Day One®

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

Episode Summary

Kabir Arora is the co-founder of Backya, a fresh take on the events marketplace, connecting homeowners with underused backyards to people who need affordable, outdoor spaces to celebrate. In this episode, Kabir walks Alan through his pitch and early traction, including $2K in bookings and a growing network of yard hosts and service providers. Alan shares advice on investor decks, creating emotional hooks, and why a short video from your co-founders might just seal the deal. It’s the perfect listen for first-time founders and anyone building a marketplace from scratch.

1:51 – The Backya pitch: renting backyards for events

3:25 – Why venues are broken (and outdoor alternatives matter)

4:44 – Alan’s tip: use a “bridge” to hook your audience early

6:22 – From backyards to warehouses: Backya’s big vision

8:55 – Creating teaser decks that open investor doors

9:57 – Early traction: 10 listings, 1 event, $2K revenue

11:49 – Building trust with a strong, visible founding team

🙋🏻‍♂️ Kabir’s Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/arorakabir/

🏡 Bakya Australia - https://www.backya.au/

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.

Mentioned in this episode:

Deel x PX_Script 1

Vanta PMB Ad_March 2025_02

Vanta PMB Ad_March 2025_02

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

Pocket Sun is the Founding Partner at SoGal Ventures, the first female-led, millennial VC firm investing in the future of living, working, and staying healthy. In this episode, she shares how she made her first angel investment at just 24, and how her early bets like Everly Health and Lovevery reflected a conviction in underrepresented founders well before it was a trend. Cheryl and Maxine explore how Pocket launched SoGal’s debut fund, built a deal pipeline through global pitch comps and community, and mastered the art of getting onto oversubscribed cap tables. They also unpack her consumer investing thesis, how she’s navigating fund two with more geographic focus, and what it means to lead recaps and board restructures when the power law turns brutal. For anyone curious about building a fund from scratch, going global with limited resources, or backing change-makers the market misses, this episode is packed with both tactics and courage.

00:00 – Pocket’s first angel check: $1K into an AI startup

05:30 – Angel investing isn’t just for the ultra-wealthy

09:45 – From building a global pitch comp to proving LP credibility

14:20 – Early wins: Everly Health, Lovevery, and chasing allocation

23:35 – “Land and expand”: getting on cap tables and earning super pro-rata

27:10 – Leading recaps and fighting for underestimated founders

35:00 – SoGal’s thesis: The future of living, working, and staying healthy

40:30 – Entering new verticals without prior expertise

46:00 – Pocket’s take on the Vancouver vs. Toronto startup ecosystems

53:00 – Betting on design-led, intentional consumer businesses

59:10 – Why consumer startups often graduate into enterprise giants

01:03:00 – Pocket’s Big Cojones moment: moving solo to the U.S. at 18

🙋‍♀️Pocket Sun on LinkedIn – Connect with Pocket and follow her updates. https://www.linkedin.com/in/pocket

💰SoGal Ventures – A VC firm backing diverse founders in the future of living, working, and staying healthy. https://www.sogalventures.com/

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:

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FC Vanta Ad March 2025_02

FC Vanta Ad March 2025_02

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

What drives bold decisions, intentional leadership, and the courage to create something entirely new?

In Perspective X, host Pauline Fetaui dives deep into conversations with extraordinary entrepreneurs and leading innovators to explore not just their successes—but the overlooked decisions, mindset shifts, and personal turning points that sparked their greatest breakthroughs.

This show is about the ripple effect of choice: how deep accountability enables us to respond intentionally to life's challenges, rather than simply reacting. If you're curious about the inner journey behind meaningful achievements and how leaders evolve through adversity, this podcast is for you.

Join us on Perspective X, where we move beyond the highlight reel and into the pivotal moments that changed everything.

Launching on the 12th of May, wherever you get your podcasts.

Mentioned in this episode:

Deel x PX_Script 1

Adrian Macneil grew up packing kiwifruit in rural New Zealand, now he’s building the core infrastructure powering the future of robotics. After leading engineering teams at Cruise and Coinbase, Adrian co-founded Foxglove, a developer platform used by robotics companies worldwide, from autonomous tractors to warehouse bots.

In this episode, Adrian shares how Foxglove emerged from an internal Cruise demo, why robotics is finally having its “PC moment,” and what it really takes to build a startup that lasts. We cover:

• How Cruise helped pioneer self-driving cars (and what went wrong post-acquisition)

• Why developer tools are the missing layer holding robotics back

• Lessons from Coinbase, Cruise, and scaling teams from 30 to 1,200

• The case for Kiwi founders to leave New Zealand, at least for a while

• What robotics startups can learn from the rise of SaaS

• The value of building boring robots that just move rice

We also dive into Adrian’s early days hacking e-commerce in Thailand, how government jobs don’t prepare you for startups, and why he believes the robotics industry will 100x in the next decade.

03:30 When an internal tool became a startup idea

07:42 Cruise vs GM: Startup chaos inside a legacy giant

12:47 Foxglove’s customer base: From tractors to warehouses

16:15 Why Foxglove won’t build robots — and what they’re building instead

21:54 The “1980s PC” moment for robotics

27:41 If not Foxglove — what robotics startup would Adrian build?

30:15 From kiwifruit packhouses to automation inspiration

36:35 Why ambitious builders still need to go to Silicon Valley

41:36 The 10-year mindset needed to build a real company

47:50 How the Kiwi diaspora can supercharge the next generation

🧠 Adrian Macneil’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adrianmacneil/

🛠️ Foxglove – Developer tools for robotics: https://foxglove.dev

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

Scott Contini has a PhD in cryptography with more than a dozen research publications, and has spent the last 15 years focused on solving real-world security problems. After switching from academia to industry in 2008, Scott has identified hundreds of cryptographic implementation flaws across the world, written widely read blogs on common coding mistakes, and contributed significantly to the 2021 OWASP Top 10 topic of Cryptographic Failures. He joins Cole Cornford to discuss how cryptography often goes wrong in practice, why secure-by-default APIs are reshaping security today, and the importance of clear communication and community-building in advancing the field. Scott also shares stories from working alongside legendary figures in cryptography, and offers advice for anyone looking to build a sustainable and impactful security career.

00:20 - Scott’s background in cryptography and transition to AppSec

02:00 - Moving from theory to real-world security challenges

05:00 - Common cryptography mistakes in the industry

07:50 - Why using the wrong encryption modes leads to vulnerabilities

10:10 - How Java’s cryptography design led to widespread issues

14:40 - The rise of secure-by-default APIs in cryptography

17:00 - Stories from working with cryptographic legends

22:00 - Improving advice in the OWASP community

27:50 - The value of writing and public speaking in AppSec careers

33:00 - Advice for newcomers in security: think like an attacker and keep learning

Mentioned in this episode:

Call for Feedback

🎟 Live Show at UNSW – May 29

Catch Georgie and Andrew McCarthy (Head of APAC at Notion) live in Sydney 👉https://bit.ly/BAI-LiveEvent

Anish Sinha, co-founder of upcover, blends his background in finance, startups, and risk management to tackle one of Australia’s overlooked challenges: the future of AI and innovation policy. From building a modern insurance platform serving 60,000+ businesses to sounding the alarm on Australia’s absence of AI strategy, Anish’s story shows how bold thinking and practical execution go hand-in-hand.

In this conversation, he shares insights on why the government’s silence on AI is a major risk, how Australia could learn from China’s tech playbook, and how AI agents will reshape the future of business operations — including in highly regulated industries like insurance.

01:10 – Introduction: Who is Anish Sinha & What upcover Does

02:49 – Why Insurance Tech Is “Sexy” When You Frame It as Risk

04:54 – From Goldman Sachs to Founder: Finance Lessons for Entrepreneurs

09:23 – Australia’s Federal Budget Omits AI: The Strategic Blind Spot

13:11 – What Australia Can Learn from China & the U.S. on Innovation Policy

18:39 – Cybersecurity Funding Crisis: Why $20 per Business Isn’t Enough

22:35 – AI Agents Unpacked: Hype, Promise, and Agent-to-Agent Flows

30:51 – upcover’s AI in Action: Automating Quotes & Data Structuring

36:34 – Hot Takes: Aussie Deep Tech Faves (Samsara Eco, Cover Genius, Gilmour Space)

42:18 – Future Insurability: Climate Risk, AGI Concerns & Startups to Watch

🙋🏻‍♂️ Anish Sinha’s LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/anishsinha13/

🏢 upcover Website – https://upcover.com/

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

🎟 Live Show at UNSW – May 29

Catch Georgie and Andrew McCarthy (Head of APAC at Notion) live in Sydney 👉https://bit.ly/BAI-LiveEvent

Alain Richardt, founder of Atomic Tessellator, combines deep expertise in chemistry, quantum mechanics, and AI to accelerate groundbreaking discoveries in material science. From childhood experiments with toxic chemistry sets to building high-powered simulation tools capable of modeling complex atomic interactions, Alain’s journey highlights the transformative potential of marrying traditional chemistry with cutting-edge AI. In this conversation, he explains how AI-driven simulations now achieve results thousands of times faster than traditional methods, shares ambitious projects like developing fusion reactor materials, and reveals the exciting future of “declarative materials” where scientists specify desired properties, and AI generates the perfect material match.

02:21 – Alain’s Early Chemistry Adventures & Favourite Element (Molybdenum)

05:12 – Mercury Experiments: Crazy Ideas & Influential Teachers

08:19 – Why Alain Founded Atomic Tessellator: Fixing Broken Chemistry Tools

11:38 – Force Field vs. Quantum (DFT) Simulations Explained

15:25 – How Cloud Computing & AI are Revolutionising Chemistry Simulations

17:53 – Promising Applications: Fusion Reactors & Plasma-Facing Materials

23:08 – When AI Simulations Go Rogue: Unexpected (and Expensive) Results

26:04 – Decoding AI Headlines: Schrödinger’s Cat & Quantum Computing Explained

35:09 – Measuring Success as a Founder: Experimental Parity & New Material Discoveries

41:39 – Hot Takes: Periodic Table Merch, Atomic Cocktails, and the Joy of Being a Rebel Founder

🙋🏻‍♂️ Alain’s Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/alain-richardt/

🔬 Atomic Tessellator - https://www.linkedin.com/company/atomictessellator/

⚛️ Interactive Periodic Table https://atomictessellator.com/ptable

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

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

Episode Summary

Stephen Neli is only six weeks into building Zellus, but he’s already going after one of small business’ biggest problems—late payments. In this episode, he shares the origin story behind Zellus, how he’s pitching investors and customers, and what it’s like starting up solo (with a lot of heart and a little help from Figma). Alan breaks down his pitch, offers advice on finding a tech co-founder, and chats about that sneaky startup sidekick: imposter syndrome. If you’re an early-stage founder, this one’s packed with gold.

1:27 – Stephen’s startup story and the birth of Zellus

2:20 – The pitch: how Zellus helps small businesses get paid faster

5:30 – Alan’s feedback: strong structure, clear gestures, great storytelling

8:18 – Who Stephen needs on the team (CTO wanted!)

12:13 – Building in public and what Instagram has taught him

14:52 – Partnerships, pilots, and early traction

17:32 – Customer interviews, pivots, and prototyping with Figma

25:06 – Imposter syndrome and learning to share the lowlights

27:27 – Why sharing the lowlights helps others (and you)

29:49 – Mailout mishaps and the power of founder vulnerabilit

⚡️ Zellus on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/zellus-au/

🙋🏻‍♂️ Stephen’s Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/sneli/

🛳️ Stephen’s Startup Voyage on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/stephen.startupvoyage

🎙️ TEDx Talk: Mike Cannon-Brookes on Imposter Syndrome - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZwEquW_Yij0

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.

Mentioned in this episode:

Deel x PX_Script 1

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

Monique Woodard is the Founder and Solo GP of Cake Ventures, a venture fund focused on the enormous opportunities created by demographic shifts such as aging populations, rising female spending power, and America's transition to a majority-minority population. She explains how these macro-level changes expand markets across digital health, fintech, consumer brands, and AI-enabled solutions. Monique also candidly shares her experiences as a solo GP—covering the realities of fundraising, building a unique investment thesis, navigating partnership dynamics, and scaling from Fund I ($17M) to Fund II. Her insights offer a clear blueprint for investors, operators, and founders eager to capitalise on overlooked, high-growth opportunities driven by demographic change.

03:07 – Monique’s first investment: picking stocks at age 20

06:12 – Her journey from rural entrepreneurship to 500 Startups and VC

12:43 – The "Three Layers of Cake": investing in demographic shifts (aging, female economy, new majority)

22:56 – Why geographic focus matters (and why Cake invests only in North America

24:32 – Real talk on Solo GP life: choosing partners, hiring venture partners, and building a legacy firm

30:07 – Raising Fund II: bigger checks, deeper domain expertise, and firm evolution

39:12 – How founders should position their companies in the AI hype cycle

45:24 – Advice for operators: Understanding the difference between investing and running a venture firm

🍰 Cake Ventures – Monique’s demographic‑change VC firm. https://cake.vc🙋‍♀️Monique Woodard on LinkedIn – Follow her insights on venture & demographics. https://www.linkedin.com/in/moniquewoodard

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

Xavier Collins, London-born and New Zealand-raised, is no stranger to building marketplaces that scale. After early days at Uber, Xavier joined Nexus Notes before launching Deliveroo into dozens of UK cities and spearheading Turo’s growth across Europe. Now he’s applying his marketplace magic to the film industry with Wonder, an AI-native creative studio backed by Blackbird, LocalGlobe, and a host of world-class angels.

In today’s episode, Xavier takes us deep into the creative frontier of AI and storytelling, exploring how technology can unlock new levels of creativity, reshape entertainment financing, and give more filmmakers a voice. We cover:

• How AI is redefining storytelling and enabling more scripts to reach production

• Lessons from building successful marketplaces at Uber, Deliveroo, Turo, and Nexus Notes

• The keys to marketplace success: seeding liquidity, focusing on quality supply, and defining user experience

• Why the entertainment industry is overdue for disruption (and how Wonder is leading the charge)

• How filmmakers and creatives can harness AI to amplify their vision

We also dive into Xavier’s unique journey—from narrowly missing a consulting career to hustling his way through startups, and the unforgettable Cannes moment that launched Wonder.

02:49 The Cannes moment: Realising AI will reshape filmmaking

07:18 Using AI to rescue stories that wouldn’t otherwise be told

10:56 The life-changing phone call that sent Xavier into startups

19:37 Early lessons on marketplace liquidity from Deliveroo and Turo

25:52 Price, selection, and service: The three pillars of marketplace success

32:16 Services vs SaaS: Rethinking business models in the AI age

41:05 Financing films 101: Inside Xavier’s other venture, Lumiere Ventures

48:26 Xavier’s advice to young people: Lean into AI now

🙋🏻‍♂️ Xavier Collins’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/xaviercollins/

✨ Wonder – AI-native creative studio: https://www.wonder.inc

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