The Breakfast Club
Advice

Au contraire: why VC’s idea of a ‘contrarian’ mindset doesn’t work if you want a democratic government

- January 30, 2025 9 MIN READ

“What very important truth do very few people agree with you on?” This is the infamous question Peter Thiel used to filter prospective employees and test for their tendency towards contrarian thinking — the type of thinking that enabled Thiel to be a successful venture capitalist. For a while there, many of us also believed… Read more »

Nurse sitting on the doctor's lap. Sexism
Leadership

‘I was that person’: Elaine Stead on why she didn’t see sexism in the first decade of her career – and what she did next

- March 17, 2024 4 MIN READ

As someone who has always been a minority in an industry, it was, embarrassingly, only in my 30s that I genuinely began to properly clock how tilted the stage is. Up until then, I was that person who said cringey things like “I genuinely don’t think I have ever experienced sexism or harassment”. Lol. Oh,… Read more »

Diversity

Startup investment still has far to travel on diversity – here’s what we need to think about

- March 8, 2024 6 MIN READ

I’ve written about how, in general, I think the Aussie startup investment industry is doing pretty well following the release of the Cut Through Ventures 2023 State of Startup Funding report, despite all the volatility of recent years. I’ve also written about some of the more interesting revelations of the report which really highlighted how investors and… Read more »

Darth Vader
Leadership

Most Australian managers believe stress and fear are good motivating tools, but here’s why it’s the fastest way to kill your startup

- November 27, 2023 5 MIN READ

The last decade in corporate Australia has seen a much greater acknowledgement of toxic workplace practices and their impact. In the startup sector in particular, over recent weeks we have seen many women come forward to share their experiences of gender discrimination, sexism, harassment and abuse, a subset of toxic behaviour. I am in the… Read more »