nonlinear

Episodet

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  From software engineering to starting a bakery | Ben Lai 09.09.2026 45min

  Ben Lai is the founder of Home Croissanterie, a bakery and cafe in Balmain, Sydney. Home was recently selected as one of just eight stalls to represent Sydney at the Good Food and Wine Festival.Previously, Ben studied computer science and spent years in a corporate software job, but never found meaning in the work. He cut his teeth in the culinary world by interning at world-class kitchens including Quay in Sydney and Noma in Copenhagen. After learning pastry-making from scratch, he eventually left the corporate world for good to open his own shop, bringing his brother (who quit his own job) and his mum on board.Ben and Saurav talk about what actually separates a great croissant from a good one, the chaos of the Noma internship, betting on yourself without a financial plan, running a family business, and the hardest part of scaling without losing what makes something special.Timestamps:00:00 - Intro02:20 - Ben’s formative years04:46 - First kitchen experiences07:22 - Inside Noma12:03 - The origin of Home Croissanterie17:55 - Improving at the craft21:16 - Deciding to scale up28:42 - The reality of running a physical store33:37 - How he thinks about creativity36:38 - Community support37:47 - Scaling without losing quality41:15 - Work ethic and advice for chasing a passion43:08 - nonlinear's 3 closing questionsThis episode is brought to you by Choppity, an AI tool that turns long-form videos into social media-ready clips. Try it for free at ⁠https://www.choppity.com/⁠Home Croissanterie website: https://www.homecroissanterie.com/Ben's book rec: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/14896485-faviken
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  From Google to Australia’s #1 AI podcast | Georgie Healy 02.09.2026 40min

  Georgie Healy is the host of In the Blink of AI, Australia's leading AI podcast with 350K+ listens. She also writes the weekly Substack Attention Is All I Need.Previously, she launched Google’s AI First Accelerator in Australia and worked across tech, consulting, and investing globally. Georgie and Saurav talk about the discipline required to constantly learn new tools, why putting your personality online is inherently cringe (and worth doing anyway), her aspirations to become a globally leading podcast, and where she lands on AI optimism versus doomerism.Timestamps:00:00 - Intro02:41 - Formative years and love of performance05:00 - Lessons from 15 years in tech05:53 - Leaning into her personality online07:53 - Changing opinions on AI's biggest names09:59 - How the podcast started12:12 - Research process15:00 - Hallmarks of a great interview17:07 - How to think about podcast analytics20:19 - Keeping pace with AI change23:39 - Starting the Substack28:43 - Traits of frontier AI builders29:51 - Future of the podcast34:12 - AI optimism vs. doomerism38:00 - nonlinear's 3 closing questionsThis episode is brought to you by Choppity, an AI tool that turns long-form videos into social media-ready clips. Try it for free at ⁠https://www.choppity.com/⁠Links:In the Blink of AI: https://open.spotify.com/show/5K4NkKXa8Cqxuoed1jBGwO Georgie's Substack: ⁠https://georgiehealy.substack.com/Georgie's book recommendation: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4030991-shoe-dog
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  From startup investing to building his own | Kevin Lu 20.08.2026 40min

  Kevin Lu is the founder of Atrium, an AI comms and relations team built to help founders, execs, and investors manage and nurture relationships. Before founding, Kevin spent six years on the other side of the table as a VC at Reinventure and AirTree.Kevin and Saurav talk about the pain point that sparked Atrium, the joy of building with his brother, lessons from fundraising in the US versus Australia, and the aspects of relationship-building that can't be automated.Timestamps:00:00 - Introduction02:11 - What Atrium does and the pain point it solves03:25 - Childhood influences06:21 - Getting into venture capital08:57 - Learnings from VC that still apply12:32 - Atrium's origin story and evolution16:00 - Fundraising lessons in the US vs Australia21:05 - What he wishes he'd known 12 months ago22:46 - Differentiating vs competitors26:09 - What can't be automated28:12 - How Kevin unwinds31:49 - Founder-led marketing34:19 - AI's trajectory and what skills still matter37:00 - nonlinear's 3 closing questionsThis episode is brought to you by Choppity, an AI tool that turns long-form videos into social media-ready clips. Try it for free at https://www.choppity.com- Atrium website: https://www.atrium.me/- Kevin's book recommendation: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40180098-the-overstory
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  From Eucalyptus to $100M robotics startup | Joe Harris 12.08.2026 47min

  Joe Harris is the founder of Alloy, an AI-native data platform helping robotics companies manage their data and ship safer, more reliable robots. Alloy just closed an $11.5M seed round at a $115M valuation, backed by leading Australian VCs and angels from OpenAI, Tesla, Anthropic and more.Before Alloy, Joe led growth at telehealth company Eucalyptus, which recently sold to Hims for over $1 billion.Saurav and Joe talk about how robotics is still in its early innings, how he’s earned credibility without decades in the industry, what he looks for when hiring and what keeps him up at night as he tries to scale Alloy into one of the biggest companies in physical AI.Timestamps:00:00 - Introduction02:07 - Alloy's $11.5M seed round and what it unlocks03:16 - The journey from Eucalyptus to robotics07:27 - Why Joe chose to start a company08:51 - Joe's founding insight12:02 - What does the future of robotics look like?18:24 - How Alloy helps customers20:18 - Competition23:52 - Building a team26:06 - Earning credibility27:30 - Timing32:38 - Prioritization and killing bad experiments34:01 - What success and failure look like38:49 - Advice for early-career people amid AI disruption42:55 - Building a founder-led brand44:46 - nonlinear's 3 closing questionsThis episode is brought to you by Choppity, an AI tool that turns long-form videos into social media-ready clips. Try it for free at https://www.choppity.com/Links:Alloy: https://www.usealloy.ai/Joe’s book recommendation: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/20518872-the-three-body-problem
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  From email newsletter to Australia's first sales school | Dan Brockwell 07.08.2026 46min

  Dan is the co-founder of Earlywork, Australia's first sales school helping people build 6-figure careers in sales. He's also an R&B musician, performing under the name BROCKNROLL.Saurav and Dan chat about building a business around pain instead of passion, why he and his co-founders took the decision to pivot and halve their revenue, how posting online has been a huge source of opportunity, the four pillars he uses to define a good life, and what pulled him back into making music after years away from it.Timestamps:00:00 - Introduction01:49 - Childhood and family influence04:13 - Starting Earlywork and finding co-founders09:11 - The instinct to build12:59 - Multiple pivots19:41 - Personal branding and posting on LinkedIn25:29 - Career experimentation26:44 - Chasing pain instead of passion28:53 - Dan's relationship with work32:29 - What other founders taught him35:23 - The music journey39:10 - Creative process and streaming numbers43:21 - nonlinear's 3 closing questionsThis episode is brought to you by Choppity, an AI tool that turns long-form videos into social media-ready clips. Try it for free at https://www.choppity.com/- Earlywork website: https://www.earlywork.co/- Dan's music page: https://www.instagram.com/brocknrollmusic/- Dan's book recommendation: https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/71730.Nonviolent_Communication
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  From Canva PM to seven-figure design studio | Audrey T 20.07.2026 39min

  Audrey runs Mapo Studio, offering product design for AI-first startups and scaleups like Heidi Health, Relevance AI, Eucalyptus and Lorikeet. She's also grown to over 100K followers across social media platforms, posting about working in tech, freelancing and running a business. In this episode, Audrey and Saurav talk about the importance of asking for what you want, what good AI product design looks like, the mindset you need to be a content creator and increasing your surface area for luck.Timestamps:00:00 - Cold open00:54 - Introduction02:29 - Childhood and early lessons05:03 - Early career experimentation08:24 - What makes good product design09:47 - The freelancing journey13:38 - Working at Lorikeet16:20 - Relaunching Mapo Studio18:33 - Why chat is a lazy default in AI product design21:02 - A week in Audrey's life22:08 - Habits for successful content creation28:49 - Retirement as freedom from money-first decisions31:21 - The importance of luck33:19 - Writing cold emails that work37:00 - nonlinear's 3 closing questions
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  From VC investor to debut novelist | Jessy Wu 07.07.2026 46min

  Jessy Wu spent seven years as a management consultant and VC investor before walking away to do two things: start a business and write a novel. A year and a half later, she's done both — running her comms agency, Encour, and publishing her debut novel, Good Intentions.In this episode, Jessy and Saurav talk about why she left a stable career in finance to chase writing, how she turned her real experience in VC, consulting, and journalism into fiction, why she's willing to be a "trailblazer and a firebrand" on LinkedIn even when it invites backlash and how she's trying to make a full-time career as a writer.Timestamps:00:00 - Cold open and Intro03:42 - Early reactions to Good Intentions05:10 - The pivot from VC/consulting into the arts 08:24 - The intersection of art and commerce11:39 - How Jessy's experiences shaped Good Intentions13:00 - The purpose of good writing17:29 - The early drafts of Good Intentions20:26 - The writing and publishing process28:08 - Personal branding and being outspoken online31:59 - Making a career as a writer39:38 - What's next40:59 - Advice for anyone with a creative itch and a corporate job43:52 - nonlinear's 3 closing questions
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  From redundancy to 1M+ podcast listeners | Vidit Agarwal 15.06.2026 1h

  Vidit Agarwal is the Founder & CEO of Curiosity Centre, an Insights, Marketing & Consulting Firm trusted across the USA, Australia, India and New Zealand. He also hosts The High Flyers podcast, releasing over 250 episodes with senior leaders in tech, government, sports and beyond.But the path here was anything but linear. A below-average ATAR, a pathway diploma at RMIT, three years at Coles, a quick jump into startup land, a stint at P&G and then a move to Sydney just weeks before COVID hit — losing two jobs in eight weeks in a city where he barely knew anyone.That was the fuel to start The High Flyers Podcast, the lockdown project that soon became a calling.Timestamps:00:00 — Introduction03:00 — Vidit's formative years 05:15 — Vidit's influences growing up08:15 — A low ATAR and finding the "third door"13:30 — The Coles internship16:24 — What a mentor saw in Vidit in his early career20:20 — Heading to startup land22:30 — The P&G experience at Gillette24:30 — Moving to Sydney; COVID and two lost jobs26:00 — Why he started the High Flyers Podcast30:35 — The craft of interviewing: curiosity-first 37:30 — How Vidit's concept of a "high-flyer" has evolved39:40 — Building The Curiosity Centre49:10 — Balancing the different verticals of The Curiosity Centre51:00 — The value of having a financial safety net56:00 — Luck and the surface area of opportunity57:30 — nonlinear's 3 ending questions
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  Build Australia, startup marketing and sabbaticals | Franko Ali 01.06.2026 1h 9min

  Franko Ali has spent over a decade in marketing and storytelling, from growing YouTube channels at Discovery Media in San Francisco to brand-building for one of Australia's leading venture capital firms. This year, he's taking a sabbatical to reset while still staying in motion. He's helping to launch Build Australia: a grassroots movement turning collective anxiety about the future into something optimistic.Timestamps:00:00 - Opening highlight and introduction01:39 - The link between marketing and optimism03:50 - Growing up in California, Steiner schools and accidental stoicism10:13 - How the early internet influenced Franko17:30 - Going viral on Facebook while in college19:00 - Franko's early career in media at Discovery25:24 - The move to Australia29:44 - Finding community as an outsider32:15 - Working in tech and VC in Australia45:00 - Franko's sabbatical experience49:08 - Build Australia: turning anxiety into a national optimism movement59:27 - AI content overload and the fear of losing our humanity1:04:12 - nonlinear's 3 ending questions---🎙 ABOUT NONLINEARnonlinear is the podcast about the messy, winding path to doing meaningful work. Each episode, host Saurav Risbud sits down with someone who took an unconventional route, whether that's starting a company, taking a sabbatical, or finding meaning beyond a job title.Subscribe and share with someone who's figuring out their next move.