Life After Launch with Megan Luttrell & Geo George

Day One
Day One
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Life After Launch takes you inside the hearts and minds of the Founders navigating the startup world. Hosted by Megan Luttrell (Founder of Kairos Recruitment and Aussie Founders Club) and Geo George (Partner at Mayfly Ventures), each episode sits down with a Founder to unpack the highs, the lows and the hard-won lessons of building a business. An Aussie Founders Club podcast.

Episodes

  1. 6d ago

    Nick Maxwell – Be the Duck on the Pond

    Nick Maxwell got cut by the same football club four years running. Cut at 14. Cut at 15. Cut at 16. Cut at 17, three minutes into a trial, with a snapped vertebra. He made the squad on his fifth attempt and still went undrafted. Four days before Christmas, a phone call changed everything. Nick walks through the voicemail that told him he'd been picked up by Collingwood, the 200-plus games that followed, and how being captain had nothing to do with being the most talented player on the field. It was about the 1%, the tackles, the sprints nobody saw, and showing up for a team that eventually made him captain and led them to a premiership after 20 years without one. Twenty years in sport later, Nick walked away from a stable, structured career to build something of his own. He's honest that the four years since have been harder than anything football put him through, learning IT infrastructure, managing staff, and figuring out leadership without a scoreboard to tell him if he's winning. Stick around for his three life lessons: why resilience is the whole story, why he now buys himself time before reacting to anything, and what two decades observing the Melbourne Storm's most successful leaders taught him about chasing the extra 1%. Find Nick Nick on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nick-maxwell-060a2922/ Eclat: https://eclat.com/ Want to partner with Life After Launch? Explore sponsorship and partnership opportunities at https://lifeafterlaunchpod.com/partner-with-us Life After Launch is an Aussie Founders Club podcast. 🦘 Aussie Founders Club is a community for founders, operators, and investors navigating the Australian startup ecosystem. What started as an events-first, in-person community has grown into a network of thousands, connecting people building startups with the people who've done it before. Join the conversation and the community at https://aussiefoundersclub.com/ Connect with Megan Luttrell on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/meganluttrell/ Connect with Geo George on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/contactgeo/ 🤝 Kairos Recruitment is a recruitment company supporting startups and scale-ups across Australia, helping founders find the right people to grow their teams. Led by Megan Luttrell. Learn more at https://www.kairosrecruitment.com.au/ 💵 Mayfly Ventures is a venture studio building industry-focused AI and software ventures. Mayfly is an Australian AI venture studio. We work with industry leaders to validate, build, and scale AI ventures, starting with the strategy and commercial foundations most teams skip. Learn more about Mayfly's approach at https://www.mayflyventures.com/ Time Stamps00:00 Cold open: cut 4 times, then 4 voicemails 01:31 Welcome to Life After Launch, introducing Nick Maxwell 03:07 Manure at 12, KFC at 14, and getting cut from the Falcons 4 times 15:15 The Collingwood voicemails, and playing 200+ games 17:20 Not the most talented player: doing the 1%ers and becoming captain 22:13 Leadership styles, the Melbourne Storm, and the "finished product" trap 33:07 Media, an MBA in 18 months, and deciding to leave sport 35:57 Why Eclat, and building a "life MBA" into a workspace 44:04 Building the team, ownership, and trusting people to do their jobs 54:24 The hardest 4 years of his life: building Eclat from scratch 58:56 Life lesson 1: resilience is the whole story 59:54 Life lesson 2: buy yourself time before you react 1:02:41 Life lesson 3: chasing the extra 1%, with lessons from Craig Bellamy 1:09:35 Closing thoughts + outro

    Nick Maxwell – Be the Duck on the Pond

  2. Aug 31

    Shane Chanel - Nothing’s Ever Going to Be as Hard as That Day

    Shane Chanel bet his entire life savings, $20,000, on a four-wheel drive racing app when he was 14. It wasn't his last high-conviction bet. He went on to leave a stockbroking career to build Yondr Money, a digital bank that never became a bank, survived a hostile takeover attempt from his own investor, and is now building Kobble, the infrastructure that lets almost any business launch a financial product in weeks instead of years. He's honest about where the drive comes from: a chip on his shoulder he can't fully explain, a family that worked hard for everything, and a day in 2012 he's never spoken about publicly before this episode, the day his uncle's family was found dead and he became next of kin for his baby niece. It's the reference point, he says, for everything since. Nothing has ever felt as hard. Shane walks through the pain points that pushed him from asset management into building a bank from scratch, why he pulled out of the banking licence process, how a chance conversation with former ANZ CEO Mike Smith became one of his best investors, and how a wall covered in Post-it notes from fellow fintech Founders became Kobble. Stick around for the hardest lesson of all: the hostile takeover attempt from an investor who'd only just come on board, and why Shane now tells every Founder to have the uncomfortable conversations early, before you need them. Find Shane Shane on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shanechanel/ Kobble AI: https://ai.kobble.net/ Kobble: https://kobble.net/ Yondr: https://www.yondr.money/ Join the Aussie Founders Club The Slack community, the newsletter and everything else live here: https://www.aussiefoundersclub.com Want to partner with Life After Launch? Explore sponsorship and partnership opportunities at https://lifeafterlaunchpod.com/partner-with-us Time Stamps 00:00 Cold open + welcome to Life After Launch, introducing Shane Chanel 02:54 From wanting to be an aeronautical engineer to financial planning and stockbroking 08:35 Identity, the chip on the shoulder, and working twice as hard 16:51 Betting his life savings on a racing app at 14, and the idea for a bank 25:53 Building Yondr, pulling out of the banking licence, and landing Mike Smith as an investor 38:48 The 2012 story: his uncle's family found dead, and the reminder that nothing will ever be this hard 45:27 Acquiring Shouta and building Kobble from a wall of Post-it notes 53:50 Kobble AI: prototyping a financial product in 15 minutes 1:02:09 Life lesson: the hostile takeover attempt, and why you should always do the prenup 1:05:12 Closing thoughts + outro

    Shane Chanel - Nothing’s Ever Going to Be as Hard as That Day

  3. Aug 17

    Darius Monsef – You're the Number One Consumer of Your Own B******t

    Darius Monsef has built a colour-palette website that grew to millions of users, sold two companies, raised over $40 million for a paediatric healthcare startup, and shut it all down. Twice. He's brutally honest about why. Darius walks through how a joke website for rating colour squares became a design resource used by Adobe, how wearing his own branded t-shirt got him into Y Combinator, and how Creative Market sold to Autodesk just 11 months after launch. But the real story is what happened after the money landed: the quiet depression of an exit that wasn't life-changing enough, the $40 million healthcare business that scaled before it had product-market fit, and the moment on a plane, mid-fundraise, when he realised he might be lying to himself and everyone else. He's honest about what it cost to walk away from Brave Care, why he now tells Founders to be quitters, and why the businesses that fail teach you more than the ones that limp along for nine years pretending to work. Stick around for his three life lessons: why your health is the input that decides your output, why quitting well matters as much as starting well, and why Founders should set goals they can't reach and still call it a win. Find Darius Darius on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dariusmonsef/ What he's building now: https://ozbrain.com Join the Aussie Founders Club The Slack community, the newsletter and everything else live here: https://www.aussiefoundersclub.com Want to partner with Life After Launch? Explore sponsorship and partnership opportunities at https://lifeafterlaunchpod.com/partner-with-us Time Stamps 00:00 Cold open + welcome to Life After Launch, introducing Darius Monsef 02:16 Growing up in Hawaii, entrepreneurial parents, and the chip on his shoulder 06:48 Building COLOURlovers, the shirt that got him into Y Combinator, and 11 years to "overnight success" 15:27 Creative Market's fast exit to Autodesk, and why the money wasn't enough 21:29 Sightbox, moving to Hawaii, and the depression after doing "nothing" 29:32 Raising $40M for Brave Care, scaling before product-market fit, and the collapse mid-fundraise 40:53 Shutting down Brave Care, then Genie and Rides, and building Pre 50:03 Life lesson 1: treat your health like an athlete's, not an afterthought 55:16 Life lesson 2: be a quitter 59:55 Life lesson 3: push harder than reasonable, then give yourself grace 1:04:33 Closing thoughts + outro

    Darius Monsef – You're the Number One Consumer of Your Own B******t

  4. Aug 10

    Kirstin Hunter – You're Spending 95% of Your Brain on the Wrong 5%

    Kirstin Hunter has co-founded a super fund, run a startup accelerator, and now leads Australia's biggest crowdfunding platform. None of it was the plan. She grew up in Tweed Heads folding junk mail for two cents a letterbox, trained to be a doctor, then pivoted through law and consulting before a friend told her the pro bono work she loved was just "the trinkets" propping up a job that made corporations richer. That conversation pushed her into Future Super, where a pitch her co-founders called "absurd" turned into one of Australia's first fossil-fuel-free super funds. She's honest about what came next too: the moment she and her co-founders stopped wanting the same thing, and why leaving felt like leaving a marriage. From there she takes you through Techstars Australia, the funding data project that exposed how badly VCs back women and diverse Founders, and how she landed the CEO seat at Birchal, almost by accident. Stick around for the one Revolut stat that makes the case for democratised funding better than any pitch deck could. Find Kirstin Kirstin on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kirstinhunter/ Birchal: https://www.birchal.com/ Future Super: https://www.futuresuper.com.au/ Join the Aussie Founders Club The Slack community, the newsletter and everything else live here: https://www.aussiefoundersclub.com Want to partner with Life After Launch? Explore sponsorship and partnership opportunities at https://lifeafterlaunchpod.com/partner-with-us Time Stamps00:00 Cold open + welcome to Life After Launch 01:14 Introducing Kirstin Hunter 02:16 From junk mail in Tweed Heads to running a $20M student union at 23 09:16 Consulting, "the trinkets," and the leap to Future Super 15:48 Becoming a co-founder and building Australia's fossil-fuel-free super fund 20:39 The co-founder breakdown, and why she walked away 24:54 Techstars, the funding gap for diverse founders, and Funding the Balance 42:27 Landing at Birchal, and the case for crowdfunding 48:06 Closing thoughts + outro

    Kirstin Hunter – You're Spending 95% of Your Brain on the Wrong 5%

  5. Aug 3

    Jodie Imam - Sometimes You Don't Need a Rocket Ship. You Need a Tractor

    If you've ever felt like you're not a "real" Founder because you're not chasing unicorn status, this episode is your permission slip to build differently. Jodie Imam has done almost everything you can do in the Australian startup ecosystem. She co-founded Occasional Butler and went head to head with Airtasker (who eventually acquired her), opened depo8, one of Melbourne's first coworking spaces, and now runs Tractor Ventures, the revenue-based funding company backing the Founders who don't want to ride the VC rocket. And it all started at age 12 with a business called The Ironing Lady. You'll hear the moment at Ericsson that convinced Jodie she could never trust a corporation with her future, and the trade she made to escape it: her car space for a job with fashion designer Leona Edmiston, working weeks for free to prove herself. She's honest about what that costs, and why she tells anyone changing direction that you can't expect a corporate wage while you do it. Then there's the Occasional Butler story, including the very first job posted on the platform (a $5 gig to eat a packet of Doritos, planted by a rival you might have heard of), the Gumtree hack that finally unlocked their flywheel, and the raise-or-sell decision she faced while pregnant with her third child. Jodie also opens up about the journaling moment that led to Tractor Ventures (she wrote "I want to work with Matt Allen one day" and he messaged her that same day), the EOS framework and visionary-integrator split that transformed how she and Matt run the company, and the spiritual awakening after her divorce that has her exploring goddess rituals and witchcraft alongside running a venture funding business. Stay to the end to hear why Founders are whole humans, and why you can absolutely manage millions and pull tarot cards in the same week. Find Jodie Jodie on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jodieimam/ Tractor Ventures: https://www.tractorventures.com/ Mentioned in this episode Rocket Fuel - the book behind the visionary and integrator split Jodie describes Join the Aussie Founders Club The Slack community, the newsletter and everything else live here: https://www.aussiefoundersclub.com Want to partner with Life After Launch? Explore sponsorship and partnership opportunities at https://lifeafterlaunchpod.com/partner-with-us Time Stamps00:00 Cold open and welcome to Life After Launch 01:05 Megan's disclaimers: buying the gear, timing references, and learning to stop saying "yes" 02:18 Introducing Jodie Imam 03:11 The Ironing Lady at 12: where the independence drive began 04:00 Watching Ericsson make 30-year veterans redundant, and the seed it planted 05:13 Trading a car space for a job: nine years growing Leona Edmiston from 3 people to 100 09:17 The owner's mentality: why Jodie told her bosses "I have to feel like it's my business" 10:26 Babies as the catalyst: leaving to start Occasional Butler with her husband 12:39 Selling the house, moving to Melbourne, and going all in on two businesses with two babies 14:47 The first job ever posted: a $5 Doritos prank from a familiar rival 16:00 The Gumtree hack that finally kicked the flywheel 18:23 Building too much before testing, and why launching feels like standing on stage naked 20:09 The exit story: the capital-raising mistake that cost months, and the board move that worked 23:16 Selling to Airtasker while pregnant with baby number three 24:51 Setting up Innovation Bay in Melbourne 27:02 COVID kills depo8 overnight, and Tractor Ventures is born from a lockdown living room 33:06 The journal entry and the WhatsApp message: how Jodie and Matt Allen teamed up 34:23 How Tractor actually works: the first $2 million, revenue-based finance, and the funding stack 37:26 Why Tractor only hires senior people 39:54 Rocket Fuel, EOS, and the visionary vs integrator dynamic (plus seagull management) 44:01 Life after exit and divorce: spiritual awakening, goddess rituals, and witchcraft 47:41 Quickfire: what's inspiring Jodie and the ecosystem shoutout 49:16 Outro

    Jodie Imam - Sometimes You Don't Need a Rocket Ship. You Need a Tractor

  6. Jul 27

    Dom Pym – How To Build From Abundance, Even When You Have Nothing

    If you've ever talked yourself out of reaching out to someone because they're "too successful to reply", this episode will change how you send your next message. Dom Pym co-founded Up, one of Australia's fastest growing digital banks, and has personally invested $85 million into the Australian startup ecosystem. But he started with nothing. Dom tells Megan and Geo about growing up in a family that lost everything, and the "golden purse" his mum kept that somehow always had just enough in it, a lesson in abundance he's carried into every company since. You'll hear the full story of how Dom and his co-founder walked into Bendigo Bank asking for money and walked out bidding to rebuild their entire banking system, with a team of two and zero banking experience. You'll learn why he treats confidence and honesty as two separate skills you need at the same time, the exact cold outreach tactics that have actually worked on him (including one that involves sticky-taping a $1 coin to a letter), and why he believes chasing busy, successful people a hundred times is a feature, not a flaw. Dom also shares the two policy ideas he's pushing right now, free universal childcare and a dollar-for-dollar rebuild of the R&D tax incentive, that he reckons could make Australia a world superpower. Stay to the end for the quickfire round, where Dom reveals the plane crash he survived in 1999 and the one interview question that lets him see straight into a Founder's soul. Find Dom Dom on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dompym/ Up: https://up.com.au/ Euphemia: https://euphemia.com/ Join the Aussie Founders Club The Slack community, the newsletter and everything else live here: https://www.aussiefoundersclub.com Want to partner with Life After Launch? Explore sponsorship and partnership opportunities at https://lifeafterlaunchpod.com/partner-with-us Time Stamps 00:00 Cold open and welcome to Life After Launch 01:17 Introducing Dom Pym 02:33 The childhood moments that shaped Dom: footy, family, and sliding doors 06:09 The golden purse: building an abundance mindset from nothing 08:20 The three people who taught Dom how money really works 11:03 Why you should chase successful people a hundred times (the Marty Howell story) 14:15 The most creative cold outreach Dom has ever received 16:07 The $1 coin letter and why positive affirmation actually works 19:19 The Bendigo Bank story: two people, supreme confidence, and a live demo that broke the rules 26:26 Confidence vs honesty: crossing ThoughtWorks off the whiteboard 29:13 Up's world firsts: Afterpay, Apple Pay instant issuance, and Google Cloud 31:05 Comparing your bank to Instagram: the activity feed that banks worldwide copied 32:48 Fixing Australia: free universal childcare and rebuilding the R&D tax incentive 37:38 1.4 million customers and the countdown to overtaking the big banks 40:30 Quickfire: the 1999 Qantas crash, the ecosystem stars you should know, and the question that reveals a Founder's soul 46:56 Outro

    Dom Pym – How To Build From Abundance, Even When You Have Nothing

  7. Jul 21

    COMING SOON: Life After Launch

    Watch this space.

    COMING SOON: Life After Launch
  • 7 Episodes

About

Life After Launch takes you inside the hearts and minds of the Founders navigating the startup world. Hosted by Megan Luttrell (Founder of Kairos Recruitment and Aussie Founders Club) and Geo George (Partner at Mayfly Ventures), each episode sits down with a Founder to unpack the highs, the lows and the hard-won lessons of building a business. An Aussie Founders Club podcast.

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