Shows / The Founders Fire
The Founders Fire
Every founder has two stories, the one on the stage and the one over a whiskey. The Founder's Fire are the second ones. I sit down with founders to talk about the things we all go through, but no one talks about. The pressure, the doubt, the times they nearly gave up and how they turned it all around. If you're building something and want to hear what it actually takes, this is for you. Make sure you hit follow because I can guarantee you've never heard these stories before.
Episodes
- The Founders Fire
Andrew Banks: Why Great Founders Study Their Wins
Andrew Banks sold Morgan & Banks, bought it back when the buyer ran into trouble, and went on to build again. His story has plenty of big moments. But the…
- The Founders Fire
Homeless at 12, Successful Founder Today but A Father Above Everything - With Tim Dive
At 12, Tim Dive left a broken home without packing a bag. He just started walking. He describes escaping a violent childhood, sleeping on a pile of dirty…
- The Founders Fire
He Signed the Starlink Deal. Then Had to Find $15 Million
Neil Jamieson had signed the Starlink deal. He still didn’t know where the money was coming from. The commitment was roughly $15 million, and he had only weeks…
- The Founders Fire
A World Champion, a $6 Million Dream and the Cyclone Before Opening Day - With Daniel Watkins
Dan Watkins had spent years building his $6 million dream. The council had signed it off. The mayor and media were booked for opening day. Then flooding…
- The Founders Fire
From $900 Websites to Winning Westpac as a Client - Ken Kencevski
Ken Kencevski helped take his family’s car-parts business online and into international markets. Then he left to start again. His family thought he was crazy…
- The Founders Fire
He Was a Health Coach. He Was Burning Himself Out - With James Matolich
James Matolich was helping other people get healthier while running himself into the ground. Personal training in the morning. Working in his café all day…
- The Founders Fire
He Built It By Going All In. Then He Had to Let Go - With Ceri Cummings
Ceri Cummings was answering messages at three in the morning, coaching in the gym and working 16–17-hour days across multiple businesses. Then severe nerve…
- The Founders Fire
He Lost $1 Million at 36. It Changed How He Built Everything After - With Dan Copsey
He lost more than $1 million at 36, walked away from the business, and later realised he hadn't properly dealt with any of it. Dan Copsey has built businesses…
- The Founders Fire
He Lost His Company, His Health and Almost His Life - With Declan Kluver
Success looked incredible from the outside. Declan Kluver was building one of Australia's fastest-growing recruitment businesses. His company was growing…
- The Founders Fire
He Built the Perfect Exit. It Nearly Broke Him - With Ian Goodwin
Every founder dreams of building a successful business and one day selling it. Ian Goodwin did exactly that. After founding Cludo, scaling it rapidly and…
- The Founders Fire
He Went Bankrupt at 21. Then Built One of Australia's Most Respected Coffee Brands. With Peter Wolff
At 21, Peter Wolff was declared bankrupt after unknowingly signing a personal guarantee for his family's business. Years later, he walked away from Veneziano…
- The Founders Fire
We Grew 170% a Year… Then It Nearly Broke the Business with Jordan Gauder
From the outside the business looked like it was booming ... but really he was $620,000 in debt and no one knew. Jordan Gauder built Gen Physio from a one-man…
- The Founders Fire
His first ever client called to threaten a lawsuit. It made his whole business with David Aherne
Every founder gets tested. Most don't get tested by the first client they ever land. David Ahearne runs Across the Ocean, a freight forwarding and customs…
- The Founders Fire
70% of his revenue vanished overnight. He rebuilt it from a locked-down apartment with Don Hett
Don landed in Australia with $1,500 ... cleaning public toilets at 3:30am before uni and stacking shelves at night, sending money home for his brother's…
- The Founders Fire
He tripled the family business in a year, and then the unthinkable happened with Julian Grasso
His dad told him to make his own brother redundant. He did it. They didn't speak for 18 months. Julian Grasso didn't inherit a business or get handed a stake…
- The Founders Fire
Two school mates raised £100 million and built the World's Best Surf Park
Andy Hadden built Lost Shore, Europe's largest inland surf resort, on a disused quarry outside Edinburgh. It was voted the world's best surf park. What almost…
- The Founders Fire
His account was drained to $0. Now he's building to $100 Mil
They woke up one morning to a bank balance of zero and a transaction they didn't understand. The tax man had emptied the account.They still had to make payroll…
- The Founders Fire
The story behind the Ferraris Emil Juresic has never told until now
You've seen the cars. The offices. The 500 staff. The half a million people watching him online. You haven't seen the four years that made all of it possible…
- The Founders Fire
He could have declared bankruptcy, He paid back every dollar instead - Tim Duggal
He owed more than a million dollars and was too ashamed to tell almost anyone. Today he runs a multi-million-dollar business.Tim Duggal built OzMobiles from a…
- The Founders Fire
Nightclubs to a $30 million business. None of it was the plan - Sacha Cornford
She left school three months early, worked nightclubs, trained as an electrician, and once went two years without an oven. Now she co-runs a traffic control…
- The Founders Fire
Cancer at 29 gave him the one question that gets him through anything with Scott Horton
He survived cancer in his twenties. Years later he lost his marriage and his business in the same stretch, and it nearly cost him his life. NOTE:This episode…
- The Founders Fire
He sold his coffee company for $47 million. It nearly killed him - Phil Di Bella
He started Di Bella Coffee with $5,000. He sold it for $47 million. This is what that actually cost him. Phil Di Bella built one of Australia's biggest coffee…
- The Founders Fire
Never tell your partner everything. The advice this founder gives every other founder - Rudy Crous
He signed the deal every startup dreams of: 5,000 jobs a week. Then COVID wiped it out overnight. Rudy Crous arrived in Australia as a teenager with a backpack…
- The Founders Fire
The fire that built her business is the same one that nearly burned it down with Niamh Whiley
Niamh Whiley quit her job with $2,000 in the bank, a brand new mortgage and no clients. Under two years later she runs Aligned Allied Health with a team of 12…
- The Founders Fire
Welcome to The Founders Fire
Every founder has two stories, the one on the stage and the one over a whiskey. The Founder's Fire is the second one. We sit down with founders to talk about…