From Zero to a Global Coconut Water Brand: Scott Mendelson’s Raw C Journey

What do you do when everyone says your idea is a fad? If you're Scott Mendelson, you ignore the noise and build a globally recognised coconut water empire from scratch. In this inspiring episode of The House Story, we sit down with Scott—founder of Natural Raw C Coconut Water—to unpack his wild ride from importing his first container to cracking major supermarket shelves across Australia and launching into the U.S. market.

With no experience in FMCG and zero funding, Scott bootstrapped Raw C from day one, navigating failures, rejected pitches, off coconut water, and doubters at every corner. Armed with nothing but hustle, resilience, and the support of his now-wife Dana, Scott’s story is one of pure entrepreneurial grit. Today, Raw C is a powerhouse brand, selling millions of units and expanding globally—all while still being 100% founder-owned.

👊 What you’ll learn in this episode:

• How Scott went from finance dropout to building a $100M beverage brand

• The brutal realities of breaking into the FMCG space with no network

• Why most people massively underestimate the cost, logistics, and mental toll of growing a drinks business

• How household coconut water penetration has surged past 20% in Australia—and what’s driving it

• The power of brand authenticity, health trends, and immigrant communities in shaping food culture

• Why owning your business outright may be your greatest advantage

• Why growing too fast can kill your business—and how Scott learned this the hard way

• How to balance product demand, logistics, cash flow, and talent as your company scales

• Why Raw C stayed out of unprofitable retail channels (and what most founders get wrong)

• What makes a great pitch deck and the #1 thing Scott looks for in entrepreneurs (hint: it's not the product)

💡 Key quote:
"Do you want a business that turns over $100 million and makes $1 million, or a $10 million business that makes $2.5 million? Bigger isn’t always better."

Scott also shares his views on crowdfunding, venture capital, brand loyalty, and why many health beverage startups fail before they scale. With coconut water now in nearly every Aussie fridge and Raw C preparing for a massive push into Costco USA, this episode is a masterclass in long-game thinking, humility, and staying founder-led in a world addicted to hyper-growth.

🔥 If you're dreaming of launching a food or drink brand—or you're already in the trenches—this episode is your wake-up call, your blueprint, and your dose of real talk.

Want more founder stories like this? Follow The House Story for new episodes each week featuring Australia’s top entrepreneurs and brand builders.

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How Michael Sherlock Scaled Brumby’s Bakery to 300+ Stores & Reinvented Himself in Commercial Real Estate

What does it take to transform a struggling bakery brand into a $100 million franchise empire? In this episode of The House Story, we sit down with Michael Sherlock—former CEO of Brumby’s Bakery and now Director at Sentinel Property Group—to explore a journey of business reinvention, franchising mastery, and unshakable entrepreneurial spirit.

From humble beginnings as an accountant in a three-store operation, Michael played a pivotal role in scaling Brumby’s to over 300 locations across Australia and New Zealand. Along the way, he navigated hostile takeovers, boardroom battles, and media crises—emerging each time with hard-earned wisdom and clarity on what makes a franchise model work.

🔍 What you’ll learn in this episode:

• How Michael Sherlock grew Brumby’s from 3 stores to 321 locations and a successful ASX listing

• The real difference between scalable business systems and unsustainable hustle

• Why a strong franchise model starts with “the owner’s eye” and duplicatable systems

• The dark side of franchise roll-ups: what happens when profitability for franchisees is ignored

• Insider tips on site selection, tenant mix, and "ant trail" traffic flows in retail

• How to incentivise teams with "golden handcuffs" and create alignment without losing culture

• The rise and fall of well-known franchises like Michelle’s and what entrepreneurs can learn from them

• How Michael reinvented his career after Brumby’s by investing through Sentinel, delivering 19.6% IRR returns in commercial property syndicates

• His philosophy on investing, managing risk, and staying resilient after personal and professional setbacks

• The importance of travel, staying curious, and how he became TripAdvisor’s #1 hotel/restaurant reviewer in the world in 2017

🎙️ Michael also shares personal stories of:

• Buying Brumby’s out of receivership with a $2,000 investment

• Overcoming public health scandals and media attacks

• Writing a strategic business plan that increased share prices from $0.50 to $3.60

• Advising aspiring franchisors on how to structure fair, profitable franchise systems

• Why he believes now is the best time to be in business—and what founders must know before scaling

Whether you’re an entrepreneur, franchisor, investor, or simply curious about how iconic Australian brands are built (and sometimes undone), this is a must-listen masterclass in business growth and reinvention.

📈 Perfect for listeners searching for:

• "How to scale a franchise in Australia"

• "Michael Sherlock Brumby’s Bakery story"

• "Franchise business tips"

• "How to invest in commercial property Australia"

• "Brumby’s vs Retail Food Group"

• "Sentinel Property Group returns"

• "How to avoid franchise failure"

• "Entrepreneurial resilience stories"

• "Building a $100M brand from scratch"

Tap play and discover how decades of hard-won lessons in business, leadership, and investing can shape your own path forward—no matter what industry you're in.

From Side Hustle to Industry Standard: How Angus Keatinge and Quickli Transformed Mortgage Broking in Australia.

How do you turn an idea, a laptop, and a whole lot of stress into a platform used by over 10,000 mortgage brokers—and more than 60% of an entire national industry?

In this powerful and candid episode of The House Story, we sit down with Angus Keen, co-founder and co-CEO of Quickli, a fast-growing Australian fintech that has revolutionised the mortgage broking sector.

Quickli wasn’t born in a boardroom. It started in the middle of a pandemic, in a tiny shared office, with no investment, no runway, and no guarantees. But what Angus and co-founder Eric had was relentless focus, a deep builder mindset, and a product that solved a real, urgent pain point: helping brokers calculate exactly how much their clients could borrow—instantly, accurately, and across multiple lenders.

In this episode, Angus pulls back the curtain on the raw, unfiltered story behind Quickli's rise. From quitting his job just as his third child was born, to building the first version of the platform solo while being a full-time dad, this is a story of risk, resilience, and product-market obsession.

🎙 Topics we cover:

• The early days: how Quickli started during COVID-19

• Why “getting to market fast” beats building a “perfect product”

• Bootstrapping vs VC: why raising money wasn’t the first move

• Breaking into the broking industry without insider experience

• Why customer trust and accuracy became Quickli's edge

• How the platform grew from a mail-out to viral word of mouth

• Quickli's product strategy, UX decisions, and growth bottlenecks

• Hiring locally vs offshore (and why the Philippines worked)

• AI in fintech: hype vs reality, and where the opportunities lie

• Leadership, co-founder dynamics, and building “professional trust”

If you’re a tech founder, product builder, mortgage broker, or just someone who’s ever felt like the bottleneck in their own business—this one’s for you.

Angus also shares the mindset shifts that helped him go from a cash-strapped engineer to a founder leading a 50-person company shaping the future of lending in Australia. No buzzwords. No fluff. Just hard-earned insight and a willingness to call it how it is.

🔥 Key quotes:

“You’re trying to get customers, not build a perfect product.”
“The risk of staying on the same path was greater than the risk of starting something.”
“Professional trust is when you can hand something off and truly forget about it.”
“Almost every broker said ‘this won’t work’—until they used it.”

📌 Whether you're navigating early-stage startup life, working in financial services, or wondering how AI might reshape traditional industries—Angus's story will leave you fired up and ready to simplify, focus, and build what matters.

About the guest:
Angus Keen is the co-founder and co-CEO of Quickli, Australia’s leading mortgage broking technology platform. With a background in electrical engineering and product management, Angus has helped scale Quickli from an idea to a foundational tool used across the broking ecosystem.

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Mortgage broker software, fintech startups Australia, Angus Keen Quickli, mortgage tech platform, bootstrapped fintech success, building SaaS without funding, Australian mortgage industry innovation, B2B SaaS case study, broking tools platform, product founder podcast, AI in mortgage industry, startup growth stories Australia, how to validate SaaS ideas, co-founder journey podcast.

From Rugby League to Fitness Empire: Ben Lucas on Building Flow Athletic, Coaching 35,000 Marathoners, and Redefining Success

Ben Lucas is a force in Australian fitness. From his early days playing professional rugby league to founding one of the country’s most successful boutique training studios—Flow Athletic—Ben has always pursued excellence with intensity and heart. In this powerful episode of The House Story, Ben opens up about his journey from athlete to personal trainer, from franchised gyms to creating a brand that now serves over 900 loyal members weekly.

As the official Head Coach of the Sydney Marathon—now an Abbott World Major with over 35,000 participants—Ben also shares what it takes to build not just physical endurance but mental resilience. You'll learn how he pivoted from professional sport to entrepreneurship, why education is a dying currency in the fitness industry, and how he's built a team of over 30 trainers focused on holistic service and real-world impact.

Inside this episode:

• How Ben scaled his first PT studio to 800 sessions per week

• Lessons from Tony Robbins that changed his mindset forever

• Why building a lifestyle-driven, profitable business matters more than scaling for ego

• The founding story of Flow Athletic with yoga icon Kate Kendall

• The shift from being the trainer to being a leader, mentor, and community builder

• Why Ben is laser-focused on supporting underserved communities through Sydney Marathon’s First Nations, youth and inclusivity programs

• What it takes to train for a marathon—at any age or level—with tips on distance, pacing, and nutrition

• His personal thoughts on keto, cutting sugar, and the science of recovery (including saunas vs ice baths)

Ben also shares his current mission to qualify for the Boston Marathon at age 45—and what keeps him chasing big goals while staying deeply committed to his family and community.

If you're a personal trainer, fitness entrepreneur, runner, or someone in search of purpose, this episode is packed with grounded wisdom and high-performance insight.

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🎧 Listen now to get inspired by Ben’s remarkable evolution—and find out why success isn’t always about more, but better.

From Bankrupt Printer to Global Brand Builder: Jamie Fuller on Skins, Brand Power & Accelerating Human Progress.

Jamie Fuller is one of Australia’s most compelling entrepreneurs, best known as the former CEO of Skins, the compression garment brand that exploded into a global phenomenon. In this episode of The House Story, Jamie takes us deep into his extraordinary journey — from taking a print business from six to 320 staff (before it collapsed), to investing $600,000 into a failing sportswear company and building it into an international powerhouse recognised by athletes around the world.

You’ll hear how Jamie:

• Bought into Skins in 2002 after being “dragged” to a meeting… and how he knew within hours the company was in trouble

• Scaled the brand to 7 international offices, moved HQ to Switzerland, and partnered with elite athletes like Cristiano Ronaldo and the Socceroos

• Made a gutsy decision to spend $1 million on a national ad campaign — before the business had even hit $1 million in revenue

• Learned firsthand that brand is more than a logo — it’s about standing for something people care about

• Navigated the painful collapse of Skins in 2019 after a private equity deal and crushing debt, and how he mentally reset in just 11 days

Jamie shares unfiltered insights on building a brand that resonates, the power of storytelling in sport, and why having a purpose behind the product is essential. He breaks down how he used authentic athlete advocacy, bold creative campaigns, and values-led decision-making to create cultural impact — including his decision to cut ties with Melbourne Storm after a salary cap scandal, backing his beliefs even when it cost him.

Now, as co-founder of EO — a next-generation sports technology company — Jamie is once again pushing boundaries. EO stands for "progress" in Latin, and the brand is living up to its name by creating proprietary wearables for elite swimmers and triathletes that deliver real-time data on hydration, recovery, and performance. He shares how EO tech was used by medal-winning Olympians, why they’re focused solely on athlete-centric innovation, and how they vet every product through three uncompromising filters:

1. Tangible benefit to the elite athlete

2. Proprietary and protectable IP

3. Commercial viability for broader performance markets

Whether you’re an entrepreneur, brand strategist, athlete, or just love an incredible story of grit and growth — this episode is stacked with business gold.

🎙 Topics we cover:

• The lessons of losing everything — and how Jamie bounced back

• Why brand matters more than function in crowded markets

• What challenger brands must do to win trust and visibility

• How to make big marketing bets when cash flow is tight

• The rise (and fall) of Skins, and what Jamie would do differently

• The vision behind EO and how it’s changing athletic performance tech

• What every founder can learn about focus, failure, and finding meaning

💬 Key quote: “You can’t half-ass this stuff. If you believe in it, burn the boats.”

If you're building a brand, scaling a business, or trying to find your purpose through sport — Jamie’s story will give you the raw playbook.

From Cold Calls to Category Creator: Dan Argent on Building UrbanX and Reimagining Real Estate

Meet Dan Argent—known in his early career as “Brisbane’s $100 Million Man”—who sold over $100 million worth of property and went on to transform the real estate industry by founding UrbanX, a platform now powering more than 100 independent agencies nationwide.

In this compelling episode of The House Story, Dan shares the raw, unfiltered journey from almost failing school to becoming Queensland’s #1 real estate agent, and later launching a multi-million-dollar proptech company that’s redefining how real estate is done in Australia. From gritty prospecting strategies and call quotas learned under SAS-style mentorship, to building a scalable business model that helps top-performing agents escape the franchise system—Dan’s story is a masterclass in growth, grit, and innovation.

What you'll learn in this episode:

• The unglamorous truth behind early real estate success—and why hitting 100 calls a week was non-negotiable

• How discipline and tonality hacks turned cold calls into warm leads

• Why Dan walked away from 53% commission splits—even when he was earning $700k+ a year

• The powerful turning point that sparked the launch of his own agency, Urban Property Agents

• How personal brand supercharged his inbound pipeline—and why real estate agents must think like media companies

• The burnout moment that led to the creation of UrbanX and a new category of real estate business support

• Behind-the-scenes on scaling: trust accounts, compliance, system breakdowns, hiring elite talent, and building a 6,000+ transactions/year operation

• How Dan transitioned from agent to CEO, raised capital, led a dev team, and upskilled in tech, law, and leadership

Plus: Dan opens up about buying his mum her first home, building a rent roll into a $7M asset, and what he wishes more entrepreneurs understood about risk, doubt, and taking the leap. If you’re an agent, founder, or future entrepreneur—this is the blueprint for what’s possible when you combine hard-earned discipline with a relentless growth mindset.

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🎧 Listen now to hear how Dan went from a cold-calling rookie to leading one of Australia’s most disruptive real estate platforms.

Grant Mayo went from being a competitive bodybuilder to building Nutrition Warehouse, Australia’s largest sports supplement retailer with over 116 stores nationwide. In this episode, we dive deep into his journey—how he started in a one-bedroom apartment, scaled to a $100M+ business, and the mindset it took to get there.

Brad Moran’s journey is anything but ordinary. After a career in professional AFL, he made the rare leap from elite sport to the world of tech entrepreneurshipIn this episode,

Brad reveals the mindset shifts that took him from the field to the boardroom, the brutal lessons of building a startup, and what it really takes to scale and sell a company at the highest level. This is The How Story.

Welcome to The How Story