The Leap by Founders Collective

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...

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 found...

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...

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...

In this episode, Gav sits down with Emily Price , co-founder of Tallystone , to unpack her journey from working as a startup lawyer to building a venture-backed company helping founders get deal-ready faster.  Emily shares what she saw behind the scenes of countless capital raises, the problem that sparked Tallystone, and the realities of unlearning perfection to thrive as a founder.   Expect a be...

In this episode, Gav sits down with Scotty Allen , founder of the Product Bus , to unpack his leap from structured employment into the messy, high-stakes world of entrepreneurship and why so many founders get product decisions wrong in the early days. 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...

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 wa...

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 e...

In this episode, Roman Galikov shares the real story behind his leap from CFO to founder, the unexpected turns along the way, and why creating Create Financial has unlocked a new chapter of energy and purpose. 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...

In this episode of The Leap , Gavin sits down with Heroly , founder of Busable “an intelligent software platform built for bus and coach operators to bring control and clarity to their operations” After years in government helping design programs for small businesses, Heroly saw the same pain points over and over: founders drowning in red tape, not knowing what support was actually out there. Inst...

In this episode, we dive into the raw and unfiltered story of Mark Sowerby , founder of Blue Sky Alternative Investments, once one of Australia’s most ambitious investment firms, and the devastating collapse that followed a brutal short-seller attack.  Mark opens up about how that loss shattered his identity, left him sitting on a bench in Burleigh contemplating walking into the ocean, and what it...

In this episode, Gavin chats with Ali Stokes, a former nurse and Johnson & Johnson exec who left behind the safety of corporate life to build Beyond the Clinic — a virtual care platform reshaping how patients manage joint and muscle pain. Ali shares her raw, honest journey of going from a well-paid healthcare role to bootstrapping a startup with zero income for two years. From burnout, imposte...