Hey Crew! 

Oliver Holle founded his first company as a PhD student at Columbia in the late 1990s. Raised money. Opened four offices. Hired 20 people. And nearly went personally bankrupt for two and a half years with three small kids, no salary, and personal debt of €1.5 million.

He eventually sold to VeriSign, moved to Silicon Valley, came back to Vienna, and built SpeedInvest. Europe's largest seed stage fund. Now managing over $1.2 billion in assets.

This one is full of hard earned wisdom from someone who has been on both sides of the table and paid dearly for every lesson he learned.

We get into 👇:
★ Dropping out of a Columbia PhD to build a startup nobody understood
★ Raising money, blowing it, and nearly going personally bankrupt for two and a half years
★ How threatening to walk away flipped the power dynamic and got him back 100% of his company
★ Why he passed on Bitpanda and ElevenLabs and what that cost him
★ What actually separates founders who make it from those who don't
★ Why the AI revolution feels bigger than the internet and mobile combined

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★ Do you have a random question or need advice? Pop it into the chat or send them to me!! I get to meet and interview some amazing founders and investors globally, so I'll have it included in an upcoming episode :) ★

Hey Crew! It's just me today. No guest. Just a proper deep dive into one of the biggest shifts in consumer business happening right now.

Direct to consumer had its moment. Gymshark. Casper. Allbirds. Peloton. The playbook worked until it didn't.

Now in 2026 the rules have completely changed. And I'm going through exactly why, with real case studies and real numbers.

I get into 👇:
★ Why D2C worked between 2012 and 2021 and what broke it
★ Gymshark, Peloton, Allbirds, Casper and Nike, what worked and what didn't
★ Rhode, Feastables, Chamberlain Coffee and Unwell, the new playbook
★ Why Nike couldn't make D2C only work and what that means for everyone else
★ My thesis on what it actually takes to succeed in consumer in 2026
★ Why retail isn't a failure, it's leverage

Let's keep the crew together 🤝
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fayltales/
🎵 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@fayltales
💼 LinkedIn: https://au.linkedin.com/in/loveth-ochayi-a67491152

On the move? 🎧
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/64449Kq2PDzlkVyCjlN5U8
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/fayl-tales/id1797274868

Follow us on all platforms!

Instagram ~ @fayltales

Tiktok ~ @fayltales 

LinkedIn ~ @fayltales

Hey Crew! 

Daniel Lord-Doyle started in telemarketing. Taught himself to code on YouTube. Built a laser hair removal e-commerce company during COVID by accident among many other things. And then co-founded Mary Technology, an AI legal tech startup that just opened offices in New York and San Francisco.

Half engineer, half salesperson. He thinks that combination is the whole game. And he has a lot to say about what it actually takes to build in one of the hardest industries to sell into.

We get into 👇: 

★ Teaching himself to code on YouTube after missing out on equity at his first company 

★ The laser hair removal e-commerce business that took off during COVID 

★ How Mary Technology went from a red button on a website to AI handling the biggest bottleneck in law 

★ Why legal tech is actually not that hard to sell into right now 

★ The BATNA mistake that nearly sank them 

★ New York, San Francisco, and why 550,000 US law firms was the only answer

Let's keep the crew together 🤝 

📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fayltales/ 

🎵 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@fayltales 

💼 LinkedIn: https://au.linkedin.com/in/loveth-ochayi-a67491152

On the move? 

🎧 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/64449Kq2PDzlkVyCjlN5U8 

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/fayl-tales/id1797274868

+ anywhere you stream

Follow us on all platforms!

Instagram ~ @fayltales

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Hey crew, 
Dickie Currer-Ganguli grew up on the poverty line in Yorkshire with a single mum, joined the army at 20, became a criminal defense and asylum lawyer at 23, moved to Australia at 26, and then found himself picking fruits and milking cows at 27 thinking, what the hell has happened here?

Now he's running Hype Man Media and APAC Innovation Hub, and recently spent 16 days on a train across India with 600 young entrepreneurs, and is about to move to Mumbai.

We cover:
- Growing up on the poverty line with a single mum and how that shaped everything
- Joining the army at 20, becoming a lawyer at 23, and fruit picking in Melbourne at 27
- How a nickname on LinkedIn turned into a media and storytelling business
- Why the most success he's ever had came when he was the most vulnerable
- 16 days on a train across India, four hours sleep a night, and coming off it a shell of a human
- Why 99% of Australian founders look to the US when 5 billion people live next door

Let's keep the crew together 🤝
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fayltales/
🎵 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@fayltales
💼 LinkedIn: https://au.linkedin.com/in/loveth-ochayi-a67491152

On the move? 🎧
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/64449Kq2PDzlkVyCjlN5U8
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/fayl-tales/id1797274868

Follow us on all platforms!

Instagram ~ @fayltales

Tiktok ~ @fayltales 

LinkedIn ~ @fayltales

Hey Crew! Trang Nova stepped on a snail during a morning run and it triggered a quarter life crisis that changed everything.

The career. The relationship. The country. Even her name.

She went from unhappy physio to checking her bank account at a petrol station and finding 80 cents. From a 10 year relationship to a one way ticket to Bali. From not speaking English as a kid to coaching people how to find their voice on stage.

This one goes everywhere.

Let's keep the crew together 🤝 

📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fayltales/ 

🎵 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@fayltales 

💼 LinkedIn: https://au.linkedin.com/in/loveth-ochayi-a67491152

On the move? 🎧 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/64449Kq2PDzlkVyCjlN5U8 

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/fayl-tales/id1797274868

#startuppodcast #founderstory #careerchange #pivoting #femalefounder

Follow us on all platforms!

Instagram ~ @fayltales

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Hey Crew!

It's just me today. No guest, no founder story, just a proper behind the scenes of what building Fayl Tales actually looks like.

We just hit 10,000 subscribers on YouTube. And I have made a lot of mistakes getting there.

I'm spilling all of it. The guest incidents I haven't talked about publicly. The stuff that kept me up at night. And the honest truth about what it actually costs to build something like this while working full time.

Plus the conversations nobody really has about monetization, geography, and what it feels like to be one of very few female voices in Australian startup media.

We cover:
- Behind the scenes mistakes I've never talked about publicly
- The real cost of doing this while working full time
- Honest talk on monetization at 10k subscribers
- Imposter syndrome as a female voice in startup media
- What I want to do better as an interviewer

Follow Fayl Tales on all platforms @fayltales
Follow Loveth on LinkedIn and Instagram @lovethochayi

#startuppodcast #buildinginpublic #podcastbehindthescenes #femalefounder #podcastgrowth

Follow us on all platforms!

Instagram ~ @fayltales

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LinkedIn ~ @fayltales

Hey Crew! 

Sam Garven spent 10 years watching HR get left behind while every other team got the shiny new tools.

So she built Hello Canopy to fix it.

Got into Techstars pre-MVP. Pivoted live on stage at SXSW. Had hundreds of users and angel investors ready to back her next raise.

Two weeks ago she chose to close it all down.

Not because she ran out of money. Not because she lost her team.

Because she spent six weeks rigorously testing every signal she needed to feel confident moving forward. And not all of them stacked up.

This is the full story of that decision, what it felt like, and why she has zero regrets.

We get into 👇:
★ 10 years watching HR get left behind while everyone else got better tools
★ The workplace harassment that made building Hello Canopy feel personal
★ Getting into Techstars pre-MVP on a pitch deck and a janky prototype
★ The six week validation framework that led to closing it down
★ What it feels like to wind your identity around a startup and then let it go
★ Why closing is sometimes the bravest move a founder can make

Let's keep the crew together 🤝
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fayltales/
🎵 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@fayltales
💼 LinkedIn: https://au.linkedin.com/in/loveth-ochayi-a67491152

Follow us on all platforms!

Instagram ~ @fayltales

Tiktok ~ @fayltales 

LinkedIn ~ @fayltales

Hey Crew! 

Loughlan Dalton de Burgh named his cafe Pyramid Scheme. On purpose. Got a cease and desist from his landlord, went viral with 400,000 views, and had people driving two hours for his falafel.

Then his business partner overdosed in the kitchen, $30,000 went missing from the books, and he shut it all down.

He missed 12 consecutive mortgage payments. Used a foreclosure notice to unlock his super and clear $68,000 in arrears. Nobody knew any of this. He just kept building.

So he started Pretty Privilege.

The names are always the least controversial thing about him.

We cover:
- How Pyramid Scheme went viral and fell apart at the same time
- The $30,000 betrayal nobody knew about until now
- Missing 12 mortgages while building a Forbes 30 Under 30 company
- Getting kicked out of the Taylor Swift concert four times in one night
- What "success is shameless" actually means when everything is on the line

Follow Fayl Tales on all platforms @fayltales
Follow Loveth on LinkedIn and Instagram @lovethochayi
Follow Loughlan and Pretty Privilege at https://www.prettyprivilege.club/

Follow us on all platforms!

Instagram ~ @fayltales

Tiktok ~ @fayltales 

LinkedIn ~ @fayltales

Hey Crew! Ben Cull didn't set out to sell his company. He went to market for a $5 million funding round and came back with an acquisition offer from Fiserv at double what he thought the business was worth.

Eight years. Two developers who hated selling. 2,500 merchants. One napkin sketch in a Sheffield pub. No hype. Just acquired.

We get into what the acquisition process actually looks like from the inside, what developers consistently get wrong when they become founders, and what it feels like when the deal finally closes after six months of daily emotional whiplash.

We get into 👇:

★ How a $5M funding round became an unexpected acquisition
★ Building Pinch from a napkin sketch to 2,500 merchants
★ The legal clause that nearly blew up the whole deal
★ Two developers who hated sales and how they fixed it
★ What developers get wrong when they become founders
★ Life inside a corporate after eight years of full autonomy

Let's keep the crew together 🤝 

📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fayltales/ 

🎵 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@fayltales 

💼 LinkedIn: https://au.linkedin.com/in/loveth-ochayi-a67491152

On the move? 

🎧 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/64449Kq2PDzlkVyCjlN5U8 

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/fayl-tales/id1797274868

Follow us on all platforms!

Instagram ~ @fayltales

Tiktok ~ @fayltales 

LinkedIn ~ @fayltales

Hey Crew!

Imagine you've spent years building a company around live events. You just cracked your first million dollar year, you're training the Eventbrite team in Nashville, you're about to partner with one of the biggest ticketing platforms in the world. Then Friday the 13th of March 2020 hits and every single client calls to cancel and ask for their deposits back.

That's where Nina McMahon was when COVID landed.

What she did next is the part worth talking about. Oh, and she accidentally invented the whole product in 2013 because Wi-Fi at events kept breaking and she told a client "we'll just bring the internet" before confirming that was actually possible.

We cover:
- The Friday the 13th phone call that broke everything and what happened in the weeks after
- How they accidentally invented portable Wi-Fi from a two-meter prototype that needed a truck to move
- Tripling revenue through COVID without a playbook
- Getting a cease and desist from Fox Media six events in (and why it was the best thing that ever happened to them)
- Powering a SpaceX launch without knowing it was SpaceX until the GPS said Cape Canaveral
- Why their company motto is "don't work with dicks" and how long it took to actually listen to it

ANNOUNCEMENT
I've just launched our very own Fayl Tales substack!!
If you love a good story, especially one from the trenches, with the ups, pivots and figuring it out, then search Fayl Tales on substack!

Follow Fayl Tales on all platforms @fayltales
Follow Loveth on LinkedIn and Instagram @lovethochayi
Follow Nina and Pop-Up Wi-Fi at popupwifi.com

YouTube Chapters:
0:00 the teaser
1:21 friday the 13th, every client cancelled, and what dissociation actually feels like
3:22 pivoting in under a month and why COVID was their volkswagen moment
6:08 why the industry refused to trust remote networks (until jimmy fallon had no choice)
8:35 accidentally inventing pop-up wifi because venue internet kept breaking
16:14 scaling without a sales team, a love letter to producers, and a cease and desist from fox
30:47 coachella, taylor swift in lake tahoe, and going all in on the US market
38:44 hardware advice, the "don't work with dicks" rule, and trusting your gut

#fayltales #startuppodcast #hardwarestartup #femalefounder #founderstory

Follow us on all platforms!

Instagram ~ @fayltales

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LinkedIn ~ @fayltales