In this episode, Gav sits down with CJ (Craig Josic), a lifelong connector, entrepreneur and ecosystem builder, to unpack a journey that starts with homelessness at 16 and evolves into building thriving founder communities across Australia and beyond.

CJ shares how connection, community, and a “give first” mindset became the foundation of everything he does - from launching Silicon Coast to now building an innovation powerhouse aimed at creating 100 companies worth $100 million each.

Expect a candid, behind-the-scenes look at what it really takes to launch a B2B SaaS company from scratch - completely bootstrapped.

Got questions or topics you want us to cover? Email us at journey@sixsides.co

If you enjoyed this episode, please leave us a 5-star rating and a review on your favourite podcast app. It really helps us reach more people!

In this episode, we cover:

• CJ’s early life and becoming homeless at 16
• The role of mentorship and surrounding yourself with the right people
• Why connection and community are the real unfair advantage
• The “give first” philosophy and how it compounds over time
• Lessons from building and losing a business
• Why founders shouldn’t go it alone
• The importance of signal vs noise in decision making
• Building Silicon Coast and creating a startup ecosystem
• The evolution into Innovation Powerhouse
• AI, community, and the future of human connection
• Procurement opportunities and scaling Australian businesses
• Raising the next generation of entrepreneurs
• Legacy, family, and building generational impact
• Why collaboration is the new competition

Founder Collective: https://founderscollective.com.au/founders-collective
FC's Newsletter: https://founderscollectivecommunity.substack.com/
Gavin on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gavintye/

CJ's links

Craig Josic: https://www.linkedin.com/in/craigjosic/
Innovation Powerhouse: https://www.innovationpowerhouse.org
Global Entrepreneurship Network: https://www.genglobal.org/
Queensland AI Hub: https://www.qldaihub.com/
FWDFest: www.fwdfest.co

In this episode, Gav sits down with Wayne Gerard to unpack his ongoing founder journey - from army officer to building RedEye, one of Australia’s early enterprise SaaS companies, through to becoming an active investor and launching new ventures like My Planner and Cetana.

This is not a story about what was - Wayne is still very much in the journey, continuing to build, evolve and back other founders while navigating the realities of business and life.

Expect a candid, behind-the-scenes look at what it really takes to launch a B2B SaaS company from scratch, the pressure it entails and how it can impact your health if you're not careful.

If you enjoyed this episode, please leave us a 5-star rating and a review on your favourite podcast app. It really helps us reach more people!

In this episode, we cover:

• Why Wayne is still in the journey - evolving from founder to investor while continuing to build
• Wayne’s early career in the army and transition into tech
• The moment he decided to take the leap into entrepreneurship
• Early business failures and lessons on timing and co-founder alignment
• The origin story of RedEye and identifying a real market gap
• What it was like building enterprise SaaS before cloud was widely adopted
• The reality of founder pressure, burnout and panic attacks
• Raising capital and the hidden toll it takes
• Why founders must stop being the product to scale
• Building a repeatable sales engine in enterprise SaaS
• The difference between a demand problem and a sales problem
• How to think about risk and make better decisions as a founder
• The importance of deep customer relationships
• Lessons on leadership, delegation and letting people grow
• Why most startups are just apps - not real businesses
• The transition from founder to investor and what changes
• What makes a great founder in today’s environment
• How AI is reshaping SaaS and enterprise sales
• The importance of balancing health, wealth and longevity
• What keeps Wayne motivated across multiple ventures

Wayne Gerard:

• PRTNR (investment company): https://prtnr.au
• My Planner: https://myplanner.au
• Cetana: https://cetana.au
• Email: wg@prtnr.au

John Webster joins Gavin Tye on The Leap to unpack the less-glamorous truth of founder life - the long timelines, the constant pivots, and the pressure that never really disappears, it just changes shape.

John takes us back to his corporate life inside a high-stress NASDAQ-listed business, and the gut-punch moment that made him walk away - not because he didn’t like the work, but because he couldn’t stand the system: watching a team bust their hump and then being forced to rank them on a bell curve.

That was the line in the sand.

From there, he shares how his first startup idea (born from his wife’s life as a shift-working nurse) turned into CoRoster - and then evolved into a broader planning engine used for massive, complex events, including back-of-house workforce planning at COP28 in Dubai.

Along the way, John gets real about “innovation theatre”, the danger of startup romance, why most things take 10 times longer than you expect, and how a solid support network at home can make or break the whole journey.

You’ll also hear John’s practical take on building an ecosystem of products through Launchkey Lab, what he’s learned about selling when you’re not a “natural salesperson”, and why growth and learning matter more than the money.

Links:

• John on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/websterjohn/
• Launchkey Lab website: https://launchkeylab.com
• CoRoster website: https://www.coroster.com
• I’m In Health website: https://iminhealth.com

Founders Collective and our businesses:

• Founder Collective: https://founderscollective.com.au
• FC's Newsletter: https://founderscollectivecommunity.substack.com/

Gavin Tye is a sales strategist and the creator of Sales Market Fit (SMF) - a game-changing framework that helps B2B startups unlock predictable, scalable growth. With over 20 years of experience in high-value SaaS sales, Gavin has cracked the code on why businesses struggle to close deals and how they can transform their approach. Sales Market Fit aligns positioning, go-to-market strategies, and sales execution into a repeatable process that wins more clients with less friction. Learn how to stop relying on hope and start winning with a deliberate, proven sales strategy at salesmarketfit.co.

Connect with us:

• Roman Galkov on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/romangalikov/
• Gavin on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gavintye/

In this episode, Gavin sits down with Sabrina Guse, the 20-year-old founder of Enviromentoring, to unpack how a casual job in outside school hours care turned into a fast-growing environmental education business reaching thousands of kids across Australia.

Expect a candid, behind-the-scenes look at what it really takes to launch a purpose-driven education business from scratch - while still at uni and learning business fundamentals on the fly.

Got questions or topics you want us to cover? Email us at journey@sixsides.co

If you enjoyed this episode, please leave us a 5-star rating and a review on your favourite podcast app. It really helps us reach more people!

In this episode, we cover:

• Spotting a real problem inside school holiday programs
• Turning a passion project into a legitimate business
• Leaving a secure job to back yourself
• Learning business fundamentals the hard way
• Hiring a team before feeling ready
• Selling workshops face-to-face and overcoming fear
• Scaling through DIY kits and navigating biosecurity challenges
• Balancing uni, business, and endurance sport
• Redefining success around values and impact
• Why environmental education starts with kids

Gavin Tye is a sales strategist and the creator of Sales Market Fit (SMF) - a proven framework that helps B2B startups unlock predictable, scalable growth. He is also a co-founder of SixSides, a sales-led growth partner for B2B SaaS companies. At SixSides, Gavin and the team help founders move beyond hope-based selling by sharpening positioning, building repeatable sales systems, and creating go-to-market strategies that actually convert. With over 20 years of experience in high-value SaaS sales, Gavin works closely with founders to turn early traction into sustainable revenue growth.

Links:

Founder Collective: https://founderscollective.com.au/founders-collective
FC's Newsletter: https://founderscollectivecommunity.substack.com/
Book a call with Gavin: call.sixsides.co
Enviromentoring website: https://www.enviromentoring.com.au
Enviromentoring Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/enviromentoring
Enviromentoring Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/enviromentoring

Connect with us:
Roman Galikov on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/romangalikov/
Gavin on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gavintye/

Chapter markers

00:00 Intro
00:55 Meet Sabrina and Enviromentoring
01:18 How a school holiday problem sparked a business
03:35 From first workshop to a growing team
05:00 Realising this was never the plan
06:38 Journalism, science, and choosing a path
08:10 Life before becoming a founder
10:16 Curiosity, climate change, and early influences
13:26 The real leap - quitting her job
15:43 Fear, excitement, and backing herself
16:32 Balancing uni, business, and training
18:41 Hiring a team and creating systems
19:49 Scaling challenges and pricing realities
21:46 Turning workshops into DIY kits
23:15 Sustainability, burnout, and the Messi effect
24:41 How entrepreneurship changed her
26:27 Learning sales the hard way
29:18 Redefining success through values
30:40 What she’s most proud of
31:55 What will keep her going long-term
33:22 Lessons she wishes she knew earlier
35:02 Advice for first-time founders
37:22 Courage, responsibility, and looking ahead
38:13 Where to find Sabrina and Enviromentoring

In this episode, Gav sits down with Karren Jensen, co-founder and CEO of Conductor Software, to unpack the misunderstood world of psychological safety and why it might be the biggest lever for performance most organisations are missing.

Expect a candid, behind-the-scenes look at what it really takes to launch a B2B SaaS company from scratch - completely bootstrapped.

Got questions or topics you want us to cover? Email us at journey@sixsides.co

If you enjoyed this episode, please leave us a 5-star rating and a review on your favourite podcast app. It really helps us reach more people!

In this episode, we cover:

• What psychological safety really is - and what it isn’t
• The biggest misconceptions leaders have about “soft stuff” at work
• How fear, stress and silence quietly destroy performance
• Why organisations struggle with values, trust and accountability
• Karren’s career before Conductor and her grounding in neuroscience
• The personal experiences that shaped her obsession with psych safety
• The moment Conductor’s founders validated their hypothesis with a first client
• Bootstrapping the business and landing early wins
• How psychological safety translated into millions in revenue impact
• Leading through COVID, AI disruption, and constant uncertainty
• How Karren’s definition of success has evolved over time
• Why protecting our humanity matters more than ever
• Advice for founders standing on the edge of taking the leap
• Why community and champions matter, especially for female founders

Chapters:
00:00 Intro and what The Leap is really about
02:00 What Conductor does and why psych safety is misunderstood
05:30 Why psychological safety isn’t about being “nice”
11:00 What happens when teams don’t feel safe
16:00 Leadership pressure, COVID, and decision fatigue
18:30 Karren’s career before founding Conductor
21:00 Experiencing psychological safety first-hand
26:00 Values, boundaries, and accountability at work
30:40 Feeling unfulfilled and early signals of change
34:00 The moment Conductor took shape
37:00 Bootstrapping and early wins
39:10 Surprises and challenges in the early days
41:10 How founding changed Karren as a leader
44:00 Redefining success and protecting humanity
47:40 What Karren is most proud of
50:10 What keeps her going during tough moments
53:00 Habits that keep her grounded
56:00 What she wishes she knew before taking the leap
58:20 Advice for founders on the edge
01:02:30 Pride, resilience, and legacy
01:04:00 How to connect with Karren

Roman Galikov is a co-founder of Create Financial...they help founders and business owners take control of their money with smart, personalised financial advice. They specialise in wealth strategy, risk protection, and long-term planning - without the jargon. Think of them as the team that helps you build a financial engine strong enough to support your ambitions, not just your expenses.

Gavin Tye is a sales strategist and the creator of DealBuddi and co-founder of SixSides. With over 20 years of experience in high-value SaaS sales, Gavin has cracked the code on why businesses struggle to close deals and how they can transform their approach. Sales Market Fit aligns positioning, go-to-market strategies, and sales execution into a repeatable process that wins more clients with less friction. Learn how to stop relying on hope and start winning with a deliberate, proven sales strategy at salesmarketfit.co.

Links:
Founder Collective: https://founderscollective.com.au/founders-collective
FC's Newsletter: https://founderscollectivecommunity.substack.com/
Book a call with Gavin:
Conductor Software: https://www.conductorsoftware.com/

Connect with us:
Karren Jensen on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/karren-jensen-ceo/
Gavin on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gavintye/

In this episode, Gav sits down with long-time Brisbane ecosystem mainstay and Inductive founder, Peter Laurie, to unpack his journey from Y2K software engineer to helping founders become genuinely investor ready, not just pitch-deck ready. They talk about why a technically perfect project still collapsed, how VCs actually make decisions, the traits of coachable founders, and why you should chase effective, then efficient, then elegant when building product.

Expect a candid, behind-the-scenes look at what it really takes to launch a B2B SaaS company from scratch - completely bootstrapped.

Got questions or topics you want us to cover? Email us at journey@sixsides.co

If you enjoyed this episode, please leave us a 5-star rating and a review on your favourite podcast app. It really helps us reach more people!

In this episode, we cover:

• Why Inductive exists and what "investor ready" actually means
• The types of founders and teams Inductive is designed for
• How VC theses really work and why a good business can still get a no
• The danger of the slow no in fundraising and how to spot it
• Coachability, curiosity and the traits Peter looks for in early stage founders
• Peter's early career in engineering and software through the Y2K era
• The technically perfect project that still failed and what it taught him
• Why he went back to do an MBA to understand what he "did wrong"
• Starting a bespoke software business and the mistakes that came with it
• Service-led product vs pure product-led growth
• Building from first principles instead of cargo cult startup theatre
• The startup industrial complex and "Veblen entrepreneurs"
• Why founders should chase effective, then efficient, then elegant
• Habits, longevity and how to stay in the game as a founder
• Peter's advice for anyone standing on the edge of their own leap

Chapters

00:00 No edits, no filter
00:36 Welcome to The Leap and Peter intro
01:29 Who is Peter Laurie and what is Inductive
03:36 What "investor ready" really means
06:29 How VC funds actually work and why they say "you’re not ready"
10:37 Slow nos, fast nos and dating VCs
12:46 Life before founding - engineering and Y2K software days
16:47 Realising tech isn’t the real problem
20:25 The technically perfect project that still failed
23:17 Burnout, taking time off and starting an MBA
25:03 Starting a new consulting business with Dean
31:57 Early surprises and mistakes building software for others
34:20 Turning hard lessons into simple, pragmatic models
39:01 How entrepreneurship has changed Peter
42:42 Unlearning perfection - effective, then efficient, then elegant
47:31 Building Inductive and finding the real players
52:05 The startup industrial complex and Veblen entrepreneurs
55:15 Habits, longevity and staying in the game
59:31 What Peter wishes he knew before taking the leap
63:12 Advice for founders standing on the edge and where to find Peter

Links:
Founder Collective: https://founderscollective.com.au/founders-collective
FC's Newsletter: https://founderscollectivecommunity.substack.com/
Book a call with Gavin: https://call.sixsides.co

Inductive accelerator: https://inductive.au

Peter’s links:
Towards an Untrepreneurial Economy? The Entrepreneurship Industry and the Rise of the Veblenian Entrepreneur:https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3479042

Peter’s tweet thread while reading it:
https://x.com/pjlaurie/status/1274180626782945281

Peter on LinkedIn: http://linkedin.com/in/pjlaurie
Peter’s video posts on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pjlaurie/recent-activity/videos/

Connect with us:
Roman Galkov on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/romangalikov/
Gavin on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gavintye/