In this episode of Fintech Chatter Dexter Cousins chats to Nathan Walsh and Michael Starkey, Co-Founders of Athena Home Loans.
Making their long awaited return to the show, Nathan and Michael discuss their journey over the past four years,and the insane challenges they’ve had to navigate as interest rates rose rapidly and funding markets dried up.
According to Wikipedia Athena was the patron goddess of heroic endeavor; she was believed to have aided the heroes Perseus, Heracles, Bellerophon, and Jason. She may have also aided Michael and Nathan over this last few years!
We ask Nathan and Michael the tough questions like how do you compete with banks, balancing technology with regulatory requirements, navigating the rapid interest rate rises since 2022, and the importance of partnerships.
Nathan and Michael also share their secrets to building a resilient team and maintaining a strong company culture as they aim for the next stage of growth and innovation in the home loan sector.
"This is now an execution story."
Nathan Walsh - CEO, Athena Home Loans
00:00 Introduction to Athena Home Loans
03:38 Founding Story and Vision
05:48 Tech Fin vs Fin Tech: Athena's Position
07:32 Navigating Regulation and Compliance
11:48 Challenges of Distribution in a Fragmented Market
13:34 Impact of Interest Rate Rises
19:45 Lessons from Big Banks
23:23 Partnerships and Growth Opportunities
29:29 Cultural Alignment in Partnerships
31:41 Frameworks for Evaluating Partnerships
33:47 The Journey of Co-Founders
37:59 Attracting and Retaining Talent
40:51 Navigating Growth and Change
45:09 Reflections on Past Experiences
48:40 Future Aspirations and Growth
Peter Jones used to be the CEO he now sells to. It's helped him bootstrap a core banking platform that now holds 20% market share in Australia's mutual banking sector, without a dollar of outside capital. We are celebrating the World Credit Union Conference coming to Sydney. Dexter Cousins will be bringing you interviews from […]
Andy Taylor is Co-Founder of Stakk an embedded finance infrastructure solution. On 6 July 2026, ASX-listed Stakk Limited signed a definitive agreement to acquire US document intelligence firm ParaScript for US$63 million. I've interviewed Andy more than once over the past decade, way back when he was just starting to build Douugh out of Tank […]
When QED Investors, Blackbird, Square Peg and Airtree all back the same early-stage Australian AI startup, the funding round is news. What matters more for anyone hiring or being hired in fintech right now is why they all said yes, and what the founder behind it says about building and hiring in an AI native […]
Looking to scale your fintech leadership team? Start at tieronepeople.com Clayton Howes is the co-founder and CEO of MONEYME (ASX: MME), a Sydney-based non-bank lender that has originated over $5 billion in consumer credit since 2013 and manages a $1.9 billion loan book today. In this conversation, Clayton covers the full arc: bootstrapping without external […]
