Meet the Founders Disrupting Australia & NZ's Banking Monopolies

What Happens When AI Listens to Sick Pigs for Six Days Straight?

She left a comfortable corporate career to build a Sensory AI startup that listens to pigs—and just secured a major global distribution deal. In this episode of TechMates, we sit down with Saba Samiei, the visionary founder and CEO of MACSO. Named after MACS0647-JD, the furthest known galaxy, MACSO was built on a "how, not if" culture that forces the team to think outside the Milky Way. Saba shares her incredible personal journey: escaping the aftermath of war in Iran, immigrating to India as a teenager, and eventually arriving in New Zealand at 22 with the sheer determination to succeed. After climbing the corporate ladder at tech giants like IBM, Westpac, and Microsoft, she took the ultimate leap to build a deep tech startup from scratch. While the tech industry pours billions into Large Language Models (LLMs) to automate human productivity, Saba is taking a radically different approach. She argues that current AI only replicates the logical frontal lobe, completely ignoring the sensory systems that keep us alive in the physical world. Enter MACSO’s "Physical AI": an edge-AI platform that uses audio sensors to detect respiratory illnesses in swine up to six days earlier than a trained human. By catching outbreaks at "patient zero," MACSO is saving livestock, slashing costs for farmers, and drastically reducing the global consumption of antibiotics. Saba also drops bold truths on the dangers of AGI, why she believes the LLM bubble will burst, and the cognitive risks of outsourcing our brains to machines. 🌌 Thinking Beyond the Milky Way: Why naming her startup after the furthest known galaxy drives their ambitious engineering culture. 🇮🇷 From Iran to NZ: Escaping an unfair regime, finding her footing as an immigrant, and making New Zealand her home. 🧠 The Shrinking Hippocampus: A stark warning on why outsourcing mental tasks to AI could lead to the cognitive equivalent of the industrial revolution. 🐷 Sensory Edge AI: Using audio sensors to listen to pigs and detect respiratory illnesses before a farm-wide outbreak. 💊 Reducing Global Antibiotic Use: How MACSO’s tech catches "patient zero," allowing farmers to medicate smaller groups and lower antibiotic reliance. 💥 The LLM Bubble: Why the AI industry's hyper-focus on text and human productivity is ignoring the massive potential of physical, environmental AI. Connect with the Guest: MACSO Website: https://www.macso.ai Saba Samiei’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sabasamiei/ Links to NZVC & Hosts: 🔗 Learn more about NZVC: Website: https://www.nzvc.co.nz Mark Pavlyukovskyy - https://www.linkedin.com/in/pavlyukovskyy/ Hendrik Remigereau - https://www.linkedin.com/in/hendrik-remigereau-09a03067/ 00:00 - Naming a startup after the furthest galaxy in the universe. 02:03 - Immigrating from Iran to India, and arriving in NZ at 22. 10:32 - Stephen Hawking, astrophysics, and the core of her AI ethics thesis. 21:27 - Why humans went from fearing the Terminator to embracing ChatGPT. 29:51 - The cognitive danger of AI: Is Google Maps shrinking our brains? 32:41 - Leaving Microsoft to build a Deep Tech AI startup. 43:40 - Major News: MACSO's massive distribution deal with Virbac. 46:29 - Sensory AI: How listening to pigs saves livestock and reduces antibiotics. 57:29 - The mental toll of being a founder and learning to trust yourself. 01:07:57 - Her real thoughts on AGI, P-Doom, and the LLM bubble bursting. If you enjoyed this masterclass on deep tech, Sensory AI, and the ethical future of humanity, please hit the Like button, Comment with your thoughts on the LLM bubble, and Subscribe to TechMates for more high-impact conversations with world-class founders! #startups, #artificialintelligence, #deeptech, #NewZealand, #founderjourney, #SensoryAI, #AgTech, #EdgeAI, #MACSO, #AIethics, #machinelearning, #entrepreneurship, #womenintech, #techpodcast, #NZVC, #TechMates, #innovation, #SaaS, #AIsensors, #futureofAI

The Startup powering ANZ's Open Banking Moment

He built a bank-grade fintech platform while his twin daughters were napping, bootstrapped it for seven years through 677 investor rejections, and is now rewiring the entire financial system. In this episode of TechMates, we sit down with Dermot Butterfield, the Founder and CEO of Wych, the startup building the essential "pipes" for Open Banking in Australia and New Zealand. Dermot’s founder journey is the definition of grit. While acting as a stay-at-home dad, he coded the first iteration of Wych during his twin daughters' nap times. Testing it on his own finances, he immediately found $1,200 in hidden savings—a "fk it" moment that led him to empty his savings, work three jobs simultaneously, and endure 677 investor rejections to bootstrap his company over seven grueling years. Dermot pulls back the curtain on the multi-billion-dollar Open Banking revolution that is finally wrestling data ownership away from legacy banks and handing it back to consumers. He breaks down the terrifying rise of AI-forged bank statements, the death of sketchy "screen scraping" (never give an app your bank password again!), and how Wych became the smallest accredited financial entity in Australia by automating everything. If you've ever wondered why big banks are so slow to innovate or what it really takes to survive enterprise sales, this is a masterclass in resilience and deep-tech execution. 👨‍👧‍👧 The Ultimate Bootstrap: Building a high-compliance fintech startup while raising twins and working 6 AM to 4 AM. 🔓 Open Banking 101: Why your financial data belongs to you, and how API "pipes" are killing the dangerous practice of screen scraping. 🏦 The Legacy Bank Trap: Why traditional "vault mentality" banks struggle to innovate, and how Wych helps them safely partner with nimble startups. 🤖 AI Document Fraud: How ChatGPT is being used to forge mortgage bank statements—and why Open Banking is the only secure solution. 💰 Surviving 677 "No's": The brutal reality of raising capital in New Zealand when your company size doesn't fit standard VC checkbooks. Connect with the Guest: Wych Website: https://www.wych.io/ Dermot Butterfield’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dermotbutterfield/ Links to NZVC & Hosts: 🔗 Learn more about NZVC: Website: https://www.nzvc.co.nz Mark Pavlyukovskyy - https://www.linkedin.com/in/pavlyukovskyy/ Hendrik Remigereau - https://www.linkedin.com/in/hendrik-remigereau-09a03067/ Timestamps: 00:00 - Introduction & Building Wych while the twins napped 04:11 - The "fk it" moment: Finding $1,200 in hidden subscriptions 08:06 - Open Banking Explained: Why your financial data is finally yours 12:06 - Wych’s role: The invisible pipes connecting banks to fintech apps 13:18 - Why big banks have a "vault mentality" and struggle to innovate 22:05 - Combating AI document fraud and forged bank statements 26:22 - Dermot’s origin story: Intel, global travel, and moving to NZ 33:23 - Becoming the smallest accredited bank-grade entity in Australia 35:33 - Bootstrapping for 7 years & facing 677 investor rejections 40:25 - The brutal personal cost of founding: "Startup body" and burnout 44:11 - "Don't quit on a bad day" & the power of founder resilience 57:05 - AI Data Privacy: Why Wych is a "pipe, not a reservoir" 1:00:54 - Imposter syndrome and making the transition from coder to CEO If you loved this raw look into the grueling reality of bootstrapping and the future of open finance, hit the Like button, drop a Comment on what surprised you most, and Subscribe to TechMates for more masterclasses with world-class founders! #startups, #fintech, #OpenBanking, #NewZealand, #bootstrapping, #venturecapital, #SaaS, #techpodcast, #DermotButterfield, #Wych, #founderjourney, #artificialintelligence, #banking, #cybersecurity, #dataownership, #TechMates, #NZVC, #entrepreneurship, #API, #innovation

How to Hit #1 on the App Store with a $0 Marketing Budget

She beat TikTok to #1 on the App Store with a $0 marketing budget—now this solo founder is using a consumer app as a "Trojan horse" to disrupt a multi-billion dollar legacy industry.🎧 Listen On: YouTube: https://lnkd.in/gQnb_WbB Spotify: https://spoti.fi/4is21QI Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/42KZ2x1Steph went from pressing API buttons at 15 to building Bonnet, which hit #1 on the App Store and gained 30,000 users in seven days with zero marketing budget. When government data pricing increased 3000% in three months, she discovered something remarkable in the user data: businesses were hijacking her consumer app to manage entire fleets. What started as a parts catalog idea became New Zealand's fastest-growing vehicle compliance platform, with 60,000 vehicles and expansion into Australia. This conversation reveals how childhood poverty drove entrepreneurial hunger, why nearly 50% of New Zealand cars drive illegally, and how making "billion-dollar decisions" means choosing international expansion over local optimization. Steph shares her contrarian take on technical co-founders, why AI is her secret weapon against legacy fleet software, and how she's building toward a global platform in 22 countries. 🔥 Poverty to Platform — How boning chickens at 8 and breeding pigeons built the work ethic behind a million-dollar business 🚗 Hidden Market Failure — Why half of New Zealand cars drive with expired warrants and how broken government systems create opportunity 📱 Accidental Viral Growth — From 700 downloads to 30,000 users in 7 days through one organic news story 💸 3000% Government Price Shock — When data costs jumped from 2 cents to 48 cents per query overnight 🏢 Consumer-to-B2B Pivot — How 100+ fleets demanding desktop features revealed the real business model 🤖 AI Competitive Moat — Deploying automation faster than 20-year-old legacy companies run by "big corporates, white old men" Guest links: Steph Kennard: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephkennard/ Bonnet: https://bonnet.co.nz NZVC links:Website: https://www.nzvc.co.nz Mark Pavlyukovskyy: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pavlyukovskyy/ Hendrik Remigereau: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hendrik-remigereau-09a03067/ Chapters: 00:00 From Poverty to Platform 05:00 Uncle Dave's Automotive Empire 12:00 Corporate Learning at Fiat Chrysler 19:01 Viral Growth and App Store Success 25:00 Government Data Price Shock 30:48 B2B Pivot Discovery 35:00 Fleet Management Goldmine 41:26 AI Strategy Against Legacy Software 45:00 Global Expansion Vision 54:07 Billion Dollar Decision Framework 57:56 Co-Founder Advice and Rapid Fire 👍 Hit the Like button if you've ever turned personal frustration into a business opportunity, 💬 Comment with your favorite takeaway, 🔔 Subscribe for weekly episodes #TechMates #NZVC #StephKennard #Bonnet #VentureCapital #NewZealandTech #FleetManagement #VehicleCompliance #StartupPivot #B2BPivot #ProductMarketFit #AIStrategy #GlobalExpansion #Entrepreneurship #StartupStory #TechPodcast #VCPodcast #SaaS #Automotive

Inside the Startups Bringing AI to the Physical World

Why is teaching a robot to fold your laundry actually harder than building an autonomous surgical robot or a self-driving car? In this episode of TechMates, we cut through the sci-fi hype of humanoid robots and dive into the gritty, high-stakes reality of deep tech. We sit down with three visionary founders—David Inggs, Nick Damiano, and Harrison Crowe-Maxwell—who are deploying autonomous systems into some of the most constrained and critical environments on Earth (and inside the human body). This conversation flips the script on everything you thought you knew about AI and robotics. David Inggs breaks down why general-purpose humanoids are still "0.1% of a human" and why specialized machines will dominate the home and military. Nick Damiano reveals the contrarian insight that drove his startup: operating on human anatomy is actually an easier autonomy problem than navigating self-driving cars through city traffic. Finally, we go underground to tackle the global water crisis, exploring how fleets of autonomous robots are being engineered to live inside high-pressure pipes, recharge themselves using water flow, and save the 30% of the world's drinking water that is currently lost to leaks. If you want to know what the next decade of physical AI actually looks like, hit play. 🤖 Hype vs. Reality: Why current humanoid robots are nowhere near ready to cook your dinner or fold your laundry. 🏥 Autonomous Surgery: Why the operating room is a safer, more predictable environment for AI than a public highway. 💧 The Global Water Crisis: How underground robot fleets are being built to prevent cities from hitting "Day Zero." 🔋 The Battery Problem: Why biological farm dogs and diesel engines still heavily outperform robotic dogs in the field. 🛠️ Disrupting Monopolies: How startups are targeting the $200B medical robotics industry by adding cognitive AI assistance. Connect with the Guests: David Inggs: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidinggs/ Nick Damiano: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nickdamiano/ Harrison Crowe-Maxwell: https://www.linkedin.com/in/harrison-crowe-maxwell/ Connect with NZVC & Hosts: 🔗 Learn more about NZVC: Website: https://www.nzvc.co.nz Mark Pavlyukovskyy - https://www.linkedin.com/in/pavlyukovskyy/ Hendrik Remigereau - https://www.linkedin.com/in/hendrik-remigereau-09a03067/ Timestamps: 00:00 Intro: The Reality of Robots in the Real World 01:09 Why Folding Laundry is the Ultimate Robotics Challenge 02:49 Factory Floors vs. Living Rooms: The Need for Constrained Spaces 04:48 Will You Have a Humanoid Robot or 10 Specialized Ones? 07:12 The Truth About Military Robots and Battery Limitations 08:37 Andromeda: Bringing Autonomous Robots into the Operating Room 09:01 Why Autonomous Surgery is Easier than Self-Driving Cars 11:06 Beyond DaVinci: Adding "Cognitive Assist" to Surgery 14:52 Saving Cities from Running Out of Water with Autonomous Subs 15:50 The Hidden Crisis: Why We Lose 30% of Global Drinking Water 18:01 The 3 Engineering Challenges of Building High-Pressure Pipe Robots If you enjoyed this deep dive into the hard tech shaping our physical world, please hit the Like button, Comment below on which autonomous robot you think will hit the mainstream first, and Subscribe for more high-impact conversations with world-class founders! #startups, #robotics, #NewZealand, #deeptech, #artificialintelligence, #surgery, #healthtech, #humanoids, #automation, #watercrisis, #infrastructure, #venturecapital, #techpodcast, #TechMates, #NZVC, #founders, #machinelearning, #hardware, #innovation, #futuretech

Meet the Founders Disrupting Australia & NZ's Banking Monopolies

What do you do when you're so frustrated with your legacy bank that you can't take it anymore? You hire a "Chief Imaginer" and build a financial app designed to rival Instagram and TikTok. In this episode of TechMates, we dive deep into the revolution ripping power away from massive banking monopolies and handing it back to consumers. We sit down with three heavyweights of the Australia/New Zealand fintech scene: Dom Pym (Up), Dermot Butterfield (Wych), and Leighton Roberts (Sharesies). This conversation peels back the curtain on how modern financial giants are built from the ground up. Dom Pym reveals the absurd reality of trying to start a bank (you need $100 million in reserve just to get the license) and why Up decided to benchmark its user engagement against social media titans instead of other banks. Dermot Butterfield breaks down the "Open Banking" revolution, explaining how Wych is building the invisible digital pipes that finally give you ownership of your own financial data. Finally, Leighton Roberts addresses the inevitable comparisons between Sharesies and Robinhood, explaining how their platform is moving beyond simple stock trading to use AI to scale personalized financial advice for their 800,000+ users. If you want to know where the future of your money is heading, this is a must-listen. 🏦 The Legacy Bank Trap: Why traditional, vault-mentality banks are fundamentally incapable of moving fast and innovating. 📱 Social Media Banking: How Up designed its interface to mimic the daily engagement of apps like Uber and TikTok. 🔓 The Open Banking Revolution: Dermot explains the death of sketchy "screen scraping" and how EU regulations birthed a secure data-sharing economy. 💸 Democratizing Wealth: Leighton's mission to give a user with $5 the exact same investment opportunities as a user with $5 million. ⚖️ The Robinhood Comparison: Why Sharesies embraces total consumer choice while heavily investing in financial education and AI-driven advice. 🏗️ Building Fintech Infrastructure: A look at the hidden B2B services (like registry businesses and secure data pipes) that power the apps you use every day. Connect with the Guests: Dom Pym (Up): https://www.linkedin.com/in/dompym/ Dermot Butterfield (Wych): https://www.linkedin.com/in/dermotbutterfield/ Leighton Roberts (Sharesies): https://www.linkedin.com/in/leightonroberts/ 🔗 Learn more about NZVC: Website: https://www.nzvc.co.nz Mark Pavlyukovskyy - https://www.linkedin.com/in/pavlyukovskyy/ Hendrik Remigereau - https://www.linkedin.com/in/hendrik-remigereau-09a03067/ 00:00 Intro: The AU/NZ Fintech Advantage 01:13 The Origin of Up: Built out of pure frustration 02:30 Why legacy banking software is broken 04:45 Hiring a "Chief Imaginer" to build the future 06:15 Banking vs. TikTok: The battle for engagement 06:53 What is Open Banking? (Explained for beginners) 08:20 The "Login with Google" moment for your bank account 11:27 How financial "pipes" and infrastructure work12:42 Why traditional banks have a "Vault Mentality" 13:50 Sharesies: Investing is no longer just for the rich 15:31 Beyond stocks: KiwiSaver and insurance 17:43 Education vs. Gambling: The Sharesies philosophy 18:39 Comparing the AU/NZ model to Robinhood If you enjoyed this inside look at the future of finance, hit the Like button, drop a Comment letting us know which fintech app you can't live without, and Subscribe to TechMates for more masterclasses with world-class founders! #fintech, #startups, #banking, #OpenBanking, #investing, #NewZealand, #Australia, #entrepreneurship, #UpBank, #Sharesies, #Wych, #wealth, #finance, #appdesign, #innovation, #SaaS, #venturecapital, #techpodcast, #TechMates, #NZVC