$600,000 in sales. No website. No brand name. Zero spent on ads. Liam Whittaker built all of it through word of mouth on Instagram, and he hasn't even launched yet.Before the jewellery, Liam turned down a law career to become the fourth employee in ZURU's consumer goods division. Over seven years he watched one nappy brand in New Zealand grow into roughly 20 brands across 30-something countries, landing on shelves at Walmart, Target and Costco. He left as COO after health issues forced him to stop, took a year off, and then his brain started itching again.Now he's building a lab-grown diamond company that ships worldwide and shows buyers the real cost of every stone at checkout. I dig into how, and why he thinks the luxury category is cracking open.We get into:- Walking in as employee #4 at a company that was already enormous- Why he calls himself the most antithetical jewellery founder of all time- The "idiot index" and the arbitrage hiding inside a $10,000 tennis bracelet- How lab-grown diamonds went from 0.3% of US engagement rings to 45% in fifteen years- Running a team of 23 and 26-year-olds who spend every Wednesday building with AIIf you enjoyed this episode, subscribe to Chew the Fat so you don't miss the next one!

Bailey Pickles is 22 and has already been asked by Apple to compose the music for their 50th Anniversary, Mr. Beast to compose the music for Beast Games S2 and Vivid to light up the city with his music for Sydney's biggest light show.He built an audience of 1.6M+ by posting videos of him playing piano on TikTok and Instagram. He would hear a song for the first time and immediately be able to recreate it on the keys. But it wasn't luck - it was 10,000 hours of mastery, doing what he loves, with a family that gave him the confidence to become a star.In this podcast, Bailey explains how he achieves what he wants by writing it over and over, putting it out into the world, and letting the algorithm connect him with the biggest composers, artists and business owners across the world.

Farm town kid to professional break dancer to founder who got a company to IPO at $526M.

Joe Stolte reveals why it's okay to lack talent, why he quit his $250k Microsoft job, and how AI agents will replace your entire team, Joe Stolte is a serial tech entrepreneur who built and sold companies including GrowFlow ($62.5M exit) and helped take Lottery.com public ($526M IPO).

He's the co-founder of Prime AI, a mastermind helping 389+ businesses deploy AI agents, and former CEO of Daily.ai.

He explains:

◼ The exact framework: high frequency + low judgement = give it to AI immediately

◼ How he hired someone to run his entire company on day one so he could stay in his "zone of genius"

◼ Why his mission isn't making more millions, it's making everyone around him millionaires

◼ How he keeps a "virtual bench" of talent in a CRM and courts them for years before hiring

◼ Why homeschooling his three kids while traveling is priority zero, everything else is extra credit

Prison at 16. Millionaire at 27. $127M net worth today. Dan Martell reveals how a computer in rehab saved his life and why your trauma is your greatest business asset.

Dan Martell is a serial tech entrepreneur who built and sold three software companies by age 30. He is the founder of SaaS Academy, angel investor in over 50 startups, and author of the Wall Street Journal bestselling book, 'Buy Back Your Time'. 

He explains:

◼ How a computer in rehab at 17 saved him from a life of crime and addiction

◼ How to cold call your way to your first million using just your phone and AI automation

◼ The exact 5 hires you need to scale from $0 to $2M (the Replacement Ladder)

◼ Why your worst trauma sits right next to your life's purpose

◼ How he starts a new company every month at Martell Ventures

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She sold over 100k books, built a global investing community (10M+ podcast downloads), and helps women control their money in a world that told them not to.

Simran Kaur is the founder of Girls That Invest, one of the world’s largest financial education platforms for women, with listeners across 190 countries. From reading The Intelligent Investor and thinking “there has to be an easier way,” to selling out international book tours in New York and London, she’s turned financial empowerment into a movement.

In this episode of Chew the Fat, Simran shares how she built a business that earns in USD from New Zealand, how she turned her trauma-driven need for security into her mission, and why her desire for money was never about luxury - it was about freedom.

He started with $500 at 21, built two companies worth $100M+ combined, and still lives in the same small apartment he did when they made their first $6M.

Izzy Whitley is the founder of Auckland Labour Hire and co-founder of Fitout Solutions that together bring in over $100M in annual revenue across New Zealand and Australia. He started out after being put on academic leave for flunking all his exams, as a 21 year old with $500. Now he runs one of New Zealand’s largest labour companies. 

He also opened up about turning his neurodivergence into a superpower for working 18 hour days, why he never longs for work-life balance even though it is something he wants to provide for the people around him and why he makes weekly exercise a non-negotiable for everyone that works for him.

She built a $100M+ global fashion empire from her parents’ garage, hid her business from her immigrant parents for two years, and is now a Shark on Shark Tank Australia.

Jane Lu is the founder of Showpo, one of Australia’s most successful e-commerce brands with over 100 employees worldwide. But the journey started with a secret: quitting her secure job at KPMG, pretending to catch the bus to work in a corporate suit every day, and building an online store at the height of the GFC.

In this episode of Chew the Fat, Jane shares how Showpo went from $60K to $1M run rate in five months, the reality of scaling past $100M, and why building a personal brand has become her ultimate moat. She also opens up about becoming risk-averse after kids, why she thinks Gen Z might be the most ambitious generation yet, and the proudest moment of her career: buying her parents their first new car and paying off their mortgage.

She’s queen of a $300M food empire including Boost Juice and Betty’s Burgers. But she went to a school known only for their yard fights and teen pregnancies. Here is why she wouldn’t change a thing.

Janine Allis is the founder of Boost and chair of Retail Zoo. With zero business experience, she opened 100 stores in four years, became a household name on Shark Tank, and has just gone back on Survivor at 60 years old after placing 6th in 2019.

In this episode of Chew the Fat, Janine reveals how to turn customers that hate you into raving fans, why you never learn from success (but rather from failure) and how to spot entitled victims and blamers before they infect your team.

She built a $22M skincare brand with a team of 26 marketers and hundreds of TikTok micro-influencers. But then she found a multi-million dollar gap in the hair growth market.

Rachael Wilde is the co-founder of TBH Skincare and hair growth brand, Bouf. Not only has Bouf partnered with Indie Clinton, they also achieved $500K+ in revenue in the first week of launch.

In this episode of Chew the Fat, Rachael reveals her bet on Bouf after being told no by her CEO, the marketing playbook that turned creators into a movement, and what it’s really like restructuring a 37-person team overnight.

He built 19 companies, runs a $100M+ business today, has 3.6M followers across platforms and now asks strangers on the street: ‘What’s your dream?’.

Simon Squibb is on a mission to fix the education system. Instead of politics, he’s taken it to the streets and onto TikTok, building one of the world’s largest platforms for inspiring people to follow their dreams. His videos have reached hundreds of millions, sparked thousands to quit making excuses, and led to HelpBnk - a platform connecting people who need help with people willing to give it.

In this episode of Chew the Fat, Simon shares why the “90% of businesses fail” stat is a scary lie, why he homeschools his kid (and what people get wrong about homeschooling), and how “for-profit for good” companies will beat traditional charities and corporations that try to please Trump in the next decade.

https://whatsyourdream.com.au/?ls=WYD25-chewthefat