Wild Hearts

Nikki Brown is a Cambridge graduate who quit a dream job at Google after mere months. "I wasn't happy being a cog in a machine," she says. So she built her own.Today, Nikki is co-founder and CEO of Cartesian, an AI-native platform backed by Blackbird that turns SaaS ecosystems into retention and growth engines. Cartesian's AI agents analyse user needs in real-time, detect buying intent, and connect users with the right ecosystem partners at exactly the moment they need them. No cold emails. No spray and pray. The result: users get personalised solutions, platforms deliver value, partners grow.Nikki is building AI that works like she does: accumulating context and using it to connect meaningfully at the right moment. Finance gave her systems thinking. Tragedy gave her clarity. 120 conversations gave her deep customer insight.In this episode, Nikki joins Mason to share why team beats idea every time, why relationships, not data, are the real moat, and why the foundations of sales never change: "People buy from people."This one's for anyone questioning whether their "non-traditional" background disqualifies them - or wondering if their lived experience might just be the context that matters most.

Joe Harris, an electrical engineer and founder of Alloy, delves into the transformative landscape of robotics. He highlights the urgency behind evolving customer demands and the economic shifts that make this moment uniquely different. Harris discusses the reliability barrier in robotics, advocating for upwards of 99% performance. He unpacks Alloy's mission to extract actionable insights from vast amounts of data and shares lessons from failed vertical farming ventures. Expect a roadmap for the future of automation and the role of data in driving robotic success.

You don't have to be the founder to build the future.When Andrea Quinn made the leap from fashion merchandising to tech, she didn't start a company. She joined one. Today, she's VP of Go-To-Market Operations at Halter, New Zealand's newest unicorn, which just raised $155 million at a $1.55 billion valuation.Not every path into building the future looks like a founder origin story. Some of the most crucial work happens when you join the right company at the right moment and help turn ambition into execution. Andrea's doing exactly that - scaling the GTM motion as Halter accelerates across Australia and the United States.In this episode, Blackbird Partner Sam Wong sits down with Andrea to explore how operators translate skills across industries and build the engines that power billion-dollar companies. From her Commercial Equation framework to practical AI applications in sales, Andrea breaks down what it actually takes to scale a startup from the inside.This episode is for: founders building GTM, operators inheriting messy funnels, and anyone wondering if they need to start a company to build the future.Because the answer is no. Sometimes the most valuable thing you can do is join the rocket ship and help build the engine.

When storytelling meets startup energy, magic happens.In this week’s episode, Xavier Collins, co-founder of Wonder, joins Mason to explore how technology is tearing down the old gates of Hollywood, and what happens when anyone, anywhere, can tell stories that move the world.Backed by Blackbird and LocalGlobe, Wonder is building an AI-native creative studio reimagining how films are made, who gets to make them, and what “production” even means. Xavier shares how AI can help the 90% of scripts that never get made finally see the light of day - from resurrecting forgotten footage to helping bold new voices get their first break.We dive into instinct versus analytics, courage versus consensus, and the scrappy startup mindset redefining creative industries. It’s a story about belief, innovation, and the people daring to create what others think impossible.This episode is for anyone who’s ever had a story they’ve wanted to tell, a dream they’ve wanted to build, or an idea they’ve been told was too crazy to work.Because when content becomes infinite, the only thing that matters is the quality of the story - and your story might just be next.

When Michelle Battersby launched Sunroom, she set out to change the game for women creators, building a platform where they could earn freely, safely, and on their own terms. Five years, three funding rounds and one pandemic later, she did just that. Thousands of creators made life-changing income, and Sunroom was acquired by Fanfix.From the emotional weight of leadership to the surprising financial realities of building something from scratch, Michelle shares the unfiltered truths of the founder journey - the highs, the hard parts, and the freedom that comes with letting go. Maddy Guest, from Blackbird’s investment team and host of the finance podcast So Invested, joins Michelle to unpack what those lessons teach us about resilience, risk, and redefining success.This is a story about ambition and endurance — and the lessons that only reveal themselves when you decide to climb.

Lucy Liu, co-founder of Airwallex, shares her journey from opening bank accounts worldwide to transforming fintech. She reveals how a bold bet on infrastructure paved the way for rapid growth, achieving $200 billion in transactions annually. Lucy highlights the wisdom behind building multiple products simultaneously, hiring for intellectual curiosity, and maintaining speed while expanding to 1,800 employees. She emphasizes resilience over perfection and envisions Airwallex's future as a leader in global finance, integrating AI to support decision-making.

Procreate co-founder James Cuda has spent more than a decade obsessing over one thing: the brushstroke. From hacking the iPad 1 to run at 60fps, to turning a side project into the world’s leading creative app, James has built Procreate on a radical philosophy: simplicity, permanence, and creative freedom above all else.In this episode of Wild Hearts, James joins Mason to share why the company never took VC money, how “flow state” shapes everything from product design to team culture, and what it really takes to scale without losing soul. They also dive deep into generative AI, ethical data, and why Procreate’s biggest unfair advantage may simply be staying small and Tasmanian.James also reflects on the tension between addition and reduction, the power of jam sessions, and why listening to the “little voice” is the artist’s greatest superpower.Time Stamps00:00 – Intro02:05 – Why brushstrokes were the starting point05:10 – The art of subtraction: keeping flow while adding features07:50 – Permanence as a product philosophy09:36 – From “an amazing piece of shit” to a world-class creative tool12:11 – How Procreate’s archetype grew from amateurs to architects15:01 – Listening to users without losing the soul17:31 – Scaling creativity and protecting flow inside the team19:51 – Jam sessions, “holy shit” moments, and making ideas real23:31 – James’ strong stance on generative AI and ethical data34:51 – Authenticity over slogans: building trust with artists37:21 – Bringing artists together, online and offline39:06 – Staying independent: why Procreate never took VC44:01 – Simplicity vs. optionality in future workflows46:39 – The advice James gives every artist: listen to the little voice48:26 – Outro

What if you could take the most mysterious force in physics—and make it useful? In our final  episode of this season of Wild Hearts, we sit down with Pete Shadbolt, co-founder of PsiQuantum, a company racing to build the world’s first utility-scale quantum computer. But this isn’t a conversation about quantum theory. It’s about execution. Engineering. Scaling. Building something that moves humanity forward - not in decades, but now. Pete shares why 300 or 3,000 qubits won’t cut it, and why a million is the magic number. We explore the technical marvels (and madness) involved in the team’s journey: superconducting detectors millimetres from red-hot heaters, lasers brighter than a trillion photons, and a cryostat that throws out the chandelier model altogether. But most of all, this is a story of ambition. Of leaving behind prestigious academic careers, raising a billion dollars, and assembling a team of physicists, welders, aerospace engineers, and cryo-specialists to take one shot at building something historic. In this conversation, we cover: 🚀 Why PsiQuantum is chasing 1 million qubits—not 300, not 3,000🏗️ What it takes to move quantum computing from theory to hardware—with welders, chip designers, and aerospace engineers  📉 Why academia can be a trap—and how PsiQuantum built an anti-academic company culture  🌐 The real-world applications of quantum computing: from designing drugs to revolutionising materials science  👩‍🔬 How team DNA, not just tech, shapes PsiQuantum’s ability to scale and execute  ⚙️ Why quantum computing isn’t a mass adoption tool - and why that’s perfectly okay 🔥 How engineering targets that once caused mutiny are now being hit daily This episode concludes our fifth season of Wild Hearts. Over the past 40 weeks, it’s been our honour to chat to the founders and operators shaping the world we live in. If you’ve enjoyed the conversations, we would be grateful if you could like, subscribe, and share our program with other wild hearts.  Wild Hearts will take a short break, and will return to all streaming platforms later this year.  From everyone at the Wild Hearts team, thank you! 

What if planning dinner wasn’t a chore—but something you looked forward to? In this episode, Wild Hearts guest host, Silk Kadala - investor at Blackbird - chats with Anna Guerrero, founder of Clove, a beautifully designed cooking app that’s reimagining how we cook at home. You might know Anna from her nine years scaling the creator marketplace at Canva—but it was a stint as a pasta chef in the Dolomites that ultimately set her on the path to launching Clove. Whether you’re interested in the role of AI in reducing decision fatigue, why brands are betting big on recipe creators as the next wave of culinary entrepreneurs or just stood in front of the fridge thinking “what’s for dinner?”—this episode is for you. 🔍 In this conversation, we cover: 🍳 The invisible mental load of everyday cooking—and how Clove is removing it with Smart Planner 📲 Why Clove’s approach to AI is more whisper than shout—and why that matters for creativity 📚 Building for creators: how Clove is giving food bloggers, TikTok cooks and chefs a new way to publish and earn 🎯 From pitch decks to real traction: Anna’s high-stakes decision to pause Clove’s creator program and set a new quality bar 🚀 The leap from Canva exec to culinary school student—and what working in a Michelin-starred restaurant taught Anna about product 🧠 Low ego, high initiative: what Clove looks for in early team members and building a culture of adaptability 🧭 What it means to follow the dots—why you don’t need to have it all figured out to move forward 🍽️ The long-term ambition: turning Clove into the global go-to for “what’s for dinner?”—with a billion recipes cooked through the platform From Canva to Clove, Anna Guerrero shows what it looks like to reinvent yourself, back a bold vision, and build something that truly changes how we live and cook.

Kate Vale, the first employee at Google and Spotify in Australia, shares her incredible journey launching these iconic tech giants from her lounge room. She discusses the challenges of scaling Spotify compared to Google and the cultural rituals that fostered high-performance teams. Vale also reveals the critical lessons learned in tech, the mistakes startups often make, and her commitment to supporting female founders through her venture capital fund. Her insights offer a fascinating glimpse into the tech world and the importance of investing in women.