Cover of Life After Launch with Megan Luttrell & Geo George

Life After Launch with Megan Luttrell & Geo George

Life After Launch with Megan Luttrell & Geo George

By: Kairos Recruitment & Mayfly Ventures
Listen for free

Season's Savings | 0.99 €/month for 3 months

5.99 €/month thereafter - terms apply. Cancel monthly.
Life After Launch takes you inside the hearts and minds of the Founders navigating the startup world. Hosted by Megan Luttrell (Founder of Kairos Recruitment and Aussie Founders Club) and Geo George (Partner at Mayfly Ventures), each episode sits down with a Founder to unpack the highs, the lows and the hard-won lessons of building a business. An Aussie Founders Club podcast.Copyright 2026 Kairos Recruitment & Mayfly Ventures Career Success Economics Leadership Management & Leadership
Episodes
  • Dawid Naude - Started on a Notepad, Sold it 18 Months Later

    Dawid Naude - Started on a Notepad, Sold it 18 Months Later
    19 Oct 2026
    Dawid Naude grew up between South Africa and Australia, where his mother handed him an expensive computer as a kid with permission to break it - and he did, constantly, which made him a lifelong tinkerer with tech. He followed his father's path into banking instead of his own instinct, becoming one of the highest-rated foreign exchange dealers in the country, before walking away from a six-figure bonus to take a tech consulting role at Accenture for less than half his old salary.Years later at Accenture, he fed a client's 40-year-old Pascal codebase into ChatGPT just to see what would happen - and that was the moment the fire got lit. He sketched the idea for Pathfindr on a notepad in a coffee shop, clients on one side of the page and AI on the other, and picked up his first three paying customers during the lunch break of his very first keynote talk. Eighteen months later, Affinda Group acquired Pathfindr in an all-scrip deal worth $15 million, and Dawid rolled his equity straight back into the combined group as its Chief AI Officer.He finishes with three life lessons: why it's never too late to reinvent yourself, why the years spent in the "wrong" career are never wasted, and why you can't afford to drop your healthy habits exactly when you need them most.Find DawidDawid on LinkedInPathfindrAffinda GroupJoin the Aussie Founders ClubThe Slack community, the newsletter and everything else live hereWant to partner with Life After Launch?Explore sponsorship and partnership opportunitiesLife After Launch is an Aussie Founders Club podcast.Aussie Founders Club is a community for Founders, operators and investors navigating the Australian startup ecosystem. What started as an events-first, in-person community has grown into a network of thousands, connecting people building startups with the people who’ve done it before. Join the conversation and the communityConnect with Megan Luttrell on LinkedInConnect with Geo George on LinkedInKairos Recruitment is a recruitment company supporting startups and scale-ups across Australia, helping Founders find the right people to grow their teams. Led by Megan Luttrell.Mayfly Ventures is an Australian AI venture studio building industry-focused AI and software ventures. We work with industry leaders to validate, build and scale AI ventures, starting with the strategy and commercial foundations most teams skip.Time Stamps00:00 Cold open / trailer00:38 Welcome to Life After Launch01:22 Guest introduction02:46 Growing up in regional South Africa03:20 The computer his mum bought him10:57 First job - into finance13:33 Walking away from the bonus to get into tech21:39 Cloud Sherpas to Accenture, the fast-forward23:32 Discovering ChatGPT25:01 The 40-year-old Pascal codebase28:35 The fire gets lit33:36 Six weeks into Pathfindr, the dark place38:31 Three customers from one lunch break52:37 The founder trap53:11 The Affinda Group acquisition53:46 First life lesson - never too late55:44 Second life lesson - don't discount your experience59:22 Third life lesson - don't drop your healthy habits1:04:06 Closing thoughts
    Show more Show less
    1 hr and 6 min
  • Jessica Christiansen-Franks - $1.2M Gone in Three Days

    Jessica Christiansen-Franks - $1.2M Gone in Three Days
    5 Oct 2026

    Jess co-founded Neighbourlytics in 2017, taking the placemaking work she'd done as CEO of CoDesign Studio and turning it into a data product that measures what people actually do in a neighbourhood. It grew to cover more than twenty thousand neighbourhoods across twelve countries, raised about five million dollars across five rounds, and was acquired by REA Group in late 2025.

    She walks through the quarter the business was growing four hundred per cent a year and still only had fifty logins against $600,000 of revenue, why she sat her team down on a Friday lunchtime and told them she might have to give them four weeks notice, and the phishing scam that drained the bank account while she was at a wedding in the UK.

    She finishes with three life lessons: why it's always harder than you think and you can't believe your own bullshit, why the hard work of people and culture matters more than the four per cent of running a business that is raising investment, and why her identity was never the business - it was having a team.

    Find Jess

    Jess on LinkedIn

    Neighbourlytics

    Wade Institute of Entrepreneurship

    Books mentioned

    Crossing the Chasm

    The Mom Test

    Join the Aussie Founders Club

    The Slack community, the newsletter and everything else live here

    Want to partner with Life After Launch?

    Explore sponsorship and partnership opportunities

    Life After Launch is an Aussie Founders Club podcast.

    Aussie Founders Club is a community for Founders, operators and investors navigating the Australian startup ecosystem. What started as an events-first, in-person community has grown into a network of thousands, connecting people building startups with the people who've done it before. Join the conversation and the community

    Connect with Megan Luttrell on LinkedIn

    Connect with Geo George on LinkedIn

    Kairos Recruitment is a recruitment company supporting startups and scale-ups across Australia, helping Founders find the right people to grow their teams. Led by Megan Luttrell.

    Mayfly Ventures is an Australian AI venture studio building industry-focused AI and software ventures. We work with industry leaders to validate, build and scale AI ventures, starting with the strategy and commercial foundations most teams skip.
    Show more Show less
    1 hr and 18 min
  • Chad Stephens – You Can't Make Money From a Form

    Chad Stephens – You Can't Make Money From a Form
    28 Sep 2026
    Chad Stephens and three mates couldn't get a rental in Brighton. After filling out the same two-page paper application for property after property, Chad and his best mate Chris Koch went looking for an online version. There wasn't one, so they built it. That became 1Form, which ended up used across most of the Australian rental industry and was bought by REA Group in 2014. Everyone they pitched told them it was just a form.Chad walks through funding it with maxed-out credit cards, a bank loan for a car they never bought and the sale of the cars they already had, then moving back home. He explains how they won over one of Melbourne's most respected property managers by building everything she asked for, how lunch in an empty fine dining restaurant led to $250,000 from the people behind Carsales, and the $5 save button that finally made the business money. Then comes the sale. REA had once told them it would build the idea itself, and eight years later it bought the company, cutting the agreed price from $17 million to $15 million a week before signing.He also covers Fillr, which burned $300,000 a month, pivoted to mobile checkout for buy now, pay later apps, and sold to Rakuten after COVID derailed a Series B in March 2020, with his wife running the legals while he walked the pram. He finishes with his next venture, Formlytics, and three life lessons: why friends and family loving your idea is a warning sign, why a blocked road is just a stop sign, and why knowing your weaknesses tells you who to partner with.Find ChadChad on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chadstephens1/Fillr: https://www.fillr.com/Join the Aussie Founders ClubThe Slack community, the newsletter and everything else live here: https://www.aussiefoundersclub.comWant to partner with Life After Launch?Explore sponsorship and partnership opportunities at https://lifeafterlaunchpod.com/partner-with-usLife After Launch is an Aussie Founders Club podcast.Aussie Founders Club is a community for Founders, operators and investors navigating the Australian startup ecosystem. What started as an events-first, in-person community has grown into a network of thousands, connecting people building startups with the people who've done it before. Join the conversation and the community at https://aussiefoundersclub.com/Connect with Megan Luttrell on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/meganluttrell/Connect with Geo George on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/contactgeo/Kairos Recruitment is a recruitment company supporting startups and scale-ups across Australia, helping Founders find the right people to grow their teams. Led by Megan Luttrell. Learn more at https://www.kairosrecruitment.com.au/Mayfly Ventures is an Australian AI venture studio building industry-focused AI and software ventures. We work with industry leaders to validate, build and scale AI ventures, starting with the strategy and commercial foundations most teams skip. Learn more about Mayfly's approach at https://www.mayflyventures.com/Time Stamps00:00 Cold open: "You can't make money from a form"00:43 Welcome to Life After Launch, introducing Chad Stephens02:24 Growing up in Bayside, tennis dreams and the milk bar plan04:30 The black sheep of six kids, and running a cafe in Brighton06:21 VenueHQ, the first idea that didn't work07:06 Four blokes, one Brighton rental and the application that became 1Form11:18 Maxed-out credit cards, a car loan with no car, and moving back home14:19 Winning over property managers with no marketing budget20:41 Lunch in an empty restaurant and pitching the people behind Carsales26:12 The GFC, and the $5 button that finally made money32:03 Hiring, growing and the squiggly signature36:13 A team of five, 50% margins and testing the US43:17 Selling 1Form to REA Group: $17 million, then $15 million47:55 Fillr: burning $300,000 a month and pivoting to mobile checkout51:57 COVID, the Series B and selling to Rakuten55:05 Angel investing and building Formlytics56:30 Life lesson 1: if friends and family love your idea, pivot58:45 Life lesson 2: a blocked road is just a stop sign1:00:44 Life lesson 3: know your strengths, and who to partner with1:03:06 Closing thoughts + outro
    Show more Show less
    1 hr and 5 min
adbl_web_anon_alc_button_suppression_t1
No reviews yet