Startup 360

Startup Daily
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Every Friday, Startup 360 hosts Simon Thomsen and Majella Campbell, dissect the news of the week in ANZ startups, before they’re joined by two guests to explore what makes them tick. Think of it as your startup guide to staying human. It’s all about lifting the bonnet on people to understand how they see the world and what inspires and drives them, and what they’ve learnt from both success and failure. And don’t miss 10x, 10 rapid-fire questions that will surprise and make you laugh.

  1. 2 HR AGO

    Why air conditioning is more power hungry than chilled and filled with industrial espionage

    Air conditioning is doesn't sound like a sexy startup problem, but Conry Tech cofounder Sam Ringwaldt knows more than most how profound its impact on us and the planet will be as climate change takes hold. "It's a really vicious irony that the main solution that we're relying on to mitigate the change is also accelerating the change faster than nearly anything else," he explained on the Startup 360 podcast. "I mean, there's 864,000 new air conditioners being installed every day from now until 2050." Forget AI data centres or any other power consumer on the planet, air conditioning, something we don't think about because we mostly don't see it, is the only game in town, he explained. "Air conditioning is actually the sector that's expected to drive most of the growth of demand of electricity," Sam explained. "In fact, 50% of the growth of electricity over the next 30 years is all going to be air conditioning. And we're talking about comfort here. We're not even talking about food chains, pharmaceuticals, or the other applications." Startup 360 this week makes air conditioning sexy again as a major climate tech issue. Sam and his eponymous cofounder, 60-year industry veteran Ron Conry, raised $3 million in venture funding this week for their latest revolution, BullAnt, an air-conditioning system that has completely rethought how cooling is delivered, with the potential to save up to 50% of consumption and power bills for users. And if you think it all sounds sedate, Sam recounts the time their engineers were followed home and robbed and factories in Melbourne and Canada were ram-raided, with files and computers stolen in moments that sound like a spy thriller. Sam and Ron were responsible for the last great innovation in air conditioning 25 years ago - back when the Nokia 3310 was the world's best-selling phone, so HVAC (heating, ventilation, air conditioning) is overdue for disruption and if anyone's going to do it, it's these two with Sam's wife, Brenda, alongside as Conry Tech cofounder. Also on the show this week, cohosts Majella Campbell and Simon Thomsen talk about the latest Cut Through Venture funding report for the September quarter. Startup 360 is more founder fund than founder mode. It’s all about finding out what makes people tick and staying human. Subscribe to the show on Apple, Spotify, and YouTube, and don't forget to read StartupDaily.net for all the ANZ tech news for free! Startup360 is a SmartCo Media production. This episode is supported by Vanta, helping startups unlock market opportunities through automated compliance.

    48 min

  2. 9 OCT

    How 5 time founder Preethi Mohan learnt how to get sh*t done

    Preethi Mohan was in the middle of a corporate life at Google when she had a revelation about life as a startup founder. Her latest and 5th startup, Press Play Ventures, a 12-week accelerator program coaches women on the move from corporate life to startup founder, and in just 18 months, has helped 120 women to launch 104 startups. Press Play Ventures won the GSD (Get Sh*t Done) Award, at the recent Startup Daily Best in Tech Awards 2025. A prolific ideas person who writes down her thoughts in notebooks explained her lightbulb moment to Startup 360 hosts Majella Campbell and Simon Thomsen this week. “It’s just up to me whether this idea happens or not,” she said. “Even when there was chaos, it's like, it's okay. It's up to me - I can find the direction, I can control change, which is a very empowering idea." That thought, that realisation of freedom, electrified her. So she quit her lucrative Google job in late 2019 - yes, just before Covid - for life as a founder. Now she’s running startup 4, NiceTo, which is all about creating connections in the startup sector to succeed, as well as 5, Press Play, with ambitions to make it a global accelerator. Preethi also talked about human empathy in the age of AI. Having that connection of that technology and human empathy, I think it goes such a long way,” she explained. “If we disconnect from that, we're actually just going to lose a whole part of our beings.” Simon and Majella are continuing their extended discussions on Startup 360 with just one guest this week as they introduce listeners to the winners from the Best in Tech awards to unpack what makes them tick. Also on this week’s show, Majella and Simon also talked about pushback against the upcoming SXSW Sydney event by the startup sector and the week’s biggest raises, including $98 million for Heidi Health. Startup 360 is more founder fund than founder mode. It’s all about staying human. Subscribe to the show on Apple, Spotify, and YouTube, and don’t forget to read StartupDaily.net for all the ANZ tech news for free! Startup360 is a SmartCo Media production. This episode is supported by Vanta, helping startups unlock market opportunities through automated compliance.

    47 min

  3. 3 OCT

    How a female founder solved the problem of men's fertility and testosterone using undies

    Brace for puns with week as Startup 360 talks to Saara Jamieson, founder of Cool Beans Underwear, about how her revolutionary way of taking care of man bits came about. Saara was a finalist in the Best New Founder category of Startup Daily Best in Tech awards (the winner was Rebecca Keeley from Yarn Speech), and in a special extended episode, they spoke to the Brisbane mother of two about how her own journey to becoming a mother led to Cool Beans. It's an important dive into male reproductive health that had Simon rearranging himself when Saara talked about the impact of sitting for 20 minutes or more and how how the additional heat down below has an impact on male fertility and testosterone levels. While reproductive health and fertility tends to focus on women, Saara has taken a deep dive into what blokes need to do to hold up their half of the conception bargain. And the simple truth is that their "beans" are running hot and that's not good for them. Helping her own husband take care downstairs transformed their attempts to become pregnant and the mother of two is now spreading the message to all who'll listen, building a scientifically-backed deep tech startup in the process. An explainer: Cool Beans undies keep the testes away from the body, as nature intended, so they don't become too warm, which can lead to reduced fertility and testosterone. Her product now has TGA approval and she has plans for FDA approval in the US. Simon and Majella took a deep dive into what's going on, as well as discussing being a solo founder, first mover advantage (is there one?) and the impact building Cool Beans has had on other families and the health of men. And Simon couldn't resist asking what it was like to talk to a room of NRL execs earlier this year about a different kind of ball handling skills... The Startup 360 cohosts also discussed the closure of ANZ's VC project, 1835i, the new home for Fishburners at the Tech Central Innovation Hub, and the wash up from the Best in Tech awards.Startup 360 is more founder fund than founder mode. It’s all about finding out what makes people tick and staying human. Startup360 is a SmartCo Media production. This episode is supported by Vanta, helping startups unlock market opportunities through automated compliance. Subscribe to the show on Apple, Spotify, and YouTube, and don't forget to read StartupDaily.net for all the ANZ tech news for free!

    55 min

  4. 26 SEPT

    The extraordinary adventures of Best in Tech Industry Champion Mick Liubinskas

    This week's Startup 360 is a little different as cohosts Simon Thomsen and Majella Campbell frock up for the Startup Daily Best in Tech Awards. That's the key theme of this week's episode and we celebrate one of the winners by replaying our conversation with Climate Salad cofounder Mick Liubinskas. On Thursday night, Mick was named Industry Champion among 14 winners, with Sydney-based workplace AI agent builder Relevance AI winning both the AI Game-changer category and Startup of the Year awards, having raised a $37 million Series B just a few months earlier. Simon and Majella chat about the big news of the week, including Canva's profitability after the design giant filed overdue financial statements with ASIC that revealed a $200 million loss in 2022 - mostly because the company handed out more than $400m worth of shares to its team. And Strongroom AI returned to the news this week amid its legal battle with in investor EVP, after cofounder Max Mito filed his defence against allegations of fraud by the VC. But the fun part of the conversation is Mick, who spoke to Simon and inaugural podcast cohost Kayla Medica earlier this year, telling stories from a career that's spanned startup founder, startup investor, startup accelerator founder and novelist. Mick talks about his journey and how family brought his focus to climate tech and wanting to lead the planet in better shape for the next generation. He also talks about the price of being a founder, and understanding the sacrifices that need to be made. He also reveals his genius for being able to get more drinks, now matter where he is celebrating in the middle of the night - a skill that no doubt made him popular at the Startup Daily Best in Tech awards as the night wore on. Startup 360 is more founder fund than founder mode. It’s all about finding out what makes people tick and staying human. Startup360 is a SmartCo Media production. This episode is supported by Vanta, helping startups unlock market opportunities through automated compliance. Subscribe to the show on Apple, Spotify, and YouTube, and don't forget to read StartupDaily.net for all the ANZ tech news for free!

    37 min

  5. 19 SEPT

    Making music with AI, getting savvy about cars

    Charlie Chan's musical career began at age 3 with a ukulele. It broke. But growing up in the '70s, Charlie was part of the dawn of consumer electronics and computers, experimenting with home electronics kits, and by the '90s as the internet age began, they went online to share their music with the world. Now Charlie's embraced artificial intelligence as a new way to create. Charlie joined Startup 360 cohosts Simon Thomsen and Majella Campbell as a serial founder and entrepreneur to talk about the role music plays in creativity and innovation. "Innovation and creativity are the same word. We just tend to say, 'oh, innovation is this digital thing that we do with computers and, you know, sciencey-type things," Charlie said. "Things that you can prove things that have a hypothesis But on the other hand, creativity is like. We don't understand creativity. We don't know where it comes from. We don't know from one creative moment to the next. Everything's creative. And I think that there's a bit of a disconnect between these two worlds." It's a fascinating conversation about embracing new technology and how to think about being an innovator. In a first for 10x, Simon and Majella's 10 rapid fire questions, they're join by two guests, the cofounders of CarSavvy, Ashlinn Leatham and Lachlan Dunn. It's a fun conversation spanning customer feedback - Ash would head to bars and pubs in Newtown and approach patrons to get them to download the CarSavvy app - to what makes a good, sustainable cofounder relationship and marketing car maintenance. Simon also digs a deep hole for himself attempting to mansplain what makes a great car for women. Startup 360 is more founder fund than founder mode. It’s all about finding out what makes people tick and staying human. Startup360 is a SmartCo Media production. This episode is supported by Vanta, helping startups unlock market opportunities through automated compliance. Subscribe to the show on Apple, Spotify, and YouTube, and don't forget to read StartupDaily.net for all the ANZ tech news for free!

    56 min

  6. 12 SEPT

    Cicada x Tech23 special: lessons from a 2nd-time founder & killing off meetings

    This week on Startup 360, we talk to two founders who presented at Cicada x Tech23. Engineer Nick Hazell is back with his second climate tech startup, Algenie, having previously raised $120 million as cofounder of plant-based meat venture v2food. Also on the couch is Ana Belgun from CSIRO-developed digital twin pioneer Terria. They were among 23 founders who shared their startup stories at the annual deep tech expo, in Sydney. Cohost Simon Thomsen was there and keen to share their ideas with the Startup 360 audience. Cohosts Simon and Majella Campbell talked to Nick, an engineer who came from R&D in the food sector, about the lessons be brought to a second go, at tackling the problem of carbon emissions. Algenie is an algae biotech company using groundbreaking technology for algae production at scale at an affordable price. The term describes everything from plankton - a vital part of the marine food chain - to seaweeds, and as well as being a major oxygen producer, it also soaks up CO2. His hope is that Algenie can help replace fossil fuels and last year the startup raised $1.1 million in pre-Seed funding. Nick talks about gardening leave from v2food, going from a startup in a "hot" sector for investors, to having to go back an educate people from scratch; why he's driven to tackle big problems and the nexus between engineering and science and how "innovation of having different voices in the room sort of looking at the same problem from different angles and solving it together." Ana spent nearly a decade at CSIRO's Data61 before cofounding Terria in late 2024. Terria makes it easy to build advanced maps and digital twins, for faster, smarter decision-making, and she talks about their potential for big ideas, including Australia's much talked about high-speed train. Ana also explained by the Terria team banned all meetings on a Wednesday, and why having "a really good product mindset and go to market and brand" is essential to be a successful deep tech startup commercialising research. Simon and Majella also talked about the big news of the week - PsiQuantum's $1.5 billion raise. When Majella asked him what he'd do with $1 billion, Simon said he'd share it among the startups at Tech23. Startup 360 is more founder fund than founder mode. It’s all about finding out what makes people tick and staying human. This episode of Startup 360 is supported by Vanta and is a SmartCo Media production. Subscribe to the show on Apple, Spotify, and YouTube, and don't forget to read StartupDaily.net.

    59 min

  7. 5 SEPT

    Pete Horsley's Remarkable journey, funding women, and building blind to reach your destination

    When you talk to Pete Horsley about his career in tech, it doesn’t take long to see that his work is deeply personal. His eldest sister, Jo, was born blind, autistic, and with an intellectual disability. That experience shaped the way he views the world, as he explains to Majella Campbell. As a child, Pete loved showing off Jo’s talents, like her uncanny ability to tell you the day you were born from the date. It taught him an important lesson: value doesn’t always look the way society expects.Pete is the founder of Remarkable, the accelerator backed by the Cerebral Palsy Alliance supporting startups building technology for people with disabilities. He’s also a passionate voice for inclusive design, reminding us that technology we take for granted — the keyboard, speech-to-text, touchscreens — were first created to solve accessibility challenges. Pete shares why disability isn’t about “some of us”, it’s about all of us. When we design for diversity, we don’t just build better products, we build a better world. One of the latest startups supported by Remarkable is Hailo in Brisbane, cofounded by Santiago Velasquez. Born blind, he quickly discovered that public transport wasn’t designed for people like him. Buses would pass by because he couldn’t hail them, or he’d be dropped off at the wrong stop late at night with no easy way to get home. Hailo is an app that will transform the way people with disability navigate public transport. A major trial in Victoria is about to get underway and as Simon remarks, the idea has the potential to make public transport easier for everyone. Santi's visual impairment inspired his life as an entrepreneur - the only blind startup CTO in the Southern Hemisphere, he jokes. After failing a uni subject in his electrical engineering degree because the course materials weren’t available in an accessible format, he sent out to invent a solution. It was the spark that lit his first startup and set Santi on the path to solving problems not just for himself, but for millions. His ambitions are boundless, including being the first blind person on the Moon. If anyone can, Santi will. Also this week, Simon and Majella discuss the latest data from Blackbird on investing in female founders, and the end of the Sydney Startup Hub as we know it. Startup 360 is more founder fund than founder mode. It’s all about finding out what makes people tick and staying human. This episode of Startup 360 is supported by Vanta, helping startups unlock market opportunities through automated compliance. Subscribe to the show on Apple, Spotify, and YouTube, and don't forget to read StartupDaily.net for all the ANZ tech news for free! Startup360 is a SmartCo Media production, produced and edited by Matt Jackson.

    58 min

  8. 5 SEPT

    The $2m teenage founder, what makes a great mentor - the best of Startup 360

    Episode 28 of Startup 360 is a little different, with cohost Simon away at a company offsite and Majella moving Fishburners out of the Sydney Startup Hub. So we've picked out two of our favourite interviews of the last six months to shine a light on them once again. Irish-Australian teenager Liam Fuller starred on Startup 360 in April, as one of our most watched and listened to episodes. He was 17 at the time, and came to Australia, birthplace of his equally entrepreneurial dad, Shane, for a holiday after being suspended from high school over a viral photo taking a client call sitting in a toilet cubicle. While here, he started cold-calling local VCs to raise for his second startup QuickFind AI, an agentic AI ordering system for retail procurement, and made a three-hour train trip to Sydney for a 20-minute meeting with Square Peg’s Paul Bassat. Liam ended up banking a A$2.15 million pre-Seed round led by Square Peg - not a bad 18th birthday present. The 10x we wanted to share once more was from episode 3 with high-performance coach Veronica Mason. She's a member of the NSW LGBTIQ+ Advisory Council and last year organised Australia’s first Pride Pitch Night for founders from LGBTQIA+ backgrounds. After being outed in high school, Veronica broke her back in several places, aged 23, learnt to walk again, and now focuses on helping others.She's a font of wisdom, from what to look for in a mentor to how your mindset shapes the world. It's a wonderful, inspirational conversation. Startup 360 is more founder fund than founder mode. It’s all about finding out what makes people tick and staying human. This episode of Startup 360 is supported by Vanta helping startups unlock market opportunities through automated compliance. Subscribe to the show on Apple, Spotify, and YouTube, and don't forget to read StartupDaily.net for all the ANZ tech news for free! Startup360 is a SmartCo Media production, produced and edited by Matt Jackson.

    34 min
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Every Friday, Startup 360 hosts Simon Thomsen and Majella Campbell, dissect the news of the week in ANZ startups, before they’re joined by two guests to explore what makes them tick. Think of it as your startup guide to staying human. It’s all about lifting the bonnet on people to understand how they see the world and what inspires and drives them, and what they’ve learnt from both success and failure. And don’t miss 10x, 10 rapid-fire questions that will surprise and make you laugh.

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  • Creator
    Startup Daily
  • Years Active
    2K
  • Episodes
    36
  • Rating
    Explicit
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    © 2025 Pinstripe Media. All rights reserved. Unauthorised reproduction, distribution, or use of this podcast, in whole or in part, is strictly prohibited.
  • Show Website
    Startup 360

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