The Startup Playbook Podcast

The Startup Playbook PodcastInsights and lessons from the world's best entrepreneurs and investors Twitter Facebook YouTube Instagram Ep218 – Nipun Mehra (Co-founder & CEO – Ula) On Ula’s hypergrowth, Bezos backing & the hard call to shut down August 7, 2025 rohitbhargava Podcast My guest for Ep218 of The Startup Playbook Podcast was Nipun Mehra. Nipun has had an incredible track record in his career. At Amazon he launched their first ever real time inventory management system, was an early team member at Flipkart helping build and scale one of India’s most successful and iconic startups before joining Sequoia India as an investor. In 2020, he Co-founded Ula, a B2B e-commerce platform that set out to modernise retail supply chains for millions of small businesses starting in Indonesia. Ula quickly become one of South East Asia’s fastest growing startups. They went from $0 to $300M in revenue within 2 years. Ola also raised over $140M from leading investors including Sequoia, Lightspeed, Tencent and even raised capital from Jeff Bezos himself, his first investment into this part of the world. But in a candid and deeply honest conversation, Nipun shares – for the first time publicly – the full story of what happened behind the scenes from Ula when he decided to shut down the company and return the remaining capital to investors. From hypergrowth to hard calls, this episode dives into the reality of building a company at scale and the weight of leadership at challenging times. In this episode we cover: Nipun’s lessons from his time with Amazon, Flipkart and Sequoia The hypergrowth journey behind Ula Why he decided to shut down Ula and return the capital vs find another path Coming to terms with the ups and downs of the journey & much more I’m also excited to announce that Nipun will be joining The Komo Club as a speaker for Cohort 2. The program is the world’s first human accelerator, designed to help high performing founders and executives implement the right system and frameworks to help them succeed in business and all areas of their life. You can find out more at thekomoclub.com Timestamps: 00:03:08 Nipun’s background: Early entrepreneurial drive 00:07:00 College startup attempts and discovering India’s nascent internet scene 00:14:47 What Amazon & Flipkart taught him about audacious targets and culture 00:20:38 How to set “aggressive but achievable” goals without crossing into folly 00:29:23 Why Indonesia? The leap of faith that launched Ula in Southeast Asia 00:38:37 Securing Jeff Bezos’ first SEA investment and the six-page memo that closed the deal 00:41:31 Scaling to ~US $300 M GMV in two years during COVID 00:43:20 The decision to shut down Ula and return the remaining capital to investors 00:55:13 Lessons on investor alignment 01:04:45 Nipun’s new venture, lessons from Ula he’s applying Our partners: Thank you to Karl Noronha, Ganesh Rengaswamy and Prithvi Rajaram for their help with research for this interview! A big shout out to our long-term partners for the show: Scendar  Scendar is the OG startup accounting firm in Australia catering to all stages of your business’ life. If you’re busy running your startup, you don’t have time to do your own books and forecast. Instead, fully outsource your finance function, giving you time and resources back to focus on what you do best in growing your business. Find out more at Scendar.com Vanta Vanta helps businesses get — and stay — compliant by automating up to 90% of the work for the most in-demand compliance frameworks. And with over 300 integrations, you can easily monitor and secure the tools your business relies on.Join over six thousand fast-growing companies that use Vanta to manage risk and prove security in real time.The Startup Playbook Podcast listeners get access to an exclusive offer of USD$1000 off their plans. Head over to vanta.com/podcast to get access to this exclusive discount. Links mentioned: The Komo Club: The world’s first human accelerator Nipun’s links: Nipun on LinkedIn People mentioned: Jeff Bezos Larry Page Marissa Mayer Elon Musk Karl Noronha Ganesh Rengaswamy Prithvi Rajaram Companies mentioned: Ula Amazon Flipkart PhonePe Sequoia Capital India / Peak XV Partners Lightspeed Venture Partners Boston Consulting Group Tiger Global Tencent Prosus Bezos Expeditions Udaan Shopee Mercado Libre Coupang Google Meta Reliance Jio Reliance Industries Gojek Tokopedia Playbook Ventures Feedback/connect/say hello: Rohit@startupplaybook.co @RohitBhargava7 (Twitter) /rohbhargava (LinkedIn) @rohit_bhargava (Instagram) My Youtube Channel Credits: Music: Paycheck Other channels: Find all of the links for the podcast on Linktree here https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/startupplaybook/Ep218_-_Nipun_Mehra.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | Download | EmbedSubscribe: RSS admin January 1, 2014 Reply Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat admin January 1, 2014 Reply Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat admin January 1, 2014 Reply Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Leave a Comment Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Copyright © 2015 - Live Composer The post Ep218 – Nipun Mehra (Co-founder & CEO – Ula) On Ula’s hypergrowth, Bezos backing & the hard call to shut down appeared first on Startup Playbook.

My guest for Ep217 of The Startup Playbook Podcast was Dr. Steven Lu. Dr. Steven Lu is the Co-founder and Chief Medical Officer of Everlab, Australia’s leading preventative health and longevity startups. With over 15 years of clinical experience, Steven specialised in the prevention and management of complex medical conditions including heart attacks and strokes. After years of treating late-stage illness, he shifted focus to building a proactive model of healthcare, one that empowers people to catch risks early and take control of their long-term health. That idea became Everlab. Since launching, Everlab has scaled rapidly across Australia, combining full-body diagnostics, personalised blood testing, and AI-driven insights to make preventative healthcare more accessible and actionable. The company recently closed a $15M AUD Seed round led by New York based Left Lane Capital. I was proud to continue backing Steven and the Everlab team through Playbook Ventures in this latest round. In addition to our investment, I’ve had the pleasure of working with Steven through The Komo Club, where he’s a featured speaker in both Cohort 1 and 2. The Komo Club has also partnered with Everlab who support our members directly with DEXA scans, blood testing, and 1:1 medical consultations as part of their cohort experience. In this episode, we discuss: Steven’s transition from private practice to founding Everlab The shortcomings of traditional healthcare and Everlab’s approach to solving them The key health pillars every founder should build into their routine How Steven manages his own health and family life while scaling a startup Lessons from building a high-performance team in a highly regulated industry & much more Timestamps: 00:02:13 Steven explains his transition from ICU and private practice to preventative medicine 00:04:31 Migrant childhood between China and Australia builds empathy and listening skills 00:14:00 Night‑shift epiphany in ICU: “we could save more lives by intervening earlier” 00:29:45 Meeting Sam Kothari and transitioning from a boutique practice into a scalable startup  00:51:22 The three pillars: nutrition, movement, rest. Which is the highest‑ROI starting point 00:58:54 Chronic sleep debt in startup life, how to measure sleep quality with objective, subjective and behavioural data 01:09:48 Dangers of visceral fat and how to reduce it 01:30:00 Seed round validation: 40,000+ biomarker data points show significant member gains 01:34:25 Balancing a high‑growth mission with fatherhood: savoring scarce moments with kids  Our partners: Thank you to Sam Kothari, Chai Ng and Kelly Huang for their help with research for this interview! A big shout out to our long-term partners for the show: Scendar  Scendar is the OG startup accounting firm in Australia catering to all stages of your business’ life. If you’re busy running your startup, you don’t have time to do your own books and forecast. Instead, fully outsource your finance function, giving you time and resources back to focus on what you do best in growing your business. Find out more at Scendar.com Vanta Vanta helps businesses get — and stay — compliant by automating up to 90% of the work for the most in-demand compliance frameworks. And with over 300 integrations, you can easily monitor and secure the tools your business relies on.Join over six thousand fast-growing companies that use Vanta to manage risk and prove security in real time.The Startup Playbook Podcast listeners get access to an exclusive offer of USD$1000 off their plans. Head over to vanta.com/podcast to get access to this exclusive discount. Links mentioned: The Komo Club: The world’s first human accelerator Steven’s links: Steven on LinkedIn Everlab People mentioned: Sam Kothari Chai Ng Bryan Johnson Alexandra Zatarain Companies mentioned: Playbook Ventures Eight Sleep Whoop Oura Fitbit Ramsay Health Care Feedback/connect/say hello: Rohit@startupplaybook.co @RohitBhargava7 (Twitter) /rohbhargava (LinkedIn) @rohit_bhargava (Instagram) My Youtube Channel Credits: Music: Paycheck Other channels: Find all of the links for the podcast on Linktree here The post Ep217 – Dr Steven Lu (Co-founder & CMO – Everlab) on building the future of preventative health appeared first on Startup Playbook.

My guest for Ep216 of The Startup Playbook Podcast was Chris Withers. This week marks 9 years of The Startup Playbook Podcast. What started as a side project in 2015 has now become a platform that’s shared the stories of 200+ founders, investors, and operators — and I’m so grateful to all of you who’ve tuned in, shared episodes, and supported the show along the way. To mark the milestone, I couldn’t have asked for a better guest than Chris Withers, the Founder & CEO of Klikit, a platform helping merchants grow revenue, cut costs, and streamline operations through a powerful all-in-one operating system. Before founding Klikit, Chris was part of the early Uber team in Australia & NZ, helped scale Uber Eats across Asia, and later became VP of Global Mobility at GoJek, giving him a front-row seat to some of the world’s most intense high-growth environments. Chris is also someone I’ve personally backed through Playbook Ventures. Beyond the complexity of building in Southeast Asia, what’s inspired me most is his resilience, including his fight through a cancer diagnosis just months after raising capital as a solo founder. In this episode, we dive into: The high performance cultures at Uber and Gojek and what Chris took away from each Why hard problems are worth solving His battle with cancer and what it taught him about leadership, health, and grit The realities and misconceptions about the Southeast Asian market And much more! Timestamps: 00:02:15 Chris’ background, accidental entry into Uber via a “mechanics yard” interview in Brisbane 00:04:26 Jumping to Uber Eats APAC: contrarian career move that paid off 00:07:10 Chris explains “second-order thinking” and calculated risk-taking 00:11:56 Lessons from Uber 1.0’s boundary-pushing culture of ownership 00:15:00 Inside Gojek: mission, patriotism and Nadiem Makarim’s “Pasti Ada Jalan” mantra 00:20:21 Genesis of klikit: running six virtual brands in one kitchen to test a thesis 00:24:58 Building the “pipes and rails” before the creator-commerce vision 00:29:51 Shipping fast and moving with speed 00:33:24 Going multi-region early; why Southeast Asia forces breadth and depth 00:38:26 Facing cancer diagnosis while running a venture backed startup 00:56:04 eFishery fraud fallout and Chris’s plea not to write off Asian tech Our partners: A big shout out to our long-term partners for the show: Scendar  Scendar is the OG startup accounting firm in Australia catering to all stages of your business’ life. If you’re busy running your startup, you don’t have time to do your own books and forecast. Instead, fully outsource your finance function, giving you time and resources back to focus on what you do best in growing your business. Find out more at Scendar.com Vanta Vanta helps businesses get — and stay — compliant by automating up to 90% of the work for the most in-demand compliance frameworks. And with over 300 integrations, you can easily monitor and secure the tools your business relies on.Join over six thousand fast-growing companies that use Vanta to manage risk and prove security in real time.The Startup Playbook Podcast listeners get access to an exclusive offer of USD$1000 off their plans. Head over to vanta.com/podcast to get access to this exclusive discount. Links mentioned: The Komo Club: The world’s first human accelerator Chris’ links: Chris on LinkedIn Klikit People mentioned: Travis Kalanick Paul Santos Nadiem Makarim Daniel Kahneman – Thinking Fast & Slow Jeff Bezos Ray Kroc Ben Dunphy Companies mentioned: Uber UberEats Gojek Grab Playbook Ventures TikTok Shop Shopee Lazada Amazon Google MrBeast Burger eFishery Wavemaker Feedback/connect/say hello: Rohit@startupplaybook.co @RohitBhargava7 (Twitter) /rohbhargava (LinkedIn) @rohit_bhargava (Instagram) My Youtube Channel Credits: Music: Paycheck Other channels: Find all of the links for the podcast on Linktree here The post Ep216 – Chris Withers (Founder & CEO – Klikit) on lessons from Uber & Gojek, beating cancer & solving hard problems appeared first on Startup Playbook.

My guest for Ep215 of The Startup Playbook Podcast was Ben Dunphy. Ben is the Co-Founder and Partner of January Capital, a VC fund that invests in early stage high growth startups in the Asia Pacific region. They also run an $85M growth credit fund, offering scale-stage companies access to non-dilutive capital. I first had Ben on the show back in October 2016 and nearly a decade later, we revisit the journey and dive into:  What’s changed and what hasn’t in early stage investing How January Capital is bridging the gap between equity and debt-based financing in an innovative model The opportunities in Southeast Asia And much more! Timestamps: 00:01:17 Ben’s background: Australia-born, now leading January Capital in Singapore 00:03:16 What’s remained constant vs. what’s changed in nine years of APAC venture 00:05:26 Proving billion-dollar outcomes outside Silicon Valley and the AI paradigm shift 00:09:03 Founding January Capital: spotting gaps and launching with three partners 00:12:41 Why (and when) startups should diversify into credit alongside equity 00:19:21 Misconceptions about “one big Southeast Asia market” and the B2B focus 00:24:07 January’s data-driven deal-sourcing engine and composite talent scoring 00:27:53 Signals of exceptional founders 00:31:00 Advice on timing investor outreach and the benefits of month-long rapport-building 00:39:04 Case study: William Li’s whiteboard pitch for Akulaku and the power of clarity Our partners: Also a big shout out to our long-term partners for the show: Scendar  Scendar is the OG startup accounting firm in Australia catering to all stages of your business’ life. If you’re busy running your startup, you don’t have time to do your own books and forecast. Instead, fully outsource your finance function, giving you time and resources back to focus on what you do best in growing your business. Find out more at Scendar.com Vanta Vanta helps businesses get — and stay — compliant by automating up to 90% of the work for the most in-demand compliance frameworks. And with over 300 integrations, you can easily monitor and secure the tools your business relies on.Join over six thousand fast-growing companies that use Vanta to manage risk and prove security in real time.The Startup Playbook Podcast listeners get access to an exclusive offer of USD$1000 off their plans. Head over to vanta.com/podcast to get access to this exclusive discount. Links mentioned: The Komo Club: The world’s first human accelerator Ben’s links: Ben on LinkedIn January Capital People mentioned: Jonathan Hodson Jason Edwards William Li Companies mentioned: Akulaku ShopBack TikTok Blue Sky Venture Capital Feedback/connect/say hello: Rohit@startupplaybook.co @RohitBhargava7 (Twitter) /rohbhargava (LinkedIn) @rohit_bhargava (Instagram) My Youtube Channel Credits: Music: Paycheck Other channels: Find all of the links for the podcast on Linktree here The post Ep215 – Ben Dunphy (Co-founder & Partner – January Capital) on data-driven VC & leveraging both equity & credit for growth appeared first on Startup Playbook.

The Startup Playbook PodcastInsights and lessons from the world's best entrepreneurs and investors Twitter Facebook YouTube Instagram Ep214 – Pan Koutlakis (Co-founder & CEO – EatClub) on rebuilding EatClub from $0 revenue to global expansion after COVID July 3, 2025 rohitbhargava Podcast My guest for Ep214 of The Startup Playbook Podcast was Pan Koutlakis. Pan is the Co-Founder and CEO of EatClub, a platform that uses dynamic pricing to help restaurants fill empty tables during off-peak hours, while passing on great deals to diners. EatClub saw remarkable growth early on, but like many in the industry, the business came to a standstill when COVID hit, with revenue dropping to zero overnight. Pan responded by drastically downsizing overheads, restructuring the company, and rebuilding momentum recently leading the business to secure an impressive $18.2 million Series A round. In this episode we covered a variety of topics including:  How he convinced industry heavyweight Marco Pierre White to come on board Navigating the uncertainty of COVID The power of setting ambitious targets Frameworks for making strategic long-term bets And much more! Timestamps: 00:01:10  Pan’s Adelaide upbringing, law-and-economics studies & first jobs in hospitality 00:08:41  Joining Rocket Internet’s ‘Suppertime’ and witnessing growth-at-all-costs firsthand 00:10:17  Founding EatClub 00:13:08  Cold-emailing Marco Pierre White, why the celebrity chef came on board 00:16:12  Structuring deals with celebrities 00:22:22  Signing the very first restaurant (on the first cold-call) and refining the MVP 00:27:58  EVP’s initial pass, eventual investment and the overnight COVID revenue crash 00:56:15  Tough cuts, shutdown of U.S. ops, and doubling-down on R&D during lockdown 00:39:32  Founder/Investor relationship 00:47:58  How he thinks about product roadmap and what features to build 00:55:07  Post-pandemic rebound, UK market entry & closing the $18.2 M Series A Our partners: A big thank you to Dan Szekely, Jonte Shaw and David Hodges for their help with this interview! Also a big shout out to our long-term partners for the show: Scendar  Scendar is the OG startup accounting firm in Australia catering to all stages of your business’ life. If you’re busy running your startup, you don’t have time to do your own books and forecast. Instead, fully outsource your finance function, giving you time and resources back to focus on what you do best in growing your business. Find out more at Scendar.com Vanta Vanta helps businesses get — and stay — compliant by automating up to 90% of the work for the most in-demand compliance frameworks. And with over 300 integrations, you can easily monitor and secure the tools your business relies on.Join over six thousand fast-growing companies that use Vanta to manage risk and prove security in real time.The Startup Playbook Podcast listeners get access to an exclusive offer of USD$1000 off their plans. Head over to vanta.com/podcast to get access to this exclusive discount. Links mentioned: The Komo Club: The world’s first human accelerator Pan’s links: Pan on LinkedIn EatClub People mentioned: Marco Pierre White David Berger Ben Tyler Matt Cantelo Daniel Szekely Jamie Oliver Gordon Ramsay Dan Szekely Jonte Shaw David Hodges Companies mentioned: EatClub EVP Suppertime Foodora Delivery Hero Rocket Internet Menulog Groupon Uber Eats Mastercard Feedback/connect/say hello: Rohit@startupplaybook.co @RohitBhargava7 (Twitter) /rohbhargava (LinkedIn) @rohit_bhargava (Instagram) My Youtube Channel Credits: Music: Paycheck Other channels: Find all of the links for the podcast on Linktree here https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/startupplaybook/Ep214_-_Pan_Koutlakis.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | Download | EmbedSubscribe: RSS admin January 1, 2014 Reply Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat admin January 1, 2014 Reply Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat admin January 1, 2014 Reply Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Copyright © 2015 - Live Composer The post Ep214 – Pan Koutlakis (Co-founder & CEO – EatClub) on rebuilding EatClub from $0 revenue to global expansion after COVID appeared first on Startup Playbook.

The Startup Playbook PodcastInsights and lessons from the world's best entrepreneurs and investors Twitter Facebook YouTube Instagram Ep213 – Rob Phillpot (Co-founder – Aconex) on scaling Aconex to a $1.6B exit and launching a $50M founders fund June 27, 2025 rohitbhargava Uncategorized My guest for Ep213 of The Startup Playbook Podcast was Rob Phillpot. Rob and his co-founder Leigh Jasper have played a huge part in shaping Australia’s tech landscape, building Aconex into one of the country’s most iconic companies, taking it public in 2014 and ultimately selling it to Oracle in 2017 for $1.6 billion. Since then, Rob has dedicated his time to advising startups, supporting philanthropy, and investing through his family office, Gravel Road Ventures. Most recently, Rob, Leigh Jasper, and A Cloud Guru founder Sam Kroonenberg teamed up to launch Glitch Capital, a $50 million founders fund backing the next generation of global tech companies. In this episode, we cover a lot of ground, including: Aconex’s journey to a $1.6B exit and overcoming multiple near-death experiences What it was like to sell a company when he didn’t want to Why advising founders is 20% strategy and 80% psychology The secrets behind building a high-performance culture Balancing big ambitions with family life What Glitch Capital looks for when backing startups And so much more. Timestamps: 00:01:50 Rob’s background 00:06:27 Meeting Leigh Jasper: did school-friends always know they’d start a company together?   00:09:15 Switching tracks: advice for people stuck in a career they don’t love 00:11:07 Startup ecosystem in 2000 and the early days of Aconex 00:13:46 Staying positive: how did Rob and Leigh keep morale when things looked bleak?   00:18:22 Strength in vulnerability 00:21:58 Cultivating Aconex’s culture and common founder mistakes 00:37:58 The real story of the Aconex sale 00:43:13 Life after the exit: what did stepping away from Aconex feel like?   00:49:48 What Rob looks for as an investor 00:58:13 80% psychology: common founder struggles Rob sees as an advisor   01:00:48 Family, fitness and cooking dinner: balancing startup life with home life   01:07:05 Philanthropy focus: why Rob created the Gravel Road Foundation and how he thinks about giving Our partners: A big thank you to Ben Leach, Andrew Barron and Bill Phillpot for their help with this interview! Also a big shout out to our long-term partners for the show: Scendar  Scendar is the OG startup accounting firm in Australia catering to all stages of your business’ life. If you’re busy running your startup, you don’t have time to do your own books and forecast. Instead, fully outsource your finance function, giving you time and resources back to focus on what you do best in growing your business. Find out more at Scendar.com Vanta Vanta helps businesses get — and stay — compliant by automating up to 90% of the work for the most in-demand compliance frameworks. And with over 300 integrations, you can easily monitor and secure the tools your business relies on.Join over six thousand fast-growing companies that use Vanta to manage risk and prove security in real time.The Startup Playbook Podcast listeners get access to an exclusive offer of USD$1000 off their plans. Head over to vanta.com/podcast to get access to this exclusive discount. Links mentioned: The Komo Club – Details here Rob’s Links: Rob on LinkedIn Glitch Capital Aconex Gravel Road Foundation Gravel Road Ventures People mentioned: Leigh Jasper Sam Kroonenburg  Ben Leach   Andrew Barron Simon Sinek   Geoff Tarrant  Companies mentioned: Oracle Multiplex McKinsey & Company Amazon Web Services Deloitte A Cloud Guru HammerTech Firmable Payapps Mr Yum Leonardo.AI Feedback/connect/say hello: Rohit@startupplaybook.co @RohitBhargava7 (Twitter) /rohbhargava (LinkedIn) @rohit_bhargava (Instagram) My Youtube Channel Credits: Music: Paycheck Other channels: Find all of the links for the podcast on Linktree here https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/startupplaybook/Ep213_-_Rob_Phillpot.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | Download | EmbedSubscribe: RSS admin January 1, 2014 Reply Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat admin January 1, 2014 Reply Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat admin January 1, 2014 Reply Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Copyright © 2015 - Live Composer The post Ep213 – Rob Phillpot (Co-founder – Aconex) on scaling Aconex to a $1.6B exit and launching a $50M founders fund appeared first on Startup Playbook.

My guest for Ep212 of The Startup Playbook Podcast was Matt Loop. There are few people who’ve had as much influence in shaping the tech landscape in this region as Matt. He began his career at Salesforce, where he was one of their earliest hires in Australia, before going on to lead sales at LinkedIn, first in ANZ, then later as Head of Enterprise in North America. After that, he returned to Australia to take on the role of Head of Asia Pacific at Slack, helping the company scale its presence across the region. Today, Matt is the VP and Head of Asia at Rippling, a workforce management platform that’s transforming how businesses manage their people, IT, and operations. Just last month, Rippling announced a $450 million Series G round, valuing the company at $16.8 billion. In this episode, we dive into a range of topics, including: How to build and lead high-performance teams Matt’s approach to hiring and what he looks for in candidates The frameworks he uses to choose which companies to join Balancing a high-impact career with family life And so much more. Timestamps: 00:02:07 Matt’s career arc: Salesforce, LinkedIn, Slack, Rippling 00:08:45 Building Salesforce APAC 00:12:29 GTM Advice to founders 00:16:48 Leaving Salesforce: spotting comfort creep & moving to LinkedIn 00:24:27 Leadership frameworks from all his previous experiences 00:30:15 Cultivating Rippling’s high performance culture 00:35:09 Frameworks for evaluating potential career opportunities 00:46:13 Hiring “good humans” with a growth mindset 00:50:02 Networking and personal branding 00:55:13 Stepping back from the day-to-day and seeing the bigger picture 01:00:10 Finding your own version of balance Our partners: A big thank you to Katrina Loop, James Demetrios and Andrew McCarthy for their help with this interview! Also a big shout out to our long-term partners for the show: Scendar  Scendar is the OG startup accounting firm in Australia catering to all stages of your business’ life. If you’re busy running your startup, you don’t have time to do your own books and forecast. Instead, fully outsource your finance function, giving you time and resources back to focus on what you do best in growing your business. Find out more at Scendar.com Vanta Vanta helps businesses get — and stay — compliant by automating up to 90% of the work for the most in-demand compliance frameworks. And with over 300 integrations, you can easily monitor and secure the tools your business relies on.Join over six thousand fast-growing companies that use Vanta to manage risk and prove security in real time.The Startup Playbook Podcast listeners get access to an exclusive offer of USD$1000 off their plans. Head over to vanta.com/podcast to get access to this exclusive discount. Links mentioned: The Komo Club – Details here Matt’s Links: Matt on LinkedIn Rippling People mentioned: Marc Benioff Satya Nadella Mike Gamson Alyssa Merwin Cal Henderson Parker Conrad James Demetrios Andrew McCarthy Companies mentioned: Salesforce LinkedIn Slack Siebel Oracle SAP Microsoft Amazon eBay Notion Atlassian Playbook Ventures Feedback/connect/say hello: Rohit@startupplaybook.co @RohitBhargava7 (Twitter) /rohbhargava (LinkedIn) @rohit_bhargava (Instagram) My Youtube Channel Credits: Music: Paycheck Other channels: Find all of the links for the podcast on Linktree here The post Ep212 – Matt Loop (Head of Asia – Rippling) on Leadership, Hiring & Growing Iconic Tech Companies appeared first on Startup Playbook.

The Startup Playbook PodcastInsights and lessons from the world's best entrepreneurs and investors Twitter Facebook YouTube Instagram Ep211 – Jodie Imam (Co-founder & CEO – Tractor Ventures) on startup exits, scaling with content and life-changing personal systems June 12, 2025 rohitbhargava Podcast My guest for Ep211 of The Startup Playbook Podcast was Jodie Imam. Jodie is the Co-founder & CEO of Tractor Ventures, which provides non dilutive capital (between $100,000 – $1.5M) to tech enabled companies. Since launching in 2020, Tractor has deployed nearly $100M, has 230 customers and is tracking at $5M in annual revenue. Prior to this, Jodie was the Co-founder of Occasional Butler which was acquired in 2020. She was also a member of Cohort #1 of the Komo Club, and in this episode we dive into a range of areas including: Lessons from launching, growing and exiting Occasional Butler How she uses content to attract talent and customers to Tractor Ventures Systems and frameworks she utilises to manage a busy schedule between running a high growth business, multiple board seats, and a busy personal life How personal goals created through The Komo Club have had a significant impact on her number one priority in life And much more! Timestamps: 00:01:54  Jodie’s background 00:03:29  How Jodie’s childhood shaped her perspective on life and business 00:05:49 Early career: building Occasional Butler and co-working space Depo8 00:07:39  The decision to go all in on Occasional Butler 00:08:50  What Jodie would do differently second time around with Occasional Butler 00:11:36  How to build credibility as an early stage startup 00:13:47  Selling Occasional Butler to Airtasker while raising two young children 00:18:04  Founding Tractor Ventures with Matt & Aprill 00:21:11  Early days of Tractor Ventures 00:24:10  Challenges with the business, restructuring 00:28:09  Culture design: 4-day workweek, 90-day scorecard & Level-10 meetings 00:30:14  LinkedIn content engine that drives both deal flow and hiring 00:44:09  Personal goals, The Komo Club & intentional parenting 00:54:49  How Jodie structures her day and week Our partners: A big thank you to Olivia Doherty, Andrew Fitzpatrick and Matt Allen for their help with this interview! Also a big shout out to our long-term partners for the show: Scendar  Scendar is the OG startup accounting firm in Australia catering to all stages of your business’ life. If you’re busy running your startup, you don’t have time to do your own books and forecast. Instead, fully outsource your finance function, giving you time and resources back to focus on what you do best in growing your business. Find out more at Scendar.com Vanta Vanta helps businesses get — and stay — compliant by automating up to 90% of the work for the most in-demand compliance frameworks. And with over 300 integrations, you can easily monitor and secure the tools your business relies on.Join over six thousand fast-growing companies that use Vanta to manage risk and prove security in real time.The Startup Playbook Podcast listeners get access to an exclusive offer of USD$1000 off their plans. Head over to vanta.com/podcast to get access to this exclusive discount. Links mentioned: The Komo Club – Details here Jodie’s Links: Tractor Ventures Jodie on LinkedIn People mentioned: Tim Fung Matt Allen Aprill Enright Andrew Fitzpatrick Olivia Doherty Dan Siepen Bryan Williams Dean Swan Cameron Falloon Janine Allis Leona Edmiston Companies mentioned: Airtasker TaskRabbit Gumtree SBE Australia Wade Institute of Entrepreneurship University of Melbourne FinTech Australia Private Media SmartCompany Crikey The Mandarin Jim’s Mowing Innovation Bay Amazon Leona Edmiston Feedback/connect/say hello: Rohit@startupplaybook.co @RohitBhargava7 (Twitter) /rohbhargava (LinkedIn) @rohit_bhargava (Instagram) My Youtube Channel Credits: Music: Paycheck Other channels: Find all of the links for the podcast on Linktree here https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/startupplaybook/Ep211_-_Jodie_Imam.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | Download | EmbedSubscribe: RSS admin January 1, 2014 Reply Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat admin January 1, 2014 Reply Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat admin January 1, 2014 Reply Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Copyright © 2015 - Live Composer The post Ep211 – Jodie Imam (Co-founder & CEO – Tractor Ventures) on startup exits, scaling with content and life-changing personal systems appeared first on Startup Playbook.

James Fuller, Co-founder & CEO of Hnry, shares his journey of transforming a simple spreadsheet into a powerful tax automation platform, processing $2.6B annually. He discusses the unique advantages and challenges of being a husband-and-wife founding team, including navigating their personal dynamics. The duo focuses on fairness in their pricing strategy and the importance of customer feedback in shaping their service. James reflects on overcoming tough moments in their startup journey, highlighting resilience and the support of their community.

My guest for Ep209 of The Startup Playbook Podcast was Mat Ellis. This episode is a little special. Not only is it Mat’s first-ever podcast interview, but we’ve also been close friends since grade 7. And many years ago, after months of trying, I finally convinced him to join as one of the co-founders of my first startup, StageLabel. But Mat’s not on the show just because we’re friends. He’s genuinely one of the best engineers in the country. He’s the Co-founder and CTO of Kismet Healthcare, a company tackling the deep inefficiencies in healthcare and disability services. Kismet has seen phenomenal growth in just a short period of time, scaling quickly with a small, high-performing team of 30 – including an engineering team of just five. At Playbook Ventures, we were lucky enough to back Kismet from the pre-seed stage and have had a front-row seat to their incredible growth. In this episode, we unpack some of the principles behind that growth, including: Why smaller teams get more done The 2 core values that make hires successful at Kismet The importance of vertical ownership Why every engineer on Matt’s team spends one day a month on customer support calls And much more. Toward the end of the episode, we also get personal and reflect on the growth we’ve both had across all areas of our lives. Mat’s also a member of Cohort #1 of The Komo Club, where we go deep on these exact themes, exploring how to build not just high-performing businesses, but high-performing lives. If you want to find out more, check out TheKomoClub.com Timestamps: 2:29 Mathew’s background and early interest in software 4:36 Discovering startups and autonomy 7:41 StageLabel and lessons in ownership 9:54 The importance of doing something you like 11:54 Lessons from early in his career that he applies now at Kismet 18:33 Transition to Xplor 23:53 Co-founding Kismet 31:09 Scaling with small, high trust teams, why vertical ownership (end-to-end accountability) drives better outcomes 39:32 Hiring for culture fit at Kismet: humility and ownership and what to look for in technical talent 43:54 Why Kismet does its best to scare people off in interviews 49:25 Overcoming challenges of scale and the sacrifice you make when starting a company 55:31 Personal Growth: From work first to a balanced life, how a holistic approach improves work performance 1:02:50 How Mat has stopped being a passenger in his own life 1:05:40 How taking care of himself properly allows him to perform better at work Our partners: A big thank you to Mark Woodland, Harry Travers and Bejoy Machumpurath for their help with this interview! Also a big shout out to our long-term partners for the show: Scendar  Scendar is the OG startup accounting firm in Australia catering to all stages of your business’ life. If you’re busy running your startup, you don’t have time to do your own books and forecast. Instead, fully outsource your finance function, giving you time and resources back to focus on what you do best in growing your business. Find out more at Scendar.com Vanta Vanta helps businesses get — and stay — compliant by automating up to 90% of the work for the most in-demand compliance frameworks. And with over 300 integrations, you can easily monitor and secure the tools your business relies on.Join over six thousand fast-growing companies that use Vanta to manage risk and prove security in real time.The Startup Playbook Podcast listeners get access to an exclusive offer of USD$1000 off their plans. Head over to vanta.com/podcast to get access to this exclusive discount. Links mentioned: The Komo Club – Details here Mathew’s Links: Kismet Mat on LinkedIn Kismet’s email People mentioned: Mark Woodland James Chin-Moody David Goggins Jocko Willink Jason Fried Companies mentioned: StageLabel Department of Defense Lockheed Martin Xplor Playbook Ventures Sendle Feedback/connect/say hello: Rohit@startupplaybook.co @RohitBhargava7 (Twitter) /rohbhargava (LinkedIn) @rohit_bhargava (Instagram) My Youtube Channel Credits: Music: Paycheck Other channels: Find all of the links for the podcast on Linktree here The post Ep209 – Mathew Ellis (Co-founder & CTO – Kismet) on vertical ownership and high performing teams appeared first on Startup Playbook.