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On episode 78 of the weekly Startup 360 podcast, Susan Toft joins us to unpack how a government redundancy, a toddler and a mountain of washing became The Laundry Lady, the Queensland scaleup that’s now an international marketplace with more than 600 laundry partners. Susan takes us through the unglamorous reality of scaling: bootstrapping with off-the-shelf technology, building a platform only once the business demanded it, learning to pitch investors, and discovering that the right capital matters as much as the cheque. We also get the inside story on Shark Tank, where a national TV appearance became marketing gold, plus Susan’s lessons on brand, visibility and why founders can’t afford to treat marketing as an afterthought. Underneath is a founder story about motherhood, flexibility, resilience and building a business around the life you actually want. The Sunshine Coast mother of two teenage boys offers practical, funny and refreshingly grounded advice about solving a simple problem well, then having the nerve to scale it. Startup 360 is a SmartCo. Media production, produced and edited by Matt Jackson, and supported by Deel. Hire, manage and pay – anyone, anywhere. Subscribe on Apple, Spotify, and YouTube, and read StartupDaily.net for all the ANZ tech news for free.

On episode 77 of Startup 360, we’re talking about storytelling, influence, AI, parenthood and the increasingly important business of staying human with Ranya Alkadamani, founder of Impact Group International. Ranya worked for Kevin Rudd when he was foreign minister, in a career that also spans media, international affairs, intelligence and communications. That’s given her a rare view of what happens when ideas meet institutions, politics and the people they’re supposed to serve. For founders, there’s plenty to unpack. Simon and Julie get into why relationships with government should start long before you need something, why great products can still fail the “so what?” test, and why founders need to understand not just what they’re building, but how the people outside their bubble will experience it. That’s especially relevant when the conversation turns to AI. Alongside enormous opportunity, there’s also growing anxiety about what gets automated, what skills we risk losing, and whether efficiency translates into progress. Ranya also talks candidly about motherhood, identity and discovering that success and capability in one part of life don’t necessarily prepare you for another. She had post natal depression after her first child and shares how that shaped her thinking about the world and the way forward. Startup 360 is a SmartCo. Media production, produced and edited by Matt Jackson, and supported by Deel. Hire, manage and pay – anyone, anywhere. Subscribe on Apple, Spotify, and YouTube, and read StartupDaily.net for all the ANZ tech news for free.

In this special edition of Startup 360, we revisit four conversations about the decisions, doubts and relationships behind building a business -the parts founders often leave out of the story. Mark ‘Z’ Zmarzly, head of startups at Morfless, shares the loneliness of his journey, a cofounder breakup that almost ended the business, and how he won a paying customer before the product existed. He also explains why a basketball court can reveal more about someone than a networking event. Tech Ready Women’s Renate Crollini explores the courage to back yourself, the honesty to recognise when something isn’t working, and the challenge of sorting useful advice from mentor whiplash. Knowing when to stop matters as much as knowing when to start. Posca cofounder Ed Stening admits he should have listened when a teammate questioned the packaging. His lessons in understanding customers come with an honest account of family life, financial sacrifice and children who aren’t afraid to tell Dad what they think. And Emma Earley from 1000 Women in AI, winner of the GSD Award at the Startup Daily Best in Tech awards, reflects on closing a startup, building differently next time, and resisting the pressure to put AI ahead of people. Her thoughts on curiosity, motherhood and rediscovering joy bring the conversation back to what all that ambition is meant to serve. Together, these conversations explore how to build with conviction without becoming deaf to feedback, ask for help without surrendering your judgement, and make room for life beyond the business. Startup 360 is a SmartCo. Media production, produced and edited by Matt Jackson, and supported by Deel. Hire, manage and pay – anyone, anywhere. Subscribe on Apple, Spotify, and YouTube, and read StartupDaily.net for all the ANZ tech news for free.

We know data is powerful. But there are important questions around who owns it, who can access it, and who gets to make decisions with it? This week, on episode 75 of Startup 360, Julie and Simon sit down with Kristi Mansfield, philanthropist, community advocate, and founder and CEO of 10-year-old Seer Data & Analytics, to unpack how data, AI and better infrastructure can shift power closer to everyday people, not just those who can afford it. Seer works with governments and organisations here and globally to help everyone turn fragmented information into evidence to guide investment, measure impact and improve local decision-making. Kristi also introduces Meteora, Seer’s new AI-native platform built to connect commitments with outcomes and give governments, funders and organisations a clearer view of whether change is actually happening. The conversation gets into the hard stuff too: data governance, sovereign AI, responsible technology, trust and why moving fast isn’t enough when you’re working with sensitive information and complex social problems. Kristi also opens up about her founder journey, from hiring ahead of the company’s needs to lessons from trying to enter the US market, reshaping Seer’s operating model and learning how to build international growth through the right partners and channels. There’s also a powerful look at Humans of Purpose and its work creating pathways into data careers for women leaving family violence. This conversation is about building technology with consequence. And about what Kristi calls “the long middle” of entrepreneurship: staying adaptable, solving the next problem and keeping the vision moving forward. Startup 360 is a SmartCo. Media production, produced and edited by Matt Jackson, and supported by Deel. Hire, manage and pay – anyone, anywhere.Subscribe on Apple, Spotify, and YouTube, and read StartupDaily.net for all the ANZ tech news for free.

“Regret got me into running” is an unusual reason to become a triathlete, but then Jason Dunn, the author of Greatness Doesn’t Care, has taken an unusual career path since he dreamed of being a soccer player growing up in England. Jason, who now helps entrepreneurs build resilience, discipline and purpose on their path to success joined Simon and Julie on the couch for episode 74 of Startup 360 this week. Growing up in the UK, Jason lived and breathed football, playing four games a week as a teen. He was offered a pathway to becoming a pro footballer, but took a different one that lead to wealth management and now asks: what keeps you moving when your life doesn’t follow the path you once pictured? When he agreed to be part of a corporate triathlon team, he didn’t even know there was a swimming leg - he was hydrophobic, and in his mid 30s, didn’t know how to swim. Training meant cutting back on the ciggies, and a few jogs, but now he had to face his demons. Now he’s completed 14 Ironman triathlons and made the cut for the Ironman World Championship in Hawaii. Jason’s story is an invitation to think about your own relationship with ambition and purpose and how you tackle life..It’s a conversation that begins with football and running and then dives into the motivation behind a founder’s mindset. Startup 360 is a SmartCo. Media production, produced and edited by Matt Jackson, and supported by Deel. Hire, manage and pay – anyone, anywhere.Subscribe on Apple, Spotify, and YouTube, and read StartupDaily.net for all the ANZ tech news for free.

On episode 73 of Startup 360, Simon and Julie sit down with Ian Gardiner, cofounder of Innovation Bay, investor, entrepreneur and champion of founder communities. Ian reflects on his journey from Glasgow to Australia, his life with his wife Andread, founder of Jelix Ventures, the dot-com boom, building Viacorp, and the lessons that came from growing a company without the kind of founder peer networks that exist today. That experience helped shape his belief that community isn’t a nice-to-have for founders, it's critical infrastructure. The conversation explores the power of peer groups such as YPO Forum, where founders can drop their mask, share challenges they can’t always discuss with staff, investors or family, and learn from people who have been through similar experiences. Ian also makes the case for human connection in an increasingly AI-driven world. While it can make founders more productive and even provide useful coaching, he argues there are limits to what it can understand about pressure, fear, accountability and the reality of building something difficult. It can take you so far, but only a human can get you to 100%. They also dig into Australia’s startup investment climate, why he sees angel activity as a useful barometer for market confidence, and how the rise of AI is changing startup defensibility. Ian also shares why being “tenacious and sticky” is both a founder superpower and a potential weakness, what he looks for in great founders, and why his simplest advice for building a network is still the most effective: get out, meet people and find your tribe. Startup 360 is a SmartCo. Media production, produced this week by Alex Harrod and edited by Matt Jackson, and supported by Deel. Hire, manage and pay – anyone, anywhere. Subscribe on Apple, Spotify, and YouTube, and read StartupDaily.net for all the ANZ tech news for free.

This week on Startup 360, Majella Campbell returns to the host’s chair in Simon’s place, alongside Julie Trell, to unpack a huge week in Australian venture capital before sitting down with urban designer, serial founder and author Lucinda Hartley. Lucinda has spent her career exploring how the places we live shape the lives we lead. From cofounding CoDesign Studio and Neighbourlytics to her latest venture, Zeroo Home Loans, she has combined data, design and a deeply human lens to tackle some of Australia’s biggest urban challenges. The conversation dives into Australia’s housing affordability crisis and why Lucinda believes we need to rethink the traditional “Great Australian Dream”. She explains how Zeroo’s zero-deposit home loan model aims to help people with strong incomes but no deposit enter the property market, while using data to help buyers choose homes with strong long-term potential. Lucinda also shares some powerful lessons from her founder journey: why customer enthusiasm isn’t the same as willingness to pay, the dangers of tying your identity too closely to your company, and how understanding your own blind spots can make you a better leader. There’s also a fascinating discussion about AI and design. Lucinda warns that AI-generated work can appear so polished that we mistake it for finished thinking — making critical thinking and human judgment more important, not less. As she explains in episode 72, whether we’re building cities, companies or technology, the human stuff still matters most. And best of luck from the Startup 360 team to Lucinda as she runs the 42km Sydney Marathon this Sunday. We hope it brings you great joy. Startup 360 is a SmartCo. Media production, produced and edited by Matt Jackson, and supported by Deel. Hire, manage and pay – anyone, anywhere.Subscribe on Apple, Spotify, and YouTube, and read StartupDaily.net for all the ANZ tech news for free.

Matt Jones describes himself as a creative strategist, accidental entrepreneur and serial failure. As his career pinballed between military intelligence, political speechwriting, brand strategy and co-founding Four Pillars Gin, he developed a theory about how people make decisions and why story matters. Matt, now founder of Think Story Experience, host of the StoryWork podcast and Startup Daily contributor, sat down with Julie and Simon for episode 71 of Startup 360 to explain how working in UK politics gave him an early lesson in human behaviour: people rarely make decisions based purely on facts. Identity, emotion and belonging matter. That insight shaped how he thinks about brands and building businesses. Storytelling is just part of the equation. The bigger challenge is creating a narrative - a shared worldview for founders, teams, customers and investors on where a startup is going and why. As he puts it, the challenge “isn’t about the story you tell. It’s about the story that you make true”. Four Pillars became a proving ground for those ideas. It wasn’t about MVP - they went “maximal”: exceptional gin, custom bottles, striking labels, and the absolute belief that Australia could make some of the world’s best gin using local flavours. They also built a deliberate growth story, from a $30,000 crowdfunding campaign, to $35 million in revenue in less than a decade. And knowing what to hold onto and what to change is, Matt found, one of the hardest parts of growth. Now, through his Storywork podcast and advisory work, he wants leaders to see story as strategy owned by the CEO, not handed to marketing. It’s not that the strongest businesses tell better stories. The trick is to build something worth talking about. Startup 360 is a SmartCo. Media production, produced and edited by Matt Jackson, and supported by Deel. Hire, manage and pay – anyone, anywhere. Subscribe on Apple, Spotify, and YouTube, and read StartupDaily.net for all the ANZ tech news for free.

What happens when a teacher, criminologist, sociologist and self-described geek - yes, that’s all one person - turns her attention to one of the biggest threats we all face: scams? Episode 70 of Startup 360, sees Simon and Julie “TreLLM” sit down with Lively founder Stacey Edmonds, creator of gamified school and business scam education sites  Dodgy or Not, and Phishy or Not, to explore how social engineering, scams and generative AI are changing how we need to think about cyber safety. Stacey’s early career in teaching, youth work and criminology shaped a different approach to cyber education: replacing the old skool punishment for wrong answers in box ticking exercises with critical-thinking skills and “digital instincts” to recognise online manipulation. The conversation ranges from industrialised cybercrime and “ransomware-as-a-service” to romance scams, and sextortion, which has its own 170-page How To manual. Stacey explains why scammers, marketers and behavioural scientists often rely on the same fundamental principles of influence — and how genAI has dramatically lowered the skill and research required to target individuals. For founders, the message is clear: AI speed cannot replace governance. And shipping a product is not the same as building a sustainable business. There’s also a remarkably simple defence against increasingly sophisticated scams: pause. Slowing down, questioning the pressure and recognising the tactics being used against us may be one of our most valuable digital skills in the AI era today. You can also catch Stacey at the Startup Standup comedy night in Sydney on October 14. Startup 360 is a SmartCo. Media production, produced and edited by Matt Jackson, and supported by Deel. Hire, manage and pay – anyone, anywhere. Subscribe on Apple, Spotify, and YouTube, and read StartupDaily.net for all the ANZ tech news for free.

Merrick Watts is a comedy legend. But he also has a serious side as a startup founder as Ed Stening discovered when he became his cofounder in drink brand Posca. And it turns out resurrecting a 2000-year-old Roman sports drink is no joke.Ed is this week’s guest on episode 69 of Startup 360, talking about building a brand in a competitive category, and moving from corporate to founder life. Posca began when Merrick discovered the vinegar-based hydration drink while researching his wine show. The Romans used it to make questionable water safer, keep soldiers sharp and, presumably, help the plebs recover from a hard night at the Colosseum. Merrick first pitched the idea to Lion Nathan, where Ed was GM. He ultimately said no, but offered some business advice to the funnyman-turned-founder. Nine months later Merrick called back, having done everything Ed suggested, and asked him to quit his corporate job and become cofounder. Ed initially said no once again. But now in his mid-40s, he realised the bigger risk was spending the rest of his life wondering what might have happened. Three years later, he’s in the startup trenches selling what Posca now calls a “hydration soda” — after discovering that consumers struggled to compute a fizzy sports drink in a can. That “flearning” - learnings from failure - is one of several brutally honest lessons in this week’s Startup 360. Ed talks about why founders need complementary cofounders, why startups and corporates misunderstand each other, how AI has become the assistant his business can’t afford, making his family part of his startup life, and why good ideas need market tailwinds rather than heroic founders battling a cyclone. Most of all, he explains the drive behind taking the leap. “If I don’t make this the best I f*****g can,” he says, “then why was I here in the first place?” Startup 360 is a SmartCo. Media production, produced and edited by Matt Jackson, and supported by Deel. Hire, manage and pay – anyone, anywhere.Subscribe on Apple, Spotify, and YouTube, and read StartupDaily.net for all the ANZ tech news for free

AI has a cowboy problem. When not bragging on LinkedIn about their work being done while asleep, they’re writing AI cheques they can’t cash - without pausing to ask whose data they’re feeding into the machine, what it’s being used for, or who was duffed along the way. Episode 68 of Startup 360 talks to Emma Earley, the founder of 1000 Women in AI, a free AI upskilling program and community for women and non-binary people - and a finalist in the GSD category of the Startup Daily Best in Tech awards. Emma calls herself an AI “de-influencer”. She’s an AI fan, but anti-hype, anti-slop and warns against putting your brain in a jar, leaving the LLM to do the thinking. Emma earned the right to be wary. Her previous HR tech startup, Hello Canopy, was part of the “SaaS-pocalypse. The founder lesson was brutal but useful: persistence matters, but so does the humility to recognise when the market has moved and the signals are telling you something your ego does not want to hear. Then, while heavily pregnant, she turned her frustration with a widening gender gap in AI into 1,000 Women in AI. She hoped to attract 1,000 people in 6-12 months. It took two weeks. Now, more than 2,000 have signed up. Oh, and she has an 8-week old baby, her second child.The free course begins with a question the cowboys tend to skip: should AI be used here at all? Emma joins Julie and Simon to talk founder failure, responsible AI, why women using the technology are still judged differently to men, and why play curiosity and psychological safety matter more than another corporate transformation program. Her plea is straightforward: AI should be a thinking partner, not thinking for us. Startup 360 is a SmartCo. Media production, produced and edited by Matt Jackson, and supported by Deel. Hire, manage and pay – anyone, anywhere.Subscribe on Apple, Spotify, and YouTube, and read StartupDaily.net for all the ANZ tech news for free

For episode 67 of Startup 360, Simon and Julie talk with Mark Zmarzly - founder, prolific angel investor and AWS credits-turned-coupons fairy. Or Z. Not Zed, because that sends things into Pulp Fiction territory. Among many hats, the Nebraska-born accidental Australian and former startup whisperer is also a late-in-life basketball tragic, as Startup Basketball fans know. This year, he swapped a 5-star big tech gig for life in startuplandia at Morfless, helping startups cut their AWS bills. Z built and sold his own fintech startup in the 2010s after moving  his wife and three kids to Australia following a chance SXSW conversation and Australian government grant. The rest is now part of local startup history. Having learnt so much building fintech Hip Pocket in 2013, he now reminds other founders about the things they keep forgetting. And the bloke who got a degree in creative writing knows how to tell a story, explaining that you should embrace your quirks because sameness is not a moat. Neither is vibe coding. Yes you can now spin up a product faster than ever, but as Z reminds us: just because you can build something doesn’t mean you should. It all boils down to love. The real founder test comes much later, when it’s 2am, you’re alone in the metaphorical basement of Macca’s, and lonely and exhausted, and have to ask whether you still care enough about the problem to keep going. Z’s someone who can talk about AWS cost optimisation, angel investing, sport, parenting, founder pain and storytelling without it sounding like a LinkedIn B2B sales pitch. He's a three-pointer. Startup 360 is a SmartCo. Media production, produced and edited by Matt Jackson, and supported by Deel. Hire, manage and pay – anyone, anywhere. Subscribe on Apple, Spotify, and YouTube, and read StartupDaily.net for all the ANZ tech news for free

Most founders start a business believing they'll build freedom. Sometimes it can end up imprisoning you. Every important decision lands on the founder's desk. Every approval, problem, late-night phone call. As Nicholas Thomson, the founder of Iceberg explains it on episode 66 of Startup 360, it’s like carrying a backpack filled with bricks and every day, another brick is added. Nick left corporate life and started Iceberg to help people challenge one of the deepest assumptions in business: that leaders have to make all the decisions. Culture isn't created by motivational posters or mission statements, he says. It's created by the systems we build every day. The conversation explores why so many founders become the bottleneck in their own companies, how hierarchy can unintentionally suppress initiative, and why the people closest to the customer often make the best decisions. Simon and cohost Julie Trell also tackle one of the trickiest issues for startups – financial transparency. How much should a team really know when every month can feel like life or death? It's a fascinating debate that goes to the heart of trust, ownership and leadership. Along the way there's plenty of Startup 360 banter, including a spirited discussion about the corporate obsession with "stretch goals", why spending thousands of dollars in meetings to approve a $200 purchase makes no sense, and whether work should ever leave you in tears. If you've ever found yourself wondering why your business still depends on you for everything, this episode offers a different way of thinking. It won't solve every leadership challenge overnight, but it might just help you take a few bricks out of the backpack. Startup 360 is a SmartCo. Media production, produced and edited by Matt Jackson, and supported by Deel. Hire, manage and pay – anyone, anywhere.Subscribe on Apple, Spotify, and YouTube, and read StartupDaily.net for all the ANZ tech news for free

If you've ever looked at a successful founder and wondered how they always seem to know exactly what they're doing, this week's Startup 360 might come as a relief. Our guest is engineer, entrepreneur and Tech Ready Women program director Renate Crollini, who admits she once assumed all the smart people in the corner office had the answers. It wasn't until she became a founder herself that she realised the truth: nobody has all the answers. We're all "building the plane while we're flying it”, she explains. Simon’s joined by Julie Trell as cohost for the next few weeks - and the delight for her was finally meeting Renate in person, having been a long-time mentor at Tech Ready Women. This conversation is a reminder that entrepreneurship isn't about certainty. It's about an idea that won't leave you alone, backing yourself, and learning as you go. Renate shares the lessons from her own life as a founder, including the difficult decision to walk away from her first startup, why resilience matters just as much as ambition, and the fine line between persistence and knowing when it's time to change direction. And her advice on launching is blunt: "If you're proud of your MVP, you've waited too long." The trio also canvas why women too often wait for permission before launching, juggling startups with family life, and why sometimes the most important thing a founder needs isn't another mentor or investor, but someone in their corner saying, "You've got this." And if you're looking for a mantra to take into the weekend, try Renate’s: "At the end of the day, you have a result or an excuse.” Startup 360 is a SmartCo. Media production, produced and edited by Matt Jackson, and supported by Deel. Hire, manage and pay – anyone, anywhere.Subscribe on Apple, Spotify, and YouTube, and read StartupDaily.net for all the ANZ tech news for free

Before Sian Priest was helping deep tech founders tell better stories at Cicada Innovations, one of the games she created as a 2000s gaming founder ended up being played by President Obama at the White House science fair. This week on episode 64 of Startup 360, Majella’s away, so Simon sits down with Sian to talk about startups, deep tech, Silicon Valley self-belief, and why Australia needs to get better at celebrating founders building something more enduring than the next unicorn pitch deck. Her startup career has taken her from the UK - Manchester-born, she’s red, not blue -  to San Francisco and since 2016, thanks to Neighbours and a Sydney bloke, Australia. She remembers what Silicon Valley taught her: people back themselves.That “don’t wait for permission” mindset is something Australian and British founders can still learn from, especially in a culture where, as Simon jokes, too many people still politely line up for the bus. Sian also has some blunt advice for founders, especially in deep tech: stop assuming people already understand the problem - it’s rarely just technical. Founders need to get better at explaining why it matters to different audiences so they start to care. She also makes the case for celebrating different types of founders. Not every startup has to be a 100x VC-backed rocket ship. Some will be strong, enduring, medium-sized companies. Others will bootstrap, generating revenue from the start. They all matter. A slow-moving tanker can be just as valuable as a rocket ship, she says. As Simon quips, everyone loves a moonshot, but low Earth orbit still has its place. And in breaking news: after 5.5 years at Cicada Innovations, Sian’s left left her job, just as the Tech23 cohort were announced, to address the nagging sense that her inner founder wants another shot - she ends the show talking about how she wants to team up with someone tackling a “gnarly problem” so she can help solve it. Startup 360 is a SmartCo. Media production, produced and edited by Matt Jackson, and supported by Deel. Hire, manage and pay – anyone, anywhere.Subscribe on Apple, Spotify, and YouTube, and read StartupDaily.net for all the ANZ tech news for free