From a Secondhand Desk to a $120M Exit: Mark Samlal's Story

From a Secondhand Desk to a $120M Exit: Mark Samlal's Story

Mark Samlal grew up as one of the only Indian families in a small Perth township, went on to co-found a payroll company from a secondhand desk in Singapore with his wife Samantha, and eventually listed it on the ASX as PayGroup. In 2022 Deel acquired the business in an all-cash deal worth $120M at a 143% premium to market. In this conversation Mark talks about the racism he faced growing up, the "4 or out the door" sales mentality that shaped his early career, what it actually feels like to run a public company, and why he's stayed on at Deel almost four years after the acquisition. He also opens up about the guilt of building a business while raising three daughters, and the pull he's feeling to reconnect with his roots in Fiji and India. TIMESTAMPS 00:00 – Cold open: race, accountability, and the "4 or out the door" origin story 01:55 – Younger Mark: born in Fiji, his father's journey from teacher to social worker 09:23 – University, meeting Samantha, and the early grind in real estate 15:56 – Into telecom, then payroll software — learning on the job 21:43 – Meeting mentor Phil Cave and turning around Lendlease Employer Services 32:40 – Racism growing up and being "the only brown person in the room" 37:59 – The move to Singapore and building the Sharks Basketball community 43:13 – Running multiple businesses at once and bootstrapping PayAsia with Samantha 51:25 – Skipping VC/PE, and what it's really like leading a public company 1:05:36 – COVID, 3 acquisitions, and the road to the Deel deal 1:09:52 – The Deel acquisition: $120M all-cash, 143% premium 1:13:34 – Culture shock joining Deel, AI's impact on HR/payroll, and why he's stayed 1:27:03 – Raising 3 daughters, fatherhood, and business regrets 1:38:34 – The Pingyao story, undervaluing Asian entrepreneurs, and where he's headed next 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

Taryn Williams: Building and Exiting 6 Companies and the Cost No One Talks About, where humans sit in the creator economy and AI Slop

Taryn Williams started her first company, Wink Models, at 21 with $30,000 and no roadmap. She didn't stop there. Over the next two decades she built and ran a string of ventures, the talent marketplace The Right Fit (backed by Airtree, scaled to 17,000 talent and 11,000 clients across APAC), The Influencers Agency, the contra-gifting platform #Gifted, the B2B talent business Notable, and Online Model Academy, exiting two of them to international acquirers in 2023. Today she sits across boards, invests as an angel, and advises organisations on AI transformation with Think & Grow. In this episode Pauline sits down with Taryn for an honest conversation about what it actually costs to build like this: why and how she runs multiple companies at once, why she loves the 0-to-2-year stage and does not want to be the CEO, and the quieter things founders rarely say out loud, the toll on her relationships and health, freezing her eggs at 35 and what she wishes she'd known about fertility, and the mentor question she still works through every day: when is enough, enough? Plus sharp takes on AI, the creator economy, "AI slop", and whether AI will replace human models. Time Stamps 00:00 - Cold open: "I was 21 when I started Wink" 01:20 - Welcome — meeting Taryn at South Start, and the snapshot of a serial founder 04:08 - Scouted at 15: modelling as an accidental business education 06:21 - Starting Wink Models at 21 — fixing a broken, fragmented industry 09:04 - Building the first tech product (and the trap of gold-plating instead of an MVP) 12:21 - Launching The Right Fit and raising capital from Airtree 17:56 - How big Wink and The Right Fit actually grew 19:34 - Running multiple companies at once — and stepping fully out of Wink 22:13 - #Gifted, Notable and Online Model Academy: "every year, birth a new child" 28:27 - Why it isn't "the Taryn Williams show" 31:37 - The 2023 exits: running a formal process and the transition 38:56 - The real cost: relationships, health and never being fully switched off 43:27 - Fertility, freezing eggs at 35, and what no one tells you early enough 50:15 - From operator to board chair — breaking the habit of being all-in 54:17 - Why every founder should understand governance (the AICD course) 56:28 - In the investor seat: what Taryn backs and the founders she looks for 59:33 - Advising on AI transformation with Think & Grow 64:56 - AI, creators and the "AI slop" problem 69:07 - Will AI models replace human talent in advertising? 73:32 - Dating, connection and AI: why we've lost the resilience for friction 80:45 - Tying self-worth to success — the question she still works through 85:16 - One thing she knows to be true that the world hasn't caught up on yet 87:36 - Close Links Wink Models — https://www.winkmodels.com.au [https://www.winkmodels.com.au] Airtree Ventures — https://www.airtree.vc [https://www.airtree.vc] Think & Grow — https://www.thinkandgrow.com [https://www.thinkandgrow.com] Australian Institute of Company Directors (AICD) — https://www.aicd.com.au [https://www.aicd.com.au] Perspective X is produced by Day One — the podcast network for founders, operators and investors — https://www.dayone.fm [https://www.dayone.fm] Mentioned in this episode: Deel x PX_Script 2 Deel x PX_Script 1 Day One sting

She Lost the Company She Built — Not Herself: Yas Grigaliunas (Part 2)

She raised $4 million just before Christmas, moved out of her marital home inside sixty days, and came back from a two-week break to find an interim CEO appointed and the doors of her own company closed to her. In Part 2 of her Perspective X conversation with Pauline Fetaui, Yas Grigaliunas tells the part founders almost never say out loud: nine months locked out of World's Biggest Garage Sale, watching the brand she built be steered somewhere she would never have taken it. Yas walks through the pattern that ran underneath the whole journey — high highs and low lows landing on top of each other. The Lord Mayor's award the same week her mum died. The $4 million raise the same month as her divorce. And then "prove your value, Yas" — sell to customers from home, no access to the product, no hand in the brand, while a million dollars of the raise went on things she would never have signed off. She is unsparing but never vengeful about the board and advisers who did it. Two truths can be true at once, she says: they believed they were giving her space to manage a hard year; what it actually was, was a displacement. It took a founder friend shoving a lawyer's number at her in a bar to get her back inside the company she still majority-owned. The numbers tell the rest. A $200,000 Ignite Ideas grant ten days before liquidation. A $20-odd million large global retailer partnership ready to sign. A $6,000 bank balance the month after half a million in revenue. Yas unpacks the over-engineered structure, the siloed executives, the curated board papers, and the moment the safe-harbour report from BDO finally backed what she had been saying all along. What she does with the ending is the lesson. She rang every investor by phone before the liquidation notice went public. She traded through so staff got their final pay. She stayed thirty days after the liquidator was appointed to hand back a spotless warehouse — because, as her liquidator put it, the best stay and the worst disappear. There is also the human spine of it: building a team around neurodiverse people and "the cracks you can't see", the scars she is not ashamed of, and her daughters watching her lose everything and land — without, in their eyes, any effort — back at Videopro, the company she helped build twenty years ago. "I lost my company," she says, "but I didn't lose myself." Yas Grigaliunas is the founder of World's Biggest Garage Sale and Circonomy, a pioneer of Australia's circular economy who raised $4 million and partnered with a large domestic retailer before the company went into liquidation in 2024. She is now part of the leadership team at Videopro. Links: - Day One: https://dayone.fm [https://dayone.fm] - Join the Day One newsletter: https://dayone.fm/newsletter [https://dayone.fm/newsletter] - Videopro: https://www.videopro.com.au [https://www.videopro.com.au] - Deel (sponsor): https://www.deel.com/dayone [https://www.deel.com/dayone] If it doesn't feel right, it probably isn't. This is Perspective X. 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 [https://www.deel.com/dayone] Episode Summary Part 2 of Yas Grigaliunas on Perspective X is the harder chapter: the $4 million raise, the divorce, and nine months locked out of the company she founded. She walks through the liquidation of World's Biggest Garage Sale — the large global retailer deal, the grant, the $6,000 bank balance — and how she led the ending with integrity, then landed back at Videopro. She lost the company. She did not lose herself. Time Stamps 00:00 - The part no one tells 00:51 - Building a team around neurodiversity 08:49 - Leading the narrative into liquidation 10:43 - High highs, low lows: the pattern 12:03 - Raised $4M, then locked out 14:10 - "Prove your value": nine months outside 19:43 - When founders take the fall in silence 21:19 - Two truths about the board 28:13 - The large global retailer deal and the $6,000 call 38:29 - Closing the company with integrity 47:40 - Lessons for founders raising capital 55:21 - Landing back at Videopro 66:53 - What the world hasn't caught up on About the host Pauline Fetaui hosts Perspective X, drawing out the founder stories that usually stay hidden — the cost, the conviction, and the decisions made under real pressure. About Day One Network Perspective X is part of Day One, the podcast network dedicated to founders, operators and investors. To learn more, join our newsletter (https://dayone.fm/newsletter) [https://dayone.fm/newsletter)] to be notified of new and upcoming shows. Day One helps founders and startup operators make better business decisions more often. Follow our socials 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 1 Day One sting Deel x PX_Script 2

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