Startup 360: Female founders fluke it, bringing back biodiversity, New Zealand bachs and the law

To understand a little bit of what women founders deal with in the hunt for investment, consider the comments from a VC that got back to Camille Goldstone-Henry, cofounder of biodiversity startup Xylo Systems, on episode 9 of Startup 360.

Xylo helps companies address environmental protection alongside development, and landed a major international client.

The VC described it as “a fluke”.

Startup 360 cohost Simon Thomsen was gobsmacked, pointing out that the implication from the comment is that the client didn’t know what they were doing signing up with Xylo.

More about the iNaturalist app she mentions is here.

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A warning: there’s a fair bit of sweariness in this week’s show as Simon and Kayla talk to two amazing women founders, the other being Jenny Rudd from New Zealand AI-based legal tech startup Dispute Buddy, who’s grilled in 10x, our rapid-fire questions, explaining how she went from an overnight factory job chopping up lettuce to becoming a founder and mum making life easier for lawyers and their clients when it comes to gathering information for a case.

The conversations with Camille and Jenny span everything from looking after your health to be the best founder you can to what Bilbies taste like (but only if you get them from Haigh’s, not the wild) to discovering your family’s indigenous heritage and growing up around the world with a dad who’s a fighter pilot and the best parts of life in Aotearoa – the land of the long white cloud – as Jenny explains how a Kiwi bach works.

She also explains how lawyers are incentivised for conflict, advising Kayla to take Simon for everything when they fall out, and how she came to be in Australia thanks to Techstars Sydney.

Kayla suggested she watch Fisk, the ABC comedy by Kitty Flanagan, set in a law firm, while Jenny, who loves swimming at Manly beach in Sydney when she’s in town, recommended Phosphorsence by Julia Baird, as an inspiring book to read.

Startup 360 is about founder fun more than founder mode. It’s all about staying human.It’s a weekly show, talking startups and tech, published every Friday.

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