Australian Business Podcast

What breaks first when a service business grows: pricing, people or process? In this Australian Business Podcast Operator Series episode, Owen Rask goes behind the scenes with Danil Goloubev, co-founder of Grey Space Advisory, to unpack how an accounting practice moves beyond compliance and builds a business that can keep serving clients as it scales.

Danil explains how a shared ambition with co-founder Jordan Kidis became a firm designed to be bigger than either founder. They began with referrals, learned from a shared workspace and gradually added content and other lead sources. But bringing in more clients was not the whole story. The team had to think hard about capacity, pricing and what owners actually value from an accountant who can help them look forward, not just lodge last year’s paperwork.

Owen presses Danil on fixed recurring fees, tailored advisory work and the metrics he watches inside the business. They also get candid about buying other accounting practices: what went wrong in the first acquisition, why client fit and staff due diligence matter, and how better service and pricing changed the economics of the clients they kept.

As the team grew, so did the need for clearer handovers, training and leadership. Danil describes where an old process stops working at higher volume, why collaboration in the office matters to him, and how a wider leadership group helps people own the next stage. For founders and operators, this is a practical conversation about building systems without losing the people behind the business.

Episode resources

– Speak with the Rask Advice team

– Ask a question (select the Business podcast)

Show partner resources

– Join Pearler using the code "RASKSWITCH" and get $32 of Pearler Credit

– Whatever comes next for your business, power it with Stripe

Rask resources

– Inflection community

– All services

– Financial Planning

– Invest with us

– Access Show Notes

– Ask a question

– We love feedback!

Follow us on social media

– Instagram: @rask.invest

– TikTok: @rask.invest

Disclaimer

The information in this episode is provided by The Rask Group Pty Ltd and contains general financial product advice only. It does not take into account your objectives, financial situation or needs.

Before acting, consider whether the information is appropriate for you and consider seeking personal advice from a licensed financial adviser. You can read our Financial Services Guide at www.rask.com.au/fsg. If a financial product is mentioned, consider the relevant PDS and TMD, where applicable, before making any financial decision.

Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future performance. Returns are not guaranteed and capital may be at risk.

The Rask Group Pty Ltd is a Corporate Authorised Representative No. 1280930 of Rask Licensing Pty Ltd, AFSL 563 907.
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Check out the Navexa YouTube channel.

What happens when the cheap option doesn’t sell? In the first Operators episode of the Australian Business Podcast, Owen Rask speaks with Navarre Trousselot, founder of investment software business Navexa, about building a product, finding customers and learning which growth channels actually pay for themselves.

Navarre began building a portfolio analytics tool to answer his own investing questions. A side project became a business after others wanted to use it, but the first paid launch delivered a bruising lesson: people who liked a free product did not necessarily want to pay. Competing on price did not solve the harder problem of showing customers the value of accurate performance tracking and tax reporting.

Owen and Navarre unpack why paid ads that worked for one business made less sense for a subscription product with slower cash payback. They discuss how spreadsheets, accountants and established software compete for customers’ attention, and why educating everyone can be less effective than reaching people who already know they have the problem.

Navarre also shares how a previous podcast appearance helped Navexa find an audience once the product was ready, why YouTube has become a promising customer channel, and how a small team keeps its work focused with one weekly meeting. The conversation closes on AI, product development and the choices behind scaling without losing what makes the business worth building.

If you run a business, this is a practical conversation about pricing for value, watching cash flow and making sure your product can deliver when your marketing finally works.

Episode resources

– Speak with the Rask Advice team

– Ask a question (select the Business podcast)

Show partner resources

– Join Pearler using the code "RASKSWITCH" and get $32 of Pearler Credit

– Whatever comes next for your business, power it with Stripe

Rask resources

– Inflection community

– All services

– Financial Planning

– Invest with us

– Access Show Notes

– Ask a question

– We love feedback!

Follow us on social media

– Instagram: @rask.invest

– TikTok: @rask.invest

Disclaimer

The information in this episode is provided by The Rask Group Pty Ltd and contains general financial product advice only. It does not take into account your objectives, financial situation or needs.

Before acting, consider whether the information is appropriate for you and consider seeking personal advice from a licensed financial adviser. You can read our Financial Services Guide at www.rask.com.au/fsg. If a financial product is mentioned, consider the relevant PDS and TMD, where applicable, before making any financial decision.

Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future performance. Returns are not guaranteed and capital may be at risk.

The Rask Group Pty Ltd is a Corporate Authorised Representative No. 1280930 of Rask Licensing Pty Ltd, AFSL 563 907.
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The E-Myth Revisited, Good Strategy, Bad Strategy and The Goal - three of the best business books get reviewed by Owen Rask.

Get Owen's newsletter & AI guides: https://rask.au/lp/business/

In this episode of The Australian Business Podcast, Owen Rask reviews three of the best business books ever written, and takes 3 lessons from each book.

You’ll learn:

How to remove dependence on yourself

Why heroes don't bet armies

How to identify contraints and bottlenecks

What manufacturing teaches us about scaling

Why slogans are not strategy, and

How actions reinforce strategy

Episode resources

– ⁠Speak with the Rask Advice team⁠

– ⁠Ask a question (select the Business podcast)⁠

Books:

The Goal

Good Strategy Bad Strategy

The E-Myth Revisited

Show partner resources

– ⁠Join Pearler using the code "RASKSWITCH" and get $32 of Pearler Credit⁠

– ⁠Whatever comes next for your business, power it with Stripe⁠

Rask resources

– ⁠Inflection community⁠

– ⁠All services⁠

– ⁠Financial Planning⁠

– ⁠Invest with us⁠

– ⁠Access Show Notes⁠

– ⁠Ask a question⁠

– ⁠We love feedback!⁠

Follow us on social media

– Instagram: ⁠@rask.invest⁠

– TikTok: ⁠@rask.invest⁠

Disclaimer

The information in this episode is provided by The Rask Group Pty Ltd and contains general financial product advice only. It does not take into account your objectives, financial situation or needs.

Before acting, consider whether the information is appropriate for you and consider seeking personal advice from a licensed financial adviser. You can read our Financial Services Guide at ⁠www.rask.com.au/fsg⁠. If a financial product is mentioned, consider the relevant PDS and TMD, where applicable, before making any financial decision.

Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future performance. Returns are not guaranteed and capital may be at risk.

The Rask Group Pty Ltd is a Corporate Authorised Representative No. 1280930 of Rask Licensing Pty Ltd, AFSL 563 907.
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This episode was originally featured on the Australian Investors Podcast.

In this episode of the Australian Business Podcast, Owen Rask speaks with Jon Stahl from Salesforce about how AI agents are moving beyond answering questions and starting to complete real work inside businesses.

Jon explains the difference between a chatbot and an agent, including how agents can reason through multistep tasks, call tools and APIs, update business systems and retain useful context. He shares where the technology is already creating value across customer service, software development, research, order management and commerce.

The conversation also tackles the controls businesses need before giving an AI agent meaningful autonomy. Jon compares an agent to the “world’s smartest but least experienced intern” and explains why permissions, clear identities, audit logs, hard-coded guardrails and human escalation remain essential.

Owen and Jon then explore what must happen before agents can safely buy products or make payments on our behalf. That includes verified authority, spending limits, tokenised payment credentials, merchant recognition and common standards across the payments ecosystem — challenges that cannot be solved by a smarter language model alone.

Finally, Jon separates the hype from the practical opportunity. Fully autonomous shopping is still largely experimental, while brand, trust and storefronts remain important. He also explains why trusted business data can dramatically improve an agent’s usefulness, and how businesses may soon use agents to resolve delayed orders, enrich product catalogues, support sales teams and help employees build their own tools.

Episode resources

– Speak with the Rask Advice team

– Ask a question (select the Business podcast)

Show partner resources

– Join Pearler using the code "RASKSWITCH" and get $32 of Pearler Credit

– Whatever comes next for your business, power it with Stripe

Rask resources

– Inflection community

– All services

– Financial Planning

– Invest with us

– Access Show Notes

– Ask a question

– We love feedback!

Follow us on social media

– Instagram: @rask.invest

– TikTok: @rask.invest

Disclaimer

This podcast episode was sponsored by Stripe.

The information in this episode is provided by The Rask Group Pty Ltd and contains general financial product advice only. It does not take into account your objectives, financial situation or needs.

Before acting, consider whether the information is appropriate for you and consider seeking personal advice from a licensed financial adviser. You can read our Financial Services Guide at www.rask.com.au/fsg. If a financial product is mentioned, consider the relevant PDS and TMD, where applicable, before making any financial decision.

Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future performance. Returns are not guaranteed and capital may be at risk.

The Rask Group Pty Ltd is a Corporate Authorised Representative No. 1280930 of Rask Licensing Pty Ltd, AFSL 563 907.
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What are the best marketing strategies for Australian businesses in 2026?

Get the full guide & prompts: https://rask.au/lp/business/

In this episode of The Australian Business Podcast, Owen Rask breaks down five practical marketing strategies SMEs can use to generate demand, convert more customers and measure what actually drives profitable growth.

You’ll learn how to build a useful CRM, create expert content for Google and AI search, use short-form video effectively, develop a distinctive business point of view, and connect paid advertising to customer acquisition costs and real business economics.

Owen also explains why TikTok, Google Ads, email, SEO and AI aren’t standalone strategies — and how to connect them into one marketing system that creates demand, captures leads and turns attention into customers.

Episode resources

– Speak with the Rask Advice team

– Ask a question (select the Business podcast)

Show partner resources

– Join Pearler using the code "RASKSWITCH" and get $32 of Pearler Credit

– Whatever comes next for your business, power it with Stripe

Rask resources

– Inflection community

– All services

– Financial Planning

– Invest with us

– Access Show Notes

– Ask a question

– We love feedback!

Follow us on social media

– Instagram: @rask.invest

– TikTok: @rask.invest

Disclaimer

The information in this episode is provided by The Rask Group Pty Ltd and contains general financial product advice only. It does not take into account your objectives, financial situation or needs.

Before acting, consider whether the information is appropriate for you and consider seeking personal advice from a licensed financial adviser. You can read our Financial Services Guide at www.rask.com.au/fsg. If a financial product is mentioned, consider the relevant PDS and TMD, where applicable, before making any financial decision.

Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future performance. Returns are not guaranteed and capital may be at risk.

The Rask Group Pty Ltd is a Corporate Authorised Representative No. 1280930 of Rask Licensing Pty Ltd, AFSL 563 907.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices