The High Flyers Podcast with Vidit Agarwal

Vidit Agarwal

Episodes

Mentioned books

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Jun 14, 2022 • 1h 1min

James Tynan: Energy management post auto immune illnesses, scaling Khan Academy to the world's biggest EdTech, Venture capital unknowns & climate tech thesis

Thank you for rating / reviewing this podcast on iTunes and Spotify, it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show! Follow us on Instagram, LinkedIn or TwitterEmail  Vidit directly at vidit@curiositycenter.xyz or contact us via www.curiositycenter.xyz to discuss sponsorship opportunities, recommend future guests and share how we can improve. ***Welcome to episode #88 w James Tynan! Here are 5 key takeaways you will learn from this episode:1. Growing up in an ambitious household, being very driven from day 12. Why James felt the need to move to the US post university3. Key learning from scaling Khan Academy from a YouTube channel to the world’s biggest ed tech (at that time)4. Energy management learnings from dealing with a number of autoimmune illnesses5. Behind the scenes of James' workings with founders & personal development areasPlease enjoy!***TIMESTAMPS02:58 - Fun facts about James 03:38 - Wife Kate being a high flyer 04:33 - Big change when James was 10 years old 05:20 - Parents in architecture and medicine 05:44 - Personality in high school 06:36 - Biggest influence in first 10 years 07:42 - Success at age 18 09:41 - How life changed in first year of university 11:38 - Learning movement building with Obama 2008 campaign 13:17 - 4 key learnings from scaling Khan Academy, joining very early 16:50 - Critical story that helped understand emotional intelligence 19:16 - How the move back to Australia happened 20:31 - Seeing the building of Australia’s startup ecosystem in 2014 22:36 - Energy vs time management 25:23 - Why energy management hacks are not useful 27:50 -  Balance in Health vs performance 29:28 - Transition from startmate to squarepeg 32:11 - Joining Squarepeg during COVID lockdowns 34:14 - Making founders comfortable in the 1st meeting 36:47 - Connection to younger vs seasoned founders 39:40 -  How does SquarePeg  differ to other big VC’s? 42:49 - SquarePeg’s global presence across ANZ, Israel and Singapore 43:58 - Analysis of current economic market 45:47 - Does the VC firm or partner matter more? 49:02 - Personal investment philosophy outside VC 51:12 - Thesis on climate-tech 54:57 - Area of improvement focus 57:45 - Final sprint 
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Jun 13, 2022 • 39min

Investment memo: "ChefPrep", The culinary marketplace, building the Amazon for food

Explore your curiosity about the exciting culinary marketplace they’re building, positioned as the amazon for food.You’ll learn about the journeys of Joint CEO/Co-founders Elle Curan and Josh Abulafia to founding ChefPrep, initial proof points in the first 3 months, how food is disrupting e-commerce, What questions should a restaurant ask before partnering, and hear about their hiring plans over the next 12 months. Please enjoy! ***Find out more about Curiosity Center, including 85+ episodes at www.curiositycenter.xyz Find out more about the ChefPrep at https://chefprep.com.au/Share your feedback and discuss sponsorship opportunities with us by directly emailing vidit@curiositycenter.xyzFollow the show on Linkedin / Instagram / Twitter***TIMESTAMPS02:02 - Elle’s journey to ChefPrep 06:19 - Being life and business partners 06:52 - Josh’s journey to ChefPrep 11:30 - Validating early proof points in ChefPrep 16:38 - The ChefPrep model and how it’s evolved 21:35 - Consumer behavior and range selection 27:52 - What questions should a restaurant ask before partnering? 31:46 - Managing volume vs quality when scaling 33:16 - Biggest learning to date 34:32 - Focuses on hiring over next 12 months 35:42 - How to consider the move from corporate to startups?  
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Jun 6, 2022 • 59min

Kate Cornick (Rare Public Interview): Grandma's influence, studying engineering accidentally to building a career across Academia, Business & Govt

Thank you for rating / reviewing this podcast on iTunes and Spotify, it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show! Follow us on Instagram, LinkedIn or TwitterEmail Vidit directly at vidit@curiositycenter.xyz or contact us via www.curiositycenter.xyz to discuss sponsorship opportunities, recommend future guests and share how we can improve. ***Welcome to episode #86 w Kate Cornick! Here are 5 key takeaways you will learn from this episode:1. Grandma’s influence to believe, and outdoorsy childhood with mad passionate for animals2. Accidentally falling into engineering after moving to Australia in her teens from the UK3. How shyness evolved and building public speaking skills (great tips for anyone looking to develop!)4. Building a life of work across academia, business and government, including deputy Chief of Staff 5. Being headhunted to be CEO @ LaunchVic role after moving on from scaling her startup through to IPOPlease enjoy!***TIMESTAMPS03:07 - Fun facts about Kate 03:39 - Re-imagining a high flyer 04:14 - Influence of family growing up in London 06:00 -  Learning responsibility and power of work through horses 07:40 - Grandma being a big influence to dream big 10:24 - Accidentally falling into engineering 11:56 - How Kate got past being shy and nervous 17:00 - Nerves are selfish 18:00 - Success post PhD 22:04 - Learning how to build trust from politics 29:09 -  Exterior vs Interior leadership 33:18 - Insecurity becoming arrogance 38:30 - Understanding the business and academic worlds 43:38 -  Being headhunted to lead LaunchVic as CEO 48:28 - LaunchVic funding startmate and other champions 50:45 - The unique unlock of government funding for a startup 54:50 - Final sprint
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Jun 3, 2022 • 36min

Part 3 of #3 series: Unpack DAO Under, how web3 is bringing a new spin to community across Asia Pacific w Abhi Maran + Ange Ching

This 3 part series is brought to you by Minke, wave hello to better savings. Explore your curiosity w Abhi Maran & Angela Ching, about the ABC’s of what a DAO is , how you can be involved in this new spin on a community of builders across the Asia pacific region and some special announcements they have coming upPlease enjoy! ***Find out more about Curiosity Center, including 80+ episodes at www.curiositycenter.xyz Download the Minke app to earn high interest rates at https://www.minke.app/Get involved with DAO Under at www.twitter.com/@dao_underShare your feedback and discuss sponsorship opportunities with us by emailing vidit@curiositycenter.xyzFollow the show on Linkedin / Instagram***TIMESTAMPS02:35 - How did Abhi get involved with DAOs (Decentralised autonomous organisations) 04:21 - When did Ange first come across DAOs 05:23 - Why was DAO Under created? 10:23 - How Ange brings design value to the group 13:25 - How have they structured the DAO and design process? 15:24 -  Why do you need a DAO to build a community? 17:23 - What are pods? 20:24 - How does a DAO generate revenue and sustain itself? 23:10 -  Do you need a DeFi account to interact with a DAO? 24:43 - What separates great from good DAOs? 28:01 - Unknowns about DAO’s 29:47 - Are there regulations to be aware of? 30:30 - Roadmap ahead with exciting launches 33:11 - What’s been your biggest learning building this? 
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May 30, 2022 • 1h 4min

Alan Jones: Dreamer parents, birth of the internet + being 2nd employee for Yahoo, founder coaching advice & scaling M8 ventures

Thank you for rating / reviewing this podcast on iTunes and Spotify, it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show! Follow us on Instagram, LinkedIn or TwitterEmail Vidit directly at vidit@curiositycenter.xyz to discuss sponsorship opportunities, recommend future guests and share feedback. ***Welcome to episode #84 w Alan Jones! Here are 5 key takeaways you will learn from this episode:1. Influences of growing up with dreamer parents and living in 28 houses before age 172. Two biggest learnings being a journalist3. Reflections on being the 2nd employee at Yahoo and employee share plans4. What do the best founders do when speaking to investors?5. Five people in the startup ecosystem he's learnt from the most Please enjoy!***TIMESTAMPS03:13 - Where were you born and live now? 03:53 - What was your first job and what do you do now? 05:17 - Why the unsung hero co-founder of Canva is the most talent technologist in ANZ 06:48 - Influenced by “dreamer” parents and learning what entrepreneur meant 10:31 - Learning from mum and her perseverance 11:25 - Trying journalism, programming and medical paths as career paths 15:07 -  The power of building your brand recognition and reputation 20:45 - Painful learning investing in hardware 24:55 - Being the 2nd employee at Yahoo and stock ownership learnings 32:12 - Nurturing up and coming investors 37:20 - What are founders not doing to stand out to investors? 42:41 - Creating your learning room of 5 operators, founders and investors 49:00 - How he’s raising a pre-seed fund in M8 ventures 55:33 - Do you feel successful? 57:35 - Best investment 1:00:23 - Appearing on the 20VC podcast
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May 26, 2022 • 40min

Part 2 of #3 series: Inside the future of decentralised finance w Josh Reyes, co-founder @ Minke

This 3 part series is brought to you by Minke, wave hello to better savings. Explore your curiosity w Josh Reyes, co-founder of Minke, the future of decentralised finance, how they’re offering safe and efficient yields to combat inflation and building the transparent consumer platform. Encourage you to download their app from the Apple App Store today. Please enjoy! ***Find out more about Curiosity Center, including 80+ episodes at www.curiositycenter.xyz Download the Minke app to earn high interest rates at https://www.minke.app/Share your feedback and discuss sponsorship opportunities with us by emailing vidit@curiositycenter.xyzFollow the show on Linkedin / Instagram***TIMESTAMPS02:12 - Josh’s journey into crypto 04:23 - What is Minke? 05:32 - What is DeFi and difference vs traditional banking 06:52 - How to open a Minke account to deposit your savings 09:02 - How does DeFi have attractive interest rates? 10:58 - Flexibility with money deposited in savings account 11:58 - What is Stablecoin? 15:19 - How do central banks impact Minke? 16:33 - Building trust with consumers 18:01 - Operating in high inflation markets 21:43 - Sharia finance in islamic countries 23:46 - Low trust vs high trust markets 27:03 - Breaking down the recent LUNA crash 33:10 - How to evaluate whether to deposit money into DeFi
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May 24, 2022 • 32min

Part 1 of #3 series: Inside NFTs, how cute pics took over the world w String Nguyen, co-founder @ Chubbiverse

This 3 part series is brought to you by Minke, wave hello to better savings. Explore your curiosity w String Nguyen, the co-founder of Chubbiverse, a fast growing NFT brand! Learn about the A-Z to help you build your knowledge of this exciting space. Please enjoy! ***Find out more about Curiosity Center, including 80+ episodes at www.curiositycenter.xyz Download the Minke app to earn high interest rates at https://www.minke.app/Find out more about the Chubbiverse at https://www.chubbiverse.com/Share your feedback and discuss sponsorship opportunities with us by emailing vidit@curiositycenter.xyzFollow the show on Linkedin / Instagram***TIMESTAMPS02:18 - How did you get into NFTs and Web3? 03:03 - Transition from consumer to builder creating Chubbiverse 04:16 - Where do you start with creating a NFT? 05:45 - How did you settled on Chubbiverse as your brand? 07:30 - What makes NFT’s look the way they do, unpolished? 09:31 - What is Product Market Fit in NFTs? 11:31 - Supply and demand 12:12 - How is an NFT priced? 13:27 - Value in Bored Apes 14:13 - How do NFT’s differentiate vs the marketplace? 15:29 - Importance of influencers to generate discoverability? 17:14 - Network effects and fear of missing out 17:44 - Why are NFTs the entry point to web3? 19:17 - How do you build a revenue model for an NFT? 20:39 - Scalability goals 21:47 - How do customers engage using Discord / Twitter? 23:04 - Do you need a chubbiverse to enter Discord? 23:34 - How to build education on ETH? 24:26 - Managing spam and building trust 26:06 - What news sources help with NFT knowledge? 27:12 - How to build a career in NFTs, founder or operator? 28:39 - DeFi supporting NFT’s and payments 29:35 - Benefit of curiosity  
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May 18, 2022 • 39min

Investment memo: "Athletic Ventures", how elite professional athletes unlock value as investors

Explore your curiosity w Christie Jenkins + Josh Thomas about bout professional athlete transitions into the business world and how Christie, Josh and nearly a 100 of Australia’s best and brightest athletes across all sporting codes have created an investing syndicate in Athletic Ventures.Please enjoy! ***Find out more about Curiosity Center, including 80+ episodes at www.curiositycenter.xyz Find out more about the Athletic Ventures at www.athletic.vcShare your feedback and discuss sponsorship opportunities with us by emailing vidit@curiositycenter.xyzFollow the show on Linkedin / Instagram***TIMESTAMPS02:09 - Josh’s career in the AFL 03:13 - Christie’s career across 3 sports 04:07 - Planning life after sport 07:10 - Routines, habits and sprints 11:45 - Would you do anything differently if you go back 5 years? 14:31 - First interaction with startups and VC 17:31 - Knowledge building into venture capital work 20:52 - Coach, work ethic and people better than you 22:24 - Early days of building Athletic Ventures 24:47 - Biggest surprise 25:48 - How does Athletic Ventures best serve founders 28:26 - Long term excitement for Athletic Ventures 29:18 - How should founders view athletic on their cap table 31:39 - Most recent publicly announced deal and why 34:12 - Industries athletic ventures can best help in 36:28 - Key focus on Series A and why 
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May 16, 2022 • 58min

#80 Bill Bartee (Rare Public Interview): Growing up around NASA to Co-Founding Southern Cross, Blackbird & Main Sequence Ventures

Thank you for rating / reviewing this podcast on iTunes and Spotify, it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show! Follow us on Instagram, LinkedIn or TwitterContact Vidit directly at vidit@curiositycenter.xyz to discuss sponsorship opportunities, recommend future guests and share feedback. ***Welcome to episode #80 w Bill Bartee! Here are 5 key takeaways you will learn from this episode:1. How growing up near a NASA facility started Bill's love for science, tech and engineering2. Reflections on working in Silicon Valley in the 80's seeing the early technology evolution3. What he learnt from his most painful learning and why one advice has stuck the most 4. The 5 hall of fame Australian VC's Bill would love to be in a room with5. Why is deep tech innovation different and how does talent equate in Australia vs the USAPlease enjoy!***TIMESTAMPS03:03 - Growing up seeing rocket launches 03:40 - Papers, washing cars and labourer 04:24 - Double nobel prize winner in Physics and Chemistry 06:12 - Economically poor, intellectually rich 08:01 - Aspirations to be an astronaut 09:48 - Building information sources in the 1960/70’s 11:07 - 25 year love for Australia 12:45 - Working across the spectrum: large, medium and early companies 15:13 - Evolution in rate of learning 17:54 - what makes people succeed 21:08 - 99% of learnings coming from failing 23:36 - Not judging a book by it’s cover 26:39 - Applying mathematics love to startup investing 30:32 - Venture Capital today vs the early 2000’s 35:02 - Co-founding 3 x VC firms 38:12 - top 5 hall of fame investors 41:10 - founders from 2000’s that impressed the most 43:47 - metrics in sass vs deep tech 48:23 - How do investors help deep tech founders? 50:54 - Most challenging mental models 52:43 - Talent equation in deep tech: Australia vs USA 54:26 - final sprint 
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May 12, 2022 • 35min

Investment memo: "Journalist at the Financial Review", how news operates

Explore your curiosity w Yolanda Redrup about media, journalism and how news operates in startups, technology and capital markets. Please enjoy! ***Find out more about Curiosity Center, including 75+ episodes at www.curiositycenter.xyz Find out more about the Australian Financial Review at www.afr.comShare your feedback and discuss partnership opportunities with us by emailing vidit@curiositycenter.xyzFollow the show on Linkedin / Instagram***TIMESTAMPS02:00 - Melbourne and swimming 02:32 - Being set on journalism from age 13 04:15 - How you can build your career in journalism 06:09 - Behind the scenes of how an article comes together 09:27 - Inbound, Outbound and reactive news sources 10:46 - Does the first sentence need to be a hook? 13:08 - How much editorial approval does a journalist need? 14:36 - what software is useful for interviews and writing articles? 15:52 - How does street talk differ from tech news? 17:30 - What is the biggest unknown about your role? 19:06 - How to invest and nurture relationships? 20:50 - Being a journalist with an investor approach 21:34 - How do VC’s get their capital raise featured in the AFR? 23:50 - Biggest change having covered tech for 10+ years? 27:44 - How do you keep up your learning of media landscape? 29:15 - What separates a great journalist from the rest? 30:09 - How to decide what news platforms to read? 31:36 - The role of independence in journalism and being neutral? 33:30 - One thing you’d like to learn in the next 6 months?

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