00:25:14 · Adam Miller, Daniel Palmer, Michelle Gilmore, Sachin
[00:25:14] S5: I think about this constantly, as [00:25:16] S3: I'm sure we all I do, [00:25:20] S5: agree, I think even if you look [00:25:21] S3: at the industrial revolution, if we zoom forward one hundred and fifty years to today, we can probably look back and be like, okay, that overall increased prosperity for society listed standards of living, we can maybe agree, maybe, that it was good for society. [00:25:39] S1: Maybe not for the planet though. [00:25:41] S3: Maybe not for the planet. I wouldn't put in every caveat, but it was a bit a dark and white topic. I think we can probably say all the same things and more for what I think is happening now with AI. I think a really interesting point that at least your comment made me think about though, that a difference between those two things, which is good, is that I would say more of the benefit of the, let's call it generative AI revolution, if we want to put a headline on it, is more democratised. I think more people do have chat GBT in their pocket in a way that people didn't have the factory in their pocket in the nineteenth century. So I think that's interesting. Think from an optimistic lens that's actually a really... I think it's just [00:26:30] S2: like a timeline question, Like I agree with you completely that right now humans are enabled more than ever to flourish. Like, someone that can't code and go unlovable and mock up something beautiful in a weekend or direct a movie, which is text and video, right? But that's the current timeline. I don't know how old your child is. Just...
00:26:30 · Sachin, Georgie Healy, Adam Miller, Daniel Palmer
[00:26:30] S2: like a timeline question, Like I agree with you completely that right now humans are enabled more than ever to flourish. Like, someone that can't code and go unlovable and mock up something beautiful in a weekend or direct a movie, which is text and video, right? But that's the current timeline. I don't know how old your child is. Just... [00:26:50] S4: It's -: Not a graduate. Set up, [00:26:52] S2: come more and more, like, I think the next five years look really great for human creativity, human flourishing. That's kind of our thesis as well. After those five years, And I think that's the boring thing. [00:27:04] S5: And I feel like the scary thing with AI is that it feels like the last technology. [00:27:08] S3: Because there's like a lot [00:27:09] S5: of technologies, it can help you flourish, it can amplify you, but then if this is the technology that can create all future technology as well, it's like, where is that role for humans? And in that timeline, it's just too hard to conceive ten to fifteen years down the front? [00:27:22] S2: I think I'm Casey Flint who introduced you to Lorikeet, yeah, to Lorikeet and Steve. She's at a company right now and their whole thesis is the way that we get to AGI is build the best coding agent first. To your point Adam, it's like the last technology if you build the best coding agent that builds AGI, then there's really nothing left. While in the industrial revolution, I don't know, obviously none of us were there, but it kind of feels like there was stuff potentially left to do. [00:27:48] S3: Thought there was.
00:27:48 · Daniel Palmer, Sachin, Xharmagne Carandang
[00:27:48] S3: Thought there was. [00:27:49] S2: And I guess there's robotics, but OpenAI is already playing in that space with mini models that they can be put into robots. But I think something where we started this conversation was around the intensity of this moment. And I've talked to founders who were around the .com era, and they said this is like, you know, a magnitude more intense. How do you guys feel about the intensity of building your companies? Obviously, we're all here in Sydney, Australia, there's this culture of being more laid back, or at least that's the perception from the outside world. How do you guys think about building great AI companies based in Sydney? Maybe Xharmagne, you want to kick us off? [00:28:24] S0: Oh, is this because he saw that comment about our competitors saying that we're... Well, implying that we're, you know, lazy Australians versus they've got so many engineers working twenty four seven in Silicon Valley. Yeah. I don't I think it just always comes back for us to the focus on the customer, and of course, that with the business goals. But if we just focus on what actually we're trying to do and the main things to get there, we're... We end up somehow being sustainable instead of burning ourselves out twenty four seven. Mhmm. Because then we don't have all that wasted energy, and we are going in that direction, if that makes sense. So Mhmm. Yeah. Customer focus moments.
00:28:24 · Xharmagne Carandang, Adam Miller, Georgie Healy, Daniel Palmer
[00:28:24] S0: Oh, is this because he saw that comment about our competitors saying that we're... Well, implying that we're, you know, lazy Australians versus they've got so many engineers working twenty four seven in Silicon Valley. Yeah. I don't I think it just always comes back for us to the focus on the customer, and of course, that with the business goals. But if we just focus on what actually we're trying to do and the main things to get there, we're... We end up somehow being sustainable instead of burning ourselves out twenty four seven. Mhmm. Because then we don't have all that wasted energy, and we are going in that direction, if that makes sense. So Mhmm. Yeah. Customer focus moments. [00:29:06] S5: I'm interested to hear, Georgie, you're sort of at the centre of so many different startups as part of an accelerator. So, like, most people, they say, will have one experience, whereas you're probably seeing dozens of companies a day. What do you see with that intensity? [00:29:20] S4: I think there is just as much drive and thirst here in Sydney. But I'll be honest, it seems like I haven't met one founder that's genuinely ambitious and genuinely wants to take their company to the next level, that doesn't reach a ceiling here in Sydney and move to San Fran, usually around the late C to early Series A stage. I mean you guys have done so, right? [00:29:45] S3: Yeah, I mean, yeah, we moved, we started an office in San Fran, one of our, shipped one of our co founders over to San Fran. [00:29:55] S4: Why not you?
00:29:55 · Georgie Healy, Daniel Palmer, Adam Miller, Sachin
[00:29:55] S4: Why not you? [00:29:56] S3: I drew a longer straw. Yeah, think it's an undeniable reality, it's the epicentre of a lot of these markets. Think it's pretty simple really, and I don't think it has anything to do with Australians being more lazy or anything like that. I think definitely, and like probably one of the reasons why we're keeping a lot of our product team here, and I speak to a lot of founders who say the same thing is that one of the benefits of being here is that you're not quite as deep in the hype cycle. I think it's a bit slightly less intense and probably a good way here in that you do, I think have more chance to focus on what matters and the real problems and the real customers as you mentioned. And get slightly less caught up in the big AI event that happens every second day. Who's funding who? Who's funding who? What like, oh that guy that was sitting next to you, or your neighbor, she's just raised $50,000,000 so you [00:30:59] S5: see what we [00:30:59] S3: can put it on. I think that's a benefit in some ways, and I think maybe what's often perceived as laziness is more just, okay we're a bit out of that hype cycle, I think we can be a bit, in general, a bit more straightforward and focused with our energy. [00:31:20] S2: I think also in the spirit of oakiness, something that me and Adam talk to [00:31:25] S3: a lot of
00:31:25 · Daniel Palmer, Sachin, Adam Miller
[00:31:25] S3: a lot of [00:31:25] S2: our friends about behind closed doors is just two reasons for products in engineering Australia also is that one, R and D tax grant, very, very helpful for engineering teams here. But two, it's like, if you want to compete the tower in San Francisco, you're often paying more than $1,000,000 a year now. For most Australian companies, that's half their seed route. [00:31:44] S5: Your policy is about $100,000,000 offers, which is just not... And the [00:31:48] S2: reality is, the best engineers have maybe 15 interesting companies they can work at in Australia. In SF, they can go work at OpenAI. Or they can go to work on cutting edge research, which for a lot of them is super interesting.