From $30K to $200K Months, What It Actually Took - Simone Rae SALT AND RIPPLE

How Layla Morris Built the Jewellery Care Brand Everyone's Talking About

This week on In Real Time, I'm joined by fellow Gold Coast founder and the woman behind one of Australia's fastest-growing jewellery care brands, Layla Morris from Doctor Diamond. ✨ We chat about the micro moments that change everything  from missing her engagement ring before her bridal shower to spotting a gap in the market that would become Doctor Diamond. We dive into building momentum, handling virality, trusting your intuition in business and why your product always has to come first. Layla shares the story behind the viral Hailey Bieber moment, quitting her job to go all in on her business, navigating growth, protecting your brand and building something people genuinely connect with. If you've ever wondered whether to back yourself, follow the gut feeling or make the scary move this episode is your sign. We cover: * Building a brand from an untapped market * Turning viral moments into long-term growth * The power of founder intuition * Product development and creating something people love * Handling comparison and protecting your brand * Why momentum isn't something you chase it's something you build This conversation felt like sitting down with a friend who just gets what it means to build something from nothing, and I know you're going to love Layla as much as I do. 💎

Business is HARD for everyone right now - SOLO Epsiode with Millie

Deep dive NYC, EOFY sale issues, Scaling and growth strategies for Kaarme!  Solo episode deep diving all things business with Millie!

In discussion with Madi Stefanis - Founder 35mmCO

This week on In Real Time, I'm joined by Madi Stefanis, founder of 35mm Co, the brand bringing film photography back to a new generation. We dive into how Madi turned a nostalgic idea into a thriving business, the realities of building a consumer brand from the ground up, and what it really takes to create a brand people genuinely connect with. We chat about marketing, community, navigating the highs and lows of entrepreneurship, and the mindset shifts that come with growing as both a founder and a CEO. Whether you're building a business, dreaming of starting one, or simply love hearing honest founder stories, this episode is packed with practical insights and real conversations.   Instagram: @madistefanis 35mm Co: @35mm_co

In discussion - Sophie Founder Seoul Tonic. Everything you need to know about building!

Sophie is the founder of Seoul Tonic an eastern-inspired wellness brand built on Korean ginseng and pear extracts that she co-created with Mr. Park, a Korean producer in Jeonju, using his grandfather's extraction method. What started as a silver pouch in the Australian beverage fridge has grown into a global brand stocked in beauty stores, hotels, delis, recovery facilities, and — most recently a boutique in the Hamptons that led to a sell-out Bethany Frankel video. In this episode, Sophie and Millie sit down in New York to talk about what it actually takes to bootstrap a physical product brand across three markets simultaneously, why she's been able to go where competitors haven't by thinking of Seoul Tonic as a fashion accessory rather than a drink, and how she spent 18 months relentlessly chasing the W Hotel before they finally said yes. They get into the messy realities of international freight, navigating tariffs and Trump's administration as a foreign founder, and why she and her fiancé showed up in New York with no jobs and no plan and made it work anyway.

In discussion with Lily - VC raising? Breaking the beauty industry? NYC?

Lily is an Adelaide-born beauty industry insider who cold-emailed her way into Sydney, built a market research agency while finishing a computer science degree, and then turned a two-week business trip to New York into a full life pivot. Now she's four months into building Unfiltered a beauty social platform and app described as "Letterboxed for beauty" and she's raising her first real round in Manhattan. In this episode, Lily and Kaarme get into the wild, unfiltered reality of being a first-time female founder in the US venture world, why fundraising is literally just dating, and what happens when you delete your entire codebase in week four of your accelerator. They talk about the beauty industry's data problem, why big brands win on distribution not innovation, and how a viral TikTok about blush hex codes led to 100 women in a WhatsApp group which led to a complete pivot.