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From zero to US$6.2 Billion: Lucy Liu on the Airwallex strategy that broke global payments
When Lucy Liu co-founded Airwallex in 2015, she was flying around the world opening bank accounts in person and carrying bags of security tokens. Global businesses are digital. But finance was stuck in the past.For three years, Airwallex burned money building invisible infrastructure no one believed in yet. Her co-founder drew a “really ugly unicorn” on a whiteboard predicting ten-times growth when they had zero revenue. Everyone laughed - but beneath the laughter was a serious undertone that they were onto something big. Something that would be game changing. So they kept building.That bet on infrastructure became one of the fastest-growing fintechs in the world, now moving $200 billion annually and adding $100 million in recurring revenue every quarter.In this episode, Lucy shares why building two products simultaneously defied conventional startup wisdom, how hiring for intellectual curiosity beats credentials, and what it means to scale from zero to 1,800 people without losing speed. She also reflects on the power of ambitious predictions, staying simple at massive scale, and why resilience matters more than perfection.
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Brushstrokes, Flow State, and Freedom: The Procreate Story
Procreate co-founder James Cuda has spent more than a decade obsessing over one thing: the brushstroke. From hacking the iPad 1 to run at 60fps, to turning a side project into the world’s leading creative app, James has built Procreate on a radical philosophy: simplicity, permanence, and creative freedom above all else.In this episode of Wild Hearts, James joins Mason to share why the company never took VC money, how “flow state” shapes everything from product design to team culture, and what it really takes to scale without losing soul. They also dive deep into generative AI, ethical data, and why Procreate’s biggest unfair advantage may simply be staying small and Tasmanian.James also reflects on the tension between addition and reduction, the power of jam sessions, and why listening to the “little voice” is the artist’s greatest superpower.Time Stamps00:00 – Intro02:05 – Why brushstrokes were the starting point05:10 – The art of subtraction: keeping flow while adding features07:50 – Permanence as a product philosophy09:36 – From “an amazing piece of shit” to a world-class creative tool12:11 – How Procreate’s archetype grew from amateurs to architects15:01 – Listening to users without losing the soul17:31 – Scaling creativity and protecting flow inside the team19:51 – Jam sessions, “holy shit” moments, and making ideas real23:31 – James’ strong stance on generative AI and ethical data34:51 – Authenticity over slogans: building trust with artists37:21 – Bringing artists together, online and offline39:06 – Staying independent: why Procreate never took VC44:01 – Simplicity vs. optionality in future workflows46:39 – The advice James gives every artist: listen to the little voice48:26 – Outro
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One Impossible Idea: Why Pete Shadbolt left academia to build PsiQuantum
What if you could take the most mysterious force in physics—and make it useful? In our final episode of this season of Wild Hearts, we sit down with Pete Shadbolt, co-founder of PsiQuantum, a company racing to build the world’s first utility-scale quantum computer. But this isn’t a conversation about quantum theory. It’s about execution. Engineering. Scaling. Building something that moves humanity forward - not in decades, but now. Pete shares why 300 or 3,000 qubits won’t cut it, and why a million is the magic number. We explore the technical marvels (and madness) involved in the team’s journey: superconducting detectors millimetres from red-hot heaters, lasers brighter than a trillion photons, and a cryostat that throws out the chandelier model altogether. But most of all, this is a story of ambition. Of leaving behind prestigious academic careers, raising a billion dollars, and assembling a team of physicists, welders, aerospace engineers, and cryo-specialists to take one shot at building something historic. In this conversation, we cover: 🚀 Why PsiQuantum is chasing 1 million qubits—not 300, not 3,000🏗️ What it takes to move quantum computing from theory to hardware—with welders, chip designers, and aerospace engineers 📉 Why academia can be a trap—and how PsiQuantum built an anti-academic company culture 🌐 The real-world applications of quantum computing: from designing drugs to revolutionising materials science 👩‍🔬 How team DNA, not just tech, shapes PsiQuantum’s ability to scale and execute ⚙️ Why quantum computing isn’t a mass adoption tool - and why that’s perfectly okay 🔥 How engineering targets that once caused mutiny are now being hit daily This episode concludes our fifth season of Wild Hearts. Over the past 40 weeks, it’s been our honour to chat to the founders and operators shaping the world we live in. If you’ve enjoyed the conversations, we would be grateful if you could like, subscribe, and share our program with other wild hearts. Wild Hearts will take a short break, and will return to all streaming platforms later this year. From everyone at the Wild Hearts team, thank you!
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How Anna Guerrero is changing the way we cook
What if planning dinner wasn’t a chore—but something you looked forward to? In this episode, Wild Hearts guest host, Silk Kadala - investor at Blackbird - chats with Anna Guerrero, founder of Clove, a beautifully designed cooking app that’s reimagining how we cook at home. You might know Anna from her nine years scaling the creator marketplace at Canva—but it was a stint as a pasta chef in the Dolomites that ultimately set her on the path to launching Clove. Whether you’re interested in the role of AI in reducing decision fatigue, why brands are betting big on recipe creators as the next wave of culinary entrepreneurs or just stood in front of the fridge thinking “what’s for dinner?”—this episode is for you. 🔍 In this conversation, we cover: 🍳 The invisible mental load of everyday cooking—and how Clove is removing it with Smart Planner 📲 Why Clove’s approach to AI is more whisper than shout—and why that matters for creativity 📚 Building for creators: how Clove is giving food bloggers, TikTok cooks and chefs a new way to publish and earn 🎯 From pitch decks to real traction: Anna’s high-stakes decision to pause Clove’s creator program and set a new quality bar 🚀 The leap from Canva exec to culinary school student—and what working in a Michelin-starred restaurant taught Anna about product 🧠 Low ego, high initiative: what Clove looks for in early team members and building a culture of adaptability 🧭 What it means to follow the dots—why you don’t need to have it all figured out to move forward 🍽️ The long-term ambition: turning Clove into the global go-to for “what’s for dinner?”—with a billion recipes cooked through the platform From Canva to Clove, Anna Guerrero shows what it looks like to reinvent yourself, back a bold vision, and build something that truly changes how we live and cook.
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Launching Iconic Tech Companies in Australia with Kate Vale (ex-Google & Spotify)
What’s it like to be employee number one at two of the most iconic tech companies of the past two decades? In this episode of Wild Hearts, guest host and investor at Blackbird, Maddy Guest sits down with Kate Vale; Google and Spotify’s first hire in Australia. From launching Google out of her lounge room to scaling Spotify into a household name, Kate shares behind-the-scenes stories of tech history in the making, the leadership lessons that stuck, and why her latest career act is all about investing in women. In this conversation, we cover: 📞 The cold call from Google that changed her life and brought her to the global tech world—and tech in APAC 🚀 What it was like to launch Google Australia from her lounge room 🌍 Why Spotify was a harder sell than Google—and how she got artists on board 💡 The cultural rituals that helped Kate build high-performance teams across two giants 🔥 The one mistake most startups make when scaling their teams globally 📈 Why she co-founded a VC fund to back female tech founders during the pandemic 🎯 What Kate looks for in a founder, and the red flags that kill the deal This episode is a fascinating look behind the scenes at some of the earliest experiences of bringing global tech companies to Australia, and how these experiences have shaped Steph’s career and investing approach.
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