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Tom Newby, Head of AI and co-founder at Procure Pro, joins Georgie Healy for a fast, candid tour through the most useful, controversial, and surprisingly human parts of the AI wave.

They start with Tom’s favourite under-the-radar tool in Australia, Hex, and its new “AI data analyst” agent that can actually do analyst work, not just answer simple queries. Georgie shares her own weekend hack: using AI to redesign a very average rental outdoor area with photo-based before-and-afters.

From there, the conversation turns to the bigger questions: whether using LLMs makes us “lazy”, why the blank page problem is real (and how AI helps you get to a wrong answer fast so you can refine), and what it takes to build AI features that actually matter inside a product. Tom breaks down Procure Pro’s mission to save a billion hours of construction admin and explains “bid leveling”, the messy PDF-to-spreadsheet reality that procurement teams face every day.

Georgie also brings the headlines. They unpack Australia’s surge in commercial data centre construction (and why the export narrative might not hold), plus Tom’s spicy take on OpenAI’s recent cadence, model naming chaos, and why distribution and “apps” could matter more than raw model gains.

They finish with rapid-fire stories: Tom’s accidental three-hour job, a 7-Eleven game exploit turned Slurpee rewards, a surprisingly thoughtful answer on ADHD and LLM workflows, plus a practical trust framework for everyday AI users.

Global hiring and payroll can be a headache. Deel brings HR, IT and payroll together in one platform, helping companies including Shopify, Revolut and ElevenLabs scale internationally.

Ready to expand your business?

Build your global team with Deel at deel.com/dayone.

Weekly Substack: https://georgiehealy.substack.com/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/georginahealy/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/georginahealytech/

In The Blink of AI is part of Day One, the podcast network dedicated to founders, operators & investors.

Sign up to get your weekly insights into the up-and-coming AI startups: https://dayone.fm/newsletter

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In this episode of Pick My Brain, Alan Jones is joined by Paul Bevan, founder of cultivated meat startup Magic Valley, to explore how second-generation food tech is reshaping the economics and investability of cultivated meat. Paul pitches Magic Valley’s approach to growing real meat from animal cells, without livestock, and explains why minced products like lamb and pork are the logical first step to reaching commercial scale.

Alan and Paul unpack why earlier cultivated meat companies struggled, how advances in equipment and cell culture media have dramatically lowered costs, and what that means for investors assessing deep tech risk today. They also dig into Australia’s surprisingly strong regulatory framework for novel foods, Magic Valley’s decision to launch locally first, and how to raise deep tech capital without burning hundreds of millions of dollars.

Along the way, Alan shares practical advice on investor communication, momentum, and signalling progress, while Paul reflects on the challenge of telling one coherent story to impact investors, deep tech funds, and commercial partners at the same time.

If you are building in food tech, climate tech, deep tech, or navigating complex investor messaging, this episode is packed with hard-earned insight.

Deel: Global hiring and payroll can be a headache. Deel brings HR, IT and payroll together in one platform, helping companies including Shopify, Revolut and ElevenLabs scale internationally.

Ready to expand your business?

Build your global team with Deel at deel.com/dayone.

___

Galah Cyber offers Application Security Assessment Get a clear, ten-minute snapshot of your AppSec maturity across the five core principles. Fast, practical insights you can act on straight away at https://www.galahcyber.com.au/assess

To learn more, join our newsletter to be notified of new and upcoming shows. The only content we create is content that will help Australian founders.

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As 2026 kicks off, Cheryl and Maxine open the year with their annual First Cheque wrap, a grounded, opinionated take on what actually shifted in Australian tech and venture, and what that means for the year ahead.

They break down why 2025 marked a genuine inflection point for the ecosystem, from Canva’s secondary and a surge in M&A to fresh signals that long-awaited liquidity is finally starting to flow. Despite minimal government support, Australia quietly proved itself as one of the most capital-efficient venture markets globally, producing unicorns at roughly twice the rate of the US per dollar invested.

The conversation also tackles the harder truths investors and founders need to reckon with in 2026: early-stage funding compressing while late stage heats up, corporate venture capital retreating, and the gender funding gap sliding backwards. Looking forward, Cheryl and Maxine share their predictions for the year ahead, where funding volumes may land, why seed remains the toughest stage, how AI valuations could trigger a market correction, and why energy and infrastructure may emerge as the next premium asset class.

00:00 – Intro: End of year energy: why 2025 felt different to 2024

03:55 – Election fallout and the government’s “nothingburger” for startups

05:24 – Canva’s secondary and the first real signs of liquidity returning

09:49 – Aussie tech M&A heats up: Canva, Linktree, Jolt, and more

12:09 – The stat that changed the narrative: Australia’s unicorn efficiency

16:14 – The weirdest trend of the year: early stage down, late stage up

18:27 – Tech jobs, data centers, and the infrastructure bet Australia is making

22:52 – Why deep tech and climate are pulling venture dollars again

28:21 – The gender funding gap got worse (and why)

33:09 – Corporate VC is pulling out: what happened to strategic capital

37:02 – 2026 predictions: funding totals, seed pain, and where capital flows next

44:00 – AI bubble risk: tourism, ROI pressure, and the domino effect

47:42 – Hot take: electricity is the next valuation premium

49:00 – Will diversity bounce back in 2026? (vibes, but also logic)

To learn more, join our newsletter to be notified of new First Cheque episodes and upcoming shows.

Mentioned in this episode:

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Australia has a new AI strategy, but does it match the speed of the moment? Dr Tom Kelly, CEO of Heidi Health, and Anish Sinha, founder of UpCover, sit at the coalface of deploying AI in two of the most regulated industries in the country: healthcare and insurance. They have both built companies where safety, compliance, and real-world adoption are not optional, and they bring that builder perspective to a frank assessment of the government’s latest plan.

In this episode of In The Blink of AI, Georgie sits down with Tom and Anish for a practical conversation on what Australia’s AI strategy gets right, what it completely misses, and what it would take to move from vague principles to measurable outcomes. They argue the plan needs sharper priorities, clearer success metrics, and a more decisive approach to accelerating adoption in industries where AI can lift productivity quickly.

Tom unpacks why Australia is non-competitive on energy and compute, why chip availability and latency matter if we want world-class AI experiences locally, and what policy levers could make Australia a serious data centre and infrastructure contender. Anish explains why tech-neutral regulation is a relief for startups, why government should focus on long-term market-making rather than short-term accelerators, and why Australia should look to Canada for inspiration instead of trying to copy the US or China.

This is a sharp, builder-led episode for anyone trying to understand what Australia should actually do next in AI, from infrastructure and sovereignty to education, public sector productivity, and stopping bad actors without slowing innovation.

Global hiring and payroll can be a headache. Deel brings HR, IT and payroll together in one platform, helping companies including Shopify, Revolut and ElevenLabs scale internationally.

Ready to expand your business?

Build your global team with Deel at deel.com/dayone.

Weekly Substack: https://georgiehealy.substack.com/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/georginahealy/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/georginahealytech/

In The Blink of AI is part of Day One, the podcast network dedicated to founders, operators & investors.

Sign up to get your weekly insights into the up-and-coming AI startups: https://dayone.fm/newsletter

Mentioned in this episode:

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Most security architects are not actually doing architecture. They are doing assurance work, following checklists, and hoping standards will save them. But as systems get more complex and attackers get faster, that approach is no longer good enough.

In this episode of Secured, Cole sits down with Ken Fitzpatrick, founder of Patterned Security and creator of securitypatterns.io, a resource built during the lockdown years that has since grown into one of the clearest frameworks for designing meaningful, context-aware security architecture.

Ken shares why so many architects fall into the trap of compliance thinking, how security design becomes a tick box exercise, and why threat modeling without understanding context is pointless. They unpack the four foundational steps every architect should follow, why traceability matters more than ever, and how modern teams can stop copying best practice and start solving the real problems in front of them.

The conversation also digs into secure by design in different industries, why the term has lost its meaning, and how modern defensible architecture is resetting expectations for what good looks like. Cole and Ken also dive into AI and its impact on the architecture function, separating hype from reality and exploring which roles are at risk as AI improves.

If you work in engineering, architecture, AppSec, risk, or are building a product and want a practical way to think about secure design, this is an episode you should not miss.

00:00 – Intro

00:48 – Chainguard Ad

01:20 – Meet Ken Fitzpatrick and Patterned Security

02:19 – How a cancelled Canada trip sparked securitypatterns.io

04:08 – Why architecture needs practical guidance, not more frameworks

05:18 – The four step method for real security architecture

07:23 – Moving beyond box ticking and why engineering experience matters

09:39 – Teaching architecture fundamentals and selecting the right controls

11:37 – Traceability and making defensible design decisions

13:14 – Architecture vs assurance and who securitypatterns.io is for

16:31 – Embedding secure by design into PMO processes and scale up use cases

19:58 – What secure by design means across different industries

23:05 – Inconsistent definitions in security and the need for clarity

23:50 – Modern defensible architecture and Zero Trust guidance

24:44 – AI’s role in architecture and which tasks get replaced

28:25 – AI in AppSec and reducing false positives with context

30:24 – AI sales bots, hype cycles, and the loss of human reciprocity

33:28 – Ken’s call for collaboration on repeatable architecture patterns

34:28 – Closing and how to connect with Galah Cyber

🐙 Secured is grateful to be sponsored and supported by Chainguard.

Chainguard is the trusted source for open source. Get hardened, secure, production-ready builds so your team can ship faster, stay compliant, and reduce risk. Download your free CVE Reduction Assessment at https://dayone.fm/chainguard

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Get hardened, secure, production-ready builds so your team can ship faster, stay compliant, and reduce risk. Download your free CVE Reduction Report now!

December 2025 - Chainguard

Welcome back to the FNDN Series, where we continue our deep dive into startup compensation with industry leaders from across the startup world. In our conversation with Sarika Lamont, VP of People and Culture at Vidyard, we tackle the most challenging compensation conversations that people leaders face. From delivering "no raise" news to high performers during budget constraints, to navigating pay transparency questions about salary differences between new hires and existing employees, Sarika shares practical frameworks for handling these difficult discussions. We explore how AI can enhance performance feedback, the importance of transparency in building trust, and strategies for managing expectations when business realities clash with employee desires. Keep watching to discover how to turn your toughest pay conversations into opportunities for deeper engagement and trust-building.

Chapters:

00:50 Guest Introduction: Sarika Lamont, VP at Vidyard

02:15 The Toughest Pay Conversation: Telling High Performers "No"

03:21 Framework for Delivering Bad News About Compensation

06:34 The Power of Recognition Beyond Money

08:20 Building Year-Round Recognition and Development

11:57 Using AI to Enhance Performance Feedback and Mentoring

12:31 Practical AI Application for Personalized Development Plans

13:02 Pay Transparency Challenges: New Hire vs. Existing Employee Pay

16:02 Navigating Pay Band Implementation and Market Reality

19:27 The Benefits of Long-Term Employment vs. Job Hopping

21:15 Moving Toward Pay Transparency Despite Executive Concerns

22:52 Treating Employees Like Adults: Trust and Consistency

24:14 Conclusion and Wrap-Up

Connect with Sarika

Visit: vidyard.com 

https://linkedin.com/in/sarikal/ 

Resources Mentioned

Tools and Companies:

Concepts Discussed:

More FNDN Episodes:

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Heidi Health has quietly become one of the most widely used AI products in Australia, powering nearly two million clinical visits a week and transforming how doctors document care. In this re-release of the year’s most downloaded episode, Georgie sits down with Heidi cofounder and CEO Dr Tom Kelly to unpack how this runaway success was built, why clinicians trust it, and what the rise of medical agents means for the future of healthcare.

Tom shares the technical decisions that shaped Heidi’s accuracy advantage, including the surprising reason they ditched live transcription, how batch processing boosts note quality, and why a two percent gain in transcription accuracy can unlock a forty percent jump in adoption. He also breaks down what non technical founders absolutely must understand about LLMs, how he evaluates off the shelf models, and why compliance and regional infrastructure shape every product decision.

The conversation stretches far beyond medical notes. Tom dives into why rag is failing many real world use cases, how giant context windows could reshape patient care, and which AI startups may struggle as models get faster and cheaper. There are hot takes on personal branding, the attention hacking era, and the types of B2B SaaS companies he believes will not survive. Plus, Georgie and Tom play Late Stage Startup Bingo and share two very usable AI hacks.

This episode is a sharp, founder friendly deep dive into building AI products people rely on in the real world. A perfect refresher as we head into a huge 2026 for Australian AI.

Global hiring and payroll can be a headache. Deel brings HR, IT and payroll together in one platform, helping companies including Shopify, Revolut and ElevenLabs scale internationally.

Ready to expand your business?

Build your global team with Deel at deel.com/dayone.

Weekly Substack: https://georgiehealy.substack.com/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/georginahealy/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/georginahealytech/

In The Blink of AI is part of Day One, the podcast network dedicated to founders, operators & investors.

Sign up to get your weekly insights into the up-and-coming AI startups: https://dayone.fm/newsletter

Mentioned in this episode:

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What does it take to build world class AI companies out of Australia, and why does San Francisco still move 6 to 9 months faster? In this episode, Brendan sits down with three of the most ambitious technical founders in the country: Pasha Rayan (CEO & Co-Founder at A1Base), Anshul Jain (Co-Founder at Everlab) and Jacky Koh (Founder at Relevance AI).

They break down the rise of agentic AI, how engineering culture in SF accelerates innovation, and why the next generation of founders need to think in $100B outcomes. They dive into everything from 10 to 20 times engineering productivity gains, to building autonomous healthcare, to creating the communication layer for AI coworkers that everyday people will talk to like friends.

They also unpack what Australia must do to stay competitive, how to build teams that love hard problems, and why ambition, pace and hands-on founders matter more than ever. It’s a rare inside look at the operators defining the next era of AI infrastructure, agent orchestration and human health.

If you want to understand where AI agents are really going, and how Australia can catch up to the frontier, get subscribed.

Oversubscribed is proudly supported by our sponsor Vanta 🦙

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The Day One Network

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Amy Saper sits at the intersection of Silicon Valley’s AI boom, early-stage company building, and deep operator experience. Now a General Partner at Uncork Capital in San Francisco, she cut her teeth at Twitter, Uber, and Stripe before becoming one of the most sought-after seed investors backing the next generation of AI infrastructure and applications.

In this episode of In The Blink of AI, Georgie sits down with Amy for a wide-ranging conversation on how AI is rewriting early-stage investing, what real moats look like in an era of fast-moving models, and why she evaluates founders on slope, not pedigree.

Amy breaks down how she invests in AI-enabled apps and infra, why Gamma’s “overnight success” actually took five years, how non-technical investors can still win deeply technical deals, and what founders get wrong about market size. She also shares candid advice about hiring top AI talent (hint: bring your walking shoes), how to stand out as a seed-stage company, and why she’s bullish on cities and policies that embrace innovation.

This is an energising, thoughtful, and highly tactical episode for anyone building or backing AI in 2025.

Global hiring and payroll can be a headache. Deel brings HR, IT and payroll together in one platform, helping companies including Shopify, Revolut and ElevenLabs scale internationally.

Ready to expand your business?

Build your global team with Deel at deel.com/dayone.

Weekly Substack: https://georgiehealy.substack.com/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/georginahealy/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/georginahealytech/

In The Blink of AI is part of Day One, the podcast network dedicated to founders, operators & investors.

Sign up to get your weekly insights into the up-and-coming AI startups: https://dayone.fm/newsletter

Mentioned in this episode:

Stripe Startups

For early-stage, venture-backed founders – Stripe Startups is where to start. Enrol in the program and receive access to credits on Stripe fees, expert insights, and a focused community of other founders building on Stripe.

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Earlier this year, I got a cancer diagnosis. That sucked. But I had surgery at the end of September, and it looks like it was successful. So maybe now I update my LinkedIn profile to say “cancer survivor” — I don’t know.

With all that going on, I dropped a few things, and new episodes of Pick My Brain was one of them. And here we are in December. I feel much, much better than I did a few months ago, but that break in recording means we won’t have any new episodes for you until early January.

The good news is we’re recording again now. We’ve made some big improvements to the show, and I hope you’re going to love what we have in store for you starting January 2026.

If you need more listening in the meantime, I highly recommend First Check, Perspective X, In The Blink of AI, and our newest show Oversubscribed with angel investor Brendan Hill, which goes deep into the stories behind Australia’s best performing startups.

Anyway, I hope you have a safe, happy, and fun summer break. I hope it’s full of friendship, love, and good times. And I hope your startups are doing well too.

See you in January.

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