Life After Launch with Megan Luttrell & Geo George

Епизоде

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  Darius Monsef – You're the Number One Consumer of Your Own Bullshit 18.08.2026 1ч 5мин

  Want to partner with Life After Launch?Explore sponsorship and partnership opportunities at https://lifeafterlaunchpod.com/partner-with-usDarius Monsef has built a color-palette website that grew to millions of users, sold two companies, raised over $40 million for a pediatric healthcare startup, and shut it all down. Twice. He's brutally honest about why.Darius walks through how a joke website for rating color squares became a design resource used by Adobe, how wearing his own branded t-shirt got him into Y Combinator, and how Creative Market sold to Autodesk just 11 months after launch. But the real story is what happened after the money landed: the quiet depression of an exit that wasn't life-changing enough, the $40 million healthcare business that scaled before it had product-market fit, and the moment on a plane, mid-fundraise, when he realised he might be lying to himself and everyone else.He's honest about what it cost to walk away from Brave Care, why he now tells founders to be quitters, and why the businesses that fail teach you more than the ones that limp along for nine years pretending to work.Stick around for his three life lessons: why your health is the input that decides your output, why quitting well matters as much as starting well, and why founders should set goals they can't reach and still call it a win.Time Stamps00:00 Cold open + welcome to Life After Launch, introducing Darius Monsef02:16 Growing up in Hawaii, entrepreneurial parents, and the chip on his shoulder06:48 Building COLOURlovers, the shirt that got him into Y Combinator, and 11 years to "overnight success"15:27 Creative Market's fast exit to Autodesk, and why the money wasn't enough21:29 Sightbox, moving to Hawaii, and the depression after doing "nothing"29:32 Raising $40M for Brave Care, scaling before product-market fit, and the collapse mid-fundraise40:53 Shutting down Brave Care, then Genie and Rides, and building Pre50:03 Life lesson 1: treat your health like an athlete's, not an afterthought55:16 Life lesson 2: be a quitter59:55 Life lesson 3: push harder than reasonable, then give yourself grace1:04:33 Closing thoughts + outro
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  Kirstin Hunter – You're Spending 95% of Your Brain on the Wrong 5% 11.08.2026 49мин

  Want to partner with Life After Launch?Explore sponsorship and partnership opportunities at https://lifeafterlaunchpod.com/partner-with-usKirstin Hunter has co-founded a super fund, run a startup accelerator, and now leads Australia's biggest crowdfunding platform. None of it was the plan.She grew up in Tweed Heads folding junk mail for two cents a letterbox, trained to be a doctor, then pivoted through law and consulting before a friend told her the pro bono work she loved was just "the trinkets" propping up a job that made corporations richer. That conversation pushed her into Future Super, where a pitch her co-founders called "absurd" turned into one of Australia's first fossil-fuel-free super funds.She's honest about what came next too: the moment she and her co-founders stopped wanting the same thing, and why leaving felt like leaving a marriage. From there she takes you through Techstars Australia, the funding data project that exposed how badly VCs back women and diverse founders, and how she landed the CEO seat at Birchal, almost by accident.Stick around for the one Revolut stat that makes the case for democratised funding better than any pitch deck could.Time Stamps00:00 Cold open + welcome to Life After Launch01:14 Introducing Kirstin Hunter02:16 From junk mail in Tweed Heads to running a $20M student union at 2309:16 Consulting, "the trinkets," and the leap to Future Super15:48 Becoming a co-founder and building Australia's fossil-fuel-free super fund20:39 The co-founder breakdown, and why she walked away24:54 Techstars, the funding gap for diverse founders, and Funding the Balance42:27 Landing at Birchal, and the case for crowdfunding48:06 Closing thoughts + outro
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  Jodie Imam - Sometimes You Don't Need a Rocket Ship. You Need a Tractor 04.08.2026 50мин

  Want to partner with Life After Launch?Explore sponsorship and partnership opportunities at https://lifeafterlaunchpod.com/partner-with-usIf you've ever felt like you're not a "real" founder because you're not chasing unicorn status, this episode is your permission slip to build differently.Jodie Imam has done almost everything you can do in the Australian startup ecosystem. She co-founded Occasional Butler and went head to head with Airtasker (who eventually acquired her), opened depo8, one of Melbourne's first coworking spaces, and now runs Tractor Ventures, the revenue-based funding company backing the founders who don't want to ride the VC rocket. And it all started at age 12 with a business called The Ironing Lady.You'll hear the moment at Ericsson that convinced Jodie she could never trust a corporation with her future, and the trade she made to escape it: her car space for a job with fashion designer Leona Edmiston, working weeks for free to prove herself. She's honest about what that costs, and why she tells anyone changing direction that you can't expect a corporate wage while you do it.Then there's the Occasional Butler story, including the very first job posted on the platform (a $5 gig to eat a packet of Doritos, planted by a rival you might have heard of), the Gumtree hack that finally unlocked their flywheel, and the raise-or-sell decision she faced while pregnant with her third child.Jodie also opens up about the journaling moment that led to Tractor Ventures (she wrote "I want to work with Matt Allen one day" and he messaged her that same day), the EOS framework and visionary-integrator split that transformed how she and Matt run the company, and the spiritual awakening after her divorce that has her exploring goddess rituals and witchcraft alongside running a venture funding business.Stay to the end to hear why founders are whole humans, and why you can absolutely manage millions and pull tarot cards in the same week.Time Stamps00:00 Cold open and welcome to Life After Launch01:05 Megan's disclaimers: buying the gear, timing references, and learning to stop saying "yes"02:18 Introducing Jodie Imam03:11 The Ironing Lady at 12: where the independence drive began04:00 Watching Ericsson make 30-year veterans redundant, and the seed it planted05:13 Trading a car space for a job: nine years growing Leona Edmiston from 3 people to 10009:17 The owner's mentality: why Jodie told her bosses "I have to feel like it's my business"10:26 Babies as the catalyst: leaving to start Occasional Butler with her husband12:39 Selling the house, moving to Melbourne, and going all in on two businesses with two babies14:47 The first job ever posted: a $5 Doritos prank from a familiar rival16:00 The Gumtree hack that finally kicked the flywheel18:23 Building too much before testing, and why launching feels like standing on stage naked20:09 The exit story: the capital-raising mistake that cost months, and the board move that worked23:16 Selling to Airtasker while pregnant with baby number three24:51 Setting up Innovation Bay in Melbourne27:02 COVID kills depo8 overnight, and Tractor Ventures is born from a lockdown living room33:06 The journal entry and the WhatsApp message: how Jodie and Matt Allen teamed up34:23 How Tractor actually works: the first $2 million, revenue-based finance, and the funding stack37:26 Why Tractor only hires senior people39:54 Rocket Fuel, EOS, and the visionary vs integrator dynamic (plus seagull management)44:01 Life after exit and divorce: spiritual awakening, goddess rituals, and witchcraft47:41 Quickfire: what's inspiring Jodie and the ecosystem shoutout49:16 Outro
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  Dom Pym – How To Build From Abundance, Even When You Have Nothing 28.07.2026 47мин

  Want to partner with Life After Launch?Explore sponsorship and partnership opportunities at https://lifeafterlaunchpod.com/partner-with-usIf you've ever talked yourself out of reaching out to someone because they're "too successful to reply," this episode will change how you send your next message.Dom Pym co-founded Up, one of Australia's fastest growing digital banks, and has personally invested $85 million into the Australian startup ecosystem. But he started with nothing. Dom tells Megan and Geo about growing up in a family that lost everything, and the "golden purse" his mum kept that somehow always had just enough in it, a lesson in abundance he's carried into every company since.You'll hear the full story of how Dom and his co-founder walked into Bendigo Bank asking for money and walked out bidding to rebuild their entire banking system, with a team of two and zero banking experience. You'll learn why he treats confidence and honesty as two separate skills you need at the same time, the exact cold outreach tactics that have actually worked on him (including one that involves sticky-taping a $1 coin to a letter), and why he believes chasing busy, successful people a hundred times is a feature, not a flaw.Dom also shares the two policy ideas he's pushing right now, free universal childcare and a dollar-for-dollar rebuild of the R&D tax incentive, that he reckons could make Australia a world superpower.Stay to the end for the quickfire round, where Dom reveals the plane crash he survived in 1999 and the one interview question that lets him see straight into a founder's soul.Time Stamps00:00 Cold open and welcome to Life After Launch01:17 Introducing Dom Pym02:33 The childhood moments that shaped Dom: footy, family, and sliding doors06:09 The golden purse: building an abundance mindset from nothing08:20 The three people who taught Dom how money really works11:03 Why you should chase successful people a hundred times (the Marty Howell story)14:15 The most creative cold outreach Dom has ever received16:07 The $1 coin letter and why positive affirmation actually works19:19 The Bendigo Bank story: two people, supreme confidence, and a live demo that broke the rules26:26 Confidence vs honesty: crossing ThoughtWorks off the whiteboard29:13 Up's world firsts: Afterpay, Apple Pay instant issuance, and Google Cloud31:05 Comparing your bank to Instagram: the activity feed that banks worldwide copied32:48 Fixing Australia: free universal childcare and rebuilding the R&D tax incentive37:38 1.4 million customers and the countdown to overtaking the big banks40:30 Quickfire: the 1999 Qantas crash, the ecosystem stars you should know, and the question that reveals a founder's soul46:56 Outro
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  COMING SOON: Life After Launch 21.07.2026

  Watch this space.