Day One®

There’s a lot of AI slop out there, bland prompts, generic images, boring text that all blends together. But how do you stand out when everything looks the same?

In this episode of In The Blink of AI, Georgie Healy sits down with Christina Jones (aka CJ), Head of Design for Generative AI at Canva, for an unfiltered conversation about creativity, originality, and why taste is the new moat in AI.

CJ shares her journey from experimenting with a “cat editor” chatbot called Lemon to leading the design of Canva’s Magic Studio. She explains why AI should be a creative companion, not a micromanager, and how the “Steelman approach” can turn models into your best critic instead of your biggest cheerleader.

They cover why productivity isn’t the whole story, why creativity is especially essential during a cost-of-living crisis, and why observing the world around you is the fastest way to sharpen your originality. Plus: Georgie’s first ever AI rant, spicy takes on AI boyfriends, and the eternal love for the em-dash.

If you’ve ever worried that AI is dulling your creative edge, this episode is your permission slip to embrace originality, and maybe get a little emo about it.

00:00 – Welcome + Georgie’s husky “bug not a feature” voice

03:15 – CJ’s role as Head of Design for GenAI at Canva

05:10 – Why CJ stopped using AI to edit her writing

08:29 – AI Hack of the Week: The “Steelman” method

12:00 – Georgie’s first-ever AI rant: The guinea pig app that never launched

14:20 – Big picture: how to actually think about AI in your life

17:00 – How CJ uses AI to audit her calendar

19:14 – Beyond productivity: where AI really adds value

23:24 – Why creativity matters in a cost-of-living crisis

27:23 – Trends in AI art + training your own diffusion models

32:38 – Is taste the real differentiator in AI?

34:43 – How to grow original thought + creativity fast

38:44 – The ethics (and paradox) of AI companions

43:06 – Spotting “AI slop” in writing

45:03 – Do you need to be a software engineer to survive the AI era?

46:47 – Takeaways: observe, get out of your bubble, grow your creative muscle

🙋‍♀️ Christina (CJ) Jones: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrisjonesish/

✍🏻 Jonesish Substack: https://jonesish.substack.com/about

🍎 Jonesish Website: https://www.jonesish.com/

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:

Deel x PX_Post Intro

Why does it still take women an average of five years to get diagnosed with a chronic health condition — and up to 12 years for endometriosis? In this episode of The New Script, Makenzie Thomas and Frances Goh sit down with Dr. Ariella Heffernan-Marks, medical doctor, award-winning researcher, and founder of Ovum, to explore how technology and data are rewriting women’s healthcare.

Ariella shares the lightbulb moment that inspired Ovum — a “blue book” for women’s health — and how she’s building the first holistic AI health assistant designed to empower women across every stage of life. She explains how Ovum integrates longitudinal health data, generates doctor-friendly summaries, and creates the largest dataset yet to address decades of bias in medical research and AI.

Beyond the tech, Ariella reflects on her journey from medical student to startup CEO, what she learned raising $1.7M in pre-seed funding, and why setting boundaries as a founder is just as important as breaking them.

You’ll also hear surprising insights from her early research, why women are more open to AI in healthcare than expected, and how Ovum is redefining women’s health from “pink and siloed” to holistic, integrated, and equitable.

01:14 – Why women are fearful of the healthcare system

02:05 – Introducing Dr. Ariella Heffernan-Marks, founder of Ovum

03:34 – The lightbulb moment: creating a “blue book” for women’s health

06:23 – What Ovum does and how it works in practice

09:28 – Making doctors listen: generating usable health reports

12:39 – Surprising insights from Ovum’s research & trials

15:31 – Why women welcome AI in healthcare

16:16 – The power of an integrated lifespan approach

18:47 – Building a longitudinal women’s health dataset

20:55 – Data privacy, transparency & research partnerships

22:00 – Fundraising $1.7M pre-seed as a female founder

26:44 – From clinician to founder: navigating the transition

31:45 – Lessons, failures, and the pivot to AI

34:31 – Best advice received & believing in yourself

35:21 – Prioritising energy, boundaries & health as a founder

39:18 – Ovum’s impact on the healthcare system & workforce

42:19 – What’s next for Ovum in the next 12 months

43:55 – If Ariella could rewrite the script on women’s health…

🌐 Ovum: https://www.askovum.com/

👩‍⚕️ Dr. Ariella Heffernan-Marks: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-ariella-heffernan-marks-935401120/

Acknowledgment of Country

We acknowledge the Traditional Owners of the land on which we record and pay our respects to their Elders, past and present. We recognise their continuing connection to land, waters, and culture.

Disclaimer

The New Script is a podcast created for educational and awareness-raising purposes only. The conversations you’ll hear are not intended to be medical advice.

Please consult a qualified healthcare professional for any personal medical concerns or decisions.

Frances LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/frances-goh/

Makenzie's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/makenziethomas/

The New Script is part of Day One, the podcast network dedicated to founders, operators & investors. https://dayone.fm/newsletter

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 Andrew, an HR veteran with 30 years of experience including CHRO roles at S&P 500 companies, we explore how to maximize compensation impact when resources are constrained. Andrew shares his insights on the power of differentiation in compensation, the importance of realistic performance distributions, and why tough conversations about performance are essential for organizational health. We dive deep into how to move beyond the "everyone gets the same" mentality and create meaningful compensation strategies that actually drive performance and business outcomes.

Chapters:

00:00 Welcome and Introduction to FNDN Series

02:41 The Challenge of Overcomplex Compensation Systems

03:30 First Principles: What Are We Really Trying to Achieve?

05:15 The Magic of Differentiation in Compensation

07:45 Why Distribution Matters: The 20-70-10 Model

08:08 Communication and Manager Capability in Compensation

11:00 The Budget Reality: Funding Differentiation

11:49 Compensation Philosophy as Attraction and Repulsion Tool

14:53 Alternatives When Cash Budget Is Constrained

16:16 Budget as Choice: Connecting Compensation to Company Goals

18:15 Market Informed vs Market Led Approach

19:45 Strategic Benefits and Workforce Planning

Connect with Andrew

Visit: https://linkedin.com/in/bartlow/ 

The People Leader Accelerator helps HR professionals and their organizations to grow. They exist to support the success of Human Resources leaders.

Resources Mentioned:

Companies/Organizations Mentioned:

Concepts Discussed:

More FNDN Episodes:

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4GeBIeZOKrFxG1oiiPxmiM

Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fndn-series/id1794263484

Replay Episode! When this conversation with Lorikeet co-founder Steve Hind first aired, the company had just raised $14M. Fast forward a few short months and they’ve doubled their valuation, become the hottest name in Australian AI, and poached some of the best engineers in the country. With so many new subscribers since then, we’re bringing this one back.

In this episode, Georgie Healy sits down with Steve to unpack how Lorikeet built Rae, an AI platform powering complex support for banks, healthcare, SaaS, and beyond. Steve explains why Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) isn’t the silver bullet everyone thinks, what “agentic frameworks” really mean (and why it’s mostly marketing), and how starting with the hardest customer problems creates a defensible product.

They also dive into what makes AI support feel truly human, why empathy matters more than “personality,” and how to balance technical brilliance with marketing clarity. Along the way, Steve shares his favourite AI tools, what he looks for when hiring, and why founders should stop being insecure about not training their own models.

Whether you’re building in AI, hiring AI talent, or just curious about where the hype ends and real customer value begins—this replay is a masterclass in scaling smart AI support.

01:52 – What makes Lorikeet different from other AI support tools

02:49 – Why banks and healthcare companies need AI-driven customer support

09:00 – What is RAG, and why does it matter for AI-powered customer service?

14:09 – The biggest mistake AI chatbots make in customer support

16:26 – What does "agentic reasoning" really mean?

19:12 – The cost of running AI models and why RAG reduces compute power

27:46 – AI tools Steve uses every day (and his take on Perplexity and Replit)

30:36 – How to stand out when applying for an AI job

39:18 – What people get wrong about AGI and AI scaling laws

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:

Vanta Ad_BAI Jul25

Vanta Ad_BAI Jul25

Vanta Ad_BAI Jul25

Deel x PX_Post Intro

Win $2,000 in credits with the Day One Network — take our 2-minute audience survey before 30 June: dayone.fm/survey

Episode Summary

Carbon credits are meant to help the world fight climate change, but the reality is messy: project developers are still managing everything in spreadsheets, emails, and PDFs, making credits slow, opaque, and hard to trust.

In this episode of Pick My Brain, Alan Jones sits down with Allen Fan, co-founder of CarbonHQ, a B2B SaaS startup building the operating system for carbon project developers. Together they unpack how CarbonHQ is cutting issuance time from months to weeks, why credibility and transparency matter as much as climate impact, and what it really takes to sell software in a market still run on paper.

Allen also shares how he met his co-founder through a layoff talent directory, why sales never came naturally to him, and how repeated “reps” are helping him get better. Alan Jones dives in with advice on pricing strategy, investor communications, and building trust through authentic storytelling, the real ingredients behind startup growth.

Whether you’re tackling climate tech, B2B SaaS, or just wrestling with sales as a founder, this episode is packed with practical takeaways.

Time Stamps

01:15 – What CarbonHQ really does (and why it’s not carbon accounting)

03:40 – The pitch: fixing carbon credit issuance with software

06:15 – Co-founder story: meeting through a layoff talent directory

08:20 – Breaking down CarbonHQ’s 3-year journey and first $100K ARR

09:40 – Learning sales as a founder who isn’t “a salesperson”

12:10 – Why trust is the foundation of every sale

14:20 – Early-stage websites, product storytelling, and pricing psychology

19:55 – How to think about pricing when you don’t know your market yet

20:30 – Raising capital vs. focusing on revenue growth

23:40 – Why regular investor updates and pitching on stage build credibility

Resources Mentioned

🎙 Ask Alan a Question - https://www.speakpipe.com/PickMyBrain

👨‍💻 Allen Fan – https://www.linkedin.com/in/allen-fan-618b9864/

🌏 CarbonHQ – http://carbonhq.earth/

Mentioned in this episode:

Deel x PX_Script 1

Vanta PMB May 2025_01

Standard Ledger

Win $2,000 in credits with the Day One Network — take our 2-minute audience survey before 30 June: dayone.fm/survey

Sachin Bhanot leads Southeast Asia & ANZ investments at Prosus Ventures, a global fund with $100B+ in assets. Though based in Singapore, Sachin has become an “honorary Australian fund manager”, with nearly half of Prosus’s regional portfolio now in Australia and New Zealand.

In this episode, Cheryl and Maxine dive into why Prosus ramped up in Australia during a downturn, what paradoxical traits they see in winning founders, and how Singapore and Southeast Asia really compare as markets for expansion.

They unpack the playbook for Australian startups going regional, what Singaporean family offices are actually looking for, and why relationship-building is the real cheat code in Southeast Asia. Sachin also shares his biggest Big Chon moment, and how building coffee chains in the Philippines and Malaysia reshaped his view of what it takes to be an investor.

02:53 – Sachin’s first and most important investment (hint: not a startup)

07:31 – The paradoxical traits of winning founders

10:26 – Singapore vs Southeast Asia: the tale of two ecosystems

18:12 – Why Prosus doubled down on Australia in 2022

28:40 – Tips and traps for Aussie founders expanding regionally

34:44 – When is the “right” time to enter Southeast Asia?

42:11 – The rise of the Australia–India–Singapore innovation corridor

48:34 – Singapore family offices and the art of relationship-driven capital

51:59 – Sachin’s Big Chon moment: learning empathy by building businesses himself

Resources Mentioned

🙋🏻‍♂️ Sachin Bhanot - https://www.linkedin.com/in/sachin-bhanot-15551913a/

💰 Prosus Ventures - https://www.prosus.com/prosus-ventures

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.

___

Pear Tree: Pear Tree helps Australian and New Zealand founders build high-performing offshore teams without the agency middleman.

As local hiring becomes more expensive and harder to fill, many operators are turning to offshore talent across engineering, development, marketing, accounting and operations at a fraction of local salary costs.

The offshore horror stories you hear usually aren’t a talent problem. They’re the result of outsourcing agencies that overcharge clients while underpaying staff. Pear Tree takes a different approach through a direct, transparent model where your team is paid fairly, fully compliant, and focused entirely on your business.

As part of the Day One community, you’ll receive a free team audit to identify where offshore talent could move the needle in your business, plus 20% off your first hire. Learn more at http://dayone.fm/peartree

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

Mentioned in this episode:

Deel x PX_Script 1

Annie Lacombe, Head of Engineering at MGA Thermal, shares her path from a modest background to working in oil and gas, food manufacturing, and defense industries across multiple continents. Annie opens up about the challenges of being a woman in male-dominated industries, and how a mentor made a difference. 

In this episode, Annie dives into MGA Thermal’s groundbreaking technology that uses aluminium phase-change to store thermal energy, addressing a critical gap in industrial decarbonisation. As both a migrant engineer and working mother, Annie offers valuable insights on building networks in a new country, negotiating fair compensation, and achieving work-life balance through hybrid work arrangements. You won’t want to miss her advice for young engineers, including her two guiding principles: know your engineering rules of thumb, and only say what it is kind and necessary. A must listen for engineers of all career stages.

Why are women still being misdiagnosed, dismissed, or left out of medical research altogether? In this very first episode of The New Script, Makenzie Thomas and Frances Goh sit down with Sally Hasler, CEO of Women’s Health Victoria, to explore the systemic inequities shaping women’s health today, and what it will take to change them.

Sally introduces powerful concepts like medical misogyny and below the bikini line health, and explains how gender-blind services and unconscious bias affect the way women and gender diverse people receive care. She also shares candid insights on the barriers to abortion access, the ongoing stigma in reproductive health, and why equity must be at the heart of reform.

Beyond policy and advocacy, Sally talks about her leadership journey, the importance of collective action across government, health, and community, and how she balances the demands of running a statewide organisation with her own wellbeing.

You’ll also hear why including women in medical research from the start is essential, how initiatives like 1800 My Options and the Labia Library are changing the conversation, and why this moment in women’s health must be used to create lasting systems change.

01:09 – Welcome to The New Script

02:35 – Introducing Sally Hasler, CEO of Women’s Health Victoria

06:22 – Sally’s career path and passion for gender equity

08:25 – Where the gaps in women’s health exist today

11:50 – Defining gender-blind services, gender bias & medical misogyny

17:27 – Social determinants of health and structural inequity

20:05 – Barriers to abortion access and “abortion deserts”

23:40 – Why stigma persists even after decriminalization

25:45 – Inside Women’s Health Victoria: services, advocacy & the Labia Library

28:35 – How collective advocacy drives systems change

31:29 – Sally’s leadership journey and lessons as a first-time CEO

34:46 – Balancing advocacy work with personal health and energy

37:05 – The missing conversation in women’s health: abortion as mainstream care

38:55 – Looking 10 years ahead: embedding lasting reform

40:43 – If Sally could rewrite the script: women in medical research

42:12 – Closing reflections and what’s next

🙋‍♀️ Sally's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sallyhasler/

📞 1800 My Options: https://1800myoptions.org.au/

— free, confidential phone and web service for contraception, abortion, and sexual health

🌐 Women’s Health Victoria: https://whv.org.au/

— statewide feminist health organisation leading advocacy, research, and services

📚 The Labia Library: https://labialibrary.org.au/

— celebrates body diversity and breaks stigma around anatomy

🤝 Counterpart: https://counterpart.org.au/

— peer support service for women and gender diverse people affected by cancer, run by Women's Health Victoria

📰 “Medical misogyny” — investigative series by The Age and Sydney Morning Herald:

https://www.whv.org.au/ceo-blog-the-age-medical-misogyny/

— Sally Hasler reflects on the powerful reporting and its impact

Acknowledgment of Country

We acknowledge the Traditional Owners of the land on which we record and pay our respects to their Elders, past and present. We recognise their continuing connection to land, waters, and culture.

Disclaimer

The New Script is a podcast created for educational and awareness-raising purposes only. The conversations you’ll hear are not intended to be medical advice.

Please consult a qualified healthcare professional for any personal medical concerns or decisions.

Frances LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/frances-goh/

Makenzie's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/makenziethomas/

The New Script is part of Day One, the podcast network dedicated to founders, operators & investors. https://dayone.fm/newsletter

Welcome to The New Script

Description:

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 Andrew Bartlow, a seasoned HR professional with 30 years of experience and current PE operating partner, we demystify how private equity really works and explore the powerful but lesser-known world of profit interests. Andrew breaks down common PE misconceptions, explains how profit interests differ from traditional stock options and RSUs, and reveals why these flexible ownership structures can create significant value for employees at all levels. Keep watching to discover how PE firms are moving beyond the "cut costs and flip" stereotype to build genuine value through strategic growth and broad-based employee ownership.

Chapters:

00:44 Guest Introduction: Andrew Bartlow's 30-Year HR Journey

03:41 Private Equity 101: How PE Actually Works

05:58 Understanding PE Stakeholders and Their Incentives

08:40 Debunking PE Myths: Growth Over Cost-Cutting

11:31 The Reality of PE Value Creation

12:25 Profit Interests Explained: The PE Ownership Model

15:51 Comparing Profit Interests to Stock Options

19:54 Flexible Program Design for Heads of People

22:28 Broad-Based Employee Ownership and Communication

23:16 Conclusion and Wrap-Up

Connect with Andrew

Visit: https://linkedin.com/in/bartlow/

The People Leader Accelerator helps HR professionals and their organizations to grow. They exist to support the success of Human Resources leaders.

Resources Mentioned:

Companies/Organizations Mentioned:

Ownership Works - Nonprofit promoting broad-based employee ownership in PE, spun out from KKR

KKR - Major private equity firm pioneering employee ownership initiatives

People Tech Partners - Community where PE compensation discussions take place

Culture Amp, Pepsi, GE - Companies mentioned as part of Andrew's background

Key Concepts Discussed:

409A Valuations - Startup valuation methodology for stock options

Leverage in PE transactions - How debt financing amplifies returns

Broad-based employee ownership - Extending profit interests to all employees

More FNDN Episodes:

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4GeBIeZOKrFxG1oiiPxmiM

Apple Podcast: 

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fndn-series/id1794263484