DevReady Podcast

Aerion Technologies
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We started the DevReady podcast to help non-techs build better technology. We have been exposed to so many non-techs that describe the struggle, uncertainty and challenges that can come with building technology. The objective for the DevReady podcast to share these stories and give you the tools and insights so that you to can deliver on your vision and outcomes. You will learn from non-tech founders that have invested their time and money into developing technology. We will discuss what worked, what didn’t and how they still managed to deliver real value to their users. These stories are inspirational – demonstrating the determination, commitment and resolve it really takes to deliver technology. Throughout the DevReady Podcast we also invite subject matter experts to the conversation to give you proven strategies and techniques to successfully take your idea through to delivery and beyond. Enjoy the Podcast, it will challenge you, inspire you and provide the tools you will need ...

  1. 10H AGO

    From Startup to ASX Listing: Sarah-Jane on Product Market Fit & Growth | Ep 281 | DevReady Podcast

    In this episode of the Andrew Romeo, CEO and Co-Founder of Aerion Technologies and DevReady ai, speaks with Sarah-Jane Kurtini, Co-Founder of Tinybeans, Founder of PitchSlap.Me and positioning specialist at S-J Kurtini Consulting. Sarah shares her journey from scaling a global parenting tech platform to helping founders sharpen their product positioning, pitch narrative and growth strategy. Best known for taking Tinybeans from startup to ASX listing, she now focuses on helping early stage and scaling companies achieve product market fit through clear storytelling and structured thinking. This episode is essential listening for startup founders, non-technical entrepreneurs and tech leaders looking to improve positioning, pitch clarity and sustainable growth. Sarah begins by unpacking the origin story of Tinybeans, which started as a milestone tracking tool inspired by her co-founder’s experience supporting his son’s speech development. The real breakthrough came when photo sharing was combined with developmental tracking, creating a product families returned to daily. By personally managing customer service in the early years, Sarah and her team ensured they were building around real user feedback rather than assumptions. That close connection to customers helped drive strong product market fit and ultimately positioned Tinybeans for international expansion and a successful ASX listing. The conversation then turns to the realities of startup life, including taking financial risks, backing the right co-founder and committing deeply to a product you genuinely believe in. Sarah reflects on the importance of conviction, timing and solving a problem you personally understand. After exiting Tinybeans, she found herself drawn to the power of positioning as the foundation of growth. She explains that without clear messaging around the problem you solve and why you are different, efforts across SEO, paid advertising, sales and investor outreach often stall because confused buyers default to no decision. This insight led to the creation of PitchSlap, an AI powered tool designed to help founders refine their narrative and improve their investor pitch. Initially launched as a simple MVP using a Google Form connected to the OpenAI API, PitchSlap validates demand while delivering structured feedback across six core building blocks: market gap, context, solution, traction, vision and team. The tool not only critiques a pitch but rewrites and strengthens it, producing a usable document and optional pitch deck output. By focusing on narrative arc and clarity, Sarah helps founders move from scattered messaging to a compelling investor ready story. Andrew and Sarah close by drawing parallels between PitchSlap and DevReady ai, highlighting the value of structured frameworks in product development and communication. Many founders struggle because they do not know the right questions to ask, and structured guidance creates clarity that accelerates decision making. Customer feedback has shaped PitchSlap’s tone and delivery, with multiple feedback modes ensuring honesty without discouragement. The overarching lesson is clear: positioning, storytelling and structured iteration are powerful growth levers for any startup seeking long term success in competitive technology markets. #StartupGrowth #ProductMarketFit #FounderLife #DevReadyPodcast

    37 min

  2. MAR 3

    AI Update 2026: Autonomous AI Agents, AI Security Risks, AI Search & the Future of Work | Ep 280 | DevReady Podcast

    In the first AI Update of 2026 for the DevReady Podcast, Anthony Sapountzis and Gareth Rydon, Co-Founder of Friyay.ai, for a deep dive into the biggest AI trends shaping business, software development and digital strategy. This episode explores autonomous AI agents, AI security risks, AI driven search, voice interfaces, AI advertising and the future of user experience design. Gareth brings practical, enterprise focused perspectives to the fast-moving AI landscape. Together, they cut through hype to provide clear guidance for business leaders navigating artificial intelligence in 2026. The conversation opens with a critical look at OpenClaw and the wider surge in interest around autonomous AI agents. Anthony and Gareth question whether recent breakthroughs are genuinely transformative or simply refined versions of existing agent loop frameworks. They address viral claims about self aware AI, clarifying that current systems operate within structured prompts rather than demonstrating artificial general intelligence. Security concerns are front and centre, including exposed API keys and malicious skills embedded within agent libraries, reinforcing the need for governance and risk management. Their advice to organisations is grounded in strategy: slow down, validate sources, and prioritise secure implementation over reacting to influencer driven headlines. From there, the discussion shifts to practical AI adoption inside businesses. Gareth outlines a structured method for building AI skills using Claude, encouraging teams to let the model interview them to clarify requirements before creating new workflows. Both emphasise that strong planning, detailed product requirements and structured user stories remain essential in AI assisted software development. They also explore the rise of voice based AI tools such as WhisperFlow, predicting greater adoption of conversational interfaces in professional environments during 2026. Across tools including ChatGPT, Claude, Codex, Gemini and Google Studio, the key theme remains consistent: thoughtful integration delivers far better results than experimentation without direction. The episode also examines cultural and commercial shifts driven by AI. Gareth highlights the importance of supporting new developers who are learning to code with AI tools, arguing that accessibility expands innovation and strengthens the broader ecosystem. Anthony and Gareth then explore AI monetisation models, including the introduction of advertising within conversational platforms, raising questions around trust, transparency and the integrity of AI generated recommendations. They consider how conversational commerce and Shopify integrations may reshape online shopping journeys, potentially reducing reliance on traditional website navigation while increasing the importance of AI discoverability. Finally, the pair look ahead to the broader AI first landscape. Businesses are rethinking SEO and digital strategy to ensure their websites are cited and surfaced by AI tools such as ChatGPT and Perplexity. Google’s ecosystem, spanning Android, YouTube and device integration, is positioned as a potential dominant force in 2026. The conversation even extends to AI in sport, where performance analytics and wearable technology may reshape training and viewing experiences more than broadcast overlays alone. Throughout the episode, the core message remains clear: artificial intelligence will continue to evolve rapidly, but sustainable advantage belongs to organisations that combine strategic planning, technical depth and long-term thinking. #AI2026 #ArtificialIntelligence #AIStrategy #FutureOfWork #DevReadyPodcast

    43 min

  3. FEB 24

    How Enterprise AI Transforms Business Data into Actionable Insights | Ep 279 | DevReady Podcast

    Deena Yuille, CEO and Co-Founder of Knowledge Orchestrator, to the DevReady Podcast for a wide-ranging conversation on enterprise AI, customer experience and practical innovation. Deena is a respected Australian business leader with deep experience in transformation and governance and brings a distinctive perspective shaped by her non-technical background in business process, organisational design and people leadership. In this episode, she shares how those foundations influence her approach to building human-centred AI that delivers real business value. Throughout the discussion, Deena explains how Knowledge Orchestrator focuses on outcomes and actionable insights rather than traditional dashboards and static reports. The platform brings together fragmented data from across a business and converts it into personalised, real-time analytics that clearly explain why the information matters. By delivering insights in plain language, teams can make faster decisions without spending days analysing spreadsheets. Anthony and Deena explore how this approach supports sales, inventory management, procurement and post-acquisition integration, while keeping human judgement at the centre of decision-making. Deena also shares the pivotal moment that led to the creation of Knowledge Orchestrator, following the sudden loss of a colleague whose knowledge was never documented and was critical to the business. This experience highlighted the operational risk of information being locked inside individuals rather than captured in systems. It shaped the company’s mission to transform spreadsheets and raw analytics into structured language that can train large language models efficiently. The result is near-instant insights that reduce cognitive load, save time and scale knowledge across organisations. Looking back, Anthony and Deena reflect on building Knowledge Orchestrator well before the recent surge in mainstream AI adoption. Deena explains how her team’s background in customer support and customer experience has driven a strong focus on usability, clarity and intuitive design. She highlights how technically robust products often fail when they overlook the everyday user, and why simplicity and clear language are critical for adoption. Customer experience reviews are embedded into the product release process to ensure the platform remains accessible and effective. The conversation also covers the realities of growing an enterprise AI startup in the Australian B2B market, where innovation often moves cautiously and trust must be earned. Deena discusses balancing speed with thoughtful design, iterating on prototypes and wireframes, and supporting customers through regular reviews and integrated data insights. As AI models continue to evolve, Anthony and Deena agree that turning complex business data into clear, language-driven insights gives leaders a complete and timely view of performance. This shift empowers executives to ask better questions, see trends sooner and make informed decisions in a fast-moving business environment. #EnterpriseAI #BusinessLeadership #DevReadyPodcast

    31 min

  4. FEB 17

    How to Sell Your Business for Maximum Value: Exit Strategy Insights with Simon Bedard | Ep 278 | DevReady Podcast

    In this episode of the DevReady Podcast, Anthony Sapountzis, CTO and Co-Founder of Anthony Sapountzis, CTO and Co-Founder of Aerion Technologies and DevReady.Ai, is joined by Simon Bedard, Managing Director of Exit Advisory Group. Simon brings deep experience from investment banking, business ownership, and sell-side mergers and acquisitions, where he now helps founders prepare for and execute successful business exits. After working with high-net-worth individuals and selling his own businesses, Simon identified a significant gap in professional, end-to-end exit support for business owners. His work focuses on business valuations, exit strategy, and advisory services that help founders understand what their business is worth and how to maximise value before selling. The conversation explores why selling a business is far more complex than many founders expect. Simon explains that while business owners are naturally comfortable with uncertainty and risk, investors approach acquisitions with a fundamentally different mindset that prioritises risk reduction. This difference often leads to friction during negotiations, particularly when emotional attachment and legacy considerations come into play. Simon shares practical insights into how founders and buyers can view the same business very differently, and why understanding investor psychology early can significantly reduce stress and improve outcomes during a sale. Anthony and Simon also unpack the differences between selling smaller owner-operated businesses and larger corporate-style companies. Smaller businesses may attract a wider pool of potential buyers, but owners often lack the time, resources, and transaction experience required to manage a sale effectively. Larger businesses typically have stronger internal teams, experienced advisers, and more sophisticated buyers who understand the mergers and acquisitions process. Simon notes that the current market is characterised by historically high levels of available capital, creating strong competition for quality businesses, while also increasing the risks for owners who engage buyers without proper representation. The discussion then turns to the dangers of unsolicited acquisition approaches. Simon explains that buyers usually operate within structured, sales-driven processes designed to maximise value for the acquirer. Without independent advisers and a seller-led process, business owners can lose control, endure lengthy due diligence, and still end up without a firm offer. Emotional fatigue and time pressure often weaken negotiating positions, leading to reduced valuations and unfavourable deal terms. Running a competitive process with the right advisers is essential to protecting value and maintaining leverage. Finally, Simon outlines what business owners should prioritise when preparing for an exit. He stresses the importance of early planning, often three to five years in advance, to reduce owner dependency and address risks such as key person exposure and customer or supplier concentration. Simon explains that time and value are closely linked, and delaying preparation often forces founders to compromise on price or terms. The episode concludes with a clear message that thoughtful planning, realistic timelines, and experienced guidance are critical to achieving a successful and well-managed business exit. #BusinessExit #ExitStrategy #SellYourBusiness #BusinessValuation #MergersAndAcquisitions #FounderJourney #Entrepreneurship #PrivateEquity #BusinessGrowth #DevReadyPodcast

    33 min

  5. FEB 10

    Why Most Corporate Innovation Fails and How to Scale Beyond Proof of Concept | Ep 277 | DevReady Podcast

    Andrew Romeo welcomes listeners to the DevReady Podcast for a deep dive into corporate innovation, open innovation strategy, and how startups and enterprises can work together more effectively. In this episode, Andrew is joined by Spiro El Khoury, Head of Growth (Australia) and founding team member at The Bakery, as well as a mentor at Startmate. Spiro shares insights from his journey into the innovation ecosystem, spanning corporate venturing, startup mentorship, and building stronger innovation pathways in Australia. Spiro reflects on his move from Lebanon to Australia during the COVID period, explaining how unexpected circumstances shaped his career in technology consulting and innovation. From early roles as a business analyst and product owner, he remained closely connected to the fast-moving startup world while helping corporates deliver solutions. He emphasises that the most effective innovation happens when organisations collaborate with external ecosystems, including startups, universities, and research institutions, particularly in complex sectors such as mining, healthcare, and decarbonisation. The conversation explores The Bakery’s role as a corporate innovation management firm supporting large organisations with sustainable innovation strategies. Spiro explains that innovation must go beyond branding or “innovation theatre” and instead become a structured growth engine delivering measurable outcomes. The Bakery helps corporates strengthen internal innovation teams, engage in Horizon Two and Horizon Three initiatives, and connect with scale-up startups through models such as venture client partnerships. Andrew notes that many corporate innovation efforts lose momentum over time, making execution and long-term commitment essential. Spiro breaks down the concept of open innovation, where corporates acknowledge that the best ideas and solutions often exist outside their own walls. He shares how global organisations like Procter & Gamble use external partnerships to reduce risk, accelerate R&D, and avoid reinventing proven solutions. The Bakery applies this approach by helping corporates define major challenges, run open innovation programs, and identify the right innovators through structured processes like demo days, while avoiding the common “proof of concept graveyard” where pilots fail to scale. The episode also offers practical guidance for startups seeking corporate customers, with Spiro stressing the importance of traction, proven value, and understanding enterprise buying cycles. Through his work with Startmate and Launch Club, he mentors founders to acquire early customers and navigate corporate complexity. Spiro also highlights Australia’s opportunity to improve innovation output through better education, stronger frameworks, and community-driven initiatives like the Corporate Innovation Series and the Corporate Innovation Summit, positioning innovation as a long-term strategy for national and business growth. #DevReadyPodcast #CorporateInnovation #OpenInnovation #AerionTechnologies

    40 min

  6. FEB 3

    AI for Small Business: Tim Krotiris on Backable and Better Decisions | Ep 276 | DevReady Podcast

    For this episode of the DevReady Podcast, host Anthony Sapountzis, CTO and Co-Founder of Aerion Technologies and Co-Founder of DevReady.ai | AI-Powered App Planning for Non-Tech Founders , sits down with Tim Krotiris, Founder and CEO of Backable and Founder of Philotimo Global, to unpack what AI means for founders who are building in the real world. Tim shares the hard-won lessons from two decades of entrepreneurship, why small business owners have historically been underserved compared to big enterprises, and how Backable is designed to provide practical, always-on support without becoming another distraction. Tim’s story starts early, with a first attempt at entrepreneurship at 16 and a career shaped by building, scaling, and selling businesses across industries. From martial arts promotions and gym ownership to property, apparel, and marketing agencies, Tim’s path led him to a deeper focus on helping SMBs grow through Philotimo Global. That experience also exposed a pattern: two founders can have similar opportunities and advice, yet produce dramatically different results, and Tim became obsessed with understanding why. That obsession evolved into a decade-long effort to rebuild advisory support into something more intelligent, consistent, and founder-friendly. Tim explains how they approached the problem like a research project, mapping conversations, decisions, and outcomes to uncover the variables behind success, scaling, and failure. While early assumptions leaned towards traditional machine learning and predictive analytics, the emergence of modern large language models accelerated their progress and reshaped the implementation, turning years of groundwork into leverage rather than redundancy. A key theme throughout the conversation is the reality of speed. Anthony and Tim explore how AI reduces the lag between ideas and implementation, making it possible to prototype quickly, gather feedback, and decide whether to pivot or kill an idea within days. They also offer a clear warning about “vibe coding” and AI wrappers: moving faster is only helpful if you can plan, evaluate, and understand what is happening under the hood, otherwise you risk doing the wrong thing faster. The goal is not endless experimentation, but sharper decision-making, clearer prioritisation, and better outcomes. Finally, Tim brings it back to founder psychology and leadership, sharing lessons that apply whether you are using AI or not. He emphasises that tough periods are moments in a business lifecycle, not a verdict on your identity, and that leaders must avoid becoming psychologically fused to the business. He advocates for falling back in love with the problem and the customer, staying open to the right support network, and embracing vulnerability with people who understand the journey. Backable’s mission reflects that belief, with a focus on helping founders feel “never alone, always ahead” while building the business that supports the life they actually want. #AIForSmallBusiness #Entrepreneurship #StartupLife #BusinessGrowth #AI #DevReadyPodcast #AerionTechnologies

    33 min
  7. Startup Hiring, Culture Fit and Customer Discovery with Jarren Pinchuck | Ep 275 | DevReady Podcast

    JAN 27

    Startup Hiring, Culture Fit and Customer Discovery with Jarren Pinchuck | Ep 275 | DevReady Podcast

    Andrew Romeo, CEO and Co-Founder of Aerion Technologies and Co-Founder of DevReady.Ai, welcomes Jarren Pinchuck, Operations and Growth Executive and Advisor at Startmate, to the DevReady Podcast to unpack what it really takes to build and scale a startup. In this episode, Andrew and Jarren explore the practical lessons that sit behind successful growth, including customer-led product development, early-stage customer discovery, and how to hire for culture fit when every role can make or break momentum. Jarren shares his journey from South Africa into entrepreneurship, starting with an unexpected turn away from advertising after only six weeks and into hospitality. Working in restaurants taught him how to communicate under pressure, handle real-time customer feedback, and spot problems by listening closely to people. Those frontline experiences shaped his approach to business and product, reinforcing that the fundamentals do not change across industries: you must market and sell a service, retain customers through a strong experience, and earn referrals by consistently delivering value. That customer-first mindset carried into Jarren’s first tech product, which was born from a simple operational frustration in restaurants: the noisy, inefficient kitchen bell system. After seeing pager technology in the US, he identified a practical alternative for busy venues where staff could not hear the kitchen and distances made coordination difficult. He and his team introduced a hardware-led paging solution into South Africa, managed setup and basic programming as part of onboarding, and learned first-hand what it takes to translate a real-world workflow problem into a sellable product. The episode also covers the hard realities of early go-to-market execution. Jarren explains how being too early to market, combined with a low-volume sales approach and ongoing servicing demands, limited the business’s scalability. He reflects on missed opportunities to pivot sooner towards higher-need environments like food courts and takeaway, then outlines how he and his partner adapted by moving into a lease-style corporate coffee model built around servicing and recurring revenue through coffee bean distribution. His path later took him to London, where he worked in online gaming and casinos and gained deeper experience in technology, payments, platforms, and SEO-driven growth, before relocating to Australia. From there, Andrew and Jarren move into the core scaling topic: hiring the right people and building culture intentionally in a fast-moving startup environment. Jarren argues that people are the most important lever in any business, but especially in early-stage teams where the margin for error is small and misalignment can quickly derail product direction and customer outcomes. He shares a structured approach to hiring that assesses communication, curiosity, and cultural alignment alongside role capability, and he advocates for bringing engineers and product leaders closer to customers through habits like monthly customer show-and-tell sessions. The key takeaway is clear: strong internal communication and trust tend to mirror the customer experience, and the best startups stay customer-led by using discovery conversations and continuous feedback to shape the product from day one. #DevReadyPodcast #StartupAdvice #CustomerDiscovery #StartupHiring #CultureFit #ProductDevelopment #Founders

    34 min
  8. Why Most Startups Build the Wrong Product and How to Get It Right | Ep 274 | DevReady Podcast

    JAN 20

    Why Most Startups Build the Wrong Product and How to Get It Right | Ep 274 | DevReady Podcast

    In this episode of the DevReady Podcast, Anthony Sapountzis, CTO and Co-Founder of Aerion Technologies and DevReady.ai | AI-Powered App Planning for Non-Tech Founders , is joined by Karina Carter, Fractional Chief Product Officer and Leadership Coach. With over 12 years of experience spanning the United Nations, government research, startups and global tech companies, Karina brings a deeply practical perspective on modern product leadership. She shares insights from her journey into product management, her work building technology across complex markets like China, and her current role helping underperforming companies realign strategy, teams and execution. This conversation is essential listening for founders, product leaders and teams looking to build better software through strong product strategy, customer insight and disciplined decision making. Karina explains how transitioning from academic research at the UN into product allowed her to move faster, work directly with customers and turn data into action. Her experience running a venture studio in China required building bespoke technology to operate across the Great Firewall, giving her a unique perspective on solving complex problems in constrained environments. Today, as a fractional CPO, she is often brought into organisations that are struggling to perform, where she audits product strategy, uncovers misalignment and identifies untapped opportunities hidden in existing data. These discoveries frequently lead to new use cases and significant revenue growth without increasing team size. The discussion highlights how cultural context, data literacy and customer understanding are foundational to sustainable product growth. A core theme of the episode is Karina’s belief that better products do not come from bigger teams, but from people with a growth mindset and a sense of radical responsibility. She explains how she uses data to understand what is happening inside a product, then pairs that insight with deep customer conversations to uncover why it is happening. Customer interviews, she argues, are not about asking users what to build, but about understanding their real problems, fears and motivations. This approach allows product, design and engineering teams to focus on value rather than features. Anthony reinforces that most customers buy based on perceived value, not technical specifications. The conversation also explores why so much user research fails to deliver meaningful insight. Karina highlights how confirmation bias, inconsistent interview questions and poor research design often lead teams to hear only what they want to hear. She stresses the importance of structured interview frameworks, representative sampling and an understanding of cognitive bias when interpreting feedback. Together, Anthony and Karina explain why product teams should not overreact to the loudest customers, who are often a small and unrepresentative minority. Instead, feedback should be evaluated holistically, guided by a clear product vision, strategy and well defined OKRs, with every product decision treated as a hypothesis to be tested after launch. Finally, Anthony and Karina discuss the impact of AI tools like ChatGPT and vibe coding platforms on modern software development. While Karina supports experimentation and creative exploration using AI, she warns that these tools can accelerate poor decisions if foundational product thinking is skipped. They explore the risks of AI hallucinations, overreliance on automated analysis and the erosion of critical thinking in product teams. Both agree that AI is most powerful when used to support synthesis, competitor analysis and ideation, not as a replacement for human judgement. The episode concludes with a clear message that great products are built through disciplined discovery, thoughtful design and human insight, with AI used as an assistant rather than the decision maker.

    34 min
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About

We started the DevReady podcast to help non-techs build better technology. We have been exposed to so many non-techs that describe the struggle, uncertainty and challenges that can come with building technology. The objective for the DevReady podcast to share these stories and give you the tools and insights so that you to can deliver on your vision and outcomes. You will learn from non-tech founders that have invested their time and money into developing technology. We will discuss what worked, what didn’t and how they still managed to deliver real value to their users. These stories are inspirational – demonstrating the determination, commitment and resolve it really takes to deliver technology. Throughout the DevReady Podcast we also invite subject matter experts to the conversation to give you proven strategies and techniques to successfully take your idea through to delivery and beyond. Enjoy the Podcast, it will challenge you, inspire you and provide the tools you will need ...

Information

  • Creator
    Aerion Technologies
  • Years Active
    2020 - 2026
  • Episodes
    280
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © All rights reserved
  • Show Website
    DevReady Podcast