The Hidden Criteria Behind a YC Yes: Yotam on Founder Signals, and the Real Work Behind a Yes

The Part No One Tells - WBGS Yas Grigaliunas (Part 1)

Yas Grigaliunas turned a backyard charity garage sale into Circonomy, one of Australia's most recognised circular-economy companies — years before "circular economy" was even a phrase. In Part 1 of her Perspective X conversation with Pauline Fetaui, she traces the rise: from selling homemade cupcakes at 5am triathlon training and asking herself "how do you raise money without asking people for money," to $15,000 in a single day, to quitting her job with no plan B, to a $4 million raise in four weeks with Officeworks on the cap table. It's also a portrait of the engine underneath: a relentlessly data-obsessed, "burn bright, not burn out" founder who walked into rooms she was told she didn't belong in — including a memorable run-in with Steve Baxter at River City Labs — turned "surprise chain" into supply chain for Officeworks the weekend COVID shut the world down, and built a company on the conviction that idle assets, and overlooked people, are worth far more than anyone assumes. Part 2 is the harder conversation — the cost, and what happened when it all changed. Episode Summary Yas Grigaliunas, founder of World's Biggest Garage Sale and Circonomy, joins Pauline Fetaui for Part 1 of a Perspective X conversation about building a circular-economy company in Australia before the term existed. From a charity garage sale that did $15,000 in a day to a $4 million capital raise in four weeks, Yas unpacks the data discipline, the conviction, and the well-timed moments that turned "dormant goods for good" into a national enterprise — and the energy source that, after 30 years of people predicting her burnout, still hasn't run dry. Time Stamps 00:00 - A garage full of stuff, and one question: how do you raise money without asking for money? 02:10 - Welcome to Perspective X: Pauline's "love letter" introduction to Yas 03:13 - The cancer-charity origin and "dormant goods for good" 05:30 - The first World's Biggest Garage Sale: $15k in a day, 50 volunteers 12:58 - Scaling the events: $15k to $60k to $150k in a single day 18:06 - River City Labs, Steve Baxter, and "I'm not a tech founder, I'm a business builder" 24:55 - 168 hours in a week: time, data, and consistency 31:14 - Confidence, the seesaw, and falling in love with yourself 36:57 - Coining "Circonomy" before circular economy was a buzzword 41:29 - From events to a warehouse: building a real business 48:07 - Officeworks, "surprise chain," and the Retail Rescue the weekend COVID hit 49:54 - The $4 million raise and the "capital raise cave" 51:13 - Raising $4M in four weeks as a female founder 58:55 - Preparation, persistence, and watching who opened the pitch deck About the host Pauline Fetaui hosts Perspective X, the Day One Network show that goes beyond the highlight reel to explore the inner worlds, convictions and turning points of founders and leaders. About Day One Network Perspective X is part of Day One, the podcast network dedicated to founders, operators and investors. Join our newsletter at https://dayone.fm/newsletter [https://dayone.fm/newsletter] to hear about new and upcoming shows. Perspective X is powered by Deel. SPONSORS: PERSPECTIVE X IS SUPPORTED BY OUR WONDERFUL SPONSORS: Deel: Founders scale faster on Deel. Set up payroll for any country in minutes, hire anyone anywhere, and get visas handled fast, so you stay focused on scaling. Deel takes care of onboarding, HR, IT, EOR, benefits, and compliance, so your team can grow without borders. It’s why more than 40,000 fast-growing companies trust Deel to move fast. Visit https://www.deel.com/dayone Follow Day One: LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/dayonefm/ [https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/dayonefm/] · Instagram https://www.instagram.com/dayone.fm/ [https://www.instagram.com/dayone.fm/] · TikTok https://www.tiktok.com/@dayone.fm [https://www.tiktok.com/@dayone.fm] Mentioned in this episode: Deel x PX_Script 2 Deel x PX_Script 1

From Police Officer to AI Pioneer to Psychedelics: Dr. Catriona Wallace’s Unfiltered Story (Part Two)

From policing the streets of Sydney’s King’s Cross to founding one of the world's first enterprise AI companies, Dr. Catriona Wallace has navigated a career arc that defies convention. As one of the few women globally to list an AI company on the ASX, she scaled Flamingo AI to New York and back, all while raising five children and operating on a frontier that barely had a name. But behind the milestone of a $20M capital raise and the adrenaline of the public markets lay a deeper story of personal cost, identity, and the "sacred wounds" that fuel high-performance leadership. In this deep-dive episode of Perspective X, Dr. Cat shares her unfiltered story of transition: from the corruption and shadow-side of law enforcement to the high-pressure world of venture capital, and eventually, to the jungles of Peru. We explore the "hard thing about hard things," the brutal reality of having your product commoditised by tech giants, and why she chose to sit with ayahuasca the same day she exited her company. This isn't just a talk about technology; it’s a masterclass in the human operating system. We dive into why AI poses a 1-in-10 existential risk, the intersection of ancient ritual and modern innovation, and why Dr. Cat believes the next generation of leaders must undergo a "rapid transformation" of consciousness to ensure humanity isn't left behind by the machines we’ve built. SPONSORS: PERSPECTIVE X IS SUPPORTED BY OUR WONDERFUL SPONSORS: Deel: Founders scale faster on Deel. Set up payroll for any country in minutes, hire anyone anywhere, and get visas handled fast, so you stay focused on scaling. Deel takes care of onboarding, HR, IT, EOR, benefits, and compliance, so your team can grow without borders. It’s why more than 40,000 fast-growing companies trust Deel to move fast. Visit https://www.deel.com/dayone PERSPECTIVE X IS PART OF DAY ONE. DAY ONE HELPS FOUNDERS AND STARTUP OPERATORS MAKE BETTER BUSINESS DECISIONS MORE OFTEN. To learn more, join our newsletter [https://dayone.fm/newsletter] to be notified of new Perspective X episodes and upcoming shows. Mentioned in this episode: Deel x PX_Script 1 Deel x PX_Script 2

From Police Officer to AI Pioneer to Psychedelics: Dr. Catriona Wallace’s Unfiltered Story (Part One)

Win $2,000 in credits with the Day One Network — take our 2-minute audience survey before 30 June: dayone.fm/survey From policing the streets of Sydney’s King’s Cross to founding one of the world's first enterprise AI companies, Dr. Catriona Wallace has navigated a career arc that defies convention. As one of the few women globally to list an AI company on the ASX, she scaled Flamingo AI to New York and back, all while raising five children and operating on a frontier that barely had a name. But behind the milestone of a $20M capital raise and the adrenaline of the public markets lay a deeper story of personal cost, identity, and the "sacred wounds" that fuel high-performance leadership. In this deep-dive episode of Perspective X, Dr. Cat shares her unfiltered story of transition: from the corruption and shadow-side of law enforcement to the high-pressure world of venture capital, and eventually, to the jungles of Peru. We explore the "hard thing about hard things," the brutal reality of having your product commoditised by tech giants, and why she chose to sit with ayahuasca the same day she exited her company. This isn't just a talk about technology; it’s a masterclass in the human operating system. We dive into why AI poses a 1-in-10 existential risk, the intersection of ancient ritual and modern innovation, and why Dr. Cat believes the next generation of leaders must undergo a "rapid transformation" of consciousness to ensure humanity isn't left behind by the machines we’ve built. Mentioned in this episode: Deel x PX_Script 1 Deel x PX_Script 2

Dr. Prash on Building a $100M+ Crypto Brokerage and Pioneering Psychedelic Therapy

Win $2,000 in credits with the Day One Network — take our 2-minute audience survey before 30 June: dayone.fm/survey EPISODE SUMMARY From surgeon to psychiatrist, Bitcoin investor to billion-dollar crypto brokerage founder, Dr. Prash Puspanathan has lived one of the most unconventional founder journeys in tech. After co-founding and scaling Caleb & Brown into a global crypto powerhouse, later acquired by SwiftX in 2025, Dr. Prash is now pioneering the future of mental health with Enosis Therapeutics, using VR to transform psychedelic-assisted therapy integration. In this episode of Perspective X, Dr. Prash shares how a single psilocybin experience completely reshaped his worldview, steering him away from surgery and into psychiatry, entrepreneurship, and eventually, crypto. He reveals the parallels between fiscal freedom in decentralized finance and cognitive freedom in mental health, the scrappy early days of arbitrage trading, and the challenges of scaling a white-glove brokerage to serve high-net-worth clients worldwide. We also dive into the future of psychedelic medicine, why integration is the “real work,” how technology can lower costs and increase access, and why prevention, not just treatment, will define the next era of mental health. From paradigm-shifting psychedelics to building billion-dollar ventures, this is a conversation about liberation, of thought, finance, and human potential. TIME STAMPS 00:00 – Intro: Dr. Prash’s unconventional founder journey 02:00 – From surgery to psychiatry: psychedelics as a turning point 06:30 – The transformative psilocybin experience and shifting paradigms 10:30 – Understanding psychedelic therapy and integration work 16:00 – Why psychedelics challenge power structures and cultural norms 22:00 – Fiscal freedom and cognitive freedom: psychedelics and Bitcoin 30:00 – Founding Caleb & Brown and building a billion-dollar brokerage 37:00 – Global scaling, high-net-worth clients, and leadership transitions 42:00 – Preparing for acquisition: the 9-month journey to SwiftX 50:00 – Running a dual life as psychiatrist and founder 55:00 – Enosis Therapeutics: VR-powered integration for psychedelic therapy 01:02:00 – Building tools for patients, therapists, and the future of mental health 01:10:00 – The vision for a psychological digital twin 01:15:00 – Psychedelics in the next 10–50 years: from treatment to prevention 01:20:00 – Translating research into real-world impact and future mission RESOURCES 💰 Caleb & Brown – Global crypto brokerage: https://calebandbrown.com 🩺 Enosis Therapeutics – Tech for psychedelic-assisted therapy: https://www.enosistherapeutics.com/ 👤 Dr. Prash on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drprash/ SPONSORS: PERSPECTIVE X IS SUPPORTED BY OUR WONDERFUL SPONSORS: Deel: Founders scale faster on Deel. Set up payroll for any country in minutes, hire anyone anywhere, and get visas handled fast, so you stay focused on scaling. Deel takes care of onboarding, HR, IT, EOR, benefits, and compliance, so your team can grow without borders. It’s why more than 40,000 fast-growing companies trust Deel to move fast. Visit https://www.deel.com/dayone PERSPECTIVE X IS PART OF DAY ONE. DAY ONE HELPS FOUNDERS AND STARTUP OPERATORS MAKE BETTER BUSINESS DECISIONS MORE OFTEN. To learn more, join our newsletter [https://dayone.fm/newsletter] to be notified of new Perspective X episodes and upcoming shows. Mentioned in this episode: Mighty Partners_PX_May 2025 Deel x PX_Script 1 Vanta_PX_May 2025

The Hidden Criteria Behind a YC Yes: Yotam on Founder Signals, and the Real Work Behind a Yes

Win $2,000 in credits with the Day One Network — take our 2-minute audience survey before 30 June: dayone.fm/survey Episode Summary Yotam Rosenbaum never planned to be a startup founder, let alone one of Australia’s most active investors in Y Combinator companies. He started out as a musician, marketing his own band in Los Angeles, until the frustration of promoting music online became the spark for building Earbits, a platform once described as “Google AdWords for music.” What began on a traffic-jammed freeway turned into a five-year journey through Y Combinator, product-market chaos, and a successful exit. Since then, Yotam has backed over 400 YC startups, built one of the only Australian-led funds inside the program, and helped founders at home think far beyond local markets. He reflects on what actually matters at the earliest stages, why founder relationships trump early traction, and how to spot the quiet signals of a breakout team. There’s also a reality check for anyone raising capital: most investors won’t give you a clear no, and that’s the real cost. From Craigslist drum lessons to portfolio unicorns, Yotam’s story is anything but typical. But it’s proof that trusting your sense of direction, without needing the whole map, can still get you somewhere remarkable. Time Stamps 00:01:17 – Embracing Uncertainty: Yotam’s Philosophy on Direction Without a Map 00:06:41 – From Funk Band to Founder: The Origins of Earbits 00:11:05 – The Aha Moment: Building the Google AdWords for Music 00:14:58 – Joining Y Combinator: Early Traction & Getting In 00:20:04 – Life at YC: Feeling Out of Place, Finding Belonging 00:24:29 – Investing in 400+ YC Startups: How It Started Post-Exit 00:31:19 – Moving to Australia: The Hot DesQ Bet That Paid Off 00:36:35 – Comparing Ecosystems: SF vs Brisbane Startup Mindsets 00:41:09 – The Importance of Community: No Founder Builds Alone 00:45:39 – The 77 Partners Venture Challenge: Who It’s For 00:50:24 – What Investors Look For (It’s Not Just Revenue) 01:03:01 – How Founders Can (And Should) Think About AI Resources Mentioned 🥇 First Peak Ventures - https://www.linkedin.com/company/first-peak-ventures/ 🤝 77 Partners – http://www.77partners.vc/ 🙋🏻‍♂️ Yotam Rosenbaum on LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/yotamrosenbaum/ 👂🏻 Earbits – https://www.earbits.com/ SPONSORS: PERSPECTIVE X IS SUPPORTED BY OUR WONDERFUL SPONSORS: Deel: Founders scale faster on Deel. Set up payroll for any country in minutes, hire anyone anywhere, and get visas handled fast, so you stay focused on scaling. Deel takes care of onboarding, HR, IT, EOR, benefits, and compliance, so your team can grow without borders. It’s why more than 40,000 fast-growing companies trust Deel to move fast. Visit https://www.deel.com/dayone PERSPECTIVE X IS PART OF DAY ONE. DAY ONE HELPS FOUNDERS AND STARTUP OPERATORS MAKE BETTER BUSINESS DECISIONS MORE OFTEN. To learn more, join our newsletter [https://dayone.fm/newsletter] to be notified of new Perspective X episodes and upcoming shows. Mentioned in this episode: Vanta_PX_May 2025 Mighty Partners_PX_May 2025 Deel x PX_Script 1