You've seen the cars. The offices. The 500 staff. The half a million people watching him online. You haven't seen the four years that made all of it possible and the moment he lost everything.

Before the property empire, Emil Juresic was a boy in a war zone, walking five kilometres through sniper fire to carry water back to his family. Four years with no power, no clean water, barely any food, waking up each morning not knowing if that was the day. He arrived in Australia at 15 with an accent, no English, and one decision already made: no one would ever be the boss of his life again.

He rarely lets people all the way into those years. In this episode, he does, and you start to understand where the pain tolerance, the hunger and the refusal to ever give up actually come from.

Emil shares the mistakes he's made that nearly cost him everything and the things he'll never stop doing no matter how big his company gets.

CHAPTERS

0:00 "You're marrying a zombie." His warning to anyone who loves a founder
2:43 Two kinds of business owner, and why one of them is born broken
5:43 The chainsaw test: could you put your fingers on the table?
8:18 The three choices when business puts you on your knees
11:24 Carrying water through sniper fire at eleven years old
14:21 "The best times of my life." Why he won't call the war trauma
23:10 He employs 500 people and still moved 15 tonnes of sand himself
25:10 The Braveheart rule he leads every business by
30:02 Getting wiped out at 30, the graduation he never wanted
44:27 Half a million followers calling him an idiot. His answer
52:36 How an entrepreneur really sleeps, and why he loves it

This episode touches on war, trauma and the mental toll of building. If it resonates, support is available in Australia through Lifeline on 13 11 14 or Beyond Blue at beyondblue.org.au.

Connect with Emil - https://www.instagram.com/emil_juresic/?hl=en

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See behind the scenes over at https://www.instagram.com/danmoussa_thirdwayadvisory/

Or Linked In - https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniel-moussa-thirdway/

And if you need help to find the hire that will completely change your business reach out over at https://www.thirdwayadvisory.com.au/

Hit follow wherever you're listening so you don't miss a single episode

He owed more than a million dollars and was too ashamed to tell almost anyone. Today he runs a multi-million-dollar business.Tim Duggal built OzMobiles from a second bedroom in St Kilda, buying and selling second-hand phones out the front of his apartment building, into a multi-million-dollar phone trade-in business. But a few years ago he borrowed a million dollars, felt rich, and watched it nearly take everything. A bank manager told him he was in a death spiral. In this episode he's open about the debt, the isolation, the shame he had to drop to survive, and the chance meeting at a 70th birthday party that turned it around. Along the way he makes the case that the relationship you have with yourself is the one that decides how the business goes.

0:00 The bedroom hustle that became a multi-million-dollar business

3:41 The slightly dodgy phone trade he ran from his apartment stairs

6:14 A doctor dad, a lawyer brother, and him selling second-hand phones

20:00 "I borrowed a million dollars and felt rich"

22:16 Waking up owing $20,000 before getting out of bed

29:48 "You're in a death spiral." What his bank manager told him

32:12 Why he refused to take the easy way out

35:01 The 70th birthday party meeting that changed everything

41:46 The leadership skill he learned at rock bottom: actually listening

55:03 The one relationship that decides all the others

This episode discusses debt, isolation and mental health. If it resonates, support is available in Australia through Lifeline on 13 11 14 or Beyond Blue at beyondblue.org.au.

Connect with Tim over at https://www.linkedin.com/in/tim-duggal-a596b039/

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See behind the scenes over at https://www.instagram.com/danmoussa_thirdwayadvisory/

Or Linked In - https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniel-moussa-thirdway/

And if you need help to find the hire that will completely change your business reach out over at https://www.thirdwayadvisory.com.au/

Hit follow wherever you're listening so you don't miss a single episode.

She left school three months early, worked nightclubs, trained as an electrician, and once went two years without an oven. Now she co-runs a traffic control business turning over $30 million a year.

Sacha Cornford has lived more lives than most founders, and built one of Queensland's fastest-growing businesses through the middle of it. 

In this episode she shares about the broke single-mum years, a late ADHD diagnosis, the breakdown she had while buying the company she now runs, and the business partnership that makes it all work.

Along the way she talks about why a business is a vehicle and not a legacy, why the best deals leave everyone slightly unhappy, and why you should pick a business partner the way you pick a spouse.

0:00 The school dropout now running a $30M business

4:00 She walked out of school early with a near-perfect score

9:04 "Your business is not your legacy"

16:20 Two years with no oven, choosing petrol over groceries

25:32 The ADHD diagnosis that came after she'd blown up her life

38:09 "I was manic." The breakdown in the middle of buying the business

42:09 The owners walked a month before Christmas. She bought it anyway.

48:08 What healing from a breakdown actually takes

57:39 How she and her partner break a deadlock

58:21 Why the best deals leave everyone slightly unhappy

1:03:14 The one thing she'd tell a founder in the trenches

This episode touches on mental health, breakdown and burnout. If it resonates, support is available in Australia through Lifeline on 13 11 14 or Beyond Blue at beyondblue.org.au.

Connect with Sacha over at https://www.linkedin.com/in/sacha-cornford-77098821/ 

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See behind the scenes over at https://www.instagram.com/danmoussa_thirdwayadvisory/

Or Linked In - https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniel-moussa-thirdway/

And if you need help to find the hire that will completely change your business reach out over at https://www.thirdwayadvisory.com.au/

Hit follow wherever you're listening so you don't miss a single episode.

He survived cancer in his twenties. Years later he lost his marriage and his business in the same stretch, and it nearly cost him his life.

NOTE:This episode discusses mental health and suicide. If anything here lands close to home, support is available in Australia through Lifeline on 13 11 14, and Reach Out at au.reachout.com

Scott Horton is one of the best-known names in Brisbane recruitment, co-founder of u&u and now Troocoo. But the story behind two successful firms runs through an alcoholic childhood in Birmingham, a cancer diagnosis at 29, and a collapse so fast it put him in hospital. In this episode he's remarkably open about hitting rock bottom and the slow climb back, what resilience actually costs, why he leads people first, and what he'd say to any founder sitting in the hard early days wondering if it's worth it.

This is the conversation founders rarely have out loud. If you're carrying more than you let on, it's worth your time.

0:00 Why he believes resilience is a founder's only real skill

0:59 Growing up on eggshells with an alcoholic father

10:21 Cancer at 29, just after losing his dad to it

19:41 The CEO who showed him exactly how not to lead

23:15 The lesson that built two firms: look after your people

34:21 Losing his marriage and his business in the same year

41:24 How fast everything unravelled

44:49 Rock bottom, and the climb back

49:23 Why he walked away from a thriving business to start again

55:58 What he'd tell a founder ready to quit

Find Scott over at https://www.linkedin.com/in/scotthorton2010/ and https://www.troocoo.com/ 

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See behind the scenes over at https://www.instagram.com/danmoussa_thirdwayadvisory/

Or Linked In - https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniel-moussa-thirdway/

And if you need help to find the hire that will completely change your business reach out over at https://www.thirdwayadvisory.com.au/

Hit follow wherever you're listening so you don't miss a single episode.

He started Di Bella Coffee with $5,000. He sold it for $47 million. This is what that actually cost him.

Phil Di Bella built one of Australia's biggest coffee companies, then nearly lost himself doing it. 167kg. Blood pressure of 177. Nightmares for six months. In this first episode of The Founder's Fire he talks about the parts founders never say out loud, and the funeral that made him rethink what success was even for.

If you're building something, watch this before you burn yourself down building it.

0:00 The two stories every founder has4:44 Why he calls his pain "premium unleaded"12:25 "Be careful who you tell to f*** off"17:21 He started with $5,000 and one piece of advice21:15 The award win that broke him37:23 What 167kg and 177 blood pressure actually felt like48:17 The question he won't answer about his marriage51:15 The funeral that changed everything53:43 Why he walked away from the company with his name on it1:02:40 How do you refuel after you've already "made it"

Discover The Coffee Commune - https://www.coffeecommune.com.au/

Connect with Phil on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/phillip-di-bella-1556936b/

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See behind the scenes over at https://www.instagram.com/danmoussa_thirdwayadvisory/

Or Linked In - https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniel-moussa-thirdway/

And if you need help to find the hire that will completely change your business reach out over at https://www.thirdwayadvisory.com.au/

Hit follow wherever you're listening so you don't miss a single episode.

He signed the deal every startup dreams of: 5,000 jobs a week. Then COVID wiped it out overnight.

Rudy Crous arrived in Australia as a teenager with a backpack and not much else. He became an organisational psychologist, spent years studying how people behave under pressure, then co-founded Compono, an HR tech company backed by Shark Tank's Andrew Banks.

When his big deal collapsed in 2020 he rebuilt the business into the technology that now powers driver licensing across most of the country.

In this episode he's blunt about the restructures, the loneliness, the two pieces of advice he gives every founder (including the one about your partner nobody wants to hear), and the one thing he does that stops him quitting before lunch.

0:00 The founder behind licensing tech in 5 of 6 states

1:26 He landed in Australia with a backpack and nothing else

14:18 The deal that should have made them, then COVID hit

15:45 The pivot that turned a dead deal into national infrastructure

20:08 "I've wanted to quit before lunch. You just never do."

23:05 Why he'd pick the scrappy hire over the Harvard one every time

25:01 Laying off people he cares about, and how he carries it

36:15 Why every one of his staff sees the burn rate

37:45 The fundraising rule that keeps founders alive

39:53 "Never tell your partner everything."

51:09 His one rule for every founder: keep making decisions

Connect with Rudy https://www.linkedin.com/in/rudycrous/

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See behind the scenes over at https://www.instagram.com/danmoussa_thirdwayadvisory/

Or Linked In - https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniel-moussa-thirdway/

And if you need help to find the hire that will completely change your business reach out over at https://www.thirdwayadvisory.com.au/

Hit follow wherever you're listening so you don't miss a single episode.

Niamh Whiley quit her job with $2,000 in the bank, a brand new mortgage and no clients.

Under two years later she runs Aligned Allied Health with a team of 12, helping hundreds of people.

But the person who treats founders for a living turned out to be the worst at taking her own advice.

In this episode she's honest about the burnout, the self-doubt, the friends she lost, and the money mistakes nobody warns you about.

If you're building something and pretending you're fine, watch this one.

0:00 The therapist founders call when they're breaking

2:50 She lied to the bank and quit with $2,000

9:21 "I work in mental health and I struggled with it more than anyone"

16:51 "Who am I to charge people when I couldn't fix myself?"

21:15 The friends she lost building this

26:19 The $19,700 mistake she never clawed back

28:11 Why year two nearly finished her

39:38 The warning signs founders miss until it's too late

44:20 You built it on fear. What faith would do instead

51:21 What she'd tell herself with $2,000 and no clients

Connect with Niamh - https://au.linkedin.com/in/niamh-whiley-457a111aa

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See behind the scenes over at https://www.instagram.com/danmoussa_thirdwayadvisory/

Or Linked In - https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniel-moussa-thirdway/

And if you need help to find the hire that will completely change your business reach out over at https://www.thirdwayadvisory.com.au/

Hit follow wherever you're listening so you don't miss a single episode.

Every founder has two stories, the one on the stage and the one over a whiskey.

The Founder's Fire is the second one.

We sit down with founders to talk about the things we all go through, but no one talks about.

The pressure, the doubt, the times they nearly gave up and how they turned it all around.
If you're building something and want to hear what it actually takes, this is for you.

Make sure you hit follow because I can't guarantee you've never heard these stories before.

See behind the scenes over at https://www.instagram.com/danmoussa_thirdwayadvisory/

Connect on Linked In - https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniel-moussa-thirdway/

And if you need help to find the hire that will completely change your business reach out over at https://www.thirdwayadvisory.com.au/