Founder

An overnight success is what these companies look like from the outside, but Luke Anear had 18 different jobs or businesses before he started SafetyCulture. The family sacrifices and personal toll are heavy. In this episode, Luke gives a raw reflection on the lonely, all-consuming journey of a tech founder - and what it means to push yourself and everyone you love to the breaking point. This is the garage to global story. From a small garage in North Queensland, SafetyCulture has become the world’s most-used workplace operations platform.

Melanie Perkins is one of the greatest female visionaries in the world. Together with her boyfriend Cliff Obrecht, two kids from Perth tried to take on some of the biggest companies in the world. This episode shows the unlikely pairing of a perfectionist in Melanie and the boy-next-door style of Cliff coming together to create the world's most-used design platform. Now with 135 million users worldwide, Canva makes graphic design accessible to everyone, everywhere. But growth comes with a hefty price tag. In this episode, Mel and her co-founders open up about the journey of being knocked back by dozens of investors, to becoming the darling of the tech world.

From tearing apart gadgets as a child to building websites and fencing with Google, Finder co-founder Fred Schebesta is an absolute maverick. His radioactive approach to business has always danced the line between creative genius and daring recklessness. His willingness to blow things up makes him an incredible founder, but it hasn’t been without damaging consequences. In this episode, Fred opens up about his challenges and the identity struggle of being a leader. Can he work out his place in the company – and the world?

Would you quit your corporate job with a young family and risk your mortgage on a gut instinct? Katherine McConnell doesn’t fit the mold of your typical tech founder - but that’s exactly what makes her brilliant. At a time when renewable energy was still a niche market, she saw an untapped opportunity. Going head-to-head with the juggernaut that is the fossil-fuel industry, Katherine shares her story, proving it’s not too late in life to save the planet. This episode explores how she started Brighte, and her honest take on if following your gut instinct is actually worth the risk.