Michelle Bagnall is the CEO of Bank First, a mutual bank with 92,000 members and $4.7 billion in assets that exists to serve nurses and teachers in Australia. In this episode she tells Dexter the origin story of a bank that started with $480 in a shoebox, explains why nobody at BankFirst gets paid a […]
Chris Brycki built Stockspot the wrong way, according to most of the advice that was circulating in Australian fintech between 2019 and 2022! While the sector spent those years scaling headcount, chasing VC and pivoting into whatever category was attracting capital, Chris ran a different playbook. He founded Stockspot in 2013, rejected venture capital, built […]
When Brendan Malone brought the Acorns micro-investing concept from the US to Australia in February 2016, the idea was straightforward: break down the barriers to investing so that every Australian could get into the stock market for as little as $5. A decade on, that idea has compounded into $2.1 billion in funds under management, […]
David Hyman's Next Chapter After Building a $107B Platform David Hyman spent 13 years building Lendi Group into Australia's largest non-bank mortgage platform. $107 billion loan book. Five million customers. 220 retail stores. $350 million in annual revenue. He stepped down as CEO in January 2026. Instead of relaxing on a beach he was building […]
In March 2021, I sat on national television and said we were at the precipice of a quantum shift. AI was removing task-based roles. The organisations that would survive were the ones with leaders who had already learned to deliver results in chaos and constraint. Five years later, the numbers arrived. All at once. I […]
Last week, 4,000 people at Block were told they no longer had a job. The stock rose 24%. WiseTech Global cut 2,000 roles - nearly a third of its global workforce - as part of a two-year AI restructuring plan. Commonwealth Bank eliminated 300 technology positions the same day. Three AI restructuring announcements. Five days. […]
How Checkbox AI CEO Evan Wong Built a $100M Legal AI Company in 9 Years Checkbox AI CEO Evan Wong just closed a $23 million Series A at a $100 million valuation. The journey from bootstrapped startup to serving over 100 enterprise organizations—including SAP, PepsiCo, Telstra, and Woolworths—took nine years, three funding rounds, and a […]
Last week, you built your Career Balance Sheet. You listed every problem you've solved. You put real numbers on your impact. Maybe you automated processes and saved $1.5M. Maybe you closed a deal worth $20M in ARR. Maybe you cut sales cycles from 6 months to 8 weeks. But here's the first principles question: What's […]
Revolut Australia CEO Matt Baxby: From 3 Employees to 1 Million Customers and Profitability. Revolut Australia CEO Matt Baxby has done what most Australian neobanks couldn't: reach 1 million customers and profitability. Six years after soft-launching with three employees during a global pandemic, the Revolut Australia CEO sits down with Dexter Cousins on Fintech Chatter […]
Revolut Australia CEO Matt Baxby just crossed a milestone that most Australian neobanks never reached: 1 million customers and profitability. In the latest Fintech Chatter episode, the Revolut Australia CEO breaks down how they went from three employees in February 2020 to 100 employees, $250 million saved for Australians, and $4.4 million in profit while […]
Stop Networking Like Everyone Else (The 95-5 Principle) Most people treat networking like fitness. They lie on the sofa for three years eating chips and drinking beers, watching sport instead of playing it. Then they wake up one day, realize they've gained 20kg professionally, and can't climb the career stairs anymore. Sound familiar? You go […]
Finding Your Next Role in Fintech - Episode 1 If you're struggling to land a job in fintech here in Australia, you're probably approaching it the wrong way. Most people searching for fintech jobs treat the hiring process like they're applying for permission to work. They craft the perfect resume, polish their LinkedIn profile, and […]
