The High Flyers Podcast with Vidit Agarwal

1. #291 Samir Kaul: Vinod Khosla's Longtime Partner on Why VCs Chase Hype, Losing Millions and Finding His Identity

   10 de novembro de 20261 h 18 minA seguir

   This episode is supported by Xero, helping businesses use AI with more control through JAX, its in-platform AI finance partner. Get 90% off your plan for your first 6 months at xero.com/highflyers. ________What …

   Notas do episódio

   This episode is supported by Xero, helping businesses use AI with more control through JAX, its in-platform AI finance partner. Get 90% off your plan for your first 6 months at xero.com/highflyers. 

   ________

   What does it take to spot billion-dollar opportunities before the rest of the world sees them? And what happens when some of your biggest bets fail, even after you've helped build one of Silicon Valley's most successful venture capital firms alongside the legend Vinod Khosla?

   Meet Samir Kaul -- one of three Founding Partners and a Managing Director at Khosla Ventures, one of Silicon Valley's most influential venture capital firms, with investments including OpenAI, Rocket Lab, Guardant Health and Impossible Foods. A scientist turned investor, Samir has spent over two decades alongside legendary investor Vinod Khosla, backing unconventional founders and breakthrough technologies across healthcare, energy, space and AI.

   In this rare and unusually candid conversation, Samir shares his remarkable journey. From growing up in an Indian immigrant family, getting kicked out of school and nearly abandoning his medical ambitions, to working with genomics pioneer Craig Venter, attending Harvard Business School and stumbling into venture capital.

   Vidit explores the extraordinary bets and lessons behind Khosla Ventures, including how a $5 million investment in a little-known startup became Rocket Lab, why manufacturing drugs in space could transform healthcare, and why Samir believes much of today's venture capital industry is chasing the wrong opportunities. He also shares what separates exceptional founders from the rest and where he sees the biggest opportunities emerging.

   But the most revealing moments are personal. Samir opens up about losing significant money during the cleantech crash, questioning his abilities and how Vinod's response changed his perspective on failure. He also reflects on the insecurity of working in Vinod's shadow, his relationships with some of Silicon Valley's most influential figures, and the family sacrifices and lessons that have shaped his life.

   Please enjoy exploring your curiosity.

   _______

   Get in touch with us via email at [email protected]

   Join our stable of commercial partners including the Australian Government, Google, KPMG, Allens, Macquarie Capital, Xero, JP Morgan and more. 

   Show notes and more episodes here

   Follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram

   Get in touch with our Founder and Host, Vidit Agarwal directly here

   Contact us via our website

   This episode is supported by Xero, helping businesses use AI with more control through JAX, its in-platform AI finance partner. Get 90% off your plan for your first 6 months at xero.com/highflyers. 

   ________

   TIMESTAMPS

   00:02:00 – The unsung hero behind Samir's success

   00:05:00 – Growing up Indian-American, family expectations and finding his competitive edge

   00:16:00 – From a directionless student to working with genomics pioneer Craig Venter

   00:23:00 – Why the best investments are found where nobody else is looking

   00:32:00 – His unlikely journey to Venture Capital

   00:40:00 – Losing millions, questioning his abilities and Vinod Khosla's surprising response

   00:45:00 – Why Samir wouldn't invest a penny in specialist VC funds and the dangers of chasing hype

   00:54:00 – What separates exceptional founders and why Samir never forgets the rejections he faced himself

   01:00:00 – Inside Khosla Ventures: disagreeing with Vinod, making bold bets and operating behind the scenes

   01:07:00 – Finding his own idendity

   ________

   The High Flyers Podcast features in-depth interviews with the world’s most influential figures in business, tech, finance, government and sport. Launched in 2020, it has ranked in the global top ten for past three years, with listeners in 27 countries and over 200+ episodes released, and featured in Forbes, Daily Telegraph, and at SXSW.

   Our guests include -- Malcolm Turnbull (Prime Minister of Australia), Keith Rabois (Managing Director, Khosla Ventures), Jason Collins (Head of BlackRock, Asia Pacific), Brad Banducci (CEO, Woolworths), Michael Schneider (CEO, Bunnings), Aleks Spaseska (CEO, Kmart) David Eckstein (CFO, Legora), David Schneider (Growth Fund Co-Lead Partner, Coatue), Venky Ganesan (Managing Partner, Menlo Ventures), Shiv Rao (CEO, Abridge), Jesse Zhang (CEO, Decagon), Vandita Pant (CFO, BHP), Elena Verna (Head of Growth, Lovable), David Haber (a16z Partner), Jodie Auster (Uber's Global Head of Travel), Paul Grosmann (CEO, RM Williams), Rob Giglio (CCO, Canva), Jean-Michel Limieux (CTO, Shopify and Atlassian), Stevie Case (CRO, Vanta), Cristina Cordova (COO, Linear), Gautam Chari (Head of Capital Commitments, Bank of America), John Haddock (CBO, Harvey), Mark Suster (Partner, Upfront Ventures), Niki Scevak (Partner, Blackbird), Craig Tiley (CEO, USA Tennis), Jeanne DeWitt Grosser (COO, Vercel), Paul Bassat (Partner, Square Peg), Bowen Pan (Creator, Facebook Marketplace), Peter Varghese (Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Australian Government), Sam Sicilia (CIO, Hostplus), Jack Zhang (CEO, Airwallex), Tim Doyle (CEO, Eucalyptus), Sukhinder Singh Cassidy (CEO, Xero), Sanjeev Gandhi (CEO, Orica) and Philip Green (Australia's Ambassador/High Commissioner to India). 

2. #290 Grace Brown: The 26-Year-Old Challenging Silicon Valley's Robotics Giants With a Radically Different Vision for AI

   5 de novembro de 20261 h 18 minA seguir

   This episode is supported by Xero, helping businesses use AI with more control through JAX, its in-platform AI finance partner. Get 90% off your plan for your first 6 months at xero.com/highflyers. ________What …

   Notas do episódio

   This episode is supported by Xero, helping businesses use AI with more control through JAX, its in-platform AI finance partner. Get 90% off your plan for your first 6 months at xero.com/highflyers. 

   ________

   What does it take to go from building a robot in your university bedroom during COVID to creating a $100 million robotics company at just 26? And what if the future of robotics isn't about what machines can do, but how they make us feel?

   Grace Brown is the CEO and Co-Founder of Andromeda Robotics, building a future where robots don't just work for humans, they connect with them. What began as a university project to tackle loneliness is today a $100 million robotics company, backed by leading investors including Silicon Valley's Forerunner Ventures. Its flagship humanoid robot, Abi, is already bringing AI-powered companionship to aged-care residents, with ambitions to scale globally.

   In this unusually personal conversation, Grace takes us behind the headlines. From growing up between Australia and China and paying her own rent at 17, to finding inspiration in Disney and Pixar, dropping her engineering degree and turning a A$10,000 competition win into the beginnings of Andromeda.

   Vidit explores the challenges behind the company's rise: the early investor rejections, moving to San Francisco, raising millions in venture capital and learning to lead executives twice her age. Grace also shares her contrarian belief that social intelligence, not physical intelligence, could be the most valuable part of the robotics revolution.

   But perhaps the most revealing part of the conversation is what success hasn't changed. Despite the funding and growth, Grace admits she still feels trapped in survival mode, struggles with difficult conversations and sometimes wonders why she's chosen a path that's far more stressful than a lucrative career as an engineer.

   Please enjoy exploring your curiosity.

   _______

   Get in touch with us via email at [email protected]

   Join our stable of commercial partners including the Australian Government, Google, KPMG, Allens, Macquarie Capital, Xero, JP Morgan and more. 

   Show notes and more episodes here

   Follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram

   Get in touch with our Founder and Host, Vidit Agarwal directly here

   Contact us via our website

   This episode is supported by Xero, helping businesses use AI with more control through JAX, its in-platform AI finance partner. Get 90% off your plan for your first 6 months at xero.com/highflyers. 

   ________

   TIMESTAMPS

   00:05:40 Growing Up with dual identities
   00:15:00 Financially Independent at 17
   00:19:00 The Moment Entrepreneurship Felt Possible
   00:25:00 How COVID Inspired a Humanoid Robot
   00:30:00 The $10,000 That Changed Everything
   00:34:00 The Best Friend Who Believed in Her
   00:36:00 When She Knew Andromeda Could Work
   00:40:00 Meet Abi: The Robot Tackling Loneliness
   00:42:00 Why Social Intelligence Could Win
   00:47:30 Growing From Founder to CEO
   00:52:00 Leading Executives Twice Her Age
   01:00:00 How Silicon Valley Changed Her Ambition
   01:03:00 Why Success Still Feels Like Survival

   ________

   The High Flyers Podcast features in-depth interviews with the world’s most influential figures in business, tech, finance, government and sport. Launched in 2020, it has ranked in the global top ten for past three years, with listeners in 27 countries and over 200+ episodes released, and featured in Forbes, Daily Telegraph, and at SXSW.

   Our guests include -- Malcolm Turnbull (Prime Minister of Australia), Keith Rabois (Managing Director, Khosla Ventures), Jason Collins (Head of BlackRock, Asia Pacific), Brad Banducci (CEO, Woolworths), Michael Schneider (CEO, Bunnings), Aleks Spaseska (CEO, Kmart) David Eckstein (CFO, Legora), David Schneider (Growth Fund Co-Lead Partner, Coatue), Venky Ganesan (Managing Partner, Menlo Ventures), Shiv Rao (CEO, Abridge), Jesse Zhang (CEO, Decagon), Vandita Pant (CFO, BHP), Elena Verna (Head of Growth, Lovable), David Haber (a16z Partner), Jodie Auster (Uber's Global Head of Travel), Paul Grosmann (CEO, RM Williams), Rob Giglio (CCO, Canva), Jean-Michel Limieux (CTO, Shopify and Atlassian), Stevie Case (CRO, Vanta), Cristina Cordova (COO, Linear), Gautam Chari (Head of Capital Commitments, Bank of America), John Haddock (CBO, Harvey), Mark Suster (Partner, Upfront Ventures), Niki Scevak (Partner, Blackbird), Craig Tiley (CEO, USA Tennis), Jeanne DeWitt Grosser (COO, Vercel), Paul Bassat (Partner, Square Peg), Bowen Pan (Creator, Facebook Marketplace), Peter Varghese (Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Australian Government), Sam Sicilia (CIO, Hostplus), Jack Zhang (CEO, Airwallex), Tim Doyle (CEO, Eucalyptus), Sukhinder Singh Cassidy (CEO, Xero), Sanjeev Gandhi (CEO, Orica) and Philip Green (Australia's Ambassador/High Commissioner to India). 

3. #289 Alan Joyce Unfiltered: Former Qantas CEO on What He Got Wrong, Blind Spots and His Untold Personal Story

   2 de novembro de 20261 h 35 minA seguir

   This episode is supported by Xero, helping businesses use AI with more control through JAX, its in-platform AI finance partner. Get 90% off your plan for your first 6 months at xero.com/highflyers. Find out …

   Notas do episódio

   This episode is supported by Xero, helping businesses use AI with more control through JAX, its in-platform AI finance partner. Get 90% off your plan for your first 6 months at xero.com/highflyers. 

   Find out more about the Law Firm Allens and how they can help your company today at Allens.com.au

   ________

   What does it take to go from a working-class suburb of Dublin to running one of the world’s most recognisable airlines? And what happens when the decisions you made to save a company become the decisions that define your reputation?

   Alan Joyce is the former CEO of Qantas, one of the world’s oldest and most recognised airlines, which he led for 15 years. He was also the founding CEO of Jetstar, building the airline from scratch before steering Qantas through the QF32 engine failure, industrial disputes and a pandemic that brought global aviation to a standstill.

   In this unusually candid conversation, Alan goes beyond the familiar headlines. He reflects on his parents’ journey from poverty, growing up gay in conservative Ireland and how an accidental career in aviation led him to become one of the industry’s most polarising leaders.

   Vidit also puts some of the hard questions directly to Alan: the mistakes Qantas made, why he stayed through COVID, whether his book is an attempt to reclaim his reputation and what he would do differently. Alan shares the mentors who shaped him, the weaknesses that created problems throughout his career and how life changed when he was no longer Qantas CEO.

   This is a different conversation with Alan Joyce: less about relitigating the headlines, and more about understanding how he thinks, why he made the decisions he did and what he has learned from the successes and mistakes.

   Please enjoy exploring your curiosity.

   _______

   Get in touch with us via email at [email protected]

   Join our stable of commercial partners including the Australian Government, Google, KPMG, Allens, Macquarie Capital, Xero, JP Morgan and more. 

   Show notes and more episodes here

   Follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram

   Get in touch with our Founder and Host, Vidit Agarwal directly here

   Contact us via our website

   This episode is supported by Xero, helping businesses use AI with more control through JAX, its in-platform AI finance partner. Get 90% off your plan for your first 6 months at xero.com/highflyers. 

   ________

   TIMESTAMPS

   00:00:13 Why Alan Joyce divides opinion
   00:04:43 His parents’ journey from poverty
   00:08:41 Competition, karate and regret
   00:12:26 The drive to become CEO
   00:16:12 Growing up gay in Ireland
   00:20:43 Compartmentalising under pressure
   00:31:34 His accidental path into aviation
   00:39:26 Early lessons at Aer Lingus
   00:49:48 Learning to lead Jetstar
   00:53:28 His strengths and blind spots
   00:58:06 When Jetstar instincts hurt Qantas
   01:03:24 The hardest truth about his exit
   01:07:54 Is the book to repair his reputation? 
   01:13:47 Would he become a CEO again?
   01:16:27 Who is Alan without the title?
   01:24:42 Rapid-fire questions
   01:31:57 Who made Alan Joyce successful?

   ________

   The High Flyers Podcast features in-depth interviews with the world’s most influential figures in business, tech, finance, government and sport. Launched in 2020, it has ranked in the global top ten for past three years, with listeners in 27 countries and over 200+ episodes released, and featured in Forbes, Daily Telegraph, and at SXSW.

   Our guests include -- Malcolm Turnbull (Prime Minister of Australia), Keith Rabois (Managing Director, Khosla Ventures), Jason Collins (Head of BlackRock, Asia Pacific), Brad Banducci (CEO, Woolworths), Michael Schneider (CEO, Bunnings), Aleks Spaseska (CEO, Kmart) David Eckstein (CFO, Legora), David Schneider (Growth Fund Co-Lead Partner, Coatue), Venky Ganesan (Managing Partner, Menlo Ventures), Shiv Rao (CEO, Abridge), Jesse Zhang (CEO, Decagon), Vandita Pant (CFO, BHP), Elena Verna (Head of Growth, Lovable), David Haber (a16z Partner), Jodie Auster (Uber's Global Head of Travel), Paul Grosmann (CEO, RM Williams), Rob Giglio (CCO, Canva), Jean-Michel Limieux (CTO, Shopify and Atlassian), Alan Joyce (CEO, Qantas), Stevie Case (CRO, Vanta), Cristina Cordova (COO, Linear), Gautam Chari (Head of Capital Commitments, Bank of America), John Haddock (CBO, Harvey), Mark Suster (Partner, Upfront Ventures), Niki Scevak (Partner, Blackbird), Craig Tiley (CEO, USA Tennis), Jeanne DeWitt Grosser (COO, Vercel), Paul Bassat (Partner, Square Peg), Bowen Pan (Creator, Facebook Marketplace), Peter Varghese (Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Australian Government), Sam Sicilia (CIO, Hostplus), Jack Zhang (CEO, Airwallex), Tim Doyle (CEO, Eucalyptus), Sukhinder Singh Cassidy (CEO, Xero), Sanjeev Gandhi (CEO, Orica) and Philip Green (Australia's Ambassador/High Commissioner to India). 

4. #288 Justin Lopas: Midwest Roots, Building SpaceX’s Starbase, Anduril Lessons, Co-Founding Base Power with Zach Dell

   28 de outubro de 20261 h 15 minA seguir

   This episode is supported by Xero, helping businesses use AI with more control through JAX, its in-platform AI finance partner. Get 90% off your plan for your first 6 months at xero.com/highflyers. ________What …

   Notas do episódio

   This episode is supported by Xero, helping businesses use AI with more control through JAX, its in-platform AI finance partner. Get 90% off your plan for your first 6 months at xero.com/highflyers. 

   ________

   What does it take to go from an introverted kid obsessed with robotics to building rockets at SpaceX and co-founding a $13 billion energy company? And what happens when an intense, no-BS operator decides to build a company of his own?

   Justin Lopas is Co-founder and COO of Base Power, one of America's fastest-growing energy companies, which has raised over US$2 billion since launching in 2023. Previously, he helped build SpaceX's Starbase manufacturing operations in Texas and led manufacturing at Anduril, one of America's leading defence technology companies.

   In this unusually candid conversation with Vidit, Justin reveals how volunteering for a job in a town he'd never heard of led him to help build SpaceX's Starbase, the leadership mistakes he made under intense pressure, and why he eventually walked away. He reflects on his childhood, his father's influence, and the lessons from SpaceX and Anduril that shaped his approach to building and leading teams.

   They explore how an unlikely partnership with Zach Dell became Base Power, a $13 billion company reimagining America's electricity grid through home batteries and distributed energy infrastructure. Justin shares what it takes to scale manufacturing at extraordinary speed, why he and Zach argue constantly, and the unconventional culture behind Base's rapid growth, from starting all-hands meetings with failures to the infamous "hot potato" rule.

   Please enjoy exploring your curiosity.

   _______

   Get in touch with us via email at [email protected]

   Join our stable of commercial partners including the Australian Government, Google, KPMG, Allens, Macquarie Capital, Xero, JP Morgan and more. 

   Show notes and more episodes here

   Follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram

   Get in touch with our Founder and Host, Vidit Agarwal directly here

   Contact us via our website

   This episode is supported by Xero, helping businesses use AI with more control through JAX, its in-platform AI finance partner. Get 90% off your plan for your first 6 months at xero.com/highflyers. 

   ________

   TIMESTAMPS

   00:00 – Intense, direct and no-BS
   01:30 – How his wife's family ended up cooking for hundreds of Base employees
   03:00 – Midwest America childhood and his father's influence
   08:15 – Growing up antisocial, obsessed with robotics and uninterested in fitting in
   10:00 – The strict routines behind Justin's intense personality
   16:00 – Inside SpaceX and what separates its exceptional engineering talent
   21:15 – Volunteering to build Starbase
   24:00 – SpaceX burnout and leadership mistakes
   28:45 – Becoming COO and why titles matter less than execution
   31:30 – Making choices and finding his next chapter at Anduril
   38:00 – How SpaceX and Anduril hire, develop and challenge exceptional people
   41:00 – Building supplier relationships and scaling manufacturing at extraordinary speed
   47:15 – Why Base Power is building electricity infrastructure, not just home batteries
   48:45 – Meeting his co-founder Zach Dell and the origins of Base Power
   51:00 – Why Justin and Zach argue, and how their partnership works
   54:00 – Starting all-hands with failures and the “hot potato” rule
   55:40 – Why negative feedback motivates Justin and how he adapts his leadership style
   58:45 – Navigating America's complicated electricity regulations
   1:03:40 – Testing Base's earliest batteries in an investor's home
   1:04:15 – Base's next products and expansion plans
   1:10:40 – Justin's family life and the person tougher than him

   ________

   The High Flyers Podcast features in-depth interviews with the world’s most influential figures in business, tech, finance, government and sport. Launched in 2020, it has ranked in the global top ten for past three years, with listeners in 27 countries and over 200+ episodes released, and featured in Forbes, Daily Telegraph, and at SXSW.

   Our guests include -- Malcolm Turnbull (Prime Minister of Australia), Keith Rabois (Managing Director, Khosla Ventures), Jason Collins (Head of BlackRock, Asia Pacific), Brad Banducci (CEO, Woolworths), Michael Schneider (CEO, Bunnings), Aleks Spaseska (CEO, Kmart) David Eckstein (CFO, Legora), David Schneider (Growth Fund Co-Lead Partner, Coatue), Venky Ganesan (Managing Partner, Menlo Ventures), Shiv Rao (CEO, Abridge), Jesse Zhang (CEO, Decagon), Vandita Pant (CFO, BHP), Elena Verna (Head of Growth, Lovable), David Haber (a16z Partner), Jodie Auster (Uber's Global Head of Travel), Paul Grosmann (CEO, RM Williams), Rob Giglio (CCO, Canva), Jean-Michel Limieux (CTO, Shopify and Atlassian), Stevie Case (CRO, Vanta), Cristina Cordova (COO, Linear), Gautam Chari (Head of Capital Commitments, Bank of America), John Haddock (CBO, Harvey), Mark Suster (Partner, Upfront Ventures), Niki Scevak (Partner, Blackbird), Craig Tiley (CEO, USA Tennis), Jeanne DeWitt Grosser (COO, Vercel), Paul Bassat (Partner, Square Peg), Bowen Pan (Creator, Facebook Marketplace), Peter Varghese (Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Australian Government), Sam Sicilia (CIO, Hostplus), Jack Zhang (CEO, Airwallex), Tim Doyle (CEO, Eucalyptus), Sukhinder Singh Cassidy (CEO, Xero), Sanjeev Gandhi (CEO, Orica) and Philip Green (Australia's Ambassador/High Commissioner to India). 

5. #287 Unpacking the DNA of "Rainmakers" with Global Business Leaders Neil Plumridge & Robert Nason (EY, Kearney, PwC)

   26 de outubro de 20261 h 8 minA seguir

   This episode is supported by Xero, helping businesses use AI with more control through JAX, its in-platform AI finance partner. Get 90% off your plan for your first 6 months at xero.com/highflyers. ________What …

   Notas do episódio

   This episode is supported by Xero, helping businesses use AI with more control through JAX, its in-platform AI finance partner. Get 90% off your plan for your first 6 months at xero.com/highflyers. 

   ________

   What separates the world's most successful business people from everyone else? Intelligence, charisma, connections, or something less obvious?

   Neil Plumridge and Robert Nason are co-founders of RAYN Group and authors of Rainmaker (available here), bringing decades of global leadership experience across Kearney, EY, PwC, KPMG and Telstra. Robert shares his unlikely journey from leaving school at 15 to helping transform Telstra, while Neil reflects on the pivotal moments that shaped his international career.

   In this conversation with Vidit, they unpack why exceptional performers are made, not born, how major business deals are won long before the pitch, and the five levels of trust that separate good performers from extraordinary ones. From a hair-raising motorbike ride through Mumbai to turning one idea into 14 global consulting engagements, they reveal the hidden habits behind lasting success and why AI could make human relationships more valuable than ever.

   Please enjoy exploring your curiosity.

   Purchase Robert and Neil's book, Rainmaker: How the Best Consultants Think, Act, and Win in an AI-Accelerated World: https://www.amazon.com.au/Rainmaker-Consultants-Think-AI-Accelerated-World/dp/1394440677

   _______

   Get in touch with us via email at [email protected]

   Join our stable of commercial partners including the Australian Government, Google, KPMG, Allens, Macquarie Capital, Xero, JP Morgan and more. 

   Show notes and more episodes here

   Follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram

   Get in touch with our Founder and Host, Vidit Agarwal directly here

   Contact us via our website

   This episode is supported by Xero, helping businesses use AI with more control through JAX, its in-platform AI finance partner. Get 90% off your plan for your first 6 months at xero.com/highflyers. 

   ________

   TIMESTAMPS

   00:00 Meet the Rainmakers: Neil Plumridge & Robert Nason
   01:40 First jobs and the unsung high flyers
   07:45 Robert: From school dropout to global business leader
   10:45 Taking on the 'worst corporate job' at Telstra
   12:00 Neil's ife-changing US move
   14:00 Climbing the ranks at Kearney, EY and PwC
   16:15 How a LinkedIn post became the book Rainmaker
   19:00 Writing a book together: Harder than expected
   28:15 A terrifying Mumbai motorbike ride and a business revelation
   31:15 Are rainmakers born or made?
   35:00 How the world's biggest consulting deals are won
   39:15 The five levels of trust that separate the best
   41:15 How one idea became 14 global deals
   44:30 The mistakes even top performers make
   48:00 Why networking isn't really about networking
   50:45 Building RAYN Group and the secret to high performance
   54:30 Will AI upend the consulting industry?
   57:00 Rapid fire: Burnout, reinvention and life beyond work

   ________

   The High Flyers Podcast features in-depth interviews with the world’s most influential figures in business, tech, finance, government and sport. Launched in 2020, it has ranked in the global top ten for past three years, with listeners in 27 countries and over 200+ episodes released, and featured in Forbes, Daily Telegraph, and at SXSW.

   Our guests include -- Malcolm Turnbull (Prime Minister of Australia), Keith Rabois (Managing Director, Khosla Ventures), Jason Collins (Head of BlackRock, Asia Pacific), Brad Banducci (CEO, Woolworths), Michael Schneider (CEO, Bunnings), Aleks Spaseska (CEO, Kmart) David Eckstein (CFO, Legora), David Schneider (Growth Fund Co-Lead Partner, Coatue), Venky Ganesan (Managing Partner, Menlo Ventures), Shiv Rao (CEO, Abridge), Jesse Zhang (CEO, Decagon), Vandita Pant (CFO, BHP), Elena Verna (Head of Growth, Lovable), David Haber (a16z Partner), Jodie Auster (Uber's Global Head of Travel), Paul Grosmann (CEO, RM Williams), Rob Giglio (CCO, Canva), Jean-Michel Limieux (CTO, Shopify and Atlassian), Stevie Case (CRO, Vanta), Cristina Cordova (COO, Linear), Gautam Chari (Head of Capital Commitments, Bank of America), John Haddock (CBO, Harvey), Mark Suster (Partner, Upfront Ventures), Niki Scevak (Partner, Blackbird), Craig Tiley (CEO, USA Tennis), Jeanne DeWitt Grosser (COO, Vercel), Paul Bassat (Partner, Square Peg), Bowen Pan (Creator, Facebook Marketplace), Peter Varghese (Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Australian Government), Sam Sicilia (CIO, Hostplus), Jack Zhang (CEO, Airwallex), Tim Doyle (CEO, Eucalyptus), Sukhinder Singh Cassidy (CEO, Xero), Sanjeev Gandhi (CEO, Orica) and Philip Green (Australia's Ambassador/High Commissioner to India). 

6. #286 Malcolm Turnbull: Australia's 29th Prime Minister on Confronting Bullies, Defeating British Govt & Being Raised by His Dad

   20 de outubro de 202655 minA seguir

   This episode is supported by Xero, helping businesses use AI with more control through JAX, its in-platform AI finance partner. Get 90% off your plan for your first 6 months at xero.com/highflyers. Welcome to …

   Notas do episódio

   This episode is supported by Xero, helping businesses use AI with more control through JAX, its in-platform AI finance partner. Get 90% off your plan for your first 6 months at xero.com/highflyers. 

   Welcome to this classic episode. Classics are our favorite episodes from our back catalogue, published as frequently as possible. These are N of 1 conversations with N of 1 people. This is a replay of Episode 200, originally released in April 2025— one of our most loved classics.

   ________

   Malcolm Turnbull is one of the most fascinating figures in modern politics and business. He served as Australia's 29th Prime Minister (2015–2018), and previously built a career as a Goldman Sachs partner, successful technology investor, entrepreneur and lawyer. Earlier in his career as a barrister, he famously defeated Margaret Thatcher's British government in the landmark Spycatcher legal battle.

   In this uniquely candid conversation, former Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull joins Vidit to share his remarkable journey from a difficult childhood to the highest office in the country. He reveals how he became the trusted lawyer to billionaire Kerry Packer at just 28, defeated Margaret Thatcher's British government in the landmark Spycatcher case, and what working with powerful figures like Donald Trump and Rupert Murdoch taught him about standing up to bullies.

   They also explore the personal setbacks that nearly broke him, the lessons from losing political power, why financial independence mattered more than becoming a billionaire, and how his relentless curiosity shaped his career across law, business, technology and politics.

   Please enjoy exploring your curiosity.

   _______

   Get in touch with us via email at [email protected]

   Join our stable of commercial partners including the Australian Government, Google, KPMG,, Allens, Macquarie Capital, Xero, JP Morgan and more. 

   Show notes and more episodes here

   Follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram

   Get in touch with our Founder and Host, Vidit Agarwal directly here

   Contact us via our website

   This episode is supported by Xero, helping businesses use AI with more control through JAX, its in-platform AI finance partner. Get 90% off your plan for your first 6 months at xero.com/highflyers. 

   ________

   TIMESTAMPS
   00:00 – Meet Malcolm Turnbull
   01:39 – Life after politics
   04:30 – A difficult childhood and school bullies
   08:00 – Growing up without his mother
   13:45 – The ambition to conquer the world
   15:30 – Becoming Kerry Packer's lawyer at 28
   20:30 – Standing up to Packer and Trump
   24:30 – Does ruthlessness drive success?
   27:00 – Mentors and the power of curiosity
   30:00 – Why he never chased billions
   32:30 – Defeating Margaret Thatcher's government
   37:00 – Taking on the British establishment
   40:30 – Lessons from his 250,000-word memoir
   43:00 – His darkest political setback
   45:00 – Bringing innovation into government
   47:00 – What Australia gets right and wrong
   50:00 – AI, leadership and habits
   51:15 – Watching Packer gamble away millions
   53:00 – How to become Prime Minister

   ________

   The High Flyers Podcast features in-depth interviews with the world’s most influential figures in business, tech, finance, government and sport. Launched in 2020, it has ranked in the global top ten for past three years, with listeners in 27 countries and over 200+ episodes released, and featured in Forbes, Daily Telegraph, and at SXSW.

   Our guests include -- Malcolm Turnbull (Prime Minister of Australia), Keith Rabois (Managing Director, Khosla Ventures), Jason Collins (Head of BlackRock, Asia Pacific), Brad Banducci (CEO, Woolworths), Michael Schneider (CEO, Bunnings), Aleks Spaseska (CEO, Kmart) David Eckstein (CFO, Legora), David Schneider (Growth Fund Co-Lead Partner, Coatue), Venky Ganesan (Managing Partner, Menlo Ventures), Shiv Rao (CEO, Abridge), Jesse Zhang (CEO, Decagon), Vandita Pant (CFO, BHP), Elena Verna (Head of Growth, Lovable), David Haber (a16z Partner), Jodie Auster (Uber's Global Head of Travel), Paul Grosmann (CEO, RM Williams), Rob Giglio (CCO, Canva), Jean-Michel Limieux (CTO, Shopify and Atlassian), Stevie Case (CRO, Vanta), Cristina Cordova (COO, Linear), Gautam Chari (Head of Capital Commitments, Bank of America), John Haddock (CBO, Harvey), Mark Suster (Partner, Upfront Ventures), Niki Scevak (Partner, Blackbird), Craig Tiley (CEO, USA Tennis), Jeanne DeWitt Grosser (COO, Vercel), Paul Bassat (Partner, Square Peg), Bowen Pan (Creator, Facebook Marketplace), Peter Varghese (Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Australian Government), Sam Sicilia (CIO, Hostplus), Jack Zhang (CEO, Airwallex), Tim Doyle (CEO, Eucalyptus), Sukhinder Singh Cassidy (CEO, Xero), Sanjeev Gandhi (CEO, Orica) and Philip Green (Australia's Ambassador/High Commissioner to India). 

7. #285 Aleks Spaseska: Kmart's CEO on Her Macedonian Upbringing, Taking Uncomfortable Career Risks and Why Retail Is Rewarding

   13 de outubro de 20261 h 1 minA seguir

   This episode is supported by Xero, helping businesses use AI with more control through JAX, its in-platform AI finance partner. Get 90% off your plan for your first 6 months at xero.com/highflyers …

   Notas do episódio

   This episode is supported by Xero, helping businesses use AI with more control through JAX, its in-platform AI finance partner. Get 90% off your plan for your first 6 months at xero.com/highflyers. 

   ________
   Aleks Spaseska is the CEO of Kmart Group, an A$11.8 billion (US$8 billion) retail giant behind Kmart, Target and the global Anko brand, operating 445 stores with over 48,000 employees. This is a rare in-depth interview with Aleks.

   In this rare public conversation, Aleks Spaseska joins Vidit to share how she went from struggling to find her confidence at school to becoming CEO of one of the region’s largest retailers. She reveals the career move that changed everything, how she returned from maternity leave into a bigger leadership role, and what really helped her stand out from her peers.

   They also explore the realities of running a retail giant, the leadership mistakes that shaped her, why she never had a 10-year career plan, and how her childhood continues to influence the decisions she makes as CEO.

   Please enjoy exploring your curiosity.

   _______

   Get in touch with us via email at [email protected]

   Join our stable of commercial partners including the Australian Government, Google, KPMG,, Allens, Macquarie Capital, Xero, JP Morgan and more. 

   Show notes and more episodes here

   Follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram

   Get in touch with our Founder and Host, Vidit Agarwal directly here

   Contact us via our website

   This episode is supported by Xero, helping businesses use AI with more control through JAX, its in-platform AI finance partner. Get 90% off your plan for your first 6 months at xero.com/highflyers. 

   ________

   TIMESTAMPS

   
   00:00 Meet Aleks Spaseska
   02:20 Why store managers are underrated leaders
   05:50 Growing up in Macedonia
   08:45 No English
   10:15 Why she never planned her career
   11:15 How childhood shaped her view of affordability
   13:10 From university to a finance PhD
   17:45 The career move that changed everything
   20:50 Lessons from her early Wesfarmers years
   25:30 Taking uncomfortable career risks
   28:00 Transforming Target's business
   33:50 Learning empathy as a leader
   37:15 Maternity leave, relocation and COVID
   39:15 Making decisions without rigid plans
   41:20 How Kmart operates within Wesfarmers
   46:00 From CFO to CEO of Kmart
   49:10 The Anko business model and global expansion
   54:00 Kmart's next chapter of growth
   56:40 Rapid fire round

   ________

   The High Flyers Podcast features in-depth interviews with the world’s most influential figures in business, tech, finance, government and sport. Launched in 2020, it has ranked in the global top ten for past three years, with listeners in 27 countries and over 200+ episodes released, and featured in Forbes, Daily Telegraph, and at SXSW.

   Our guests include -- Malcolm Turnbull (Prime Minister of Australia), Keith Rabois (Managing Director, Khosla Ventures), Jason Collins (Head of BlackRock, Asia Pacific), Brad Banducci (CEO, Woolworths), Michael Schneider (CEO, Bunnings), Aleks Spaseska (CEO, Kmart) David Eckstein (CFO, Legora), David Schneider (Growth Fund Co-Lead Partner, Coatue), Venky Ganesan (Managing Partner, Menlo Ventures), Shiv Rao (CEO, Abridge), Jesse Zhang (CEO, Decagon), Vandita Pant (CFO, BHP), Elena Verna (Head of Growth, Lovable), David Haber (a16z Partner), Jodie Auster (Uber's Global Head of Travel), Paul Grosmann (CEO, RM Williams), Rob Giglio (CCO, Canva), Jean-Michel Limieux (CTO, Shopify and Atlassian), Stevie Case (CRO, Vanta), Cristina Cordova (COO, Linear), Gautam Chari (Head of Capital Commitments, Bank of America), John Haddock (CBO, Harvey), Mark Suster (Partner, Upfront Ventures), Niki Scevak (Partner, Blackbird), Craig Tiley (CEO, USA Tennis), Jeanne DeWitt Grosser (COO, Vercel), Paul Bassat (Partner, Square Peg), Bowen Pan (Creator, Facebook Marketplace), Peter Varghese (Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Australian Government), Sam Sicilia (CIO, Hostplus), Jack Zhang (CEO, Airwallex), Tim Doyle (CEO, Eucalyptus), Sukhinder Singh Cassidy (CEO, Xero), Sanjeev Gandhi (CEO, Orica) and Philip Green (Australia's Ambassador/High Commissioner to India). 

8. #284 Venky Ganesan: Menlo Ventures Partner on early Anthropic investment, moving from India to rural America at 16 and more

   29 de setembro de 20261 h 11 minA seguir

   This episode is supported by Xero, helping businesses use AI with more control through JAX, its in-platform AI finance partner. Get 90% off your plan for your first 6 months at xero.com/highflyers …

   Notas do episódio

   This episode is supported by Xero, helping businesses use AI with more control through JAX, its in-platform AI finance partner. Get 90% off your plan for your first 6 months at xero.com/highflyers. 

   ________

   Venky Ganesan is a Partner at Menlo Ventures, one of Silicon Valley’s oldest venture capital firms, where he has helped lead its push into AI and backed companies including Anthropic, Abnormal AI and Palo Alto Networks. He has spent 20+ years in venture capital, after starting his career as an entrepreneur and co-founding Trigo Technologies, which was acquired by IBM in 2004.

   In this rare public conversation, Venky joins Vidit to unpack a journey that began in India before he moved alone to rural Washington State at 16. He shares the culture shock of arriving in America, working through college, choosing a $39,000 McKinsey job over a far more lucrative offer, and eventually becoming an entrepreneur — co-founding Trigo Technologies and selling the company to IBM in 2004.

   They also explore Venky’s 20+ years in venture capital, from backing Palo Alto Networks early in its journey to becoming a Partner at Menlo Ventures and helping drive the firm’s push into AI. Venky shares what separates good founders from great ones, why “propensity for action” has become one of his strongest signals, how he thinks about position sizing and why VCs often end up with more money in their worst companies than their best. He also unpacks today’s extraordinary AI market, investing in Anthropic, and why he believes the industry is moving from innovators to “imitators and idiots.”  

   Venky reflects on the role his wife has played in his life, the stroke that nearly killed him and changed his perspective, what more than two decades of investing have taught him about ambition, and more.

   Please enjoy exploring your curiosity.

   _______

   Get in touch with us via email at [email protected]

   Join our stable of commercial partners including the Australian Government, Google, KPMG,, Allens, Macquarie Capital, Xero, JP Morgan and more. 

   Show notes and more episodes here

   Follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram

   Get in touch with our Founder and Host, Vidit Agarwal directly here

   Contact us via our website

   This episode is supported by Xero, helping businesses use AI with more control through JAX, its in-platform AI finance partner. Get 90% off your plan for your first 6 months at xero.com/highflyers. 

   ________

   TIMESTAMPS

   
   01:17 — The 15-year-old who talked his way into a job
   03:21 — Growing up in India with big ambitions
   08:08 — An unexpected lesson from Nelson Mandela
   10:05 — Leaving India alone at 16
   14:10 — Why technology became his path to freedom
   22:41 — McKinsey, entrepreneurship and selling to IBM
   31:13 — From founder to venture capitalist
   39:57 — The signal Venky looks for in great founders
   44:02 — How he backed Palo Alto Networks early
   47:00 — Reinventing Menlo for the AI era
   53:14 — AI’s “innovators, imitators and idiots”
   59:25 — The most disorienting market of his career
   1:06:05 — The stroke that nearly killed him
   1:08:20 — Rapid fire

   ________

   The High Flyers Podcast features in-depth interviews with the world’s most influential figures in business, tech, finance, government and sport. Launched in 2020, it has ranked in the global top ten for past three years, with listeners in 27 countries and over 200+ episodes released, and featured in Forbes, Daily Telegraph, and at SXSW.

   Our guests include -- Malcolm Turnbull (Prime Minister of Australia), Keith Rabois (Managing Director, Khosla Ventures), Jason Collins (Head of BlackRock, Asia Pacific), Brad Banducci (CEO, Woolworths), Michael Schneider (CEO, Bunnings), David Eckstein (CFO, Legora), David Schneider (Growth Fund Co-Lead Partner, Coatue), Venky Ganesan (Managing Partner, Menlo Ventures), Shiv Rao (CEO, Abridge), Jesse Zhang (CEO, Decagon), Vandita Pant (CFO, BHP), Elena Verna (Head of Growth, Lovable), David Haber (a16z Partner), Jodie Auster (Uber's Global Head of Travel), Paul Grosmann (CEO, RM Williams), Rob Giglio (CCO, Canva), Jean-Michel Limieux (CTO, Shopify and Atlassian), Stevie Case (CRO, Vanta), Cristina Cordova (COO, Linear), Gautam Chari (Head of Capital Commitments, Bank of America), John Haddock (CBO, Harvey), Mark Suster (Partner, Upfront Ventures), Niki Scevak (Partner, Blackbird), Craig Tiley (CEO, USA Tennis), Jeanne DeWitt Grosser (COO, Vercel), Paul Bassat (Partner, Square Peg), Bowen Pan (Creator, Facebook Marketplace), Peter Varghese (Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Australian Government), Sam Sicilia (CIO, Hostplus), Jack Zhang (CEO, Airwallex), Tim Doyle (CEO, Eucalyptus), Sukhinder Singh Cassidy (CEO, Xero), Sanjeev Gandhi (CEO, Orica) and Philip Green (Australia's Ambassador/High Commissioner to India). 

9. #283 David Schneider: Co-Leading Coatue’s Growth Fund, Scaling ServiceNow from $100M to $5B, Why Frank Slootman changed his life

   25 de setembro de 20261 h 16 minA seguir

   This episode is supported by Xero, helping businesses use AI with more control through JAX, its in-platform AI finance partner. Get 90% off your plan for your first 6 months at xero.com/highflyers …

   Notas do episódio

   This episode is supported by Xero, helping businesses use AI with more control through JAX, its in-platform AI finance partner. Get 90% off your plan for your first 6 months at xero.com/highflyers. 

   ________

   David Schneider is a General Partner at Coatue, where he co-leads the firm’s Growth Fund. Previously, he was President at ServiceNow, helping scale the company from roughly $100M to $5B in revenue, after helping take another software company in Data Domain from zero customers to more than $1B in revenue. David is widely regarded as one of Silicon Valley’s most successful go-to-market, sales, revenue and business building executives of all time.

   In this rare public conversation, David joins Vidit to unpack a career spent building some of enterprise software’s defining companies. He shares how he was initially rejected by Data Domain for not being “aggressive enough”, only to join when it had zero customers and around 18 employees and help scale it beyond $1 billion in revenue — revealing the intensity, hiring philosophy and relentless focus on execution that shaped him as a leader.  

   They also explore David’s decade at ServiceNow, where he helped scale the business from roughly $100 million to $5 billion, what he learned working alongside legendary CEO Frank Slootman, and the painful customer failure that fundamentally changed how he thought about leadership. David then opens up about leaving operating at the height of his career to become a General Partner at Coatue, where he now co-leads its Growth Fund, and the surprisingly difficult transition from being the person making decisions to the investor sitting beside the founder. Along the way, he reflects on building exceptional sales teams, spotting future leaders, the future of enterprise go-to-market, flying 250,000–350,000 miles a year, the impact that ambition had on his family, and why curiosity has remained a constant throughout his life.

   Please enjoy exploring your curiosity.

   _______

   Get in touch with us via email at [email protected]

   Join our stable of commercial partners including the Australian Government, Google, KPMG,, Allens, Macquarie Capital, Xero, JP Morgan and more. 

   Show notes and more episodes here

   Follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram

   Get in touch with our Founder and Host, Vidit Agarwal directly here

   Contact us via our website

   This episode is supported by Xero, helping businesses use AI with more control through JAX, its in-platform AI finance partner. Get 90% off your plan for your first 6 months at xero.com/highflyers. 

   ________

   TIMESTAMPS

   00:00 – Left Field Questions
   01:24 – The founder David is betting on
   04:01 – Growing up in Silicon Valley before the boom
   08:25 – How David became obsessed with winning
   24:45 – Rejected by Data Domain for not being “aggressive enough”
   28:40 – From zero customers to a billion-dollar business
   40:00 – What David learned working with Frank Slootman
   50:23 – The customer failure David never forgot
   52:25 – How David helped scale ServiceNow from $100M to $5B
   59:04 – Why he walked away from operating
   01:00:29 – From operator to investor at Coatue
   01:08:00 – What David looks for in breakout companies today
   01:11:00 – 350,000-mile years
   01:13:30 – Left-field questions: grit, pet peeves and what matters now

   ________

   The High Flyers Podcast features in-depth interviews with the world’s most influential figures in business, tech, finance, government and sport. Launched in 2020, it has ranked in the global top ten for past three years, with listeners in 27 countries and over 200+ episodes released, and featured in Forbes, Daily Telegraph, and at SXSW.

   Our guests include -- Malcolm Turnbull (Prime Minister of Australia), Keith Rabois (Managing Director, Khosla Ventures), Jason Collins (Head of BlackRock, Asia Pacific), Brad Banducci (CEO, Woolworths), Michael Schneider (CEO, Bunnings), David Eckstein (CFO, Legora), Kevin Hartz (Partner, A*; Founder, Eventbrite), Shiv Rao (CEO, Abridge), Jesse Zhang (CEO, Decagon), Vandita Pant (CFO, BHP), Elena Verna (Head of Growth, Lovable), David Haber (a16z Partner), Jodie Auster (Uber's Global Head of Travel), Paul Grosmann (CEO, RM Williams), Rob Giglio (CCO, Canva), Jean-Michel Limieux (CTO, Shopify and Atlassian), Stevie Case (CRO, Vanta), Cristina Cordova (COO, Linear), Gautam Chari (Head of Capital Commitments, Bank of America), John Haddock (CBO, Harvey), Mark Suster (Partner, Upfront Ventures), Niki Scevak (Partner, Blackbird), Craig Tiley (CEO, USA Tennis), Jeanne DeWitt Grosser (COO, Vercel), Paul Bassat (Partner, Square Peg), Bowen Pan (Creator, Facebook Marketplace), Peter Varghese (Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Australian Government), Sam Sicilia (CIO, Hostplus), Jack Zhang (CEO, Airwallex), Tim Doyle (CEO, Eucalyptus), Sukhinder Singh Cassidy (CEO, Xero), Sanjeev Gandhi (CEO, Orica) and Philip Green (Australia's Ambassador/High Commissioner to India). 

10. #282 Paul Grosmann: R.M.Williams CEO on learning Mandarin, cold emails, rising through Nike and how to listen well

    22 de setembro de 20261 h 7 minA seguir

    This episode is supported by Xero, helping businesses use AI with more control through JAX, its in-platform AI finance partner. Get 90% off your plan for your first 6 months at xero.com/highflyers. ________Paul …

    Notas do episódio

    This episode is supported by Xero, helping businesses use AI with more control through JAX, its in-platform AI finance partner. Get 90% off your plan for your first 6 months at xero.com/highflyers. 

    ________

    Paul Grosmann is the CEO of R.M.Williams, the 94-year-old heritage bootmaker whose handcrafted leather boots have become one of Australia’s most recognisable cultural exports, worn from the outback to boardrooms around the world. He is leading the next phase of growth for the business, which generates hundreds of millions of dollars in annual revenue, expanding it as a global premium brand while preserving its manufacturing roots in Adelaide. Before R.M.Williams, Paul built an unusually international career across PwC and McKinsey, before leading strategy and digital growth for Nike in Greater China.

    In this rare public conversation, Paul joins Vidit to unpack an unusually global career, from Sydney to New York and China, including quitting his job and spending a year learning Mandarin to earn a role with McKinsey in Shanghai. He shares what he learned working inside Brett Blundy’s private business group, how he pitched his way into Nike and helped lead its retail and digital growth across Greater China, and why decision-making changes across public companies, private businesses and founder-led organisations.

    They also explore Paul’s return to Australia to lead R.M.Williams, the 94-year-old heritage brand whose handcrafted boots have become one of the country’s most recognisable cultural exports. Paul explains how the company has doubled its production capacity and created 350 Australian jobs, while expanding online, attracting younger and female customers, and building an international retail presence through an unconventional UK strategy. Along the way, he reflects on cold emails, considered decision-making, living across cultures, balancing ambition with family, and the role his wife Sophie has played throughout the journey.

    Please enjoy exploring your curiosity.

    _______

    Get in touch with us via email at [email protected]

    Join our stable of commercial partners including the Australian Government, Google, KPMG,, Allens, Macquarie Capital, Xero, JP Morgan and more. 

    Show notes and more episodes here

    Follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram

    Get in touch with our Founder and Host, Vidit Agarwal directly here

    Contact us via our website

    This episode is supported by Xero, helping businesses use AI with more control through JAX, its in-platform AI finance partner. Get 90% off your plan for your first 6 months at xero.com/highflyers. 

    ________

    TIMESTAMPS

    00:00 Cold emails
    04:32 Growing up in a loud Italian family
    07:35 Becoming a global citizen
    13:55 Quitting work to learn Mandarin
    18:29 Learning to operate in China
    20:31 Choosing mentors over promotions
    22:11 Paul’s cold-email playbook
    23:57 The leadership power of pausing
    27:09 Why Paul left McKinsey
    28:57 Learning retail from Brett Blundy
    34:28 Public versus private companies
    40:39 Rising rapidly at Nike China
    45:38 Pitching for the R.M.Williams CEO role
    47:51 Returning to China during COVID
    49:12 The partner behind the career
    50:24 Rebuilding an Australian icon
    53:53 Taking R.M.Williams global
    55:47 Winning younger customers
    58:00 Rethinking women’s footwear
    01:00:44 The unconventional UK expansion strategy
    01:03:30 Rapid-fire lessons and quirks

    ________

    The High Flyers Podcast features in-depth interviews with the world’s most influential figures in business, tech, finance, government and sport. Launched in 2020, it has ranked in the global top ten for past three years, with listeners in 27 countries and over 200+ episodes released, and featured in Forbes, Daily Telegraph, and at SXSW.

    Our guests include -- Malcolm Turnbull (Prime Minister of Australia), Keith Rabois (Managing Director, Khosla Ventures), Jason Collins (Head of BlackRock, Asia Pacific), Brad Banducci (CEO, Woolworths), Michael Schneider (CEO, Bunnings), David Eckstein (CFO, Legora), Kevin Hartz (Partner, A*; Founder, Eventbrite), Shiv Rao (CEO, Abridge), Jesse Zhang (CEO, Decagon), Vandita Pant (CFO, BHP), Elena Verna (Head of Growth, Lovable), David Haber (a16z Partner), Jodie Auster (Uber's Global Head of Travel), Paul Grosmann (CEO, RM Williams), Rob Giglio (CCO, Canva), Jean-Michel Limieux (CTO, Shopify and Atlassian), Stevie Case (CRO, Vanta), Cristina Cordova (COO, Linear), Gautam Chari (Head of Capital Commitments, Bank of America), John Haddock (CBO, Harvey), Mark Suster (Partner, Upfront Ventures), Niki Scevak (Partner, Blackbird), Craig Tiley (CEO, USA Tennis), Jeanne DeWitt Grosser (COO, Vercel), Paul Bassat (Partner, Square Peg), Bowen Pan (Creator, Facebook Marketplace), Peter Varghese (Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Australian Government), Sam Sicilia (CIO, Hostplus), Jack Zhang (CEO, Airwallex), Tim Doyle (CEO, Eucalyptus), Sukhinder Singh Cassidy (CEO, Xero), Sanjeev Gandhi (CEO, Orica) and Philip Green (Australia's Ambassador/High Commissioner to India). 

11. #281 Mike Vernal: Early Facebook with Zuck to Sequoia Investor to Conviction | Why This Tech Wave Is Different

    18 de setembro de 20261 h 13 minA seguir

    This episode is supported by Xero, helping businesses use AI with more control through JAX, its in-platform AI finance partner. Get 90% off your plan for your first 6 months at xero.com/highflyers. ________Mike …

    Notas do episódio

    This episode is supported by Xero, helping businesses use AI with more control through JAX, its in-platform AI finance partner. Get 90% off your plan for your first 6 months at xero.com/highflyers. 

    ________

    Mike Vernal is a General Partner at Conviction and one of Silicon Valley’s most respected operator-turned-investors. He joined Facebook very early, spent eight years there working closely with Mark Zuckerberg and ultimately became VP of Product and Engineering, before becoming a partner at storied venture capital firm Sequoia Capital, where he backed companies including Notion, Rippling, Clay and Statsig.

    In this conversation, Mike joins Vidit to unpack the journey from Microsoft to joining Facebook when it was still only a few hundred people, helping scale it through one of the most important periods in technology, and later becoming a partner at Sequoia before joining Conviction. He shares what he learned working closely with Mark Zuckerberg, why Facebook’s obsession with speed became such an advantage, how he learned to spot exceptional founders, and why ambition remains one of the traits he values most.

    They also explore why Mike believes people risk “overfitting” to a job after seven years, what Sequoia taught him about great businesses, why he came back to venture after some of the most enjoyable years of his life with his family, and what changes when the cost of creating software starts approaching zero. Along the way, Mike shares the habits, quirks and principles behind his reputation as a “nerd’s nerd”, from obsessive curiosity and inbox zero to the belief that the best leaders make the people around them better.

    Please enjoy exploring your curiosity.

    _______

    Get in touch with us via email at [email protected]

    Join our stable of commercial partners including the Australian Government, Google, KPMG,, Allens, Macquarie Capital, Xero, JP Morgan and more. 

    Show notes and more episodes here

    Follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram

    Get in touch with our Founder and Host, Vidit Agarwal directly here

    Contact us via our website

    This episode is supported by Xero, helping businesses use AI with more control through JAX, its in-platform AI finance partner. Get 90% off your plan for your first 6 months at xero.com/highflyers. 

    ________

    TIMESTAMPS

    00:00 — The Nerd’s Nerd
    04:00 — Growing Up in New York
    08:00 — Power, Internet and Caffeine
    13:00 — Working at a Startup in High School
    14:00 — Why Harvard Became the Goal
    18:00 — Meeting His Wife
    24:00 — What Microsoft Taught Him
    31:00 — Why Strategy Can Go Wrong
    33:00 — How Facebook Built High-Impact Teams
    37:00 — The Moment Facebook Felt Different
    43:00 — Facebook’s Speed Advantage
    49:00 — Why Mike Left Facebook
    54:00 — Why Sequoia
    56:00 — Learning What Makes a Great Business
    59:00 — Why He Doesn’t Take Notes
    01:01:00 — What Mike Looks for in Founders
    01:07:00 — Leaving Sequoia
    01:09:00 — Why He Joined Conviction
    01:14:00 — How Mike Spots What’s Next
    01:16:00 — When Software Costs Approach Zero
    01:18:00 — What Makes Products Go Viral
    01:20:00 — Coaching His Kids
    01:22:00 — Inbox Zero and Productivity
    01:25:00 — What Mike Is Experimenting With
    01:27:00 — The Advice That Changed His Career

    ________

    The High Flyers Podcast features in-depth interviews with the world’s most influential figures in business, tech, finance, government and sport. Launched in 2020, it has ranked in the global top ten for past three years, with listeners in 27 countries and over 200+ episodes released, and featured in Forbes, Daily Telegraph, and at SXSW.

    Our guests include -- Malcolm Turnbull (Prime Minister of Australia), Keith Rabois (Managing Director, Khosla Ventures), Jason Collins (Head of BlackRock, Asia Pacific), Brad Banducci (CEO, Woolworths), Michael Schneider (CEO, Bunnings), David Eckstein (CFO, Legora), Kevin Hartz (Partner, A*; Founder, Eventbrite), Shiv Rao (CEO, Abridge), Jesse Zhang (CEO, Decagon), Vandita Pant (CFO, BHP), Elena Verna (Head of Growth, Lovable), David Haber (a16z Partner), Jodie Auster (Uber's Global Head of Travel), Rob Giglio (CCO, Canva), Jean-Michel Limieux (CTO, Shopify and Atlassian), Stevie Case (CRO, Vanta), Cristina Cordova (COO, Linear), Gautam Chari (Head of Capital Commitments, Bank of America), John Haddock (CBO, Harvey), Mark Suster (Partner, Upfront Ventures), Niki Scevak (Partner, Blackbird), Craig Tiley (CEO, USA Tennis), Jeanne DeWitt Grosser (COO, Vercel), Paul Bassat (Partner, Square Peg), Bowen Pan (Creator, Facebook Marketplace), Peter Varghese (Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Australian Government), Sam Sicilia (CIO, Hostplus), Jack Zhang (CEO, Airwallex), Tim Doyle (CEO, Eucalyptus), Sukhinder Singh Cassidy (CEO, Xero), Sanjeev Gandhi (CEO, Orica) and Philip Green (Australia's Ambassador/High Commissioner to India). 

12. #280 Amit Singh: Fijian-Indian Roots, Inside Two Prime Ministers’ Offices & Why He Built His Own Research Firm

    17 de setembro de 202649 minA seguir

    Welcome to the 14th episode in our special series with the Australian Government and their Centre for Australia–India Relations (CAIR), spotlighting the growing Australia–India relationship across technology …

    Notas do episódio

    Welcome to the 14th episode in our special series with the Australian Government and their Centre for Australia–India Relations (CAIR), spotlighting the growing Australia–India relationship across technology, business, media, culture and sport.

    Other guests in this series include BHP's CFO Vandita Pant, Bank of America's Head of Capital Commitments Gautam Chari, Austrade's GM for South Asia Mukund Narayanamurti, Renowned Music Composer Tushar Apte, Australia's High Commissioner to India Philip Green, MUFG's CEO Vivek Bhatia, Australia's Secretary of Foreign Affairs Peter Varghese, NAB's EGM Sweta Mehra, Deputy Secretary of Australia's Home Affairs Brendan Dowling, Orica's CEO Sanjeev Gandhi, Sports Journalist Bharat Sundaresan, Cricket Legend Lisa Sthalekar and CAIR's CEO, Ryan Neelam, reflecting the breadth of Indian-Australian leaders at the most senior levels.

    ________

    This episode is supported by Xero, helping businesses use AI with more control through JAX, its in-platform AI finance partner. Get 90% off your plan for your first 6 months at xero.com/highflyers. 

    Get in touch with us via email at [email protected]

    Join our stable of commercial partners including the Australian Government, Google, KPMG,, Allens, Macquarie Capital, Xero, JP Morgan and more.

    ________

    Amit Singh is Managing Partner of Mandala, a global economics, data and policy research firm. He has advised three Australian Prime Ministers, served as Uber’s Global Head of Economic Policy in San Francisco, and more. Today, he leads Mandala and serves on several prominent government and public-policy boards.

    In this conversation with Vidit, Amit shares his journey from growing up amid political instability in Fiji and moving to Australia as a teenager, to running a $20 million organisation with 200 employees at just 21 — before going on to work at the highest levels of Australian government.  

    He reflects on going from Freehills to Kevin Rudd’s office in the space of two days, subsequently working for Julia Gillard and briefly Anthony Albanese, and the experience of technically losing his job five times during his political career. Amit also shares the equal-pay decision he is proudest of, which delivered a 23–45% pay increase for 150,000 predominantly female care workers.  

    Amit also explains why he left government for technology, what moving to San Francisco and working at Uber taught him about ambition and taking risks, and how those experiences ultimately led to building Mandala as a globally focused economics and policy firm.  

    They also explore Amit’s Fijian-Indian identity, why he believes the Australia–India economic relationship remains underdone despite decades of intent, the opportunity across technology, AI and services, and why changing Australians’ understanding of modern India could unlock a much deeper relationship.  

    Please enjoy exploring your curiosity.

    ______

    Get in touch with us via email at [email protected]

    Join our stable of commercial partners including the Australian Government, Google, KPMG,, Allens, Macquarie Capital, Xero, JP Morgan and more. 

    Show notes and more episodes here

    Follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram

    Get in touch with our Founder and Host, Vidit Agarwal directly here

    Contact us via our website

    This episode is supported by Xero, helping businesses use AI with more control through JAX, its in-platform AI finance partner. Get 90% off your plan for your first 6 months at xero.com/highflyers. 

    ________

    TIMESTAMPS

    00:00 Who is Amit Singh
    01:28 From selling limes in Fiji to building Mandala
    03:43 Growing up Fijian-Indian amid political instability
    04:31 His parents’ sacrifice — and the values they passed down
    08:11 Navigating identity after moving to Australia
    11:42 Finishing high school at 16 — by accident
    13:12 Running a $20M organisation at 21
    16:13 Law, Freehills & an unexpected career path
    17:52 From lawyer to Kevin Rudd’s office in two days
    21:51 What working closely with Prime Ministers taught him
    23:21 The decision that changed pay for 150,000 workers
    26:10 Leaving government for Uber and Silicon Valley
    28:57 From playing it safe to “shoot your shot”
    31:38 The hardest parts of Amit’s career
    33:36 What Uber taught him about managing exceptional people
    35:22 Building Mandala
    37:22 Why Australia–India remains underdone
    42:13 Why no one is truly self-made
    43:24 Rapid fire

    ________

    The High Flyers Podcast features in-depth interviews with the world’s most influential figures in business, tech, finance, government and sport. Launched in 2020, it has ranked in the global top ten for past three years, with listeners in 27 countries and over 200+ episodes released, and featured in Forbes, Daily Telegraph, and at SXSW.

    Our guests include -- Malcolm Turnbull (Prime Minister of Australia), Keith Rabois (Managing Director, Khosla Ventures), Jason Collins (Head of BlackRock, Asia Pacific), Brad Banducci (CEO, Woolworths), Michael Schneider (CEO, Bunnings), David Eckstein (CFO, Legora), Kevin Hartz (Partner, A*; Founder, Eventbrite), Shiv Rao (CEO, Abridge), Jesse Zhang (CEO, Decagon), Vandita Pant (CFO, BHP), Elena Verna (Head of Growth, Lovable), David Haber (a16z Partner), Jodie Auster (Uber's Global Head of Travel), Rob Giglio (CCO, Canva), Jean-Michel Limieux (CTO, Shopify and Atlassian), Stevie Case (CRO, Vanta), Cristina Cordova (COO, Linear), Gautam Chari (Head of Capital Commitments, Bank of America), John Haddock (CBO, Harvey), Mark Suster (Partner, Upfront Ventures), Niki Scevak (Partner, Blackbird), Craig Tiley (CEO, USA Tennis), Jeanne DeWitt Grosser (COO, Vercel), Paul Bassat (Partner, Square Peg), Bowen Pan (Creator, Facebook Marketplace), Peter Varghese (Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Australian Government), Sam Sicilia (CIO, Hostplus), Jack Zhang (CEO, Airwallex), Tim Doyle (CEO, Eucalyptus), Sukhinder Singh Cassidy (CEO, Xero), Sanjeev Gandhi (CEO, Orica) and Philip Green (Australia's Ambassador/High Commissioner to India). 

13. #279 Ryan Beiermeister: Founders Fund's Partner on Building for Billions, Human Judgement & How Debate Changed Her Life

    14 de setembro de 20261 h 9 minA seguir

    This episode is supported by Xero, helping businesses use AI with more control through JAX, its in-platform AI finance partner. Get 90% off your plan for your first 6 months at xero.com/highflyers. ________Ryan …

    Notas do episódio

    This episode is supported by Xero, helping businesses use AI with more control through JAX, its in-platform AI finance partner. Get 90% off your plan for your first 6 months at xero.com/highflyers. 

    ________

    Ryan Beiermeister is a Partner at Founders Fund, one of the world’s leading venture capital firms. Before becoming an investor, she held senior roles at three of the most consequential technology companies of the past decade: VP at OpenAI leading AI safety work, Product Director at Meta across election integrity and social issues, and VP at Palantir, where she helped lead development of Gotham. At College, Ryan was the #1 ranked college policy debater in the US and won top speaker at the 2012 national championship, becoming only the fourth woman since 1946 to do so.

    In this conversation, Ryan joins Vidit to unpack the unconventional path from Houston and elite college debate to Palantir, Meta, OpenAI and now Founders Fund, including why Palantir took a chance on her at 22, what she learned building products for governments and billions of users, and why she believes there is still “no replacement for human judgement” in the age of AI.

    They also explore the risks of building technology and simply “throwing it over the wall”, the developmental impact of AI on young people, what makes humans uniquely valuable in an increasingly automated world, and Ryan’s early lessons from making the leap from operator to venture capitalist.

    Please enjoy exploring your curiosity.

    _______

    Get in touch with us via email at [email protected]

    Join our stable of commercial partners including the Australian Government, Google, KPMG,, Allens, Macquarie Capital, Xero, JP Morgan and more. 

    Show notes and more episodes here

    Follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram

    Get in touch with our Founder and Host, Vidit Agarwal directly here

    Contact us via our website

    This episode is supported by Xero, helping businesses use AI with more control through JAX, its in-platform AI finance partner. Get 90% off your plan for your first 6 months at xero.com/highflyers. 

    ________

    TIMESTAMPS

    • 01:28 From Palantir to Founders Fund
    • 04:00 The mentor who changed everything
    • 07:05 Growing up in Houston
    • 10:00 Feeling different at an elite school
    • 12:00 Why high-performing women are different
    • 14:00 Nolan Ryan
    • 17:00 When debate became her superpower
    • 20:00 Why Meta used her whole brain
    • 22:00 Books, empathy & social justice
    • 25:00 No master plan 
    • 27:00 How Palantir bet on a debate champion
    • 32:00 From user empathy to building Gotham
    • 34:00 Learning to double down on strengths
    • 37:00 Trae Stephens
    • 41:00 Breaking the VC pattern-recognition playbook
    • 41:40 Can AI replace human judgement?
    • 44:00 What AI could do to young minds
    • 47:00 Why human imperfection matters
    • 51:00 Leaving Palantir for Meta
    • 56:00 When products meet the real world
    • 59:00 Why Ryan finally became a VC
    • 1:02:00 Why OpenAI felt impossible to ignore
    • 1:04:00 Building safety systems for AI
    • 1:05:00 The operator-to-investor mindset shift
    • 1:10:00 Her first deal at Founders Fund
    • 1:12:00 Why authenticity is an investing edge
    • 1:19:00 Ryan’s one-hour reading habits
    • 1:24:00 Ryan’s favourite interview questions

    ________

    The High Flyers Podcast features in-depth interviews with the world’s most influential figures in business, tech, finance, government and sport. Launched in 2020, it has ranked in the global top ten for past three years, with listeners in 27 countries and over 200+ episodes released, and featured in Forbes, Daily Telegraph, and at SXSW.

    Our guests include -- Malcolm Turnbull (Prime Minister of Australia), Keith Rabois (Managing Director, Khosla Ventures), Jason Collins (Head of BlackRock, Asia Pacific), Brad Banducci (CEO, Woolworths), Michael Schneider (CEO, Bunnings), David Eckstein (CFO, Legora), Kevin Hartz (Partner, A*; Founder, Eventbrite), Shiv Rao (CEO, Abridge), Jesse Zhang (CEO, Decagon), Vandita Pant (CFO, BHP), Elena Verna (Head of Growth, Lovable), David Haber (a16z Partner), Jodie Auster (Uber's Global Head of Travel), Rob Giglio (CCO, Canva), Jean-Michel Limieux (CTO, Shopify and Atlassian), Stevie Case (CRO, Vanta), Cristina Cordova (COO, Linear), Gautam Chari (Head of Capital Commitments, Bank of America), John Haddock (CBO, Harvey), Mark Suster (Partner, Upfront Ventures), Niki Scevak (Partner, Blackbird), Craig Tiley (CEO, USA Tennis), Jeanne DeWitt Grosser (COO, Vercel), Paul Bassat (Partner, Square Peg), Bowen Pan (Creator, Facebook Marketplace), Peter Varghese (Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Australian Government), Sam Sicilia (CIO, Hostplus), Jack Zhang (CEO, Airwallex), Tim Doyle (CEO, Eucalyptus), Sukhinder Singh Cassidy (CEO, Xero), Sanjeev Gandhi (CEO, Orica) and Philip Green (Australia's Ambassador/High Commissioner to India). 

14. #278 Ellen DaSilva: Scaling Twitter, Hims Employee #8, Sequoia Scout & building Summer Health on “Maximum Mode”

    11 de setembro de 20261 h 13 minA seguir

    This episode is supported by Xero, helping businesses use AI with more control through JAX, its in-platform AI finance partner. Get 90% off your plan for your first 6 months at xero.com/highflyers …

    Notas do episódio

    This episode is supported by Xero, helping businesses use AI with more control through JAX, its in-platform AI finance partner. Get 90% off your plan for your first 6 months at xero.com/highflyers. 

    ________

    Ellen DaSilva is the Founder and CEO of Summer Health, the pediatric healthcare company that served 30,000+ families before being acquired by Doctronic in 2026. Earlier, she was employee #8 at Hims & Hers and worked at Twitter during its hyper growth years. She is an active angel investor and Sequoia Scout, and earned her MBA with Distinction from Harvard Business School.

    In this conversation, Ellen joins Vidit to unpack the ambition behind her extraordinary career, the leap from Wall Street to scaling Twitter during its hyper gowth years, why she nearly became a Hims competitor before joining as employee #8, and what happened when she finally took the founder leap with Summer Health.

    They also explore how consumer software has changed, what makes great companies feel “inevitable”, why Ellen is “incapable of turning off founder mode”, and the philosophy behind living life on “maximum mode” and lots more. 

    Please enjoy exploring your curiosity.

    _______

    Get in touch with us via email at [email protected]

    Join our stable of commercial partners including the Australian Government, Google, KPMG,, Allens, Macquarie Capital, Xero, JP Morgan and more. 

    Show notes and more episodes here

    Follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram

    Get in touch with our Founder and Host, Vidit Agarwal directly here

    Contact us via our website

    This episode is supported by Xero, helping businesses use AI with more control through JAX, its in-platform AI finance partner. Get 90% off your plan for your first 6 months at xero.com/highflyers. 

    ________

    TIMESTAMPS

    00:00 Ellen’s “hot take” on consumer AI
    02:00 From Barclays to selling Summer Health
    05:00 Growing up ambitious in New York
    09:00 The family behind Ellen’s drive
    11:00 “CEO of Coca-Cola” at age five
    13:00 Politics, Bloomberg & an early obsession with change
    15:00 Why Ellen studied English literature
    18:00 Raising three intensely curious kids
    19:00 China vs Wall Street
    23:00 “I knew I was going to marry him”
    26:00 Discovering tech from a Wall Street desk
    29:00 The 10-day leap from Barclays to Twitter
    31:00 Scaling Twitter during hypergrowth
    33:00 Why “every job becomes sales”
    35:00 How Twitter shaped Summer Health
    38:00 HBS, ambition & “colouring outside the lines”
    42:00 How Ellen spots exceptional companies early
    45:00 The startup she nearly built before Hims
    47:00 employee #8 at Hims to IPO
    48:00 Building healthcare like consumer software
    49:00 Why Summer Health removed the interface
    51:00 Why text-based products may win
    52:00 What Ellen would build next
    54:00 Why Summer Health sold to Doctronic
    57:00 Ellen’s fundraising playbook
    01:02:00 The 5 people in her "hall of fame" room
    01:08:00 The hardest period of her career
    01:11:00 “I’m incapable of turning off founder mode”
    01:13:00 Parenting without slowing down
    01:14:00 Living life on “maximum mode”
    01:17:00 Food, health & learning Mandarin
    01:18:00 Vibe coding, robotics & what Ellen wants to learn next
    01:19:00 “Where are you an outlier?”
    01:20:00 Ellen’s pet peeve

    ________

    The High Flyers Podcast features in-depth interviews with the world’s most influential figures in business, tech, finance, government and sport. Launched in 2020, it has ranked in the global top ten for past three years, with listeners in 27 countries and over 200+ episodes released, and featured in Forbes, Daily Telegraph, and at SXSW.

    Our guests include -- Malcolm Turnbull (Prime Minister of Australia), Keith Rabois (Managing Director, Khosla Ventures), Jason Collins (Head of BlackRock, Asia Pacific), Brad Banducci (CEO, Woolworths), Michael Schneider (CEO, Bunnings), David Eckstein (CFO, Legora), Kevin Hartz (Partner, A*; Founder, Eventbrite), Shiv Rao (CEO, Abridge), Jesse Zhang (CEO, Decagon), Vandita Pant (CFO, BHP), Elena Verna (Head of Growth, Lovable), David Haber (a16z Partner), Jodie Auster (Uber's Global Head of Travel), Rob Giglio (CCO, Canva), Jean-Michel Limieux (CTO, Shopify and Atlassian), Stevie Case (CRO, Vanta), Cristina Cordova (COO, Linear), Gautam Chari (Head of Capital Commitments, Bank of America), John Haddock (CBO, Harvey), Mark Suster (Partner, Upfront Ventures), Niki Scevak (Partner, Blackbird), Craig Tiley (CEO, USA Tennis), Jeanne DeWitt Grosser (COO, Vercel), Paul Bassat (Partner, Square Peg), Bowen Pan (Creator, Facebook Marketplace), Peter Varghese (Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Australian Government), Sam Sicilia (CIO, Hostplus), Jack Zhang (CEO, Airwallex), Tim Doyle (CEO, Eucalyptus), Sukhinder Singh Cassidy (CEO, Xero), Sanjeev Gandhi (CEO, Orica) and Philip Green (Australia's Ambassador/High Commissioner to India). 

15. #277 Shiv Rao: Abridge’s CEO on Skateboarding, “Languishing” Founder Pressure & Reinventing How Doctors Work

    10 de setembro de 20261 h 8 minA seguir

    This episode is supported by Xero, helping businesses use AI with more control through JAX, its in-platform AI finance partner. Get 90% off your plan for your first 6 months at xero.com/highflyers. ________Dr …

    Notas do episódio

    This episode is supported by Xero, helping businesses use AI with more control through JAX, its in-platform AI finance partner. Get 90% off your plan for your first 6 months at xero.com/highflyers. 

    ________

    Dr. Shiv Rao is the Co-Founder and CEO of Abridge, one of the world’s leading healthcare AI companies, turning clinician-patient conversations into clinical intelligence across 300+ health systems and 100M+ conversations annually. A practising cardiologist, Shiv previously worked across healthcare technology and investing at UPMC before founding Abridge in 2018.

    In this rare in-depth conversation, Shiv joins Vidit to unpack his unconventional path: moving from Pittsburgh to India at nine, skateboarding, programming synthesizers, selling records in Japan and nearly quitting medical school before becoming a cardiologist.

    He shares how a seemingly perfect career across medicine, technology and investing left him “incredibly restless”, eventually leading to Abridge. But success was far from immediate: Shiv spent nearly four years as a “languishing founder” before generative AI arrived, “the sky just opened up”, and Abridge made its pivotal move into enterprise healthcare.

    They also explore why “pressure makes diamonds”, the family sacrifices behind building when “every minute matters”, what changes when a company passes 500 people, why Shiv still practises medicine, and what he’s learned from unlikely influences including Jensen Huang and Rick Rubin.

    Please enjoy exploring your curiosity.

    ________

    Get in touch with us via email at [email protected]

    Join our stable of commercial partners including the Australian Government, Google, KPMG,, Allens, Macquarie Capital, Xero, JP Morgan and more. 

    Show notes and more episodes here

    Follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram

    Get in touch with our Founder and Host, Vidit Agarwal directly here

    Contact us via our website

    This episode is supported by Xero, helping businesses use AI with more control through JAX, its in-platform AI finance partner. Get 90% off your plan for your first 6 months at xero.com/highflyers. 

    ________

    TIMESTAMPS

    00:00 Meet Shiv Rao
    02:00 Living on planes 
    04:55 Xero
    07:00 Pittsburgh and India
    12:00 Identity, India & belonging
    17:00 Skateboarding, music & creativity
    19:00 The moment that led Shiv to medicine
    23:00 Selling records in Japan
    25:00 Nearly quitting medical school
    28:00 Medicine’s complicated relationship with technology
    30:00 Teaching himself to code & early product-market fit
    35:00 Why “pressure makes diamonds”
    39:00 Medicine → healthcare investing
    44:00 Leaving the “dream job” to build Abridge
    48:00 Family sacrifice & the reality of building
    50:00 Why “every minute matters” in AI
    54:00 Abridge’s years as a “languishing” startup
    59:00 When “the sky just opened up”
    1:01:00 Abridge’s YOLO move into enterprise
    1:03:00 The first customer “Love Stories”
    1:10:00 Why enterprise healthcare is so defensible
    1:15:00 Building AI that enterprises can’t replicate
    1:21:00 Hiring, loyalty & scaling the team
    1:23:00 Leading 500+ people
    1:26:00 Lessons from Jensen Huang & Rick Rubin
    1:30:00 What everyone is missing about AI
    1:32:00 Rapid fire

    ________

    The High Flyers Podcast features in-depth interviews with the world’s most influential figures in business, tech, finance, government and sport. Launched in 2020, it has ranked in the global top ten for past three years, with listeners in 27 countries and over 200+ episodes released, and featured in Forbes, Daily Telegraph, and at SXSW.

    Our guests include -- Malcolm Turnbull (Prime Minister of Australia), Keith Rabois (Managing Director, Khosla Ventures), Jason Collins (Head of BlackRock, Asia Pacific), Brad Banducci (CEO, Woolworths), Michael Schneider (CEO, Bunnings), David Eckstein (CFO, Legora), Kevin Hartz (Partner, A*; Founder, Eventbrite), Jesse Zhang (CEO, Decagon), Vandita Pant (CFO, BHP), Elena Verna (Head of Growth, Lovable), David Haber (a16z Partner), Jodie Auster (Uber's Global Head of Travel), Rob Giglio (CCO, Canva), Jean-Michel Limieux (CTO, Shopify and Atlassian), Stevie Case (CRO, Vanta), Cristina Cordova (COO, Linear), Gautam Chari (Head of Capital Commitments, Bank of America), John Haddock (CBO, Harvey), Mark Suster (Partner, Upfront Ventures), Niki Scevak (Partner, Blackbird), Craig Tiley (CEO, USA Tennis), Jeanne DeWitt Grosser (COO, Vercel), Paul Bassat (Partner, Square Peg), Bowen Pan (Creator, Facebook Marketplace), Peter Varghese (Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Australian Government), Sam Sicilia (CIO, Hostplus), Jack Zhang (CEO, Airwallex), Tim Doyle (CEO, Eucalyptus), Sukhinder Singh Cassidy (CEO, Xero), Sanjeev Gandhi (CEO, Orica) and Philip Green (Australia's Ambassador/High Commissioner to India). 

16. #276 John Willett: Rogo’s COO on Princeton, Being Ignored for Years to Winning the World’s Biggest Banks

    7 de setembro de 202655 minA seguir

    This episode is supported by Xero, helping businesses use AI with more control through JAX, its in-platform AI finance partner. Get 90% off your plan for your first 6 months at xero.com/highflyers. ________John …

    Notas do episódio

    This episode is supported by Xero, helping businesses use AI with more control through JAX, its in-platform AI finance partner. Get 90% off your plan for your first 6 months at xero.com/highflyers. 

    ________

    John Willett is the Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer of Rogo, one of the fastest-growing AI companies in global finance, used by leading institutions including Lazard, Jefferies, Rothschild & Co, Moelis and Nomura. Rogo has raised more than $300 million from investors including Kleiner Perkins, Sequoia, Thrive and Khosla, was valued at $2 billion in 2026, and John now leads its expansion across Europe and APAC.

    In his first in-depth interview ever, John joins Vidit to tell the story behind Rogo and the person behind the company. He reflects on growing up in Connecticut in a family of engineers, being academically far ahead of his peers, meeting co-founder Gabe Stengel at Princeton, and experimenting with AI for finance years before ChatGPT made the category obvious.

    John shares how early investor Kevin Ryan convinced them to quit investment banking and go all in, why Rogo spent its first two years with little external validation, and how ChatGPT changed enterprise demand almost overnight. He also explains how Lazard became the first major customer, what it took to earn the trust of global banks, and how Rogo evolved from an early product into a platform tackling some of finance’s most complex workflows.

    They also unpack John and Gabe’s co-founder dynamic, why Gabe became CEO, how Rogo recruits former bankers into operating roles, and what John has learned scaling the company from roughly 40 to 200 people while building out Europe and APAC.

    Please enjoy exploring your curiosity.

    ________

    Get in touch with us via email at [email protected]

    Join our stable of commercial partners including the Australian Government, Google, KPMG,, Allens, Macquarie Capital, Xero, JP Morgan and more. 

    Show notes and more episodes here

    Follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram

    Get in touch with our Founder and Host, Vidit Agarwal directly here

    Contact us via our website

    This episode is supported by Xero, helping businesses use AI with more control through JAX, its in-platform AI finance partner. Get 90% off your plan for your first 6 months at xero.com/highflyers. 

    ________

    TIMESTAMPS

    00:00 – The Real John Willett
    04:33 – Xero
    06:01 – The Family of Engineers Behind John
    11:11 – Meeting Gabe at Princeton
    12:22 – The Idea Before Rogo
    17:16 – Building AI Before ChatGPT
    18:46 – The Investor Who Told Them to Quit Banking
    20:11 – Rogo’s First Fundraising Deck
    24:31 – Two Years Nobody Wanted Rogo
    27:16 – The ChatGPT Inflection Point
    29:16 – Landing Rogo’s First Major Customer
    34:11 – When Enterprise AI Started to Click
    38:11 – Why Big-Name Customers Matter
    43:10 – Deciding Who Should Be CEO
    45:22 – Convincing Bankers to Join a Startup
    50:09 – US vs Europe vs APAC
    55:04 – Scaling Rogo From 40 to 200+People
    01:00:04 – Becoming a Better Manager
    01:02:44 – Rapid Fire

    ________

    The High Flyers Podcast features in-depth interviews with the world’s most influential figures in business, tech, finance, government and sport. Launched in 2020, it has ranked in the global top ten for past three years, with listeners in 27 countries and over 200+ episodes released, and featured in Forbes, Daily Telegraph, and at SXSW.

    Our guests include -- Malcolm Turnbull (Prime Minister of Australia), Keith Rabois (Managing Director, Khosla Ventures), Jason Collins (Head of BlackRock, Asia Pacific), Brad Banducci (CEO, Woolworths), Michael Schneider (CEO, Bunnings), David Eckstein (CFO, Legora), Kevin Hartz (Partner, A*; Founder, Eventbrite), Jesse Zhang (CEO, Decagon), Vandita Pant (CFO, BHP), Elena Verna (Head of Growth, Lovable), David Haber (a16z Partner), Jodie Auster (Uber's Global Head of Travel), Rob Giglio (CCO, Canva), Jean-Michel Limieux (CTO, Shopify and Atlassian), Stevie Case (CRO, Vanta), Cristina Cordova (COO, Linear), Gautam Chari (Head of Capital Commitments, Bank of America), John Haddock (CBO, Harvey), Mark Suster (Partner, Upfront Ventures), Niki Scevak (Partner, Blackbird), Craig Tiley (CEO, USA Tennis), Jeanne DeWitt Grosser (COO, Vercel), Paul Bassat (Partner, Square Peg), Bowen Pan (Creator, Facebook Marketplace), Peter Varghese (Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Australian Government), Sam Sicilia (CIO, Hostplus), Jack Zhang (CEO, Airwallex), Tim Doyle (CEO, Eucalyptus), Sukhinder Singh Cassidy (CEO, Xero), Sanjeev Gandhi (CEO, Orica) and Philip Green (Australia's Ambassador/High Commissioner to India). 

17. #275 Mukund Narayanamurti: From $8.5B Deals to Diplomacy, Brutal Feedback & What He Learned Across Asia

    2 de setembro de 20261 h 10 minA seguir

    This episode is supported by Xero, helping businesses use AI with more control through JAX, its in-platform AI finance partner. Get 90% off your plan for your first 6 months at xero.com/highflyers. Get in touch …

    Notas do episódio

    This episode is supported by Xero, helping businesses use AI with more control through JAX, its in-platform AI finance partner. Get 90% off your plan for your first 6 months at xero.com/highflyers.

    Get in touch with us via email at [email protected]

    Join our stable of commercial partners including the Australian Government, Google, KPMG,, Allens, Macquarie Capital, Xero, JP Morgan and more.

    ________

    Mukund Narayanamurti has spent more than two decades at the intersection of business, government and Asia. Based in New Delhi, he leads Austrade across six South Asian markets, including India, after previously leading its work across Southeast Asia. Earlier, he founded and led Asialink Business and spent more than a decade at KPMG advising companies across Asia. Born in Bengaluru, Mukund moved to Australia as an international student at 18, later earning an MBA from MIT Sloan and pursuing a PhD at Melbourne Business School.

    In this conversation with Vidit, Mukund shares his unlikely journey from a cricket-obsessed teenager in Bengaluru to moving to Australia alone at 18 — where he struggled so badly that he almost left after his first year — and ultimately returning to India as a senior Australian diplomat.

    He reflects on working on an $8.5 billion deal at 23 that “broke” him, losing business pitches for nearly three years before the wins finally came, and being initially dismissed as too young before becoming Asialink Business CEO at 34.

    Mukund also explains why he still pursues a PhD despite a demanding career, what 55 pieces of “scathing” academic feedback taught him about staying humble, and the leadership lessons he learnt across 750 consultations with Nicholas Moore.

    They also explore why India offers a front-row seat to global competition, the rapidly growing commercial relationship between India and Australia, and what Mukund has learnt from building a career across some of Asia’s most important markets.

    Please enjoy exploring your curiosity.

    ________

    Get in touch with us via email at [email protected]

    Join our stable of commercial partners including the Australian Government, Google, KPMG,, Allens, Macquarie Capital, Xero, JP Morgan and more. 

    Show notes and more episodes here

    Follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram

    Get in touch with our Founder and Host, Vidit Agarwal directly here

    Contact us via our website

    This episode is supported by Xero, helping businesses use AI with more control through JAX, its in-platform AI finance partner. Get 90% off your plan for your first 6 months at xero.com/highflyers. 

    ________

    TIMESTAMPS
    00:16 — Meet Mukund Narayanamurti
    03:10 — Australian Government Message
    04:10 — Bengaluru, Cricket & Growing Up “Unfocused”
    09:10 — Leaving India Alone at 18
    14:40 — Feeling Lost & Almost Going Home
    18:15 — The University Year That Changed Everything
    25:00 — Why Senior Leaders Need Brutally Honest Feedback
    31:15 — The $8.5B Deal That “Completely Broke” Him
    34:15 — Returning to India & Betting His Career on Asia
    37:50 — Three Years of Losing Every Business Pitch
    40:15 — Why India Is the Ultimate Test of Global Competition
    50:00 — The Surprising Scale of Australia–India Business
    54:10 — Leaving KPMG to Build Something From Scratch
    58:10 — Dismissed as Too Young, Then CEO at 34
    01:07:55 — 750 Meetings With Former Macquarie CEO Nicholas Moore
    01:13:30 — International Student to Australian Diplomat in India
    01:16:30 — “Work Is Worship”, Family & What Drives Him

    ________

    Welcome to the 13th episode in our special series with the Australian Government and their Centre for Australia–India Relations (CAIR), spotlighting the growing Australia–India relationship across technology, business, media, culture and sport.

    Other guests in this series include BHP's CFO Vandita Pant, Bank of America's Head of Capital Commitments Gautam Chari, Renowned Music Composer Tushar Apte, Australia's High Commissioner to India Philip Green, MUFG's CEO Vivek Bhatia, Australia's Secretary of Foreign Affairs Peter Varghese, NAB's EGM Sweta Mehra, Deputy Secretary of Australia's Home Affairs Brendan Dowling, Orica's CEO Sanjeev Gandhi, Sports Journalist Bharat Sundaresan, Cricket Legend Lisa Sthalekar and CAIR's CEO, Ryan Neelam, reflecting the breadth of Indian-Australian leaders at the most senior levels.

    ________

    The High Flyers Podcast features in-depth interviews with the world’s most influential figures in business, tech, finance, government and sport. Launched in 2020, it has ranked in the global top ten for past three years, with listeners in 27 countries and over 200+ episodes released, and featured in Forbes, Daily Telegraph, and at SXSW.

    Our guests include -- Malcolm Turnbull (Prime Minister of Australia), Keith Rabois (Managing Director, Khosla Ventures), Jason Collins (Head of BlackRock, Asia Pacific), Brad Banducci (CEO, Woolworths), Michael Schneider (CEO, Bunnings), David Eckstein (CFO, Legora), Kevin Hartz (Partner, A*; Founder, Eventbrite), Jesse Zhang (CEO, Decagon), Vandita Pant (CFO, BHP), Elena Verna (Head of Growth, Lovable), David Haber (a16z Partner), Jodie Auster (Uber's Global Head of Travel), Rob Giglio (CCO, Canva), Jean-Michel Limieux (CTO, Shopify and Atlassian), Stevie Case (CRO, Vanta), Cristina Cordova (COO, Linear), Gautam Chari (Head of Capital Commitments, Bank of America), John Haddock (CBO, Harvey), Mark Suster (Partner, Upfront Ventures), Niki Scevak (Partner, Blackbird), Craig Tiley (CEO, USA Tennis), Jeanne DeWitt Grosser (COO, Vercel), Paul Bassat (Partner, Square Peg), Bowen Pan (Creator, Facebook Marketplace), Peter Varghese (Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Australian Government), Sam Sicilia (CIO, Hostplus), Jack Zhang (CEO, Airwallex), Tim Doyle (CEO, Eucalyptus), Sukhinder Singh Cassidy (CEO, Xero), Sanjeev Gandhi (CEO, Orica) and Philip Green (Australia's Ambassador/High Commissioner to India). 

18. #274 Keith Rabois: His Rarely Discussed Childhood and How He Became One of Tech’s Most Influential Investors

    31 de agosto de 20261 h 6 minA seguir

    This episode is supported by Xero, helping businesses use AI with more control through JAX, its in-platform AI finance partner. Get 90% off your plan for your first 6 months at xero.com/highflyers. ________ …

    Notas do episódio

    This episode is supported by Xero, helping businesses use AI with more control through JAX, its in-platform AI finance partner. Get 90% off your plan for your first 6 months at xero.com/highflyers. 

    ________

    Keith Rabois is Managing Director at Khosla Ventures and one of Silicon Valley’s most influential technology investors and operators. He held senior roles at PayPal, LinkedIn, Slide and Square, co-founded Opendoor and OpenStore, and has backed more than 15 companies that have gone public, including YouTube, Palantir, Airbnb and DoorDash. A perennial Forbes Midas List investor, Keith has ranked as high as #4 in the US and #8 globally.

    In this unusually personal conversation with Vidit, Keith goes back to the beginning: growing up in a middle-class Jewish family in Edison, New Jersey, reading the encyclopedia cover to cover and becoming what he calls a “high-credentialist kid.” He explains how that pursuit took him through Stanford, Harvard Law School, a federal appellate court clerkship and Sullivan & Cromwell before he abandoned the path “cold turkey” at 29 to join a startup almost nobody remembers.

    Keith reflects on the people who changed the direction of his life, including Peter Thiel, Reid Hoffman, Vinod Khosla and Sam Altman. He shares why Peter’s criticism forced him to become more quantitative, why he waited to join LinkedIn until the company needed his particular strengths, and what the rarely discussed Slide chapter taught him about platforms, pivots, organizational design and failure.

    He also reveals how he identifies top 1% talent, why hiring exceptional people matters more than becoming a better manager, and why “the team you build is the company you build.” Keith explains why he still takes every note by hand, refuses laptops in meetings and measures how he invests every hour of his time.

    They also explore venture capital in the AI era: how to separate real product-market fit from corporate curiosity, why rapid revenue can conceal a fragile company, and why enduring advantages matter more than momentum. Keith also explains why his greatest edge remains becoming the first institutional investor in exceptional founders, and why launching a competitive venture fund today may require at least $500 million.

    Please enjoy exploring your curiosity.

    ________

    Get in touch with us via email at [email protected]

    Join our stable of commercial partners including the Australian Government, Google, KPMG,, Allens, Macquarie Capital, Xero, JP Morgan and more. 

    Show notes and more episodes here

    Follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram

    Get in touch with our Founder and Host, Vidit Agarwal directly here

    Contact us via our website

    This episode is supported by Xero, helping businesses use AI with more control through JAX, its in-platform AI finance partner. Get 90% off your plan for your first 6 months at xero.com/highflyers. 

    ________

    TIMESTAMPS

    00:00 – The Real Keith Rabois

    02:51 – His Online Persona

    03:25 – Childhood and family

    05:45 – Spotting Talent Before Everyone Else

    06:50 – Xero

    07:40 – The Parents Who Shaped Him

    11:05 – The Ultimate Credentialist Kid

    13:00 – Why Tech Was Never the Plan

    16:10 – Becoming a Lawyer at Six

    19:00 – Stanford, Harvard and Status

    24:00 – Quitting Law at 29

    28:05 – Growing Up With Peter Thiel

    31:00 – Learning From Tech’s Best

    36:00 – Between PayPal and LinkedIn

    39:00 – Peter Thiel’s Career-Changing Criticism

    42:00 – Talent Beats Management

    44:00 – Finding the Top 1%

    47:00 – His Executive Assistant Mistake

    51:00 – No Laptops, One Pen

    53:00 – The Lessons From Slide

    57:00 – Vinod Khosla’s Best Advice

    59:00 – Is AI Revenue Built to Last?

    01:02:00 – Real Demand or Corporate Curiosity?

    01:05:00 – Building a VC Fund Today

    01:08:00 – Does Focus Still Win?

    01:09:00 – Rapid Fire

    ________

    The High Flyers Podcast features in-depth interviews with the world’s most influential figures in business, tech, finance, government and sport. Launched in 2020, it has ranked in the global top ten for past three years, with listeners in 27 countries and over 200+ episodes released, and featured in Forbes, Daily Telegraph, and at SXSW.

    Our guests include -- Malcolm Turnbull (Prime Minister of Australia), Keith Rabois (Managing Director, Khosla Ventures), Jason Collins (Head of BlackRock, Asia Pacific), Brad Banducci (CEO, Woolworths), Michael Schneider (CEO, Bunnings), David Eckstein (CFO, Legora), Kevin Hartz (Partner, A*; Founder, Eventbrite), Jesse Zhang (CEO, Decagon), Vandita Pant (CFO, BHP), Elena Verna (Head of Growth, Lovable), David Haber (a16z Partner), Jodie Auster (Uber's Global Head of Travel), Rob Giglio (CCO, Canva), Jean-Michel Limieux (CTO, Shopify and Atlassian), Stevie Case (CRO, Vanta), Cristina Cordova (COO, Linear), Gautam Chari (Head of Capital Commitments, Bank of America), John Haddock (CBO, Harvey), Mark Suster (Partner, Upfront Ventures), Niki Scevak (Partner, Blackbird), Craig Tiley (CEO, USA Tennis), Jeanne DeWitt Grosser (COO, Vercel), Paul Bassat (Partner, Square Peg), Bowen Pan (Creator, Facebook Marketplace), Peter Varghese (Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Australian Government), Sam Sicilia (CIO, Hostplus), Jack Zhang (CEO, Airwallex), Tim Doyle (CEO, Eucalyptus), Sukhinder Singh Cassidy (CEO, Xero), Sanjeev Gandhi (CEO, Orica) and Philip Green (Australia's Ambassador/High Commissioner to India). 

19. #273 Kevin Hartz: Studying with Peter Thiel, Founding Eventbrite, Spotting the PayPal Mafia Early & Building A*

    26 de agosto de 202659 minA seguir

    This episode is supported by Xero, helping businesses use AI with more control through JAX, its in-platform AI finance partner. Get 90% off your plan for your first 6 months at xero.com/highflyers. ________ …

    Notas do episódio

    This episode is supported by Xero, helping businesses use AI with more control through JAX, its in-platform AI finance partner. Get 90% off your plan for your first 6 months at xero.com/highflyers. 

    ________

    Kevin Hartz is the Co-Founder of Eventbrite and Xoom, and Co-Founder and General Partner at A*, the early-stage venture firm whose latest fund is $450M. Xoom was acquired by PayPal for more than $1B, Eventbrite went public, and Kevin has backed some of technology’s most important companies from the earliest stages, including PayPal, Airbnb, Palantir, SpaceX, Anduril, Ramp and Decagon.

    In this conversation with Vidit, Kevin goes back to the beginning: growing up in the Bay Area before Silicon Valley became Silicon Valley, studying history at Stanford and Oxford, returning home “fairly lost,” and nearly choosing medicine before the internet pulled him into technology. He shares how friendships with Peter Thiel and the early PayPal team shaped his trajectory, why he chose to build Xoom instead of joining PayPal, and what it felt like to later be “brushed aside” as CEO.

    Kevin also reflects on building Eventbrite with his wife Julia while raising a family, the relentless reality of being a scaling CEO, and how identity changes when a company that defined two decades of your life is no longer yours. He explains what the PayPal Mafia taught him about talent, why the best founders create leverage by surrounding themselves with exceptional people, and why some founders are simply an “automatic check.”

    They also explore A*, how Kevin finds the next generation of breakout founders, the extraordinary valuations and competition in today’s AI market, why relationships still matter at seed, and what decades of building and investing have taught him about ambition, judgment and the people you choose to spend your life around.

    Please enjoy exploring your curiosity.

    ________

    Get in touch with us via email at [email protected]

    Join our stable of commercial partners including the Australian Government, Google, KPMG,, Allens, Macquarie Capital, Xero, JP Morgan and more. 

    Show notes and more episodes here

    Follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram

    Get in touch with our Founder and Host, Vidit Agarwal directly here

    Contact us via our website

    This episode is supported by Xero, helping businesses use AI with more control through JAX, its in-platform AI finance partner. Get 90% off your plan for your first 6 months at xero.com/highflyers. 

    ________

    TIMESTAMPS

    00:00 – Meet Kevin Hartz
    02:56 – Xero 
    03:56 – Childhood and family
    16:00 – Stanford vs Oxford
    21:00 – “I was fairly lost”
    24:00 – PayPal, Peter Thiel and Xoom
    30:00 – Getting pushed out as Xoom CEO
    33:00 – Tech then vs now
    35:00 – Why Eventbrite had to exist
    43:00 – The reality of being CEO
    45:00 – Building with Julia and becoming a dad
    48:00 – What the PayPal Mafia taught him
    53:00 – Investing in a wild market
    56:00 – Who is Kevin Hartz after Eventbrite?
    59:00 – Building A* after the SPAC era
    1:02:00 – Finding the next great founder
    1:04:00 – Why Ashwin was an “automatic check”
    1:08:00 – Kevin’s dream dinner table
    1:11:00 – The question Kevin asks every founder
    1:13:00 – Why “I’d be happy to” is banned at A*

    ________

    The High Flyers Podcast features in-depth interviews with the world’s most influential figures in business, tech, finance, government and sport. Launched in 2020, it has ranked in the global top ten for past three years, with listeners in 27 countries and over 200+ episodes released, and featured in Forbes, Daily Telegraph, and at SXSW.

    Our guests include -- Malcolm Turnbull (Prime Minister of Australia), Jason Collins (Head of BlackRock, Asia Pacific), Brad Banducci (CEO, Woolworths), Michael Schneider (CEO, Bunnings), David Eckstein (CFO, Legora), Kevin Hartz (Partner, A*; Founder, Eventbrite), Jesse Zhang (CEO, Decagon), Vandita Pant (CFO, BHP), Elena Verna (Head of Growth, Lovable), David Haber (a16z Partner), Jodie Auster (Uber's Global Head of Travel), Rob Giglio (CCO, Canva), Jean-Michel Limieux (CTO, Shopify and Atlassian), Stevie Case (CRO, Vanta), Cristina Cordova (COO, Linear), Gautam Chari (Head of Capital Commitments, Bank of America), John Haddock (CBO, Harvey), Mark Suster (Partner, Upfront Ventures), Niki Scevak (Partner, Blackbird), Craig Tiley (CEO, USA Tennis), Jeanne DeWitt Grosser (COO, Vercel), Paul Bassat (Partner, Square Peg), Bowen Pan (Creator, Facebook Marketplace), Peter Varghese (Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Australian Government), Sam Sicilia (CIO, Hostplus), Jack Zhang (CEO, Airwallex), Tim Doyle (CEO, Eucalyptus), Sukhinder Singh Cassidy (CEO, Xero), Sanjeev Gandhi (CEO, Orica) and Philip Green (Australia's Ambassador/High Commissioner to India). 

20. #272 Dylan Babbs: Profound’s CTO on the New Rules of AI Marketing, Maps Obsession & “Swimming Downstream”

    24 de agosto de 20261 h 16 minA seguir

    This episode is supported by Xero, helping businesses use AI with more control through JAX, its in-platform AI finance partner. Get 90% off your plan for your first 6 months at xero.com/highflyers. ________ …

    Notas do episódio

    This episode is supported by Xero, helping businesses use AI with more control through JAX, its in-platform AI finance partner. Get 90% off your plan for your first 6 months at xero.com/highflyers.

    ________

    Dylan Babbs is the Co-Founder and CTO of Profound, one of AI’s fastest-growing marketing companies, which reached a $1B valuation within 18 months and has raised $155M+ from Lightspeed, Sequoia, Kleiner Perkins, Khosla Ventures and others. Previously a design engineer at Uber, Dylan is a licensed private pilot and maps obsessive with a distinctive approach to engineering, product and design.

    In this conversation with Vidit, Dylan shares how an obsession with maps shaped his approach to product and design, why years of side projects eventually led him to leave his dream job at Uber, and how meeting James Cadwallader at South Park Commons led to Profound. He unpacks the three things every successful startup needs, why founders should stop “swimming upstream”, and how Profound grew far beyond even the founders’ expectations.

    They also explore Profound’s bigger bet on how AI is reshaping marketing, what Fortune 500 CMOs are asking today, the rise of the “marketing engineer”, product taste and speed, and why learning to fly taught Dylan to “run towards the anxiety.”

    Please enjoy exploring your curiosity.

    ________

    Get in touch with us via email at [email protected]

    Join our stable of commercial partners including the Australian Government, Google, KPMG,, Allens, Macquarie Capital, Xero, JP Morgan and more.

    Show notes and more episodes here

    Follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram

    Get in touch with our Founder and Host, Vidit Agarwal directly here

    Contact us via our website

    This episode is supported by Xero, helping businesses use AI with more control through JAX, its in-platform AI finance partner. Get 90% off your plan for your first 6 months at xero.com/highflyers.

    ________

    TIMESTAMPS

    00:00 Meet Dylan Babbs
    02:25 Xero
    03:25 Growing up in Silicon Valley
    04:35 Why maps are fascinating
    19:35 Berlin + starting a business
    26:35 Puerto Rico + learning to fly
    30:35 “Run towards the anxiety”
    38:35 Uber + walking away
    42:35 Meeting his co-founder
    49:05 3 things every startup needs
    53:35 Product taste + speed
    56:35 Building Profound
    59:35 Fast tracked revenue growth
    1:03:35 What Fortune 500 CMOs want
    1:07:35 The rise of the “marketing engineer”
    1:10:35 Can the giants copy Profound?
    1:13:35 Profound’s data moat
    1:16:35 Flying, surfing + rapid fire

    ________

    The High Flyers Podcast features in-depth interviews with the world’s most influential figures in business, tech, finance, government and sport. Launched in 2020, it has ranked in the global top ten for past three years, with listeners in 27 countries and over 200+ episodes released, and featured in Forbes, Daily Telegraph, and at SXSW.

    Our guests include -- Malcolm Turnbull (Prime Minister of Australia), Jason Collins (Head of BlackRock, Asia Pacific), Brad Banducci (CEO, Woolworths), Michael Schneider (CEO, Bunnings), David Eckstein (CFO, Legora), Jesse Zhang (CEO, Decagon), Vandita Pant (CFO, BHP), Elena Verna (Head of Growth, Lovable), David Haber (a16z Partner), Jodie Auster (Uber's Global Head of Travel), Rob Giglio (CCO, Canva), Jean-Michel Limieux (CTO, Shopify and Atlassian), Stevie Case (CRO, Vanta), Cristina Cordova (COO, Linear), Gautam Chari (Head of Capital Commitments, Bank of America), John Haddock (CBO, Harvey), Mark Suster (Partner, Upfront Ventures), Niki Scevak (Partner, Blackbird), Craig Tiley (CEO, USA Tennis), Jeanne DeWitt Grosser (COO, Vercel), Paul Bassat (Partner, Square Peg), Bowen Pan (Creator, Facebook Marketplace), Peter Varghese (Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Australian Government), Sam Sicilia (CIO, Hostplus), Jack Zhang (CEO, Airwallex), Tim Doyle (CEO, Eucalyptus), Sukhinder Singh Cassidy (CEO, Xero), Sanjeev Gandhi (CEO, Orica) and Philip Green (Australia's Ambassador/High Commissioner to India).

21. #271 Damien Lewke: Pro Football to CrowdStrike, Why the Best Cybersecurity Still Fails + Building Nebulock Alone

    19 de agosto de 20261 h 21 minA seguir

    This episode is supported by Xero, helping businesses use AI with more control through JAX, its in-platform AI finance partner. Get 90% off your plan for your first 6 months at xero.com/highflyers. ________ …

    Notas do episódio

    This episode is supported by Xero, helping businesses use AI with more control through JAX, its in-platform AI finance partner. Get 90% off your plan for your first 6 months at xero.com/highflyers.

    ________

    Damien Lewke is the Founder & CEO of Nebulock, an AI-native cybersecurity company building autonomous technology to find threats before they become major attacks. Previously, he worked across CrowdStrike, Palo Alto Networks, Arctic Wolf and Northrop Grumman, four leading names across cybersecurity and defence, and studied AI at MIT. Nebulock has since run 300M+ AI-powered investigations and surfaced 4,000+ security incidents missed by existing tools.

    In this conversation with Vidit, Damien traces the unconventional journey that led him there, from pursuing professional football in Germany and selling shoes in Los Angeles to discovering cybersecurity through an internship, working in Asia Pacific, and eventually quitting his job without a perfect plan to start Nebulock as a solo founder.

    They unpack why cybersecurity is harder today than 12 years ago, how AI could automate hacking at scale, and why even the world’s best security tools still miss attacks. Damien also shares why he interviewed 90 customers in 90 days before writing a line of code, the 30-page manifesto that helped launch Nebulock, what he learned inside some of cybersecurity’s defining companies, and why he still runs 1,000 miles every year.

    Please enjoy exploring your curiosity.

    ________

    Get in touch with us via email at [email protected]

    Join our stable of commercial partners including the Australian Government, Google, KPMG,, Allens, Macquarie Capital, Xero, JP Morgan and more.

    Show notes and more episodes here

    Follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram

    Get in touch with our Founder and Host, Vidit Agarwal directly here

    Contact us via our website

    This episode is supported by Xero, helping businesses use AI with more control through JAX, its in-platform AI finance partner. Get 90% off your plan for your first 6 months at xero.com/highflyers.

    ________

    TIMESTAMPS

    00:00 Meet Damien Lewke
    03:50 Xero
    04:50 Growing up between America and Germany
    14:20 Chasing professional football
    21:00 Discovering cybersecurity
    24:00 Cybersecurity: 2014 vs today
    29:00 The DNC hack → CrowdStrike
    38:30 Australia, Palo Alto + MIT
    47:00 Why he became a solo founder
    53:00 Why AI changes cybersecurity
    57:00 Building Nebulock
    1:00:00 Can the giants copy it?
    1:05:00 90 customers before writing code
    1:12:00 Hiring exceptional people
    1:20:00 AI vs AI: the future of cyber
    1:24:00 Running 1,000 miles + rapid fire

    ________

    The High Flyers Podcast features in-depth interviews with the world’s most influential figures in business, tech, finance, government and sport. Launched in 2020, it has ranked in the global top ten for past three years, with listeners in 27 countries and over 200+ episodes released, and featured in Forbes, Daily Telegraph, and at SXSW.

    Our guests include -- Malcolm Turnbull (Prime Minister of Australia), Jason Collins (Head of BlackRock, Asia Pacific), Brad Banducci (CEO, Woolworths), Michael Schneider (CEO, Bunnings), David Eckstein (CFO, Legora), Jesse Zhang (CEO, Decagon), Vandita Pant (CFO, BHP), Elena Verna (Head of Growth, Lovable), David Haber (a16z Partner), Jodie Auster (Uber's Global Head of Travel), Rob Giglio (CCO, Canva), Jean-Michel Limieux (CTO, Shopify and Atlassian), Stevie Case (CRO, Vanta), Cristina Cordova (COO, Linear), Gautam Chari (Head of Capital Commitments, Bank of America), John Haddock (CBO, Harvey), Mark Suster (Partner, Upfront Ventures), Niki Scevak (Partner, Blackbird), Craig Tiley (CEO, USA Tennis), Jeanne DeWitt Grosser (COO, Vercel), Paul Bassat (Partner, Square Peg), Bowen Pan (Creator, Facebook Marketplace), Peter Varghese (Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Australian Government), Sam Sicilia (CIO, Hostplus), Jack Zhang (CEO, Airwallex), Tim Doyle (CEO, Eucalyptus), Sukhinder Singh Cassidy (CEO, Xero), Sanjeev Gandhi (CEO, Orica) and Philip Green (Australia's Ambassador/High Commissioner to India).

22. #270 Luke Anear: Burnout to CEO Again, Reinventing SafetyCulture as Mitti, and Why He's Flying Helicopters

    17 de agosto de 20261 h 22 minA seguir

    This episode is supported by Xero, helping businesses use AI with more control through JAX, its in-platform AI finance partner. Get 90% off your plan for your first 6 months at xero.com/highflyers. Terms apply …

    Notas do episódio

    This episode is supported by Xero, helping businesses use AI with more control through JAX, its in-platform AI finance partner. Get 90% off your plan for your first 6 months at xero.com/highflyers. Terms apply.

    ________

    Luke Anear is the Founder and CEO of Mitti, the global technology company formerly known as SafetyCulture. Founded in 2004, Mitti has grown into a US$1.6 billion company with 850+ employees, helping tens of thousands of organisations improve how work gets done. Today, it is expanding across AI, computer vision and insurance, building on more than 3.5 billion workplace images and an insurance business that has already written US$115 million+ in premiums.

    After more than 20 years building the company, Luke stepped away from the CEO role completely exhausted. Eighteen months later, he’s back in the chair, has made more changes in five months than he says he did in the previous decade, and is rebuilding the business for the AI era.

    In this candid conversation, Luke shares how dropping out of school and cycling through 18 jobs and businesses shaped him, including living in his car before making $42,000 in a single night, and why he regrets selling 28% of SafetyCulture for just $2 million. Vidit and Luke unpack the chaos of scaling from 25 to 300+ employees, why stepping away became “one of the best things that ever happened” to him, what he’s doing differently in his second stint as CEO, and his ambition to build Mitti into a $10 billion revenue business.

    They also explore why AI is pushing software from horizontal to vertical, Mitti’s expansion beyond traditional SaaS, the surprising lesson Luke learned on a job site in Nepal, and the more personal side of a founder who flies helicopters, makes films and once took his children out of school to travel the world making documentaries together.

    Please enjoy exploring your curiosity.

    ________

    Get in touch with us via email at [email protected]

    Join our stable of commercial partners including the Australian Government, Google, KPMG,, Allens, Macquarie Capital, Xero, JP Morgan and more.

    Show notes and more episodes here

    Follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram

    Get in touch with our Founder and Host, Vidit Agarwal directly here

    Contact us via our website

    ________

    TIMESTAMPS

    00:00 Why SafetyCulture became Mitti
    02:10 Introduction
    07:00 Xero
    10:15 Living in his car to making $42K overnight
    20:30 How SafetyCulture really started
    25:30 Selling 28% for $2 million
    31:30 Stepping away and returning as CEO
    36:00 The mistakes of scaling too fast
    44:15 Why AI is making software more vertical
    46:30 What Nepal taught Luke about global expansion
    54:00 From SaaS to insurance
    1:03:00 “I was cooked”: burnout and becoming a different CEO
    1:15:00 Documentaries, his kids and flying helicopters
    1:23:00 Rapid fire

    ________

    The High Flyers Podcast features in-depth interviews with the world’s most influential figures in business, tech, finance, government and sport. Launched in 2020, it has ranked in the global top ten for past three years, with listeners in 27 countries and over 200+ episodes released, and featured in Forbes, Daily Telegraph, and at SXSW.

    Our guests include -- Malcolm Turnbull (Prime Minister of Australia), Jason Collins (Head of BlackRock, Asia Pacific), Brad Banducci (CEO, Woolworths), Michael Schneider (CEO, Bunnings), David Eckstein (CFO, Legora), Jesse Zhang (CEO, Decagon), Vandita Pant (CFO, BHP), Elena Verna (Head of Growth, Lovable), David Haber (a16z Partner), Jodie Auster (Uber's Global Head of Travel), Rob Giglio (CCO, Canva), Jean-Michel Limieux (CTO, Shopify and Atlassian), Stevie Case (CRO, Vanta), Cristina Cordova (COO, Linear), Gautam Chari (Head of Capital Commitments, Bank of America), John Haddock (CBO, Harvey), Mark Suster (Partner, Upfront Ventures), Niki Scevak (Partner, Blackbird), Craig Tiley (CEO, USA Tennis), Jeanne DeWitt Grosser (COO, Vercel), Paul Bassat (Partner, Square Peg), Bowen Pan (Creator, Facebook Marketplace), Peter Varghese (Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Australian Government), Sam Sicilia (CIO, Hostplus), Jack Zhang (CEO, Airwallex), Tim Doyle (CEO, Eucalyptus), Sukhinder Singh Cassidy (CEO, Xero), Sanjeev Gandhi (CEO, Orica) and Philip Green (Australia's Ambassador/High Commissioner to India).

23. #269 Flavia Tata Nardini: The Italian-Australian Leading an $800M Space Company Finding Critical Minerals Beneath Earth

    11 de agosto de 20261 h 18 minA seguir

    Flavia Tata Nardini is the co-founder and CEO of Fleet Space Technologies, the Adelaide company using satellites, seismic sensors and AI to help find the critical minerals needed for the energy transition …

    Notas do episódio

    Flavia Tata Nardini is the co-founder and CEO of Fleet Space Technologies, the Adelaide company using satellites, seismic sensors and AI to help find the critical minerals needed for the energy transition. Since starting with just A$25,000, Fleet has grown into a global space and mining technology company valued at more than A$800 million.

    In this candid conversation, Flavia shares how losing everything as a child shaped her relationship with money, identity and risk, why moving to Australia left her with little choice but to build her own company, and how Fleet searched for product-market fit across everything from beehives and cattle to pipelines and vineyards.

    Vidit and Flavia explore the mining breakthrough that transformed Fleet, the A$100 Rocket Lab launch that helped save the company, raising children while building a startup, finding the right partner in life and business, and why Fleet now plans to take the same seismic technology it uses beneath the Earth to the Moon.

    Please enjoy exploring your curiosity.

    ________

    Get in touch with us via email at [email protected]

    Join our stable of commercial partners including the Australian Government, Google, KPMG,, Allens, Macquarie Capital, Xero, JP Morgan and more.

    Show notes and more episodes here

    Follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram

    Get in touch with our Founder and Host, Vidit Agarwal directly here

    Contact us via our website

    ________

    TIMESTAMPS

    01:00 Who is Flavia
    03:42 The Day Her Family Lost Everything
    14:02 The Childhood Dream That Never Left Her
    19:12 Leaving Rome and Becoming Someone New
    24:22 What the Space Industry Got Wrong
    27:08 Why Australia Forced Her to Become a Founder
    35:35 How Fleet Space Really Began
    38:38 Betting on an Industry She Barely Knew
    41:15 The Moment Fleet Became More Than an Idea
    45:05 Building a Company With the Person You Love
    49:36 The Messy Search for Product-Market Fit
    54:12 The Bet That Changed Fleet Forever
    55:45 Using Satellites and AI to See Beneath Earth
    01:01:02 Building a Global Deep-Tech Company From Adelaide
    01:05:15 The $100 Satellite Launch That Saved Fleet
    01:09:15 From Founder Mode to Leading an $800M Company
    01:14:40 Taking Fleet’s Technology From Earth to the Moon
    01:16:00 Rapid Fire

    ________

    The High Flyers Podcast features in-depth interviews with the world’s most influential figures in business, tech, finance, government and sport. Launched in 2020, it has ranked in the global top ten for past three years, with listeners in 27 countries and over 200+ episodes released, and featured in Forbes, Daily Telegraph, and at SXSW.

    Our guests include -- Malcolm Turnbull (Prime Minister of Australia), Jason Collins (Head of BlackRock, Asia Pacific), Brad Banducci (CEO, Woolworths), Michael Schneider (CEO, Bunnings), David Eckstein (CFO, Legora), Jesse Zhang (CEO, Decagon), Vandita Pant (CFO, BHP), Elena Verna (Head of Growth, Lovable), David Haber (a16z Partner), Jodie Auster (Uber's Global Head of Travel), Rob Giglio (CCO, Canva), Jean-Michel Limieux (CTO, Shopify and Atlassian), Stevie Case (CRO, Vanta), Cristina Cordova (COO, Linear), Gautam Chari (Head of Capital Commitments, Bank of America), John Haddock (CBO, Harvey), Mark Suster (Partner, Upfront Ventures), Niki Scevak (Partner, Blackbird), Craig Tiley (CEO, USA Tennis), Jeanne DeWitt Grosser (COO, Vercel), Paul Bassat (Partner, Square Peg), Bowen Pan (Creator, Facebook Marketplace), Peter Varghese (Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Australian Government), Sam Sicilia (CIO, Hostplus), Jack Zhang (CEO, Airwallex), Tim Doyle (CEO, Eucalyptus), Sukhinder Singh Cassidy (CEO, Xero), Sanjeev Gandhi (CEO, Orica) and Philip Green (Australia's Ambassador/High Commissioner to India).

24. #268 Mel Silva: Google's MD on Losing Her Dream Job, Trusting Her Instinct and Making Yourself Replaceable

    4 de agosto de 20261 h 31 minA seguir

    Mel Silva is the Managing Director of Google for ANZ. She has held senior leadership roles across Asia-Pacific, including leading Google's APAC Go-to-Market Strategy & Operations from Singapore. Today, she …

    Notas do episódio

    Mel Silva is the Managing Director of Google for ANZ. She has held senior leadership roles across Asia-Pacific, including leading Google's APAC Go-to-Market Strategy & Operations from Singapore. Today, she oversees one of Google's most influential regional businesses, and serves on the board of the Sydney Opera House.

    In one of her most candid interviews, Mel shares the story behind leading Google. From growing up in a family business to taking career risks that meant pay cuts and missed promotions, she reflects on the setback that changed everything, the mentor who saw potential she couldn't yet see, and why learning to separate instinct from her inner critic transformed both her career and her leadership.

    Vidit and Mel explore leading Google through Australia's landmark News Media Bargaining Code, returning from parental leave to a transformed company, building leaders who can one day replace you, balancing ambition with motherhood, and how AI is reshaping the way we work, learn and lead.

    Please enjoy exploring your curiosity.

    ________

    Get in touch with us via email at [email protected]

    Join our stable of commercial partners including the Australian Government, Google, KPMG,, Allens, Macquarie Capital, City of Sydney and more.

    Show notes and more episodes here

    Follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram

    Get in touch with our Founder and Host, Vidit Agarwal directly here

    Contact us via our website

    ________

    TIMESTAMPS

    02:18 Growing up in a family business

    08:41 The career move that changed everything

    14:55 Joining Google after a pay cut

    22:36 Losing the MD role

    31:18 The move to Singapore

    40:27 Australia's News Media Bargaining Code

    52:11 Leading Google through crisis

    1:04:52 AI: Google's biggest platform shift yet

    1:18:30 Parenthood, ambition & identity

    1:31:42 The future of Search

    1:43:15 Leadership lessons

    1:49:30 Quickfire

    ________

    The High Flyers Podcast features in-depth interviews with the world’s most influential figures in business, tech, finance, government and sport. Launched in 2020, it has ranked in the global top ten for past three years, with listeners in 27 countries and over 200+ episodes released, and featured in Forbes, Daily Telegraph, and at SXSW.

    Our guests include -- Malcolm Turnbull (Prime Minister of Australia), Jason Collins (Head of BlackRock, Asia Pacific), Brad Banducci (CEO, Woolworths), Michael Schneider (CEO, Bunnings), David Eckstein (CFO, Legora), Jesse Zhang (CEO, Decagon), Vandita Pant (CFO, BHP), Elena Verna (Head of Growth, Lovable), David Haber (a16z Partner), Jodie Auster (Uber's Global Head of Travel), Rob Giglio (CCO, Canva), Jean-Michel Limieux (CTO, Shopify and Atlassian), Stevie Case (CRO, Vanta), Cristina Cordova (COO, Linear), Gautam Chari (Head of Capital Commitments, Bank of America), John Haddock (CBO, Harvey), Mark Suster (Partner, Upfront Ventures), Niki Scevak (Partner, Blackbird), Craig Tiley (CEO, USA Tennis), Jeanne DeWitt Grosser (COO, Vercel), Paul Bassat (Partner, Square Peg), Bowen Pan (Creator, Facebook Marketplace), Peter Varghese (Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Australian Government), Sam Sicilia (CIO, Hostplus), Jack Zhang (CEO, Airwallex), Tim Doyle (CEO, Eucalyptus), Sukhinder Singh Cassidy (CEO, Xero), Sanjeev Gandhi (CEO, Orica) and Philip Green (Australia's Ambassador/High Commissioner to India).

25. #267 Vandita Pant: BHP's CFO on How Curiosity Took Her from a Family of Teachers in India to the C-Suite

    28 de julho de 20261 h 37 minA seguir

    Vandita Pant is the Chief Financial Officer of BHP, one of the world's largest resources companies, with a market capitalisation of approximately US$150 billion and annual revenue of around US$55 billion. This …

    Notas do episódio

    Vandita Pant is the Chief Financial Officer of BHP, one of the world's largest resources companies, with a market capitalisation of approximately US$150 billion and annual revenue of around US$55 billion.

    This is Vandita's first-ever podcast interview.

    Growing up in Delhi, India in a family of academics, Vandita reflects on her childhood dinner table debates, teachers and love of books for shaping the curiosity that has defined her career. After studying at Shri Ram College and IIM Lucknow, she built a global career across India, Singapore, Japan and the UK before joining BHP, where she now helps oversee the financial strategy of a company at the centre of AI, electrification and the energy transition.

    In this conversation, Vandita shares why she deliberately pursued unfamiliar challenges, the career setback that unexpectedly led her into risk management, what it was like helping steer RBS through the Global Financial Crisis, the leadership lessons from earning trust in Japan, why she believes the modern CFO is a value creator rather than a scorekeeper, how she thinks about AI and capital allocation, and why Australia and India have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to deepen their economic partnership.

    Please enjoy exploring your curiosity.

    ________

    Get in touch with us via email at [email protected]

    Join our stable of commercial partners including the Australian Government, Google, KPMG, Vanta, Allens, Macquarie Capital, City of Sydney and more.

    Show notes and more episodes here

    Follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, or YouTube

    Get in touch with our Founder and Host, Vidit Agarwal directly here

    Contact us via our website

    ________

    The High Flyers Podcast features in-depth interviews with the world’s most influential figures in business, tech, finance, government and sport. Launched in 2020, it has ranked in the global top ten for past three years, with listeners in 27 countries and over 200+ episodes released, and featured in Forbes, Daily Telegraph, and at SXSW.

    Our guests include -- Malcolm Turnbull (Prime Minister of Australia), Jason Collins (Head of BlackRock, Asia Pacific), Brad Banducci (CEO, Woolworths), Michael Schneider (CEO, Bunnings), David Eckstein (CFO, Legora), Jesse Zhang (CEO, Decagon), Vandita Pant (CFO, BHP), Elena Verna (Head of Growth, Lovable), David Haber (a16z Partner), Jodie Auster (Uber's Global Head of Travel), Rob Giglio (CCO, Canva), Jean-Michel Limieux (CTO, Shopify and Atlassian), Stevie Case (CRO, Vanta), Cristina Cordova (COO, Linear), Gautam Chari (Head of Capital Commitments, Bank of America), John Haddock (CBO, Harvey), Mark Suster (Partner, Upfront Ventures), Niki Scevak (Partner, Blackbird), Craig Tiley (CEO, USA Tennis), Jeanne DeWitt Grosser (COO, Vercel), Paul Bassat (Partner, Square Peg), Bowen Pan (Creator, Facebook Marketplace), Peter Varghese (Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Australian Government), Sam Sicilia (CIO, Hostplus), Jack Zhang (CEO, Airwallex), Tim Doyle (CEO, Eucalyptus), Sukhinder Singh Cassidy (CEO, Xero), Sanjeev Gandhi (CEO, Orica) and Philip Green (Australia's Ambassador/High Commissioner to India).

    Join our stable of commercial partners including the Australian Government, Google, KPMG, Vanta, Allens, Macquarie Capital, City of Sydney and more.

    ________

    Welcome to the 12th episode in our special series with the Australian Government and their Centre for Australia–India Relations (CAIR), spotlighting the growing Australia–India relationship across technology, business, media, culture and sport. Other guests in this series include Bank of America's Head of Capital Commitments Gautam Chari, Renowned Music Composer Tushar Apte, Australia's High Commissioner to India Philip Green, MUFG's CEO Vivek Bhatia, Australia's Secretary of Foreign Affairs Peter Varghese, NAB's EGM Sweta Mehra, Deputy Secretary of Australia's Home Affairs Brendan Dowling, Orica's CEO Sanjeev Gandhi, Sports Journalist Bharat Sundaresan, Cricket Legend Lisa Sthalekar and CAIR's CEO, Ryan Neelam, reflecting the breadth of Indian-Australian leaders at the most senior levels.

26. #266 Caroline Rawlinson: Culture Amp's CEO on Lessons from China, Founder Succession & Evolving a Growth Stage Tech Company

    21 de julho de 20261 h 19 minA seguir

    Caroline Rawlinson is the CEO of Culture Amp, the global employee experience platform trusted by more than 6,000 organisations and 25 million employees. Underpinned by people science and AI, Culture Amp helps …

    Notas do episódio

    Caroline Rawlinson is the CEO of Culture Amp, the global employee experience platform trusted by more than 6,000 organisations and 25 million employees. Underpinned by people science and AI, Culture Amp helps organisations build high-performing teams at scale. Before joining Culture Amp, Caroline held executive leadership roles at MYOB, Trade Me and Fletcher Building across Australia, New Zealand and Asia.

    In her first ever in-depth interview, Caroline shares the journey behind becoming CEO of Culture Amp. She reflects on growing up in Auckland, captaining hockey teams, meeting her husband at McDonald's, landing a role at PwC despite knowing almost nothing about finance, and the forgotten career goal she wrote down at 28: "I want to be CEO."

    Vidit and Caroline explore the big learning in Shanghai when she was a first time CFO that changed how she leads forever, the partnership that made an international executive career possible, succeeding Culture Amp's founder as CEO, balancing today's business with an AI-native future, building high-performing cultures at global scale, and why the closer she came to becoming CEO, the harder it became to believe she could.

    Please enjoy exploring your curiosity.

    ________

    00:00 Who is Caro?

    00:03 Growing up in Auckland

    00:10 Talking her way into PwC

    00:16 The best commercial leaders

    00:21 Designing a career with intent

    00:24 "I want to be CEO"

    00:28 Building confidence in others

    00:30 Why direct conversations matter

    00:34 The China lesson that changed everything

    00:43 Becoming CFO at 33

    00:49 Ambition, marriage & family

    00:56 From CFO to CEO

    01:03 Taking over from Culture Amp's Founder at the start of 2026

    01:10 AI and the next era of software

    01:16 Advice for future CEOs

    01:18 Rapid Fire Sprint

    ________

    Get in touch with us via email at [email protected]

    Join our stable of commercial partners including the Australian Government, Google, KPMG, Vanta, Allens, Macquarie Capital, City of Sydney and more.

    Show notes and more episodes here

    Follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram

    Get in touch with our Founder and Host, Vidit Agarwal directly here

    Contact us via our website

    ________

    The High Flyers Podcast features in-depth interviews with the world’s most influential figures in business, tech, finance, government and sport. Launched in 2020, it has ranked in the global top ten for past three years, with listeners in 27 countries and over 200+ episodes released, and featured in Forbes, Daily Telegraph, and at SXSW.

    Our guests include -- Malcolm Turnbull (Prime Minister of Australia), Jason Collins (Head of BlackRock, Asia Pacific), Brad Banducci (CEO, Woolworths), Michael Schneider (CEO, Bunnings), David Eckstein (CFO, Legora), Jesse Zhang (CEO, Decagon), Elena Verna (Head of Growth, Lovable), David Haber (a16z Partner), Jodie Auster (Uber's Global Head of Travel), Rob Giglio (CCO, Canva), Jean-Michel Limieux (CTO, Shopify and Atlassian), Stevie Case (CRO, Vanta), Cristina Cordova (COO, Linear), Gautam Chari (Head of Capital Commitments, Bank of America), John Haddock (CBO, Harvey), Mark Suster (Partner, Upfront Ventures), Niki Scevak (Partner, Blackbird), Craig Tiley (CEO, USA Tennis), Jeanne DeWitt Grosser (COO, Vercel), Paul Bassat (Partner, Square Peg), Bowen Pan (Creator, Facebook Marketplace), Peter Varghese (Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Australian Government), Sam Sicilia (CIO, Hostplus), Jack Zhang (CEO, Airwallex), Tim Doyle (CEO, Eucalyptus), Sukhinder Singh Cassidy (CEO, Xero), Sanjeev Gandhi (CEO, Orica) and Philip Green (Australia's Ambassador/High Commissioner to India).

27. #265 Jesse Zhang: Decagon's CEO on Maths Olympiads, No Small Talk & Transforming Airlines, Banks, Large Corporates

    14 de julho de 20261 h 18 minA seguir

    Jesse Zhang is the Co-founder & CEO of Decagon, one of the world's fastest-growing AI companies. In just two and a half years, Decagon has grown to around 500 employees, raised approximately US$500 million from …

    Notas do episódio

    Jesse Zhang is the Co-founder & CEO of Decagon, one of the world's fastest-growing AI companies. In just two and a half years, Decagon has grown to around 500 employees, raised approximately US$500 million from investors including Andreessen Horowitz, Accel and Bain Capital Ventures, and today powers AI customer service for many of the world's largest airlines, banks, retailers and technology companies.

    In this rare in-depth conversation, Jesse reflects on growing up in Boulder, Colorado, an intensely disciplined childhood shaped by maths competitions and Chinese immigrant parents, graduating from Harvard in just three years, and why his first startup taught him far more than his second.

    Vidit and Jesse explore how Decagon found its billion-dollar opportunity by interviewing hundreds of customers, why they reached US$1 million in ARR with just two people, how to hire exceptional talent, why speed has become the ultimate competitive advantage in AI, building one of Silicon Valley's leading AI companies, and what it really takes to scale from founder mode to leading 500 people.

    Please enjoy exploring your curiosity.

    ________

    00:00:00 Who is Jesse Zhang?

    02:10 The Huawei story that shaped Decagon

    07:20 Why Maths Olympiads create successful founders

    13:05 Leaving Harvard a year early

    17:40 The startup that nearly broke him

    23:30 Losing two co-founders

    29:15 Why he started again

    34:20 The question that found Decagon

    40:10 Hitting $1M ARR with just 3 employees early on

    45:25 Learning enterprise sales from scratch

    50:35 Building AI agents before the hype

    56:15 Why Decagon is beating bigger rivals

    1:02:20 Hiring only "serious people"

    1:08:15 Letting go as CEO

    1:13:10 Marriage, sleep & startup obsession

    1:17:05 What he's really building

    ________

    Get in touch with us via email at [email protected]

    Join our stable of commercial partners including the Australian Government, Google, KPMG, Vanta, Allens, Macquarie Capital, City of Sydney and more.

    Show notes and more episodes here

    Follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram

    Get in touch with our Founder and Host, Vidit Agarwal directly here

    Contact us via our website

    ________

    The High Flyers Podcast features in-depth interviews with the world’s most influential figures in business, tech, finance, government and sport. Launched in 2020, it has ranked in the global top ten for past three years, with listeners in 27 countries and over 200+ episodes released, and featured in Forbes, Daily Telegraph, and at SXSW.

    Our guests include -- Malcolm Turnbull (Prime Minister of Australia), Jason Collins (Head of BlackRock, Asia Pacific), Brad Banducci (CEO, Woolworths), Michael Schneider (CEO, Bunnings), David Eckstein (CFO, Legora), Jesse Zhang (CEO, Decagon), Elena Verna (Head of Growth, Lovable), David Haber (a16z Partner), Jodie Auster (Uber's Global Head of Travel), Rob Giglio (CCO, Canva), Jean-Michel Limieux (CTO, Shopify and Atlassian), Stevie Case (CRO, Vanta), Cristina Cordova (COO, Linear), Gautam Chari (Head of Capital Commitments, Bank of America), John Haddock (CBO, Harvey), Mark Suster (Partner, Upfront Ventures), Niki Scevak (Partner, Blackbird), Craig Tiley (CEO, USA Tennis), Jeanne DeWitt Grosser (COO, Vercel), Paul Bassat (Partner, Square Peg), Bowen Pan (Creator, Facebook Marketplace), Peter Varghese (Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Australian Government), Sam Sicilia (CIO, Hostplus), Jack Zhang (CEO, Airwallex), Tim Doyle (CEO, Eucalyptus), Sukhinder Singh Cassidy (CEO, Xero), Sanjeev Gandhi (CEO, Orica) and Philip Green (Australia's Ambassador/High Commissioner to India),

28. #264 David Eckstein: Legora's CFO on Living Someone Else's Life, AI Economics and Raising $500M in 45 Days

    7 de julho de 20261 h 16 minA seguir

    David Eckstein is the CFO of Legora, one of the world’s fastest-growing enterprise software companies, which grew from $1 million to $100 million in Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR) in just 18 months. David …

    Notas do episódio

    David Eckstein is the CFO of Legora, one of the world’s fastest-growing enterprise software companies, which grew from $1 million to $100 million in Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR) in just 18 months.

    David reflects on his parents’ divorce, graduating from college in three years, and realising at 22 that he was “living someone else’s life” before leaving investment banking for Silicon Valley.

    Vidit and David explore his journey through Box, OpenDNS, Menlo Security and Vanta to Legora; helping sell OpenDNS to Cisco; investing in more than 100 startups; and how 16 years of relationships helped Legora attract $1.5 billion in investor demand and raise a $600 million Series D.

    They also discuss the changing role of the CFO, AI economics and token spend, how to diligence a startup before joining, lessons from exceptional founders, Legora’s extraordinary growth, and David’s philosophy of loyalty and giving more than he takes.

    Please enjoy exploring your curiosity.

    ________

    00:00:00 Meet David Eckstein
    00:05:00 Why Loyalty Drives Everything
    00:13:00 The Obsession With Permanence
    00:23:00 “I Was Living Someone Else’s Life”
    00:28:00 How Relationships Helped Raise $600M
    00:38:00 The New Economics of AI
    00:45:00 Lessons From Four Hypergrowth Companies
    00:55:00 Why He Bet His Career on Legora
    01:05:00 What Makes Legora Special
    01:12:00 The Hardest 25 Days of His Life
    01:15:00 Give More Than You Take
    01:21:00 Rapid Fire

    ________

    Get in touch with us via email at [email protected]

    Join our stable of commercial partners including the Australian Government, Google, KPMG, Vanta, Allens, Macquarie Capital, City of Sydney and more.

    Show notes and more episodes here

    Follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram

    Get in touch with our Founder and Host, Vidit Agarwal directly here

    Contact us via our website

    ________

    The High Flyers Podcast features in-depth interviews with the world’s most influential figures in business, tech, finance, government and sport. Launched in 2020, it has ranked in the global top ten for past three years, with listeners in 27 countries and over 200+ episodes released, and featured in Forbes, Daily Telegraph, and at SXSW.

    Our guests include -- Malcolm Turnbull (Prime Minister of Australia), Jason Collins (Head of BlackRock, Asia Pacific), Brad Banducci (CEO, Woolworths), Michael Schneider (CEO, Bunnings), Elena Verna (Head of Growth, Lovable), David Haber (a16z Partner), Jodie Auster (Uber's Global Head of Travel), Rob Giglio (CCO, Canva), Jean-Michel Limieux (CTO, Shopify and Atlassian), Stevie Case (CRO, Vanta), John Haddock (CBO, Harvey), Mark Suster (Partner, Upfront Ventures), Niki Scevak (Partner, Blackbird), Craig Tiley (CEO, USA Tennis), Jeanne DeWitt Grosser (COO, Vercel), Paul Bassat (Partner, Square Peg), Bowen Pan (Creator, Facebook Marketplace), Peter Varghese (Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Australian Government), Sam Sicilia (CIO, Hostplus), Jack Zhang (CEO, Airwallex), Tim Doyle (CEO, Eucalyptus), Sukhinder Singh Cassidy (CEO, Xero), Sanjeev Gandhi (CEO, Orica), Philip Green (Australia's Ambassador/High Commissioner to India), Vivek Bhatia (CEO, MUFG), Cristina Cordova (COO, Linear) and more.

29. #263 Gautam Chari: Mumbai Engineer to one of Asia’s Most Senior Investment Bankers | Why Great Careers Aren't Linear

    30 de junho de 20261 h 15 minA seguir

    Episode #263 features Gautam Chari, Managing Director and Head of Capital Commitments (Asia Pacific) at Bank of America. Growing up in Mumbai, Gautam thought his path was already written. Like many students of …

    Notas do episódio

    Episode #263 features Gautam Chari, Managing Director and Head of Capital Commitments (Asia Pacific) at Bank of America.

    Growing up in Mumbai, Gautam thought his path was already written. Like many students of his generation, he became a civil engineer, started work on construction sites and expected to spend his career building physical infrastructure. Instead, a series of bold decisions took him to Australia, into investment banking, and eventually to one of the world's largest financial institutions.

    In this rare and deeply personal conversation, Gautam reflects on the teachers who changed the trajectory of his life, the culture shock of moving from Mumbai to Adelaide, breaking into investment banking without a finance background, living through 9/11 in New York, and the lessons from building a global career across Sydney, London, New York and Hong Kong.

    Vidit and Gautam explore why the best careers are rarely linear, the difference between confidence and conviction, how great leaders develop judgment, why listening is an underrated superpower, the AI investment cycle, and why the Australia-India relationship will be one of the defining economic stories of the coming decades.

    This is Gautam's first-ever podcast interview. Please enjoy exploring your curiosity.

    ________

    Get in touch with us via email at [email protected]

    Join our stable of commercial partners including the Australian Government, Google, KPMG, Vanta, Allens, Macquarie Capital, City of Sydney and more.

    Show notes and more episodes here

    Follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, or YouTube

    Get in touch with our Founder and Host, Vidit Agarwal directly here

    Contact us via our website

    ________

    The High Flyers Podcast features in-depth interviews with the world’s most influential figures in business, tech, finance, government and sport. Launched in 2020, it has ranked in the global top ten for past three years, with listeners in 27 countries and over 200+ episodes released, and featured in Forbes, Daily Telegraph, and at SXSW.

    Our guests include -- Malcolm Turnbull (Prime Minister of Australia), Jason Collins (Head of BlackRock, Asia Pacific), Brad Banducci (CEO, Woolworths), Michael Schneider (CEO, Bunnings), Elena Verna (Head of Growth, Lovable), David Haber (a16z Partner), Jodie Auster (Uber's Global Head of Travel), Rob Giglio (CCO, Canva), Jean-Michel Limieux (CTO, Shopify and Atlassian), Stevie Case (CRO, Vanta), John Haddock (CBO, Harvey), Mark Suster (Partner, Upfront Ventures), Niki Scevak (Partner, Blackbird), Craig Tiley (CEO, USA Tennis), Jeanne DeWitt Grosser (COO, Vercel), Paul Bassat (Partner, Square Peg), Bowen Pan (Creator, Facebook Marketplace), Peter Varghese (Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Australian Government), Sam Sicilia (CIO, Hostplus), Jack Zhang (CEO, Airwallex), Tim Doyle (CEO, Eucalyptus), Sukhinder Singh Cassidy (CEO, Xero), Sanjeev Gandhi (CEO, Orica), Philip Green (Australia's Ambassador/High Commissioner to India), Vivek Bhatia (CEO, MUFG), Cristina Cordova (COO, Linear) and more.

    Join our stable of commercial partners including the Australian Government, Google, KPMG, Vanta, Allens, Macquarie Capital, City of Sydney and more.

    ________

    Welcome to the eleventh episode in our special series with the Australian Government and their Centre for Australia–India Relations (CAIR), spotlighting the growing Australia–India relationship across technology, business, media, culture and sport. Previous guests include Renowned Music Composer Tushar Apte, Australia's High Commissioner to India Philip Green, MUFG's CEO Vivek Bhatia, Ex Secretary of Foreign Affairs Peter Varghese, NAB's EGM Sweta Mehra, Deputy Secretary of Australia's Home Affairs Brendan Dowling, Orica's CEO Sanjeev Gandhi, Sports Journalist Bharat Sundaresan, Cricket Legend Lisa Sthalekar and CAIR's CEO, Ryan Neelam, reflecting the breadth of Indian-Australian leaders at the most senior levels.

30. #262 Brad Banducci: Fmr Woolworths CEO on Identity, Intrapreneurship and Why Directionally Correct Beats Perfect

    23 de junho de 20261 h 4 minA seguir

    Welcome to this classic episode. Classics are our favorite episodes from our back catalogue, published as frequently as possible. These are N of 1 conversations with N of 1 people. This is a replay of Episode …

    Notas do episódio

    Welcome to this classic episode. Classics are our favorite episodes from our back catalogue, published as frequently as possible. These are N of 1 conversations with N of 1 people. This is a replay of Episode 202, originally released in April 2025— one of our most loved classics.

    Brad Banducci is the recent CEO of Woolworths Group, one of the world's largest retail businesses, generating more than $65 billion in annual revenue, employing over 200,000 people and serving millions of customers every week.

    In this rare interview (and his first since he left Woolworths after 8+ years) Brad reflects on growing up in South Africa during apartheid, the lessons learned from his entrepreneurial family, and the experiences that shaped his identity, ambition and worldview long before he stepped into the CEO's office.

    Vidit and Brad explore his remarkable journey from engineer and management consultant at Boston Consulting Group to leading one of the Southern Hemisphere's most complex organisations. They discuss intrapreneurship versus entrepreneurship, making high-stakes decisions with imperfect information, leading through transformation at scale, and the leadership philosophy behind one of his most memorable ideas: being directionally correct beats being perfectly right.

    They also unpack failure, purpose, family, curiosity, succession, building leaders who outperform you, and why the best executives spend less time chasing certainty and more time moving towards what matters.

    Please enjoy exploring your curiosity.

    ________

    Get in touch with us via email at [email protected]

    Join our stable of commercial partners including the Australian Government, Google, KPMG, Vanta, Allens, Macquarie Capital and more.

    Show notes and more episodes here

    Follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram

    Get in touch with our Founder and Host, Vidit Agarwal directly here

    Contact us via our website

    ________

    The High Flyers Podcast features in-depth interviews with the world’s most influential figures in business, tech, finance, government and sport. Launched in 2020, it has ranked in the global top ten for past three years, with listeners in 27 countries and over 200+ episodes released, and featured in Forbes, Daily Telegraph, and at SXSW.

    Our guests include -- Malcolm Turnbull (Prime Minister of Australia), Jason Collins (Head of BlackRock, Asia Pacific), Brad Banducci (CEO, Woolworths), Michael Schneider (CEO, Bunnings), Elena Verna (Head of Growth, Lovable), David Haber (a16z Partner), Jodie Auster (Uber's Global Head of Travel), Rob Giglio (CCO, Canva), Jean-Michel Limieux (CTO, Shopify and Atlassian), Stevie Case (CRO, Vanta), John Haddock (CBO, Harvey), Mark Suster (Partner, Upfront Ventures), Niki Scevak (Partner, Blackbird), Craig Tiley (CEO, USA Tennis), Jeanne DeWitt Grosser (COO, Vercel), Paul Bassat (Partner, Square Peg), Bowen Pan (Creator, Facebook Marketplace), Peter Varghese (Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Australian Government), Sam Sicilia (CIO, Hostplus), Jack Zhang (CEO, Airwallex), Tim Doyle (CEO, Eucalyptus), Sukhinder Singh Cassidy (CEO, Xero), Sanjeev Gandhi (CEO, Orica), Philip Green (Australia's Ambassador/High Commissioner to India), Vivek Bhatia (CEO, MUFG), Cristina Cordova (COO, Linear) and more.

Aqui estão os 40 episódios mais recentes de 291. Os mais antigos estão no feed do podcast.