Latest / The Curve / Google’s Chief Technologist on the Future We’re All Heading Toward.
Transcript
- 0:00I've spent most of my career building Google technology that is kind of on the bleeding
- 0:08edge of what is possible.
- 0:10I sit with a lot of successful leaders and people that are building billion dollar start
- 0:14ups and businesses and the one thing I know for certain is that nobody has it all figured
- 0:19out.
- 0:20I've never actually spoken about this publicly.
- 0:23The biggest thing that's being talked about in the AI world right now is this idea of
- 0:29it's probably not good enough just to have a great product anymore.
- 0:32I actually think what you need to do is they build community.
- 0:35I think if there was any advice that I would give to women or anyone thinking about investing,
- 0:42it's that.
- 0:46Before we dive into today's episode, we would like to just take a brief moment of your time
- 0:51to let you know about a little podcast we've done with Lexus.
- 0:54We all know it by now, pay laterals, right?
- 0:56You might not need a dress, you get the dress, you pay it off later.
- 1:00That's not the most amazing way to use your money or to buy things.
- 1:04However, sometimes when it comes to saying buying a new car, you might not have the full
- 1:08amount to pay straight away.
- 1:10And that's why car financing for some people could actually be a really amazing option.
- 1:15In this episode that we've recorded with Lexus, not the one that you're about to listen
- 1:19to, but you can find the link in the podcast show notes.
- 1:21We explain exactly how car financing works so that you can understand how your paying
- 1:26interest off over time.
- 1:28Right now, Lexus has a deal that is 1.9% interest, which is incredibly low.
- 1:34If you are thinking, gosh, I would love a new car, but I don't think I could put all the
- 1:38money down at once.
- 1:40Watch this episode.
- 1:41You can follow the link in the podcast show notes and we'll explain exactly how the deal
- 1:44works.
- 1:45Back to today's episode.
- 1:47Yes.
- 1:48Welcome.
- 1:49Hi.
- 1:50Hi.
- 1:51Thanks for having me.
- 1:52It's so nice to have you in our studio.
- 1:54You are based in London, and we meet you and we're in London.
- 1:57We actually did a reach out when we first moved here.
- 2:01And we were like, anyone in our community that, you know, we'd love to get in touch with
- 2:07we are moving to London and you are one of those people that reached out and I'd love
- 2:13to know, how did you come about the curve?
- 2:15I mean, I've been investing for a really long time and there was just, there was, it
- 2:20was all kind of bro finance and there was just nothing really for women.
- 2:26And then when I saw that you and Sof were developing this community for women, I just thought
- 2:32to myself, finally, there are so many of us that have been investing for so long and
- 2:37just finally there's other women speaking about what to invest, where do invest, how they
- 2:42think about money and saving and what not.
- 2:44So that's how I came across you.
- 2:46And so I remember you put out a post on Instagram that said, hey, we're looking for advice
- 2:53or we're looking for support and I just loved it because I think what you did was you
- 2:58did this thing that I say a lot of successful founders do and that is you increase your
- 3:05luck surface area.
- 3:07And what I mean by that is if you ask for what you want.
- 3:11And I found this at least in my career, which has been quite a rocket ship in technology.
- 3:16If that if you ask for what you want and you tell people what you want, then I know
- 3:23it's sometimes it feels eaky, but it's you're actually more likely to increase how lucky
- 3:27you are.
- 3:28Yeah.
- 3:29And to get what you want.
- 3:30Exactly what you need.
- 3:31Because they don't know if you're sitting across from someone or like, how are they to
- 3:34know what you want?
- 3:35I actually, I think I could get better at that, but I think as I've got older and realised
- 3:40how valuable my time is, it's like, of course, going and meeting someone and forming a relationship
- 3:47is great.
- 3:48But like, if there is something I want to get out of that meeting or that relationship
- 3:52or whatever, yeah, it's kind of asking for just cutting to the chase a bit.
- 3:56Yeah, totally agree.
- 3:57So you have spent like a decade now in the tech space, like that is outrageous.
- 4:03And you're now, the official title chief technologist at Google Australia.
- 4:08Yeah.
- 4:09Oh, so many questions.
- 4:11How did you get into it?
- 4:12What excites you about it?
- 4:13Like, how have you stayed in the space for so long?
- 4:16Anyone that has built a career in technology for at least how long life has been in it.
- 4:21We'll probably tell you it's a combination of a little bit of luck and a little bit of
- 4:27serendipity.
- 4:28And of course, you know, hard work, but that's generally the formula I would say.
- 4:31I think it is with a lot of careers.
- 4:33It's like, there is an element of luck, like, or who you meet at the right place, right
- 4:37time kind of thing, but then you also have to have your own drive.
- 4:41That's right.
- 4:42Yeah, all of that.
- 4:43That's right.
- 4:44So a little bit of luck, a little bit of serendipity.
- 4:45So I studied marketing at university in regional town in New South Wales in Australia.
- 4:53Yeah.
- 4:54And I got pulled out of that degree towards the end and headhunted by Google and got kind
- 5:02of flown to Silicon Valley and taught how to build systems and technology by the
- 5:09power of the internet.
- 5:10How did they know?
- 5:11Like, you were doing marketing.
- 5:12I was.
- 5:13Yeah.
- 5:14How did you get on Google's radar?
- 5:16So they were actually looking for students in regional towns in Australia.
- 5:23So they were saying, how can we bring, you know, diversity of thought, diversity of who
- 5:30is actually helping us build technology for the world or billions of users?
- 5:36How can we make sure we're building for everybody?
- 5:38So I was really lucky to be part of that thinking and Ben brought on the journey and I guess
- 5:43for the past 10 years have been had a backstage past to some of the fastest growing businesses
- 5:49in the world, building with technology and building with AI.
- 5:53So incredible.
- 5:54But even just that, the fact that Google realized to have diversity of thought and like views,
- 6:02we need to go into regional, you know, I don't know, like so many companies still and
- 6:06it frustrates, hello to me, is that there's still a product of the ecosystem that they surround
- 6:11themselves with.
- 6:12And it's like the fact that even 10 years ago, more than 10 years ago, Google was thinking
- 6:17that way is quite, quite outstanding.
- 6:19You also invest.
- 6:22Like when did you start investing?
- 6:23What got you interested in that?
- 6:25Yeah, we'll get into a bit more data on what you invest in, but yeah.
- 6:28How I started investing was probably how most people often start investing and that's
- 6:33someone in their life is investing, so you're seeing it and you're learning it by Osmosis.
- 6:39So my dad and my parents ran a small business in my hometown in Australia and I watched
- 6:47them work really hard at their, you know, their everyday job.
- 6:51But then I also particularly watched my dad sit at his desk and he would always be kind
- 6:56of doing his work, but then he'd have, you know, the stock market on one screen and the
- 7:03same time he might have the radio on while he was tinkering in his garage and he's
- 7:07listening to the stock market report or the TV on where we're looking at the different
- 7:12markets.
- 7:13So it was partly, I think, by Osmosis and then I was just really curious.
- 7:18I'm like, hey, dad, what are you investing in?
- 7:19What's a ticker?
- 7:20What are you looking at there?
- 7:22It's so funny because I was the opposite.
- 7:24My mum was like, Vic, she'd get the newspaper and she'd be like, look, look, these are stock
- 7:28prices for the end.
- 7:29I'd be like, oh, go away, Mom, go away because I was just like, I think it's because
- 7:33it was my mother, you know, and then it wasn't till I got out of university and I was
- 7:38like, oh, I can actually, like, you have that moment when you're like, mum was right.
- 7:43She was the cool mum at that time.
- 7:44Oh, God, I think she was right.
- 7:48And you're like, oh, okay, I think because she also wanted, like, she was kind of gutted
- 7:52that she hadn't got into it sooner in like, she was an accountant, but so she was trying
- 7:56to get into a bit late in the game, but like, yeah, she was out to me.
- 8:00Oh, you know, this is actually really interesting and there's so much going on and then I just
- 8:04had to figure it out for myself, I think.
- 8:06So it's quite cool that you were like, almost at my age were dead and you were like, oh,
- 8:10well, what's that?
- 8:11What's that rather than just being curious?
- 8:13Yeah.
- 8:14Yeah.
- 8:15It's so interesting though, we're like, you know, we still see a lot of girls kind of go
- 8:19in a different direction and are interested in a lot of different things than that.
- 8:24Yeah.
- 8:25I do.
- 8:26But I also just think, I have gone a very different direction.
- 8:29So I think a lot of us grew up potentially looking at their parents investing in BHP or
- 8:35you know, Rio Tinto or, but now I think as I've grown up, I've started to develop my own
- 8:46investor muscle and my own investor mindset where I'm actually investing in things that
- 8:51I see my friends using, I see other people using.
- 8:55So, you know, I'm actually investing now in things that I find interesting, which has
- 9:00just completely opened the door up for so many interesting conversations on how the
- 9:06world actually works.
- 9:07Well, and you're not intertwining work in your passion with your investing, right?
- 9:11And I think that's key and it's kind of what we try to teach the curve is like, if you
- 9:14think you have to sit down and start researching BHP and Rio to invest in, which are those
- 9:20are doing a big mind and companies in Australia, of course, you're not going to be interested
- 9:25in investing.
- 9:26Yeah.
- 9:27That's what I love about interest rate.
- 9:28Like, yeah, it's kind of, what are you interested in?
- 9:30What are you passionate about?
- 9:31I remember as a young analyst and my boss was like, right, the first sector you're going
- 9:34to cover to analyze and research is retail.
- 9:37And I was like, yes, amazing, absolutely, because I was like, I do that.
- 9:42So I understood it and it was like a great stepping stone.
- 9:46Whereas I've had been like, okay, you know, you're going to cover bio-tech or miners.
- 9:50I probably would have not been interested in investing, but.
- 9:53So I think the whole intertwine of your job, your interest, your investing, has it shaped
- 10:00what you invested in in terms of investing in more like tech companies?
- 10:05When you're working in tech, like I am, at the kind of bleeding edge of seeing what's
- 10:11getting built and what's getting made.
- 10:15And I don't think this is exclusive just to technology necessarily.
- 10:19I think it's, if you're listening to this and you're working in any industry, I think
- 10:23you've kind of got two choices.
- 10:24You can either sit there and just kind of watch the world go by or you can actually sit
- 10:29in your role and be like, wow, okay, so we're buying this particular technology and we're
- 10:34putting it across our entire business for payroll or, wow, it looks like everybody is walking
- 10:40down the street in Lululemon.
- 10:44That's interesting.
- 10:45Are they listed on the stock market?
- 10:46Yeah.
- 10:47It's like La Boo Boo.
- 10:50You know, you could walk past La Boo Boo and just think, wow, everybody's, what are
- 10:55these little dolls?
- 10:56What are these little dolls?
- 10:57Things on everyone's backpack.
- 10:58Do I need one?
- 10:59Yeah.
- 11:00Or you can look at that and say, okay, I think it's pop, pop, pop, mark, pop, mark.
- 11:06Pop, mark, pop, mark.
- 11:07It's done fantastically well.
- 11:08Yeah.
- 11:09Yeah.
- 11:10It's listed on the, I think it's the Hong Kong stock exchange.
- 11:11I was kicking myself because I saw what all my friends having these La Boo Boo thanks.
- 11:15And I was like, such a stupid trend to me, just being like, and then I was like, damn
- 11:19it.
- 11:20I should have put that in being, yeah, how do I invest in that?
- 11:23Because it's such a trade.
- 11:24There's best mindset.
- 11:25That's right.
- 11:26I think it's a whole investing trend, though, is this whole cadolting is what they call
- 11:29it.
- 11:30It's like adults wanting to like still be kids and giving like on these trends with, with
- 11:35all these, with all these toys and any, it's up, we, we want to do it.
- 11:39If you can invest in it, then I, I just think it's that idea that learning how to
- 11:45invest is actually as much about is educating yourself about the technicalities of investing,
- 11:50but it's also about learning how to put on those glasses where you see the world differently
- 11:55and you're actually looking and saying, what is the investible opportunity?
- 12:00And once you put those glasses on, it's very hard to take them off.
- 12:04Yeah.
- 12:05I, I, I struggle to take them off sometimes.
- 12:07And I go go into, go into stores or even retail stores and I'm like, oh, oh, why, why
- 12:14is this store so packed?
- 12:15Or why is there so many people?
- 12:16Why is that product off the, there's, you know, that's the third time I've come into
- 12:19the supermarket now and that product hasn't been available or like, you know, yeah, and
- 12:23you start seeing, like even the Lula Lemons have really great example and we've spoken
- 12:27about this, you know, so many times, but like I could see that play out right so many people
- 12:32in my Pilates class, you'll get like, everyone wearing Lula Lemons.
- 12:35And now I look around, I honestly struggle to see Lula Lemons, like it's, there's, there's
- 12:40L.O., there's Tala, there's like all these other brands.
- 12:42Yeah, Tala huge.
- 12:43Yeah.
- 12:44Because of what Grace is doing.
- 12:45Yeah.
- 12:46And so I'm just like, that in itself is such a good, such a good story and such a good,
- 12:50like analogy of, yeah, just put your glasses on.
- 12:53Mm hmm.
- 12:54Put your investing glasses on and it'll change everything.
- 12:57Yeah.
- 12:58You've got to learn how to do it.
- 12:59Yeah.
- 13:00What is your, like, so you've been investing for a very long time.
- 13:04What would be your, I guess, biggest lesson that you've learned around money so far?
- 13:08Yeah.
- 13:09The biggest money lesson or investing lesson.
- 13:11Let's do investing.
- 13:12Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
- 13:13I would say that I've spent most of my career building Google technology that is kind
- 13:21of on the bleeding edge of what is possible.
- 13:24Mm hmm.
- 13:25So, and then I also help businesses grow their businesses with bleeding edge technology.
- 13:30And there's a couple of things that you learn in that space and that is you learn to
- 13:37build this muscle where you make decisions without knowing all the answers.
- 13:42Gosh, that sounds scary.
- 13:43It sounds scary, but the reality of that muscle is that the same way it is for investing,
- 13:50you kind of have to make the leap and you have to make the jump without knowing 100% of
- 13:57the information.
- 13:58Well, it's like anything in my life, right?
- 14:00Like you kind of don't know, you don't know if you start a new business, get into a relationship,
- 14:05move countries.
- 14:06That's right.
- 14:07If you ever have all the information and like, I think I really love that, that it's
- 14:11like, you've learned how to, I guess, lean into the uncertainty a little bit.
- 14:17That's exactly right.
- 14:18So you have to learn to lean into uncertainty, lean to act without necessarily having all
- 14:23the information at hand.
- 14:25And that is essentially, it's a muscle, you'll never be ready.
- 14:29So that's what you learn, building a technology in, building a career on the bleeding edge
- 14:34of technology around investing is that people that are making big moves, and I've, I work
- 14:39with a lot of founders, people that are building billion dollar companies, they really act
- 14:44without having all the answers.
- 14:46Yeah.
- 14:47Do you think men are either doing that the moment because I'm 100% because we, I get really
- 14:53frustrated when it's, I hear people being like, oh, woman are risk averse and I'm like,
- 14:57no, no, no, I think we're just risk a where.
- 14:59And I think we, we like to have, you know, go into things, whether it's an investment
- 15:04or a business or anything, any opportunity, we like to go in knowing, you know, having
- 15:10dotted eyes and crossed our t's a bit more than, than men and I'm making a huge generalisation
- 15:14here.
- 15:15But I do, I do see it a lot and I think it does hold us back a lot.
- 15:20Yeah.
- 15:21I think you're right.
- 15:22I think if there was any advice that I would give to women or anyone thinking about investing,
- 15:29is that confidence comes with action, yeah, not before action.
- 15:37So I think we can convince ourselves whether it's, yeah, taking a new job, investing in
- 15:44a company, moving over the other side of the world, that you'll be able to make that
- 15:48decision with having 100% of the answers.
- 15:51And I think what's tricked us right now, I work in AI and data, is that we think we can
- 15:56find the answers to everything.
- 15:58Yeah.
- 15:59And sometimes you just can't and sometimes you actually have to act, your action comes
- 16:04through doing not before.
- 16:06So I would say the number one lesson is that being ready is a decision, not a feeling.
- 16:16Okay.
- 16:17Yeah.
- 16:18So being ready to invest, being ready to start a business, being ready to change careers,
- 16:23being ready to move across the world, it's a decision.
- 16:26I think we all sit here and wait and we'll be like, oh, when I feel ready to do it,
- 16:31I'll do it.
- 16:32It's an illusion.
- 16:34It's a choice.
- 16:35Yeah.
- 16:36Oh my God, you're so right.
- 16:37And I'm just like thinking of a million things where I've waited till I feel ready.
- 16:42You'll never feel ready.
- 16:43Even starting a family, right?
- 16:45100%.
- 16:46I never felt I'm waiting to wake up and just like feel ready.
- 16:50You'll never feel ready.
- 16:51I've just had a little boy and highly ambitious at the top of my career.
- 16:56At a time where AI is at the bleeding edge and I decided to take time off a year to
- 17:02have a baby.
- 17:04And some people thought that was nuts, but for me, it was exactly the right thing to do.
- 17:10And again, being ready to start a family or whatever it is, it's a choice generally.
- 17:15And I think that's really good for like, I mean, we always say anyone who's starting out
- 17:20investing is, you know, just start with, start with a pound, start with 10 pounds, just
- 17:26just start.
- 17:27You might lose it.
- 17:28You might lose it all.
- 17:29You know, like it's, but if you start with a small amount, you've, you've crossed that
- 17:32threefold from learning to doing.
- 17:35And I think it comes back to saying, yeah, you, you have made that decision of like, I
- 17:39am ready.
- 17:40I'm doing it now.
- 17:41And even though you might not.
- 17:42Well, I'm not ready, but I'll do it anyway.
- 17:44Yes.
- 17:45Yeah, you might not feel ready, but you've, you, you have made that decision, which makes
- 17:48you really.
- 17:49Yes.
- 17:50Exactly.
- 17:51You realise, oh, crossing that threshold actually wasn't that scary.
- 17:54And now I've just boosted my confidence that I'm going to be more and I'm going to
- 17:57find more of a set.
- 17:58Yeah.
- 17:59And I'm being ready is not a feeling it's a decision.
- 18:01Exactly.
- 18:02And I, you know, I set with founders all over the world that are building AI startups.
- 18:07And, you know, they're never fully ready.
- 18:10Yeah.
- 18:11No one is ready.
- 18:12Everyone's just doing it.
- 18:13What would be one of the, like, the biggest money lessons that you've learned in
- 18:16your, in your career so far?
- 18:18What I've learned is that good things take time.
- 18:20So there's this quote from Warren Buffett and he says, if you aren't willing to own a
- 18:24stock for 10 years, don't even think about owning it for 10 minutes.
- 18:28I'd love that.
- 18:29God, I quote so many Warren Buffett quotes, but that is a good, isn't it a good, it's so
- 18:34true because so many people want a quick win when it comes to investing and I keep saying
- 18:39no.
- 18:40Especially if they are.
- 18:41They want to know the thing right now.
- 18:43And so I've held Google stock for 10 years without selling any, and I remember sitting
- 18:49in front of, invest in front of financial advisors and them saying to me, you've got to diversify
- 18:55your portfolio, you know, you're too concentrated in this particular stock.
- 19:00And I remember sitting in front of them and being like, absolutely not, absolutely not.
- 19:07You don't know anything, Adrian.
- 19:09And if I had done that eight years ago, 10 years ago, my life would look completely different.
- 19:18So I think what's really important is you should only invest in a company if you have
- 19:22deep conviction in the fundamental business model and its abilities to kind of succeed
- 19:28over a decade.
- 19:29It's so true.
- 19:30We have this, we've spoken about this in the care before, it's like if you were to go
- 19:33to a desert island for five years, even 10 years and come back with this company that
- 19:38you've invested in, be bigger and better and would you still be able to do that?
- 19:41Well, that's a good way of thinking about it.
- 19:42Yeah, it's like that.
- 19:43But it's so hard right when you've got information overload, you've got, you know, the ability
- 19:47to log in and look at your portfolio, you know, every minute every day to kind of, to
- 19:52remove that.
- 19:53But it's so true.
- 19:54It's like, what, what companies in 10 years time would you still be happy to own?
- 19:59Yeah, absolutely.
- 20:00And I, you know, people keep telling me to sell and I'm not.
- 20:04Yeah.
- 20:05You're with the one laughing, yeah, yeah.
- 20:08What would you say though to people who are new to investing and feel so far away from
- 20:14being ready?
- 20:15Yeah, I guess, how do you get that level of confidence to make that decision to be ready?
- 20:21This is the fact.
- 20:22I sit with a lot of successful leaders and people that are building billion dollar start-ups
- 20:27and businesses.
- 20:28And the one thing I know for certain is that nobody has it all figured out.
- 20:32Yeah.
- 20:33Nobody, not me, not you, not anyone on your vision board, everybody is making it up as they
- 20:40go.
- 20:41Yeah.
- 20:42And like the difference between people that invest or, you know, make some kind of big move
- 20:48is that they do the thing.
- 20:52They decide to do the thing.
- 20:54And I know that sounds like it's simplifying the sometimes big decisions, but that's honestly
- 21:03what I've seen the difference is people that make the choice to do the thing.
- 21:06That is it.
- 21:07Yeah.
- 21:08Because I remember when I was younger and I had this, this thing that I would tell myself
- 21:13and it was like just say yes to any opportunity, figure out how to do it later.
- 21:17And honestly, like, changed the game, like my boss or like someone would throw me into
- 21:22a project or ask me to do something that I had no idea how to do and I'd be like, yep.
- 21:27And then I'd go away and figure it out.
- 21:28Exactly.
- 21:29And that's how you grow as well, right?
- 21:31Because if you just consider, oh no, I don't know how to do that or no, no, no, I don't
- 21:34have the skills yet or I don't have the confidence to think, well, of course you're going to stay
- 21:38in this kind of flywheel and it's like the way that you grow in confidence and experience
- 21:45and knowledge is, yeah, we're saying yes to things that probably scare the bejesus out
- 21:50of you.
- 21:51Absolutely.
- 21:52So I think it's a bit of a challenge to be an engineer at Google.
- 21:55I had no engineering background.
- 21:58I came from marketing and I taught myself how to do that.
- 22:01And in hindsight, that looks like absolute craziness.
- 22:04But now if I reflect on it, it was just this constant decision of doing something outside
- 22:12of my comfort zone and acting without being ready.
- 22:15And actually, I think that's probably the number one skill set that I'm seeing in anyone
- 22:20that's doing anything interesting right now in AI.
- 22:23Almost everyone is acting and building without knowing 100% of the answers.
- 22:28And that's the same with investing too.
- 22:30Yeah.
- 22:31At some point, you just have to say, let's do it.
- 22:33Yeah.
- 22:34No.
- 22:35No.
- 22:36You mentioned you've just become a mum.
- 22:39Yes.
- 22:40Very exciting.
- 22:41Little one year old.
- 22:42Yes.
- 22:43Has that changed how you invest, you know, look at money, save anything like that?
- 22:49Have you had this newfound epiphany of the way you think about money or?
- 22:53I was really quiet, I'm quite ambitious and I've spent a lot of my life, you know, focusing
- 23:00on my career before having babies.
- 23:03Yep.
- 23:04And I was genuinely curious around how I would respond to my career and being super ambitious
- 23:14and what would happen once I had a baby.
- 23:16And I would say it's weirdly made me even more ambitious and even more focused on how
- 23:25I make money because once you have a child that depends on you, that depends on you,
- 23:32but also that you're, it's, if you're going to work and you're leaving that baby behind
- 23:38all of a sudden you ask yourself, am I really, you know, where I'm spending my time?
- 23:45Is that the, is that worth it?
- 23:48Is that worth it?
- 23:49Yeah.
- 23:50Is that the best possible place that I could be spending my time?
- 23:54And all of a sudden your focus actually has a cost.
- 23:58Yeah.
- 23:59So, you're not just going to work and just sitting there like, no, tweaking my thumbs and
- 24:03twiddling your thumbs.
- 24:04No, you can't because you don't have time.
- 24:05Yeah, yeah.
- 24:06So I was really nervous that when I was to have a baby and I was super ambitious if kind
- 24:11of choices would be taken away and I was worried about that, but actually what's happened
- 24:16is I have, I don't know if you feel the same way, but when you have so many choices, all
- 24:21of a sudden you get decision paralysis and you're like, I could fly here, I could take that
- 24:24job, I could do this.
- 24:26And all of a sudden once you have a baby, it actually narrows your focus, but in a good
- 24:32way.
- 24:33To, to, to the baby or to the, just like, to, it narrows your focus on what can I act,
- 24:39what am I actually excited about doing, what are the things that are going to light
- 24:43me up the most?
- 24:44And all of a sudden, you know, the choices get smaller, but you become more focused on
- 24:50where you spend your time and also the focus, like I said, on how you're earning money.
- 24:55Yeah.
- 24:56So I think that's definitely a learning.
- 24:58And then I also think having a baby really lights, a shine's a light rather on spending.
- 25:05Yeah.
- 25:06I think there are, yeah, I think there are stuff people.
- 25:10Yes.
- 25:11And then I think there are experienced people.
- 25:13Yeah.
- 25:14Okay.
- 25:15I've always been an experienced person.
- 25:17So I prefer to go and spend two weeks in India and sit in an ashram.
- 25:24Then buy a new dress, which I could have, I look, I definitely do shop, but I'm not the
- 25:30person that has the newest of everything.
- 25:32But when you have a baby, all of a sudden, you end up with all this stuff.
- 25:37And I was like, there has to be another way, like, where is the investing at the kids?
- 25:43And you're like, like, said, we're going, we're going to India, right?
- 25:46I don't want all this stuff.
- 25:48Yeah.
- 25:49I want it, I would much prefer to instead of having all his friends give him, you know,
- 25:55little, little Nike shoes, like, hey, wouldn't it be great if they could invest in Nike
- 26:00or him or instead?
- 26:02So I think I want to invest in experience for him, but I don't want him growing up with
- 26:07this value of, like, stuff equals happiness.
- 26:10Yeah.
- 26:11Gosh, there's so much, like, even just being a parent and, like, feeding, you know, housing
- 26:17and loving them.
- 26:18And then you've got to teach them about, like, money and, like, stuff doesn't actually mean
- 26:22that, you know, it doesn't bring you value or all that, like, there's just so much pressure
- 26:26I guess in terms of every aspect of a child's life.
- 26:30But, like, is there anything that, I guess, has, that you want to pass down to him that,
- 26:36like, maybe you weren't taught, like, apart from the stuff thing, like, like, off
- 26:40from an investing side of things that you want to pass down?
- 26:43Yeah.
- 26:44I think what I learned from my parents, from watching them run a small business in
- 26:48regional New South Wales and Australia, it was just their hard work, the hard work ethic.
- 26:53Yeah.
- 26:54I grew up from, you know, my parents, my family is Italian, they're an immigrant family.
- 26:59So I think anyone knows that if you live in an immigrant family, there is this hard
- 27:04work ethic.
- 27:05Yeah.
- 27:06You just, it's in everything that you do.
- 27:08I saw my parents work really hard and the value of money was really obvious.
- 27:14But I think what maybe we didn't talk about growing up is we didn't actually talk about
- 27:19money.
- 27:20Yeah.
- 27:21It wasn't something that we actually sat down that was kind of around, but we never really
- 27:26sat down and talked about money.
- 27:28And I think I would like to do that probably a little bit more with my son.
- 27:33Yeah.
- 27:34And also too, I think we're at a really interesting time right now with money not being tangible.
- 27:40So I was just, we're so true.
- 27:43Yeah.
- 27:44It's like we used to play shop.
- 27:45That's right.
- 27:46You know, you have coins and notes and now, like, your son will be like, what is this?
- 27:49What is this?
- 27:50I was, um, I was babysitting my nephew the other day and we were at the one of these play
- 27:55centers, um, which is not that fun, but anyway, we go to these places now, um, and he was
- 28:02like, I want an ice cream.
- 28:04I want lollies and I did the thing that all the mums and the aunties do and they'll go,
- 28:07I know, I've got no money.
- 28:08I can't buy.
- 28:09I've got no money.
- 28:10And he's like, yes, you do.
- 28:11He calls me nat nat.
- 28:12He's like, yes, you do nat nat.
- 28:13And he said, it's, it's on your watch.
- 28:16And I was like, you're like, wow, it's like, yeah, you just go up and beep and it's on
- 28:22your watch.
- 28:23Oh, wow.
- 28:24Like, oh, okay, I don't know if I wanted to get into explaining economics to the three
- 28:29year old, four year old right now, but it's almost heart like, okay, well, what's behind
- 28:34the watch?
- 28:35Where does that come from?
- 28:36Yeah.
- 28:37The banking system.
- 28:38That's what I said.
- 28:39I said, but how does the money get in the watch?
- 28:40And he's like, well, you just tap it.
- 28:41It just goes there.
- 28:42And I thought to myself, so much to unpack there and that is what kids now are thinking.
- 28:49When they're thinking about money, they think it's living inside the watch and it's endless
- 28:53probably.
- 28:54Exactly.
- 28:55So I actually think not only do I want to talk more about money, I want to make sure I'm
- 29:00physically kind of showing him money too, because I think there's a real fear for this next
- 29:06generation of kids who actually don't see money that they won't understand that it's just
- 29:11not inside a watch.
- 29:12And they won't just understand that it's, that it's scarce and finite, right?
- 29:16Yes.
- 29:17Like, if you spend $10, you're spending $10 or you spend 10 pounds or what, you know,
- 29:20like, they'll just be like, well, no, you just keep tapping until it runs out or
- 29:23not.
- 29:24That's right.
- 29:25So I think it's like, if you're a parent right now, and I haven't got there yet, because
- 29:28he's quite young, but I think it's like going to the shops and, you know, if you are tapping,
- 29:33you open up the app and you say, look, the money just went down.
- 29:37Did you see that?
- 29:38The money went down.
- 29:39Because I must have met when I was learning, like you, you, your parents would be like,
- 29:42okay, well, here's, you go get the change and make sure we've got the right amount
- 29:45of change.
- 29:46And you count the change together.
- 29:47That's right.
- 29:48I think all of that, yeah, it's completely gone.
- 29:51The idea of, here's $5 to go the shop, which you couldn't buy anything from the shop
- 29:55down for $5.
- 29:56But if you, $5 for your sour worms to go to the shop and give me back the change, like
- 30:02that whole sentence, give me back the change, that is probably gone from the vocabulary
- 30:08for kids.
- 30:09And then for the maths of, of, of learning that, right?
- 30:11Of like, okay, five minus, I don't know, $3.20, what does that mean?
- 30:15What does that mean?
- 30:16Of those little mechs, you know, equations that are integral in your life, are gone.
- 30:22Oh, I don't know, I don't know, think of that.
- 30:24Yeah.
- 30:25So I think it's right now and money is very experimental and I think we're kind of going
- 30:29through this.
- 30:30It'll be interesting to see in the next kind of five to ten years that what that money
- 30:34mindset looks like.
- 30:35Yeah.
- 30:36But I think if you are a parent right now, it's probably really leaning into the fact
- 30:40that it's money is not finite and it's not infinite and actually, physically,
- 30:46showing them what money looks like.
- 30:48Yeah.
- 30:49I'm trying to do that more.
- 30:50Yeah.
- 30:51Now, I really want to get into AI.
- 30:54It has been a maths of topic for our community, for the world, for like, the investing
- 31:02work.
- 31:03I'd love to know with your expertise and knowledge and, you know, being at the forefront
- 31:07of technology and Google, like, what do you think people get most wrong when it comes
- 31:13to AI?
- 31:14I work with a lot of businesses, so I get to sit with a lot of leaders who are thinking
- 31:19about using AI and I think the biggest misconception that I see is that everyone kind of thinks
- 31:25that AI is a chatbot.
- 31:27Yeah.
- 31:28It's that little thing that pops up on the side of your screen when you're trying to buy
- 31:32something.
- 31:33It's just so annoying.
- 31:34It's just so annoying.
- 31:35Yeah.
- 31:36Minimize.
- 31:37Minimize.
- 31:38I think people have this feeling idea that that's all it is when actually it is so
- 31:43much more than that.
- 31:44Yeah.
- 31:45It's like, it is, AI is disrupting every single business, like every single part of how
- 31:52you build a business, sell a product, provide customer service.
- 31:57It is, AI is completely changing every part of that.
- 32:01I think also a big misconception is that AI is only for your techie friend and at least
- 32:07what I was seeing.
- 32:08I've been teaching businesses about AI and building AI products since 2018, way before
- 32:15it was cool.
- 32:16It's only just now that my family and my friends are like, oh, you've been doing this for
- 32:21so long.
- 32:22You've been doing this for so long.
- 32:23Not.
- 32:24We finally get it.
- 32:25Thanks.
- 32:26You guys are fine.
- 32:27I'm not just fixing your Gmail.
- 32:32My parents think I'm the person that pulls up the results behind Google.com, like I'm
- 32:37not that person.
- 32:38No, no, no.
- 32:39I'm allowed to go on holidays.
- 32:40Yeah.
- 32:41So, I think it's this idea that AI is not just for your techie friends and I think actually
- 32:46it is the most exciting time to be building your career, to be potentially building a business,
- 32:53to be potentially investing in technology because the access to these tools are just
- 32:58like so democratized, they've never been easier to use.
- 33:03So even just tools like accessing basic things like chat GBT or if you want to build a quick
- 33:11prototype of a business idea that you have, being able to go to a replet or lovable and
- 33:16actually just talk and app into existence like that never existed before.
- 33:22I totally get that, but then I thank for a lot of people.
- 33:25The fast paceness, it's changing honestly every day.
- 33:31It is.
- 33:32It's hard for even me.
- 33:33Yeah.
- 33:34You just get used to using something like chat GBT and then something else pops up and
- 33:38it's like, oh, you should be using, I don't know, Claude or Gemini or something.
- 33:41It's like all these, there's also when there's opportunity and such high growth in any industry
- 33:48or with anything, it leads to new businesses, new competitors.
- 33:53It's just, I don't know, I personally find it very overwhelming to keep up with.
- 33:59And like how do you, like obviously you live and breathe it every day, but like for the
- 34:03average person, yeah, how do you, how do you not get overwhelmed or intimidated by it,
- 34:08I guess?
- 34:09It's again, it comes back to a choice which we talked about before, like the choice on
- 34:14the mindset to investing, you have to make a choice to actually use the technology.
- 34:19Yeah.
- 34:20So that is actually what might be surprising is that you're probably already using it already.
- 34:25So if you use Google Maps to get somewhere, that recommendation engine, you're already
- 34:30using that or even Netflix, Netflix, yeah, yeah, you're choosing what to watch.
- 34:34That's another recommendation engine.
- 34:36So let me say that if you're overwhelmed, you're actually probably already using it.
- 34:42So relax.
- 34:43Calm down.
- 34:44Calm down.
- 34:45Calm down.
- 34:46But then secondly, let's just say you're running a business, then open up chat GPT and
- 34:53start asking questions or start opening Gemini and start asking it questions or if you're
- 34:59making content, you know, train it on your voice and get it to say, Hey, how would
- 35:04Natalie write this or, you know, I think it's, it's scary until you actually put it
- 35:09in the context of your own world.
- 35:11And I think that's what you need to do.
- 35:14And I think coming back to what you said before about feeling ready and making the decision
- 35:19to be ready, it's, I feel like it's the same with new technology, right?
- 35:23Like 100%.
- 35:24Like even such a bad analogy, but like even tech talk, I'm like, ugh, don't know all these
- 35:28features or how to use it.
- 35:29And I feel like such a boomer sometimes.
- 35:31But then I'm like, okay, we'll back the only way to actually learn is to use it.
- 35:35That's right.
- 35:36I've learned like probably one percent of the features on there, but I've, but I've learned
- 35:41and I've taken the leap and I might actually learning.
- 35:43That's right.
- 35:44And it's the same with this.
- 35:45I remember being like, oh gosh, chat to PT, scary.
- 35:47And then once you start using it and you're like, oh, and now, now when I go on holiday,
- 35:50I'm like, tell me, tell me some great restaurants.
- 35:53And it's, it's makes my life so much easier, like, but if you have this aversion, aversion
- 35:59to it or you don't want to embrace it, I think that's a bigger threat and I think so too.
- 36:05I think you probably realistically have probably the next one to two years to stay in this
- 36:15mindset of all like this AI stuff is all too overwhelming and it's sort of just all too
- 36:20much to keep up with until, so in that one to two years, if you don't decide to be a part
- 36:28of the change, it will get so far ahead of you that you will be left behind.
- 36:34That is the reality.
- 36:35Season seven of Game of Thrones.
- 36:36It's like, you want to be, you want to be on season one.
- 36:38You want to be on season one.
- 36:39You want to be on season one.
- 36:40You don't want to be.
- 36:41Yeah.
- 36:42Okay.
- 36:43So if that's the case, where do you see AI having the biggest impact then in the next
- 36:49kind of five or 10 years?
- 36:50The biggest thing that's being talked about in the AI world right now is this idea of
- 36:56AGI, artificial general intelligence.
- 37:01Artificial general intelligence.
- 37:02Yeah.
- 37:03AGI.
- 37:04No, different.
- 37:05It's it's it's part of it's part of.
- 37:09So I remember we had a conversation like a few months ago and you were like, yeah,
- 37:13you were like, oh, Gina K.
- 37:14I was like, what's the heck?
- 37:16You were like, oh, I was like, and now you're talking about something else.
- 37:18I'm like, oh, gosh, so it's the idea that in the next couple of years, yeah, everyone
- 37:25will have this assistant or knowing assistant that sits inside their pockets in their phone.
- 37:34That will just know everything about your life.
- 37:37Yes.
- 37:38It will be I mean, but in a good way, it'll be like, hey, you've got a meeting and you've
- 37:48got to meet this founder and there is traffic.
- 37:53So you quickly, you know, you better get in the car, go ahead and buy the way.
- 37:56We also know that, you know, you've got no food in the fridge.
- 38:00Yes.
- 38:01Yeah.
- 38:02So maybe we'll send off a a shopping list to woolly's or saints breeze or waitroads or whatever
- 38:08it might be.
- 38:09Oh, and by the way, you also need to pay your phone bill.
- 38:14So we'll just quickly go and pay that for you.
- 38:16Sounds like a dream.
- 38:17Right.
- 38:18We're sitting there being like, thank you.
- 38:19Thank you.
- 38:20That's right.
- 38:21And now you're kind of, if you think about what your day looks like, it's opening up
- 38:24all these different apps to do these different things.
- 38:27I mean, there's so many, even just tabs on my computer.
- 38:30Right.
- 38:31So eventually, there will be this assistant that will be able to help you through your
- 38:35everyday life.
- 38:36And it'll know all things about what it takes to run your life.
- 38:41So that's what's going to be in the pocket of us in the next kind of probably between
- 38:46by five to 10 years.
- 38:47I already feel like that's happening, even like ChatGPT, right?
- 38:50And I was like, my partner, Loll, we were on holiday and he like, he got his, and what
- 38:55he called it, the agent on ChatGPT, like the voice, the voice command, and he named it
- 38:59Chaturika.
- 39:00And he's like, now, honestly, I'm like, he's like, hey, Chaturika, can you tell me when
- 39:05Delay saving is, remember, like, honestly, and they just sit there and have these conversations
- 39:08and I'm kind of getting a bit jealous.
- 39:09I'm like, excuse me, but it's kind of, it's kind of the same, right?
- 39:14But having this, yeah, this agent that knows everything about you.
- 39:18Yeah.
- 39:19In terms of investing in AI, because there's been a lot of, I guess, conversations recently
- 39:26about how this is an AI bubble that we're in.
- 39:30And there's a lot of headlines and people are a bit scared in terms of, you know, a lot
- 39:35of share prices for a lot of companies exposed to AI, you know, you can't even, there's
- 39:40not even a financial update now with a public company that doesn't mention AI.
- 39:44You know, like, it's everywhere and it feels very bubbly.
- 39:49And by bubble, I mean, you know, bubbles burst and then, yeah, share prices fall.
- 39:54What would you say to this AI kind of boom and acceleration being called an AI bubble,
- 40:00like the dot com bubble that we had where everything, every company had dot com at the end,
- 40:06every almost thinking the internet is going to be absolute game changing, which it was,
- 40:09but that bubble burst and a lot of people lost money.
- 40:14What would you say?
- 40:16I feel like you're very pro AI.
- 40:19I'm, I am very pro AI, I just, but do you think there is a lot of, oh, the high exuberance
- 40:24here?
- 40:25I mean, you can, there is definitely a lot of hype.
- 40:28There's no doubt.
- 40:30But what I think AI has done is at least what I see, it's like it's given every person,
- 40:39whether it's just like in your personal life or it's, if you run a business, this kind
- 40:43of permission slip to do something different.
- 40:46Yeah.
- 40:47Okay.
- 40:48Yeah.
- 40:49Which is what I really find quite compelling.
- 40:53And so the other part, I think I see is it was our founder, Sergei, I heard him say that
- 41:00this AI boom is fundamentally different to the internet boom, because in the internet
- 41:07boom, we kind of knew the limits of what the internet was.
- 41:12We kind of could see that everyone would end up with a website.
- 41:15Yeah.
- 41:16We roughly could see that.
- 41:18Yeah.
- 41:19But there'd be a bit of search functionality on that.
- 41:20There'd be search.
- 41:21People would be more connected.
- 41:22Yeah.
- 41:23Not everyone's going to have three, three internet so you know, like, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
- 41:27So it would be, it's, but now why a, that this, I think this AI boom is fundamentally
- 41:33different to the internet boom is that we don't know the limits of intelligence.
- 41:39We, we, we actually don't know, you know, can AI be five times smarter than a human?
- 41:45Can it be a hundred times smarter than a human, you know?
- 41:49The limit of just how transformative this technology can be extends so much wider than
- 41:56just everybody having a website.
- 41:58Yeah.
- 41:59Okay.
- 42:00I think this, this technology, it's, it's almost like this layer across everything that
- 42:08we use.
- 42:09It's in everything.
- 42:10And like we said, it's in your Netflix, it's in recommending what you're watching.
- 42:14It's in your Instagram kind of, you know, recommending what you should scroll through
- 42:19or what you should buy.
- 42:20So I almost feel like it's not like a new thing over here.
- 42:22It's, it's across everything, it's across everything.
- 42:25It's even if you're in a business, it's, you know, how do you hire, deciding what
- 42:31you build, how you actually provide customer support?
- 42:35So it's just so ingrained into every single flow of how we live our lives, that I find
- 42:45it, it's, there's no doubt that it's a very bubbly conversation at the moment, but at
- 42:51least I sit on the bleeding edge of seeing businesses actually using this technology.
- 42:55Yeah.
- 42:56And it's been integrated into absolutely everything they do.
- 42:59When we, when we last spoke, you spoke about evolution versus revolutions and, and how
- 43:05AI is, is an evolution.
- 43:08No.
- 43:09It's a revolution.
- 43:10Sorry.
- 43:11I knew.
- 43:12I was like, I've got a 50, 50 starts here.
- 43:13No, it's a revolution.
- 43:14Yeah.
- 43:15Whereas a lot of technologies, evolution is the same things.
- 43:18How you articulated that was for me a bit of a light bulb moment and yeah, if you could
- 43:23just explain that again.
- 43:25There are some technologies that are evolutionary, so that they're just kind of small incremental
- 43:32changes.
- 43:33And then there's technology that is revolutionary, that is completely different to the way we
- 43:40live our lives today.
- 43:42And it's seemingly kind of changes everything overnight.
- 43:45If you think about, I had, I don't know if you did too, I had the knocky, knocky R3315.
- 43:50Yes.
- 43:51Yeah.
- 43:52Thanks.
- 43:53And I was saying, early 30s, but, but it was the 30s still.
- 43:55And then we did the 15.
- 43:56That's right.
- 43:57And you got the highlighter.
- 43:58And you did the, you know, and then you got what I think you're going to say is the
- 44:02iPhone.
- 44:03And the iPhone.
- 44:04Yeah.
- 44:05And why was that?
- 44:06It, everyone all of a sudden was standing outside the Apple Store and they were lining
- 44:09up to get this technology.
- 44:10Why?
- 44:11Because it was 10 times better than what we've had today.
- 44:15Yeah.
- 44:16Same thing is, like you might sit there and think, chat GBT, Gemini has come out of nowhere.
- 44:21It's because it's revolutionary.
- 44:23It's completely different to what we've been used to, how we've been used to working today
- 44:29or searching for information today.
- 44:30So, technologies that tend to stick and that tend to be around for a while that build
- 44:36successful companies, they tend to be technologies that is revolutionary, completely different
- 44:42to how we're living, working today versus evolutionary, which is small incremental changes.
- 44:48So, I guess the investing mindset is there, is like, if I look around me, where are
- 44:54the technologies that are so fundamentally different to what I've seen today that are
- 45:00completely shifting industry, that is something to keep an eye out for.
- 45:05We're a beginner investor that wants to get exposure to this AI boom.
- 45:10What would be your suggestion?
- 45:11Is it an ETF because everyone's going to win and it's going to be years and years and
- 45:15it's going to be game-changing or is it to pick the ones that are already winning, quote
- 45:20unquote, winning in the space or very obviously investing in it, the ones that invest in the
- 45:24most.
- 45:25They're probably companies we haven't even seen yet, like how would be a good starting
- 45:30point?
- 45:31It's a really good starting point.
- 45:32If you're excited about investing in AI is probably not the obvious and that is start
- 45:39using AI.
- 45:40I know it's not the answer that you want me to say, go and invest in this company because
- 45:46they are building this data center and putting billions of dollars into this algorithm.
- 45:51I think it's actually starting at the wrong end.
- 45:54It's really hard to know what to get excited about if you're not actually...
- 45:59If you're not even leaning into it.
- 46:01Yeah, sure.
- 46:02It starts with you being curious about how can I use a technology in my everyday life
- 46:07and then asking the questions.
- 46:08Well, because then you'll be able to see, right, oh, we'll actually demonize way better
- 46:11than this and then demonize on very Google or you'll be able to see, oh, okay, yeah,
- 46:16you'll start all these applications that you're using might be...
- 46:18It'll become more obvious.
- 46:19Yes.
- 46:20So I just think it's really hard if you want to be a part of where the world is going,
- 46:25you need to be leaning into using where the world is going and leaning into the technology.
- 46:31You need to invest in it, not just with your...
- 46:34You need to invest in it with your time.
- 46:36Yes.
- 46:37Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- 46:38That's exactly what I would say.
- 46:39Yeah.
- 46:40Nice.
- 46:41And then the opportunities of where you put your money and obviously that's up to you
- 46:44and I can't tell you what to do with that.
- 46:46But it'll become more obvious once you lean into the change with your own time.
- 46:51And something we spoke about off-mic was the flip side of AI is the kind of in person.
- 46:58And the like what people will crave because there is so much, you know, so much of the
- 47:03world leaning into AI and people will actually start craving, you know, and hear some things
- 47:08and experiences.
- 47:09Yeah.
- 47:10And I think it's probably not good enough just to have a great product anymore.
- 47:14Yeah.
- 47:15I actually think what you need to do and lasting businesses do is they build community
- 47:20around that product.
- 47:22And I think people, just like the dating scene has changed from apps to IRL, like people
- 47:29want to connect offline now.
- 47:31So I actually think if, you know, you're building a business or thinking about building
- 47:35even just a personal brand, you have to be thinking around what does community look
- 47:42like because people, especially now we've not been able to tell is this content real,
- 47:47is that is it actually not the moment they are here?
- 47:50Maybe she sent her a one though, one though we won't be real, but I just think that this
- 47:55idea of in real life and coming back to basics with humanity, that is the feeling of like
- 48:02human connection.
- 48:03Yeah.
- 48:04No, 100%.
- 48:05That doesn't go away.
- 48:06Human connection, those, you know, innate feelings have been with us for thousands and
- 48:10thousands of years.
- 48:11Well, we're already seeing that, right?
- 48:12Like I even remember, like little things like, you know, we had bricks and mortar stores,
- 48:17right?
- 48:18You go, we had bricks and mortar and they went online, you could do online shopping.
- 48:21And then we had online stores, like, you know, even Amazon starting and now it's going
- 48:24back to bricks and mortar and like there's so much cross between, I don't know, it real
- 48:29life and online and even podcasting, like if you take Alex Cooper, for example, starting
- 48:33with the podcast, you know, building an incredible community and now she's doing live shows
- 48:38to harness that, that in person community element, not just online and so I think you're
- 48:42so right.
- 48:43I think the more that we lean into relying on technology and AI, there's also this, this,
- 48:50we're going to lean more into, you know, community and having real connections with people
- 48:55because I think so too.
- 48:56You get to the point where you're like, is this real?
- 48:59Can we just jump back to before we wrap up, just wanted to touch on your investing journey?
- 49:05What kind of things that you invest in now, because I know that we're talking before
- 49:08and you have a pretty diversified kind of investment portfolio, which I find quite fascinating.
- 49:13So yeah, what kind of things do you invest in?
- 49:16Yeah.
- 49:17So I'm excited to talk about this.
- 49:18I've never actually spoken about this publicly, but that's what I think what these, your
- 49:23podcast and your communities is really exciting about, because I think so many of us women
- 49:27we sit there and we think, oh, they must know something that I don't.
- 49:30Yeah.
- 49:31Or like, what are they actually doing?
- 49:32Yeah.
- 49:33Or they're just all talking.
- 49:34I think.
- 49:35Oh, yeah.
- 49:36And actually investing.
- 49:37Yeah.
- 49:38It's probably just more like helpful.
- 49:39Like, what does it actually look like?
- 49:40So for me, so when you work for a tech company, like Google, you get given shares in the company,
- 49:47not always, but sometimes you do.
- 49:48Yeah.
- 49:49So I invest in Google and have, have for the past 10 years.
- 49:54Yeah.
- 49:55So I guess invest in the US tech market.
- 49:58I also invest in the stock market and more broadly.
- 50:04So I have, I only have kind of three ETFs that I mainly invest in every single month.
- 50:11I started to do lots of different separate companies and then I realized, I mean, I just,
- 50:17I don't have time necessarily to do that.
- 50:19And I think there's a mentality that ETFs is like cheating or lazy or like, no, no, no,
- 50:24I am like all for it.
- 50:25Yes.
- 50:26You're still investing.
- 50:27Absolutely.
- 50:28Make your life simple.
- 50:29Make your life easy.
- 50:30Every month I invest into like an ETF for the top US companies and the top Australian
- 50:37companies and then a global kind of an emerging markets ETF.
- 50:43And then I will invest in kind of specific companies if I have a really strong conviction.
- 50:50Okay.
- 50:51So it, that is more of an outlier.
- 50:54So I do invest in specific technologies, but only when it's something specific, yeah,
- 50:59a unique outlier.
- 51:01And I just find that keeps me more accountable.
- 51:03So every month I invest into those kind of core and then satellite.
- 51:07And then I invest in property.
- 51:11So I, I guess I'm a property developer now, so I've developed a couple of properties.
- 51:17Nice.
- 51:18And Australia.
- 51:19In Australia.
- 51:20Yeah.
- 51:21So a couple of duplexes.
- 51:22Nice.
- 51:23So learn what it takes to actually build investment properties and rent them and I haven't
- 51:27sold any yet, but have done that and also built properties for department of defense.
- 51:33So defense property where the, the defense kind of rents them out and they, they have contracts
- 51:39for the next kind of sick, they lock them in for six years.
- 51:41Yeah.
- 51:42Which is quite interesting.
- 51:43That's quite good.
- 51:44Yes.
- 51:45Consistent income.
- 51:46Consistent income.
- 51:47Yeah.
- 51:48I've invested in commercial property too.
- 51:49Yeah.
- 51:50And so warehouses because it's a lot easier to, I mean, the, there's just less things to
- 51:56go wrong.
- 51:57And I actually think that's probably more interesting now than developing kind of residential
- 52:01property.
- 52:02Yeah.
- 52:03Just because they're like concrete walls and there's not much that can go wrong.
- 52:05And I guess the key thing would be the tenant, right?
- 52:07The tenant.
- 52:08And they usually lock in for kind of five years.
- 52:11Like I have a cleaning company in one of mine at the moment and I know they're going to
- 52:15be there for five years and, you know, a, like a mechanic, for example.
- 52:19Yeah.
- 52:20And I guess people lean into residential because it's what they know, right?
- 52:23Exactly.
- 52:24It's like, yeah, but commercial.
- 52:25Commercial is probably more interesting.
- 52:27Yeah.
- 52:28And then I also invest in, in startups, which is a slightly more high risk category.
- 52:35So that'd be like a smaller portion of people for the other.
- 52:39Yeah.
- 52:40Yeah.
- 52:41That's a much more.
- 52:42So this is like, I put money on startups.
- 52:43I put money where I, you know, I might not ever see it again.
- 52:47Yes.
- 52:48Yeah.
- 52:49But I really.
- 52:50So like, yeah, I'm like, I really believe in what they're doing.
- 52:55And but to do that, it's a much higher risk category.
- 52:58Yeah.
- 52:59And I think, you know, you definitely don't have to do that.
- 53:02But and also, I think, at least in Australia, I think it's similar issue in the UK.
- 53:06You have to go through certain amount of criteria to actually be able to invest in startups.
- 53:10Yeah.
- 53:11And so yeah, I do that as well.
- 53:13Because a lot of the companies that you would probably see in your, in your job would
- 53:17be private companies would like, kind of at the forefront of AI, because I think that's
- 53:21also the issue with a lot of people is like, if they want to invest in things, the companies
- 53:25are private because usually it's only the big, you know, the big, the big companies that
- 53:29have, that are of a certain size and threshold to actually be public, so therefore there's
- 53:35quite a lot of frustration for our community is like, okay, well, they might see some really
- 53:38cool.
- 53:39Yeah.
- 53:40You can't invest in open AI yet.
- 53:41Yes.
- 53:42Yeah.
- 53:43But you might be all like, you can't invest in Canva yet.
- 53:45Yes.
- 53:46But eventually, you will be able to, but I think you're probably only looking at that
- 53:52if you've kind of exhausted all the other options.
- 53:54I think you're much better, kind of just looking at what are the big bets right now?
- 53:58Yeah.
- 53:59Big companies that you know of potentially in leaning into that.
- 54:02But I think, yeah, if you're interested in high risk ways of investing, then I would,
- 54:08yes, do a, do a course on startups.
- 54:10Yeah.
- 54:11And when it comes to women, why do you think it's particularly important that women
- 54:17lean into AI?
- 54:18I think women largely miss the internet boom.
- 54:22And I work with people who did live that internet hype.
- 54:27And I do worry that if women don't lean into this technology, AI technology now will
- 54:34potentially be reliving the past.
- 54:36Yeah.
- 54:37And for someone that's actually living and working and breathing in this space, the
- 54:40opportunities are endlessly, like the opportunity to build your career right now in this AI
- 54:45world is just so exciting.
- 54:49And actually there was this really interesting research.
- 54:52So open AI just launched their first set of research around how people were actually
- 54:57using chat GPT.
- 54:58Oh my God, fascinating.
- 55:00And they just, and so when they first launched in late 2022, the user base was estimated
- 55:06to be about 80% male.
- 55:09Okay.
- 55:10But by July 2025, the study found that users that females now made up 52% of 52% of
- 55:22women are now using chat GPT versus 30% just a couple of years ago.
- 55:29Yeah.
- 55:30So women are now actually using AI more believe it or not.
- 55:34Okay.
- 55:35Nice.
- 55:36So what's this coding tool that I could build or how do I use it as a tool where women
- 55:44are using it?
- 55:45Like how do I be?
- 55:46How do I create this thing?
- 55:47How do I create this communication?
- 55:49How do I optimize and organize my life?
- 55:52So the data is actually showing that we're using technology, AI technology actually even
- 55:57more.
- 55:58But I still think there is this existential risk of if you don't lean into AI, it could
- 56:03be left behind.
- 56:04Yeah.
- 56:05Like the gap, the investing gap, right?
- 56:07There's an investing gap between men and women and there's an AI gap, which is only going
- 56:10to, you know, compound the investing gap if we don't lean in.
- 56:15But I also come back what you said before about, you know, it is, it's democratizing investing,
- 56:21right?
- 56:22Because like, women who may have been a bit scared because this is a whole space where
- 56:26there's lots of jargon, you know, it's overwhelming the whole investing space can now type into
- 56:32AI or chat GBT and be like, hey, what's going to invest in all of it?
- 56:35You know, it's in their tone, it's in their language.
- 56:37That's right.
- 56:38I think it's actually can be quite helpful rather than harmful or not helpful than harmful.
- 56:43And I'm seeing women doing building businesses like they're in tax accounting, which might
- 56:50seem quite boring, but they're saying like this is a repeated decision that everybody
- 56:55has to do.
- 56:56Yeah.
- 56:57So maybe how could AI potentially transform the tax, the way we do taxes?
- 57:02So I've seen another lady building a business and she's in retail and she's looking at
- 57:07the AI kind of try it on technology.
- 57:10Yeah.
- 57:11Whether saying like, wow, could we help retailers by putting, you know, accelerating the way
- 57:18we create marketing, you know, materials, et cetera.
- 57:21So I actually think it doesn't matter what industry you're in, you can potentially see
- 57:26the opportunity for building.
- 57:28Yeah.
- 57:29Yeah.
- 57:30And using.
- 57:31But it's just all about leaning in.
- 57:32Yeah.
- 57:33Yeah.
- 57:34And what would be, just to finish, what would be kind of one, one practical, no fluff piece
- 57:39of advice that you'd give to women in particular who are just starting investing?
- 57:45Confidence.
- 57:46Yep.
- 57:47To invest comes with action, not before action.
- 57:52So you don't wait to feel ready to do the thing to, to invest, invest, it's a feel
- 58:01that being ready is a decision, not a feeling.
- 58:06So open up the app.
- 58:08Yes, darling.
- 58:09You know, put 10 pound in every 10 dollar in it.
- 58:13You're making a decision for you right now.
- 58:15You're ready.
- 58:16So don't over complicating your mind.
- 58:17Don't think you, because what we do is women, we sit there and we go, right, this is my
- 58:21monthly paper, monthly if I divide that by two and you go, maths it, don't stop, stop
- 58:28doing that.
- 58:29Yeah.
- 58:30Just chuck that 10 pound.
- 58:31Just do it.
- 58:32Just put $10 in and see how you go.
- 58:34Yeah.
- 58:35And just don't stop.
- 58:36We don't need to over complicate it.
- 58:37Yes.
- 58:38Because I can tell you right now, all the men are out there.
- 58:40They're not doing that.
- 58:41They're just doing the thing.
- 58:42Yeah.
- 58:43So we should too.
- 58:44No, I love that.
- 58:45And I think that's a great end to this conversation.
- 58:47It's like, honestly, I want to go put that on a poster note.
- 58:50Decision.
- 58:51But what is it?
- 58:52Being ready is a decision, not a feeling.
- 58:55Yes.
- 58:56Yeah.
- 58:57Love that.
- 58:58Mike Drop.
- 58:59Thank you so much, Nat, for coming in.
- 59:00Such an incredible conversation.
- 59:01And God, every time I talk to you, I just, like, such profound wisdom.
- 59:02Oh, love it.
- 59:03I love it.
- 59:04I love it.
- 59:05Thanks for having me.
- 59:06Thank you so much.
- 59:07Thank you so much for listening to Raising the Curve.
- 59:08These conversations are designed to teach you everything you need to know to be better
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