Content warning: This episode contains discussion of child sexual exploitation and human trafficking. Listener discretion is advised.

This week on DAY ZERO, Gus sits down with Matt Whittaker from Destiny Rescue, an Australian charity that, over 25 years, has rescued more than 26,000 individuals, including over 16,000 children, from sexual exploitation and human trafficking.

Matt shares the origin story of founder Tony, who gave up everything to move his family to Thailand after overhearing a conversation that changed his life. He walks through the extraordinary story of Chelsea, a three-year-old girl found by a former New Zealand detective through two years of relentless online investigation, and 1,000 hours on Google Street View trying to find a single green gate. He also unpacks why this issue is far closer to home than most Australians realise, and what people can do to help.

A confronting but important listen. To donate, follow this link: https://walk-to-arec-2026.raiselysite.com/t/foundit

Learn more about Destiny Rescue: https://www.destinyrescue.org.au/ 

This week on DAYZERO, Ben sits down with Mark Amos - FOUNDIT's newest buyer's agent covering Sydney's Eastern Suburbs, Lower North Shore and Inner West - to trace a journey from building houses on the Gold Coast and surfing the world, to becoming one of Sydney's most quietly formidable negotiators.

Mark unpacks how studying urban and regional town planning and time on the sell side handed him the complete playbook of the agents he now negotiates against, why emotional intelligence is the single biggest difference between a good and a great buyer's agent, and what it really means to be relentless in one of Australia's most competitive property markets. Plus the client wins that remind him exactly why he does it.

This week on DAYZERO, Gus sits down with Chris Gray — property investor, buyer's agent, and longtime Sky News host of Property Empire — to unpack a philosophy built not on complexity, but on deliberately choosing the simplest path to freedom.

Chris traces his journey from a broke backpacker in Australia who vowed to come back with money, to a $20+ million portfolio built on one stubborn idea: no supply, lots of demand. He explains why he retired from Deloitte at 31, why the smartest people in the room are often the worst property investors, and why his boutique five-person buyer's agency was always a means to an end rather than an empire to build. Along the way he shares how he bought 14 cars during COVID, and how he ended up driving a fully branded 1953 "tank" through Bondi Junction.

This week on DAY ZERO, Gus sits down with Rhys Rogers — co-founder and CEO of Before You Buy — to trace the journey from an insolvency accountant watching a building inspector walk through a Woollahra mansion, to running Australia's largest marketplace for building and pest inspections with 500 inspectors, 70,000 listings a year, and the country's most powerful buyer intent data.

Rhys shares how being made redundant with a business plan already on his computer was the best thing that ever happened to him, and how spending consecutive Christmases manually closing reports until 10:30pm finally taught him to let go. He unpacks the discipline of building leaders within a business rather than bottlenecking every decision through the founders, and what growing up the youngest of eight kids taught him about reading people regardless of age, title, or seniority. And for anyone thinking about starting something, Rhys leaves it simple: make sure you're very comfortable with failure before you begin.

This week on DAYZERO, Ben and Angus sit down with Scott Nowell - co-founder of The Monkeys, Australia's most awarded creative agency - to trace the journey from three guys working with a shared internet cable to a landmark acquisition by one of the world's largest consulting firms.

Scott unpacks what it really takes to build a creative culture from scratch, why a great batting average matters more than a one-hit wonder, and how a scrappy start-up ended up turning down Saatchi & Saatchi.

He reflects on what made Accenture the right partner when every traditional holding group left them cold, and why preserving a renegade culture is harder than it sounds. He also shares where AI is taking the industry - and why the best creative thinking will never be replaced, only the tools used to deliver it.

This week on DAYZERO, Gus sits down with Lex Pedersen, founder of Chrome Temple, to detail his journey in growing a private equity-style fund built around rare and collectible automobiles.

Lex shares how a modest personal collection riddled with maintenance headaches led him to build an automotive butler service, and how that quickly evolved into something far bigger. He walks through the investment science behind rare cars, why his lead analyst deliberately knows nothing about them, and how scarcity, provenance and the J-curve drive every acquisition decision the fund makes. 

Lex also opens up on the lessons carried forward from his first business, and why underneath all of it, Chrome Temple is less about cars and more about giving the world's biggest unhoused passion a place to call home.

This week on DAYZERO, Angus is joined by Anthony Butler - FOUNDIT’s Local Market Expert for the Northern Beaches. Anthony isn't your typical buyer’s agent; he’s a 17-year veteran of the tech world who traded the "glory days" of Apple and various tech startups for a mission to fix the way Australians buy property.

In this episode, we unpack why the traditional real estate model is fundamentally flawed, and how Anthony is using his tech-sales pedigree to level the playing field for buyers.

This week on DAYZERO, we go under the hood of the FOUNDIT research engine. Co-founder Joel Tomaino is joined by Head of Research Kent Lardner to discuss the shift from traditional buyer advocacy to a vertically integrated, data-first model.

In a market where stakes have never been higher, relying on a simple "CMA" or a generic bank AVM isn't enough. Kent and Joel break down the proprietary "Investment Banking Playbook" for property, explaining how to strip back the "noise" of median house prices to find true value.

This week on DAYZERO, Angus is joined by Jeanne Anderson - FOUNDIT’s Local Market Expert for Victoria’s Mornington Peninsula. Jeanne brings a fascinating perspective to the table, combining years of experience in elite real estate brands with a background as an owner-builder and local entrepreneur.

From the rugged back-beaches of St Andrews to the family mansions of Portsea, Jeanne unpacks why the Peninsula is far more than just a holiday destination - it’s a complex web of micro-markets where local knowledge is the difference between a smart buy and a multi-million dollar mistake.

This week on DAYZERO, Angus is joined by a true heavyweight of the Australian proptech scene: Kent Lardner. As the co-founder of Pricefinder and former data lead for CoreLogic in both Australia and China, Kent has spent three decades building the data lakes that define how we value property today.

In this episode, Kent unpacks his transition from the "fax machine" era of the 90s to his new role as Head of Research at FOUNDIT. He shares incredible insights from his time in Beijing, the reality of building AVMs for the world’s largest banks, and how he is now using AI to analyze everything from floor plans to kitchen quality. Kent also breaks down the "bifurcation" of the 2026 market - explaining why competition is fierce for the budget-conscious, while "choice" is finally returning for the wealthy. It’s a masterclass in why median house prices are a myth and how data-driven advocacy is changing the game for buyers.