The James Harrisson Show

What you’ll learn from this interview:

• How to think about approaching a fundraise to increase the velocity and probability of success
• How to craft your story and structure your raise
• Common pitfalls at the pre-seed/seed stage that founders need to avoid

Today I’m interviewing Abhi Maran, he’s an investor at Rampersand, an early stage Australian venture capital fund.

He also writes regularly as part of his Superfluid substack which is a phenomenal resource for founders looking to navigate the often opaque world of venture capital.

I’ve enjoyed reading Abhi’s work and wanted to bring him on the show to unpack some of the frameworks and principles he’s distilled from his journey as an investor.

There was only so much depth we could go into on a 45 minute podcast so make sure you subscribe to Superfluid and connect with Abhi on LinkedIn.

What you’ll learn from this interview:

1. What it took to reach the “overnight success” moment that took Sourci from $1M in 2019 to $43M in 2020
2. The importance of knowing our strengths and doubling down on them after he struggled with dyslexia in school and early career
3. How he thinks about building true company culture as the business has grown to dozens of employees in multiple countries

Today I’m interviewing Giovanni Pino, founder & CEO of Sourci which helps Australian businesses connect with world class manufacturers and suppliers.

Gio started Sourci with his business partner Ellie in 2017 from his spare bedroom. Neither of them had a background in sourcing or manufacturing but within 3 years they grew Sourci to a multi 8 figure business with offices in Australia, China and India.

There were so many great lessons from this conversation around leveraging our strengths, the grit it takes to become an “overnight success”, how to build real company culture, balancing personal growth with business growth + more.

Connect with Gio on IG: @gio_pino_

What you’ll learn from this interview:

• Lessons from building and successfully exiting 4 startups
• Frameworks for building companies and navigating the unexpected challenges of the acquisition process
• Lessons from his time at Microsoft, PWC, Amazon, and how those experiences have shaped him as a founder

Today I’m interviewing David Lemphers. He's built and exited 4 companies including ZenDeals which was acquired by RetailMeNot for $18M & Code Pilot which acquired by AngelList.

David has such an interesting insight into the acquisition process having gone through it multiple times. He’s a phenomenal systems thinker with a lot of frameworks for navigating exits, building companies and life in general.

What you’ll learn from this interview:

• What Mark learned about leadership from the army and how he applies that to business today
• Why his “retirement” after the Xplor acquisition only lasted 2 weeks before he jumped back in the founder seat
• How he's applying learnings from education with Xplor to healthcare with Kismet

Today I’m interviewing Mark Woodland, Founder & CEO of Kismet which is on a mission to make healthcare more accessible, recently announcing their $4M pre-seed round led by AirTree.

He previously served in the Australian Army and was the founder of Xplor, a product he originally created to streamline admin work for his mother’s childcare centre, before growing it into Australia’s largest early education software provider which was eventually acquired by private equity firm Advent International.

There were so many great business and life lessons from his time in the army, growing Xplor and now Kismet.

What you’ll learn from this interview:

• Frameworks Michael used to design his career
• Lessons from his time as a Product Manager at Google
• How he’s making the renting generation love renting

Michael has 8+ years experience managing global products, including successfully launching a global redesign of Google Play (worlds largest double sided marketplace) and scaling up the 3rd largest commercial real estate marketplace in the US.

He’s now a Co-Founder of Leesy which is on a mission to make the renting generation love renting by building an ecosystem of products & financial services that help renters truly feel at home whilst retaining the freedom to move as their lifestyle changes.

By initially fixing the $10 billion global leasing problem, Leesy is perfectly positioned to streamline the rest of the $2.5 trillion p.a rental journey.

Connect with Michael via email

What you’ll learn from this interview:

• Tips for founders fundraising in this current environment
• Frameworks for investing in early stage startups as an Angel Investor
• How to build strong professional and personal relationships

Rohit Bhargava is the Co-Founder of One Future Football, the world’s first global digital football league, which just recently came out of stealth and announced their $3M pre seed round led by Blackbird and has involvement from a number of international athletes like Naomi Osaka, Nick Kyrgios, Steve Smith, Chris Smalling, Patrice Evra, Kamaru Usman and more.

He’s also an investor with Playbook Ventures, a syndicate and rolling fund that invests into early stage startups.

Rohit has a really unique insight sitting on both sides of the table as a current founder and  active investor.

Connect with Rohit on LinkedIn

Apply to join Playbook Ventures as an Angel Investor here

What you’ll learn from this interview:

1) How Sunny launched and grew an outdoor clothing brand from $0 to $1 Million USD in sales within 4 months

2) How to design your ideal business and life

3) How he persevered through multiple failed attempts at business before finding success

My guest today is Sunny Gosal (@sunnyallyear), eCommerce expert and co founder of Northbound Gear (@northboundgear.co), a brand that designs durable outdoor apparel with a conscience

He launched the brand last October and surpassed $1 Million USD in sales within 4 months, and it’s now a multimillion dollar business

I’ve been involved with the business as it grows and I wanted to interview Sunny to share some of the learnings from the first year of business

W: northboundgear.co

My guest today is my good friend Rohit Bhargava, host of The Startup Playbook Podcast. He’s an angel investor, founded multiple businesses and is heavily involved in the Australian startup scene

What you’ll learn from this interview:

1) How 4 years of podcasting has unlocked more opportunities than he ever imagined

2) Lessons learned from experiencing burnout and why it’s ok to take a temporary step back

3) Why he’s recently challenged and changed lifelong beliefs and mental frameworks around money, relationships and happiness

Startup Playbook Podcast

IG: @rohit_bhargava

LinkedIn: rohbhargava

Twitter: RohitBhargava7

e: [email protected]

Today’s interview is with Ellie Vaisman (@ellievaisman), co founder of Sourci (@sourci.co)

What you’ll learn from this interview:

1) Why he left a high paying property sales job to found Sourci despite having zero experience in international supply chain

2) The challenges of staying fully bootstrapped, not taking a salary for the first 18 months and reinvesting everything into the business

3) Current manufacturing trends that entrepreneurs should be aware of

Sourci is full supply chain, procurement and consulting service, enabling Australian businesses to access leading and specialist manufacturers across the globe. They currently have 4 global offices, 30+ staff, operate in 7 countries & manage millions of dollars of products manufacturing & importation annually.

Ellie is a great guy with a fascinating backstory, I really enjoyed this interview!

W: sourci.com.au

The other week I was in Sydney and I caught up with my good friend Ryan. We always have long deep chats so we set up the mics and ended up recording an almost 4 hour long conversation

We both spoke about a lot of personal things that we don't normally share. After listening to this conversation you will have a good idea of who we are and what we're all about

What you’ll learn from this conversation:

1) Thoughts on love, dating and relationships, how to have a good relationship with others as well as with ourselves and find a high quality partner

2) Learning from friends and enemies, dealing with exploitative and negative people as we rise up

3) How to design and build a life you love instead of just working to retire

IG: @ryan_tano