The High Flyers Podcast with Vidit Agarwal
00:19:38 · Grace Brown
[00:19:38] S1: I think I had, like, an entrepreneurial just thread in me, but it wasn't ever super clear what I would do. I kind of followed the blind belief that if I just kept following the things that brought me so much, like, joy, like the act... The projects that I loved building, the skills that I'd love to learn, like, any activity that really got me into flow state, I thought if I could just follow that, I don't know where I would would end up, but it must be somewhere pretty magnificent and aligned to the life I wanna live. So I had assumptions that maybe at some point I'd really wanna be an entrepreneur, but I didn't even know what that would really look like. Startups, for example, weren't a thing... Weren't a very clear concept in my mind because I thought it was something that only Americans do. Like, it's in Silicon Valley. It's in San Francisco. It doesn't happen in Australia. There... It was actually a Swoop Aero. They're a drone robotics company. They're not around anymore, but it was when I was reading their story in university, I was first or second year, and it just opened my eyes. I was like, there's a robotics startup that's just in, like, South Melbourne and is founded by an Australian, and they've raised venture capital funding. And I was like, this is like an American story, but it's happening here. And can you really build this company here? And I listened to the founder on a few podcasts and was like, oh my god. I'm gonna do what he does, which is... You know, it just felt possible. And it goes back to the thing you can't be what you can't see. And so there's been many... He... That is one example, but I think there's been, you know, at least a dozen of those stories that fueled my self belief.
00:21:11 · Vidit Agarwal
[00:21:11] S0: And this was post you deciding to study... You studied robotics and mechanical engineering. So this was, could you tell me about that? Was that, because that sounds like a very intentional, I studied commerce, which is a generalist degree, opens many parts and most people are confused when you study it, you're like, I don't know what I want to do, but I'll study something broad enough that it opens parts. I'm assuming robotics and mechanical engineering is a very specific intentional part of study.
00:21:39 · Grace Brown
[00:21:39] S1: Well, when I was really young, I always enjoyed maths, like really enjoyed maths. I think between first to fourth grade, I would pretend to hate maths because none of the kids liked it, but I've always really enjoyed maths. And then in high school, we had an engineering subject where we had to build this robotic arm. And that project was such a turning point for me because it was just so much fun. You didn't have to go off and just build the robot arm, but you had to prove it out theoretically first. And then you'd go to the workshop and gather all the resources and materials that you need, and you'd cut and you solder and you'd build the whole system. And then you test it and you get it to work, and it was just such a... It was just an awesome project. And and I remember saying that in tenth grade. I was like, if this is what engineering is, like, this is what I wanna do for the rest of my life. So that was pretty significant for me. And so when we were choosing our courses to go into university, everything I chose was either maths or robotics engineering. I chose specifically mechatronics because it was a mix between software, electrical, and mechanical, and I couldn't quite... I don't think I understood myself well enough to know which discipline I'd be most engaged with and also which one would be best suited to my strengths. So I really like the idea of choosing mechatronics. And I remembered you had to pick six courses... Six degrees in one of your university courses, and I only chose something like three. Like, it was maths at this UQ... Master engineering at UQ, master engineering at Melbourne uni. And the career adviser was like, you have to choose more in case you don't get in. And I was like, if I don't get in, I have bigger problems because that's the only thing I wanna do. Like, I don't wanna pick five or six that I don't wanna do. Like, these are the only courses I wanna do. But they really advised me to try and pick more, and I just... I couldn't bring myself to do it. I'm like, I'm picking these ones, and if I don't get in, I I don't know. Like, I have to get in because this is all I wanna do.
00:23:31 · Vidit Agarwal, Grace Brown
[00:23:31] S0: I feel like there are two trains of thought on the practical application of what he studied at university, right? Like some people say it really helps with your new career, or some people go, no, it didn't help in any way and you learn on the job or learn as you're building your company. How's it been in your context? Like, can jump around here. If you think of the... I think you've been building Andromeda for five years now, is that right? [00:23:54] S1: Five years, yeah, four years. [00:23:55] S0: Four years. So if you think of those four years, and we'll come to Andromeda in a moment and go deep on that, but how much of the university or college time helped with the company building? Has that... Is there a direct correlation? [00:24:08] S1: It was helpful for some of the foundations of how to... Being an engineer and the theory and the literature. But to be honest, university... The way university was structured, I think it taught me exactly what I didn't want. It it was helpful to know what didn't really work for me and what kind of system didn't really... It's not that it didn't bring out the best in me. Like, my marks were great, but I... Yeah. I just... I wanted more. I wanted to do more. I wanted the projects to be more exciting. I wanted to go faster in some areas. I felt very limited by tertiary education. And so to me, yeah, it it was informative in helping me understand myself better, but not necessarily direct information that helped me build my company better today.
00:24:08 · Grace Brown, Vidit Agarwal
[00:24:08] S1: It was helpful for some of the foundations of how to... Being an engineer and the theory and the literature. But to be honest, university... The way university was structured, I think it taught me exactly what I didn't want. It it was helpful to know what didn't really work for me and what kind of system didn't really... It's not that it didn't bring out the best in me. Like, my marks were great, but I... Yeah. I just... I wanted more. I wanted to do more. I wanted the projects to be more exciting. I wanted to go faster in some areas. I felt very limited by tertiary education. And so to me, yeah, it it was informative in helping me understand myself better, but not necessarily direct information that helped me build my company better today. [00:24:55] S0: So I asked you earlier if I met you at age 18, what would I assume you'd have done if I met you at the end of your university degree? What what... By that point, was company building the clear path? [00:25:07] S1: Yeah. I sort of... I pretty much started Andromeda before I'd even finished uni. I So was already working on... Like, Abi started during university, and then when the business idea came, it was... To me, uni was secondary to... Was becoming secondary very quickly to Andromeda and Abi because it was a way for me to be able to be completely creative and express myself and just get into that flow state. It's what I enjoy doing more than anything. So, yeah, it was very clear at the end that I was going to be doing my own startup. And... Yeah. So
00:25:07 · Grace Brown, Vidit Agarwal
[00:25:07] S1: Yeah. I sort of... I pretty much started Andromeda before I'd even finished uni. I So was already working on... Like, Abi started during university, and then when the business idea came, it was... To me, uni was secondary to... Was becoming secondary very quickly to Andromeda and Abi because it was a way for me to be able to be completely creative and express myself and just get into that flow state. It's what I enjoy doing more than anything. So, yeah, it was very clear at the end that I was going to be doing my own startup. And... Yeah. So [00:25:43] S0: And this was also during COVID. Right? This was 2020, I believe?