to discuss sponsorship and partnering with us, email us at vidit@thehighflyerspodcast.com today!

Hosted by Vidit Agarwal, Founder of Curiosity Center and The High Flyers Podcast.

It’s now time to explore your curiosity.

***

CLICK HERE to read show notes from this conversation. Please enjoy!

***

Get in touch with our Founder and Host, Vidit Agarwal directly here

Contact us via our website to discuss sponsorship opportunities, recommend future guests or share feedback, we love hearing how to improve!

Thank you for rating / reviewing this podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show!

***

190+ guests have joined Vidit Agarwal on the show from 15+ countries, including The CEO's of multi-billion dollar companies like Bunnings, Australia Post, Woolworths; Board Members at Macquarie Bank, ANZ, Reserve Bank; Former Prime Minister of Australia; Globally renowned tech leaders from Google, Microsoft, Xero; Successful Venture Capital and Family Office Investors; CIO's at the world's biggest superannuation funds; Leading Entertainers; Olympic Gold Medal Winning Athletes and interesting minds you wouldn't have heard of that are changing the world.

***

#198 Max Bausher & Brian Swift: From Twitter, Atlassian & New Relic to Twine - Cracking Product + GTM by Turning Customer Conversations into Action

Vidit Agarwal — Tue, 18 Mar 2025 18:00:00 +0000

Max Bausher and Brian are the Co-Founders of Twine, bridging product and go-to-market teams by integrating insights across calls, CRM, and roadmaps.

Max, Twine’s COO, brings expertise from leadership roles at CrowdStrike and New Relic, specialising in technical-business alignment.

Brian, Twine’s CEO, has led product and GTM teams at SafetyCulture, Atlassian, Dovetail, and Twitter.

Together, they are redefining how teams collaborate to deliver exceptional customer experiences.

This is their first ever in-depth public interview.

Hosted by Vidit Agarwal, Founder of Curiosity Center and The High Flyers Podcast.

It’s now time to explore your curiosity.

***

Sponsor offers just for you:

-> Find out more about Vanta's special offer exclusively for you at https://vanta.com/high and get a special offer of $1,000 off to access your very own compliance superpower for your business today.

-> Check out https://remote.com/ and book your demo today and use our exclusive promo code EVREMOTE10 to unlock 10% off their:

Employer of Record services on all full-time hires, Contractor Management Plus services and Global Payroll services during your first year with Remote.

***

If you're keen to discuss sponsorship and partnering with us, email us at vidit@thehighflyerspodcast.com today!

Hosted by Vidit Agarwal, Founder of Curiosity Center and The High Flyers Podcast.

It’s now time to explore your curiosity.

***

CLICK HERE to read show notes from this conversation. Please enjoy!

***

Get in touch with our Founder and Host, Vidit Agarwal directly here

Contact us via our website to discuss sponsorship opportunities, recommend future guests or share feedback, we love hearing how to improve!

Thank you for rating / reviewing this podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show!

***

The High Flyers Podcast re-imagines the traditional notion of a "high flyer" and is a premier product of the Curiosity Center. The podcast showcases the journeys of relatable role models from their sunrise (childhood) to today. Listeners love the unique and direct inside access to these relatable role models, companies and industries in every walk of life to help us all be 1% better everyday, together.

190+ guests have joined Vidit Agarwal on the show from around the world including Heads of state, Olympians, Business and cultural leaders, Social Advocates, Investors, Entrepreneurs and more. Past guests include: Anil Sabharwal, Mark Suster, Ahmed Fahour, Holly Ransom, Daniel Petre, Paul Bassat, Simon Holmes a Court, Michael Traill, Osher Gunsberg, Ed Cowan, Carol Schwartz, Wyatt Roy, Jack Zhang, Martijn Wilder, Holly Kramer, Dom Price, Sam Kroonenburg, Mike Schneider, Rod Hamilton and more.

Our parent company, Curiosity Center is your on-demand intelligence hub for knowledge, connections and growth to achieve your potential, everyday. Join 200,000+ Investors, Founders, Corporate Execs, CEOs and Emerging Leaders. Learn with the world's best and be 1% better everyday at https://curiositycentre.com

***

#197 Rory San Miguel: 40-Hour Weekends, Building Propeller, Winning Enterprise Deals, Going Global—And the Secret Behind His Relentless Optimism

Vidit Agarwal — Thu, 13 Mar 2025 05:28:28 +0000

Rory San Miguel is the co-founder and CEO of Propeller, a global tech company transforming worksites with drone data. Since 2014, he’s scaled Propeller to 300+ employees across Australia and the U.S., secured well known enterprise customers, and raised over $35M from investors like Blackbird and Costanoa Ventures to fuel international growth.

This is Rory's first ever in-depth public interview.

Hosted by Vidit Agarwal, Founder of Curiosity Center and The High Flyers Podcast.

It’s now time to explore your curiosity.

***

Sponsor offers just for you:

-> Find out more about Vanta's special offer exclusively for you at https://vanta.com/high and get a special offer of $1,000 off to access your very own compliance superpower for your business today.

-> Check out https://remote.com/ and book your demo today and use our exclusive promo code EVREMOTE10 to unlock 10% off their:

Employer of Record services on all full-time hires, Contractor Management Plus services and Global Payroll services during your first year with Remote.

***

If you're keen to discuss sponsorship and partnering with us, email us at vidit@thehighflyerspodcast.com today!

Hosted by Vidit Agarwal, Founder of Curiosity Center and The High Flyers Podcast.

It’s now time to explore your curiosity.

***

CLICK HERE to read show notes from this conversation. Please enjoy!

***

Get in touch with our Founder and Host, Vidit Agarwal directly here

Contact us via our website to discuss sponsorship opportunities, recommend future guests or share feedback, we love hearing how to improve!

Thank you for rating / reviewing this podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show!

***

Our parent company, Curiosity Center is your on-demand intelligence hub for knowledge, connections and growth to achieve your potential, everyday. Join 200,000+ Investors, Founders, Corporate Execs, CEOs and Emerging Leaders. Learn with the world's best and be 1% better everyday at https://curiositycentre.com

***

#196 Piruze Sabuncu: Diplomat Aspirations, Stripe's first hire in SEA to becoming a VC at Squarepeg in Singapore

Vidit Agarwal — Tue, 4 Mar 2025 18:00:00 +0000

Welcome to this classic episode. Classics are my favorite episodes from the past 5 years, published every month or two. These are N of 1 conversations with N of 1 people. This episode originally released in September 2023 — one of our most loved classics.

To support this podcast, check out our sponsors & get discounts:

-> Get $1,000 off to access your very own compliance superpower for your business today with Vanta's special offer exclusively for you at https://vanta.com/high

-> Get 10% off at https://remote.com/ by using our exclusive promo code EVREMOTE10 for Employer of Record services on all full-time hires, Contractor Management Plus services and Global Payroll services during your first year with Remote.

-> Apply now to participate in the Wade Institute of Entrepreneurship's leading VC Catalyst program at https://wadeinstitute.org.au/programs/investors/vc-catalyst/

Dates for their 2025 are the 5th to 9th of May and the 19 to 23rd of May. It’s a world class program, we've worked with them closely for a few years now and highly recommend you check them out.

***

If you're keen to discuss sponsorship and partnering with us, email us at vidit@thehighflyerspodcast.com today!

Hosted by Vidit Agarwal, Founder of Curiosity Center and The High Flyers Podcast.

It’s now time to explore your curiosity.

***

Piruze Sabuncu is a Partner at the Venture Capital firm Squarepeg. She was born in Turkey and currently lives in Singapore. Piruze built and scaled the startup that's now a global juggernaut, Stripe -- in Southeast Asia (SEA) as employee #1 in the region, following a stint as a founder and working at companies including Dell and Mckinsey.

***

Get in touch with our Founder and Host, Vidit Agarwal directly here

Contact us via our website to discuss sponsorship opportunities, recommend future guests or share feedback, we love hearing how to improve!

Thank you for rating / reviewing this podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show!

***

Our parent company, Curiosity Center is your on-demand intelligence hub for knowledge, connections and growth to achieve your potential, everyday. Join 200,000+ Investors, Founders, Corporate Execs, CEOs and Emerging Leaders. Learn with the world's best and be 1% better everyday at https://curiositycentre.com

#195 Steve Vamos: Former Xero, Apple & Microsoft CEO Shares His Playbook for Scaling Companies, Building Winning Teams & Mastering Transitions

Vidit Agarwal — Wed, 26 Feb 2025 01:49:28 +0000

To support this podcast, check out our sponsors & get discounts:

-> Get $1,000 off to access your very own compliance superpower for your business today with Vanta's special offer exclusively for you at https://vanta.com/high

-> Apply now to participate in the Wade Institute of Entrepreneurship's leading VC Catalyst program at https://wadeinstitute.org.au/programs/investors/vc-catalyst/

Dates for their 2025 are the 5th to 9th of May and the 19 to 23rd of May. It’s a world class program, we've worked with them closely for a few years now and highly recommend you check them out.

***

If you're keen to discuss sponsorship and partnering with us, email us at vidit@thehighflyerspodcast.com today!

Hosted by Vidit Agarwal, Founder of Curiosity Center and The High Flyers Podcast.

It’s now time to explore your curiosity.

***

Steve Vamos is a renowned global technology executive. He led Xero as CEO and previously served as CEO of Microsoft Australia and Apple Asia Pacific.

In his new book 'Through Shifts and Shocks', Steve distills his front line experience into eight essential actions for leaders facing change.

***

CLICK HERE to read show notes from this conversation. Please enjoy!

***

Get in touch with our Founder and Host, Vidit Agarwal directly here

Contact us via our website to discuss sponsorship opportunities, recommend future guests or share feedback, we love hearing how to improve!

Thank you for rating / reviewing this podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show!

***

Our parent company, Curiosity Center is your on-demand intelligence hub for knowledge, connections and growth to achieve your potential, everyday. Join 200,000+ Investors, Founders, Corporate Execs, CEOs and Emerging Leaders. Learn with the world's best and be 1% better everyday at https://curiositycentre.com

***

#194 Laura Henshaw: Modelling Struggles to becoming 'Kic' CEO; Empowering Women, Financial Independence & Embracing Authenticity

Vidit Agarwal — Tue, 18 Feb 2025 18:00:00 +0000

To support this podcast, check out our sponsors & get discounts:

-> Get $1,000 off to access your very own compliance superpower for your business today with Vanta's special offer exclusively for you at https://vanta.com/high

-> Apply now to participate in the Wade Institute of Entrepreneurship's leading VC Catalyst program at https://wadeinstitute.org.au/programs/investors/vc-catalyst/

Dates for their 2025 are the 5th to 9th of May and the 19 to 23rd of May. It’s a world class program, we've worked with them closely for a few years now and highly recommend you check them out.

***

If you're keen to discuss sponsorship and partnering with us, email us at vidit@thehighflyerspodcast.com today!

Hosted by Vidit Agarwal, Founder of Curiosity Center and The High Flyers Podcast.

It’s now time to explore your curiosity.

Note: This is a replay of the episode that originally aired in November 2022. Since so many of you loved it, we're bringing it back from our archives.

***

Laura Henshaw is the co-founder and CEO of Kic, a leading health and wellness platform. Starting as a model, she pivoted to entrepreneurship to promote authentic fitness and self-care. With a law degree and a passion for empowerment, she co-hosts the Kicpod podcast, sharing insights on health, business, and personal growth.

***

Get in touch with our Founder and Host, Vidit Agarwal directly here

Contact us via our website to discuss sponsorship opportunities, recommend future guests or share feedback, we love hearing how to improve!

Thank you for rating / reviewing this podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show!

***

Our parent company, Curiosity Center is your on-demand intelligence hub for knowledge, connections and growth to achieve your potential, everyday. Join 200,000+ Investors, Founders, Corporate Execs, CEOs and Emerging Leaders. Learn with the world's best and be 1% better everyday at https://curiositycentre.com

***

#193 Paul Naphtali: From PR to VC—What Sequoia-Backed Startups Taught Me, Building Rampersand & How founders win!

Vidit Agarwal — Tue, 11 Feb 2025 18:00:00 +0000

To support this podcast, check out our sponsors & get discounts:

-> Get $1,000 off to access your very own compliance superpower for your business today with Vanta's special offer exclusively for you at https://vanta.com/high

-> Apply now to participate in the Wade Institute of Entrepreneurship's leading VC Catalyst program at https://wadeinstitute.org.au/programs/investors/vc-catalyst/ Dates for their 2025 are the 5th to 9th of May and the 19 to 23rd of May. It’s a world class program, we've worked with them closely for a few years now and highly recommend you check them out.

***

If you're keen to discuss sponsorship and partnering with us, email us at vidit@thehighflyerspodcast.com today!

Hosted by Vidit Agarwal, Founder of Curiosity Center and The High Flyers Podcast.

It’s now time to explore your curiosity.

***

Paul is the cofounder of Rampersand, an early-stage VC fund backing ambitious Australian founders since 2013. He previously spent 15 years in Silicon Valley, Israel, and Europe as a marketing and communications executive, contributing to major trade sales and a NASDAQ listing.

***

CLICK HERE to read show notes from this conversation. Please enjoy!

***

Get in touch with our Founder and Host, Vidit Agarwal directly here

Contact us via our website to discuss sponsorship opportunities, recommend future guests or share feedback, we love hearing how to improve!

Thank you for rating / reviewing this podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show!

***

Our parent company, Curiosity Center is your on-demand intelligence hub for knowledge, connections and growth to achieve your potential, everyday. Join 200,000+ Investors, Founders, Corporate Execs, CEOs and Emerging Leaders. Learn with the world's best and be 1% better everyday at https://curiositycentre.com

***

#192 RØDE Founder Peter Freedman: Swedish Outsider, High School Dropout, Insecurities, Building a Global Audio Empire

Vidit Agarwal — Tue, 4 Feb 2025 18:00:00 +0000

Peter Freedman AM is the Founder and Chairman of RØDE and The Freedman Group. He received Australia’s highest national honor, the Order of Australia (denoted by AM) in 2016 for his efforts to Australian and global society.

Established in 1991 as a brand under Freedman Electronics – the sound installation company started by his parents in 1967 – Peter has grown RØDE into the world’s leading creator technology brand. RØDE’s microphones and audio products are the number one in a range of categories, including content creation, podcasting, studio recording and broadcast.

Today, RØDE is a global company with offices across the world, including the US, UK, Germany, China and Japan. Its headquarters are in Sydney, Australia, where it designs and manufactures its products, exporting to 118 countries globally. Peter established The Freedman Group as a parent company to RØDE, which has since acquired several legendary audio companies, including APHEX, SoundField, EVENT and, most recently, iconic American pro audio brand Mackie.

Hosted by Vidit Agarwal, Founder of Curiosity Center and The High Flyers Podcast.

It’s now time to explore your curiosity.

***

If you're keen to discuss sponsorship and partnering with us, email us at vidit@thehighflyerspodcast.com today!

-> Find out more about Vanta's special $1,000 offer exclusively for you at http://vanta.com/high and get your compliance superpower for your business today.

***

CLICK HERE to read show notes from this conversation. Please enjoy!

***

Get in touch with our Founder and Host, Vidit Agarwal directly here

Contact us via our website to discuss sponsorship opportunities, recommend future guests or share feedback, we love hearing how to improve!

Thank you for rating / reviewing this podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show!

***

The Curiosity Center is your on-demand intelligence hub for knowledge, connections and growth to achieve your potential, everyday. Join 200,000+ Investors, Founders, Decision Makers and Emerging Leaders. Learn with the world's best at www.curiositycenter.xyz

***

#191 Aliavia VC’s Marisa Warren: Grandmother’s Legacy, 3 Redundancies, Redefining Venture Capital for Female Founders

Vidit Agarwal — Tue, 21 Jan 2025 18:00:00 +0000

Marisa Warren is the Founder and Managing Partner of ALIAVIA Ventures, investing in female-founded tech startups across the U.S. and Australia. Established in 2021, ALIAVIA has delivered it's first exit, Loupe Art to Stingray (TSX: RAY.A; RAY.B), and invested in 12 early stage companies. With 26 years of experience at companies like SAP, Microsoft, and Workday, Marisa brings a wealth of knowledge and a relentless drive to create opportunities for women in tech. She’s also the founder of ELEVACAO, a not-for-profit that helped 175 women raise over $120 million in funding, leading to five exits.

Hosted by Vidit Agarwal, Founder of Curiosity Center and The High Flyers Podcast.

It’s now time to explore your curiosity.

***

If you're keen to discuss sponsorship and partnering with us, email us at vidit@thehighflyerspodcast.com today!

-> Find out more about Vanta's special $1,000 offer exclusively for you at http://vanta.com/high and get your compliance superpower for your business today.

***

CLICK HERE to read show notes from this conversation. Please enjoy!

***

Get in touch with our Founder and Host, Vidit Agarwal directly here

Contact us via our website to discuss sponsorship opportunities, recommend future guests or share feedback, we love hearing how to improve!

Thank you for rating / reviewing this podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show!

***

***

#190 Rod Hamilton: Rare Interview ft. Culture Amp’s Co-Founder on Playfulness, Empathy, and Redefining Workplace Culture

Vidit Agarwal — Tue, 14 Jan 2025 18:00:00 +0000

This is a rare and in-depth public interview with Rod Hamilton, Co-founder and Board Director at Culture Amp, where he spent over 12 years as Chief Product Officer leading the creation of its Employee Experience platform, now used by 6,500+ companies to improve millions of working lives.

He’s also a Venture Partner at Rampersand, helping Australia’s most ambitious tech companies tackle product and people challenges.

***

Hosted by Vidit Agarwal, Founder of Curiosity Center and The High Flyers Podcast.

It’s now time to explore your curiosity.

If you're keen to discuss sponsorship and partnering with us, email us at vidit@thehighflyerspodcast.com today!

-> Find out more about Vanta's special $1,000 offer exclusively for you at http://vanta.com/high and get your compliance superpower for your business today.

***

CLICK HERE to read show notes from this conversation. Please enjoy!

***

Get in touch with our Founder and Host, Vidit Agarwal directly here

Contact us via our website to discuss sponsorship opportunities, recommend future guests or share feedback, we love hearing how to improve!

Thank you for rating / reviewing this podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show!

***

180+ guests have joined Vidit Agarwal on the show from around the world including Heads of state, Olympians, Business and cultural leaders, Social Advocates, Investors, Entrepreneurs and more. Past guests include: Anil Sabharwal, Mark Suster, Ahmed Fahour, Holly Ransom, Daniel Petre, Paul Bassat, Simon Holmes a Court, Michael Traill, Osher Gunsberg, Ed Cowan, Carol Schwartz, Wyatt Roy, Jack Zhang, Martijn Wilder, Holly Kramer, Dom Price, Sam Kroonenburg, Mike Schneider and more.

***

#189 Matt Kean: Chair of Australia’s Climate Authority & Former NSW Treasurer on Climate Action, Mental Health, and Leadership

Vidit Agarwal — Tue, 7 Jan 2025 18:00:00 +0000

Matt Kean is the Chair of the Climate Change Authority in the Australian Government, appointed in 2024 after a distinguished 13-year career in NSW politics. Matt held senior roles including Treasurer and Energy Minister, he led groundbreaking initiatives like the Electricity Infrastructure Roadmap, which boosted renewable energy investment while reducing power bills. Matt was also Deputy Leader of the NSW Liberal Party and Shadow Minister for Health, and was known for his leadership on climate action and economic reform. He now drives innovation and sustainability as Director of Regulatory Affairs at Wollemi Capital, and is a a qualified Chartered Accountant.

***

Hosted by Vidit Agarwal, Founder of Curiosity Center and The High Flyers Podcast.

It’s now time to explore your curiosity.

If you're keen to discuss sponsorship and partnering with us, email us at vidit@thehighflyerspodcast.com today!

-> Find out more about Vanta at http://vanta.com/high and get your compliance superpower for your business today.

***

CLICK HERE to read show notes from this conversation. Please enjoy!

***

Get in touch with our Founder and Host, Vidit Agarwal directly here

Contact us via our website to discuss sponsorship opportunities, recommend future guests or share feedback, we love hearing how to improve!

Thank you for rating / reviewing this podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show!

***

***

#188: Kate Cornick’s Rare Interview on Accidentally Finding Engineering to Leading Victoria’s Startup Revolution as LaunchVic CEO

Vidit Agarwal — Mon, 30 Dec 2024 02:24:47 +0000

Dr. Kate Cornick is the CEO of LaunchVic, leading efforts to build Victoria’s startup ecosystem and she has been in the role since 2016, and her impact has been incredible in funding and supporting numerous Venture Capital firms, angel networks, accelerators and more. With a Ph.D. in telecommunications engineering, she has held key roles at NBN Co and the University of Melbourne. Recently appointed to the Australian Government’s R&D Advisory Committee demonstrating her impact and contribution; and Kate continues to be strong advocate for innovation, diversity, and entrepreneurship, driving programs that empower founders and attract investment to the state of Victoria in Australia.

Please note: This a replay of the episode that was released in June 2022.

***

Hosted by Vidit Agarwal, Founder of Curiosity Center and The High Flyers Podcast.

It’s now time to explore your curiosity.

If you're keen to discuss sponsorship and partnering with us, email us at vidit@thehighflyerspodcast.com today!

-> Find out more about Vanta at http://vanta.com/high and get your compliance superpower for your business today.

***

Get in touch with our Founder and Host, Vidit Agarwal directly here

Contact us via our website to discuss sponsorship opportunities, recommend future guests or share feedback, we love hearing how to improve!

Thank you for rating / reviewing this podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show!

***

***

#187 Paul Bassat Unplugged: Migrant parents, SEEK’s Breakthrough, Building Square Peg, and Driving Community Impact through AFL and 'Amplify'

Vidit Agarwal — Sun, 22 Dec 2024 18:00:00 +0000

Paul Bassat is a visionary leader in venture capital, technology, and community impact.

As Co-founder and Partner at Square Peg, a top venture capital firm spanning Australia, Israel, and Southeast Asia -- Paul champions founders building transformative global startups. His portfolio includes investments in icons like Canva, Airwallex, and Rokt.

In 1997, Paul co-founded SEEK, pioneering one of Australia’s first globally successful tech companies in employment and education.

In 2023, he launched AMPLIFY, a non-partisan platform empowering Australians to shape national conversations. Paul also serves as an AFL Commissioner, former Wesfarmers board member, and advocate for community progress

Please note: This a replay of the episode that was released in May 2023.

***

Hosted by Vidit Agarwal, Founder of Curiosity Center and The High Flyers Podcast.

It’s now time to explore your curiosity.

If you're keen to discuss sponsorship and partnering with us, email us at vidit@thehighflyerspodcast.com today!

-> Find out more about Vanta at http://vanta.com/high and get your compliance superpower for your business today.

***

CLICK HERE to read show notes from this conversation. Please enjoy!

***

Get in touch with our Founder and Host, Vidit Agarwal directly here

Contact us via our website to discuss sponsorship opportunities, recommend future guests or share feedback, we love hearing how to improve!

Thank you for rating / reviewing this podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show!

***

***

#186 Bunning’s boss Mike Schneider: Childhood struggles, career decisions, humility and how he became CEO

Vidit Agarwal — Tue, 17 Dec 2024 18:00:00 +0000

In this interview, hear from Mike Schneider, Managing Director (MD) at Bunnings.

As MD of Bunnings, Mike leads nearly 53,000 team members and drives one of Australia’s most trusted brands that is recognised globally. Since joining in 2005, Mike has worked his way up through various roles to lead a business that reported $18.97 billion in revenue in 2024. Beyond Bunnings, Mike gives back through board roles with organisations like the Corporate Mental Health Alliance of Australia, Melbourne United Basketball Club, and FightMND, among others.

***

Hosted by Vidit Agarwal, Founder of Curiosity Center and The High Flyers Podcast.

It’s now time to explore your curiosity.

If you're keen to discuss sponsorship and partnering with us, email us at vidit@thehighflyerspodcast.com today!

-> Find out more about Vanta at http://vanta.com/high and get your compliance superpower for your business today.

***

CLICK HERE to read show notes from this conversation. Please enjoy!

***

Get in touch with our Founder and Host, Vidit Agarwal directly here

Contact us via our website to discuss sponsorship opportunities, recommend future guests or share feedback, we love hearing how to improve!

Thank you for rating / reviewing this podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show!

***

***

#185 Sitemate's Hartley Pike: Mum’s Support and Rugby Dreams to 'SaaS'ifying the Built World with No-Code Software Globally

Vidit Agarwal — Tue, 10 Dec 2024 18:00:00 +0000

In this rare public interview, hear from Hartley Pike, Co-founder and CEO of Sitemate.

Sitemate builds software products for the built world, with over 2000 customers and 150 employees across both remote roles as well as five offices in Melbourne, Sydney, London, Vancouver and Toronto.

Sitemate is the 8th most valuable startup to come out of accelerator Startmate since it started in 2011. It was valued at between $100 and $200-million by Startmate earlier this year.

***

Hosted by Vidit Agarwal, Founder of Curiosity Center and The High Flyers Podcast.

It’s now time to explore your curiosity.

If you're keen to discuss sponsorship and partnering with us, email us at vidit@thehighflyerspodcast.com today!

***

CLICK HERE to read show notes from this conversation. Please enjoy!

***

Get in touch with our Founder and Host, Vidit Agarwal directly here

Contact us via our website to discuss sponsorship opportunities, recommend future guests or share feedback, we love hearing how to improve!

Thank you for rating / reviewing this podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show!

***

***

#184 Osher Günsberg: Doctor's Son to TV Icon—Navigating Sobriety, Hosting The Bachelor & Australian Idol, Life’s 5 D's and 6 P's

Vidit Agarwal — Tue, 3 Dec 2024 18:00:00 +0000

Osher Günsberg is one of the most recognisable media personalities. He first came to attention as the face of Australian Idol and the voice of Australia's largest weekly radio countdown, Take 40 Australia. He was recently host of The Bachelor and The Bachelorette on Channel Ten. Osher was also part of the Breakfast Team and co-host of Hit105's radio brekky show alongside Abby Coleman and Stav Davidson. Osher is a keen advocate for mental health awareness and climate change. He is also the co-creator and host of Movember Radio for the Movember Foundation, and a director of the board of SANE Australia.

Please note: This a replay of the episode that was released in June 2023.

Hosted by Vidit Agarwal, Founder of Curiosity Center and The High Flyers Podcast.

It’s now time to explore your curiosity.

If you're keen to discuss sponsorship and partnering with us, email us at vidit@thehighflyerspodcast.com today!

***

Get in touch with our Founder and Host, Vidit Agarwal directly here

Contact us via our website to discuss sponsorship opportunities, recommend future guests or share feedback, we love hearing how to improve!

Thank you for rating / reviewing this podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show!

***

***

#183 Jean-Michel Lemieux: CTO at Shopify & Atlassian, Vagabonding Life, Art and Engineering

Vidit Agarwal — Wed, 27 Nov 2024 18:00:00 +0000

This is a rare public interview with Jean-Michel Lemieux, a highly acclaimed technology leader who was CTO at Shopify, where he grew the engineering team from 50 to 4,000. Prior to that, he served as VP of Engineering at Atlassian working very closely with the world renowned Founders, Mike-Cannon Brookes and Scott Farquhar. He recently co-founded SeaPeople, owns/runs the Arlo Wine and Restaurant in Canada, has authored a book and holds two U.S. patents in software management.

Hosted by Vidit Agarwal, Founder of Curiosity Center and The High Flyers Podcast.

It’s now time to explore your curiosity.

If you're keen to discuss sponsorship and partnering with us, email us at vidit@thehighflyerspodcast.com today!

***

CLICK HERE to read show notes from this conversation. Please enjoy!

***

Get in touch with our Founder and Host, Vidit Agarwal directly here

Contact us via our website to discuss sponsorship opportunities, recommend future guests or share feedback, we love hearing how to improve!

Thank you for rating / reviewing this podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show!

***

***

#182 Shaun Christie-David: Uniting the World Through Hospitality—How his restaurants have donated 560,000+ meals to those in need

Vidit Agarwal — Wed, 20 Nov 2024 08:00:08 +0000

“Man who tries to create impact, and take a charitable and social enterprise movement to a forever movement. We are immediate responders.” is how Shaun describes his work today.

Shaun Christie-David is a visionary leader transforming the way we think about food and social impact. As the founder of the Plate It Forward movement, he has created a network of socially driven restaurants and initiatives that have provided employment opportunities for over 200 people from marginalised communities and have donated more than 560,000 meals to those facing food insecurity locally and globally.

His innovative approach has earned him numerous accolades, including being named Sydney’s Future Shaper by TimeOut Magazine in 2024, SMH Good Food Innovator of the Year in 2023, and an AMP Tomorrow Maker in 2021. Through ventures like Colombo Social, Kabul Social, and Kyiv Social, Shaun combines cultural storytelling with impactful change, proving that food can unite, empower, and inspire.

Hosted by Vidit Agarwal, Founder of Curiosity Center and The High Flyers Podcast.

It’s now time to explore your curiosity.

If you're keen to discuss sponsorship and partnering with us, email us at vidit@thehighflyerspodcast.com today!

***

CLICK HERE to read show notes from this conversation. Please enjoy!

***

Get in touch with our Founder and Host, Vidit Agarwal directly here

Contact us via our website to discuss sponsorship opportunities, recommend future guests or share feedback, we love hearing how to improve!

Thank you for rating / reviewing this podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show!

***

***

#181 Stevie Case: World's First Female Pro Gamer to Renowned Chief Revenue Officer - Career Growth & Sales Mastery

Vidit Agarwal — Wed, 6 Nov 2024 02:23:55 +0000

Stevie case is the Chief Revenue Officer at Vanta, a leading cloud-based security and compliance company that has surpassed $100 million in annual recurring revenue and serves over 8,000 customers globally. In her role, she leads Vanta's go-to-market team, driving initiatives that support the company's rapid growth.

And Stevie has an all-star resume to back this up. She was previously vice president of mid-market sales at Twilio, joining as one of Twilio's first account executives. She was instrumental in generating over $400 million in annual recurring revenue and expanding the sales team from a dozen to over 1,000 members.

Hosted by Vidit Agarwal, Founder of Curiosity Center and The High Flyers Podcast.

It’s now time to explore your curiosity.

If you're keen to discuss sponsorship and partnering with us, email us at vidit@thehighflyerspodcast.com today!

***

The KPMG Nature Positive Challenge has returned for 2024. Enter here to win $370k: https://kpmg.com/au/en/home/campaigns/2022/03/nature-positive-challenge.html

***

CLICK HERE to read show notes from this conversation. Please enjoy!

***

Get in touch with our Founder and Host, Vidit Agarwal directly here

Contact us via our website to discuss sponsorship opportunities, recommend future guests or share feedback, we love hearing how to improve!

Thank you for rating / reviewing this podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show!

***

***

#180 Bill Bartee in a rare public interview: NASA's Influence to Co-Founding Blackbird + Main Sequence Ventures

Vidit Agarwal — Tue, 29 Oct 2024 18:00:00 +0000

Bill is the Co-founder and Managing Partner of Main Sequence, Asia Pacific's largest dedicated deep tech VC fund backed by the Australian National Science Agency, CSIRO, the Australian Federal Government, and private investors including Temasek in Singapore.

Bill is a prominent voice in the Technology, Venture Capital and Startup ecosystem. Prior to Main Sequence, he co-founded Blackbird Ventures where he was one of three general partners and an investment committee member. Blackbird’s first fund, which invests in every type of technology from software to space, is among the top one percent globally for its vintage.

Bill was born in Virginia, USA and now lives in Sydney, Australia.

Please note: This a replay of the episode that was released in May 2022.

Hosted by Vidit Agarwal, Founder of Curiosity Center and The High Flyers Podcast.

It’s now time to explore your curiosity.

If you're keen to discuss sponsorship and partnering with us, email us at vidit@thehighflyerspodcast.com today!

***

The KPMG Nature Positive Challenge has returned for 2024. Enter here to win $370k: https://kpmg.com/au/en/home/campaigns/2022/03/nature-positive-challenge.html

***

Get in touch with our Founder and Host, Vidit Agarwal directly here

Contact us via our website to discuss sponsorship opportunities, recommend future guests or share feedback, we love hearing how to improve!

Thank you for rating / reviewing this podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show!

***

175+ guests have joined Vidit Agarwal on the show from around the world including Heads of state, Olympians, Business and cultural leaders, Social Advocates, Investors, Entrepreneurs and more. Past guests include: Anil Sabharwal, Mark Suster, Ahmed Fahour, Holly Ransom, Daniel Petre, Paul Bassat, Simon Holmes a Court, Michael Traill, Osher Gunsberg, Ed Cowan, Carol Schwartz, Wyatt Roy, Jack Zhang, Martijn Wilder, Holly Kramer, Dom Price, Sam Kroonenburg and more.

***

#179 Cuttable's Sam Kroonenburg & Jack White on why they're re-shaping advertising to make ads at scale, great again!

Vidit Agarwal — Tue, 22 Oct 2024 18:00:00 +0000

Sam and Jack are Co-Founders and Co-CEOs of Cuttable.

Sam co-founded A Cloud Guru, which revolutionised cloud education and sold for $2 billion.

Jack has 20 years in advertising. He co-founded Sunday Gravy in 2021, quickly becoming a leading creative agency in Australia, and he comes from a highly credential family lineage of creative excellence.

Cuttable is an ad creation platform, that combines the creativity of advertising with the technology of AI and Automation. Cuttable helps marketing teams and as agencies quickly create, personalise and scale ad campaigns across multiple channels.

Hosted by Vidit Agarwal, Founder of Curiosity Center and The High Flyers Podcast.

It’s now time to explore your curiosity.

If you're keen to discuss sponsorship and partnering with us, email us at vidit@thehighflyerspodcast.com today!

***

CLICK HERE to read show notes from this conversation. Please enjoy!

***

The KPMG Nature Positive Challenge has returned for 2024. Enter here to win $370k: https://kpmg.com/au/en/home/campaigns/2022/03/nature-positive-challenge.html

***

Get in touch with our Founder and Host, Vidit Agarwal directly here

Contact us via our website to discuss sponsorship opportunities, recommend future guests or share feedback, we love hearing how to improve!

Thank you for rating / reviewing this podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show!

***

***

#178 Atlassian's Work Futurist Dom Price: His untold personal story + realities of being a "team doctor" and Renowned TED Speaker!

Vidit Agarwal — Thu, 17 Oct 2024 02:02:46 +0000

Dom Price has a diverse career spanning Europe, the US, and Asia Pacific.

As Work Futurist at Atlassian for 11+ years, he helps teams maximise their potential and navigate transformation. A renowned global speaker and avid traveler, Dom has visited over 53 countries but has called Australia home for 21 years.

Hosted by Vidit Agarwal, Founder of Curiosity Center and The High Flyers Podcast.

It’s now time to explore your curiosity.

If you're keen to discuss sponsorship and partnering with us, email us at vidit@thehighflyerspodcast.com today!

***

CLICK HERE to read show notes from this conversation. Please enjoy!

***

Get in touch with our Founder and Host, Vidit Agarwal directly here

Contact us via our website to discuss sponsorship opportunities, recommend future guests or share feedback, we love hearing how to improve!

Thank you for rating / reviewing this podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show!

***

170+ guests have joined Vidit Agarwal on the show from around the world including Heads of state, Olympians, Business and cultural leaders, Social Advocates, Investors, Entrepreneurs and more. Past guests include: Anil Sabharwal, Mark Suster, Ahmed Fahour, Holly Ransom, Daniel Petre, Paul Bassat, Simon Holmes a Court, Michael Traill, Osher Gunsberg, Ed Cowan, Carol Schwartz, Wyatt Roy, Jack Zhang, Martijn Wilder, Holly Kramer and more.

***

#177 Hostplus CIO Sam Sicilia in a rare public interview: Italian roots & theorotical physics to managing $100B+ Retirement Fund, Hostplus!

Vidit Agarwal — Wed, 25 Sep 2024 19:00:00 +0000

We're joined by Sam Sicilia in a very rare public interview appearance. Sam is the Chief Investment Officer for the multi-billion dollar superannuation Fund (Retirement savings) Hostplus, often referred to as a 'giant' in the industry with around 1.7 million members and over $100b funds under management.

Hostplus were pioneers in laying the foundations of various VC funds including Blackbird, Square Peg, Airtree, One Ventures and more thanks to Sam's leadership.

Please note: This a replay of the episode that was released in December 2023.

Hosted by Vidit Agarwal, Founder of Curiosity Center and The High Flyers Podcast.

It’s now time to explore your curiosity.

If you're keen to discuss sponsorship and partnering with us, email us at vidit@thehighflyerspodcast.com today!

***

CLICK HERE to read show notes from this conversation. Please enjoy!

***

Get in touch with our Founder and Host, Vidit Agarwal directly here

Contact us via our website to discuss sponsorship opportunities, recommend future guests or share feedback, we love hearing how to improve!

Thank you for rating / reviewing this podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show!

***

***

#176 EVP’s Justin Lipman + Henry Innis from Mutinex: Decoding A-Players, Competitive edge in fundraising, Power of speaking numerically

Vidit Agarwal — Sun, 8 Sep 2024 19:00:00 +0000

In another edition of our Round Table and Provocation series, hear from Justin Lipman and Henry Innis in their first ever public interview together (and a particularly rare appearance for Justin in the public domain)!

Justin has been with EVP since 2015 and has developed a reputation as a leading software investor and is actively involved in the Fund’s portfolio management activities. He is a Board Member at Hnry, Shippit, Mutinex, Explorate, Pendula, VendorPanel amongst others.

Henry Innis is the CEO and Co-Founder of Mutinex. Mutinex’s GrowthOS software platform uses foundation modelling to analyse billions of dollars of advertising spend from some of the world’s best known brands – and then provide insight on how they could be investing better.

Hosted by Vidit Agarwal, Founder of Curiosity Center and The High Flyers Podcast.

It’s now time to explore your curiosity.

If you're keen to discuss sponsorship and partnering with us, email us at vidit@thehighflyerspodcast.com today!

***

CLICK HERE to read show notes from this conversation. Please enjoy!

***

Get in touch with our Founder and Host, Vidit Agarwal directly here

Contact us via our website to discuss sponsorship opportunities, recommend future guests or share feedback, we love hearing how to improve!

Thank you for rating / reviewing this podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show!

***

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#175 Will Davies: Farm Life to Acquisition by Uber; the inspiring in-depth story of "Car Next Door" in a rare public interview

Vidit Agarwal — Thu, 29 Aug 2024 03:21:32 +0000

Will Davies was the co-founder and CEO of Australia’s biggest peer-to-peer car sharing platform, Car Next Door. Founded in 2012, they grew to over one million trips taken through the platform.

In January 2022 Car Next Door was acquired by Uber for an estimated $105M.

Will was born in Regional NSW and now lives in Sydney, Australia.

Hosted by Vidit Agarwal, Founder of Curiosity Center and The High Flyers Podcast.

It’s now time to explore your curiosity.

If you're keen to discuss sponsorship and partnering with us, email us at vidit@thehighflyerspodcast.com today!

***

CLICK HERE to read show notes from this conversation. Please enjoy!

***

Get in touch with our Founder and Host, Vidit Agarwal directly here

Contact us via our website to discuss sponsorship opportunities, recommend future guests or share feedback, we love hearing how to improve!

Thank you for rating / reviewing this podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show!

***

***

#174 James Cameron: Becoming VC investor at Accel + Airtree, Embracing Career Uncertainty, Why diversity matters (in his first public interview since 2018)

Vidit Agarwal — Wed, 21 Aug 2024 07:50:25 +0000

James is a General Partner at Airtree Ventures and this is a very rare public interview with him, we understand his first since 2018.

James has a particular interest in software, infrastructure and fintech and led Airtree's investments in A Cloud Guru, Constantinople, DroneDeploy, Zepto, Buildkite and Secure Code Warrior.

Prior to joining Airtree, James spent 15 years working in the US, UK and Asia. He was Vice President at Accel Partners, the VC fund behind Slack, Dropbox, Facebook and Spotify.

James was born in Canberra and now lives in Sydney, Australia.

Hosted by Vidit Agarwal, Founder of Curiosity Center and The High Flyers Podcast.

It’s now time to explore your curiosity.

If you're keen to discuss sponsorship and partnering with us, email us at vidit@thehighflyerspodcast.com today!

***

CLICK HERE to read show notes from this conversation. Please enjoy!

***

Get in touch with our Founder and Host, Vidit Agarwal directly here

Contact us via our website to discuss sponsorship opportunities, recommend future guests or share feedback, we love hearing how to improve!

Thank you for rating / reviewing this podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show!

***

***

#173 Sarah Nolet: Multi-Sport Athlete, Building Tenacious Ventures, State of AgTech, Making Vulnerability a Strength

Vidit Agarwal — Wed, 14 Aug 2024 06:05:03 +0000

Sarah is the co-founder and Managing Partner of Tenacious Ventures - Australia's first AgTech venture firm. Their $35M first fund was backed by Grok Ventures, the Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC) with investors including primary producers, and agribusiness executives. Tenacious Ventures has so far backed 14 startups building a more sustainable and resilient agri-food system.

To confirm her incredible talents, Sarah has engineering degrees from MIT and Tufts University. She was a three-sport varsity athlete (soccer, basketball, and track & field), recognized as an All-American (soccer).

Sarah was born in San Diego, California in the US and now lives in Sydney, Australia.

Hosted by Vidit Agarwal, Founder of Curiosity Center and The High Flyers Podcast.

It’s now time to explore your curiosity.

If you're keen to discuss sponsorship and partnering with us, email us at vidit@thehighflyerspodcast.com today!

***

CLICK HERE to read show notes from this conversation. Please enjoy!

***

Get in touch with our Founder and Host, Vidit Agarwal directly here

Contact us via our website to discuss sponsorship opportunities, recommend future guests or share feedback, we love hearing how to improve!

Thank you for rating / reviewing this podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show!

***

***

#172 Scott Thomson: Becoming head of Innovation at Google, Navigating International Childhood, Why Engineers lead Tech Companies

Vidit Agarwal — Tue, 30 Jul 2024 19:00:00 +0000

Scott served as the recent Head of Innovation for Customer Engineering at Google. He worked at the company from 2015 through 2024 in the Ads Data Platforms, Analytics and Google Cloud product areas in ANZ and APAC. Before Google, Scott worked with Adobe on digital strategy and transformation. Scott is a also recent graduate of the VC catalyst program delivered by The Wade Institute of Entrepreneurship.

This episode is brought to you in partnership with The Wade Institute of Entrepreneurship. Check out their award winning VC Catalyst Program.

Hosted by Vidit Agarwal, Founder of Curiosity Center and The High Flyers Podcast.

It’s now time to explore your curiosity.

If you're keen to discuss sponsorship and partnering with us, email us at vidit@thehighflyerspodcast.com today!

***

CLICK HERE to read show notes from this conversation. Please enjoy!

***

Get in touch with our Founder and Host, Vidit Agarwal directly here

Contact us via our website to discuss sponsorship opportunities, recommend future guests or share feedback, we love hearing how to improve!

Thank you for rating / reviewing this podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show!

***

***

#171 Jacqui Purcell, Adam Milgrom & Ashleigh Camm: The Raw Ingredients in 'zero to great' relationships

Vidit Agarwal — Tue, 23 Jul 2024 19:00:00 +0000

In this special conversation, hear from three relatable role models: Adam Milgrom, Partner at Giant Leap; Jacqui Purcell, Operating Advisor at TDM Growth Partners (She's also ex CFO of two leading tech companies in Culture Amp + Deputy) and Ashleigh Camm, Board Course Director/VP of Labs at LUNA about how exactly Founders and Investors should build 'zero to great' relationships, a key ingredient inter linked with building your startup's board.

This episode is brought to you in partnership with LUNA. It is hosted by Vidit Agarwal, Founder of Curiosity Center and The High Flyers Podcast.

It’s now time to explore your curiosity.

If you're keen to discuss sponsorship and partnering with us, email us at vidit@thehighflyerspodcast.com today!

***

CLICK HERE to read show notes from this conversation. Please enjoy!

***

Get in touch with our Founder and Host, Vidit Agarwal directly here

Contact us via our website to discuss sponsorship opportunities, recommend future guests or share feedback, we love hearing how to improve!

Thank you for rating / reviewing this podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show!

***

The Curiosity Center is widely recognised as a leading on-demand intelligence network for founders, investors, executives and students with an audience of over 200,000 across this podcast + Association Series, 7-Star Events and Wondery. Find out more at www.curiositycenter.xyz

***

#170 Steve Baxter: Army to building startup with wife, Shark Tank Stardom, Ten13 + Defence Tech Investing

Vidit Agarwal — Wed, 17 Jul 2024 08:17:53 +0000

Steve Baxter is a Tech entrepreneur and Investor. He co-founded the Investing Platform, TEN13 and recently a VC Fund, Beaten Zone Venture Partners focused on DefenseTech. He has built and sold two startups: SE Net and PIPE Networks (for $373M). He was a 'Shark' on the hit TV series, Shark Tank for four seasons, showcasing his business expertise.

This episode is hosted by Vidit Agarwal, Founder of Curiosity Center and The High Flyers Podcast.

It’s now time to explore your curiosity.

If you're keen to discuss sponsorship and partnering with us, email us at vidit@thehighflyerspodcast.com today!

***

CLICK HERE to read show notes from this conversation. Please enjoy!

***

Get in touch with our Founder and Host, Vidit Agarwal directly here

Contact us via our website to discuss sponsorship opportunities, recommend future guests or share feedback, we love hearing how to improve!

Thank you for rating / reviewing this podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show!

***

***

#169 Silicon Valley to Aotearoa: Unfiltered debunking of NZ's startup myths with Blackbird's Phoebe Harrop & David Booth

Vidit Agarwal — Tue, 2 Jul 2024 20:00:00 +0000

Phoebe is a Partner in Blackbird’s NZ team with investments in Tracksuit, VeVe and Carepatron. Prior to joining Blackbird, she was a Director in the Growth Equity fund at Generation (Al Gore's Growth Equity Fund).

David is an Entrepreneur in Residence at Blackbird NZ and previously an early employee at Angel List, Carta, and 500 Startups. He then built and led the global education startup + founder community “On Deck” as CEO, raising over $100M from some of the world's top investors

They both hail from New Zealand and have lived/worked in London, San Fransisco, New York and Melbourne.

This episode is brought to you by KPMG High Growth Ventures and Curiosity Center, and hosted by Vidit Agarwal.

It’s now time to explore your curiosity.

If you're keen to discuss sponsorship and partnering with us, email us at vidit@thehighflyerspodcast.com today!

Contact Sophie Ritchie from KPMG High Growth Ventures here: https://au.linkedin.com/in/sophie-ritchie-872b1b67

***

CLICK HERE to read show notes from this conversation. Please enjoy!

***

Get in touch with our Founder and Host, Vidit Agarwal directly here

Contact us via our website to discuss sponsorship opportunities, recommend future guests or share feedback, we love hearing how to improve!

Thank you for rating / reviewing this podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show!

***

165+ guests have joined Vidit Agarwal on the show from around the world including Heads of state, Olympians, Business and cultural leaders, Social Advocates, Investors, Entrepreneurs and more. Past guests include: Anil Sabharwal, Mark Suster, Ahmed Fahour, Holly Ransom, Daniel Petre, Paul Bassat, Simon Holmes a Court, Michael Traill, Osher Gunsberg, Ed Cowan, Carol Schwartz, Wyatt Roy, Jack Zhang, Martijn Wilder, Holly Kramer and more.

The Curiosity Center is widely recognised as a leading on-demand intelligence network for founders, investors, executives and students with an audience of over 200,000 across this podcast + Association Series Newsletter and 7-Star Events. Find out more at www.curiositycenter.xyz

***

#168 Craig Blair: Trials and Tribulations; Co-Founder of a $1B+ VC Fund in his most candid interview ever

Vidit Agarwal — Wed, 26 Jun 2024 05:18:44 +0000

Craig Blair is the Co-Founder and Partner at Airtree, a globally recognised Venture Capital firm with $1B+ funds under management.

Before AirTree, he was a partner at Netus, a venture fund with a global top decile track record. He has also been a founder of three software businesses -- two of which were successful and one of which was a painful learning experience.

Craig was born in Ontario, Canada and now lives in Sydney, Australia.

This episode is brought to you by KPMG High Growth Ventures and Curiosity Center.

It’s now time to explore your curiosity.

If you're keen to discuss sponsorship and partnering with us, email us at vidit@thehighflyerspodcast.com today!

***

CLICK HERE to read show notes from this conversation. Please enjoy!

***

Get in touch with our Founder and Host, Vidit Agarwal directly here

Contact us via our website to discuss sponsorship opportunities, recommend future guests or share feedback, we love hearing how to improve!

Thank you for rating / reviewing this podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show!

***

The Curiosity Center is widely recognised as a leading on-demand intelligence network for founders, investors, executives and students with an audience of over 200,000 across this podcast + Association Series Newsletter and 7-Star Events. Find out more at www.curiositycenter.xyz

***

#167 Investment Memo: How CLT Toolbox is eliminating 39% of global carbon emissions from buildings ft. Adam Jones & Ringo Thomas

Vidit Agarwal — Thu, 13 Jun 2024 03:07:47 +0000

Welcome to installment #25 of the Investment Memo series and overall episode #167 on the show.

Submit this EOI for your company to be considered in future episodes of this special series!

***

Adam Jones and Ringo Thomas are the Co-Founders of CLT Toolbox, a software company building solutions for structural engineers and architects that radically simplifies the process for designing with zero- and low-carbon materials.

Did you know — Buildings are currently responsible for 39% of global energy-related carbon emissions?!

Adam is the CEO and Ringo is the Chief Commercial Officer. Adam hails from Melbourne, and Ringo from NZ — and they’re now based in Melbourne, Australia with customers in various markets including Australia, Europe and the US.

It’s now time to explore your curiosity.

If you're keen to discuss sponsorship and partnering with us, email us at vidit@thehighflyerspodcast.com today!

***

CLICK HERE to read show notes from this conversation. Please enjoy!

***

Get in touch with our Founder and Host, Vidit Agarwal directly here

Contact us via our website to discuss sponsorship opportunities, recommend future guests or share feedback, we love hearing how to improve!

Thank you for rating / reviewing this podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show!

***

The Curiosity Center is widely recognised as a leading on-demand intelligence network for founders, investors, executives and students with an audience of over 200,000 across this podcast + Association Series Newsletter and 7-Star Events. Find out more at www.curiositycenter.xyz

***

#166 Alasdair MacLeod (Rare Public Interview): Murdoch's Newsrooms to Soil Carbon Pioneer & Reshaping Agriculture

Vidit Agarwal — Wed, 29 May 2024 06:34:30 +0000

Alasdair is Executive Chairman of Macdoch, a private investment company with offices in Sydney and London. Macdoch comprises of Macdoch Ventures, investing in early stage tech startups, Macdoch Agriculture using capital to drive global climate solutions and the Macdoch foundation.

Al was previously a senior leader at Newscorp for over 20 years and fun fact: he is married to one of Rupert Murdoch’s daughters.

Al was born in Glasgow, Scotland and now splits his time between Sydney and London.

It’s now time to explore your curiosity.

If you're keen to discuss sponsorship and partnering with us, email us at vidit@thehighflyerspodcast.com today!

***

CLICK HERE to read show notes from this conversation. Please enjoy!

***

Get in touch with our Founder and Host, Vidit Agarwal directly here

Contact us via our website to discuss sponsorship opportunities, recommend future guests or share feedback, we love hearing how to improve!

Thank you for rating / reviewing this podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show!

***

The Curiosity Center is widely recognised as a leading on-demand intelligence network for founders, investors, executives and students with an audience of over 200,000 across this podcast + Association Series Newsletter and 7-Star Events. Find out more at www.curiositycenter.xyz

***

#165 Jillian Broadbent: The Trailblazing Board Director in a rare public Interview

Vidit Agarwal — Wed, 15 May 2024 06:34:57 +0000

Jillian Broadbent is one of the leading Business and Industry minds, with extensive investment banking industry knowledge and markets expertise, including a deep knowledge of risk management and regulation. She has served on the boards of many organisations, encompassing finance, the arts, and other sectors.

She is currently a Member of the Board of Macquarie Group, and previously Coca Cola, Qantas, Woolworths, Reserve Bank of Australia. She was Chancellor of the University of Wollongong for 11 years up until late 2020. In 2019, she was made a Companion of the Order of Australia for her contribution to corporate, financial, clean energy and cultural organisations, to higher education and to women in business.

Jillian was born and lives in Sydney. She has also lived in Canada and Bolivia.

It’s now time to explore your curiosity.

If you're keen to discuss sponsorship and partnering with us, email us at vidit@thehighflyerspodcast.com today!

***

💥💥 LINKS MENTIONED:

--> Apply for KPMG's 2024 Global Tech Innovator Competition: https://kpmg.com/au/en/home/insights/2023/04/kpmg-global-tech-innovator-australia.html

***

CLICK HERE to read show notes from this conversation. Please enjoy!

***

Get in touch with our Founder and Host, Vidit Agarwal directly here

Contact us via our website to discuss sponsorship opportunities, recommend future guests or share feedback, we love hearing how to improve!

Thank you for rating / reviewing this podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show!

***

160+ guests have joined Vidit Agarwal on the show from around the world including Heads of state, Olympians, Business and cultural leaders, Social Advocates, Investors, Entrepreneurs and more. Past guests include: Anil Sabharwal, Mark Suster, Ahmed Fahour, Holly Ransom, Daniel Petre, Paul Bassat, Simon Holmes a Court, Michael Traill, Osher Gunsberg, Ed Cowan, Carol Schwartz, Wyatt Roy, Jack Zhang, Martijn Wilder, Holly Kramer and more.

The Curiosity Center is widely recognised as a leading on-demand intelligence network for founders, investors, executives and students with an audience of over 200,000 across this podcast + Association Series Newsletter and 7-Star Events. Find out more at www.curiositycenter.xyz

***

#164 Connor Archbold: Living in 28 homes, Unpacking the magic and learnings building 'Tracksuit', New York, NZ & Family!

Vidit Agarwal — Tue, 7 May 2024 19:00:00 +0000

Connor is the Co-Founder and Co-CEO of Tracksuit. Tracksuit provides always-on, beautiful tracking to measure brand health. Tracksuit today covers 1,300 brands including many household names and recently raised $20M dollars in funding from leading investors to fuel their next phase of Growth.

Connor was born in California, USA and now lives in Auckland, New Zealand.

It's now time to explore your curiosity.

If you're keen to discuss sponsorship and partnering with us, email us at vidit@thehighflyerspodcast.com today!

***

💥💥 LINKS MENTIONED:

--> Register for our special ClimateTech event on 16th May in Melbourne featuring Sam McLean, Head of Public Policy at Tesla and Simon Holmes a Court, Founder of Climate200: https://lu.ma/7sruxko

--> Apply for KPMG's 2024 Global Tech Innovator Competition: https://kpmg.com/au/en/home/insights/2023/04/kpmg-global-tech-innovator-australia.html

***

CLICK HERE to read show notes from this conversation. Please enjoy!

***

Get in touch with our Founder and Host, Vidit Agarwal directly here

Contact us via our website to discuss sponsorship opportunities, recommend future guests or share feedback, we love hearing how to improve!

Thank you for rating / reviewing this podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show!

***

The Curiosity Center is widely recognised as a leading on-demand intelligence network for founders, investors, executives and students with an audience of over 200,000 across this podcast + Association Series Newsletter and 7-Star Events. Find out more at www.curiositycenter.xyz

***

#163 Grant Dooley (Rare Public Interview): Learnings as Counsul General in China + Indonesia, Inside Breakthrough Victoria

Vidit Agarwal — Thu, 2 May 2024 05:06:35 +0000

Grant Dooley is an experienced international funds manager and the CEO of the $2B Fund, Breakthrough Victoria, with prior roles at Hastings and heading ARA Infrastructure. Grant had a distinguished career as a Foreign Affairs and Diplomatic trade official for the Australian Government, including two years as the Australian Consul General in China and previously working in Jakarta, Indonesia.

It’s now time to explore your curiosity.

If you're keen to discuss sponsorship and partnering with us, email us at vidit@thehighflyerspodcast.com today!

***

💥💥 REGISTER BELOW TO THE TWO LIVE-EVENTS COMING UP!

--> Register for our special ClimateTech event on 16th May in Melbourne featuring Sam McLean, Head of Public Policy at Tesla and Simon Holmes a Court, Founder of Climate200: https://lu.ma/7sruxko

--> Register for our special event on the 9th May in Melbourne with 60 founders and 60 investors: https://lu.ma/361angelsMelb

***

CLICK HERE to read show notes from this conversation. Please enjoy!

***

Get in touch with our Founder and Host, Vidit Agarwal directly here

Contact us via our website to discuss sponsorship opportunities, recommend future guests or share feedback, we love hearing how to improve!

Thank you for rating / reviewing this podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show!

***

The Curiosity Center is widely recognised as a leading on-demand intelligence network for founders, investors, executives and students with an audience of over 200,000 across this podcast + Association Series Newsletter and 7-Star Events. Find out more at www.curiositycenter.xyz

***

#162 Adam Jacobs: How he built 'The Iconic' and now 'Hatch', Learnings from selling kitchen knives, personal identity and dad's influence!

Vidit Agarwal — Thu, 25 Apr 2024 07:58:25 +0000

Adam Jacobs is the Co-Founder of THE ICONIC - A globally recognised online fashion retailer, and the Co-Founder of Hatch - a new venture whose mission is for all people to find meaning in work.

Adam was born and lives in Sydney, Australia with brief stints living in Boston and Copenhagen.

It’s now time to explore your curiosity. Click the links below to listen and enjoy now.

If you're keen to discuss sponsorship and partnering with us, email us at vidit@thehighflyerspodcast.com today!

***

💥💥 THREE LIMITED-TIME OPPORTUNITIES. REGISTER BELOW!

--> WIN a free ticket to Blackbird's Sunrise festival by completing this form: https://forms.gle/3VZgmkJgbAimsTb69

--> Register for our special event on the 9th May in Melbourne with 60 founders and 60 investors: https://lu.ma/361angelsMelb

--> Register for our special ClimateTech event on 16th May in Melbourne featuring Sam McLean, Head of Public Policy at Tesla and Simon Holmes a Court, Founder of Climate200: https://lu.ma/7sruxko

***

CLICK HERE to read show notes from this conversation. Please enjoy!

***

Get in touch with our Founder and Host, Vidit Agarwal directly here

Contact us via our website to discuss sponsorship opportunities, recommend future guests or share feedback, we love hearing how to improve!

Thank you for rating / reviewing this podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show!

***

The Curiosity Center is widely recognised as a leading on-demand intelligence network for founders, investors, executives and students with an audience of over 200,000 across this podcast + Association Series Newsletter and 7-Star Events. Find out more at www.curiositycenter.xyz

***

#161 Holly Ransom: Inspiring journey from Perth to working w Obama, Branson, Gladwell + world events, her grandma and more!

Vidit Agarwal — Wed, 17 Apr 2024 00:20:15 +0000

Holly Ransom is an internationally acclaimed leadership speaker and consultant – paving the way for leaders across the globe to turn knowledge into action for real-world change. She is CEO of Emergent Global and author of The Leading Edge. Holly was personally requested by Barack Obama to interview him on stage. She delivered a Peace Charter to His Holiness the Dalai Lama and was chosen by Sir Richard Branson as a nominee for Wired Magazine’s prestigious ‘Smart List’ of Future Game Changers to watch.

Holly’s interview portfolio spans from thought leaders like Malcolm Gladwell to powerful figures such as Billie Jean-King, Condoleezza Rice, First Lady Michelle Obama, former Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard and even the world’s first humanoid robot, Sophia. She has hosted conferences for renowned global entities, including the likes of Coca-Cola and James Clear.

Holly was born in Perth, Australia and now spends her time between Melbourne, Australia and the USA.

It’s now time to explore your curiosity. Click the links below to listen and enjoy now.

If you're keen to discuss sponsorship and partnering with us, email us at vidit@thehighflyerspodcast.com today!

***

CLICK HERE to read show notes from this conversation between our host, Vidit Agarwal and Holly Ransom. Please enjoy!

Note: This episode is a replay of episode #44, which was recorded in September 2021.

***

Get in touch with our Founder and Host, Vidit Agarwal directly here

Contact us via our website to discuss sponsorship opportunities, recommend future guests or share feedback, we love hearing how to improve!

Thank you for rating / reviewing this podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show!

***

160+ guests have joined Vidit Agarwal on the show from around the world including Heads of state, Olympians, Business and cultural leaders, Social Advocates, Investors, Entrepreneurs and more.

The Curiosity Center is widely recognised as a leading on-demand intelligence network for founders, investors, executives and students with an audience of over 200,000 across this podcast + Association Series Newsletter and 7-Star Events. Find out more at www.curiositycenter.xyz

***

#160 Kell Reilly: Lessons from investing in Spotify, Uber, Atlassian in his first ever public interview

Vidit Agarwal — Wed, 27 Mar 2024 03:48:40 +0000

Kell is the newest Partner at the Venture Capital firm, Airtree.

Before joining Airtree, he spent most of his career in Silicon Valley at renowned firms such as Dragoneer, D1 Capital Partners and General Atlantic, investing in some of the most interesting consumer and enterprise companies in technology (Airbnb, Appfolio, Atlassian, Gitlab, Gusto, Samsara, Spotify, Uber).

Kell was born in Sydney, Australia and has recently returned back to Sydney after spending the last 14 years in the US.

It’s now time to explore your curiosity. Click the links below to listen and enjoy now.

If you're keen to discuss sponsorship and partnering with us, email us at vidit@thehighflyerspodcast.com today!

***

CLICK HERE to read show notes from this conversation between our host, Vidit Agarwal and Kell Reilly. Please enjoy!

***

Get in touch with our Founder and Host, Vidit Agarwal directly here

Contact us via our website to discuss sponsorship opportunities, recommend future guests or share feedback, we love hearing how to improve!

Thank you for rating / reviewing this podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show!

***

160+ guests have joined Vidit Agarwal on the show from around the world including Heads of state, Olympians, Business and cultural leaders, Social Advocates, Investors, Entrepreneurs and more.

The Curiosity Center is widely recognised as a leading on-demand intelligence network for founders, investors, executives and students with an audience of over 200,000 across this podcast + Association Series Newsletter and 7-Star Events. Find out more at www.curiositycenter.xyz

***

#159 Matteo Franceschetti: Eight Sleep's Founder, Late English Learner, Fundraising from YC, Khosla & Founders Fund

Vidit Agarwal — Thu, 14 Mar 2024 18:00:00 +0000

Matteo is the Co-Founder and CEO of Eight Sleep, the sleep fitness company. Eight Sleep developed a proprietary technology which is redesigning sleep by developing cutting-edge AI and machine learning models to track bio signals during the night and optimising body recovery and rest while asleep. The end goal of the Pod is to compress sleep and scan your body while asleep to monitor your health.

Eight Sleep is currently used by pro athletes and top performers across multiple industries and was recognised as one of TIME’s “Best Inventions” in 2018 and 2019, was named one of Fast Company’s “Most Innovative Companies” in 2018, and has raised over $150M in funding from leading investors, including Founders Fund, Softbank, Khosla Ventures, Y Combinator, Valor Equity Partners, General Catalyst, Naval Ravikant, and Patrick Collison.

Matteo was born in Ferrara in Italy and now lives in the US, splitting his time between New York and Miami.

It’s now time to explore your curiosity. Click the links below to listen and enjoy now.

If you're keen to discuss sponsorship and partnering with us, email us at vidit@thehighflyerspodcast.com today!

***

CLICK HERE to read show notes from this conversation between our host, Vidit Agarwal and Matteo Franceschetti

It’s now time to explore your curiosity. Please enjoy!

***

Get in touch with our Founder and Host, Vidit Agarwal directly here

Contact us via our website to discuss sponsorship opportunities, recommend future guests or share feedback, we love hearing how to improve!

Thank you for rating / reviewing this podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show!

***

150+ guests have joined Vidit Agarwal on the show from around the world including Heads of state, Olympians, Business and cultural leaders, Social Advocates, Investors, Entrepreneurs and more.

The Curiosity Center is widely recognised as a leading on-demand intelligence network for founders, investors, executives and students with an audience of over 200,000 across this podcast + Association Series Newsletter and 7-Star Events. Find out more at www.curiositycenter.xyz

***

#158 Judy Anderson-Firth: Source of "abundant giving" personality, becoming CEO w Dom Pym, democratising access to investing + personal news with her wife!

Vidit Agarwal — Wed, 6 Mar 2024 18:00:00 +0000

Judy is the Group CEO of Euphemia, the family office for Australian entrepreneur and technologist, Dom Pym. Together they manage ~$65m in investments globally, focussing on Fintech, ClimateTech, women-led startups and startup infrastructure. Prior to teaming up with Dom, Judy was the CEO of Startup Victoria, Australia’s largest network for entrepreneurs with over 60,000 people in the community. She is also Chair of the advisory board at LUNA and is a board observer at Birchal on behalf of Euphemia.

Judy was born in Penrith, in NSW, a bit outside Sydney and now lives in Melbourne, Australia.

*(This episode is brought to you in partnership with the Wade Institute of Entrepreneurship. Find out more about their renowned VC catalyst program). Reach out to Vidit if you're curious to learn more or want an intro to Midsy at Wade.

If you're keen to discuss sponsorship and partnering with us, email us at vidit@thehighflyerspodcast.com today!

***

CLICK HERE to read show notes from this conversation between our host, Vidit Agarwal and this weeks guest, Judy Anderson-Firth.

It’s now time to explore your curiosity. Please enjoy!

***

Get in touch with our Founder and Host, Vidit Agarwal directly here

Contact us via our website to discuss sponsorship opportunities, recommend future guests or share feedback, we love hearing how to improve!

Thank you for rating / reviewing this podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show!

***

150+ guests have joined Vidit Agarwal on the show from around the world including Heads of state, Olympians, Business and cultural leaders, Social Advocates, Investors, Entrepreneurs and more.

The Curiosity Center is widely recognised as a leading on-demand intelligence network for founders, investors, executives and students with an audience of over 200,000 across this podcast + Association Series Newsletter and 7-Star Events. Find out more at www.curiositycenter.xyz

***

#157 Jack Zhang: Airwallex's $6.2B Ascent – From Melbourne Café to Global Fintech Powerhouse (First In-Depth Interview)

Vidit Agarwal — Wed, 21 Feb 2024 18:00:00 +0000

Jack Zhang is the Co-founder and CEO of Airwallex, last valued at $6.2B (As of 2025). Airwallex is a leading global financial platform for modern businesses, offering trusted solutions to manage everything from payments, treasury, and spend management to embedded finance, serving over 100,000 companies around the world. Jack is responsible for devising and implementing the overall strategic vision of the company. Under his leadership, Airwallex has raised over US$800 million in funding, supported by top-tier investors including Lone Pine Capital, Greenoaks Capital, Salesforce Ventures, DST Global, Sequoia, Tencent and SquarePeg. Prior to starting Airwallex, Jack had over a decade of experience in foreign exchange trading and investment banking across London, Melbourne and Hong Kong, including start various entrepreneurial pursuits including import and export businesses, cafes and more. Jack was born in Shandong, China and then moved to Melbourne, Australia when he was 15. He now spends his time mostly between New York and London.

***

CLICK HERE to read show notes and timestamps from this conversation between our host, Vidit Agarwal and this weeks guest, Jack Zhang.

It’s now time to explore your curiosity. Please enjoy!

***

Get in touch with our Founder and Host, Vidit Agarwal directly here

Contact us via our website to discuss sponsorship opportunities, recommend future guests or share feedback, we love hearing how to improve!

Thank you for rating / reviewing this podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show!

***

***

#156 Ahmed Fahour (pt 2 of 2 - Rare Public Interview): How he became the highly acclaimed CEO of Citigroup, NAB & Australia Post

Vidit Agarwal — Wed, 14 Feb 2024 18:00:00 +0000

This is the second and final part of a 2 part special conversation with Ahmed Fahour in a rare public interview appearance. Ahmed is a prominent business executive who has held leadership positions in various organizations around the world. He moved to Australia from Lebanon at a young age, and is currently CEO of The Gurner Group. Previously, he has held well known roles including as CEO of Australia Post, NAB, Citigroup and Latitude Financial Services alongside board roles with Invest Victoria and the $15B National Reconstruction Fund. Ahmed is an active member of Muslim community and was Australia’s Special Envoy to the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation and one of the founders of the Islamic Museum of Australia. Ahmed is married to Hannah and between them they have six children. He was born in Lebanon and now lives in Melbourne, Australia.

***

CLICK HERE to read show notes and timestamps from this conversation between our host, Vidit Agarwal and this weeks guest, Ahmed Fahour.

It’s now time to explore your curiosity. Please enjoy!

***

Get in touch with our Founder and Host, Vidit Agarwal directly here

Contact us via our website to discuss sponsorship opportunities, recommend future guests or share feedback, we love hearing how to improve!

Thank you for rating / reviewing this podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show!

***

150+ guests have joined Vidit Agarwal on the show from around the world including Heads of state, Olympians, Business and cultural leaders, Social Advocates, Investors, Entrepreneurs and more.

The Curiosity Center is widely recognised as a leading on-demand intelligence network for founders, investors, executives and students with an audience of over 200,000 across this podcast + Association Series Newsletter and 7-Star Events. Find out more at www.curiositycenter.xyz

***

#155 Ahmed Fahour (pt 1 of 2 - Rare Public Interview): Early life influences, Lebanon, Adversity, Re-marriage + new CEO role!

Vidit Agarwal — Mon, 12 Feb 2024 18:00:00 +0000

This is part 1 of a 2 part special conversation with Ahmed Fahour in a rare public interview appearance.

Ahmed is a prominent business executive who has held leadership positions in various organizations around the world. He moved to Australia from Lebanon at a young age, and is currently CEO of The Gurner Group. Previously, he has held well known roles including as CEO of Australia Post, NAB, Citigroup and Latitude Financial Services alongside board roles with Invest Victoria and the $15B National Reconstruction Fund. Ahmed is an active member of Muslim community and was Australia’s Special Envoy to the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation and one of the founders of the Islamic Museum of Australia. Ahmed is married to Hannah and between them they have six children. He was born in Lebanon and now lives in Melbourne, Australia.

***

CLICK HERE to read show notes from this conversation between our host, Vidit Agarwal and this weeks guest, Ahmed Fahour.

It’s now time to explore your curiosity. Please enjoy!

***

Get in touch with our Founder and Host, Vidit Agarwal directly here

Contact us via our website to discuss sponsorship opportunities, recommend future guests or share feedback, we love hearing how to improve!

Thank you for rating / reviewing this podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show!

***

150+ guests have joined Vidit Agarwal on the show from around the world including Heads of state, Olympians, Business and cultural leaders, Social Advocates, Investors, Entrepreneurs and more.

The Curiosity Center is widely recognised as a leading on-demand intelligence network for founders, investors, executives and students with an audience of over 200,000 across this podcast + Association Series Newsletter and 7-Star Events. Find out more at www.curiositycenter.xyz

***

#154 Larry Marshall: Loosing dad early, building 6 tech companies, 30 yrs in the US, transforming Australia's National Science Agency (CSIRO)

Vidit Agarwal — Tue, 6 Feb 2024 18:00:00 +0000

Dr. Larry Marshall is a distinguished scientist, technology innovator, and business leader with over 25 years of experience. He holds a PhD in Physics and As the longest-serving chief executive of CSIRO, Australia’s national science agency, he led a transformation that resulted in the first growth in 30 years and the first emissions reduction in 100 years, achieving 83% of Net Zero. He has led 2 companies to IPOs and served as CEO of 6 companies in various sectors, and has 100 publications and conference papers, holds 20 patents, and has served on 20 boards of high-tech companies operating in the US, Australia, and China. Larry was born and lives in Sydney, Australia. He spent 30 years living and working in the US.

***

CLICK HERE to read show notes from this conversation between our host, Vidit Agarwal and Larry Marshall.

It’s now time to explore your curiosity. Please enjoy!

***

Get in touch with our Founder and Host, Vidit Agarwal directly here

Contact us via our website to discuss sponsorship opportunities, recommend future guests or share feedback, we love hearing how to improve!

Thank you for rating / reviewing this podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show!

***

150+ guests have joined Vidit Agarwal on the show from around the world including Heads of state, Olympians, Business and cultural leaders, Social Advocates, Investors, Entrepreneurs and more.

The Curiosity Center is widely recognised as a leading on-demand intelligence network for founders, investors, executives and students with an audience of over 200,000 across this podcast + Association Series Newsletter and 7-Star Events. Find out more at www.curiositycenter.xyz

***

#153 Mark Suster: Battling ADHD, Selling to Salesforce, Good vs Bad Acquisitions, Venture Capital predictions for 2024!

Vidit Agarwal — Tue, 23 Jan 2024 18:00:00 +0000

Mark Suster is a globally renowned Investor, being Partner at Upfront Ventures, based in LA, California. He previously was the founder & CEO of two successful enterprise software companies, the most recent of which was sold to Salesforce.com where Mark became VP, Product. Mark was born in Philadelphia, and now lives in Los Angeles, California in the USA.

***

CLICK HERE to read show notes from this conversation between our host, Vidit Agarwal and Mark Suster.

It’s now time to explore your curiosity. Please enjoy!

***

Get in touch with our Founder and Host, Vidit Agarwal directly here

Contact us via our website to discuss sponsorship opportunities, recommend future guests or share feedback, we love hearing how to improve!

Thank you for rating / reviewing this podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show!

***

150+ guests have joined Vidit Agarwal on the show from around the world including Heads of state, Olympians, Business and cultural leaders, Social Advocates, Investors, Entrepreneurs and more.

The Curiosity Center is widely recognised as a leading on-demand intelligence network for founders, investors, executives and students with an audience of over 200,000 across this podcast + Association Series Newsletter and 7-Star Events. Find out more at www.curiositycenter.xyz

***

#152 Holly Kramer (Rare Public Interview): US Countryside to Board Director at ANZ, Woolworths & Fonterra

Vidit Agarwal — Tue, 9 Jan 2024 18:00:00 +0000

We're joined by Holly Kramer in a very rare public interview appearance. Holly is an experienced non-executive Director and Chief Executive. She is on the boards of leading companies such as Woolworths, ANZ, Fonterra and more. Holly is the former CEO of Best & Less and has more than 25 years’ experience in general management, marketing and sales, including roles at the Ford Motor Company (in the US and Australia), Telstra Corporation and Pacific Brands. She was born in Billings, Montana in the US and currently lives in the southern highlands, just outside Sydney in Australia.

***

Learn about Holly’s sunrise in Billings, Montana with a deep connection to nature, and the influences of her parents -- her dad a doctor and mum having scholarships to Ivy League schools but giving that up to be a stay at home mum to Holly and her brother.

In this candid conversation, we cover Holly’s relationship with money growing up, the fascinating story behind her move to Australia post university and the link with the Ford Motor Company, how she met her husband, Transition from the car industry at Ford to telecommunications at Telstra as marketing director (+ working for previous guest Daniel Petre in between those roles).

Particular areas that stand out include:

Learnings from a former prominent public company CEO and recollecting fascinating stories of dealing with conflict
How Holly learnt the importance of understanding people, building relationships, having open communication.
Leaving Telstra to join Best & Less when it was struggling, and why she wanted to manage a P&L and a business end to end, rather than just a function
The incredible role numerous mentors have played in opening doors for her career moves, often in sectors that she is new to
Reflecting back on 2012 and setting up foundations for a successful board career since which has included AMP, Australia Post, Woolworths, ANZ, and more
The desire to build a family
Rare inside view of how boards operate — aspects that a lot of you may not know about
Whether she has built more courage as she has become more senior in her career.
And why the most challenging experience she had was my time on the AMP board.
And her current focus on helping companies with their climate and sustainability strategy and why that’s important.

It’s now time to explore your curiosity. Please enjoy!

***

Get in touch with our Founder and Host, Vidit Agarwal directly here

Contact us via our website to discuss sponsorship opportunities, recommend future guests or share feedback, we love hearing how to improve!

Thank you for rating / reviewing this podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show!

***

150+ guests have joined Vidit Agarwal on the show from around the world including Heads of state, Olympians, Business and cultural leaders, Social Advocates, Investors, Entrepreneurs and more.

The Curiosity Center is widely recognised as a leading on-demand intelligence network for founders, investors, executives and students with an audience of over 200,000 across this podcast + Association Series Newsletter and 7-Star Events. Find out more at www.curiositycenter.xyz

***

[Replay] Anil Sabharwal: Multicultural roots to leading THREE of Google's nine BILLION active user products!

Vidit Agarwal — Fri, 29 Dec 2023 18:00:00 +0000

This is a replay of our very popular episode with Anil Sabharwal (one of his only public interviews to date!). Anil is Vice President of Product Management at Google. The company has nine products that have achieved the coveted Billion active users goal, and Anil has built and led three of them in Google Photos, Google Chrome and Google Drive. He is currently heading up a new product in Fitbit.

****

In this (replay) episode #118 w Anil Sabharwal learn about:

Sunrise in Canada with Indian roots
Reflections on his early influences and leaving home at age 17
Highlights / Learnings from 10-15 year career prior to joining Google
Moving to Australia in 2006
Achieving momentum in early days at Google
Unlocking skills working across new markets, segments and industries in building billion user products and becoming globally recognised product leader
Building Google Photos into a billion user product
Leadership responsibility across product, design and engineering
Promotion to managing Google Chrome, ChromeOS and Communications
Product DNA differences between Photos and Chrome
Transition from Chrome to a blank canvas and prioritising values
Why is the product function king (or queen) at Google?
Key metrics to monitor in your product function
Make a few people very happy vs a lot of people semi happy
Success at 50

It’s now time to explore your curiosity. Please enjoy!

***

Get in touch with our Founder and Host, Vidit Agarwal directly here

Contact us via our website to discuss sponsorship opportunities, recommend future guests or share feedback, we love hearing how to improve!

Thank you for rating / reviewing this podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show!

***

The High Flyers Podcast is a global TOP ten ranked show that re-imagines the traditional notion of a "high flyer". The podcast showcases the journeys of relatable role models from their sunrise (childhood) to today. Listeners love the unique and direct inside access to these relatable role models, companies and industries in every walk of life to help us all be 1% better everyday, together.

150+ guests have joined Vidit Agarwal on the show from around the world including Heads of state, Olympians, Business and cultural leaders, Social Advocates, Investors, Entrepreneurs and more.

The Curiosity Center is widely recognised as a leading on-demand intelligence network for founders, investors, executives and students with an audience of over 200,000 across this podcast + Association Series Newsletter and 7-Star Events. Find out more at www.curiositycenter.xyz

***

#151 Sam Sicilia (Rare Public Interview): Humble roots, theorotical physics, Chief Investment Officer for $100B+ retirement fund, Hostplus!

Vidit Agarwal — Wed, 20 Dec 2023 18:00:00 +0000

***

Learn about Sam’s sunrise in Melbourne, Australia and the influences of his parents, who migrated from Sicily to Melbourne in the 1950s. Learnings from his Father who worked in heavy metal forging for aircrafts, heavy trucks, shaping hot steel and Mother was a seamstress. Sam refers to his childhood as “Economically poor but culturally rich”

In this candid conversation, we cover his goals at age 18 to become an astronomer but then pursuing academia and a Phd in Theoretical physics. Sam shared his transition from academia to investment consulting thanks to a phone call from someone who saw him teach and supporting him to succeed. Our host Vidit asked him about his unique views on Balancing people/relationships with diligence/theory in the investment world.

Particular areas that stand out are:

Reflecting on 2008 GFC and Sam starting in CIO role at Hostplus (when they lost a Billion dollars in assets, going from 7.6B to 6.4B!)
Why he believes in Venture Capital and the ability to tolerate illiquidity in private equity
If he had to redesign the VC model structure today on a white sheet of paper, how would he do it?
Portfolio construction within private equity: buyout vs VC?
Fee structures with VC funds when interacting with super fund money
Specialised vs focused funds

And be sure to listen in on the non work related moments in Sam’s story including his life changing learning from doing a 42 days walk in Spain with his wife in 2019, his biggest area of learning over the next 6 months and the person who inspires him the most today.

It’s now time to explore your curiosity. Please enjoy!

***

Get in touch with our Founder and Host, Vidit Agarwal directly here

Contact us via our website to discuss sponsorship opportunities, recommend future guests or share feedback, we love hearing how to improve!

Thank you for rating / reviewing this podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show!

***

150+ guests have joined Vidit Agarwal on the show from around the world including Heads of state, Olympians, Business and cultural leaders, Social Advocates, Investors, Entrepreneurs and more.

The Curiosity Center is widely recognised as a leading on-demand intelligence network for founders, investors, executives and students with an audience of over 200,000 across this podcast + Association Series Newsletter and 7-Star Events. Find out more at www.curiositycenter.xyz

***

#150 Simon Holmes à Court (First Ever In-Depth Public Interview): Life influences, tech, energy, politics, climate 200 and the "trim tab"

Vidit Agarwal — Wed, 6 Dec 2023 18:00:00 +0000

To celebrate this milestone episode 150, we're joined by Simon Holmes à Court in a very rare public interview appearance, and we believe his first about his own story!

Simon has stood at the intersection of community, climate action and politics since May 2007 when he began chairing the community cooperative that set out to build Australia’s first community-owned wind farm. Fifteen years later to the month, at the May 2022 national federal election, one of this former Silicon Valley dot com engineer’s startups, Climate 200, harnessed community, climate awareness and politics to play a major role in shaking up Australia’s tired old political order. He is an energy analyst, clean-tech investor, climate philanthropist, director of the Smart Energy Council, The Superpower Institute and more.

***

Episode guiding points:

This conversation is truly wide ranging and covers a lot of ground. We discuss his upbringing in Perth, Australia with 3 siblings and his parents being on the road a lot, and his father’s South African heritage. Simon reflects on his boarding school experience in Geelong, near Melbourne and how that was physically and emotionally character building.

Hear about his aspirations at age 18: set up a computer parts company with a friend to upgrade memory in people’s computers, Studying law but then loved the student organisation AIESEC and going down a different path. Our host, Vidit also was involved with AIESEC during my university studies and couldn’t speak more highly of the training it gave me.

Particular aspects of this conversation that stood out to us include:

Simon and his wife left the US on sept 10th 2001 with their first child and moving back to Australia, and living in Melbourne (cautious after his boarding school scars)
Simon’s discovery of renewable energy during his 14 years scaling a company called Observant: Building remote monitoring technical solutions, and precision water management for farmers and their family cattle stations in the Northern Territory
How leadership of the Hepburn Community Farm Project gave Simon exposure to everything from The capital raising, the media, the politics, the engineering side, the commercials of building environmental, on ground engagement
The fascinating story of The kids off naru project, the Sydney opera house and a horse race and Simon learning the power of Twitter through this
Learning clarity of communication and present information in a way that makes people engaged and willing to listen and not switch off?

Two concepts that we haven’t stopped thinking about since this conversation is one: First The trim Tab from Buckminster Fuller (listen in to hear this context, small things like a trim tab can drive large scale changes), and second the Henry David Thoreau quote “There are a thousand hacking at the branches of evil to one who is striking at the root.”

So be a trim tab and a root striker.

Thank you for your support of the 150 episodes to date, this has been the most impactful and enjoyable work our host Vidit Agarwal has done in his life, and is excited for what’s ahead. As always, his details are in the show notes and he loves hearing from you.

It’s now time to explore your curiosity. Please enjoy

***

Get in touch with our Founder and Host, Vidit Agarwal directly here

Contact us via our website to discuss sponsorship opportunities, recommend future guests or share feedback, we love hearing how to improve!

Thank you for rating / reviewing this podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show!

***

150+ guests have joined Vidit Agarwal on the show from around the world including Heads of state, Olympians, Business and cultural leaders, Social Advocates, Investors, Entrepreneurs and more.

The Curiosity Center is widely recognised as a leading on-demand intelligence network for founders, investors, executives and students with an audience of over 200,000 across this podcast + Association Series Newsletter and 7-Star Events. Find out more at www.curiositycenter.xyz

***

#149 Roundtable musings w Barnaby Marshall + Vignesh Kumar: Demistifying the fast growing NZ tech ecosystem w Icehouse Ventures and GD1

Vidit Agarwal — Tue, 21 Nov 2023 18:00:00 +0000

We're joined by Barnaby Marshall, Partner at Icehouse Ventures and Vignesh Kumar, Co-Managing Partner at GD1 in this special "round table musings" demystifying the fast growing New Zealand tech ecosystem.

***

Episode guiding points:

Think of this conversation as a balcony view of the state of play in the tech ecosystem in NZ and a round table of musings. We deep dive into various aspects including Barnaby and Vignesh’s varied and interesting entry points into Venture Capital and how their prior experiences in different domains helped; Unpacking the historical and current state of play of the NZ Venture ecosystem (Generation 3 as Barnaby refers to it) and examples of the success stories to date such as TradeMe, PushPay, Xero, LanzaTech, Rocketlab etc. We dive into the thesis and fund construction of GD1 and Icehouse, their Investment Committee decision making process (this one is particularly relevant for founders looking to raise capital from VC’s like Icehouse and GD1).

We review the cultural change starting to happen in NZ and What would Barnaby and Vignesh change if they had a magic wand.

And you may find their areas of learning for the next 6 months intriguing, our host Vidit for one have exactly those points on his list.

It’s now time to explore your curiosity. Please enjoy!

***

Get in touch with our Founder and Host, Vidit Agarwal directly here

Contact us via our website to discuss sponsorship opportunities, recommend future guests or share feedback, we love hearing how to improve!

Thank you for rating / reviewing this podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show!

***

145+ guests have joined Vidit Agarwal on the show from around the world including Heads of state, Olympians, Business and cultural leaders, social Advocates, Investors, Entrepreneurs and more.

The Curiosity Center is widely recognised as a leading on-demand intelligence network for founders, investors, executives and students with an audience of over 200,000 across this podcast + Association Series Newsletter and 7-Star Events. Find out more at www.curiositycenter.xyz

***

#148 Martijn Wilder (First Ever In-Depth Public Interview): Book publishing family to building Pollination & the $15B National Reconstruction Fund

Vidit Agarwal — Sun, 5 Nov 2023 18:00:00 +0000

Martijn Wilder is the Founder & CEO of Pollination, a global climate change advisory and investment firm. He is also the chair of the $15B National Reconstruction Fund set up by the Australian Government and was previously Head of Baker & McKenzie’s global climate law and finance practice for twenty years working with governments and bodies to accelerate the global net zero transition.

***

Episode guiding points:

Learn about Martijn’s sunrise in Sydney, Australia being of British and dutch heritage with his parents having immigrated to Aus in their early 20’s and a strong family history of working in the book publishing industry, and influences of his 2 younger sisters. You may be surprised to learn that Martijn wanted to be a vet at age 18, and fell into law and business.

Questions our host, Vidit exploring with Martijn include: His Honours thesis at university in economics focused on antarctic legal issues, What made him join and then work at the law firm, Baker Mackenzie for 20 years, How he rose up to partner and his learnings on backing people, climate solutions projects he worked on around the world including buying and selling UN sanctioned carbon credits in 2004, Helping FIJI host the COP, attended by heads of countries, meeting indigenous leaders for regenerative agriculture projects and more. Our host, Vidit was particularly fascinated by how some of these projects actually originate and the realities behind the scenes. We cover Martijn’s journey to being on and chairing various non for profit and government boards including the clean energy finance corporation, the australian renewable agency and most recently being appointed to chair $15B National Reconstruction Fund set up by the Australian Government.

Important aspects of his story that are intriguing include the role his wife Jane has played in his life, and of course how and why he decided to set up Pollination nearly 4 years ago now, their thesis, the first 12 months of setting it up with COVID hitting, Raising capital and learn about Martijn’s systems and habits to manage his time and his most recommended newsletter he religiously reads.

It’s now time to explore your curiosity. Please enjoy!

***

Get in touch with our Founder and Host, Vidit Agarwal directly here

Contact us via our website to discuss sponsorship opportunities, recommend future guests or share feedback, we love hearing how to improve!

Thank you for rating / reviewing this podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show!

***

145+ guests have joined Vidit Agarwal on the show from around the world including Heads of state, Olympians, Business and cultural leaders, social Advocates, Investors, Entrepreneurs and more.

The Curiosity Center is widely recognised as a leading on-demand intelligence network for founders, investors, executives and students with an audience of over 200,000 across this podcast + Association Series Newsletter and 7-Star Events. Find out more at www.curiositycenter.xyz

***

#147 Sarah Hamilton: Entreprenurial upbringing to building Bella Box + how she's now an investor and advisor to leading companies!

Vidit Agarwal — Tue, 31 Oct 2023 18:00:00 +0000

Sarah Hamilton is the co-founder of Bellabox, Asia Pacific’s market leading beauty box that she co-founded with her twin sister, and raised investment from leading investors including SquarePeg. Sarah is now an investor, and advisor to many of the leading companies and CEOs in the consumer and beauty industry, and a graduate of the Wade Institute VC catalyst program!

***

Episode guiding points:

Learn about Sarah’s sunrise in Geelong, just outside Melbourne, Australia being one of 4 kids and the influences of her dad, who ran a carpet and furniture store and mum who worked in the business and loved the commerce and numbers.

Questions our host, Vidit enjoyed exploring with Sarah include: The role of growing up in an entrepreneurial household and how that led to her start in a career in finance roles in the magazine and advertising industry in Australia, and then London and New York, the business model of that industry and key differences between the UK and US markets, how and why she decided to come back to Melbourne and start Bella Box with her twin sister, how they outlived 11 competitors in the beauty subscription category, early days of social media and low customer acquisition cost and learnings from raising venture capital investment.

We cover her journey to becoming an angel investor and the role the VC catalyst program from Wade Institute played in providing practical learnings, and the ins and outs of investing + Vidit was fascinated by Sarah’s reflections on what she thinks differentiates venture capital and private equity, her transition from founder to an advisory and measuring times per month rather than times per week. Listen in for the full context on this one!

It’s now time to explore your curiosity. Please enjoy!

***

Contact us via our website to discuss sponsorship opportunities, recommend future guests or share feedback, we love hearing how to improve!

Thank you for rating / reviewing this podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show!

***

145+ guests have joined Vidit Agarwal on the show from around the world including Heads of state, Olympians, Business and cultural leaders, social Advocates, Investors, Entrepreneurs and more.

The Curiosity Center is widely recognised as a leading on-demand intelligence network for founders, investors, executives and students with an audience of over 200,000 across this podcast + Association Series Newsletter and 7-Star Events. Find out more at www.curiositycenter.xyz

The Wade Institute is a leading centre for entrepreneurial training based at Ormond College, the University of Melbourne and they deliver education programs to accelerate learning, creation and connection, with facilitators being many of previous guests on this very podcast!

***

#146 Toby Hall: Early influences in the UK and South Africa to becoming a highly regarded healthcare and not for profit executive leader

Vidit Agarwal — Sun, 22 Oct 2023 04:28:18 +0000

Toby Hall is an experienced not-for-profit and healthcare executive, having most recently served for 8 years as CEO of St Vincent’s Health Australia, Australia’s second largest healthcare provider, until February 2022. Prior to St Vincent’s, Toby was the CEO of Mission Australia for nearly a decade, and during his time at Mission, Toby oversaw the group’s contribution to the formation of Goodstart Early Learning. Toby maintained involvement with Goodstart through a seat on the Board until 2014.

Prior to Mission Australia, Toby was COO of World Vision Australia and before that, CEO of South Taranaki District Council. Toby is a director of UNICEF Australia, chaired ASX listed Sterihealth prior to delisting and was a director of Working Links the largest welfare to work provider to the U.K government. He is a qualified accountant with an MBA.

***

Episode guiding points:

Learn about Toby’s sunrise in Oxford, England with his father being head of physics at Essex university and mother a music teacher. I was fascinated to hear Toby share his influences including the different role English grammar played in high school and moving to South Africa at age 8, to then working in the music industry and being fascinated by the fashion industry but falling into finance.

Questions our host, Vidit enjoyed exploring with Toby include: What were the key things he took away and had to delete from his time working at the then prominent investment bank, Solomon Brothers, How to create an environment of allowing team members to be vulnerable, the importance of realising that people aren’t just brining themselves to work, they’re bringing their whole life.

Vidit asked Toby about the interview process to get his CEO roles at well known organisations like Mission Australia and St Vincents Health and listen in for his candid views on the transition from operational roles to board and chair roles, and what is the key difference, you might be surprised by the answer.

It’s now time to explore your curiosity. Please enjoy!

***

Contact us via our website to discuss sponsorship opportunities, recommend future guests or share feedback, we love hearing how to improve!

Thank you for rating / reviewing this podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show!

***

140+ guests have joined Vidit Agarwal on the show from around the world including Heads of state, Olympians, Business and cultural leaders, social Advocates, Investors, Entrepreneurs and more.

The Curiosity Center is widely recognised as a leading on-demand intelligence network for founders, investors, executives and students with an audience of over 200,000 across this podcast + Association Series Newsletter and 7-Star Events. Find out more at www.curiositycenter.xyz

***

#145 Beezer Clarkson: The untold story to becoming partner at Sapphire and unpacking the behind the scenes of global Venture Capital

Mon, 9 Oct 2023 18:00:00 +0000

Beezer Clarkson leads Sapphire Partners‘ investments in venture capital funds in the USA and internationally -- and is widely recognised as one of the most prominent LP's (Limited Partners) thanks to her decade plus time in the industry and initiatives such as #OpenLP. Beezer was born in London, UK and now lives in Austin, USA.

***

Episode guiding points:

Learn about Beezer’s sunrise in London and then Boston with her British father, who was a professor and American mother, who was the first in her family to attend college.

Questions our host Vidit asked Beezer for her transparent views on include: Her relationship with money growing up, what made her decide not to pursue an initial career interest in Politics, how Sapphire created their LP arm from the ground up and how to build a brand as a newbie — and we dive into various aspects of the VC ecosystem today including What should be the right size of VC funds, geographical and thematic diversification, investing in emerging managers and key criteria to factor in, value of pre-marketing and relationship building, how many fund ones graduate to fund three and beyond and why that matters.

And as always we cover areas you may not have heard before including 5 hall of fame LP’s Beezer would love to be in a room with to learn from, her personal biggest learning to date and the announcement of Sapphire’s new emerging manager program with CALstrs, the California State teachers retirement fund, one of the biggest pools of retirement savings in the world.

It’s now time to explore your curiosity. Please enjoy!

***

Contact us via our website to discuss sponsorship opportunities, recommend future guests or share feedback, we love hearing how to improve!

Thank you for rating / reviewing this podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show!

***

140+ guests have joined Vidit Agarwal on the show from around the world including Heads of state, Olympians, Business and cultural leaders, social Advocates, Investors, Entrepreneurs and more.

The Curiosity Center is widely recognised as a leading on-demand intelligence network for founders, investors, executives and students with an audience of over 200,000 across this podcast + Association Series Newsletter and 7-Star Events. Find out more at www.curiositycenter.xyz

***

#144 Piruze Sabuncu: Stripe's first hire in South East Asia, turkish influences, partner at SquarePeg!

Thu, 21 Sep 2023 00:48:08 +0000

Piruze Sabuncu is a Partner at the Venture Capital firm Squarepeg. She was born in Turkey and currently lives in Singapore. Piruze built and scaled the startup that's now a global juggernaut, Stripe -- in Southeast Asia as employee #1 in the region, following a stint as a founder and working at companies including Dell and Mckinsey.

***

Episode guiding points:

Learn about Piruze’s sunrise in Turkey, the influences of her big family and the beauty of Turkish culture including reflections on stories from her childhood walking her own path and questioning the status quo in a traditional culture. You might be surprised to hear her primary school teacher thought Piruze would become a diplomat!

We cover her move to the US and 10 years living there and how it kickstarted a wild journey of a lifetime both personally and professionally; how and why she started her career in tech in the 2000’s in Austin, Texas of all places! The real benefits of studying an MBA and what gave her the self belief to go found a startup post MBA rather than following her classmates into a global firm.

Questions our host Vidit loved hearing Piruze’s beautiful views and reflections include: The decision to shut down her startup and join Mckinsey, and the role her visa expiry played, first visiting Singapore and South East Asia just as their startup ecosystem was starting to boom in the 2010’s, loosing her dad and of course we dive into her Stripe experience being their first hire in South East Asia and playing a critical role in building out the business there, including the importance of knowing your customer, the importance of hiring, favourite question to spot talent and make sure to listen through for Piruze’s next re-invention to enter the world of Venture Capital and the serendipity with which she joined Square Peg + the one difference and one similarity between south east Asia, Israel and Australia.

It’s now time to explore your curiosity. Please enjoy!

***

Contact us via our website to discuss sponsorship opportunities, recommend future guests or share feedback, we love hearing how to improve!

Thank you for rating / reviewing this podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show!

***

140+ guests have joined Vidit Agarwal on the show from around the world including Heads of state, Olympians, Business and cultural leaders, social Advocates, Investors, Entrepreneurs and more.

The Curiosity Center is widely recognised as a leading on-demand intelligence network for founders, investors, executives and students with an audience of over 200,000 across this podcast + Association Series Newsletter and 7-Star Events. Find out more at www.curiositycenter.xyz

***

#143 Aneetha De Silva: From Singapore to bridging worlds, relatable journey in law, infrastructure and people leadership

Mon, 4 Sep 2023 04:13:39 +0000

Aneetha De Silva is the managing director, government for Aurecon’s Australia and New Zealand business is a leading public infrastructure expert. She is also President of Roads Australia and sits on the boards of Aurecon Group, LaunchVic, the Melbourne Arts Precinct Corporation and the North East Link State Tolling Corporation.

***

Episode guiding points:

Learn about Aneetha’s sunrise in Singapore, at a time when wasn’t the city it is today and Aneetha calls it a fight for survival, and the influences of her parents with her dad being a professional cricketer and building the family business.

This conversation is candid and applicable to life and work, whether you’re early in your journey to more established — we cover Aneetha’s adjustment period coming to Australia halfway through her law degree, to then unpacking the behind the scenes of a successful career in infrastructure, roads and government projects and what that work entails including $2B dollar projects (critical to our society), private and public partnerships and more.

Questions I loved hearing Aneetha’s organic reflections include: How to go into a new environment and build relationships whilst learning the area, Connecting with people 1:1 vs in a group setting to build relationships, Spotting and nurturing talent, Balancing working on the bigger picture and getting in the details, Influencing local governments in different cultures and how does one get accepted onto boards, and we cover the importance of family, switching off and more.

It’s now time to explore your curiosity. Please enjoy!

***

Contact us via our website to discuss sponsorship opportunities, recommend future guests or share feedback, we love hearing how to improve!

Thank you for rating / reviewing this podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show!

***

140+ guests have joined Vidit Agarwal on the show from around the world including Heads of state, Olympians, Business and cultural leaders, social Advocates, Investors, Entrepreneurs and more.

***

#142 Carol Schwartz (Rare Public Interview): 3 siblings, victorious female advocacy, creating an institution of ideas, innovation and scholarship!

Carol Schwartz, The High Flyers Podcast, Vidit Agarwal, Curiosity Center — Thu, 31 Aug 2023 19:00:00 +0000

Carol is recognised as one of most dynamic business and community leaders with a diverse career across property, the arts, finance, investment, entrepreneurship, government and health. Her roles include being Board Member of the RBA, Founding Chair of the Women's Leadership Institute, Director of the Trawalla Group, Chair of the Climate Council and more.

***

Episode guiding points:

Learn about Carol’s sunrise in Melbourne, Australia in what she describes as a large, present and loving family with deep entrepreneurial roots and immigrating from Europe. She talks about her 3 siblings and influence of her parents who were married for over 70 years.

Topics we cover include: How subjects should be taught in high school to set up both boys and girls for success, her desire at age 18 to be an international lawyer with a focus solely on her career and how that thinking evolved when she met her husband, Allan in law school. A key theme you will notice through this conversation is Carol’s deep passion for empowering women in a range of industries and I asked Carol about how she became the first female president of the Property Council, being influenced by the feminists of the 70s, changing the time and venues of board meetings and learning the importance of patience when her kids were born.

I loved the stories Carol shares including why she created the Women’s Leadership Institute and how it provided a platform for her to speak up and get people to listen, activism on twitter posting pictures of all men board rooms and tagging journalists to drive action, and how Carol and her husband Alan created the framework for their family office and foundation Trawalla to focus on art, ideas, innovation and scholarship. And don’t miss Carol’s tactical reflections on how to balance time, and being persuasive whilst building meaningful relationships.

It’s now time to explore your curiosity. Please enjoy!

***

Contact us via our website to discuss sponsorship opportunities, recommend future guests or share feedback, we love hearing how to improve!

Thank you for rating / reviewing this podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show!

***

140+ guests have joined Vidit Agarwal on the show from around the world including Heads of state, Olympians, Business and cultural leaders, social Advocates, Investors, Entrepreneurs and more.

***

#141 Leigh Jasper: Service stations to Silicon Valley, unpacking the $1.6B success of Aconex, chairing Second Quarter Ventures & LaunchVic

Sun, 27 Aug 2023 19:00:00 +0000

Leigh Jasper is a leading entrepreneur, investor and business executive. Leigh previously co-founded Aconex, the world’s most widely used cloud collaboration platform for managing construction projects. As CEO, he led Aconex through multiple capital raisings, to an Initial Public Offering (IPO) in 2014 and company sale to Oracle Ltd for $1.6 billion in 2018.

Leigh is a founder of SecondQuarter Ventures + Saniel Ventures, and is a director of SEEK Ltd, Salta Properties, the Burnet Institute, Buildxact Pty Ltd, Zuuse, Matrak and the Jasper Foundation. He is also the Chair of LaunchVic.

***

Episode guiding points:

Learn about Leigh’s sunrise in Rutherglen in country Victoria growing up around the family business, a car dealership — with his dad also being a member of parliament and mum’s influence raising Leigh and his sister.

We cover a lot in this conversation so strap in — importance of loyalty, meeting his Aconex founder Rob Philpott during boarding school, and how they first decided to start a business together and why it became Aconex. It was fascinating to learn that Aconex was started during a time when the concept of SaaS (software as a service) was quite new with no AWS and no real concept of customer pricing models. Some of the areas of the Aconex journey we dive into include: The importance of doing sales as a founder, their first expansion out of Australia, optimism bias and narrowing focus and Leigh’s most painful learning.

Find out about Leigh’s transition following the Aconex sale to Oracle, learning to say no, tracking his time, setting up a foundation with his life, his advice to founders on selling some equity to be more risk on with a financial safety net and more.

It’s now time to explore your curiosity. Please enjoy!

***

Contact us via our website to discuss sponsorship opportunities, recommend future guests or share feedback, we love hearing how to improve!

Thank you for rating / reviewing this podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show!

***

💥 This episode is brought to you by Fullstack Advisory, Australia's top tech accounting firm, designed specifically for innovative tech founders and investors. They provide founder-friendly support across Accounting & Tax, R&D Tax Incentives, Bookkeeping, and CFO Advisory -- so you can focus on what you do best, innovating and growing your business. Get in touch with Stuart and the team today!

***

#140 Ben Grabiner: UK upbringing, selling startup to Apple, building Side Stage Ventures and more

Sun, 20 Aug 2023 19:00:00 +0000

Ben Grabiner is a Partner at Side Stage Ventures, a newly formed Venture Capital firm in Australia. Previously he co-founded Platoon which was acquired by Apple. Platoon was created during Ben's time working at Local Globe, as an early employee at the firm. (Local Globe is now recognised as a leading seed stage VC fund in Europe).

It’s now time to explore your curiosity. Please enjoy!

(Timestamps below)

***

Contact us via our website to discuss sponsorship opportunities, recommend future guests or share feedback, we love hearing how to improve!

Thank you for rating / reviewing this podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show!

***

***

00:55 - Where were you born and live now?

02:06 - What was your first job and now?

02:39 - High Flyer in Ben’s life

03:28 - Big family with 3 siblings

07:08 - Independently minded

08:50 - Career aspirations at age 18

11:25 - First date with media and tech

14:00 - Leaving corporate to found his first startup

16:45 - Struggling to raise capital

18:36 - UK startup ecosystem in 2014

20:14 - Joining Local Globe as a VC investor

24:00 - The problem that led to creating Platoon

28:25 - Business model with music labels

30:35 - Reflections on differences between the two startups he’s built

32:09 - How did the sale to Apple happen

34:55 - Balancing family and career

37:30 - Moving from the UK to Australia

40:50 - Building a network from scratch

42:54 - Origin story of Side Stage Ventures

45:09 - Applying a founder mindset to building a VC

47:17 - Uncovering unique founders early on

48:55 - Growing Side Stage with co-founder in Markus

50:17 - Rapid fire final sprint

***

#139: (First ever public interview) w the combined $400B+ Telstra Super and Australian Super - powering your retirement growth through Venture Capital ft Amy Waite and Sheetal Cicutto

Tue, 15 Aug 2023 15:15:58 +0000

In this very special and rare episode, we're joined by Amy Waite and Sheetal Cicutto, the private equity managers for two of Australia’s premier superannuation funds in Telstra Super and Australian Super respectively, to discuss how super funds are powering your retirement growth through venture capital and driving innovation for the world.

Please note: This podcast is general in nature and any general advice has been prepared without taking into account your objectives, financial situation or needs. Before making a decision in relation to any Telstra Super or AustralianSuper product, please assess your own financial situation and needs and consider the relevant Product Disclosure Statement and Target Market Determination available on their respective websites, www.telstrasuper.com.au and www.australiansuper.com. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future returns.

It’s now time to explore your curiosity. Please enjoy!

(Timestamps below)

***

Contact us via our website to discuss sponsorship opportunities, recommend future guests or share feedback, we love hearing how to improve!

Thank you for rating / reviewing this podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show!

***

***

03:50 - Context on Sheetal and Amy

10:12 - Introducing Australian Super + Telstra Super, how they operate and their impact on Innovation in Australia

15:07 - Relationship between Limited Partners, Venture Capitalists and Startup Founders?

17:20 - Flow of capital from a super fund member’s account to the next Google and Facebook

19:50 - Fund sizes and time frames

22:37 - What startup founders should know about taking capital directly from a super fund

29:00 - Ways of working on a co-investment and examples

36:10 - Learnings and reflections from investing in Venture Capital

41:30 - core and growth funds

42:32- Behind the scenes on reporting expectations

44:30 - Returning capital to LP’s

46:40 - Clarity of communication

***

#138 Tom Humphrey: 3 siblings, scaling a successful startup with his sister to becoming partner at Blackbird & the economics of happiness!

Tom Humphrey, Curiosity Center, Vidit Agarwal, The High Flyers Podcast — Fri, 4 Aug 2023 03:03:26 +0000

Tom Humphrey is an Investor with Blackbird Ventures, a globally top ranked venture capital fund supercharging the most ambitious founders. Prior to Blackbird, Tom was a partner with Access Ventures based in Denver USA and was on the management / founding teams of two successful startups. Tom was COO of OurDeal, a “group-buying” ecommerce website in Australia that over 12 months scaled to a team of 80 and a successful exit to News Corp, and then became COO of Kanopy, a B2B video streaming platform that he guided to an exit in 2018 delivering a 14x return to investors.

In this episode #138 w Tom Humphrey, learn about:

Tom’s sunrise in Sydney, Australia being the youngest of 4 siblings, with his mother a high school teacher and then business executive and dad an architect. I loved his reflections on how his older sister, stayed up at night and sometimes missed school because she was looking after Tom, and then their journey later in life building Canopy for nearly a decade to now being one of the top 10 M&A exits for a tech company out of Australia. 14x return on investment

I asked Tom about the key differences between Australian and US culture given his 10 years living, studying and working in the US, his reflections on his time in Bhutan and learning about the economics of happiness, his insecurities and how he manages them, how he’s learn what good looks like in sales and go to market for startups, the concept of deposits in the care bank to be a great manager and his balancing act on decision making with analytics and gut feel. We also cover his transitions from consulting to a a startup at a time when startups weren’t the buzz they are today and his reflections on what he would change if he could start his career today.

It’s now time to explore your curiosity. Please enjoy!

(Timestamps below)

***

Contact us via our website to discuss sponsorship opportunities, recommend future guests or share feedback, we love hearing how to improve!

Thank you for rating / reviewing this podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show!

***

***

03:30 - Where were you born and live now?

03:57 - What was your first job and now?

04:57 - High Flyer in Tom’s life

07:09 - Youngest of 4 children

09:01 - Sports, Studious and Adventure

10:29 - Australia vs USA friendship culture

13:04 - Hungry not the proven

14:08 - Falling into Law due to a timetable clash

16:33 - Should you join a startup straight out of university?

19:40 - FullStack message

22:13 - 7 to 85 people in 10 months

24:46 - Economics of happiness

28:05 - Learning how to lead people

31:04 - Joining his sister in building a startup in the US

33:34 - Experiences taking VC capital money

36:06 - Door knocking universities in the US

39:13 - Learning sales and go to market

41:40 - Chip on his shoulder

44:39 - Learning from founders

45:45 - Slack vs HipChat vs Microsoft teams

47:18 - Strength of talent in Australia vs the world

52:44 - Most valuable career experiences

56:38 - Perception of self worth and happiness

58:52 - Deposits in the care bank and connection to leadership

01:01:54 - Building trust with a new team member

01:04:34 - Balance with analytical and intuition muscle

01:08:30 - Being a VC or working at a startup?

01:10:55 - Final sprint rapid fire

***

#137 Michael Traill: Humble upbringings to co-founding Macquarie Capital's Private Equity arm, spotting talent & jumping ship to social impact!

Michael Traill, The High Flyers Podcast, Vidit Agarwal, Curiosity Center — Thu, 20 Jul 2023 19:00:00 +0000

Michael Traill was the founding CEO of Social Ventures Australia from 2002 -14. Prior to this role, Michael spent 15 years as a Co-Founder and Executive Director of Macquarie Bank's private equity arm, Macquarie Direct Investment. In his time there, the Macquarie Direct Investment team invested in 43 businesses generating a gross rate of return of 32.3%. Michael chairs Australia’s largest charitable foundation, the Paul Ramsay Foundation, is a Director of Australian Retirement Trust, MH Carnegie & Co., Australian Philanthropic Services and Hearts & Minds Investments and was previously Chair of Goodstart Early Learning.

Michael also chairs the Federal Government Social Impact Investing Taskforce and is the author 'Jumping Ship - from the world of corporate Australia to the heart of social investment’, Winner Ashurst Business Literature Prize 2017.

In this episode #137 w Michael Traill, learn about:

His humble upbringing in country Victoria, with his father being the first in 4 generations to go past grade 10, Michael’s chip on his shoulder being the country kid and making it to rooms where he felt out of place like Harvard and Macquarie and success at age 18 being a career in politics but how he ended up in the business world.

I ask Michael about his reflections on his Harvard MBA and was that a hindrance or accelerant, his most painful learning and Questions he asks perspective candidates looking to join his team so he can understand them intimately.

And of course we cover how and why he jumped ship from the business world to social investment a day before his 42nd birthday, the difficult first year of making the transition, the role of superannuation in funding climate and impact solutions, and the legacy he wants to leave.

It’s now time to explore your curiosity. Please enjoy!

(Timestamps below)

***

Contact us via our website to discuss sponsorship opportunities, recommend future guests or share feedback, we love hearing how to improve!

Thank you for rating / reviewing this podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show!

***

***

03:29 - Where were you born and live now?

03:48 - What was your first job and now?

04:22 - High Flyer in Michael’s life

06:03 - Father being the first in 4 generations to finish grade 10

08:48 - Chip on his shoulder

11:14 - Standing up and having a voice

12:08 - Influence of athletics and sport

14:44 - Success at age 18

16:25 - Career serendipity and entering business

20:32 - Unlocking opportunities thanks to Harvard MBA

25:10 - Fullstack message

27:34 - Founding the private equity business at Macquarie Capital

31:14 - State of Private Equity and VC

35:43 - Most painful learnings

38:53 - Questions he asks perspective candidates

42:21 - “Jumping ship” to from Banking to Social Impact

44:05 - First year of making the transition

49:57 - What’s different about the social purpose capital market?

54:28 - Role of superannuation in ClimateTech as Chair of $240B fund, Australian Retirement Trust

56:57 - Raising institutional capital for first time fund managers in impact investing

01:00:10 - Three questions to ask to have an impactful life

01:03:35 - Legacy

01:06:00 - Final sprint rapid fire

***

Investment Memo: How Eugene is helping you take control of your health ft Co-Founders Zoe Milgrom & Kunal Kalro

Wed, 12 Jul 2023 19:00:00 +0000

Founded in 2017 by Zoe Milgrom and Kunal Kalro, Eugene offers medical-grade genetic testing and counselling services to people anywhere at any time. With a few drops of saliva, Eugene can identify variations in genes that may lead to disease, allowing you to proactively take control of your own health. Eugene was the first company in Australia to make medical grade genetic testing available to consumers directly and at-home, and has screened over 12,000 people across Australia!

***

Welcome to installment #24 of the Investment Memo series and overall episode #136 on the show.

Submit this EOI for your company to be considered in future episodes of this special series!

Today, we’re unpacking the healthcare company that is Eugene, and I’m joined by the two co-founders Zoe Milgrom and Kunal Karlo.

Founded in 2017, Eugene offers medical-grade genetic testing and counseling services to people anywhere at any time. With a few drops of saliva, Eugene can identify variations in genes that may lead to disease, allowing you to proactively take control of your own health.

Learn about how they first met, their experiences and motivations to start Eugene, what exactly is genome sequencing and why it’s critical to each of us, how the cost of sequencing a human genome has dropped from $2.7B to nearly a thousand dollars, Eugene’s business model and go to market strategy, their suite of products and how they’re building broader community education and awareness of genetic risks. I must admit I learnt a lot in this conversation.

It’s now time to explore your curiosity. Please enjoy!

(Timestamps below)

***

Contact us via our website to discuss sponsorship opportunities, recommend future guests or share feedback, we love hearing how to improve!

Thank you for rating / reviewing this podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show!

***

***

03:35 - Where were Zoe and Kunal born and live now?

04:19 - What were Zoe and Kunal’s first jobs and now?

06:55 - Origin story of Eugene

13:01 - How Kunal and Zoe agreed to be co-founders

17:25 - First product launch

19:50 - Unpacking Genome sequencing

23:00 - $2.7Billion to $1,000

24:46 - Finding a solution to improve healthcare outcomes

27:20 - Fullstack Advisory

28:09 - Scientific and regulatory approval

30:10 - Go-To-Market strategy

34:15 - Business Model and Economics of B2B and B2C

35:37 - Education and awareness of genetic risks

43:40 - Product offerings at Eugene

***

#135 James Alcorn: Inside the AI revolution with one of the world’s leading investors focused in this space since 2015, Zetta Venture Partners!

Tue, 27 Jun 2023 19:00:00 +0000

James Alcorn is a partner at Zetta Venture Partners, one of the world's leading AI focused VC investors, serving technical founders building AI-native companies. Zetta has partnered with the founders of Kaggle, Domino Data Lab, Nabla Bio, and other leading franchises.

In this episode #135 w James Alcorn, learn about:

Given the extensive focus on AI and it’s exponential mainstream growth, I wanted to bring on someone who understands this space from various angels, the technological shift, business models, venture capital investment opportunities and what founders should know.

A couple of weeks ago, I contacted my network and one name that kept coming up was James Alcorn so here we are. James is a partner at Zetta Venture Partners, one of the world’s leading AI focused VC investors since their inception in 2015.

This episode can be best described as an introduction to AI, whilst being a deep dive into various aspects. I asked James about Zetta’s origin story given they’ve been 100% focused on only AI since 2015, his thoughts on AI today vs 5 years ago, what exactly led to ChatGPT becoming mainstream, open source vs priopetiary models, infrastructure vs application layer and more.

And yes, we cover a lot of questions that founders and investors are asking today including IP protection, metrics for investment, valuation, geographical differences and we end with a special rapid fire final sprint, make sure to listen through for this special conversation.

It’s now time to explore your curiosity. Please enjoy!

(Timestamps below)

***

Contact us via our website to discuss sponsorship opportunities, recommend future guests or share feedback, we love hearing how to improve!

Thank you for rating / reviewing this podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show!

***

***

03:30 - Where were you born and live now?

04:02 - What was your first job and now?

05:19 - Entry into VC with Zetta

06:11 - Zetta as an “AI only” investor

07:39 - Rate of growth in AI today vs 5 years ago

09:55 - What exactly is Artificial intelligence?

13:06 - What led to ChatGPT breakthrough in late 2022?

14:50 - Open source vs proprietary models

17:52 - Large availability of compute today

19:46 - IP protection for early stage startups

24:33 - What makes an AI startup investible?

28:50 - Startups vs incumbents in platform shifts like AI

32:40 - LLMs in infrastructure vs application layer

36:19 - Differences in USA vs Israel vs China

38:12 - Are AI startups more capital intensive?

41:40 - Automated speech recognition (ASR)

46:00 - Vector databases

51:10 - AI progress in Australia

55:25 - Final sprint rapid fire

#134 Kim Randle: Human rights lawyer to accelerating the world's transition to sustainable supply Chains, guest hosted by Jax Vullinghs

Tue, 20 Jun 2023 19:00:00 +0000

This is a special episode and the 2nd in our "guest host" series. This time, with Jax Vullinghs from Airtree Ventures interviewing Kim Randle, Co-Founder and CEO of FairSupply about her early influences, how she fell into law and being inspired by a movie, what led to co-founding Fair Supply and problem they’re tackling, tireless enthusiasm and being a founder + parent.

In this special episode #134:

We have a special guest host in Jax Vullings from Airtree Ventures. We tried this format earlier in the year with another investor in James Tynan from Square Peg, guest hosting episode #121 and it was well received so we’re doing it again!

What you’re about to hear is a special conversation where Jax and Kim Randle unpack important topics very candidly including Kim’s early influences, how she fell into law and being inspired by a movie, what led to co-founding Fair Supply and the important problem they’re tackling; tireless enthusiasm and being a founder and parent.

I hope you enjoy this great conversation, and if you have ideas for other iconic duos we could bring on in a similar format, send me a note.

It’s now time to explore your curiosity. Please enjoy!

(Timestamps below)

***

Contact us via our website to discuss sponsorship opportunities, recommend future guests or share feedback, we love hearing how to improve!

Thank you for rating / reviewing this podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show!

***

***

03:48 - Kim’s early influences

07:50 - Career aspirations

09:40 - bridge building between the corporate world and social justice problems

15:00 - 3 daughters and founding FairSupply

17:30 - Ambition behind FairSupply

19:12 - Industrial mathematician meets human rights lawyer

22:55 - Modern slavery in supply chains and how FairSupply is the solution

31:08 - Building a culture and employee engagement

34:45 - Tireless enthusiasm being CEO

36:25 - Risks and speed of learning

40:00 - Being a founder and parent

***

#133 Bec Milgrom (Rare Public Interview): Regenerative Farming, Self Discovery, Exactly how Tripple is using capital to create a better future!

Bec Milgrom, The High Flyers Podcast, Vidit Agarwal, Curiosity Center — Tue, 13 Jun 2023 19:00:00 +0000

Bec is Executive Director at Tripple, a 100% Impact private investment company that works across all asset classes and incorporates both investing and grant-making to use capital as a force for good. Outside of Tripple. Bec has extensive experience in marketing and strategy in the start-up and not for profit sectors and is a current board member of the Centre for Australian Progress, a not for profit enabling civil society to win social and environmental progress, and Steward, a crowd-lending platform focussed on regenerative farming. Bec has a particular passion for food, farming, social justice and systems change.

In this episode #133 w Bec Milgrom learn about:

Her sunrise in Melbourne, Australia being the middle child with two siblings and influences of her entrepreneurial parents.

Bec talks about being the teachers pet in high school, the fullness of her imagination and aspirations after she graduated. I really enjoyed the human-ness Bec shows in this conversation about her journey of self exploration by traveling the world and working in the craft beer industry post university and for many years which led to the US and the realisation that driving change using capital is her calling which led to co-founding Tripple with her two brothers.

We dive deep into Thoughtful vs thoughtless investing, Storytelling to change people’s world views on impact, climate and social change, the reality of Policy, Grant making and their involvement in The Australian election in 2021 through climate 200 driving historic grassroots and community change, and we unpack the structure, operations and team at Tripple.

It’s now time to explore your curiosity. Please enjoy!

(Timestamps below)

***

Contact us via our website to discuss sponsorship opportunities, recommend future guests or share feedback, we love hearing how to improve!

Thank you for rating / reviewing this podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show!

***

***

03:20 - Acknowledgement of country

05:00 - Where were you born and live now?

05:18 - What was your first job and now?

06:21 - High Flyer in Bec’s life

07:25 - Deep family connection

11:34 - Different learning styles

14:20 - Aspirations at age 18 and beyond

18:37 - 10 years in Craft Beer and behaviour change

22:36 - Oregon, USA

25:50 - The story behind the creation of Tripple, 100% impact multi asset private company

30:49 - Thoughtful vs thoughtless investing

36:29 - Storytelling to change people’s world views on impact, climate and social change

44:05 - Policy, Grant making and climate 200

48:38 - Structure, operations and team at Tripple

54:40 - Short term vs long term investing

01:04:20 - Rapid fire final sprint

#132 Osher Günsberg: Doctor parents, Realities of hosting The Bachelor + Australian Idol, How network TV operates & manufacturing serendipity!

Osher Günsberg, Curiosity Center, The High Flyers Podcast, Vidit Agarwal — Sun, 4 Jun 2023 19:00:00 +0000

Osher Gunsberg is one of the most recognisable media personalities. He first came to attention as the face of Australian Idol and the voice of Australia's largest weekly radio countdown, Take 40 Australia. He continues to be the host of The Bachelor and The Bachelorette on Channel Ten. Until recently, Osher was also part of the Breakfast Team and co-host of Hit105's radio brekky show alongside Abby Coleman and Stav Davidson. Osher is a keen advocate for mental health awareness and climate change. He is also the co-creator and host of Movember Radio for the Movember Foundation, and a director of the board of SANE Australia.

In this episode #132 w Osher Günsberg learn about:

His sunrise in Brisbane, Australia with both parents being doctors. I found his reflections on being a “white immigrant” and being a muso in a sports school really intriguing

We cover how he found clarity for his career early on, manufacturing serendipity and how that’s led to incredible opportunities, not achieving his radio or music dreams, transitioning to network TV, and evolving his identity including a name change.

I was surprised to learn radio is much better to host compared to TV, and really valued Osher’s candour on his battles with addiction, exactly how he prepares for a TV show shoot (make sure to note down the 5 D’s and the 6 P’s). I enjoyed asking Osher about how he balances his public persona with his family role, and what seeded his advocacy for climate change.

I went into this a little unsure, Osher is a pro at interviews but he was candid, vulnerable and this is one of my favourite conversations for sure.

It’s now time to explore your curiosity. Please enjoy!

(Timestamps below)

***

Contact us via our website to discuss sponsorship opportunities, recommend future guests or share feedback, we love hearing how to improve!

Thank you for rating / reviewing this podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show!

***

***

04:20 - Where were you born and live now?

04:55 - What was your first job and now?

08:20 - High Flyer in Osher’s life

10:35 - Realities of hosting TV shows

13:05 - Growing up “immigrant” in QLD

15:53 - Influence of doctor parents

19:10 - Music in a sports school

23:28 - A+ in school vs A+ in life

24:50 - Seeking professional career clarity

31:47 - Manufacturing serendipity

36:35 - Not achieving his music or radio dreams

39:50 - World class TV hosting

44:20 - Versatility of Hamish and Andy across Radio, TV, Podcasts etc

46:04 - Evolving his identity

48:00 - Only Australian to have hosted live network TV in US

49:11 - Becoming sober and noticing success

55:31 - Vulnerability on network television

59:30 - Preparation for a live gig, tv, keynote etc

01:06:50 - Balancing the public and personality identity

01:11:40 - Journey to Climate advocacy

01:23:59 - Final Sprint rapid fire

***

#131 Michael Kim: Korean, Japanese & American upbringing + unpacking how Cendana Capital invests in VC funds around the world!

Tue, 23 May 2023 19:00:00 +0000

Michael Kim is the Founder and Managing Partner of Cendana Capital, a globally renowned "fund of funds", aka the investors behind Venture Capital funds. Cendana Capital are investors in many of the funds of our previous guests including Blackbird VC, Better Tomorrow Ventures and many more well-known funds in the US, Israel, Australia and India. Prior to Cendana, Michael was one of the original partners of Rustic Canyon Partners, a VC firm with $1B AUM. He was born in Morgantown, West Virginia and now lives in San Fransisco, USA.

In this episode #131 w Michael Kim, learn about:

His sunrise in Morgantown, West Virginia, in the US (a town of just 27,000 people), his cultural influences with his mum born and raised in Japan and Dad from Korea, with a family background in politics.

Michael shares how he explored a career in politics and then as he calls it had a “sea change” and went into banking, which then led to a role in a technology M&A team in San Fransisco and eventually Venture Capital.

We dive deep into his journey with Cendana Capital, an investment firm referred to as a fund of funds, meaning they are a fund that invests in other VC funds. We cover how he started, building track record and economics, their diligence process for new VCs they back, Investing globally, with Australia and Israel being some examples, thought process changes especially on ownership levels relative to fund size, seed vs pre seed funds, hall of fame LP’s and more.

🎉 And our 7-star events are back! Yes as many of you know — we are a special series of LIVE fireside conversations in May and June. Tickets are quickly selling out for event #2 with James Tynan, Partner at Squarepeg, get your ticket today HERE! 💥

It’s now time to explore your curiosity. Please enjoy!

(Timestamps below)

***

Contact us via our website to discuss sponsorship opportunities, recommend future guests or share feedback, we love hearing how to improve!

Thank you for rating / reviewing this podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show!

***

***

02:45 - Where were you born and live now?

03:10 - What was your first job and now?

05:23 - High Flyer in Michael’s life

06:05 - Japanese and Korean influences

11:20 - Aspirations at age 18

13:56 - Sea Change from politics to banking

17:27 - Accelerating career and tech M&A role post Wharton MBA

19:56 - Building relationships with junior analysts, not just partners

21:37 - Working with the City of San Fransisco’s $12B pension fund

25:27 - Founding Cendana Capital and raising first fund

32:06 - Changing landscape in VC that allowed for seed funds

35:00 - Economics of a “fund of funds”

38:40 - Conviction in backing new and solo VC fund managers

45:42 - Investing in Israel, India, Australia, UK

47:45 - Thought process changes as an LP

55:10 - Australia and New Zealand startup ecosystem

56:50 - Learning journey building Cendana Capital

59:58 - Hall of fame LP’s

01:07:20 - Rapid fire

***

#130 Paul Bassat: Family grounding, Realities of creating success at Seek + Square Peg Capital, Building a legacy & Australia's future!

Tue, 16 May 2023 19:00:00 +0000

Paul Bassat is the Co-Founder of the Venture Capital firm, Square Peg with operations in Australia, Singapore and Israel. Previously, he co-founded the success story that is the online recruitment website, Seek. He was born and lives in Melbourne, Australia.

In this episode #130 w Paul Bassat, learn about:

Paul’s sunrise in Melbourne, Australia with European heritage with his parents coming to Australia as refugees and mum being a holocaust survivor from Poland. Paul shares the influences of his mum, a lawyer and dad an IBM executive, and his two older siblings.

I loved asking Paul about his personality in high school, dreams at age 18, the two catalysts to leave his law career and start Seek in the 90’s (note: startups were not a thing back then) — and he’s candid about various parts of the Seek story that haven’t been shared before including the structure of the co-founding team, competing with large incumbents and market leadership in China.

We dive deep into the transition from Seek to Square Peg, including living in France with his family, the ways in which the founder experience helped and hindered his investor role, the importance of founder’s having awareness of investor conviction in follow on rounds, and his most painful learnings. And we unpack what Paul would do if he was Australian Prime Minister for a year and how he would like to leave a legacy.

It’s now time to explore your curiosity. Please enjoy!

(Timestamps below)

***

Contact us via our website to discuss sponsorship opportunities, recommend future guests or share feedback, we love hearing how to improve!

Thank you for rating / reviewing this podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show!

***

***

02:47 - Where were you born and live now?

03:09 - What was your first job and now?

03:55 - High Flyer in Paul’s life

04:47 - Sense of identity as an Australian and Jewish

06:36 - Smartass or studious as a child?

08:00 - Sporting heroes

08:54 - Success at age 18

10:31 - Being the youngest of 3 siblings

11:41 - Catalysts to start Seek in the 90’s

16:20 - Sponsor message featuring Full Stack Advisory

17:00 - Foundational learnings about team management

20:20 - Three groups of competitors

22:18 - Market leadership in China

25:04 - How did he succeed as CEO

27:50 - Learning about investing as a profession

29:30 - Leaving seek and living in France

35:05 - Sponsor message featuring Full Stack Advisory

35:50 - The birth of Square Peg Capital

38:20 - Realities of transition from founder to investor

40:45 - Raising their first fund

44:18 - Brand awareness and high conviction investing

47:41 - Lack of Founder awareness of follow on funding

50:42 - The VC fund vs the Partner?

52:40 - Most painful learnings to date

55:30 - What should Australia do differently?

57:45 - Decade goals vs yearly goals

01:01:10 - Building relationships, not networking

01:04:10 - Being grounded and relatable despite success

01:06:35 - Final sprint

***

#129 Sam Wong: Soundblasters, Mixed Heritage, Blackbird's first hire to building the NZ fund + Finding alpha outcomes in non-obvious companies

Sam Wong, Curiosity Center, Vidit Agarwal, The High Flyers Podcast — Tue, 9 May 2023 19:00:00 +0000

Sam Wong is a General Partner at Blackbird Ventures, who exist to supercharge Australia's and New Zealand's most ambitious founders. She was the first hire in their Australia fund and has since invested in companies including Vow, Halter, Harrison AI and led the raising of their inaugural $59M New Zealand Fund, and $80M New Zealand Fund II (2022) + heads up their New Zealand office. Sam was born in Perth, Australia and now lives in Auckland, New Zealand.

In this episode #129 w Sam Wong, learn about:

Sam’s sunrise in Perth, Australia growing up in and around her parent’s business packing Soundblaster boxes, and influenced by various cultures with mum of Malaysian/Chinese heritage and Dad being half English and half Chinese but grew up in India.

This one is wide ranging and Sam is very candid — we cover her highlights from 7 years as a lawyer and influences from early managers that have shaped Sam’s leadership style today as General Partner at the Venture Capital firm, Blackbird.

Sam’s been at various vantage points in her career, from law to early stage startup to co-founding a startup to investing so I wanted to know where would she start her career if she could do it again? Learn about her experience co-founding a startup with her partner Ben, biases Sam had to delete switching from founder to investor and we cover the Blackbird story to date, including Sam’s reflections on her investments in companies like Vow and Halter that seemed very non obvious at the time, the story behind raising and building the NZ fund and her most painful learning to date.

🎉 And our 7-star events are back! Yes as many of you know — we are a special series of LIVE fireside conversations in May and June. We are almost sold out for event #1 with Niki Scevak on the 18th May, get your ticket today HERE! 💥

It’s now time to explore your curiosity. Please enjoy!

(Timestamps below)

***

Contact us via our website to discuss sponsorship opportunities, recommend future guests or share feedback, we love hearing how to improve!

Thank you for rating / reviewing this podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show!

***

02:42 - Lowest ego to bad-assess ratio

03:15 - Where were you born and live now?

03:27 - What was your first job and now?

04:48 - High Flyer in Sam’s life

06:54 - Sandblasters, Perth, 80s

09:08 - Malaysian, Chinese, UK, Indian influences

12:32 - Helping others come up the ranks

15:50 - Not having a set path at age 18

18:00 - Highlights from 7 years in Law

20:56 - Niki Scevak’s “2/10 intellectually lazy” feedback

26:29 - time bounded experiments and firing yourself every year

31:50 - Practicalities of annual reviews

32:55 - Building a startup with her now partner, Ben

37:06 - Investor and founder biases

40:19 - Building success foundations of a VC fund

45:38 - Sam’s investments to date in Vow, Partly, Halter, Harrison.AI

50:13 - Painful learnings as an investor

53:19 - The story behind starting the Blackbird NZ fund

58:44 - What would Sam like to change about the world of LP’s?

01:01:38 - Final sprint

***

#128 Peter Huynh: Vietnamese connection, Mindfulness, Seeding the Aus + South East Asia startup ecosystems, State of Health Care and AI

Peter Huynh, Curiosity Center, Vidit Agarwal, The High Flyers Podcast — Tue, 25 Apr 2023 19:00:00 +0000

Peter Huynh is the Chief Strategy Officer at Harrison AI, and previously spent over a decade as a VC investor in Asia, UK and Australia with Singtel and Qualgro Partners. He was born in Vietnam, and lives in Sydney, Australia.

In this episode #128 w Peter Huynh, learn about:

Peter’s Vietnamese heritage, especially how his family moved to Sydney, Australia in the late 1970’s and the early challenges they faced as his dad’s medical degree was not recognised meaning he had to study again, whilst Peter and his mum stayed in a small apartment with 9 of his relatives in Wollongong. Peter’s reflections including learning English watching TV shows on the ABC are fascinating!

Peter is well known for helping founders and investors with mindfulness coaching, I had to ask him the source of this and he candidly shares his own journey including having teachers for nearly 8 years to understand his own self.

We unpack his career including his most formative experiences, with Hutchison Group and Singtel in the UK, Asia and Australia, working with early versions of Spotify and Facebook in 2009 and seeding the Australian startup ecosystem when it was just taking off in 2011.

Peter has recently transitioned from a decade long stint as a VC investor to became a startup executive joining Harrison AI as chief strategy officer, hear about why he made this decision and his learnings working at the intersection of health care and AI.

It’s now time to explore your curiosity. Please enjoy!

(Timestamps below)

***

Contact us via our website to discuss sponsorship opportunities, recommend future guests or share feedback, we love hearing how to improve!

Thank you for rating / reviewing this podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show!

***

02:41 - Where were you born and live now?

03:51 - What was your first job and now?

05:37 - High Flyer in Peter’s life

07:02 - Challenging adjustment setting in Australia as a child

11:35 - Learning English watching TV

12:42 - The desire to belong

13:54 - Relationship with mindfulness and spirituality

16:57 - Realising Law wasn’t an enjoyable career path

19:35 - Most formative career experience

22:34 - Single largest foreign investor in Western Europe

23:47 - Re-connecting with Asian heritage

24:39 - Working with mobile versions of Spotify and Facebook in 2009

28:11 - Seeding the early Australian startup ecosystem

34:41 - Founding Qualgro VC, building a bridge between South East Asia and Australia

36:40 - Learning to build deeper connections with people

42:19 - Mindfulness practises during a work day

45:42 - Educating his two children on guided meditations

46:42 - What led to joining Harrison AI as Chief Strategy Officer

54:58 - Government regulations in Health and AI

58:17 - Rapid fire final sprint

***

#127 Michael Stocks: Sydney to New York, Harvard MBA, Early Linktree hire, Demystifying operations in a high growth startup!

Vidit Agarwal — Tue, 18 Apr 2023 19:00:00 +0000

Michael Stocks is Head of Strategy & Operations at "FL0", previously he joined the global success story Linktree as one of their earliest hires, scaling the startup to a billion dollar business. He was born and lives in Sydney, Australia.

In this episode #127 w Michael Stocks, learn about:

Michael’s sunrise, a mix of the Blue Mountains in Sydney and Malaysia — his parents met bush walking (how good), and mum was a speech pathologist and dad in the navy followed by working in Oil & Gas.

We connect over our shared love for quality storytelling and advertising, especially in today’s closed loop world with Netflix and Spotify where ads aren’t like live TV.

We spend the majority of this episode on Michael’s career journey from starting in advertising to joining Google first in Sydney and then New York when they were slightly smaller than they are today, how this led to his MBA study at Harvard and then the big moment!

How did he join Linktree when they were a dozen people and had not raised much external funding. Today they’re valued at over a billion dollars — what exactly is operations in a startup and why the perceptions can be wrong, using the vision to values framework to set team and company vision, how to strategise pricing for a global product launch, sequencing ambition and impact in a fast growing company, world class investor relations and successful off boarding and on boarding.

And that’s not all — Michael has decided to go back to early stage company building, joining Flo (that’s Fl0) — the platform that empowers back end engineers to deploy code, and how he’s using his link tree experiences to see around corners, especially being the first non engineer hire.

It’s now time to explore your curiosity. Please enjoy!

(Timestamps below)

***

Contact us via our website to discuss sponsorship opportunities, recommend future guests or share feedback, we love hearing how to improve!

Thank you for rating / reviewing this podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show!

***

02:48 - Where were you born and live now?

03:20 - What was your first job and now?

05:04- High Flyer in Michael’s life

06:18 - Malaysia and the Blue Mountains

07:46 - Introverted and shy

09:02 - Advertising love from day dot

13:15 - Mad Men

15:02 - Young Wisdom

17:08 - Rationale to work at Google

19:30 - Corporate vs startups

22:39 - Google in America vs Australia

26:35 - Harvard MBA

28:30 - Joining Linktree (when it was < 20 employees)

34:10 - Setting up for success in early startup

38:06 - Unpacking what “operations” means in a startup

42:05 - The vision to values framework

44:32 - Setting pricing for a viral global company

46:57 - Executive Coach

49:33 - Sequencing ambition and impact

53:06 - World class investor relations

56:00 - How can investors be most helpful

58:10 - Team management being a sharp curve

59:33 - Joining the startup, FL0

01:00:31 - Successful off boarding and onboarding

01:02:25 - Most formative experience in his career

01:03:39 - Final sprint

***

#126 Dan Fitzgerald: Rugby union, living zen, re-imagining the world from the atom up w ReGen Ventures + his daughter Frankie's inspiration

Dan Fitzgerald, ReGen, Curiosity Center, The High Flyers Podcast, Vidit Agarwal — Tue, 11 Apr 2023 19:00:00 +0000

Dan Fitzgerald is the Managing Partner at ReGen Ventures, has been investing in climate-tech for over 10 years across early-stage, growth and real assets. Dan was previously the co-founder of a quant hedge fund and an Options Trader at UBS and Macquarie Bank.

In this episode #126 w Dan Fitzgerald, learn about:

His early influences with his sunrise in Brisbane, Australia when his mum was just 18! (My mum was 21 when I was born, kudos to all the incredible mums out there, you’re special). I love Dan’s candour including his dreams to play professional sport, Rugby union in particular — how that didn’t eventuate and led his foray into the world of financial markets and living a life of being present.

Dan calls his 6+ years in the investment banking and hedge fund industry as a rolling epiphany as he sought to find his eventual home of fulfillment being impact investing and working with exceptional founders creating companies as the force for good and this led to the creation of ReGen Ventures, where Dan is the Managing Partner.

Get excited to immerse yourself in how Dan and his team are re-imagining the world from the atom up, what it means to invest in startups from the UK, to Austria to the US to Australia and what are the raw ingredients of category defining companies in ClimateTech.

This episode is dedicated to the beautiful memory of Dan’s daughter Frankie who inspires us all to live to our fullest each day, in love and wonder.

It’s now time to explore your curiosity. Please enjoy!

(Timestamps below)

***

Contact us via our website to discuss sponsorship opportunities, recommend future guests or share feedback, we love hearing how to improve!

Thank you for rating / reviewing this podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show!

***

02:20 - Where were you born and live now?

02:42 - What was your first job and now?

03:52 - High Flyer in Dan’s life

05:03 - 18 year old mum

07:25 - Period of change

08:37 - Everyday is a gift

09:40 - Heroes

10:55 - Professional athlete dreams

14:27 - 4am wake ups capturing moments of quiet

16:23 - First date with business and finance

19:20 - Rolling epiphany 6 years in financial markets

21:50 - How to review and change career identity

24:28 - Founding a Quant fund

26:50 - Downside limited, upside unknown and Risk Management

28:10 - Creation of ReGen Ventures

32:00 - “Inconvenient truth” movie inspiring change

34:00 - Magic moments to building a VC fund

37:47 - Breath vs depth of relationships

40:20 - Thesis beyond sustainability to “Regenerative” globally

45:28 - Learnings from investing in UK, Austria, USA and more

48:43 - DNA of a category defining company in ClimateTech

51:00 - Assessing spikes in category creating founders

54:05 - Rainbow in the clouds, daughter Frankie’s memory

57:50 - Final sprint

***

#125 Eytan Lenko (Rare Public Interview): Leading "Boundless" to make Australia a renewable energy superpower with Mike Cannon-Brookes (Co-Founder of Atlassian)

Eytan Lenko, Boundless, Vidit Agarwal, Curiosity Center, The High Flyers Podcast — Tue, 4 Apr 2023 19:00:00 +0000

Eytan Lenko is CEO at Boundless, on a mission to make Australia a renewable energy superpower by 2030, backed by Atlassian Co-founder, Mike Cannon Brookes. He previously was a software engineer and co-founded 2 companies including Outware Mobile.

In this episode #125 w Eytan Lenko, learn about:

Think of this in two parts, with the first half being a deep dive into Eytan’s life influences and career decisions and the second half, a deep dive into his love affair with climate solutions and technology, how it started first at Beyond Zero Emissions and more recently as CEO at Boundless, the non for profit to make Australia a renewable energy superpower by 2030, backed by Atlassian Co-founder, Mike Cannon Brookes.

Learn about Eytan’s sunrise in Melbourne, his jewish heritage and the influences of his father, a chemical engineer turned entrepreneur and mum, a nurse turned a cosmetics sales extraordinaire, and his 3 sisters.

We cover his career track especially how he went from software engineer to CEO, and founding 2 companies along the way and influences living in Japan, Darwin and the UK.

I loved every minute of this, Eytan is candid, passionate, introspective and really lives up to our ethos of open direct access, and it’s a masterclass in the climate solutions today, how Eytan and his team are using the epic way of working and creating 100,000 jobs in the space today.

It’s now time to explore your curiosity. Please enjoy!

(Timestamps below)

***

Contact us via our website to discuss sponsorship opportunities, recommend future guests or share feedback, we love hearing how to improve!

Thank you for rating / reviewing this podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show!

***

02:16 - Where were you born and live now?

02:33 - What was your first job and now?

03:45 - High Flyer in Eytan’s life

04:42 - WW2 and holocaust survivors

05:47 - 3 younger sisters

06:21 - Chemical engineer, programming and nursing

11:03 - kibbutz and Israel

13:01 - Friday night dinners with family

16:55 - Academic learning vs learning through doing

22:09 - Learning people leadership alongside technical skills

26:23 - Engineering to CEO

28:07 - How to go into a new company environment and drive alignment

31:00 - Founder transferable skills

33:48 - Learnings from Japan, Darwin and UK

37:33 - First date with climate

41:47 - Working in “epics”

47:44 - Electric Vehicles and Transportation

49:50 - Solving with government

54:38 - Cost of capital to unlock innovation

57:58 - 100,000 new jobs

01:01:40 - Rapid fire

***

Investment Memo: How "Sumday" is enabling every business to measure their carbon impact

Tue, 28 Mar 2023 18:00:00 +0000

Featuring two of the co-founders, Jess Richmond & Lindsay Ellis, building from Tasmania for the world!

Welcome to installment #23 of the Investment Memo series and episode #124 on the show.

Submit this EOI for your company to be considered in future episodes of this special series!

This exciting startup Sumday, is empowering accountants to re-define how the world measures and reports on environmental impact.

In this conversation with 2 of the co-founders, Jess Richmond and Lindsay Ellis, based in Tasmania, Australia — learn about how their regional upbringing and global work experiences from Dubai to Norway influences their outlook on life today. This one’s candid, I asked them about how they first met which is quite the story, the magic moments that led to leaving their full time jobs and going all in on building Sumday, crucible moments including their first customer, their first product and engineer hires and transitioning from an accounting firm to a software platform.

Be sure to have your notepad ready to understand what exactly is carbon accounting, what are scope 1,2 and 3 emissions. And in what can seem a crowded space, how have Sunday built their point of difference for investors, customers and employees to join them on this mission, as they bring the future today, building in Tasmania, Australia for the world.

It’s time to explore your curiosity. Please enjoy!

(Timestamps below)

***

Contact us via our website or email Vidit directly at vidit@curiositycenter.xyz to discuss sponsorship opportunities, recommend future guests or share feedback, we love hearing how to improve!

Thank you for rating / reviewing this podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show!

***

02:29 - Jess’s influences from Tasmania, Dubai, Melbourne

03:55 - Linday’s influences from Perth, Norway, NZ

05:04 - Most impactful career experiences to date

10:37 - How Lindsay and Jess met

13:35 - Playing in the arena to reduce emissions

16:30 - Realising importance of analysis + storytelling

17:37 - Decision to go all-in

21:30 - Crucible moment this could be a large business

24:00 - Funny stories of first senior hires

25:35 - Generating significant traction

28:30 - Transition from accounting firm to software platform

31:33 - Defining carbon accounting and scope 1,2 and 3

35:59 - Sunday’s points of difference

42:32 - Building from Tasmania for the world

44:30 - Upcoming job openings and skill sets in team

#123 David Shein: Influences of South Africa + Australia, founding a billion $ company with young family & unpacking investing in the best at OIF

David Shein, OIF, Vidit Agarwal, Curiosity Center, The High Flyers Podcast — Tue, 21 Mar 2023 18:00:00 +0000

In this episode #123 w David Shein, learn about:

David’s memories of growing up in South Africa during a divided time for the country, the influences of his father, a businessman and mother, a piano teacher — and his 2 older brothers.

I asked Dave about his move to Australia in the 80’s or “gods country” as he calls it. You may be aware that he founded ComTech, Australia’s first unicorn but what you may not know is the story behind this, especially having a young family and being new in Australia.

Dave was candid about his biggest regret, how’s he made career decisions, the meaning of success, how he’s managed to build a knack of understanding people quickly and maintaining high quality relationships with leaders in business, sport, politics and more.

And I couldn’t release this episode without asking Dave some of the hard questions about his fund, OIF, best in class investor relationships, and his unfiltered advice to founders in this uncertain climate.

It’s now time to explore your curiosity. Please enjoy!

(Timestamps below)

***

Contact us via our website or email Vidit directly at vidit@curiositycenter.xyz to discuss sponsorship opportunities, recommend future guests or share feedback, we love hearing how to improve!

Thank you for rating / reviewing this podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show!

***

02:15 - Secrets to looking young

02:52 - Where were you born and live now?

03:18 - What was your first job and now?

05:00 - High Flyer in David’s life

07:25 - Growing up in South Africa during a divided country

11:52 - Chartered Accounting family

13:05 - 3 brothers

15:42 - Moving to Australia in 1981

19:34 - Founding ComTech with a young family

22:01 - Sitting on a gold mine

25:00 - Financial success

27:22 - Career decision making hierarchy

34:55 - VC as a career path today

38:00 - Judging people in 5 minutes

41:00 - Cultivating high quality relationships

44:37 - OIF and US connection

48:26 - Best in class investor relationships

52:02 - Hall of fame

54:10 - Advice to founders in today’s market

57:40 - Balance between growth and profitability

01:00:22 - Success, respect, reputation

01:02:28 - Rapid fire

#122 Sheel Mohnot: Living on $1 a day to learn his customers, Becoming one of the best seed FinTech investors, Metaverse weddings & more!

Sheel Mohnot, The High Flyers Podcast, Curiosity Center, Vidit Agarwal — Tue, 7 Mar 2023 18:00:00 +0000

In this episode #122 w Sheel Mohnot, learn about:

02:15 - Where were you born and live now?
02:30 - What was your first job and now?
03:20 - High Flyer in Sheel’s life
04:12 - Indian family influences
05:19 - High school impressions
06:09 - Connecting with Indian / American identity
06:51 - Grandfather’s inspiration
07:44 - Multi dimensional career interests
09:00 - A year living in India on a $1 a day
10:18 - Internalising personal values and happiness
11:10 - Most painful learning
12:26 - Meeting his wife thanks to a dating show
12:48 - Taco Bell metaverse wedding
13:44 - Hanging out with AirBnB’s Brian Cheesky
16:18 - Business opportunity in podcasts
17:13 - Finance, Consulting, Healthcare
18:02 - Mental models for learning
18:57 - Crowdfunding as part of a VC round
19:50 - State of FinTech today
21:07 - Founding team vs product at seed stage
21:50 - Transition from angel investor to running a fund
22:45 - Questions to ask in first meeting with founder
23:51 - Downside of saying no to founders
24:42 - Hallmarks of a great enduring Venture firm
26:44 - Managing both sides: the LP’s and Founders
28:44 - 5 best hall of fame investors
29:54 - Best underrated investors
30:35 - most unexpected successful founders
31:35 - Unpacking Flexport’s business model
33:09 - Indian CEO’s
34:58 - Building rapport cross cultures
37:20 - FinTech in Africa
38:01 - Opportunity in Australia
39:12 - 3 tips to become a VC today
40:12 - Progression within a VC
41:51 - Traits of a great investment memo
42:50 - Areas founders should be more aware of
44:39 - Growth vs burn rates
45:15 - Final sprint

It’s now time to explore your curiosity. Please enjoy!

***

Contact us via our website or email Vidit directly at vidit@curiositycenter.xyz to discuss sponsorship opportunities, recommend future guests or share feedback, we love hearing how to improve!

Thank you for rating / reviewing this podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show!

#121 Mayuresh Patole: Breaking news! Announcing Squarepeg's investment in Chronicle, helping unleash your inner storyteller, guest hosted by James Tynan

Tue, 21 Feb 2023 18:00:00 +0000

Global tech investor Squarepeg announces investment in Chronicle. Hear from James Tynan and Mayuresh Patole!

In this special episode #121, learn about:

▪️ 02:09 - James’ memories of first meeting with Mayuresh @ Chronicle

▪️04:04 - Mayuresh’ memories of early interactions with Squarepeg

▪️06:15 - Where was Mayuresh born and lives now?

▪️07:20 - Most profound experience in childhood

▪️10:38 - Ultra HD vision only at age 12

▪️13:07 - Parents influences and high performance

▪️16:00 - Living up to family expectations

▪️17:56 - The global significance of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT)

▪️20:13 - 800 students from a million applicants + CEO alumni

▪️21:40 - First spark of interest in the world of design

▪️24:22 - Helping 300 startup founders with “how to make kickass presentations

▪️27:35 - The rare package of design and analytical thinking

▪️32:22 - It’s too easy right now to make bad presentations

▪️33:52 - Constraint and power together in presentations

▪️35:58 - How Chronicle is using constraint for a great storytelling experience

▪️38:48 - Enabling users to design with blocks, not templates

▪️45:42 - Visual metaphor designed for the overhead projector

▪️49:02 - The new storytelling world using Chronicle

▪️50:48 - Use cases of generative AI in presentations

▪️54:20 - Final sprint rapid fire

It’s now time to explore your curiosity. Please enjoy!

***

Contact us via our website or email Vidit directly at vidit@curiositycenter.xyz to discuss sponsorship opportunities, recommend future guests or share feedback, we love hearing how to improve!

Thank you for rating / reviewing this podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show!

#120 Tim Doyle + Alex Badran: Provocations & Round tables with the founders of Healthcare Tech startup, Eucalyptus and Pocket Money App, Spriggy

Tim Doyle, Alex Badran, Curiosity Center, The High Flyers Podcast, Vidit Agarwal — Thu, 16 Feb 2023 18:00:00 +0000

New series! In this episode #120 w Alex Badran and Tim Doyle, learn about:

02:36 - Alex and Tim’s memories of meeting each other
03:30 - Opportunity in marketing from capital allocation and media management
04:10 - Probabilities and thinking in frameworks
04:57 - Alex’s memories of winning competitions watching cricket
06:56 - Grounding first principles in a logical framework from mathematics
08:14 - Why not enter finance post PhD in math?
10:38 - Career selection and matching interests and skills
12:07 - Balance between data and judgement in decision making
18:05 - Do founders have to evolve thinking from Seed stage to Series B and beyond?
20:28 - Drawing inference to the needs of a population for product building
22:02 - Role of data in performance marketing
23:47 - Campaign at Eucalyptus that surprised Tim the most
25:08 - Current phase of marketing being hyper local optimisation
27:06 - Finding product market fit for the second act of the business
33:24 - Customer problems, business problems, vision
35:06 - Generalist vs specialists
39:10 - Formulating team skill sets
41:15 - Combination of personalities effective at specific times and not others
44:18 - Outsource anything that doesn’t make your beer taste better
47:17 - What makes someone the best?
51:30 - Dreamers, leavers and settlers
54:50 - Transitioning from corporate to a startup
56:42 - Key learning for Alex and Tim in next 6 months

It’s now time to explore your curiosity. Please enjoy!

***

Contact us via our website or email Vidit directly at vidit@curiositycenter.xyz to discuss sponsorship opportunities, recommend future guests or share feedback, we love hearing how to improve!

Thank you for rating / reviewing this podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show!

#119 Wyatt Roy (Rare Public Interview): How he became the youngest EVER national govt minister + creating the national science & innovation agenda

Wyatt Roy, The High Flyers Podcast, Curiosity Center, Vidit Agarwal — Tue, 7 Feb 2023 18:00:00 +0000

In this episode #119 w Wyatt Roy, learn about:

Sunrise in regional Queensland and working on the family strawberry farm
Influence of high school teacher to enter politics at age 20
specifics of how he become a member of parliament
Similarities between politicians and startup founders (yep stick with us and hear the answer)
Overcoming age bias, and why it exists not just in politics but in areas like Military, Sport etc
Genesis for the National Innovation and Science Agenda
Transitioning the Australian economy towards innovation and entrepreneurship
Creating the first renewable billionaire, from renewables and sustainability, rather than mining
Why can “innovation” be a divisive word in government
“Don’t worry, a bigger idiot than you has gone before you and done it”

It’s now time to explore your curiosity. Please enjoy!

***

Contact us via our website or email Vidit directly at vidit@curiositycenter.xyz to discuss sponsorship opportunities, recommend future guests or share feedback, we love hearing how to improve!

Thank you for rating / reviewing this podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show!

#118 Anil Sabharwal (Rare Public Interview): Indian, Canadian & Aussie connection + Building THREE of Google's nine Billion user products!

Anil Sabharwal, Vidit Agarwal, The High Flyers Podcast, Curiosity Center — Tue, 31 Jan 2023 18:00:00 +0000

In this epsiode #118 w Anil Sabharwal learn about:

Sunrise in Canada with Indian roots
Reflections on his early influences and leaving home at age 17
Highlights / Learnings from 10-15 year career prior to joining Google
Moving to Australia in 2006
Achieving momentum in early days at Google
Unlocking skills working across new markets, segments and industries in building billion user products and becoming globally recognised product leader
Building Google Photos into a billion user product
Leadership responsibility across product, design and engineering
Promotion to managing Google Chrome, ChromeOS and Communications
Product DNA differences between Photos and Chrome
Transition from Chrome to a blank canvas and prioritising values
Why is the product function king (or queen) at Google?
Key metrics to monitor in your product function
Make a few people very happy vs a lot of people semi happy
Success at 50

It’s now time to explore your curiosity. Please enjoy!

***

Contact us via our website or email Vidit directly at vidit@curiositycenter.xyz to discuss sponsorship opportunities, recommend future guests or share feedback, we love hearing how to improve!

Thank you for rating / reviewing this podcast on iTunes and Spotify, it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show!

Investment memo: How Startmate & Airtree are building the next gen of angel investors, explorers vs first believers + a special announcement!

Tue, 24 Jan 2023 18:00:00 +0000

We're joined by Ben Simai, the program led for Startmate’s first believers and Jess Walker, the program lead for Airtree’s explorers in their first joint appearance for this episode #117 and installment #22 of the special Curiosity series.

Explore your curiosity about:

Quick intro on Ben and Jess and how they made they way into startups and investing
What is an Angel Investor?
Surprises about the entry points of angel investors?
Helping new angels overcome imposter syndrome?
What differentiates Explorers vs first believers program?
Pros and Cons of new vs experienced angels
Syndicates for non sophisticated investors
Why does startmate charge and Airtree is a free program?
Secret to earning trust with founders
Current economic climate

Please enjoy!

***

Find out more about Curiosity Center, including events, angel investment and 110+ podcast episodes at www.curiositycenter.xyz

Find out more about Startmate's first believers program at https://www.startmate.com/first-believers

Find out more about Airtree's Explorers program at https://www.airtree.vc/explorer-program

Share your feedback and discuss sponsorship opportunities with us by directly emailing vidit@curiositycenter.xyz or at https://www.curiositycenter.xyz/contact-us

Follow the show on Linkedin / Instagram / Twitter

Investment memo: ":Different", The power duo's quest from holiday idea to re-thinking property mgmt using learnings as early hire at Uber & more!

Mina Radhakrishnan, Ruwin Perera, Different, Vidit Agarwal, Curiosity Center — Tue, 17 Jan 2023 18:00:00 +0000

We're joined by Co-Founders and Co-Ceo’s of Different, Mina Radhakrishnan and Ruwin Perera in their first joint appearance on a podcast for this episode #116 and installment #21 of the special Curiosity series.

Explore your curiosity about:

Mina and Ruwin growing up 200km's away from each other in Zambia without knowing it
How they met in San Fransisco many years later
Learnings from Uber, Google, Softbank, MBA and more
How Mina & Ruwin settled on different as their startup idea when they were travelling in 2016
“Property Management as a service for real estate agencies” - what was the problem different could solve in 2017?
When did they know that Different could be a big business
Business model working with property agencies
Biggest misconception about Different
Having a team across Sri Lanka and Australia
Managing disagreements as founders (and life partners)

Please enjoy!

***

Find out more about Curiosity Center, including events, angel investment and 110+ podcast episodes at www.curiositycenter.xyz

Find out more about Different at https://different.com.au/

Share your feedback and discuss sponsorship opportunities with us by directly emailing vidit@curiositycenter.xyz

Follow the show on Linkedin / Instagram / Twitter

#115 The hungry not the proven, LIVE at the Sunrise festival ft. Niki Scevak, Blackbird VC & Vince Allen, SunDrive

Niki Scevak, Vince Allen, Vidit Agarwal, Curiosity Center, Blackbird — Sun, 8 Jan 2023 18:00:00 +0000

In this special (live) episode #115 w Niki Scevak and Vince Allen, learn about:

Source of Niki’s ambition
Vince’s first meeting with Niki
Dynamic of a university student as Vince was (Phd I might add) and Niki being more experienced in his career
How they’ve helped each other in unexpected ways given the founder/investor relationship is built on a commercial agreement but is very personal
Niki and Vince’s global cultural influences
Vince unpacks exactly how Australia can be the global leader in solar energy
Twitter memes
The two shits (Yes, you read hat right)

It’s now time to explore your curiosity. Please enjoy!

***

Enjoy all episodes via our website and find out all about the Curiosity Center here

Email the host Vidit Agarwal directly at vidit@curiositycenter.xyz to discuss sponsorship opportunities, recommend future guests or share feedback. He reads every email.

Thank you for rating / reviewing this podcast on iTunes and Spotify, it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show!

#114 Marcus Thompson: Rising up to Major General in the Australian Army, Suprises about deployment in Afghanistan & Iraq + setting up the Information Warfare division

Marcus Thompson, Australian Defence Force, Army — Tue, 13 Dec 2022 18:00:00 +0000

Last week, we learnt this show ranked in the top 10% most shared podcasts by Spotify globally for 2022, all thanks to you!

In this final episode of the year, #114 w Marcus Thompson, learn about:

sunrise in Timboom, Country VIC
Mum’s influence to have self confidence and belief - “you must be proud of yourself”
How army interest began? Wanted to be an engineer
At its very core, the army is a training organisation
17 moves in 34 years in the army
Behind the scenes of being deployed to Afghanistan, Iraq etc: how did he get picked, training and more
Reality vs perception of missions to Afghanistan
Week in the life on deployment
Becoming inaugural head of Information Warfare @ ADF
Rating Australia’s cyber defence capabilities
Protecting ourselves using Multi factor authentication

It’s now time to explore your curiosity. Please enjoy!

***

Contact us via our website or email Vidit directly at vidit@curiositycenter.xyz to discuss sponsorship opportunities, recommend future guests or share feedback, we love hearing how to improve!

Thank you for rating / reviewing this podcast on iTunes and Spotify, it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show!

#113 Daniel Petre: Insecurities, reporting to Bill Gates, founding Airtree VC, realities of philantrophy

Daniel Petre, Start Giving, Airtree — Thu, 8 Dec 2022 03:46:31 +0000

In this episode #113 w Daniel Petre, learn about:

sunrise in Sydney and immigrant parents from Romania being sent to Australia after World war 2
reflections on childhood not being the happiest and looking for a sense of belonging
success at age 18: be a fighter pilot in the Air Force, don’t make it from last 35 applicants
psychology being a path Daniel would explore if he was 18 again
Joining Microsoft when it wasn’t a household name and rising to one of 5 global VP's under Bill Gates
Does he feel successful after time at Microsoft?
How birth of first daughter and death of sister re-prioritised life focus
Creating a culture of truth seeking as a leader at Airtree Ventures
Learnings from Bill Bartee (co-founder of Blackbird + Main Sequence)
How Australia can be a philanthropic nation

It’s now time to explore your curiosity. Please enjoy!

***

Contact us via our website or email Vidit directly at vidit@curiositycenter.xyz to discuss sponsorship opportunities, recommend future guests or share feedback, we love hearing how to improve!

Thank you for rating / reviewing this podcast on iTunes and Spotify, it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show!

Investment memo: "Smileyscope", VR & AR therapeutics focused on managing pain and anxiety for kids and adults

Evelyn Chan, Smileyscope, Vidit Agarwal — Tue, 22 Nov 2022 18:00:00 +0000

Today, we're joined by with Dr Evelyn Chan, the co-founder and CEO of Smileyscope, a leading technology company bringing virtual and augmented reality therapeutics focused on managing pain and anxiety for kids and adults, in Australia, the US and beyond.

Explore your curiosity about:

Evelyn’s story from working in her dad’s pharmacy growing up
Her time within paediatrics at leading hospitals
How being exposed to a VR company working on a side project whilst at the consulting firm, BCG eventually led to the creation of Smileyscope.
How she met her co-founder Paul, early years of founding the business, debunking perceptions about hardware and VR and scaling the customer relationship with hospitals
The total addressable market being kids AND adults
How Smileyscope could lead the non drug based pain relief movement
Exciting new open jobs as part of their expansion into the US!

Vidit Agarwal is a proud investor in Smileyscope through his syndicate FB10x AdVentures.

Please enjoy!

***

Find out more about Curiosity Center, including events, angel investment and 110+ podcast episodes at www.curiositycenter.xyz

Find out more about Smileyscope at https://www.smileyscope.com.au/

Share your feedback and discuss sponsorship opportunities with us by directly emailing vidit@curiositycenter.xyz

Follow the show on Linkedin / Instagram / Twitter

Laura Henshaw: Parents seperation early, importance of financial independence, building the multi-faceted KIC business, social media following & more!

Keep it cleaner, KIC, Laura Henshaw — Tue, 15 Nov 2022 18:00:00 +0000

In this episode #111 w Laura Henshaw, learn about:

sunrise in Melbourne, Australia w 2 younger sisters and the effects of seeing her parents seperate when she was 11
the guiding light her mum has been from the early days
importance of female financial independence especially post birth
Chips on shoulder and comparison being the thief of joy
creating the Keep it cleaner business affectionately called KIC with her friend Steph Claire Smith
how it’s become multi faceted with a health & wellness app, grocery products and a movement amongst females with a large social media following.
Building a technology app with no tech experience prior
Co-founder dynamics and growing as a CEO
being an entrepreneur rather than an influencer
how she manages her social media activity and being there for her first believers.

It’s now time to explore your curiosity. Please enjoy!

***

Contact us via our website or email Vidit directly at vidit@curiositycenter.xyz to discuss sponsorship opportunities, recommend future guests or share feedback, we love hearing how to improve!

Thank you for rating / reviewing this podcast on iTunes and Spotify, it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show!

Will Richardson: Mixed race family, making career & life changes, real founding story of Giant Leap & abundance mindset!

Will Richardson, Giant Leap VC — Wed, 2 Nov 2022 00:42:36 +0000

In this episode #110 w Will Richardson, learn about:

sunrise in Melbourne, Australia with an asian mum and white Australian dad
what it means to be of mixed race
what is private equity given his 7 year stint + what made him step away in 2013
importance of asking yourself “what makes you come alive” to make life and career decisions
transition to venture capital and impact investing
real founding story of Giant Leap in 2016 whilst also having his first child
The reality of capital raising and building relationships with no prior connections
Blue sky thinking vs in the weeds
Life changing moments through a believer or attending an event

It’s now time to explore your curiosity. Please enjoy!

***

Contact us via our website or email Vidit directly at vidit@curiositycenter.xyz to discuss sponsorship opportunities, recommend future guests or share feedback, we love hearing how to improve!

Thank you for rating / reviewing this podcast on iTunes and Spotify, it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show!

Terence Jeyaretnam: Sri Lanka civil war & refugee status, building one of the first B corps in Australia & acquisition by EY; solving climate change, diversity & inclusion

Terence Jeyaretnam, Net Balance, EY — Mon, 24 Oct 2022 18:00:00 +0000

In this episode #109 w Terence Jeyaretnam, learn about:

sunrise in Sri Lanka with dad, a veterinary doctor and mum a teacher
memories of seeing Sri Lanka goes through a brutal civil war which resulted in his family moving to Perth, Australia on refugee status
studying in the first cohort of an environmental engineering degree at University
inside the founding story of Net Balance in 2005
growing Net Balance to Australia's largest standalone sustainability and climate change practice, rated one of the fastest 100 growth companies in Australia and one of the first B Corps in Australia.
personal sacrifices as founder / CEO
concept of social dollars and building a purpose led organisation
how Net Balance was acquired by the big 4 firm, Ernst & Young
continuing to making sustainability a mainstream corporate agenda
how we can continue to collective solve climate change, Diversity and inclusion

It’s now time to explore your curiosity. Please enjoy!

***

Contact us via our website or email Vidit directly at vidit@curiositycenter.xyz to discuss sponsorship opportunities, recommend future guests or share feedback, we love hearing how to improve!

Thank you for rating / reviewing this podcast on iTunes and Spotify, it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show!

#108 Rowan Simpson (Rare Public Interview): NZ lifestyle, high flyer teachers, scaling success stories in Trade Me + Xero from early days, investing, ambition & more

Rowan Simpson — Wed, 12 Oct 2022 18:00:00 +0000

In this episode #108 w Rowan Simpson, learn about:

sunrise in NZ with fond memories of his high school teachers, the real high flyers in society
deep love for sport and being the first in his extended family to attend university.
value of ambition in the New Zealand context nd love rowan’s framing of working towards being the “biggest small country in the world"
Life changing experiences in early stage tech companies, first Trade Me and then Xero
how the financial success led to creating his family office, Hoku
how wins should be celebrated
chips on our shoulder
connection of sport and fast growth startups
grandparent mindset for investors
re-defining balance and more!
Rowan's essay on "world class" is worth a read (here)

It’s now time to explore your curiosity. Please enjoy!

***

Contact us via our website or email Vidit directly at vidit@curiositycenter.xyz to discuss sponsorship opportunities, recommend future guests or share feedback, we love hearing how to improve!

Thank you for rating / reviewing this podcast on iTunes and Spotify, it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show!

Stew Glynn: Early years in Zimbabwe, Big transition from corporate to family office + meeting Steve Baxter, inside how Ten13 invests in emerging markets of Africa + Columbia

Stew Glynn, Ten13 — Sun, 9 Oct 2022 18:00:00 +0000

In this episode #107 w Stew Glynn, learn about:

Sunrise in Harare, Zimbabwe with political and economic instability
Fun Fact: the peak inflation in Zimbabwe in 2008 was at 230 million percent, incredible!
Influences of seeing his entrepreneurial dad run various businesses
what led to him attending university in Australia
Introduction into the tech world first at GE and then KPMG
Reflections on the transition from KPMG to co-founding a family office
Inside how we met Steve Baxter (of Shark Tank fame)
How they built out the brand and business in Ten13
economics of operating a syndicate model
what led to them investing in international markets like Africa and Columbia with a number of successful startups in their portfolio

It’s now time to explore your curiosity. Please enjoy!

***

Contact us via our website or email Vidit directly at vidit@curiositycenter.xyz to discuss sponsorship opportunities, recommend future guests or share feedback, we love hearing how to improve!

Thank you for rating / reviewing this podcast on iTunes and Spotify, it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show!

Investment memo: "COVIU", the all-in-one virtual care engagement platform for better care + creating the video caption function for YouTube!

COVIU, Silvia Pfeiffer — Mon, 3 Oct 2022 18:00:00 +0000

Today, we're joined by with Silvia Pfeiffer, the co-founder and CEO of COVIU, the all in one virtual care engagement platform for better healthcare.

Learn about Silvia’s fascinating journey to date, from Germany to moving to Australia at the turn of the century, studying a PHD in computer science, how she was involved in bringing video technology to the web through her first startup Vequence and then working on video caption functionality for YouTube.

All these rich experiences and learnings led Silvia to create COVIU, the success HealthTech business she now leads with over 50 team members in Australia and the US. I asked her about the problem they’re solving, their business model, overcoming physical examination barriers, successful virtual care platforms and more.

It’s time to explore your curiosity. Please enjoy!

***

Find out more about Curiosity Center, including 100+ episodes at www.curiositycenter.xyz

Find out more about COVIU at https://www.coviu.com/

Share your feedback and discuss sponsorship opportunities with us by directly emailing vidit@curiositycenter.xyz

Follow the show on Linkedin / Instagram / Twitter

#105 Simon Cant: Balancing creative and academic side, Co-founding Reinventure at age 45 and why it's never too late to start + being early investors in Coinbase & Immutable!

Simon Cant, Reinventure, Westpac — Wed, 28 Sep 2022 19:00:00 +0000

In this episode #105 w Simon Cant, learn about:

Sunrise in Sydney when it didn’t have the big city nature it does today
Influences of Mum (sociology lecturer) and dad (Qantas pilot)
Personal tension between academic and creative side growing up
The family connection to Law, romanticised it and realised it wasn’t for him after working in it for a few years
Painful learning after his time at social ventures including family challenges
Started Reinventure when he was 45, big lesson that life can take many paths
Becoming spiritual and finding peace, know thy self
How did the Coinbase (one of the most prominent crypto companies) investment happen?
Being first Australian investors in Immutable

It’s now time to explore your curiosity. Please enjoy!

***

Contact us via our website or email Vidit directly at vidit@curiositycenter.xyz to discuss sponsorship opportunities, recommend future guests or share feedback, we love hearing how to improve!

Thank you for rating / reviewing this podcast on iTunes and Spotify, it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show!

Michael Overell: Nuclear family sunrise, learnings building startup for 8 yrs, growth @ Lyft + ClassDojo & more!

Michael Overell, Curiosity Center — Tue, 20 Sep 2022 03:00:00 +0000

In this episode #104 w Michael Overell, learn about:

Sunrise in Brisbane, Australia with 3 younger sisters
Influences of Mum, an English teacher and Dad, an accountant
Desire to play rugby professionally and source of ambition
How he left Mckinsey to create his startup, RecruitLoop
Reflecting on his own founder journey having to step away from RecruitLoop after 8 years
Moving from Sydney to San Fransisco
How he joined Lyft and now ClassDojo
What it means to be high performing and successful at a fast growing tech company
Forming the angel syndicate, Antipodes with an all star cast
Why he didn't get Jetlag till he was 30 and more!

It’s now time to explore your curiosity. Please enjoy!

***

Contact us via our website or email Vidit directly at vidit@curiositycenter.xyz to discuss sponsorship opportunities, recommend future guests or share feedback, we love hearing how to improve!

Thank you for rating / reviewing this podcast on iTunes and Spotify, it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show!

Jeanette Cheah: Global upbringing and asian heritage + inside how they're bringing fun innovation education for the next gen at HEX!

Jeanette Cheah, HEX, Curiosity Center — Wed, 7 Sep 2022 19:00:00 +0000

In this episode #103 w Jeanette Cheah, learn about:

Her global upbringing, born in Hawaii and then Japan before settling down in Melbourne
Chinese and Malaysian heritage
How seeing her parents, with mum an accountant and dad an economist made education the cornerstone of her early years
Starting career in the banking sector and then realising she didn’t want to play by those rules
How HEX started with trade missions to san Fransisco with a group of students from Australia
Being 3 days away from travelling to Austin, Texas on a big program and the borders shut down when COVID hit in 2020
Raising money from investors
Funding challenges for female founders
Current economic climate
+ stay tuned for some very cool info about Jeanette’s assistant and more!

It’s now time to explore your curiosity. Please enjoy!

***

Contact us via OUR WEBSITE or email Vidit directly at vidit@curiositycenter.xyz to discuss sponsorship opportunities, recommend future guests or share feedback, we love hearing how to improve!

Thank you for rating / reviewing this podcast on iTunes and Spotify, it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show!

Investment memo: "CoLab", announcing the merger of restaurant ready meals and 1500+ gourmet pantry products!

Elle Curran, CoLab, Natasha Buttigieg — Fri, 2 Sep 2022 06:30:00 +0000

Explore your curiosity with Elle and Tash from the newly formed business Co-Lab which brings together restaurant made ready meals and a selection over 1500 pantry products straight to your home!

Learn about how a Linkedin message from Tash started this relationship and eventual acquisition, why this made complete sene, how they scaled their business through the pandemic and a deep dive into the acquisition process, biggest surprises and exciting things in the works including same day delivery.

It’s time to explore your curiosity. Please enjoy!

***

Find out more about Curiosity Center, including 100+ episodes at www.curiositycenter.xyz

Find out more about CoLab at https://www.colab.com.au/

Share your feedback and discuss sponsorship opportunities with us by directly emailing vidit@curiositycenter.xyz

Follow the show on Linkedin / Instagram / Twitter

Rachel Yang: Youngest of 3 sisters, career changing work w indigenous community & inside building Giant Leap, first 100% impact VC in Aus!

Rachel Yang, Giant Leap VC — Mon, 29 Aug 2022 19:00:00 +0000

In this episode #101 w Rachel Yang, learn about:

Sunrise in Melbourne being the youngest of 3 sisters, being raised by her mum and securing a scholarship to attend a private school
Asian heritage and how Rachel’s become closer to it with age
Working in north east arnhem land whilst at KPMG on projects for the indigenous First Nations community
Move into Venture Capital and the connection to an acting class
Progressing from associate to partner at Giant Leap, Australia’s first 100% impact focused VC fund
Second and third order effects of impact investing
Examples of some startups they’ve backed: Work 180, GoTerra, Great Wrap etc
Overseas inspirations to productively use capital for good

It’s now time to explore your curiosity. Please enjoy!

***

Contact us via OUR WEBSITE or email Vidit directly at vidit@curiositycenter.xyz to discuss sponsorship opportunities, recommend future guests or share feedback, we love hearing how to improve!

Thank you for rating / reviewing this podcast on iTunes and Spotify, it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show!

Natasha Interviews Vidit about the origin story, interview process unknowns, 99 learnings, fav guest stories & a suprise!

Vidit Agarwal — Mon, 22 Aug 2022 19:00:00 +0000

In this episode #100, Natasha Ong (marketing associate) interviews Vidit Agarwal (Founder & Host)!

We cover:

Learnings from first job working at a restaurant
Mum’s influence and being the high flyer in my life
How has my perception of a high flyer changed?
Society views on celebrating success and how this podcast plays a small role in re-creating that
Origin story of the podcast and the name "The High Flyers"
Personal growth through this podcast over past 2 years
Behind the scenes of interview prep and research process
How to make guests comfortable to open up
Ranking in the top #20 shows in Aus, India, Hong Kong
What’s helped grow the podcast?
How has the marketing evolved?
Advice for budding podcasters
Rapid fire: Proudest achievement, Guest that surprised you, Piece of advice from a guest, What separates a great podcast, dream guests, Thank you to first believers

It’s now time to explore your curiosity. Please enjoy!

***

Contact us via OUR WEBSITE or email Vidit directly at vidit@curiositycenter.xyz to discuss sponsorship opportunities, recommend future guests or share feedback, we love hearing how to improve!

Thank you for rating / reviewing this podcast on iTunes and Spotify, it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show!

Michael Tolo: Rich italian heritage, transtition from law to finance & VC, Investing in deep tech founders and creating net new categories of entrepreneurship!

Michael Tolo, Blackbird — Wed, 17 Aug 2022 19:00:00 +0000

Michael is Principal at Blackbird VC and helps uncover & invest in founders and innovation in Synthetic biology, Embedded commerce, Compute, Healthcare and Robotics.

In this episode #99, learn about:

Sunrise in Melbourne having rich Italian heritage and influences, with his dad being a chemical engineer and mum starting out as a high school teacher and then becoming a financial planner and always being there for Michael and his younger brother.
How speaking different languages is he perfect way to see through a clear window into a culture
How he started his career in law and then utilised an inspiring learning path to move to finance and then into Venture Capital with Playground VC in the USA (which also has a story behind it)
Specific learnings of these 3 transitions and now being back in Australia with Blackbird
Why Deep Tech investing fascinates him
Distilling misconceptions about founders in Deep Tech
3 key traits to be a successful VC
How he spends his perfect day off work
Michael's one strength and one weakness

It’s now time to explore your curiosity. Please enjoy!

***

Contact us via OUR WEBSITE or email Vidit directly at vidit@curiositycenter.xyz to discuss sponsorship opportunities, recommend future guests or share feedback, we love hearing how to improve!

Thank you for rating / reviewing this podcast on iTunes and Spotify, it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show!

Daniel Madhavan: Multicultural family upbringing, specifics on how he became acting CEO by buiding bridges over boats, What is impact investing & falling down stairs!

Daniel Madhavan, Ecotone Partners — Mon, 15 Aug 2022 19:00:00 +0000

Thank you for rating / reviewing this podcast on iTunes and Spotify, it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show!

Contact us via OUR WEBSITE or email Vidit directly at vidit@curiositycenter.xyz to discuss sponsorship opportunities, recommend future guests or share feedback, we love hearing how to improve!

***

Welcome to episode #98 w Daniel Madhavan! It’s now time to explore your curiosity. Please enjoy!

We cover:

Learn about his sunrise in Melbourne, Australia in the most multicultural family with his dad being half Indian, half Chinese and mum being Dutch.
Success at age 18 being to be financially independent which drove Dan’s successful 12+ year career in banking with JB Were rising to acting CEO
Practical learnings that helped Dan be promoted every few years ("build bridges not boats")
Specifics of the fascinating decision making process to leave the firm
Funny story from early 20’s that was a big learning in hindsight
Using capital to make a positive impact for the future of the planet
Top 3 impact focused investors he’s the most impressed by

#97 Lauren Capelin: QLD connection & defining success; merging business, creativity, community w impact, networldling over networking and more!

Lauren Capelin — Tue, 2 Aug 2022 23:32:44 +0000

Thank you for rating / reviewing this podcast on iTunes and Spotify, it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show!

Email Vidit directly at vidit@curiositycenter.xyz or contact us via www.curiositycenter.xyz to discuss sponsorship opportunities, recommend future guests or share feedback, we love hearing how to improve!

***

Welcome to episode #97 w Lauren Capelin! It’s now time to explore your curiosity.

Please enjoy!

Learn about her sunrise in QLD with dad being a banker and mum working at Ansett and achieve her desire of sending Lauren and her sisters to private school.
Lauren candidly shares this private schooling experience and how it changed the family dynamic and also realising success tends to be more about happiness over status.
We cover a lot and Lauren shares fantastic insights about how she discovered and built her career merging creativity, community and impact with the business world - working with global thought leaders like Rachel Botsman on building the sharing economy and collaborative consumption to then how she was the first person in a community and platform role in Venture Capital in Australia.
How Lauren manages to be ahead of the curve on many trends?
Moving to Noosa, QLD in 2020
What people get wrong about relationship building?
How can Australia cultivate a successful women led VC fund?

Dalton Henshaw: Sunrise in Melbourne w sporting dreams turning into creating a major men's lifestyle publisher & now leading 40+ ppl at age 29 @ Bullfrog

Dalton Henshaw, Bullfrog, Bullfrog Media, Laura Henshaw, Ben Cooper — Sun, 31 Jul 2022 19:00:00 +0000

Thank you for rating / reviewing this podcast on iTunes and Spotify, it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show!

***

Welcome to episode #96 w Dalton Henshaw! It’s now time to explore your curiosity. Please enjoy!

Learn about his sunrise in Melbourne and having to grow up quickly as his parents separated when he was 6. His dad ran a fashion retail business and mum was Chief Family officer before moving into medical admin.
Dalton shares his dream at 18 to play professional AFL which eventually turning into creating a prominent mens lifestyle publication called The Tailored Man, working with brands such as Tag Heuer, Hugo Boss and Mercedes Benz.
I asked Dalton about the 3 successful people that he’s met that inspire him, how he prepares for client meetings, how he manages a team of 40, especially people older than him and 1% habits he and his wife Laura have added in the last 2 years. Stay tuned to learn about Dalton’s favourite fashion and running brands and lots more

#95 Blackbird's Creative Director Joel Connolly: Early influences of Darwin + Copacabana, inside the transition from music and creative to venture capital

Joel Connolly, Blackbird Ventures — Tue, 19 Jul 2022 19:00:00 +0000

Thank you for rating / reviewing this podcast on iTunes and Spotify, it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show!

Email Vidit directly at vidit@curiositycenter.xyz or contact us via www.curiositycenter.xyz to discuss sponsorship opportunities, recommend future guests and share how we can improve.

***

Welcome to episode #95 w Joel Connolly! Please enjoy.

***

TIMESTAMPS

01:50 - Where were you born and live now?

02:00 - What was your first job and now?

02:31 - High Flyer in Joel’s life

03:58 - Darwin and Copacabana

06:57 - Influences of family and public figures

08:53 - Being raised by a single mum

11:18 - First time he came across music and creative world

13:13 - Career plan at age 18

17:08 - Didn’t feeling like a creative till his mid 30’s

18:10 - We’re all born creative

19:36 - Creativity in podcasting

21:39 - The move from music to Venture Capital at Blackbird

28:05 - Unlearning and trying new things at Blackbird

31:50 - How Joel created the Blackbird brand strategy:

36:15 - Community and firm building

38:25 - Most painful learning

42:01 - Balancing creative role in an investment firm

45:13 - Blackbird 2.0

49:03 - What is brand building as an expression of who you are

52:20 - What does crypto have right and wrong about culture?

55:41 - How does Australia encourage Vitaliks (founder of ETH)?

58:31 - Joel’s thinking in themes and not pictures

01:01:12 - Rapid fire

Jackie Vullinghs: Mum's early influence, unknowns about Milkrun, great consumer investing & Airtree VC's second generation

Jackie Vullinghs, Jax Vullinghs, Airtree VC — Wed, 13 Jul 2022 19:00:00 +0000

Thank you for rating / reviewing this podcast on iTunes and Spotify, it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show!

Email Vidit directly at vidit@curiositycenter.xyz or contact us via www.curiositycenter.xyz to discuss sponsorship opportunities, recommend future guests and share how we can improve.

***

Welcome to episode #94 w Jackie Vullinghs! Please enjoy.

***

TIMESTAMPS

01:55 - Where were you born and live now?

02:07 - What was your first job and now?

02:26 - High Flyer in Jackie’s life

03:10 - Childhood in the UK w immigrant parents

04:21 - History teacher influence to learn about the world

05:22 - Cultural significance of studying history and connection to VC

07:40 - Success at age 18

09:07 - Do small things and chase curiosity

10:40 - Growth between high school and university

12:54 - Painful learnings

14:50 - Working in investment banking and why she left?

17:42 - Learning more in a startup vs investment banking

19:09 - Building confidence to change professional path

21:07 - Moving from the UK to Australia

22:50 - Applying to Airtree a second time after being rejected

26:25 - Setting up for success in first 6 months at Airtree

29:30 - How did bouncing around help form a world view?

31:01 - Filtering through information

33:12 - How to get to know a company from scratch?

35:22 - Investing in consumer

37:50 - Airtree playing a leadership role beyond B2B SaaS investments

39:40 - Becoming the first second generation fund in ANZ

41:57 - Decision making adjustment now vs boom times

43:41 - Unpacking MILKRUN

47:23 - How becoming a mother has changed Jackie?

50:08 - Rapid fire

Kelly Godfrey: Growing up with 3 brothers in the UK, How she reached marketing director and country GM at global tech unicorns, ancestry.com and StockX!

Kelly Godfrey, StockX — Tue, 12 Jul 2022 19:00:00 +0000

Thank you for rating / reviewing this podcast on iTunes and Spotify, it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show!

Email Vidit directly at vidit@curiositycenter.xyz or contact us via www.curiositycenter.xyz to discuss sponsorship opportunities, recommend future guests and share how we can improve.

***

Welcome to episode #93 w Kelly Godfrey! Please enjoy.

***

TIMESTAMPS

02:02 - What was your first job and now?

02:40 - High Flyer in xx life

03:34 - Family memories

05:16 - Mum’s influence

07:19 - Gymnasts training 4x a week

08:46 - London and Brighton

10:41 - Success at age 18

12:03 - Painful learning

14:48 - Becoming Marketing Director within 6 years

18:09 - Building social capital

21:52 - Agency to in house marketing

25:33 - Leading marketing for ancestry.com

29:15 - Role of marketing in customer discovery

30:35 - Moving roles and countries at same time

35:15 - Success in first 3 months of new role

40:34 - Taking a sabbatical in 2018

46:57 - Exploring opportunities post sabbatical

50:47 - Learnings about growth in new markets

54:00 - StockX being at the cutting edge of culture

56:07 - Rapid fire

Investment memo: What is really going on in the economy, inside the current state of markets

Elise Kennedy, Jarden — Wed, 6 Jul 2022 19:00:00 +0000

Explore your curiosity with Elise Kennedy, who leads the Australian equity research team covering tech and internet stocks at the investment bank, Jarden. I really wanted to have Elise on because equity markets, inflation, interest rates, and the general economy are a hot topic of interest.

Learn about the status of current markets and why we’re in this position, how are companies rated as under or over valued, the role of M&A and leveraged buyouts during volatility, geographical impact, tourist investors perhaps exiting the market and more.

Please enjoy!

***

Find out more about Curiosity Center, including 90+ episodes at www.curiositycenter.xyz

Find out more about Jarden at https://www.jardengroup.com.au/

Share your feedback and discuss sponsorship opportunities with us by directly emailing vidit@curiositycenter.xyz

Follow the show on Linkedin / Instagram / Twitter

***

TIMESTAMPS

01:46 - Elise’ path into investment banking

02:56 - Life as an associate

03:52 - Life now as Vice President

04:32 - Perception vs reality of titles like Managing Director

05:15 - Overview of current markets (public and private)

07:18 - Tech companies seeing sell offs despite strong fundamentals

09:09 - How do investment banks rate a stock as under or overvalued?

11:55 - Tech pull back vs broader economy

14:12 - Inflation impact on the consumer

16:07 - Geographical impact and correlation between Australia and the US

18:18 - Does Elise’ role change in an up vs down market

19:29 - The role of M&A and leveraged buyouts in volatility

21:32 - Opportunities for VC’s deploying capital at better valuations

23:51 - “Tourist” investors leaving the market

25:14 - Super funds tightening capital allocation

26:56 - Cross over funds requiring re-alignment of exposure

27:36 - Metrics of EBITDA, Price to earnings ratio, CAGR

29:09 - Filtering through speculation

32:30 - Structuring work week and reports Elise reads

34:05 - Elise using her recreational pilots license to switch off

36:00 - Personal areas of investment interest

Investment memo: "Teenager Therapy", how 5 high schoolers created the largest teen mental health podcast in the world!

Gael Aitor, Teenager Therapy — Mon, 4 Jul 2022 19:00:00 +0000

Explore your curiosity with Gael Aitor, one of 5 hosts of the largest teen mental health podcast in the world called Teenager Therap, based in the US. We connected a few months ago through a mutual friend and this was great fun.

Learn about how they started this podcast and movement in their quest to talk about and Improve mental heath, their 3 biggest learnings to date, actionable insights on how we can all improve our mental health and we went deep into the state of podcasting, media and some of the innovation and trends we’re excited to see.

Please enjoy!

***

Find out more about Curiosity Center, including 90+ episodes at www.curiositycenter.xyz

Find out more about Teenager Therapy at https://teenagertherapy.com/

Share your feedback and discuss sponsorship opportunities with us by directly emailing vidit@curiositycenter.xyz

Follow the show on Linkedin / Instagram / Twitter

***

TIMESTAMPS

01:46 - Moving to the US from Mexico at age 16

02:30 - Starting the largest teen mental health podcast (globally)

02:50 - Discovering podcasts for the first time

04:18 - Biggest learnings about the root cause behind mental health issues

08:30 - Core root causes of a lack of mental health amongst all age groups

10:40 - how to improve your mental health space

14:38 - Balancing performance with inner relaxation

15:51 - How mental health differs based on culture and country

18:26 - The role of social media in vulnerability and connection

22:45 - Seeking approval as a creator based on likes and comments

24:07 - Most exciting trends over next 12 months in podcasts and media

27:35 - Changing landscape of media and discovery limitations

31:15 - Building a niche vs generalist show

33:21 - Vidit & Gael riff on what they’d love to have in podcasts

Dom Pym: Life experiences, people & learnings that've led to building Up, Australia's most loved bank!

Dom Pym, Up — Tue, 28 Jun 2022 01:10:35 +0000

Thank you for rating / reviewing this podcast on iTunes and Spotify, it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show!

Email Vidit directly at vidit@curiositycenter.xyz or contact us via www.curiositycenter.xyz to discuss sponsorship opportunities, recommend future guests and share how we can improve.

***

Welcome to episode #90 w Dom Pym! Please enjoy.

***

TIMESTAMPS

03:09 - Where were you born and live now?

03:33 - What was your first job and now?

05:20 - High Flyer in Dom’s life

07:34 - Growing up in the mountains

09:25 - Rich dad poor dad

13:33 - Always being a bullet train

16:46 - Meeting now wife when they were 6 yrs old

19:20 - 3 traits for his kids to have

22:00 - First trip overseas, to South Korea

27:37 - Getting through bad days and pain

30:01 - Setting goals monthly, quarterly and annually

38:43 - Importance of healthy body and mind to be successful

41:25 - How to scale Dom to have the most impact and get the rest he deserves?

43:19 - How to build trust from scratch?

46:11 - Inspiration for the creativity of Up Bank

51:30 - Biggest commercial difference between physical and digital bank

54:46 - First time investing in startups and how it happened

1:00:52 - How to add value beyond capital

01:01:48 - Final sprint

Investment memo: "Earlywork", the community centred startup with 3k+ members

Dan Brockwell, Earlywork, Community based startup — Mon, 20 Jun 2022 19:00:00 +0000

Explore your curiosity about the community centred startup Dan & his co-founders are building in Earlywork, that’s scaled from 0 to 3000 members.

I’ve enjoyed being a member of this community from the early days so this was fun to learn more about how the co-founders compliment each other, Dan’s personal learning journey, why raising funding is not the mark of success, managing quantity vs engagement and more.

Please enjoy!

***

Find out more about Curiosity Center, including 85+ episodes at www.curiositycenter.xyz

Find out more about the Earlywork at https://www.earlywork.co/

Share your feedback and discuss sponsorship opportunities with us by directly emailing vidit@curiositycenter.xyz

Follow the show on Linkedin / Instagram / Twitter

***

TIMESTAMPS

01:54 - Sydney, Wollongong and Bondi

03:08 - Siblings being high flyers

04:25 - Tattoos and creative

04:58 - Unknowns of co-founding team at EW

08:26 - Founding team being a community, building a community

11:31 - Dan’s own personal learning journey

14:23 - Founders 12 months ahead as support

15:49 - Growth & fundraising for a community first startup

19:33 - Initial investment not being success

24:46 - Hardest learning to date

27:48 - Revenue models for community based startup

30:02 - Managing quantity vs engagement

33:08 -Anonymity in community

36:10 - Founders not being the first line of contact

38:07 - Key opportunity in next 12 months

39:39 - Two questions Dan gets the most

42:00 - Most engaged social platforms beyond slack

James Tynan: Energy management post auto immune illnesses, scaling Khan Academy to the world's biggest EdTech, Venture capital unknowns & climate tech thesis

James Tynan, SquarePeg — Tue, 14 Jun 2022 19:00:00 +0000

Thank you for rating / reviewing this podcast on iTunes and Spotify, it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show!

Email Vidit directly at vidit@curiositycenter.xyz or contact us via www.curiositycenter.xyz to discuss sponsorship opportunities, recommend future guests and share how we can improve.

***

Welcome to episode #88 w James Tynan! Here are 5 key takeaways you will learn from this episode:

1. Growing up in an ambitious household, being very driven from day 1

2. Why James felt the need to move to the US post university

3. Key learning from scaling Khan Academy from a YouTube channel to the world’s biggest ed tech (at that time)

4. Energy management learnings from dealing with a number of autoimmune illnesses

5. Behind the scenes of James' workings with founders & personal development areas

Please enjoy!

***

TIMESTAMPS

02:58 - Fun facts about James

03:38 - Wife Kate being a high flyer

04:33 - Big change when James was 10 years old

05:20 - Parents in architecture and medicine

05:44 - Personality in high school

06:36 - Biggest influence in first 10 years

07:42 - Success at age 18

09:41 - How life changed in first year of university

11:38 - Learning movement building with Obama 2008 campaign

13:17 - 4 key learnings from scaling Khan Academy, joining very early

16:50 - Critical story that helped understand emotional intelligence

19:16 - How the move back to Australia happened

20:31 - Seeing the building of Australia’s startup ecosystem in 2014

22:36 - Energy vs time management

25:23 - Why energy management hacks are not useful

27:50 - Balance in Health vs performance

29:28 - Transition from startmate to squarepeg

32:11 - Joining Squarepeg during COVID lockdowns

34:14 - Making founders comfortable in the 1st meeting

36:47 - Connection to younger vs seasoned founders

39:40 - How does SquarePeg differ to other big VC’s?

42:49 - SquarePeg’s global presence across ANZ, Israel and Singapore

43:58 - Analysis of current economic market

45:47 - Does the VC firm or partner matter more?

49:02 - Personal investment philosophy outside VC

51:12 - Thesis on climate-tech

54:57 - Area of improvement focus

57:45 - Final sprint

Investment memo: "ChefPrep", The culinary marketplace, building the Amazon for food

ChefPrep, Chef Prep, Elle Curan, Josh Abulafia — Mon, 13 Jun 2022 06:49:51 +0000

Explore your curiosity about the exciting culinary marketplace they’re building, positioned as the amazon for food.

You’ll learn about the journeys of Joint CEO/Co-founders Elle Curan and Josh Abulafia to founding ChefPrep, initial proof points in the first 3 months, how food is disrupting e-commerce, What questions should a restaurant ask before partnering, and hear about their hiring plans over the next 12 months.

Please enjoy!

***

Find out more about Curiosity Center, including 85+ episodes at www.curiositycenter.xyz

Find out more about the ChefPrep at https://chefprep.com.au/

Share your feedback and discuss sponsorship opportunities with us by directly emailing vidit@curiositycenter.xyz

Follow the show on Linkedin / Instagram / Twitter

***

TIMESTAMPS

02:02 - Elle’s journey to ChefPrep

06:19 - Being life and business partners

06:52 - Josh’s journey to ChefPrep

11:30 - Validating early proof points in ChefPrep

16:38 - The ChefPrep model and how it’s evolved

21:35 - Consumer behavior and range selection

27:52 - What questions should a restaurant ask before partnering?

31:46 - Managing volume vs quality when scaling

33:16 - Biggest learning to date

34:32 - Focuses on hiring over next 12 months

35:42 - How to consider the move from corporate to startups?

Kate Cornick (Rare Public Interview): Grandma's influence, studying engineering accidentally to building a career across Academia, Business & Govt

Kate Cornick, LaunchVic — Mon, 6 Jun 2022 19:00:00 +0000

Thank you for rating / reviewing this podcast on iTunes and Spotify, it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show!

Email Vidit directly at vidit@curiositycenter.xyz or contact us via www.curiositycenter.xyz to discuss sponsorship opportunities, recommend future guests and share how we can improve.

***

Welcome to episode #86 w Kate Cornick! Here are 5 key takeaways you will learn from this episode:

1. Grandma’s influence to believe, and outdoorsy childhood with mad passionate for animals

2. Accidentally falling into engineering after moving to Australia in her teens from the UK

3. How shyness evolved and building public speaking skills (great tips for anyone looking to develop!)

4. Building a life of work across academia, business and government, including deputy Chief of Staff

5. Being headhunted to be CEO @ LaunchVic role after moving on from scaling her startup through to IPO

Please enjoy!

***

TIMESTAMPS

03:07 - Fun facts about Kate

03:39 - Re-imagining a high flyer

04:14 - Influence of family growing up in London

06:00 - Learning responsibility and power of work through horses

07:40 - Grandma being a big influence to dream big

10:24 - Accidentally falling into engineering

11:56 - How Kate got past being shy and nervous

17:00 - Nerves are selfish

18:00 - Success post PhD

22:04 - Learning how to build trust from politics

29:09 - Exterior vs Interior leadership

33:18 - Insecurity becoming arrogance

38:30 - Understanding the business and academic worlds

43:38 - Being headhunted to lead LaunchVic as CEO

48:28 - LaunchVic funding startmate and other champions

50:45 - The unique unlock of government funding for a startup

54:50 - Final sprint

Part 3 of #3 series: Unpack DAO Under, how web3 is bringing a new spin to community across Asia Pacific w Abhi Maran + Ange Ching

Abhi Maran, Abhishek Maran, Angela Ching, DAO Under, Minke — Fri, 3 Jun 2022 06:39:37 +0000

This 3 part series is brought to you by Minke, wave hello to better savings.

Explore your curiosity w Abhi Maran & Angela Ching, about the ABC’s of what a DAO is , how you can be involved in this new spin on a community of builders across the Asia pacific region and some special announcements they have coming up

Please enjoy!

***

Find out more about Curiosity Center, including 80+ episodes at www.curiositycenter.xyz

Download the Minke app to earn high interest rates at https://www.minke.app/

Get involved with DAO Under at www.twitter.com/@dao_under

Share your feedback and discuss sponsorship opportunities with us by emailing vidit@curiositycenter.xyz

Follow the show on Linkedin / Instagram

***

TIMESTAMPS

02:35 - How did Abhi get involved with DAOs (Decentralised autonomous organisations)

04:21 - When did Ange first come across DAOs

05:23 - Why was DAO Under created?

10:23 - How Ange brings design value to the group

13:25 - How have they structured the DAO and design process?

15:24 - Why do you need a DAO to build a community?

17:23 - What are pods?

20:24 - How does a DAO generate revenue and sustain itself?

23:10 - Do you need a DeFi account to interact with a DAO?

24:43 - What separates great from good DAOs?

28:01 - Unknowns about DAO’s

29:47 - Are there regulations to be aware of?

30:30 - Roadmap ahead with exciting launches

33:11 - What’s been your biggest learning building this?

Alan Jones: Dreamer parents, birth of the internet + being 2nd employee for Yahoo, founder coaching advice & scaling M8 ventures

Alan Jones, M8 Ventures — Mon, 30 May 2022 19:00:00 +0000

Thank you for rating / reviewing this podcast on iTunes and Spotify, it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show!

Email Vidit directly at vidit@curiositycenter.xyz to discuss sponsorship opportunities, recommend future guests and share feedback.

***

Welcome to episode #84 w Alan Jones! Here are 5 key takeaways you will learn from this episode:

1. Influences of growing up with dreamer parents and living in 28 houses before age 17

2. Two biggest learnings being a journalist

3. Reflections on being the 2nd employee at Yahoo and employee share plans

4. What do the best founders do when speaking to investors?

5. Five people in the startup ecosystem he's learnt from the most

Please enjoy!

***

TIMESTAMPS

03:13 - Where were you born and live now?

03:53 - What was your first job and what do you do now?

05:17 - Why the unsung hero co-founder of Canva is the most talent technologist in ANZ

06:48 - Influenced by “dreamer” parents and learning what entrepreneur meant

10:31 - Learning from mum and her perseverance

11:25 - Trying journalism, programming and medical paths as career paths

15:07 - The power of building your brand recognition and reputation

20:45 - Painful learning investing in hardware

24:55 - Being the 2nd employee at Yahoo and stock ownership learnings

32:12 - Nurturing up and coming investors

37:20 - What are founders not doing to stand out to investors?

42:41 - Creating your learning room of 5 operators, founders and investors

49:00 - How he’s raising a pre-seed fund in M8 ventures

55:33 - Do you feel successful?

57:35 - Best investment

1:00:23 - Appearing on the 20VC podcast

Part 2 of #3 series: Inside the future of decentralised finance w Josh Reyes, co-founder @ Minke

Josh Reyes, Minke, Decentralised FInance, DeFi, a16z crypto — Thu, 26 May 2022 07:25:13 +0000

This 3 part series is brought to you by Minke, wave hello to better savings.

Explore your curiosity w Josh Reyes, co-founder of Minke, the future of decentralised finance, how they’re offering safe and efficient yields to combat inflation and building the transparent consumer platform. Encourage you to download their app from the Apple App Store today.

Please enjoy!

***

Find out more about Curiosity Center, including 80+ episodes at www.curiositycenter.xyz

Download the Minke app to earn high interest rates at https://www.minke.app/

Share your feedback and discuss sponsorship opportunities with us by emailing vidit@curiositycenter.xyz

Follow the show on Linkedin / Instagram

***

TIMESTAMPS

02:12 - Josh’s journey into crypto

04:23 - What is Minke?

05:32 - What is DeFi and difference vs traditional banking

06:52 - How to open a Minke account to deposit your savings

09:02 - How does DeFi have attractive interest rates?

10:58 - Flexibility with money deposited in savings account

11:58 - What is Stablecoin?

15:19 - How do central banks impact Minke?

16:33 - Building trust with consumers

18:01 - Operating in high inflation markets

21:43 - Sharia finance in islamic countries

23:46 - Low trust vs high trust markets

27:03 - Breaking down the recent LUNA crash

33:10 - How to evaluate whether to deposit money into DeFi

Part 1 of #3 series: Inside NFTs, how cute pics took over the world w String Nguyen, co-founder @ Chubbiverse

Chubbiverse, String Nguyen, Minke, Josh Reyes — Tue, 24 May 2022 06:25:10 +0000

This 3 part series is brought to you by Minke, wave hello to better savings.

Explore your curiosity w String Nguyen, the co-founder of Chubbiverse, a fast growing NFT brand! Learn about the A-Z to help you build your knowledge of this exciting space.

Please enjoy!

***

Find out more about Curiosity Center, including 80+ episodes at www.curiositycenter.xyz

Download the Minke app to earn high interest rates at https://www.minke.app/

Find out more about the Chubbiverse at https://www.chubbiverse.com/

Share your feedback and discuss sponsorship opportunities with us by emailing vidit@curiositycenter.xyz

Follow the show on Linkedin / Instagram

***

TIMESTAMPS

02:18 - How did you get into NFTs and Web3?

03:03 - Transition from consumer to builder creating Chubbiverse

04:16 - Where do you start with creating a NFT?

05:45 - How did you settled on Chubbiverse as your brand?

07:30 - What makes NFT’s look the way they do, unpolished?

09:31 - What is Product Market Fit in NFTs?

11:31 - Supply and demand

12:12 - How is an NFT priced?

13:27 - Value in Bored Apes

14:13 - How do NFT’s differentiate vs the marketplace?

15:29 - Importance of influencers to generate discoverability?

17:14 - Network effects and fear of missing out

17:44 - Why are NFTs the entry point to web3?

19:17 - How do you build a revenue model for an NFT?

20:39 - Scalability goals

21:47 - How do customers engage using Discord / Twitter?

23:04 - Do you need a chubbiverse to enter Discord?

23:34 - How to build education on ETH?

24:26 - Managing spam and building trust

26:06 - What news sources help with NFT knowledge?

27:12 - How to build a career in NFTs, founder or operator?

28:39 - DeFi supporting NFT’s and payments

29:35 - Benefit of curiosity

Investment memo: "Athletic Ventures", how elite professional athletes unlock value as investors

Christie Jenkins, Josh Thomas, Athletic Ventures — Wed, 18 May 2022 19:00:00 +0000

Explore your curiosity w Christie Jenkins + Josh Thomas about bout professional athlete transitions into the business world and how Christie, Josh and nearly a 100 of Australia’s best and brightest athletes across all sporting codes have created an investing syndicate in Athletic Ventures.

Please enjoy!

***

Find out more about Curiosity Center, including 80+ episodes at www.curiositycenter.xyz

Find out more about the Athletic Ventures at www.athletic.vc

Share your feedback and discuss sponsorship opportunities with us by emailing vidit@curiositycenter.xyz

Follow the show on Linkedin / Instagram

***

TIMESTAMPS

02:09 - Josh’s career in the AFL

03:13 - Christie’s career across 3 sports

04:07 - Planning life after sport

07:10 - Routines, habits and sprints

11:45 - Would you do anything differently if you go back 5 years?

14:31 - First interaction with startups and VC

17:31 - Knowledge building into venture capital work

20:52 - Coach, work ethic and people better than you

22:24 - Early days of building Athletic Ventures

24:47 - Biggest surprise

25:48 - How does Athletic Ventures best serve founders

28:26 - Long term excitement for Athletic Ventures

29:18 - How should founders view athletic on their cap table

31:39 - Most recent publicly announced deal and why

34:12 - Industries athletic ventures can best help in

36:28 - Key focus on Series A and why

#80 Bill Bartee (Rare Public Interview): Growing up around NASA to Co-Founding Southern Cross, Blackbird & Main Sequence Ventures

Bill Bartee, Main Sequence Ventures — Mon, 16 May 2022 19:00:00 +0000

Thank you for rating / reviewing this podcast on iTunes and Spotify, it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show!

Contact Vidit directly at vidit@curiositycenter.xyz to discuss sponsorship opportunities, recommend future guests and share feedback.

***

Welcome to episode #80 w Bill Bartee! Here are 5 key takeaways you will learn from this episode:

1. How growing up near a NASA facility started Bill's love for science, tech and engineering

2. Reflections on working in Silicon Valley in the 80's seeing the early technology evolution

3. What he learnt from his most painful learning and why one advice has stuck the most

4. The 5 hall of fame Australian VC's Bill would love to be in a room with

5. Why is deep tech innovation different and how does talent equate in Australia vs the USA

Please enjoy!

***

TIMESTAMPS

03:03 - Growing up seeing rocket launches

03:40 - Papers, washing cars and labourer

04:24 - Double nobel prize winner in Physics and Chemistry

06:12 - Economically poor, intellectually rich

08:01 - Aspirations to be an astronaut

09:48 - Building information sources in the 1960/70’s

11:07 - 25 year love for Australia

12:45 - Working across the spectrum: large, medium and early companies

15:13 - Evolution in rate of learning

17:54 - what makes people succeed

21:08 - 99% of learnings coming from failing

23:36 - Not judging a book by it’s cover

26:39 - Applying mathematics love to startup investing

30:32 - Venture Capital today vs the early 2000’s

35:02 - Co-founding 3 x VC firms

38:12 - top 5 hall of fame investors

41:10 - founders from 2000’s that impressed the most

43:47 - metrics in sass vs deep tech

48:23 - How do investors help deep tech founders?

50:54 - Most challenging mental models

52:43 - Talent equation in deep tech: Australia vs USA

54:26 - final sprint

Investment memo: "Journalist at the Financial Review", how news operates

Yolanda Redrup, Australian Financial Review, AFR — Thu, 12 May 2022 07:07:54 +0000

Explore your curiosity w Yolanda Redrup about media, journalism and how news operates in startups, technology and capital markets.

Please enjoy!

***

Find out more about Curiosity Center, including 75+ episodes at www.curiositycenter.xyz

Find out more about the Australian Financial Review at www.afr.com

Share your feedback and discuss partnership opportunities with us by emailing vidit@curiositycenter.xyz

Follow the show on Linkedin / Instagram

***

TIMESTAMPS

02:00 - Melbourne and swimming

02:32 - Being set on journalism from age 13

04:15 - How you can build your career in journalism

06:09 - Behind the scenes of how an article comes together

09:27 - Inbound, Outbound and reactive news sources

10:46 - Does the first sentence need to be a hook?

13:08 - How much editorial approval does a journalist need?

14:36 - what software is useful for interviews and writing articles?

15:52 - How does street talk differ from tech news?

17:30 - What is the biggest unknown about your role?

19:06 - How to invest and nurture relationships?

20:50 - Being a journalist with an investor approach

21:34 - How do VC’s get their capital raise featured in the AFR?

23:50 - Biggest change having covered tech for 10+ years?

27:44 - How do you keep up your learning of media landscape?

29:15 - What separates a great journalist from the rest?

30:09 - How to decide what news platforms to read?

31:36 - The role of independence in journalism and being neutral?

33:30 - One thing you’d like to learn in the next 6 months?

Matt Allen: Sydney's western suburbs upbringing, how revenue based financing works, 3 use cases & differences vs VC + hall of fame investors!

Matt Allen, Tractor Ventures — Mon, 9 May 2022 05:07:17 +0000

Thank you for rating / reviewing this podcast on iTunes and Spotify, it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show!

Contact Vidit directly at vidit@curiositycenter.xyz to discuss sponsorship opportunities, recommend future guests and share feedback.

***

Welcome to episode #78 w Matt Allen! Here are 5 key takeaways you will learn from this episode:

1. How Matt found his passion for music and computers in high school

2. Why success at age 20 was building out his first startup, providing web based solutions for insurance companies

3. Balancing a conservative approach to finance with investing in high growth (and high risk) startups

4. What is venture debt, how it's structured and when should founders consider it

5. The five active hall of fame investors in Australia / New Zealand to be in a room with

Please enjoy!

***

TIMESTAMPS

02:28 - Birth place and residence now

03:16 - First job and various roles now

04:07 - High Flyers under the radar

05:08 - eldest of 3 brothers and attending agricultural school

08:24 - Computer teacher being an influence

09:37 - Infamous blue hat

10:25 - Early days of the internet: building web based solutions for insurance companies

11:25 - Biggest unknown for startups in the 90’s

14:03 - Balancing financial conservative approach with investing in high risk startups

16:10 - Most painful learning

17:43 - First time into angel investing

21:30 - Process for getting to know founder / business from scratch

24:33 - Meeting thousands of founders at Amazon startups

28:02 - 5 people to have in the “active hall of fame investors” room

30:24 - Decided to be a founder again with Tractor Ventures

36:04 - Financial structure within Venture Debt model

38:23 - 3 use cases for a founder to consider revenue based financing

41:10 - Supporting the longevity of a company

43:42 - Building education in community about finance and debt

46:56 - Matt’s routines to balance his various roles

49:09 - Building and maintaining reputation

52:07 - How Matt got started making websites for bands

54:02 - final sprint

Rachael Neumann: Being a social chameleon growing up in New York, medicine morphing into business, building the live event online ticketing biz in Australia, investing in the next tech startup

Rachael Neumann — Wed, 4 May 2022 08:11:16 +0000

Thank you for rating / reviewing this podcast on iTunes and Spotify, as it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show and grow the show with sponsors and partners.

Contact Vidit directly at vidit@curiositycenter.xyz to discuss sponsorship opportunities, recommend future guests and share feedback.

***

Learn about Rachael’s sunrise in New York, with her dad being the son of jewish immigrants and mum from a rural part of New York with 8 brothers and sisters with Rachael's mum being the eldest.

Welcome to episode #77 w Rachael Neumann! Here are 5 key takeaways you will learn from this episode:

1. Influences of growing up in New York with two sides of the family, with her parents bringing different perspectives

2. Navigating her career having varied interests and taking the the entrance exams to law, business & medical school

3. Why the transition from the US to Australia was hard personally and professionally

4. 2 big learnings from leading eventbrite and Amazon startups teams

5. Process to get to know founders from scratch to consider investing in, how to say no with empathy and valuations vs hype

Please enjoy!

***

TIMESTAMPS

02:25 - New York and Melbourne

04:00 - Re-imagining a high flyer

06:00 - Being a social chameleon navigating the two sides of her family

08:33 - Wanting to leave New York City

11:33 - Heroes in Nobel Prize Winners

13:30 - Success at 20

15:35 - Painful learning from having varied interests

22:04 - Moving to Australia by accident

25:25 - Major differences between US and Australia

28:51 - Hiring a team for a new category that doesn’t exist yet

33:10 - How investing in startups started

36:45 - Process for getting to know a business from scratch

40:26 - Dislocation of Valuations vs hype in valuations

43:33 - How to say no with empathy

48:17 - Transition from individual investor to a fund

53:22 - Final sprint!

Curiosity: Inside Character + Distinction & Protagonist Capital - Creating connection for your biz & investing in protagonists w Kate Dinon

Kate Dinon, Character + Distinction, Protagonist Capital — Thu, 28 Apr 2022 06:40:21 +0000

Explore your curiosity w Kate Dinon about PR, communications and investment to scale startups.

Learn about how Kate had her break into PR & Communications
Building out her own firm Character & Distinction, based in Melbourne with a roster of recognisable brands.
First few months of starting the firm, client relationships, bad story telling and displaying culture in their office space.
Unpacking Kate’s foray into supporting startups through mentoring and investment via Protagonist Capital & what they're looking for in founders and early stage startups.
Don’t miss out on a special rapid fire round with your community questions!

Please enjoy exploring your curiosity as I did mine through this conversation!

***

Find out more about Curiosity Center, including 75+ episodes at www.curiositycenter.xyz

Find out more about Character + Distinction and Protagonist Capital at https://ofcharacter.com/

Share your feedback and discuss partnership opportunities with us at vidit@curiositycenter.xyz

Follow the show on Linkedin / Instagram

***

TIMESTAMPS

02:20 - Where you were born and live now

03:02 - Do you remember the first time you heard of PR & Communications?

04:16 - Was it a conscious decision to start your own PR firm?

06:08 - What were the first months like in 2017 and unknowns?

07:55 - Did you find building relationships was a focus moving back to Australia from Switzerland?

10:31 - How does a client relationship work in practise?

12:40 - How does a first client meeting work and what can PR help with?

15:14 - What is bad story telling?

17:22 - Are there high maintenance vs low maintenance industries?

19:44 - What are your sources of learning and inspiration?

22:17 - Importance of Character and distinction visible in their office space

25:15 - Supporting startups through Protagonist Capital

27:32 - What are you looking for in the deals? Specific sector or person to support?

29:00 - Supporting founders in consumer facing brands and enterprise tech for future of work

30:32 - Naming conventions for Protagonist and Character + Distinction

32:29 - Rapid fire round of your community questions

Ed McManus: Behind the scenes of childhood in Ireland to PHD qualified biochemist, leading Deliveroo in Aus, amateur bee keeper, structured exec education & being generalist

Ed McManus — Mon, 25 Apr 2022 19:00:00 +0000

Thank you for rating / reviewing this podcast on iTunes and Spotify, as it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show and grow the show with sponsors and partners.

Contact Vidit directly at vidit@curiositycenter.xyz to discuss sponsorship opportunities, recommend future guests and share feedback.

***

Learn about how curiosity has driven his professional journey in Science, Retail, Pharmaceuticals, Energy & currently Last Mile Delivery leading Deliveroo in Australia. Ed shares how to transition well into a new industry, how to build strong personal relationships, how to manage up authentically, and the advantages and disadvantages of being a generalist. I was curious for Ed’s take on structured education and whether an MBA is helpful on your journey to being a leader. And stay tuned to learn about Ed’s varied interests including Bee Keeping, Archery and more!

Welcome to episode #75 w Ed McManus! Here are 5 key takeaways you will learn from this episode:

1. How parents shaped Ed and his 2 siblings

2. Curiosity leading to PHd in Biochemistry and transition to business

3. How to manage up authentically in your career

4. Should you do structured education to position yourself to become CEO

5. Advantages and disadvantages of being a generalist leader

***

TIMESTAMPS

03:08 - Ireland and Australia

04:08 - Primary and secondary carers

05:27 - Growing up in Ireland in the 80’s in a fractured country

07:30 - How parents shaped Ed and his 2 siblings

12:27 - Sporting heroes

13:57 - Curiosity driving work in science, business & more

16:44 - Doctors and nurses being high flyers for Ed’s family

19:47 - Transition from biochemist to commercial business roles

23:26 - How to build strong personal relationships

26:58 - How to figure out a new environment and where to add value

30:20 - Don’t be under pressure to come up with answers only

32:54 - Transparency, performance and managing up

37:50 - Advantages and disadvantages of being a generalist vs specialist

41:21 - Side hobby as amateur bee-keeper

43:45 - Should you do structured executive education?

46:59 - Supporting startups through capital and knowledge

Please enjoy!

Investment memo: "Letter of Intent", How anonymity created a newsletter growth engine read by thousands daily!

Kal Jamshidi, Letter of Intent — Tue, 19 Apr 2022 13:33:51 +0000

Hear from Kal Jamshidi, founder of Letter of Intent -- the daily Australian business activity newsletter read by 6k subscribers. This conversation will take you inside: How and why Kal started this newsletter, being anonymous at the beginning, utilising the power of LinkedIn, Creating a habit for the readers and serving utility, defensibility, media trends and we end with some of your most requested community questions.

Please enjoy exploring your curiosity as I did mine through this conversation!

***

TIMESTAMPS

—————

02:30 - Life before Letter of Intent

04:23 - How 6 years in San Fransisco was inspiration

06:57 - Building a habit for the consumer

09:52 - The growth engine of LinkedIn

11:04 - Anonymous marketing

14:05 - 5 hours each night

15:20 - Filtering news into 1 page

16:22 - Creating habits and serving utility

17:38 - Peleton and RM Williams

19:44 - Balancing gossip and facts

21:04 - The Aussie corporate

21:34 - Unique community

23:55 - Changing landscape in Media

28:28 - Community questions

***

Find out more about Curiosity Center at www.curiositycenter.xyz

Find out more about Letter of Intent at https://www.letterofintent.com.au/

Share your feedback or questions directly with us at vidit@curiositycenter.xyz or via Linkedin / Instagram

Adrian Petersen: Deep seeded professional athlete ambitions in Tennis & Cycling to co-founding AfterWork Ventures, and how they're doing things a little different

Adrian Petersen — Mon, 11 Apr 2022 19:00:00 +0000

Learn about drive and determination at a young age with a deep desire to be a professional athlete, to then having his startup shut down and making his way into VC and co-founding AfterWork Ventures, a community led VC doing things differently for the next gen.

Welcome to episode #73 w Adrian Petersen! Here are 5 key takeaways you will learn from this episode:

Deep determination and focus to be a professional athlete, being obsessed with Tennis & Cycling at a young age
The importance of be team first and win collectively with an "open up" policy
Adrian's non traditional path to Venture Capital
The birth of AfterWork and the cold start challenge of building a community
Biggest surprise about investing in Sports Tech startups

***

TIMESTAMPS

02:31 - Perth, Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra

03:48 - Dream to become a tennis player

05:25 - Both parents worked in grandpa’s scaffolding company

06:25 - Roger Federer and Lance Armstrong

07:25 - Australian Institute of Sport

08:45 - importance of be team first now vs being single mildly focused in his past

10:11 - Working with people smarter than you

12:00 - Learning the importance of “open up” when closing his first business

15:12 - First 3 months re-setting to find next opportunity

16:40 - The path to becoming a VC

19:55 - The birth of AfterWork

24:28 - Cold start challenge of building a community

26:20 - Deal flow sources being a community first VC

30:23 - Ability to significantly follow on

32:21 - Direct to consumer investments

34:15 - Investor changing sentiment

36:46 - Mentors that have shaped his thinking

38:20 - Going from zero to one and beyond

40:26 - In house team complimenting the community advisors

42:14 - Investing in sports focused startups

43:30 - final sprint

***

Thank you for rating / reviewing this podcast on iTunes and Spotify, as it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show and grow the show with sponsors and partners.

Contact Vidit at vidit@curiositycenter.xyz

Mac Conwell: Loosing his dad and being homeless to creating Rare Breed Ventures through 1100 Twitter meetings, unpacking how he learnt Venture Capital + startups in Africa & Pakistan

Mac Conwell, Mac the VC, McKeever (Mac) Conwell — Mon, 4 Apr 2022 19:00:00 +0000

Learn about power of self belief, dreaming big, dealing with the lowest of lows and coming out stronger with a level headed perspective on work and life, Mac shares his journey to founding the VC firm, Rare Beed.

Welcome to episode #72 w Mac Conwell! Here are 5 key takeaways you will learn from this episode:

How his father always made Mac dream big and push to do more
Figuring out life at age 19, after loosing his dad and being homeless to securing a job in government that paid more than what his parents earnt
How to secure 1000+ meetings via Twitter to raise Rare Breed Ventures and 3 secrets of cold emailing
How should founders get the attention of investors through succinct company updates
VC's that inspire Mac and markets outside of the US he wants to invest in

***

TIMESTAMPS

02:30 - From seasoning fried chicken to venture capital

03:10 - Mac’s father being a high flyer

03:45 - Dad was postal worker and Mum was bank teller

05:55 - Mr Davis & Patrick Jackson

08:00 - Success at age 20

09:15 - From lowest of lows to making an impact today

11:23 - Heroes

12:15 - Most painful learning

14:55 - Attraction to Venture Capital

16:48 - learnings about people from 1000 meetings to start RareBreed VC

20:12 - 3 biggest secrets about effective cold messaging

23:00 - Managing influx of requests

24:20 - Giving founders the room not to be perfect

28:00 - How to get VC’s attention with company performance update

29:35 - Founders that make the receptionist rich, make everyone rich

32:38 - Not hiring the quarterback

36:46 - Market outlook

38:00 - Interest in Africa and Pakistan startup ecosystem

39:45 - Inspiring VC’s and founders

42:05 - Final sprint

***

Thank you for rating / reviewing this podcast on iTunes and Spotify, as it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show and grow the show with sponsors and partners.

This show showcases relatable role models, re-imagining a high flyer to help you achieve your potential and be 1% better everyday!

Contact Vidit at vidit@curiositycenter.xyz

Michelle Wade: From small town to growing trade, investment & education between Australia and India, Italy, Malaysia & Spain + Managing the $45M covid relief fund

Michelle Wade — Thu, 31 Mar 2022 01:36:17 +0000

Learn about the the Diplomacy & International Relations Industry, What it means to adjust to new cultures every few years, Providing value to stand out and dealing with unconscious bias

Welcome to episode #71 w Michelle Wade! Here are 5 key takeaways you will learn from this episode:

How being a "small fish in a large pond but aware of the ocean" provided perspective in her childhood
Applying 6 years of symphony orchestra learnings to diplomacy
Adjusting to new cultures every 4 years in India, Spain, Malaysia, Italy
Managing the $45M covid relief fund for the Victorian Government
Opening the eyes of employers to the value of hiring foreign students

***

TIMESTAMPS

02:08 - First women life guard

04:25 - Michelle’s sunrise: small fish in a large pond but aware of the ocean

06:02 - Influences growing up in a small town

07:30 - Finding success at age 16

08:50 - Full circle now living in India

10:40 - Painful learning: Unconscious Bias

12:55 - Dealing with repercussions of speaking up

16:10 - Applying 6 years from music to diplomatic career

18:10 - Transition from symphony orchestra to Aus Govt posting in Milan

21:40 - Building her diplomatic career in the first 5 years to stand out

27:10 - Adjusting to new cultures every 4 years in India, Spain, Malaysia, Italy

32:40 - The unknown human element of having a global transient career

35:55 - Opening the eyes of employers to the value of hiring foreign students

38:35 - Learnings and inspiration from the Israeli Consulate General in India

40:50 - Managing the $45M covid relief fund for the Victorian Government

44:20 - How can International students integrate into Australia and stand out

47:00 - Role of universities supporting students with practise alongside theory

51:05 - Final sprint

***

Thank you for rating / reviewing this podcast on iTunes and Spotify, as it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show and grow the show with sponsors and partners.

This show showcases relatable role models, re-imagining a high flyer to help you achieve your potential and be 1% better everyday!

Contact Vidit at vidit@curiositycenter.xyz

Curiosity: Inside startups 360 - Scaling stripe from 8 to 30 people in 12 mths, mentoring early stage founders + angel investing w Tom Richardson, Head of Startups @ Stripe

Tom Richardson — Fri, 25 Mar 2022 01:22:39 +0000

Hear from Tom Richardson, Head of Startups & SMB for APAC + Japan @ Stripe. We take you inisde: the exciting world of startups and specifically the 3 roles Tom plays, what they are, how they look in practise and his biggest learnings.

Learn about how Tom joined Stripe and what his focuses are as head of startups for APAC & Japan, his biggest learning from scaling the team from 8 to 30 people in 12 months. I asked Tom how he’s gone about using his experiences at Stripe and previously in various markets to now mentor startup founders and what it looks like in practise. And the 3rd aspect of this flywheel you’ll learn about is how Angel Investing became another avenue for Tom to be of service to startups and some examples of founders he’s helped and how.

Please enjoy exploring your curiosity as I did mine through this conversation!

***

KEY POINTS COVERED

03:40 - How did Tom join Stripe?

05:25 - What does a head of startups role mean?

06:50 - Biggest learning in scaling Stripe from 8 people to 30 people

11:40 - Using his leadership and operator knowledge to mentor startup founders

14:50 - Which areas can Tom help startup founders with and how?

17:55 - What does mentoring founders look in practise?

21:00 - Mentoring is not a transaction

22:45 - How did Tom start Angel Investing?

27:30 - Balancing value add vs cheque size as an angel investor?

29:40 - How to contact Tom for mentoring / support

***

Find out more about Curiosity Center at www.curiositycenter.xyz

Find out more about Tom Richardson at https://www.tomrichardson.info/

Share your feedback or questions directly with us at vidit@curiositycenter.xyz or via Linkedin / Instagram

$69 Jaddan Comerford: Inspired by dad and starting music record label at age 17 to $20M Unified Music Group today, how monetisation and artist model works & unpacking spotify

Jaddan Comerford, Vidit Agarwal, Unified Music Group, MODA DAO — Mon, 21 Mar 2022 18:00:00 +0000

Welcome to episode #69 w Jaddan Comerford! Here are 5 key takeaways that I think you will learn from this episode today:

How his parents inspired him to have a go which led to starting his music record label at age 17?
What helped Jaddan succeed starting his own business right out of high school? Unified Music Group today has 70 employees and $20M in revenue without any external capital raised.
A-Z of Unified Music Group and the support it provides artists
The challenging economics in music and why artists earn less than 20c a stream on Spotify?
How did Jaddan get started investing 4 years ago?

BONUS: Jaddan mentions, “not all that glitters is gold” and ask yourself, is it an opportunity or a distraction?

***

TIMESTAMPS

03:00 - Jaddan quick facts

03:45 - High Flyer in Jaddan’s life

04:50 - Jaddan’s sunrise: influence of family + environment

07:30 - Inspiration from his entrepreneurial parents

08:50 - Not fitting into private school

11:05 - Average marks graduating high school

11:50 - First 3 months of starting Boom Town records at age 17

14:35 - Learning how to run a startup early on

16:20 - What helped him succeed starting out at 17?

20:30 - Balance between inner belief and over confidence

24:00 - Dynamics of people in music industry: trust in relationships

27:15 - Basic introduction into Unified Music Group and operations?

30:20 - How does an artist get discovered?

32:20 - Monetisation model in Music: Do Artists earn less than 20c a stream on spotify?

36:40 - Independence vs going direct to audience and discovery

38:50 - Touring provides biggest return for artists and how it’s returning after COVID downturn

40:35 - Involvement in MODA DAO and Web3 for Music

42:45 - How did Jaddan get started investing 4 years ago?

48:00 - How has Rachael made him a better person?

49:40 - Final sprint

***

Thank you for rating / reviewing this podcast on iTunes and Spotify, as it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show and grow the show with sponsors and partners.

This show showcases relatable role models, re-imagining a high flyer to help you achieve your potential and be 1% better everyday!

Contact Vidit at vidit@curiositycenter.xyz

Investment memo: "The Mintable", the empowerment platform where the best people managers come to succeed; built for managers by managers.

Vidit Agarwal — Thu, 17 Mar 2022 18:00:00 +0000

Hear from Lauren Humphrey, co-founder of The Mintable about how they are building the empowerment platform where the best people managers come to succeed; learning, community, and tools built for managers by managers and welcome to episode 5 of this curiosity series taking you inside topics, companies and industries.

Please enjoy exploring your curiosity as I did mine through this conversation!

***

KEY POINTS COVERED

02:45 - What is The Mintable?

03:15 - Problem they’re solving and co-founders based in USA & Australia

05:55 - How they turned an idea into reality to create the startup?

08:30 - How did they go about customer discovery?

11:00 - How to ensure Learning & Development is continuous and engaging, not a set and forget exercise?

13:30 - Focusing on current managers or aspiring to help them become managers?

15:15 - How to commercialise and Go-To-Market?

19:00 - Marketplace and How does The Mintable provides differentiation?

20:45 - Difference between Australia and US for Managers?

22:50 - Career paths available at The Mintable?

25:15 - Expectations of having great managers in-house

26:30 - Risks to mitigate

28:55 - COVID impact on management style

***

Find out more about Curiosity Center at www.curiositycenter.xyz

Find out more about The Mintable at https://getmintable.com/

Share your feedback or questions directly with us at vidit@curiositycenter.xyz or via Linkedin / Instagram

#67 Blackbird's Niki Scevak: Zero to one, Courageous ambition, Dandelions and Orchids + secrets to be supremely well read

Vidit Agarwal — Mon, 14 Mar 2022 18:00:00 +0000

Welcome to episode #67 w Niki Scevak! Here are 5 key takeaways that I think you will learn from this episode today:

How accessing his first internet modem in his childhood changed Niki's world
What is the source of his courage and ambition and seeking it in others
How does Niki structure his week to balance thinking, meeting founders and growing Blackbird?
Applying the Orchids and Dandelions concept to parenting and business
What prevents investors from making the first move?

BONUS: Starting Blackbird Ventures in 2012: out of 500 meetings, 97 people said yes to raise $29M fund

***

TIMESTAMPS

03:05 — Niki quick facts

04:30 - High Flyer in Niki’s life

06:45 - Niki’s family unit and growing up in Newcastle

08:25 - How the internet very early on influenced Niki

10:00 - Source of being courageous and highly ambitious

12:15 - Learnings about successful characteristics in people

14:05 - Living in New York in the early 2000’s

18:10 - How leading thinkers like Peter Thiel have shaped Niki’s mindset

22:30 - How does Niki structure his week to balance thinking, meeting founders and growing Blackbird?

26:00 - Being out of his comfort zone in last 12 months?

28:35 - Niki’s insights on his framework to taking a meeting and pitch decks

32:40 - A career is not a 10 move chess match

34:10 - Applying Orchids and Dandelions concept to parenting and Blackbird

38:30 - Managing the dynamics with Blackbird going from the new kid to now one of the big players

40:15 - The key mechanisms that scaled Blackbird

45:10 - Media first investor landscape in the USA and Australia

47:35 - Providing value add as a board member

52:15 - What prevents investors from making the first move?

56:44 - Starting blackbird in 2012: out of 500 meetings, 97 people said yes to raise $29M fund

57:20 - Final sprint

***

Thank you for rating / reviewing this podcast on iTunes and Spotify, as it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show and grow the show with sponsors and partners.

This show showcases relatable role models, re-imagining a high flyer to help you achieve your potential and be 1% better everyday!

Contact Vidit at vidit@curiositycenter.xyz

Investment memo: "Nutromics", future of continuous health monitoring prevent deaths & chronic disease

Vidit Agarwal — Wed, 9 Mar 2022 18:00:00 +0000

Hear from Peter Vranes & Hitesh Mehta, co-founders of Nutromics about how they are building the future of health monitoring to prevent chronic disease (and deaths) and welcome to episode 4 of this curiosity sseries taking you inside topics, companies and industries.

Please enjoy exploring your curiosity as I did mine through this conversation!

***

KEY POINTS COVERED

03:50 - What is Nutromics and the problem they’re solving?

05:20 - How did they turn their idea into reality?

07:00 - Creating an impact with medical devices

11:00 - How does the operation in the ecosystem work?

13:20 - Example of therapeutic drug monitoring with vancomycin

14:45 - Does Nutromics save the system money by managing outpatients vs inpatients?

17:03 - How is the dosing of Vancomycin cost effective through technology?

20:35 - Potential size of the opportunity and market

26:30 - Biggest threat to their technology

28:30 - Biggest surprise to date

30:50 - Smart watches and wearable devices

***

Find out more about Curiosity Center at www.curiositycenter.xyz

Find out more about Nutromics at https://www.nutromics.com.au/

Share your feedback or questions directly with us at vidit@curiositycenter.xyz or via Linkedin / Instagram

Prisca Ongonga-Daehn: Global experiences in Africa, Asia, Australia to founding Baresop, reducing single plastic waste via sustainable products better for humans + planet

Vidit Agarwal — Tue, 8 Mar 2022 07:31:14 +0000

Welcome to episode #65 with Prisca Ongonga-Daehn! Here are 5 key takeaways that I think you will learn from this episode today:

How growing up in Kenya inspired her drive for fairness, accountability and helping others
Experiences living in Africa, Asia, and Australia
How Prisca first connected with sustainability
First steps to building Baresop and participating in startup accelerators
Exploring crowdfunding to be people and community first

***

TIMESTAMPS

02:30 - Quick facts about Prisca

03:10 - High Flyer in Prisca’s life

04:00 - Prisca’s sunrise in Kenya

06:30 - Influence of family

08:45 - Living in Africa, Asia, and Australia

10:10 - Seeking independent success in life

12:00 - Why journalism

15:00 - First trip overseas to feature Zimbabwe

16:40 - Most difficult cultural transition

18:30 - First connection with sustainability

23:00 - First steps to building Baresop

30:00 - How did they create products and launch?

33:05 - Benefits of participating in startup accelerators

35:10 - Raising capital through crowdfunding

37:10 - Final sprint

***

Subscribe to the Curiosity Center newsletter for articles directly in your inbox!

Thank you for rating / reviewing this podcast on iTunes and Spotify, as it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show and grow the show with sponsors and partners.

This show showcases relatable role models, re-imagining a high flyer to help you achieve your potential and be 1% better everyday!

Contact Vidit at vidit@curiositycenter.xyz

Investment memo: "Vexev", the next generation of intelligent patient monitoring

Vidit Agarwal — Mon, 28 Feb 2022 18:00:00 +0000

Hear from John Carroll, co-founder at Vexev: Imaging, reimagined in the fight against vascular disease and welcome to episode 3 of this new segment taking you inside topics, companies and industries.

Please enjoy exploring your curiosity as I did mine through this conversation!

***

KEY POINTS COVERED

03:45 - What does Vexev do?

06:10 - What is vascular disease and how it can affect you?

07:45 - How did John & Eamon get validation their solution can become into a business?

11:45 - How do you the medical ecosystem work to build support, find patients, build data points?

14:25 - What is the patient journey by using vexev’ product?

16:40 - How does the distribution model work to get it in the hands of patients?

19:05 - How they raised investment being new to the business world

22:50 - Transition from Phd researcher to operating a business

24:55 - Roles they are hiring for and how you can have a career in MedTech!

27:00 - Utilising the circa $10M capital for next stage

28:30 - Does the vexev tech replace the job of a vascular sonographer?

30:00 - Risks for heart attacks and strokes in our population?

***

Find out more about Curiosity Center at www.curiositycenter.xyz

Share your feedback or questions directly with Vidit at vidit@curiositycenter.xyz or via Linkedin / Instagram

Hunter Johnson: 27 detentions and 6 injuries by age 21 to how he built the national charity teaching emotional intelligence to teenage boys, Man Cave + working w Prince Harry

Hunter Johnson — Tue, 22 Feb 2022 18:00:00 +0000

Welcome to episode #63 with Hunter Johnson! Here are 5 key takeaways that I think you will learn from this episode today:

How rebelling against family values and society growing up shaped his character to do good
At age 21, having his dream to play professional sport crushed through injury: How he carved out a path to re-create a new life
How he's built has the Man Cave brand to become attractive to the likes of Prince Harry, the United Nations and more partnering
What led to creating the personal care brand for men, STUFF when he saw there was no brand focused for men
Three non negotiables in the school he wants to design today

***

TIMESTAMPS

01:30 - Intro

03:10 - Hunter fun facts

05:25 - High flyer that deserves the recognition

07:00 - Sunrise and early influences

09:25 - Heroes growing up

10:30 - 27 detentions in high school

13:50 - Dealing with 6+ operations and giving up Rugby dream at 21

17:15 - Connecting with community he inherited with his awareness now

20:00 - how to design a school today

22:20 - most painful learning

26:10 - “We trade authenticity for attachment”

30:50 - How to build a trust first relationship with schools

32:50 - Investing in experiences and career paths at Man Cave

36:10 - Fail fast and learn to become better

38:00 - Advice he gives but finds hard to follow

38:30 - Biggest surprise about working with Prince Harry

41:35 - How has the Man Cave brand become attractive

45:30 - What led to creating the personal care brand for men, STUFF

51:00 - Balancing energy, not time as Man Cave and STUFF grow

54:30 - Increasing your surface area for luck to strike

56:00 - Final Sprint

***

Subscribe to the Curiosity Center newsletter for articles directly in your inbox!

Thank you for rating / reviewing this podcast on iTunes and Spotify, as it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show and grow the show with sponsors and partners.

This show showcases relatable role models, re-imagining a high flyer to help you achieve your potential and be 1% better everyday!

Contact Vidit at vidit@curiositycenter.xyz

Investment memo: "Mainak Dhar", the process behind publishing 26 books (many becoming best sellers)

Vidit Agarwal — Fri, 18 Feb 2022 01:06:47 +0000

Hear from Mainak Dhar, Best selling author and leader of India & South Asia at Kimberly Clark; and welcome to episode 2 of Curiosity Center.

Please enjoy exploring your curiosity as I did mine through this conversation!

***

KEY POINTS COVERED

04:05 - What does Mainak do?

05:40 - What led to writing his 26th book, “leadership in 100 words”

08:30 - How to get better at writing and Mainak’s learnings

11:40 - Should we write the way we talk?

13:55 - Systems and habits for great writing

16:50 - Editing and improving your story

19:15 - How has writing made Mainak a better leader at work

23:00 - What is leadership?

26:30 - How can you be a leader?

28:50 - How’s leadership evolved in India over the last 2 years?

32:10 - How can you build a great mentor relationship?

35:00 - How to buy ‘Leadership in 100 words’ book

India:

https://www.amazon.in/Leadership-100-Words-Complex-Challenges/dp/9354355501/

Kindle version outside India:

https://www.amazon.com/Leadership-100-Words-Complex-Challenges-ebook/dp/B09PTBWB18/

***

Find out more about Curiosity Center at www.curiositycenter.xyz

Contact, Vidit at vidit@curiositycenter.xyz or via Linkedin

Steve Solomon: Unpacking the journey, mindset and habits to becoming 2x Olympic athlete + critical painful learning from missing 2016 olympics by 4/100th of a second!

Vidit Agarwal — Sun, 13 Feb 2022 18:00:00 +0000

Welcome to episode #61 with Steve Solomon! Here are 5 key takeaways that I think you will learn from this episode today:

Steve's advice to parents with kids showing athletic potential (context: Steve didn't consider Athletics seriously till age
Critical learning from not qualifying for the 2016 Olympics by 4/100th of a second that's now made him a better athlete
Why sport is the perfect vehicle to find yourself and develop
Dealing with negative thoughts: Steve breaks down the psychology behind managing the lizard brain pre and during races
How to Become your best self and why we should all have Olympic like goals.

***

TIMESTAMPS

03:42 - Steve’s quick facts

05:35 - High Flyer recognition

07:20 - Sunrise memories in Sydney

08:05 - Spark to follow Athletics

11:20 - Didn’t consider sport seriously

12:50 - Advice to kids with potential in sport

14:15 - posters on the wall growing up

15:50 - Wallabies v Springbooks in Rugby

16:20 - Success in professional sport

17:44 - Learning from missing out on Olympics by 4/100th of a second

21:40 - How to manage negative thoughts

29:15 - Systems and habits in the days before competition

33:00 - Periodising through the year: How he used the time between waking up and going to bed

35:25 - Difference in athletics between US and Australia

39:45 - Being the underdog in Australia

41:20 - stay amateur for as long as possible

46:40 - How the legendary survive the test of time

50:20 - The process, the first 5k and you get better at managing, not the task getting easier

54:20 - Sport being the vehicle for finding yourself

58:45 - final sprint

***

Subscribe to the Curiosity Center newsletter for articles directly in your inbox!

Thank you for rating / reviewing this podcast on iTunes and Spotify, as it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show and grow the show with sponsors and partners.

This show showcases relatable role models, re-imagining a high flyer to help you achieve your potential and be 1% better everyday!

Contact Vidit at vidit@curiositycenter.xyz

Josh Ismin: Journey from New York to Sydney, creating a new last name, unpacking angel investing, why he's building Psylo: psychedelic-inspired medicine to treat mental illness

Vidit Agarwal — Tue, 8 Feb 2022 05:58:07 +0000

Please do consider supporting the show with a rating and review on your Apple Podcasts or Spotify app so we can continue to have brilliant guests join us.

Article 2 of my curiosity centre newsletter is live! I wrote about the power of play, and who can solve more problems: MBA’s, engineers or kids? Read here: https://vidags10.substack.com/p/the-power-of-play

***

Welcome to episode #60 with Josh Ismin! Here are 5 key takeaways that I think you will learn from this episode today:

1. Reflections on growing up in New York and now living in sydney, how the cultures compare and what the US was like in the early 2000’s

2. How Josh figured out what to do in his early career, specifically I asked him reflections about his first 3 years

3. His most painful learning when he started own company in online video: meteoric rise and then industry changed, pivoted from sales led to a tech company, business partner had mental health issues and more

4. How and why Josh and his wife decided to create a new last name when they married?

5. How Josh became an angel investor and recently started Psylo, a biotech company exploring future medication based on the blueprint traditional first gen psychedelic molecules

6. And a bonus, hear Josh educate us about the types of psychedelics and why we as a society may have the wrong thinking on this topic

***

TIMESTAMPS

—————

03:15 - Quick facts

05:30 - High flyer

06:40 - Sunrise, growing up in New York

09:10 - Learnings from New York

10:45 - Biggest influences

12:25 - Big tennis fan

15:10 - Success meant computer programmer and founder

17:30 - benefits of being in the US in the 2000’s

20:50 - early career learnings in fast growth and new countries

26:15 - Very painful learning

30:10 - Importance of failure, honesty and reflection

32:50 - Creating a last name with his wife

38:00 - Becoming an angel investor

44:08 - common advice he disagrees with

46:15 - Aha moment to start Psylo

49:35 - False connotations about psychedelics

52:00 - product psylo is building and application

55:00 - final sprint

***

Subscribe to the Curiosity Center newsletter for articles directly in your inbox!

Always appreciate if you can help by rating this podcast on iTunes, as it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show.

This show showcases relatable role models, re-imagining a high flyer to help you achieve your potential and be 1% better everyday!

Contact Vidit at vidit@curiositycenter.xyz

Investment memo: "Arrive & Thrive", the social enterprise supporting 12,000 students in 53 schools to achieve career goals

Vidit Agarwal — Thu, 3 Feb 2022 03:32:51 +0000

Hear from Tyson Day, co-founder of Arrive & Thrive and welcome to episode 1 of Curiosity Center.

Arrive & Thrive is a career education social enterprise, helping students set and achieve career goals with school based workshops, coaching and facilitation. Tyson and his team have worked with 53 schools and supported 12,000 students with their 12 programs.

Today, you’ll learn about how this business started, how they found schools as their key market, the economics of building an education first business, who are the other plays that inspire Tyson and how COVID has changed the landscape for learning providers like Arrive and Thrive.

Please enjoy exploring your curiosity as I did mine through this conversation!

***

KEY POINTS COVERED

1. How did Arrive & Thrive start

2. First 3-6 months: How did the idea become reality

3. Starting a business to solve a problem first, rather than generate revenue first

4. Finding your target customer

5. Discovery conversations to understand marketplace

6. How to create a career or startup in education

7. Developing your skills to become an educational facilitator

8. Mentor vs coach

9. What is your Identity capital?

10. Economics of building a facilitation and coaching business

11. Should you initially offer a free or paid service?

12. How do you distribute programs and build reach?

13. Who are the other players in the space that inspire Tyson’s work?

14. What’s surprised Tyson the most about building Arrive & Thrive?

15. How has education changed in the last 2 years due to COVID?

***

Find out more about Curiosity Center at www.curiositycenter.xyz

Contact, Vidit at vidit@curiositycenter.xyz or via Linkedin

Michelle Hu: Drive to suceed from immigrant parents, banking analyst turned beauty startup founder with operations in Melbourne and recently New York & social media marketing tricks!

Vidit Agarwal — Mon, 31 Jan 2022 18:00:00 +0000

Inspiring and raw conversation with Michelle Hu, founder of founder of Etoile Collective, online beauty accessories store with operations in Melbourne and recently New York.

Hear Michelle share her sunrise with immigrant parents moving to Australia from China, and instilling the importance of working and studying hard. You will hear Michelle talk about how seeing her parents not have much inspire her to make the most of her opportunities and recently she was able to buy her parents a house, which is very inspiring.

This show just last week ranked #16 (!!!!) in Australia in the careers category. I am still lost for words but a massive thank you to you for listening to the episodes, supporting the show and please continue to share your feedback by messaging us on Instagram or contact me directly on LinkedIn.

***

TIMESTAMPS

—————

03:05 - Quick facts

03:48 - Sunrise

05:14 - Learning photoshop and marketing from games

06:40 - significance of parents bravery

08:06 - Secret that helped Michelle start her business, Etoile

09:14 - heroes growing up

10:05 - Parents work

10:35 - Buying house for parents

11:15 - success at 16

12:30 - reflections working in finance over law

14:00 - career pathways outside the traditional industries

16:12 - how to receive a yes to a cold message

20:35 - painful learning about mental wellbeing

21:40 - How to build a side hustle whilst working full time

23:50 - Turning idea into reality to start Etoile with no direct experience

26:15 - Learning revenue and inventory management

28:50 - Bootstrapping the business

32:30 - Moving to New York

34:45 - Differences between New York and Melbourne

36:01 - Daily Mail article

38:15 - social media vs physical marketing

40:50 - Discoverability on TikTok

41:50 - Podcast marketing tips

43:44 - final sprint

***

Read about our recently launched Curiosity Center business and subscribe to the newsletter for articles directly in your inbox!

Always appreciate if you can help by rating this podcast on iTunes, as it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show.

This show showcases relatable role models, re-imagining a high flyer to help you achieve your potential and be 1% better everyday!

Michael Batko: Feeling lost in 2018 unsure of himself to becoming CEO of Australia's largest startup accelerator: startmate, habits and rhytms to increase his 'surface area for luck to strike', and influences from polish heritage

Vidit Agarwal — Mon, 24 Jan 2022 05:51:00 +0000

Knowledge packed episode with the one and only Michael Batko!

Batko was born in Vienna, Austria to polish parents and had quite a humble sunrise. His explorer love took him to Australia, where he’s been for the past 7 years in Sydney or Melbourne. A number of people I spoke to in the lead up to his recording spoke to Batko’s drive for excellence, his habits and routines and being a very reliable friend and colleague, hear about the secrets that have helped him become this person (worth noting, we can all do it, if we want to).

I learn something every time we speak so please do enjoy and let me know your thoughts!

***

TIMESTAMPS

—————

02:45 - Quick facts about Michael

03:40 - Re-imagining a high flyer

04:35 - Michael’s sunrise

06:00 - key influences

07:15 - Europe vs Australia attitude to life

08:44 - Heroes growing up

09:30 - Success in life at age 16

10:05 - Creating an impact on the world

10:50 - drive for excellence

11:36 - Brain use to process data, not store it

13:07 - Doing something new every week

14:01 - being lost in 2018

19:15 - painful learning

21:00 - 1%ers in last 2 years

23:25 - energy maintenance

24:50 - working with opposite personality

26:40 - great community building

30:20 - How does a startup accelerator make money? + Who does start mate help: 1) Work in a startup, 2) Found a startup, (3) Investors

36:05 - Productive relationships w 1000’s of people

39:15 - Turning idea into reality

41:00 - Setting goals for new year

44:05 - Founder to know

45:15 - Final sprint

***

Read about our recently launched Curiosity Center business and subscribe to the newsletter for articles directly in your inbox!

Always appreciate if you can help by rating this podcast on iTunes, as it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show.

This show showcases relatable role models, re-imagining a high flyer to help you achieve your potential and be 1% better everyday!

Ed Cowan: Inside the journey of playing professional cricket for Australia, 1% habits of best athletes, successful transitions out of sport, founding tripod coffee & the cake recipe!

Vidit Agarwal — Tue, 18 Jan 2022 18:00:00 +0000

You only need to google Ed Cowan to find out about his accomplishments on the sporting field, transitioning to becoming an investor at TDM Growth Partners which meant working with his older brother, Tom + founding Tripod Coffee and hosting his own podcast!

This is a candid, self reflective and inside the mind of the former Australian Cricket player — his journey to that goal, only playing cricket from age 13, that too with his brothers and dad, waking up at 5am to train and juggle study and work. We cover much more: see timestamps below for specifics.

Without a doubt, one of the top 5 episodes of the show so far so please do enjoy!

***

TIMESTAMPS

—————

03:30 - Quick facts about Ed

07:50 - High Flyer

09:47 - Ed’s sunrise growing up in Sydney

13:35 - Focus on education and learning business in additional to sport from day 1

15:28 - Learning cricket in the backyard with family at only age 13

17:40 - heroes growing up

18:50 - Success in life at age 18

20:15 - dedication to cricket at young age

21:36 - Working to be the best cricketer he could be + studying and working

24:00 - Combination of hard work and talent

24:51 - painful learning

26:15 - Dealing with being dropped from Australian cricket team

28:40 - first 3 months of dealing with public failure

32:30 - favourite 6 or 12 month period

34:10 - seeing superstar athletes and learning their 1% habits

37:00 - the cake recipe

38:30 - Athletes that inspire Ed today

40:00 - Athlete transition out of sport

43:40 - Publishing ‘In the firing line’ Ed’s cricket journal - available on amazon!

46:00 - Founding Tripod coffee

49:00 - satisfaction with a physical product vs a software

50:10 - conviction in the All Birds business

53:35 - final sprint!

***

Read about our recently launched Curiosity Center business and subscribe to the newsletter for articles directly in your inbox!

Always appreciate if you can help by rating this podcast on iTunes, as it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show.

This show showcases relatable role models, re-imagining a high flyer to help you achieve your potential and be 1% better everyday!

Michael Fox: Countryside sunrise, optimise for rate of learning in career, closing fashion biz, now building meat free movement + worrying stats about our diets!

Vidit Agarwal — Mon, 10 Jan 2022 18:00:00 +0000

The brilliant and inspiring Michael Fox and I chat about his sunrise in broken hill NSW with dad being a mining engineer and mum a part time accountant who went back to uni later on to do a masters and PHD!

Hear about the importance of optimising for rate of learning, particularly early in your career: as Michael shares his experiences in law, retail and tech which then led to founding Shoes of Prey, a women's fashion company which Michael ended up closing after 10 years of operation. Which is a big step to make so I asked Michael about how he kept the trust of his employees (some of them work with him now at Fable), the importance of systems and routines particularly in the first 3 months after closing the business.

Michael is now the founder and CEO of Fable Food Co, providing delicious food that is plant based and on a mission to reduce industrial animal agriculture, help you live longer and make the world a better place! You’ll hear a number of confronting facts including one where 95% of Aussies don’t get enough fiber in their diet, wow!

And as a bonus, I asked Michael about his 41 acre property in the sunshine coast and his personal interest in social communal living, growing fruit and veg and more.

Enjoy!

***

TIMESTAMPS

03:31 - Quick facts about Michael

05:20 - High flyer in Michael’s life

06:30 - Sunrise

08:40 - Early childhood influence to figure out new environments

09:15 - early influencers

10:50 - posters on the wall growing up

12:08 - fitting into school being entrepreneurial kid

14:10 - view of success in life at age 16

15:15 - Biggest painful learning

16:00 - Closing shoes of prey after 10 years

17:15 - mental transition & support

19:00 - belief to found 2 businesses

20:20 - focus on rate of learning in career

22:20 - optimising for learning from Mike Cannon Brookes (co-founder Atlasssian)

23:10 - attracting talent and building trust

28:05 - first 3 months after shoes of prey: building systems and routine to reset

32:40 - living and breathing the Fable mission

34:40 - Purpose for 41 acre property on the Sunshine Coast

39:10 - Unknowns about industrial animal agriculture

40:25 - surprising facts about pigs and social acceptance

42:08 - Industrial animal agriculture responsible for 14.5% of global greenhouse gas emissions

44:05 - 95% of Australian’s don’t get enough fibre in their diet

47:20 - Goals for Fable’s success at the end of 2022

49:41 - final sprint

***

Read about our recently launched Curiosity Center business and subscribe to the newsletter for articles directly in your inbox!

Always appreciate if you can help by rating this podcast on iTunes, as it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show.

This show showcases relatable role models, re-imagining a high flyer to help you achieve your potential and be 1% better everyday!

Introducing Curiosity Center: Specific episodes w founders & leaders in every industry, showcasing what they do, why and how to help you thrive at work and achieve your potential!

Vidit Agarwal — Wed, 5 Jan 2022 18:00:00 +0000

Introducing Curiosity Center!

Listen in to find out:

Show highlights of 2021
Why, How and where for Curiosity Center

Subscribe to the curiosity center newsletter here to receive every article directly in your inbox: https://vidags10.substack.com/welcome

Follow Curiosity Center on Instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/curiositycentre/

Follow Curiosity Center on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/company/curiositycentre/

Contact Vidit to share your thoughts, questions or advice at vidit@curiositycenter.xyz

As we get into 2022, I’ll leave you with this: Humility is the soil of knowledge. Curiosity is the water that helps it grow. Empathy is the sunlight that shows us which way to bend.

I’m excited to go on this journey together to learn, grow, and feed our curiosity. Together we will figure out what we enjoy, and who we can be. Let’s always stay curious, young or old.

Fly high,

Vidit

Crossover Special: Vidit joins Chloe Temple on the Leadership Confidence series - "What I'm learning from 50+ episodes re-imagining the traditional high flyer"

Vidit Agarwal — Wed, 15 Dec 2021 08:36:00 +0000

Thanks to Chloe Temple for inviting the host of this show, Vidit Agarwal on the Leadership Confidence series!

*****

Points covered/ timestamps:

02:10 - celebrating 50 episodes of The High Flyers Podcast

02:55 - Did Vidit start the podcast with a goal to do 50 episodes?

04:10 - Release pattern of episodes: weekly vs fortnightly

05:35 - what is the definition of a high flyer and how did Vidit choose the podcast name?

08:04 - How relationships have improved thanks to the podcast

09:35 - Podcast recognised in the top 20 shows

10:35 - Best leadership lessons from show to date

17:05 - Most memorable guests

26:26 - Advice for creating podcast or content online

34:40 - Whats coming in 2022 and the launch of Curiosity Centre

38:50 - Domain name choice to stand out

40:00 - Dream guests for future episodes

Enjoy!

Follow Chloe here: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/chloe-temple

Follow Vidit here: https://au.linkedin.com/in/viditag

Follow POPP here: https://popprovides.com/

Follow Curiosity Center here: https://www.instagram.com/curiositycentre/ OR https://au.linkedin.com/company/curiositycentre

********

Stay tuned for the launch of CURIOSITY CENTER, coming in early 2022!

I would really appreciate if you can help by rating this podcast on iTunes, as it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show.

This episode & show is to inspire all us to be high flyers in any aspect of life & flip the notion of a high flyer, learning from value creators to help us all be 1% better everyday, together.

Tom Kelly: Italian influences, how to build a start up and raise funding whilst being a doctor with no direct business experience, surgical registrar turned start up founder building the next step in clinical training + secrets for a long life!

Vidit Agarwal — Sun, 12 Dec 2021 18:00:00 +0000

Take flight into Tom's journey - Sunrise in Melbourne, with Italian influences including how his parents meeting at an Italian restaurant, his dad being a chef, and early memories of working in his family’s restaurant business learning how to take orders, process bills and more.

We go into Tom’s time working as a doctor including his

- reflections on spending 10 years in the public health system and advice to future medical students

- The moment that sealed the realisation that its time to go all in on Oscer, the company he’s founder and CEO at, building the next step in clinical training.

- Secrets picked up from treating patients for living a healthy life

and if you have an idea and not quite sure on how to turn it into a business - we spend 30 mins spent on how Tom started the business, Oscer whilst being a doctor, learning how to build a no code platform, finding engineers, learning about investment and how VC’s work through podcasts and online content and more!

TIMESTAMPS

02:48 - Quick Facts about Tom

05:45 - Tom’s sunrise in Melbourne (Italian heritage, family restaurant business)

09:33 - Heroes growing up

12:20 - Meaning of success at 16

15:00 - The decision to study medicine

18:00 - Realising it was time to change and go all in on Oscer

21:20 - Reflections on 10 years in medicine and if anything would have been different in hindsight

23:00 - Advice for future medical students

25:00 - most memorable experience as a surgical registrar and personal impact

29:40 - Secrets picked up from treating patients for living a healthy life

33:45 - how Tom started Oscer the business having mainly Medical experience, not commerce

34:20 - Creating the first online prototype with low or no code options

38:55 - ignore the business and focus on the problem and customer

41:20 - How Tom balanced doctor hours + building a business on the side

44:00 - Adding 1 to a measure of time, putting in the time to reach product market fit

45:40 - How to find engineers to build product and when to bring them into business

53:00 - The decision to consider VC funding and learning business metrics coming from a medical background

55:00 - Learning pitch process and VC funding through podcasts and online content (All in Podcast + The Pitch are Tom’s favourites)

57:00 - Investing time horizons and securing capital at early stage

1:01:17 - Biggest difference between surgeon and entrepreneur

1:03:45 - final sprint and parting thoughts

Enjoy!

------------------------

Stay tuned for the launch of CURIOSITY CENTER, coming in early 2022!

I would really appreciate if you can help by rating this podcast on iTunes, as it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show.

This episode & show is to inspire all us to be high flyers in any aspect of life & flip the notion of a high flyer, learning from value creators to help us all be 1% better everyday, together.

Andy Miller: Free range childhood, travelling the world in pyjamas, story of launching Heaps Normal: the non alcholic beer movement during a pandemic & 3 years living in China!

Vidit Agarwal — Mon, 6 Dec 2021 10:00:00 +0000

Take flight into Andy's journey -- sunrise in Brisbane, Australia with inspector gadget as his childhood hero, and a desire to be a doctor that ultimately turned into a career in the creative industry, focused on brand, marketing, strategy and story telling. Traveled 10 countries in 10 days in pyjamas and recently co-founding Heaps Normal, an independent, alcohol-free beer company supporting everyday legends to dial the good times up to 11 and still perform at their best the next day.

TIMESTAMPS

—————

03:40 - quick facts about Andy (place of birth, first job and what he does now)

05:23 - High flyer in Andy’s life

06:39 - Andy’s sunrise: influence of family and environment

07:55 - Influence of Parents

10:20 - Inspector gadget

12:48 - Playing water polo in later part of high school and then overseas

14:20 - Desire to be a doctor growing up but realising a creative path to advertising

17:50 - traveling the world in pyjamas, 10 countries in 10 weeks

20:17 - Turning point post the trip

23:30 - Winning Triple J competition to meet Foo Fighters in the UK

27:40 - Painful learning: re-assessing the success path

29:05 - Moving to China with his wife for 3 years

32:08 - Reality of China vs media narrative

33:05 - keys in brand building and story telling

36:10 - learning's in agency advertising

41:05 - change in marketing from craft to reach

42:58 - magic moment that led to belief for creating Heaps Normal

44:43 - co-founder Pete reaching out and deciding to build this idea into business

47:45 - Quiet Beer or Heaps Normal

50:00 - first 3 months of Heaps Normal with COVID taking over the world

55:35 - Sending samples to people in the startup and VC ecosystem

58:20 - Has Heaps Normal met or exceeded expectations

59:50 - final sprint

Enjoy!

------------------------

Stay tuned for the launch of CURIOSITY CENTER, coming in early 2022!

I would really appreciate if you can help by rating this podcast on iTunes, as it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show.

This episode & show is to inspire all us to be high flyers in any aspect of life & flip the notion of a high flyer, learning from value creators to help us all be 1% better everyday, together.

Shane Hatton: How he turned an idea into reality into a leadership and coaching practise, author, podcast host & renowned speaker!

Vidit Agarwal — Wed, 17 Nov 2021 18:00:00 +0000

Take flight into Shane's journey - sunrise in Bundaberg, a smallish town in QLD, Australia having varied interests as Shane describes it following themes rather than a specific path whether that be trying the trades, to then studying business because his girlfriend was doing it, how good! and then spending 7 years as a pastor involved with the church community which started from helping his friend with some marketing work.

Since 2017, Shane has been running his own practise developing remarkable leaders and is a book author, podcast host and speaker. We went in depth as I asked Shane about how he started his practise in 2017, how he found his early clients, how to monetise, providing consistent value and much much more!

MEMORABLE QUOTES MENTIONED

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“good leaders know how to speak and great leaders know when not to”
“biggest challenge when starting a business is we don’t know what game we are playing, we don’t know the rules. and because we don’t know the rules, we are open to a lot of well meaning bad advice.”
“narrow your topic and widen your sources”
“the moment we begin to think we have all the answers, we forget all the questions”

TIMESTAMPS

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04:32 - Sunrise, growing up in Bundaberg, QLD, Australia

07:35 - Batman as hero

08:15 - Shane in high school

10:10 - being empowered to follow passion, rather than society

11:22 - definition of success at 18

13:15 - pit stops in life, different stages

14:25 - themes Shane has noticed in people he helps be their best self

15:56 - Painful learning

18:45 - Involved with the church for 7 years and transition

21:33 - realisation that helping people is Shane’s life’s work

23:28 - turning idea into reality, first 3-6 months of building his practise

24:22 - Advice from a mentor asking “what game are you really playing”

26:26 - finding first clients to believe in Shane as a brand

28:58 - separating from peers, providing value add that is unique

31:42 - how to price your service and paid vs free

35:54 - 2 commitments: client is all in and Shane is in your corner

37:30 - aspiration, location and currency in articulating value

40:15 - finding balance between book author, podcast host, coaching and speaking

42:27 - building relationship & trust: firehose vs dripping tap

43:58 - one piece of advice you give but find hard to follow yourself

44:55 - unknowns of the work Shane does

47:28 - sources of information Shane digests

49:26 - final sprint

Enjoy and love for you to message Vidit directly to share your feedback.

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Stay tuned for the launch of CURIOSITY CENTER, coming in early 2022!

I would really appreciate if you can help by rating this podcast on iTunes, as it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show.

This episode & show is to inspire all us to be high flyers in any aspect of life & flip the notion of a high flyer, learning from value creators to help us all be 1% better everyday, together.

#48 Blackbird's Nick Crocker: Dealing with loss early on, discovering startups via journalism, selling to Under Amour, Behind the scenes of Venture Capital

Nick Crocker — Sun, 7 Nov 2021 17:00:00 +0000

Take flight into Nick's journey -- You know those conversations, we all have them where you have so many questions but the discussion actually covers a lot of ground? That’s how this episode went.

Nick Crocker shares his idyllic upbringing in QLD, Australia (which for our global listeners that may not be as aware, QLD is Australia’s bush country, laid back with a big % of nature and bush. Hear about Nick’s adventure living in France at 17 that opened up his eyes to the world, foray into journalism and his passion for writing which led to discovering entrepreneurship and as Nick calls it “it was love at first sight”

TIMESTAMPS

04:04 - High Flyer in Nick’s life who may not have received the recognition

05:40 - Nick’s sunrise

07:35 - Benefits now reflecting on Nick’s countryside idyllic upbringing “rich in love”

09:00 - Nick in high school including passions, how teachers viewed him

10:00 - Hero’s growing up outside family unit

12:03 - Definition of success in life at the age of 16

13:23 - Nick discovering Entrepreneurship through journalism

15:50 - Nick’s writing on various topics (available online!)

17:10 - most painful moment (but learning in hindsight)

19:35 - most energising and fun moment

21:20 - Long distance relationship with his wife for 4 years (Nick in the US and Julia in Adelaide, Australia)

23:05 - experiences in the US founding sessions, selling it to Under Amour (and additionally integrating into US culture coming from laid back Australia)

25:03 - the motivation to come back to Australia after the US adventure

27:25 - Nick’s twitter reach out to Niki (blackbird founder) to meet for a coffee and how Nick views cold messaging now (1) does he still do it and (2) what makes him respond to one

30:10 - Importance of meditation in Nick’s daily routine

32:30 - Realisation of the weight of words and statements as a VC and board member

34:25 - Helping a young founder evolve and grow

36:35 - Favorite board member and why

38:00 - How does a Venture capital firm make money?

41:00 - Superannuation not being a savings account, rather it’s funding infrastructure, healthcare, education, startups and more

42:20 - Nick’s systems and habits to decipher what to read & consume online on various topics of interest

47:00 - Helping Australian athletes (AFL, Basketball etc) get into investing and mental shift required

51:30 - what separates a good VC from the pack

53:08 - Concept at PIXAR of comfort to fail whilst figuring it out (first 2 years of many Pixar movies are very average)

54:11 - The final sprint rapid fire questions

PEOPLE MENTIONED

Michael Batko CEO @ Startmate

Ben Hudson Executive coach

Matthew Dellavedova, NBA and Australian Basketball Athlete

Matt De Boer AFL Athlete + Co-Founder of Athletic Ventures, athlete led investment syndicate in Australia

James Clear - Atomic Habits

Enjoy!

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Stay tuned for the launch of CURIOSITY CENTER, coming in early 2022!

I would really appreciate if you can help by rating this podcast on iTunes, as it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show.

This episode & show is to inspire all us to be high flyers in any aspect of life & flip the notion of a high flyer, learning from value creators to help us all be 1% better everyday, together.

BONUS! Building disability support agency Buttons w David Bookman - How it started, economics behind a service provider, NDIS Government scheme structure, painful learnings & success in next 2 years!

Vidit Agarwal — Tue, 2 Nov 2021 23:18:08 +0000

A bonus episode, the second in this series! The first we had Matt Dwyer from Tennis Australia take us behind the scenes of the Australian Open tennis grand slam, being the first sporting event held in a covid normal.

This conversation with David was focused on the business he has co-founded called Buttons, a disability support agency based in Melbourne, Australia.

I ask David about how he started this business, economics behind a disability service, how does the NDIS government scheme operate, David’s learning's to date and what success looks like over the next 2-5 years.

TOPICS COVERED:

How does one start a business?
What are the economics behind a disability service provider?
Building a team of support workers?
How does NDIS work?
how does Buttons work with the scheme? Self managed, plan managed, agency managed
What are the revenue sources for Buttons?
What does a Carer plan look like? Can you take me through how you would create this for a would be patient?
Whats surprised David the most in the journey building Buttons for almost 2 years now?
What is success when building a disability provider focused business?
How do David and his co-founder continue to learn and ask for help?
Whats been one painful learning to date?
What would David want to have achieved in the next 5 years?

Enjoy!

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I would really appreciate if you can help by rating this podcast on iTunes, as it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show.

This episode & show is to inspire all us to be high flyers in any aspect of life & flip the notion of a high flyer, learning from value creators to help us all be 1% better everyday, together.

Chloe Temple - Overcoming challenges at uni in the UK to helping spark change to be our true selves, Building POPP coaching business

Vidit Agarwal — Tue, 19 Oct 2021 12:01:24 +0000

Take flight into Chloe's journey - growing up in the UK in a small tight knit family, looking up to her parents with dad being a business owner and mum as marketing director for a large corporate. Chloe talks candidly about dealing with realisation that University was challenging and how ego and arrogance made Chloe choose economics.

Through preserving and hard work, things started to look up with Chloe starting her professional career in marketing at Sainsbury’s, one of the large retailers in the UK which after 5 years allowed Chloe to move to Australia to work for Coles, another large retailer in the country.

I ask Chloe about 3 important topics and we go deep into each. These being (1) mental health and Chloe’s own struggles with depression, (2) How Chloe created a new role for herself at Reckitt and built a team and (3) perhaps the biggest moment of them all, making the decision to leave a steady job she was good at to try her hand at creating the coaching business called POPP and how she made the transition.

An action oriented conversation which summarises Chloe well and a lot of insights for you the listener to apply to your life.

TIMESTAMPS

—————

05:25 - how would teachers describe Chloe in school

07:35 - Influences behind be a go getter person

09:40 - Hero’s for Chloe growing up

10:30 - planning future life at age of 16, and what’s next

12:10 - Dealing with realisation that Uni was challenging and how ego and arrogance made Chloe choose economics

14:15 - Marketing industry placement at Sainsbury’s (one of the big retailers in the UK) whilst Chloe’s classmates went into more traditional fields of finance, government etc

18:35 - big magic moment in Chloe’s life (finding her why)

22:40 - experiencing depression for nearly a decade

24:35 - speaking up about mental health (at work)

28:10 - sharing mental health status with line manager at work (what I experience, how I manage it, what support you can provide)

30:45 - moving to Australia from the UK

34:00 - How to approach a new challenge in life (or role at work)

40:11 - Chloe’s experience creating a new role at Reckitt (global company with brands like Dettol, Strepsils etc) and how to build a team to deliver the vision

44:10 - Decision to leave corporate and start her own business and how it came alive

52:00 - how to go full time on your own business with no fixed income anymore

53:40 - financial plan when starting a business

55:30 - Chloe’s role at POPP

58:34 - How Chloe looks at separating her coaching venture from others and provide an incremental benefit

Enjoy!

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I would really appreciate if you can help by rating this podcast on iTunes, as it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show.

This episode & show is to inspire all us to be high flyers in any aspect of life & flip the notion of a high flyer, learning from value creators to help us all be 1% better everyday, together.

Minal Mehta - Pan Asia upbringing, scaling next billion users for YouTube, tech in the early 2000's vs now, career coach at Harvard & Founding TakeTwo!

Vidit Agarwal — Mon, 11 Oct 2021 23:49:43 +0000

Take flight into Minal's journey -- growing up in India, learning ambition and owning yourself from her mother and the drive to be better from her father; and then going to Singapore to finish her last years of high school!

Post high school, Minal secured a full scholar to Stanford University, which started her journey in the US and Minal’s foray into tech in the early 2000’s working at Expedia and Amazon in the early days, then doing an MBA at Harvard followed by exciting roles at the likes of LinkedIn and Youtube leading product including building YouTube for the next billion users.

I also asked Minal about the creator economy, how to build a life post MBA, advice for new graduates, and hear about Take Two, the new venture Minal is building with two co-founders!

TIMESTAMPS

—————

15:10 - Assimilate in a new culture at school: Attending a high school with 300 people per class, all Chinese with Minal being 1 of 7 scholars from India

16:40 - Applying to Stanford from Singapore

18:45 - Power of own voice, 2003 after dot com bust studying at Stanford

24:20 - Opportunity to join Amazon in 2003

24:55 - Amazon first principles from Day 1 when they started in 2000’s

27:15 - Learnings early on (work + India) to utilise in career

28:35 - Why MBA and why Harvard

30:30 - two benefits from Harvard

34:05 - building a life post Harvard

38:05 - What should a graduate look for in first role post study?

40:15 - optimising for Learning (whether its joining a startup or a reputable brand name)

40:20 - what have you done, not where have you been

42:15 - solving a problem that fits with who you are. Example of how Jeff Bezos couldn’t build Google and Larry couldn’t build Amazon

44:30 - Learnings from working with Reid Hoffman and Jeff Weiner at Linkedin

48:50 - the creator economy; getting best reach for your content

52:40 - Thinking behind LinkedIn groups (Minal was head of product)

55:20 - Minal starting TakeTwo and story behind going from corporate to entrepreneur

1:01:30 - Finding co-founders, why, how

Enjoy!

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I would really appreciate if you can help by rating this podcast on iTunes, as it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show.

This episode & show is to inspire all us to be high flyers in any aspect of life & flip the notion of a high flyer, learning from value creators to help us all be 1% better everyday, together.

Holly Ransom - Inspiring path from Perth to interviewing & engaging with powerhouse leaders including Obama, Richard Branson, Dalai Lama & more!

Vidit Agarwal — Sun, 26 Sep 2021 08:21:37 +0000

Holly's favourite quote is “Never doubt that a group of thoughtful and committed citizens can change the world, its the only thing that ever has” - Margaret Meed

Take flight into Holly's journey - growing up in Perth, Australia and then around the world, her routines, learnings, perspectives and insights on a number of specifics and much much more. I must admit this is the first time in 44 episodes where I was quite nervous!

Some of the insights I hope you are able to take away from this conversation include how to make the jump from a corporate job to starting own business and the importance of the first 3 months, how Holly prepares prior to interviewing the likes of Obama and Richard Branson, why nervous are selfish, hours of practise and refining her craft that’s helped Holly become an eloquent speaker and thought leader today, the beliefs of leadership and how they have evolved for Holly which culminated in Holly writing her new book, The Leading Edge - dream big, spark change and become the leader the world needs you to be.

TIMESTAMPS

20:15 - starting a new business, first 3 months, 365 days of tackling fear

21:00 - explore and learn, transition from corporate to own business

22:20 - resetting goal post and lowering bar of success allowed Holly to succeed in new venture

22:57 - Faster you can say I don’t know and ask for help - ego barrier

24:29 - engagement with Branson, Obama - process

25:57 - nerves are selfish, benefits of focusing on the guest and audience rather than yourself

29:25 - Obama sense of self, Holly reflections from interviewing him

34:29 - collating thoughts, eloquence, vocabulary

38:55 - Holly creating a new role (opportunity) with Sam Walsh at Rio Tinto

46:23 - leadership and how its evolved for Holly from army generals to everyone able to be one

54:30 - habits and routines that’s helped Holly succeed

Enjoy!

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I would really appreciate if you can help by rating this podcast on iTunes, as it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show.

This episode & show is to inspire all us to be high flyers in any aspect of life & flip the notion of a high flyer, learning from value creators to help us all be 1% better everyday, together.

Maddy Buchner OAM - Doing her life's work by creating Little Dreamers, Australia's leading young carer organisation and recognised by the Queen!!

Vidit Agarwal — Mon, 20 Sep 2021 10:35:24 +0000

“The whole program culminated with an award ceremony at Buckingham Palace, and thorough the whole program I guess we were at this big point of Little Dreamers where we had to decide whether to go all in or not. The belief in myself this Queen's Young Leader Program instilled in me and the mentors I met showed me I may as well try. What's the worst that could happen, you are 24 years old -- you jump in, if you fail -- at least you tried."

Take flight into Maddy's journey - If you’re looking for a person that defines Perseverance and not giving up, Maddy would absolutely be high on that list. Growing up in Melbourne, Australia in a tight knit family but seeing many challenges with her young brothers health and later her mum fighting cancer, Maddy had to figure out life quickly and also be a carer for her family.

This inspired Maddy to start Little Dreamers, Australia’s leading young carer organisation supporting young people who provide unpaid care for their loved ones.

I asked Maddy about how she was able to start this social enterprise and business at a very early age post University, her journey from juggling 4 jobs to now employing 48 staff and a board of advisors.

Also, hear about what Maddy has done that’s perhaps separated her from peers at the age of 28 to build this venture despite all her challenges and keep going for 12+ years!

Enjoy!

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I would really appreciate if you can help by rating this podcast on iTunes, as it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show.

This episode & show is to inspire all us to be high flyers in any aspect of life & flip the notion of a high flyer, learning from value creators to help us all be 1% better everyday, together.

Michael Rodrigues - Building media juggernaut TimeOut to now leading the 24 hour economy creation as Sydney's first night time mayor + indian heritage influences!

Vidit Agarwal — Mon, 6 Sep 2021 03:20:07 +0000

“That experience in Dubai taught me how to really get things done, how to facilitate business -- fantastic stories of ingenuity in terms of closing deals in two languages, Arabic and English; getting documents signed by sheiks. I once bought a printer and drove it with a laptop and set up an office, to get a document done which was going to take 6 weeks. That kind of hustle, I learnt from being in that market."

Take flight into Mike's journey - upbringing in Sydney, Australia with Indian parents, with cultural nuances and a heavy influence of family.

Hear about the key moments that led to Mike studying engineering and law and then going on to have a career across Construction, Law, Media, starting TimeOut media, leaving and then returning to scale it, and more recently being appointed the commissioner of the 24 night time economy affectionately known as the night time mayor of Sydney.

I asked Mike to tell us about his move from Sydney to Dubai, at a time when Dubai was not the buzzing city it is today, and we also go into the networking or rather value add relationships as both Mike and I agree rather than a transaction.

Mike’s mantra in life - "keep moving"

Enjoy!

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I would really appreciate if you can help by rating this podcast on iTunes, as it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show.

This episode & show is to inspire all us to be high flyers in any aspect of life & flip the notion of a high flyer, learning from value creators to help us all be 1% better everyday, together.

Rosie Thomas OAM - Deciding not to walk past bullying by creating Project Rockit with her sister: Uniting young people against all kinds of bullying

Vidit Agarwal — Sun, 29 Aug 2021 09:59:47 +0000

“I've been so privileged to have role modelled to me is that introversion and kindness and sensitivity as great strengths in the world, not weakness. I've had the benefit of growing up in a household, encouraged to be more of who we really are, as opposed to fit in to the mould."

Take flight into Rosie's journey - We can all probably relate to experiences growing up, whether directly or indirectly of bullying and acts that are unfair. Rosie and her sister Lucy saw this and decided not to just walk past it but actually tackle it.

Hear about Rosie’s upbringing in the suburbs of Melbourne, being influenced by her family and being close with her old sister. We talk about how Rosie choose to not go to uni after high school and instead start this social enterprise called Project Rockit, back in 2006 when a movement led by young people was not often seen. Rosie talks about the expression of this journey often feeling like building a plane while flying it at the same time.

Rosie’s mantra in life (inspired by the Dalai Lama) - "It’s not enough to be compassionate, you must act."

Enjoy!

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I would really appreciate if you can help by rating this podcast on iTunes, as it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show.

This episode & show is to inspire all us to be high flyers in any aspect of life & flip the notion of a high flyer, learning from value creators to help us all be 1% better everyday, together.

Celebrating #40 w Ed Neerhut + Flo Van Den Corput - 3 best friends with experiences in Australia, Europe, USA!

Vidit Agarwal — Wed, 11 Aug 2021 13:47:38 +0000

WOW! Thank you for being on this experience to date.

A journey with this show that was born out of adversity and now hitting 40 episodes. How do you celebrate? I asked 2 of my good friends to join me for a chat! And this is a special chat with Flo, based in Melbourne & Ed, based in California in the US.

Growing up in the Netherlands and moving to Australia 6 years ago to be with his girlfriend, Flo talks about the influence of his tight knit family being raised away from the big city, a trip to Norway and how that ignited a deep passion for the community, the environment and sustainable practices in design.

With similar family values, Ed who grew up on the other side of the world in Geelong, in Australia shares his forming experiences including moving to Melbourne for university that allowed him to reset and start to really understand more.

We also talk about:

- our marathon running experience,

- what we learnt from that 1 year journey,

- our shared love for travel and culture,

- the meaning of success in life and work,

- intrinsic vs extrinsic motivators,

- Ed and Flo share insights into their field of work in industrial design and circular economy for Flo and open source mapping, startups and global adventures for Ed.

Enjoy!

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I would really appreciate if you can help by rating this podcast on iTunes, as it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show.

This episode & show is to inspire all us to be high flyers in any aspect of life & flip the notion of a high flyer, learning from value creators to help us all be 1% better everyday, together.

Magic MOMENTS x five: Create your personal board of mentors, Behind the scenes of global events, Rebuilding after a life changing injury, Working in 4 sports leagues & how to go from corporate exec to successful founder!

Vidit Agarwal — Sat, 7 Aug 2021 09:44:25 +0000

In this special episode, we wind back the clock and share some 'magic moments' from the episodes to date, in the countdown to episode 40! There are so many to pick from so keeping in line with the theme of the show of sharing diverse global experiences in life, and not just work - tune in to hear from:

1. Gen Hawkins from episode 7: personal board of mentors for the best possible you! - The spark mentor: go to for inspiration and energy when feeling down - The strength mentor: go to for getting back on the bike, reminding you what you are good at - The serious mentor: go to when you are on cloud 9, reminds you of pitfalls - The stair master mentor: go to to be held to account, like your personal training - The seear mentor: go to who’s been there and done that - The silly mentor: laughter, connect with someone when all else fails

2. Ridley Plummer from episode 3: Behind the scenes of the Super Bowl - enhancing the consumer experience in the stadium and at home - Activations with Budweiser in Toronto and New York - ice hockey and NFL

3. Ben Kende from episode 9: Life changing injury playing rugby that changed in life in a matter of seconds, how he came out the other side, his perspective now and the journey to get here

4. Ben Jesse from episode 4: Global sporting experiences Ben’s worked all around the world, in Australia, Europe and Asia in various commercial ventures in the sporting landscape. He’s also worked in 4 of Australia’s biggest sporting codes which is rare - Here he shares his experiences in each, starting with AFL, then cricket, then tennis and working with brands from China and India

5. Rob Hango Zada from episode 19: Leap of faith to co-found Shippit, one of Australia's biggest success stories - transitioning from corporate career to entrepreneurial venture - dealing with personal matters such as family and finances - building a logistics solution for e-commerce

Enjoy!

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I would really appreciate if you can help by rating this podcast on iTunes, as it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show.

This episode & show is to inspire all us to be high flyers in any aspect of life & flip the notion of a high flyer, learning from value creators to help us all be 1% better everyday, together.

Liltte big things w Ryan Tuckwood - Packing up to Australia, Introverted extrovert, Full circle moments to Shark tank show & Swish!

Vidit Agarwal — Mon, 26 Jul 2021 12:52:12 +0000

“A thousand people in the room, the music is on....I walk off the stage after introducing his name and he doesn't come out. This gave me the opportunity to go out and fill and test myself for 45 mins to train a thousand people...to hold a room. This was a pivotal moment to give me confidence, to belong in that world and get over the imposter syndrome."

Take flight into Ryan's journey - humble upbringing in the UK with his mum being a cleaner and dad a factory worker. Starting off with his desire to be a footballer and then how seeing his dad have cancer made Ryan want to do more with his life.

We talk about his introvertness, the 60 second legacy - what do people think of you 60 seconds after you meet then, how seeing a fortune teller led Ryan to pack up and move to Australia, failures, and how a job he hated turned into the best learning and led to him founding SWISH which eventually secured funding on the infamous show, Shark Tank

and Ryan’s mantra in life - go to bed more educated than you woke up!

Enjoy!

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I would really appreciate if you can help by rating this podcast on iTunes, as it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show.

This episode & show is to inspire all us to be high flyers in any aspect of life & flip the notion of a high flyer, learning from value creators to help us all be 1% better everyday, together.

Deeds not words w Annabelle Daniel - Order of Australia Medal for social development, Women's community shelters, expansive family and influence of grandparents & dealing with the unknown

Vidit Agarwal — Sun, 11 Jul 2021 11:03:43 +0000

“When we got to 4 shelters, was probably when people stopped saying that your model is never going to work...when we opened it, the wonderful manager rang me and said we've just taken in our first resident, it's a 17 year old women with a 6 month baby leaving terrible domestic violence. That was a full circle moment because this person could not have got in anywhere else."

Take flight into Annabelle's journey - curious nature growing up despite her parents splitting very early with a roster of ideas and interests she explored.

Hear about how the passion for social justice and equality originated through some trial and error, her expansive family being close with her grandparents and now children.

We go in depth as Annabelle talks about leaving her secure job to join what was then a NGO start up that she now leads as CEO helping women and kids feel safe, find shelter and build a life and hear about the the role we can all play as a community to support the efforts.

Enjoy!

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I would really appreciate if you can help by rating this podcast on iTunes, as it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show.

This episode & show is to inspire all us to be high flyers in any aspect of life & flip the notion of a high flyer, learning from value creators to help us all be 1% better everyday, together.

Doing good w Dr Holly Doel-Mackaway - Human rights & social progress, lead singer in Japan, UNICEF work in Fiji, Aboriginal potential and positivity!

Vidit Agarwal — Thu, 24 Jun 2021 13:51:44 +0000

“I learnt so much from talking to young aboriginal people about their vision for Australia and their own communities. That flies in the face of the negative discourse we are fed…all these negatives about young aboriginal people and that is absolutely not the case.”

Take flight into Holly's journey - Growing up in Sydney, Australia with socially conscious parents driven to do good with a big influence of music, scholars and authors in her living room!

Holly is widely regarded as having a deep and broad understanding of integral progress (and challenges) in spaces including Child rights, Aboriginal freedom and Human rights to play and work. Holly shares her learnings and experiences in Australia and overseas, including her experiences working with UNICEF in Fiji, spending time in Japan as a cabaret lead singer and her first hand insights about the potential for young Aboriginals, the positivity they show and the book Holly is currently writing for release soon.

Enjoy!

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I would really appreciate if you can help by rating this podcast on iTunes, as it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show.

This episode & show is to inspire all us to be high flyers in any aspect of life & flip the notion of a high flyer, learning from value creators to help us all be 1% better everyday, together.

Be 1% better w Adam Charles - Melbourne to living the world, producing the Commonwealth Games closing ceremony, deferring university, cultural differences, people & respect!

Vidit Agarwal — Mon, 7 Jun 2021 13:22:45 +0000

“I went to university for one day, which was orientation day. And then this company asked if I wanted to work for them so I deferred University for a year, to get some work experience and then go travel. I never went back to University, I absolutely loved the work I was doing ”

Take flight into Adam's journey - upbringing in Melbourne, Australia - view of his life as an adventure that has taken him all over the world - Europe, China and more recently Dallas in the USA.

Hear about so many aspects, turning points, stories in his life including the desire for travel stemming from seeing his parents jet around, taking a break from school to go be a chef, working in the events business where he now runs a big chunk of the worlds largest events company.

Some super cool magic moments in his journey including producing the 2006 commonwealth games in Australia and moving to Beijing to play a big role in the 2008 olympics.

Enjoy!

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I would really appreciate if you can help by rating this podcast on iTunes, as it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show.

This episode & show is to inspire all us to be high flyers in any aspect of life & flip the notion of a high flyer, learning from value creators to help us all be 1% better everyday, together.

Tipping points w Conor O'Malley - Worldly influences, executive to now coaching leaders, moving continents, trust & understanding self!

Vidit Agarwal — Sun, 30 May 2021 06:36:18 +0000

“Ask yourself this - how am I doing as a learner? It is existential, it’s like standing on the balcony of your own life and asking am I learning, how am I doing and at times being vulnerable, saying I don’t know, it’s not knowing. This can be quite challenging if you feel you need to be the leader who has to know everything.”

Take flight into Conor's journey - upbringing in Europe with a Scottish father and an Irish mother, moving to Australia at a young age, the want to be a leader and setting milestones for his life.

Conor candidly shares some of his painful learnings and also best moments, a major tipping point that led to moving into his Coaching venture and hear about his latest book Trust, begins and ends with self - what that means, how it applies to everyone of us and a number of specific applications to ones life.

Enjoy!

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I would really appreciate if you can help by rating this podcast on iTunes, as it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show.

This episode & show is to inspire all us to be high flyers in any aspect of life & flip the notion of a high flyer, learning from value creators to help us all be 1% better everyday, together.

Creating action w Katrina Mccarter - Marketing to mums, influences growing up & financial learning, speaking around the world, dreaming big & more!

Vidit Agarwal — Mon, 17 May 2021 13:00:38 +0000

“Through the power of collaboration, I could yield such a benefit. If i had used paid advertising to generate the 7,000 members it would have costed me $10k plus. I replicated this approach and allowed me to build a community of 150,000 mothers.”

Take flight into Katrina's journey - growing up in Perth, Australia being shown the ropes by her mum including a big focus on financial learnings and dreaming big.

Hear about Katrina’s time from being in the corporate world to how starting a family led her to this exciting new adventure building a business centred around Marketing to mums.

Being a mum herself, book author, business owner and global speaker, Katrina shares her learnings in life, painful moments , taking big leaps of faith and more!

We also spend some time on mothers - How corporates are changing their view of parental leave, Katrina’s own experience, The Key trends with mums as consumers and a segment of the population critical to shopping behaviour -

Fun fact: The average age of a mum is 25 in US and 31 in Australia.

Enjoy!

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I would really appreciate if you can help by rating this podcast on iTunes, as it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show.

This episode & show is to inspire all us to be high flyers in any aspect of life & flip the notion of a high flyer, learning from value creators to help us all be 1% better everyday, together.

Having a go w Ayesha Wharton - Raised in the Caribbean, Foreign service - 8 years in China & 4 in South Africa, diplomacy & cultural immersion!

Vidit Agarwal — Sun, 2 May 2021 08:40:52 +0000

“China had a lot of freedom to try new things, meet people & start ideas - I found it quite liberating and different to the narrative the world has of....China."

Take flight into Ayesha's journey - growing up in Trinadad & Tobago in the Caribbean and interest in the sciences and journalism through her childhood and early years.

Ayesha shares her global experiences in the foreign service which included 4 years in South Africa and 8 years in China - hear about global diplomacy, government relations and also how these workings are involving in this new covid world.

Enjoy!

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I would really appreciate if you can help by rating this podcast on iTunes, as it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show.

This episode & show is to inspire all us to be high flyers in any aspect of life & flip the notion of a high flyer, learning from value creators to help us all be 1% better everyday, together.

Game, Set, Match - Serving up a global sports event (with fans) during a pandemic w Chief Tennis Officer at Tennis Australia

Vidit Agarwal — Wed, 14 Apr 2021 10:59:03 +0000

Welcome to episode 1 of a new segment on the show of short, sharp bonus episodes to provide original insights, in depth perspectives on topics and experiences you may not hear about everywhere.

To kick us off, delighted to have Matt Dwyer join us, the Chief Tennis Officer at Tennis Australia and he shares how they managed to put on a global event with fans during a pandemic - hear about a number of aspects before, during and after the Australian Open that you may not have yet heard about.

Some of the points covered in this conversation include:

1200 players & support staff from 100 cove affected countries to the most conservative city in the world (at that stage), coming in on 17 private jets. 14 day quarantine in Melbourne, 8 events in 1 week leading to the Australian Open main draw.
Considerations prior to event? What went better than expected?
Learning & sharing with other sports - the connected world of sport
Differences in quarantine for individual athletes vs teams coming in as a group
The psychology of players and how the leading players dealt with it vs the others
How did the Tennis Australia organisation and their own people deal with putting on this event whilst being a member of the community and dealing with the public scrutiny?
The TA executive team not being able to be together due to risk of speed of the virus
Matt’s experience as an individual, tennis executive and sports lover
Learnings for future events - appealing to at home fan, use of digital etc

Let us know what you think - I’m excited to share these bonus episodes intermittently over the coming months alongside our normal episodes.

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This episode & show is to inspire all us to be high flyers in any aspect of life & flip the notion of a high flyer, learning from value creators to help us all be 1% better everyday, together.

Be 1% better w Kellie Riordan - Supportive family, Fail + learn, building podcasting at the ABC in 2005 pre-iPhone, transitioning to create a media production house & more!

Vidit Agarwal — Sat, 10 Apr 2021 07:57:41 +0000

It's episode 30! Thank you for all the love and support on this journey to date with much more to come.

“I did a lot of work experience in school and university before a radio reporting role at the ABC. It did take perseverance and knocking on doors, which is scary. I learnt a lot about the principles of journalism - persistent, be courteous, keep trying and don’t take no for an answer. Your job is to keep chasing people till you get them on for an interview.”

Take flight into Kellie's journey - learning the importance of hard work early on and having the support of her parents and siblings - with a desire to go into music or radio.

We talk about her early break, learnings being in the music industry, which seemed very glamorous on the outside but not as enjoyable whilst doing it. The concept of Flerning - failing & learning, Spending time at Oxford working for reuters learning from smart people around the world, personal setbacks including an injury that affected her ability for a period of time.

Kellie shares her first hand insights on podcasting, finding the vision for the platform at the ABC in 2005 before the iPhone, what’s ahead for podcasting and her own venture into starting a podcasting consulting and production company Deadset Studios and Curveball Podcast

Enjoy!

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I would really appreciate if you can help by rating this podcast on iTunes, as it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show.

This episode & show is to inspire all us to be high flyers in any aspect of life & flip the notion of a high flyer, learning from value creators to help us all be 1% better everyday, together.

Explore, Dream & Discover w Kim Grady - Earthy childhood, Career transitions & sabbaticals, Travel, Food, Wine & taking risks!

Vidit Agarwal — Thu, 1 Apr 2021 05:28:40 +0000

“Life was quite and remote, we were 30 mins from the largest town - we kept ourselves entertained at home with sport and going to school. Lots of farmwork when I was younger, lots of practical upbringing - makes you a very capable person, driving the second i could touch the wheel. That upbringing in a farm gave me independence and trust to try and figure it out”

Take flight into Kim's journey - Growing up in country Victoria in Australia, having an earthy and remote upbringing, interest in law from a young age & love for travel.

Hear about a number of transitions & sabbaticals - what led to them, her experience and the next move in life. Kim provides perspective into having a successful corporate career whilst also building a food and wine blog and traveling to various corners of the world.

The key takeaway that I hope resinates with you listening to this is to have self belief, take risks, and go all in when making strides in life.

Enjoy!

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This episode & show is to inspire all us to be high flyers in any shape or farm to fly high, learning from value creators to help us all be 1% better everyday, together.

Stretchable boundaries w Michael Spiegel - Raised in the US, 15 years in Europe, 14 years in Australia, medicine, biotech & new experiences!

Vidit Agarwal — Thu, 18 Mar 2021 13:34:48 +0000

“I had supervision from social workers and councillors who mentored me , what it is to support a young person at risk, being there for the right reasons, showing them how their behaviour is under their control and how the world is. A real experience for a young man figuring it out” - Tune in to hear the full story!

Take flight into Michael's journey - upbringing in the US, Growing up in a family that was not the traditional household with various challenges, finding a way out of that and going to uni & finding other interests including language and culture. I loved Michael’s experiences in different parts of the world - how they came about, what he learnt from it and how we can learn from it.

Michael also shares his wide ranging career experiences in Medical and health research, biotech and international community work.

Enjoy!

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This episode & show is to inspire all us to be high flyers in any shape or farm to fly high, learning from value creators to help us all be 1% better everyday, together.

Be bold w Amanda Neilson - teaching, consulting, MBA, asking for help & fostering change inclusively & so much more!

Vidit Agarwal — Wed, 10 Mar 2021 12:25:32 +0000

Take flight into Amanda's journey - growing up on a farm in Canberra (Australia) followed by high school in Melbourne, learnings spending time with the Aboriginal community in Darwin as part of her law degree and several years as a teacher in Shepparton in regional Victoria, Aus.

We talk about intriguing concepts including intuition vs deliberate thinking in Amanda's journey, asking for help and saying I don’t know, fostering change by co-founding the Champions For Change at BCG, finding your passion which can be by trying many things and so much more!

Enjoy!

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This episode & show is to inspire all us to be high flyers in any shape or farm to fly high, learning from value creators to help us all be 1% better everyday, together.

Always believe w Mike Boyd - The Business of family, being shy to building global businesses, Asia & Aussie culture, desiging your life & more!

Vidit Agarwal — Thu, 4 Mar 2021 12:16:11 +0000

Take flight into Mike's journey - growing up in Brisbane, Australia as a shy kid with an entreprenurial itch. Hear about his journey to go on to become school captain, preferring street smarts to book smarts but persevering through academic study, scaling various businesses such as Vroom in the car rental industry!

Mike talks about his first hand knowledge of cultural differences between Australian & Asian society (having lived in Hong Kong and now Singapore), his biggest failures and learnings and tune in to his podcast (The Business of Family) to hear from families that have succeded in building generational wealth and a culture of integrity and a values driven system to life.

Enjoy!

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This episode & show is to inspire you to fly high, learning from value creators to help you be 1% better everyday.

Be 1% better w/ Dionne Holder - Cross cultural influences growing up in Barbados, 1 way ticket into 20+ year stay in China, learning mandarin fluently, 2008 olympics & more!

Vidit Agarwal — Tue, 23 Feb 2021 11:35:16 +0000

Take flight into Dionne's journey - cross cultural influences of south african mum and carribean dad, growing up in Barbados! Curious to find the practical side of study, taking a 1 way ticket to China that turned into a 20+ year stay which included having to learn mandarin to be able to study her degree, meeting her husband and having big leadership roles in global companies.

Dionne's authenticity, rich personality & fun loving nature shines through in his conversation, despite all her success. Hear about getting out of the dreaded comfort zone, international leadership and the 2008 olympics!

Enjoy!

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This episode & show is to inspire you to fly high, learning from value creators to help you be 1% better everyday.

Be 1% better w/ Josh Blanksby - Gold Coast childhood, lawyer to the business of sport, learning America with his wife, breaking the taboo of horse racing & gambling

Vidit Agarwal — Fri, 19 Feb 2021 13:31:01 +0000

Take flight into Josh's journey - growing up in the Gold Coast (Australia) with an outdoor lifestyle, playing every sport - starting out as a lawyer and then moving into his passion of the business of sport, living and working in Ireland, various fork in the road moments where Josh backed himself and took on bold challenges like joining Betfair at its infancy in Australia.

It was refreshing to hear Josh talk about meeting his American wife and the influence of the US on his thinking and also the differences between sports coverage in the US and Australia, two markets Josh knows well. And as a bonus, tune in to hear Josh share some candid learnings he's had as a leader and tips he gives people coming up the ranks.

Curious about the horse racing and betting industry? Josh shares insights into what the future holds, how they continue to be more community oriented and grow collectively with a focus on all involved.

Enjoy!

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This episode & show is to inspire you to fly high, learning from value creators to help you be 1% better everyday.

Be 1% better w/ Scott McLaughlin - Asking for help to be a better person, Advertising & data driven insights, Sweat, courage & tenacity!

Vidit Agarwal — Sun, 7 Feb 2021 09:09:25 +0000

Take flight into Scott's journey - This was a wide ranging conversation of growing up with a big influence of his family, particularly his father and grand father. Building a career in advertising followed by data and insights.

We talk extensively about Scott’s self reflection, going deep within and questioning his own beliefs and behaviours with a desire to improve and be a better person. Having conversations, opening up, owning your shit, permission to share feelings, relationships, who we’re supposed to be and the permission for imperfection, mens health.

Enjoy!

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This episode & show is to inspire you to fly high, learning from value creators to help you be 1% better everyday.

Be 1% better w/ Matt Dwyer - Not fitting in, Selling beers & chocolates to the heights of world sport, working w ex England cricket captain & so much more!

Vidit Agarwal — Thu, 28 Jan 2021 10:31:13 +0000

Take flight into Matt's journey - from not really fitting in growing up & seeing his mum struggle with mental health to studying Business and making a foray into FMCG working at companies including Lion, Mars & Nestle. Matt then made a transition into the world of sport working at Cricket Australia, The England Cricket Board and now Tennis Australia as Chief Tennis Officer (being a massive tennis fan, this sounds like a cool role!)

I absolutely loved Matt's way of living life, his humility and passion to succeed doing it in a very team oriented way. Hear some very candid stories about his transitions in work, moving countries with a young family and learning more about himself and his leadership style through some interesting team excercises!

Enjoy!

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This episode & show is to inspire you to fly high, learning from value creators to help you be 1% better everyday.

Be 1% better w/ Brianna Casey - Curious about the world, CEO at 23, Forging a path in farming as a female, social policy and so much more!

Vidit Agarwal — Mon, 25 Jan 2021 02:10:11 +0000

Take flight into Brianna's journey - growing up in Byron Bay being curious about the world with a strong passion for social policy and change. Being offered a CEO opportunity at 23 and how she went about it with no real experience but a belief in herself and supporters backing.

I love Brianna's open refreshing perspective on various matters including being a parent with a successful career, being female in farming, "shiny bum" and the role her Company Foodbank is playing in fighting hunger in Australia during a pandemic.

Enjoy!

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This episode & show is to inspire you to fly high, learning from value creators to help you be 1% better everyday.

Be 1% better w/ Michael Karakatsanis - Greek heritage, politics interest in primary school, pencils and creativity & cross functional moves

Vidit Agarwal — Sat, 16 Jan 2021 11:36:07 +0000

Take flight into Michael's journey - being influenced by his greek heritage, a strong passion for politics and philosophy in primary school and his belief to succeed.

Hear about his various cross functional moves from Industrial relations and HR to Sales, Marketing and building a start up within a multinational. Actionable tips include keeping Friday mornings to be creative, a pencil being the bridge to ideas and creativity and living the examined life.

Enjoy!

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This episode & show is to inspire you to fly high, learning from value creators to help you be 1% better everyday.

Be 1% better w/ Rob Hango Zada - Pulling apart toys growing up, taking risks moving from a corporate life to build Shippit, one of the hottest start ups in Aus & much more!

Vidit Agarwal — Sun, 10 Jan 2021 01:47:02 +0000

Happy new year! Make 2021 your best year - continue to believe, back yourself and be 1% better every single day.

Take flight into Rob's journey - growing up in Sydney to immigrant parents, being curious from a young age to break apart things to figure them out, starting out in tech roles which is a full circle back to his business now, thinking twice before sending an email, family support and sacrifices to build Shippit into one of Australia's fastest growing and in demand companies.

Enjoy!

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This episode & show is to inspire you to fly high, learning from value creators to help you be 1% better everyday.

Be 1% better w/ Andy Monk - Library of education in childhood, Impact of 2008 crisis, Renewable energy, organic food, leadership & more!

Vidit Agarwal — Mon, 28 Dec 2020 07:24:19 +0000

It's the final episode of 2020, thank you for all the support!

Take flight into Andy's journey - the library of education growing up in a large family and getting on with it, his passion for Science & Technology from a young age, travelling through Asia in his early working years.

Hear about being kept accountable by the best auditors - his kids! Get a fascinating insight into Andy's diverse interests including Renewable Energy, Organic Food, Waste Management and more.

Enjoy!

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This episode & show is to inspire you to fly high, learning from value creators to help you be 1% better everyday.

Be 1% better w/ Leonie Green - Childhood with 8 older siblings, employment law and transition from corporate to own ventures, humble leadership & much more!

Vidit Agarwal — Tue, 15 Dec 2020 05:04:13 +0000

Take flight into Leonie's journey, I personally took a lot away from this conversation hearing about Leonie’s upbringing being the youngest of 9 siblings (wow!), her childhood memories given the broad age differences between her siblings, passion for indigenous culture and giving it a voice it deserves.

It was refreshing to hear a candid perspective on her life at work also, whether it be getting into law and spending some time there, move to the corporate world as a HR Director and some of the personal challenges that came with that which eventually lead to Leonie transitioning into starting her own ventures including consulting, learning & facilitation in leadership & coaching would be partners in law firms and writing including her own book stop doubting and start leading.

Enjoy!

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This episode & show is to inspire you to fly high, learning from value creators to help you be 1% better everyday.

Be 1% better w/ Melissa Mortimer - Being happy & positive on life, Career journey as a wedding planner, recruiter & business change + transformation and much more!

Vidit Agarwal — Tue, 8 Dec 2020 02:28:20 +0000

Take flight into Mel's journey - In the lead up to this episode and this conversation itself, Mel’s natural energy and optimistic view on life shines through. Hear about being happy and how that comes naturally to Mel (but also dealing with the feedback with that!), family including the tragic death of her brother, her fascinating career including being a wedding planner, recruiter and more recently at KPMG in change and transformation. Especially interesting to unpack how those moves came about and the life experiences tied to them!

We also talk about appreciating the good only when you have been through the bad, good leadership, investing in relationships and much more.

Enjoy!

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This episode & show is to inspire you to fly high, learning from value creators to help you be 1% better everyday.

Be 1% better w/ Corey Wastle - Founding a financial advisory firm, growing up as 1 of 5 boys, 3 tips for financial wellbeing, no regrets & more!

Vidit Agarwal — Fri, 4 Dec 2020 12:47:04 +0000

Take flight into Corey's journey, growing up as 1 of 5 boys, being the golden child and how that shaped his views and thinking. Founding a financial advisory firm, Verse Wealth after being frustrated by the lack of transparent, good advice for customers who deserve to be treated as partners.

I love Corey's perspective on various aspects including learning from his sporting idols, the pursuit for excellence, having mentors and being challenged to do better, no regrets and so much more!

Enjoy!

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This episode & show is to inspire you to fly high, learning from value creators to help you be 1% better everyday.

Be 1% better w/ Rory Gilbert - Raised in the UK & Scotland, International learning via winning the Joe Berry Award, Plant based meat, Focusing on today with an eye on the future & more!

Vidit Agarwal — Wed, 2 Dec 2020 10:45:46 +0000

Take flight into Rory's journey, raised in the UK & Scotland, seeing his parents seperate at a young age and how that shaped his perspective on life. Starting his working career in the UK and then deciding to take time off which led to booking a one way flight to Perth, Australia - and now living in Australia 8 years having some painful learnings and positive experiences.

I enjoyed Rory’s perspective on managing ambition with doing the day to day, how winning the Joe Berry Retail award helping his thinking and learning from the likes of Walmart in the US and more recently about his transition from the big business of Mars to an innovative start up called V2 food, in the alternative meat category.

Enjoy!

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This episode & show is to inspire you to fly high, learning from value creators to help you be 1% better everyday.

Be 1% better w/ Mainak Dhar - Business leader by day, best selling author by night, Career journey including Mumbai, Singapore, Bangkok & more!

Vidit Agarwal — Mon, 23 Nov 2020 10:34:54 +0000

Take flight into Mainak's journey, growing up in India & Canada, attending 9 high schools as he moved around with his family. Hear about his love for storytelling & writing that has now led to being a author of numerous books that are Best Sellers! This is in addition to his day job leading the India & South Asia business at Kimberly Clark, his most recent stop on a successful career in the FMCG industry living in Mumbai, Singapore, Bangkok & more.

I absolutely love Mainak's humility and perspective on work, life, leadership, family and helping others succeed. Check out Mainak's Linkedin profile for daily lessons on various topics including my favourite 'Leadership in 100 words' posts made by Mainak. Enjoy!

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This episode & show is to inspire you to fly high, learning from value creators to help you be 1% better everyday.

Be 1% better w/ Anoushka Gungadin - Childhood in Mauritius, 10 years in China, Moving to Aus & leading the Duke of Ed Award, Australia India relations; world citizen, cultural intelligence & being bold!

Vidit Agarwal — Mon, 16 Nov 2020 11:01:03 +0000

Take flight into Anoushka's journey that started in Mauritius with a love for culture, languages & people. Hear about how a 1 month holiday to China turned into a 10 year stay working there and being part of the country's growth journey in the early 2000's, then moving to Australia with her family and leading the Duke of Edinburugh's Award, Australia India Chamber of Commerce, founding consultancy Global CQ and being involved in start ups including Allevi8 the mindfull app!

I loved Anoushka's perspective on life including being open to new cultures & people, self belief & courage and having a growth mindset - tune in to hear more of Anoushka's insights on how she has navigated through this journey truly being a world citizen and advocate for cultural intelligence.

-------- I would really appreciate if you can help by rating this podcast on iTunes, as it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show.

This episode & show is to inspire you to fly high, learning from value creators to help you be 1% better everyday.

Be 1% better w/ Tim O'Sullivan - Hustling, Having fun & giving it a go; Scratching through high school, Building a business with hangover cure drinks nationally!

Vidit Agarwal — Mon, 9 Nov 2020 08:23:08 +0000

Take flight into Tim's journey, he really defines the unconventional & challenging the status quo! Hear about his story from being expelled in year 10 and having to figure it out, going to Vietnam and running events, getting a spark in Korea to build a drinks business in Australia using Korean pear juice that cures hangovers (called Bae Juice) now ranged in retailers nationally.

I love Tim's way of living way - giving it a go, not being afraid to fail & willing to ask for help. Enjoy listening to Tim & be inspired to get the best out of ourselves, everyday (even when you don't know where to start, just start!)

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This episode & show is to inspire you to fly high, learning from value creators to help you be 1% better everyday.

Be 1% better w/ Nick Dawes - Family tragedy early on, Leading large brands, Finding a new role during covid & journey w depression + mental wellbeing

Vidit Agarwal — Mon, 2 Nov 2020 06:51:44 +0000

Take flight into Nick's journey growing up in Adelaide, loosing his brother when he was 7, not fitting in at school to his journey leading large teams & brands that started from working in store at Woolworths, hear about how Nick stepped up from a business manager to enteprise leader, time off at the start of this year finding his next role in the midst of the covid pandemic.

Hear about what sparked Nick's interest in mental wellbeing & compassionate leadership including his personal journey with depression & opening up.

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This episode & show is to inspire you to fly high, learning from value creators to help you be 1% better everyday.

Be 1% better w/ Ben Kende - Love for Rugby, Life changing spinal injury & figuring it out, travelling the world in a wheelchair & becoming a lawyer

Vidit Agarwal — Mon, 26 Oct 2020 06:44:35 +0000

Take flight into Ben's journey growing up in Hong Kong as an expat family, love for Rugby despite the playing the sport causing a life changing spinal cord injury that made him wheelchair bound for life, figuring it out with a renewed body & mind, travelling the world in a wheelchair, path to becoming a Lawyer at a global firm, starting the Ben Kende Foundation for spinal research & social awareness and so much more!

One of the truly inspirational episodes on this show so far - please enjoy!

"If you can't stand, stand out"

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This episode & show is to inspire you to fly high, learning from value creators to help you be 1% better everyday.

Be 1% better w/ Troy Douglas - Driving a naturally sugar free movement with his brother in law, growing up as a gay man, business coaching & lots more!

Vidit Agarwal — Tue, 20 Oct 2020 05:19:22 +0000

Take flight into Troy's journey from growing up in the hills district of Sydney, influence of parents, growing up as a gay man, doing a stint in law & then creating Nexba, to drive a naturally sugar free world with his brother in law, lessons learnt he can share with other entreprenuers & much more - enjoy!

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Thanks for your support by subscribing & rating this podcast to help the show! Follow us on Instagram and LinkedIn This episode & show is to inspire you to fly high, learning from value creators to help you be 1% better everyday.

Be 1% better w/ Genevieve Hawkins - 1 of 9 siblings, Mentally at work, Story telling, Creating a personal board of directors & so much more!

Vidit Agarwal — Mon, 12 Oct 2020 10:26:42 +0000

Take flight into Genevieve's journey from growing up as 1 of 9 siblings, studying Occupational Therapy & moving into the corporate world leading Health, Safety, Wellbeing & Insurance for thousands of employees, how to connect with others with story telling & emotion. Hear about Gen's new book Mentally at Work (a must read in today's world!) and a super cool way of creating a personal board of directors for mentors! I always love talking to Gen & always learn something - enjoy!

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Be 1% better w/ Sam Christou - Family values, Lessons from an exciting journey with EY, Nestle, Google, Soccer & life experiences!

Vidit Agarwal — Mon, 28 Sep 2020 11:56:28 +0000

Take flight into Sam's journey from growing up in the suburbs of Sydney with a big influence of family, faith & values to building a life working in 4 diverse industries - Consulting with EY (with a stint in Chicago), FMCG with Nestle, Tech with Google & Sport with the governing body for Football. We also chat about lessons learnt, making career & life choices, advice he would give to his younger self, what’s next for him & loads more!

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Be 1% better w/ Steven Burrows - Music & Theatre to Food & Wine, creating pride & inclusion platforms in Corporate Australia

Vidit Agarwal — Mon, 14 Sep 2020 11:11:20 +0000

Take flight into a fascinating journey that took Steven from studying at the same university as Hugh Jackman to some of Australia's biggest brands including Coles, Treasury Wine Estates & more. A ton of actionable tips on being authentic, golden nuggets on championing LinkedIn & candid insights into his personal experiences creating Pride, Diversity & Inclusion platforms in Corporate Australia.

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This episode & show is to inspire you to fly high, learning from value creators to help you be 1% better everyday. The views expressed are of Steven's only in a personal capacity and not representative of any of his employers.

Be 1% better w/ Ben Jesse - 40 rejection letters, partnering with mega brands from India & China, Working in AFL, Cricket, Tennis & Basketball

Vidit Agarwal — Mon, 31 Aug 2020 10:37:13 +0000

Take flight into a special journey full of ups & downs from Hong Kong to Europe to Australia working in Cricket, Tennis, AFL, Basketball & a LOT of actionable learnings along the way about how to build your personal brand in a new country, bouncing back after 40 rejection letters and so much more! (Seriously, tune in now if you want to be 1% better).

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This episode & show is to inspire you to fly high, learnings from value creators to help you be 1% better everyday.

Be 1% better w/ Ridley Plummer - Behind the scenes of global sport, Skiing to NFL Superbowl to The Australian Open Tennis, World First Uber Eats Campaign

Vidit Agarwal — Mon, 17 Aug 2020 09:54:02 +0000

Take flight with Ridley Plummer, as he shares his inspiring story from Skiing to the Superbowl to The Australian Open Tennis and that's just the first minute of the game.

Behind the scenes of global sport,
World renowned events including the NFL Superbowl & The Australian Open Tennis (Millions of viewers!)
Working in New York, Toronto & Melbourne
World first brand campaigns with legends including Rafa Nadal (and filming at 5am with a famous female star!)
Suprise & delight fans in today's new world and how to bring live stadium experience to fans on TV & social media
plus more!

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This episode & show is to inspire YOU to fly high, learning from individuals like Ridley to help YOU be 1% better EVERYDAY.

Be 1% better w/ Mike Dickson - Living & working in 4 countries, good vs great talent, T career & jigsaw puzzle thinking

Vidit Agarwal — Mon, 3 Aug 2020 09:57:12 +0000

Take flight with Mike Dickson to find out some fascinating tidbits about his favourite way to stay fit, the best advice he's been given in his 25 year career and loads more!

"Life is what you make it, don't expect it to happen to you"
Magic moments living & working in 4 countries
Insights from working closely with senior business leaders for over 20 years
Founding the Sales Director Incubator Program featuring candid interviews with executives from leading organisations including Nestle, PepsiCo, Frucor Suntory, Unilever amongst others
What seperates good and great talent, T career thinking from Mckinsey & Jigsaw puzzles
and lots more golden nuggets & actionable tips!

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This episode & show is to inspire you to fly high, learning from individuals such as Mike to help YOU be 1% better EVERYDAY.

Taking Flight w/ Taps Matimba - Resilience and growth from Africa to Australia, experiences to get to Risk & Control at CBA, studying Law & working full time

Vidit Agarwal — Tue, 21 Jul 2020 10:38:00 +0000

Tune in to this inspiring story as we take flight with Taps Matimba. Key takeaways from this story include:

Resilience & Growth,
Journey moving from Africa to Australia,
Dealing with change,
Hustling to reach CBA & grow within the company,
Early career learnings that set the path to the role now,
Working full time AND studying a Masters in Law (JD),
How Taps was able to run a full marathon,
And loads more!

Love your support by subscribing & rating/reviewing the podcast to help us reach more listeners.

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This episode & show is to inspire you to fly high, learning from individuals such as Taps to help YOU be 1% better EVERYDAY.