In this episode of ScaleUp Sound Bytes, Sam sits down with Xharmagne Carandang, founding engineer at Lorikeet, one of Australia's hottest startups, and someone who is quietly redefining what it means to build great tech with purpose.

From working in federal government to startups barely past MVP, Xharmagne has intentionally gone from big to small, chasing learning, ownership, and impact at every step. We talk about what changes when you scale down, why engineers should care about the why behind what they build, and how Lorikeet is bringing clarity, trust, and empathy to AI in customer service.

We dive into:

💡 Moving from “feature factory” coding to mission-driven product thinking

💡 Why clear context beats company size when it comes to making an impact

💡 How Lorikeet is helping teams train AI to sound human, and when AI should just butt out

💡 Designing UX for AI when the rules don’t exist yet

💡 The drop-off of women in engineering and how visibility, community, and role models matter

💡 Why engineers should act more like collaborators and less like keyboard monkeys

💡 Her favourite framework: thinking in bets (and how to avoid betting the house)

💡 Building sustainably, with dance classes as a burnout barometer

Xharmagne brings a sharp mind and an open heart to her work, and this episode is packed with insights for anyone navigating engineering culture, ethical AI, or what it actually means to build software that helps people.

#ScaleUp #SoundBytes #WomenInTech #AI #FoundingEngineer

From Delivery Vans to Design Led SaaS: The Wild Ride of Niklas Olsson!

In this episode of ScaleUp Sound Bytes, Sam sits down with serial founder and spreadsheet disruptor, Niklas Olsson. He’s the brains behind klaro and has previously built everything from delivery startups to data platforms, with an acquisition or two along the way.

Niklas is what happens when you mix industrial design, a love of math, a dash of chaos, and five startup journeys. He’s gone from sketching Ferraris to building what he calls the “Canva for numbers” empowering non-finance folks to make big decisions without breaking a spreadsheet or their spirit.

Check out a little of what we cover:

💡 Why numerical thinking is a superpower and how klaro is making it mainstream

💡 Building startups by living the customer experience (yes, he drove the van himself)

💡 How posting a humble Google Sheet exploded into thousands of downloads and sparked a company

💡 The dangers of spreadsheet spaghetti and why templates aren’t enough

💡 What it means to build a values-led team: mindful intentions, side by side, forever a student

💡 Getting from zero to MVP using content, community and pure scrappiness

💡 Lessons from five startups with what worked, what flopped, and what he’d never do again

Whether you’re an aspiring founder, a frustrated spreadsheet warrior, or someone who’s ever wondered if maybe there's a better way to crunch numbers, this one’s for you.

Niklas is sharp, honest, and design led in everything he does and it shows.

#ScaleUp #SoundBytes #StartupWisdom #DesignLedFounder #ScaleUpRecruitment

Sam kicked off 2025 with a bang, sitting down with none other than Yaniv Bernstein. He's the co-host of The Startup Podcast, former VP of Engineering at Airtasker, ex-Google-er, and all-around startup legend.

In this episode, we dive into the mindset, mechanics, and missteps of scaling early-stage startups. Yaniv talks candidly about what drew him into the startup world after a decade at Google, how he accidentally launched a bootstrapped podcast business, and why the title "Principal Engineer" is often misunderstood, especially in startups.

Whether you're an aspiring founder, a startup engineer with ambition, or someone trying to decode the difference between a CTO and a VP of Engineering (spoiler: it's messy), this is one to get stuck into.

Here’s a taste of what we get into:

💡 What makes a great startup hire (smart, gets shit done, and thrives in chaos)

💡 Why founders should do everything themselves until they absolutely can’t

💡 Principal Engineers as multipliers, not managers

💡 Hiring too senior, too soon: the rookie mistake most founders make

💡 AI’s impact on engineering teams and why junior devs should be worried

💡 The difference between being a technical founder and a founder with technical help

💡 Knowing the rules of the game: the most underrated startup advice ever

💡 How a podcast side hustle accidentally turned into a real business

This episode is honest, unfiltered, and packed with wisdom from someone who’s seen it all – from corporate giant to zero-to-one startup and everything in between.

If you're in tech, thinking about launching a startup, or just want to understand how high-performing teams actually get built, do yourself a favour and listen in.

#ScaleUp #SoundBytes #ScaleUpRecruitment

Sam sits down with Nicholas Clancy, CTO of EngineRoom. What’s special about Nic is that Piero actually placed Nic into his first role as a software engineer into Pooled Energy about a decade ago. Fast forward a to now years and Nic has scaled his career into CTO. All of this would not of been possible if he was in a corporate environment.

Tune in a discover Nic’s personal journey, what it’s like to work in a high growth start up and the mindset of what's required to succeed.

If you are thinking of joining a start-up or leaving your cushy corporate role for an opportunity with one, you need to listen to this. Learn from someone who has navigated their way to Head of Engineering and CTO of two start-ups and is continuously challenging the status quo.

We talk about:

💡 High tolerance to risk and failure

💡 Velocity of decision making and execution

💡 Time and indecision kills start-ups

💡 Ownership and accountability

💡 High tolerance to risk + fast decisions = things going wrong.

💡 How do you react and own those mistakes when it impacts real customers?

💡 Start-ups own it, normal companies cover it up and play the PR game

💡 Changing the status quo

💡 How what you do is fundamentally different

#ScaleUp #SoundBytes

Ben Meneses-Sosa shares a blueprint for any aspiring leaders of tech teams to ensure smooth leadership and deliverables.

Ben came into the ScaleUp Sound Bytes office to share his wisdom in the latest episode of ScaleUp Soundbytes.
 
Find out first hand why he is considered one of the best leaders of leaders in Sydney as he shares a play-by-play for any aspiring leaders of tech teams to follow ensuring smooth leadership and deliverables.

Some key insights:

💡 The 3 three D’s of effective team management.
💡 How not to be a blocker and debug the team.
💡 Why aligning your team with other teams (i.e. product) is critical for the success of project delivery.
💡 How to achieve balance and what the difference is between open, closed and technical decisions are.
💡 The Why, the What and the How you can delegate.
💡 How the DACI framework ensures effective communication for all decisions.
💡 How to involve the team, recruit the right people and review activities.
 
What we love about this chat is that even if you are stepping into a leadership role, with ZERO experience, you can use the thoughts shared in this podcast to feel confident that they’ve got a tool kit to effectively manage a team and deliver projects successfully.
 
If you are a current leader, stepping into a leadership position or aspire to ber a leader (team/people/delivery) then this is a must listen!

Ben's framework will give you the freedom you need to get things done. You'll be able to spend your time working on the team instead of working in the team.

#ScaleUp #SoundBytes

Dale Hurley, former CTO of CreditorWatch & COO/CDO of Avenue Bank, joined us at the ScaleUp SoundBytes studio for a chat about all things Start Up sharing his journey from corporate consulting into the start-up world. 

Listen on as you get to hear what led Dale to leave an incredibly well paying & stable role into the gamble of a startup. You get to hear what made CreditorWatch the success it was and how it was able to not only disrupt but almost create a market.

Dale shares his unique view into what the journey was like from inception through to exit and I'm sure you can imagine the journey with Avenue wasn't so smooth. Tyson said, “everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face.” which is a term that gets used a lot in the Startup world.

After hearing Dale's story I genuinely feel the team not only took a few on the chin but had to pivot harder than Ali's rope a dope to keep going.

Some key insights:

💡 What it was like to take on the banks.

💡 Dealing with working in a highly regulated market.

💡 Navigating through COVID.

💡 The collapse of the Neo Banks.

💡 A failed takeover bid.

💡 The rise of the Interest rates.

This is a must-listen if you want to peep behind the curtain and hear an uncensored story of what it's like to ride the start up roller coaster.

#ScaleUp #SoundBytes

In this episode, Sam sits down with Raj Senanayake, Technology Delivery Director, at WTW (Willis Towers Watson). Follow his journey from a kid mucking around with computers to working at one of the world’s biggest global risk advisory, insurance brokerage and consulting solutions companies as their Director.

Sam and Simran discuss the typical traits of engineering leaders. Leaders will come from 1 of 3 backgrounds (tech, people, delivery), Engineering leaders will be a blend of 1 or 2 and it's incredibly hard to be the perfect/unicorn blend of the three.

When these skill sets blend the leader adopts a particular persona that will usually guide their ability to lead, influence and delegate. If this is not done effectively by incorporating 2 skills out of the 3 and the leader only relies on their main core skillset, what results is usually pain for the team below and above.

Environment is a huge factor in determining the success of the leader, some persona's work better in different organisations than others. Personas can and often do change over time depending on the leadership role - team & technical leads may require different personas to HOE/CTO in the same organisation.

If you are looking to ScaleUp your career into leadership and into CTO level then this for you! Play along with the podcast and think what is my background and what persona will I become!

#ScaleUp #SoundBytes

Start you own business? What the worst that could happen? - Monica Ly Co-Founder of EdgeRed

EdgeRed stands at the forefront of empowering businesses to make informed decisions by collaborating closely to analyse and engineer their data.

This conversation not only delves into Monica's path to entrepreneurship and the creation of a distinctively successful business, it explores her family's narrative of resilience as refugees in Australia, their entrepreneurial endeavours, and family in general.

Monica's openness and vulnerability shines through in this discussion, offering a rare glimpse into how having a grateful mindset can liberate yourself to pursue your dreams fearlessly. After all, what's the worst that could happen?

To find out more on EdgeRed check out their website at: https://www.edgered.com.au/

#ScaleUp #SoundBytes

Sam recently had a blast chatting with Roneel Muhammad, Director of Engineering at OpenTable. Acquainted for just shy of 10 years now, he is by far one of the most inspiring technology leaders in Australia.

Roneel spills the beans on how he fine tuned OpenTable's interview process in order to scale quickly and effectively.

Picture this: a team desperately wrestling with acquiring the right technical people, facing a tidal wave of candidates dropping out mid-process. Yikes!

After a deep dive into their then-extensive hiring process, Roneel and his crew started brainstorming on how they could make it better. They embarked on a mission to streamline the maze, remove bottlenecks, and implement training for his team on improving interview processes. Throw in a sprinkle of magic on the candidate experience ensured that it was a process they won’t forget.

The result? A jaw-dropping turnaround and a hiring extravaganza that would even make Reid Hoffman do a double-take (Hellooooo Blitzscaling)! All during COVID, the notorious nightmare for hiring software engineers.

The secret sauce? Cut down on the processes, be empathetic, ditch the pointless fluffy questions, make sure you have a valid tech test, and be bold in decision-making.

If you are embarking on a hiring journey, or just want to ScaleUp your team then this is a must listen! Dive into this podcast for an inside scoop on these game-changing strategies.