Chasing Financial Equality

In this episode, Kane Jackson speaks with filmmaker Martin Oetting about his documentary "Purpose," which explores reimagining economic systems that prioritize wellbeing over GDP growth. Born in West Germany to a politically engaged family, Martin brings personal insight to this challenge of creating economies serving people and planet.

The conversation covers Martin's seven-year journey creating a film following two economic pioneers: Katherine Trebeck (Australian economist in Scotland) and Lorenzo Fioramonti (Italy's former Economic Development Minister). Martin's project was sparked by the 2016 US election, which made him question how supposedly successful economies could produce profound societal dysfunction.

Martin articulates the fundamental shift wellbeing economy advocates propose: measuring what truly matters to people (family, health, security, meaningful work) rather than just money made. He discusses translating complex economic concepts into compelling narratives and his vision for making "economics a popular sport" through community dialogue. Despite current setbacks, Martin maintains that purposeful action toward better systems remains both possible and necessary.

In this compelling episode, host Kane Jackson speaks with Nikki Tugano, founder of Seen Culture, who strategically navigated the venture capital landscape as a solo non-technical founder to secure funding for her tech startup. From her formative years in the Philippines to becoming a recognised force in the tech world, Nikki's journey demonstrates how unique perspectives and psychological insights can become powerful business advantages.

The conversation reveals how Nikki leveraged her background in psychology and commerce to understand human potential at scale, why self-awareness creates competitive advantages in business (particularly given that while 95% of people believe they possess it, only 10-15% actually do), and how her experiences of being underestimated motivated her to build a platform that captures hidden value in organisations. Through strategic decisions like reinvesting every dollar into her company, Nikki illustrates how entrepreneurs transform constraints into catalysts for innovation.

This insightful discussion examines the psychology behind funding decisions, the business case for recognising diverse contributions, and what becomes possible when systems are designed to unlock potential rather than perpetuate traditional patterns.

Nikki discusses how being raised by her grandmother and growing up as an only child cultivated her independence and internal locus of control - traits that became entrepreneurial assets.

How understanding attachment styles and psychological patterns equipped Nikki with exceptional self-awareness and relationship navigation skills essential for leadership.

Why psychological understanding provides more business value than traditional commerce education, given that business fundamentally operates through systematic people dynamics.

Analysis of Harvard Business Review findings showing the gap between perceived and actual self-awareness, and how this creates opportunities for conscious leaders in startup ecosystems.

Strategic analysis of how affinity bias, confidence perception, and gender dynamics influence funding decisions, including why women's demonstrated self-awareness doesn't always translate to funding success.

How Seen Culture quantifies overlooked contributions in organizations using data-driven approaches similar to sports analytics, creating measurable business value.

Nikki's approach to startup bootstrapping, including reinvesting every dollar into the business, utilizing accelerator resources, and maintaining singular focus on mission execution.

How encounters with bias provided valuable market research, revealing gaps in traditional business practices and validating the need for Seen Culture's solutions.

How early life experiences created a higher tolerance for uncertainty and challenge, providing advantages in the high-stress startup environment.

The multiplier effect of recognising hidden talent - how democratising recognition creates better problem-solving capacity across organisations and society.

Nikki's evolved perspective on building diverse teams, using sports team composition as a model for understanding how different strengths create competitive advantages.

Kate Kirgizova's observation of Nikki's commitment to her mission - reinvesting every resource while maintaining unwavering focus on creating systemic change through technology.

In this episode of Chasing Financial Equality, host Kane Jackson speaks with Kate O'Keefre, the serial entrepreneur, innovator, and CEO + co-founder of Heatseeker, who is revolutionising how businesses make product decisions through AI-driven market experiments. Drawing from her extensive experience in Silicon Valley and as a partner at BCG Digital Ventures, Kate shares insights on replacing flawed survey methodologies with real-world testing that reveals what customers actually do rather than what they say they'll do.

Known for her directness and efficiency, Kate explains how Heatseeker works to democratise access to market experimentation, leveraging AI to create and test product hypotheses through controlled social media campaigns. She discusses the journey of building Heatseeker with her co-founders, the challenges of creating a new category in the Australian market, and how data-driven decision-making can help diversify whose ideas get implemented in both startups and corporations.

The conversation explores Kate's previous work founding Cisco's Hyper Innovation Living Labs, where she connected corporate executives directly with end users like cancer patients to build more human-centered solutions. Kate also shares her perspectives on gender equality in tech, the potential for crowdfunding platforms like Birchal (where she serves as a board member) to democratise access to capital, and the critical importance of strong governance in scaling startups. The episode concludes with Kate's personal reflection on the power of kindness and supporting others through difficult times.

Kate explains how Heatseeker helps businesses validate ideas through live market experiments rather than traditional surveys, revealing the gap between what people say versus what they actually do.

Discussion of the startup mantra "ship fast and iterate," with Kate emphasising that shipping must include getting products in front of real customers to gather meaningful feedback.

Kate shares the serendipitous story of how her husband met Rutger Coolen, former head of product at Atlassian, on a snowy hiking trail in New Zealand, leading to him joining Heatseeker.

Brief comparison of American versus Australian approaches to product leadership, highlighting the more formal methodologies used in the US.

Kate discusses the challenges of creating a new category in market research and experimentation, and how Heatseeker has evolved its messaging to communicate its value.

Detailed explanation of how AI powers the Heatseeker platform - from ingesting information about clients and competitors to generating experiment variants, executing tests, and interpreting results.

Kate reveals Heatseeker's ambition to build a large data repository that provides pattern recognition capabilities, giving clients an "unfair advantage" based on insights from previous experiments.

Discussion of Kate's evolution from wanting to create a female-focused VC fund to now believing her greatest impact comes from being a wildly successful female founder who delivers returns to investors.

Kate shares her experience at Cisco creating environments where senior executives built and tested prototypes directly with end users like cancer patients, leading to successful startups like Circle Of.

Conversation about how executives often become disconnected from end users, using an example of banking executives trying to understand millennials without actually engaging with them.

Kate discusses historical factors contributing to gender inequality in STEM, including how early computer marketing targeted boys, and reflects on whether data-driven platforms like Heatseeker might perpetuate or help address biases.

Kate's perspectives on how Birchal, Australia's largest crowdfunding platform, supports more diverse founders with 40% of deals having female founders.

Discussion of the importance of strong governance, financial transparency, and board oversight in scaling startups successfully.

Kate shares a personal story about recovering from PTSD and how investor Dom Pym's consistent support and encouragement helped her get "off the mat" professionally, emphasising the importance of kindness and support in creating positive impact.

In this compelling episode of Chasing Financial Equality, host Kane Jackson explores the revolutionary world of impact-driven finance with Cameron Neil, founder and CEO of Lend for Good, and Holly Smith, a Gen Z team member reshaping traditional finance perspectives. Together, they discuss how their crowd lending platform is addressing the $5 trillion "missing middle" gap in global finance - the critical funding void between philanthropic grants and traditional investment.

The conversation delves into the generational dynamics of their partnership, the shift from community-focused banking to profit maximisation, and how Lend for Good is creating alternatives to traditional financial systems. Neil shares his journey from establishing Australia's fair trade movement to building financial infrastructure for impact enterprises, while Smith offers insights on how Gen Z approaches impact investing and values-driven finance in Singapore and beyond.

Holly Smith's emotional journey finding her place in impact investing in Singapore, and how Lend for Good provided a space where she could bring her full self to work.

Cameron Neil describes his "dad, servant, builder" identity and how it guides his approach to creating impact-driven organizations and movements spanning multiple generations.

Holly Smith discusses how Gen Z approaches finance differently, prioritizing values in every aspect of life and viewing finance as a tool for change rather than just profit generation.

Cameron Neil explains how small businesses and impact enterprises get trapped in a funding gap between philanthropic support and traditional investment, leading to a $5 trillion annual shortfall that continues to grow.

Discussion on how banking has transformed from community-focused institutions with local bank managers to globalised profit centres, and its impact on small businesses and communities.

Discussion on building distributed, networked solutions (the "mycelium" approach) rather than centralised systems, and reimagining finance to serve society rather than the other way around.

Exploration of how Lend For Good navigates FinTech regulatory challenges while staying true to their mission, including their decision to prioritise impact over traditional compliance paths.

The closing segment where both guests share their vision for global change - improving financial literacy and removing money from politics - as the most impactful changes needed today.

In this hard-hitting episode of Chasing Financial Equality, Kane Jackson speaks with Dr. Andy Schmulow, Associate Professor at the University of Wollongong's Faculty of Business and Law, about the profound corruption, regulatory failures, and corporate misconduct plaguing Australia's financial system. Unlike many academics who tread carefully around powerful interests, Dr. Schmulow names names, cites specific examples, and refuses to back down in the face of intimidation.

With expertise recognised globally by the World Bank, United Nations, and multiple governments, Dr. Schmulow provides a devastating critique of Australia's "dystopian Wild West" financial industry, where misconduct occurs on an industrial scale with minimal consequences. From banks charging life insurance premiums to customers they knew were dead to insurance companies denying disability benefits to their own terminally ill employees, he details shocking examples of corporate misconduct that destroys lives while regulators fail to enforce meaningful accountability.

The conversation explores why financial regulation is uniquely challenging, the flaws in Australia's legislative approach, and how political corruption through mechanisms like campaign donations and Qantas's Chairman's Lounge membership perpetuates a system rigged in favor of powerful corporations. Dr. Schmulow advocates for principles-based regulation, campaign finance reform, media ownership diversification, and stronger market protection rather than business protection. Despite the bleak picture, he offers practical ways for citizens to fight back and hold elected representatives to the higher standard democracy demands.

Andy explains how his PhD research on prudential regulatory enforcement led him to discover "an overwhelming deluge of evidence of misconduct" in Australia's financial industry, making him the first academic to support a Royal Commission into the sector.

Examples of shocking misconduct including banks charging life insurance premiums to dead customers and insurance companies denying disability claims to their own terminally ill employees, with minimal consequences from regulators.

Discussion of how Parliament is captured by big business through political donations, with consulting firms like PwC donating $4 million annually to political parties while receiving $600 million in government contracts.

Explanation of why regulating finance is uniquely difficult compared to other industries due to products being intangible "promises" rather than tangible goods, enabling regulatory arbitrage.

Critique of Australia's 5,000-page Corporations Act plus 43,000 pages of regulations as "unintelligible garbage," including "secret law" carve-outs that aren't published, compared to principles-based approaches elsewhere.

Analysis of how financial institutions redefine products to avoid regulations, with even well-intentioned legal advice resulting in circumvention of regulatory intent.

Discussion of principles-based, outcomes-determined regulation adopted in the UK, South Africa, and New Zealand as an alternative to Australia's failed black-letter law approach.

Explanation of why banks owe special obligations to society, as taxpayers ultimately underwrite bank liabilities during crises and provide preferential borrowing rates through central banks.

Detailed analysis of how Qantas's exclusive Chairman's Lounge membership for politicians and regulators functions as "blatant, naked, up in your grill corruption," influencing government decisions like denying Qatar Airways landing rights.

Criticism of former Qantas CEO Alan Joyce's $125 million in bonuses while engaging in practices like selling tickets on canceled flights and making it nearly impossible for customers to use flight credits.

Concern that even ACCC executives investigating Qantas were Chairman's Lounge members, questioning whether this influenced the relatively small $100 million fine for selling ghost flights.

Advocacy for divestiture powers for the ACCC, politicians rejecting corporate perks, campaign finance reform limiting donations to individual citizens, and a Royal Commission into media ownership.

Critique of how media (particularly Murdoch-owned outlets) distracts the public with culture war issues like pronouns and flags while ignoring corporate corruption, crony capitalism, and tax evasion.

Andy's call for citizens to hold elected representatives to an even higher standard than personal relationships, encouraging letter-writing campaigns and political involvement.

When we talk about innovation, disability is rarely part of the conversation — but it should be. In this episode, Kane Jackson speaks with Pete Horsley, founder of Remarkable Tech, to unpack how inclusive design and disability-led innovation are reshaping the future of technology, business, and society.

With 16% of the global population living with a disability, Pete shares why accessibility isn’t a niche issue, it’s a massive missed opportunity. Drawing on decades of work in the sector and personal experiences with his sister Jo, Pete reveals how the disability community has long been at the forefront of technological breakthroughs we all benefit from today — from keyboards and speech-to-text, to remote work.

Together, Kane and Pete explore:

•⁠  ⁠Why the charity model of disability support is broken

•⁠  ⁠How Remarkable Tech is accelerating disability innovation globally

•⁠  ⁠The business case for accessibility and inclusive design

•⁠  ⁠Why remote work and AI have transformative potential

•⁠  ⁠What we all miss out on when we exclude people with disabilities

Whether you're a founder, policymaker, technologist, or just someone who wants to help build a more equitable world, this conversation will change the way you think about inclusion, design, and the future of tech.

What happens when a teenage mum becomes a PhD-holding gender equality commissioner responsible for over 300 organisations and nearly half a million workers? You get Dr. Niki Vincent — a quiet revolutionary whose life's work has been to transform the systems that hold inequality in place.

In this episode of Chasing Financial Equality, Dr. Vincent joins Kane Jackson to unpack how personal struggle becomes political insight, how to drive institutional change with both compassion and compliance powers, and why data only matters if it leads to action.

From dismantling discrimination in police forces to reshaping public sector policy across Victoria, Niki reveals the hard truths about systemic bias — and how the Gender Equality Act is forcing organisations to face them. Together they explore why gender equity is not just an ethical obligation, but a structural redesign issue that intersects with finance, class, race and power.

Expect practical insights, moving personal stories, and an inspiring call to make equality not a side project — but business as usual.

Ever wondered why humanity's progress is stunted, despite advances in technology, infrastructure and knowledge? Why socio-economic disparities are widening? Why life is scarier, harder and less hopeful than ever before? Why a rapidly increasing portion of people are afraid to bring children into this world?

In this episode of Chasing Financial Equality, host Kane Jackson speaks with Aubrey Blanche-Sarellano, founder and CEO of MathPath and Vice President of Equitable Operations at Culture Amp. Known for her systems-level thinking and willingness to speak candidly about difficult topics, Aubrey shares her evidence-based approach to creating more equitable workplaces through intentional design rather than checkbox diversity initiatives.

In a time when diversity and inclusion policies face increasing political attacks, Aubrey offers a refreshing perspective that focuses on fairness, merit, and efficiency rather than getting caught up in terminology. She explains how her personal journey—from being adopted at age three to navigating elite academic institutions and corporate settings—shaped her understanding of privilege and opportunity. With remarkable openness, she discusses her experiences with sexual assault and being diagnosed with bipolar disorder, and how sharing these stories has helped both her healing and created space for others facing similar challenges.

The conversation explores how Aubrey ended "culture fit" hiring at Atlassian, replacing it with values-based interviews that eliminated unconscious bias, and her work at Culture Amp designing systems that benefit everyone by focusing on those with specific needs. Throughout the discussion, Aubrey emphasises the power of micro-behaviours in creating cultural change, the importance of imagination in systems redesign, and why focusing on those who don't care about equity is a waste of precious energy that could be used to create real impact.

Aubrey challenges misconceptions about diversity initiatives, explaining that they're fundamentally about hiring the best people by eliminating biases that favor unqualified individuals from dominant groups.

Discussion of the two main barriers to creating systemic change: trying to convince people who genuinely don't care about equity, and the "frozen middle" who have aligned values but don't activate themselves to create change.

Aubrey's pragmatic take on companies cutting DEI programs, viewing it as a reflection of capitalist incentives and an opportunity for clarity in the labor market about company values.

Analysis of how some companies are changing terminology while continuing the work, while others are genuinely abandoning equity efforts, and how media conflation of these scenarios creates misunderstanding.

Aubrey shares her adoption story and how experiencing both disadvantage and immense privilege has driven her commitment to making systems more fair and less dependent on luck.

Discussion of Aubrey's decision to publicly share experiences with sexual assault and bipolar disorder, and how finding community through vulnerability helped her healing process.

Reflection on Hannah Gadsby's quote about "broken women who have rebuilt themselves," with Aubrey adding the importance of community support in that rebuilding process.

Explanation of how Aubrey eliminated "culture fit" hiring at Atlassian, replacing it with values alignment interviews that removed subjective "vibes" assessments with specific behavioural questions.

Aubrey outlines her "equitable design" approach of creating solutions for those with specific needs or barriers (like trans employees facing deadnaming issues), which ultimately benefits everyone in the organisation.

Exploration of how looking at pre-colonial systems proves our current state isn't inevitable, emphasising the necessity of imagination and hope in creating systemic change.

Discussion about avoiding triggering terminology that might derail conversations, with Aubrey emphasising that fighting for words over outcomes is a privileged position that can distract from real impact.

Advice on connecting equity work to the existing values of those you're trying to influence, rather than trying to change their fundamental values or "woke shaming" them.

Examples of how small actions—like a professor affirming mathematical ability or a manager normalising asking for help—can create profound impacts for marginalised individuals.

Practical advice for leaders wanting to create more equitable cultures: diversify media consumption and make incremental improvements to existing decisions, illustrated through Aubrey's mentoring example.

When asked what single change would create the most positive social impact, Aubrey quickly answers: "Delete anti-black racism."

Company boardrooms are some of the most powerful—and most overlooked—rooms in the world. Decisions made inside them shape everything, from climate policy to corporate layoffs, and from community wellbeing to long-term planetary survival. But too often, these rooms are grey: dominated by sameness, risk aversion, short-term thinking, and a lack of self-awareness.