The secret’s out — our co-founders Sali Sasi and Julie Stevanja have launched a podcast, lifting the lid on the thrills and spills of what it’s like to work in tech-driven businesses.
The Flipside, powered by Samsung Galaxy, presented by POPSUGAR Australia, is taking a deep dive into the realities of business — across a range of areas, from business, brands and technology — delivered with the pair’s signature honest and insightful lens.
Each week, Sali and Julie will pick the brains of some of Australia’s most successful entrepreneurs and creators, delving into the stories of how their big ideas came to life. That includes the highs, the lows and of course, the learnings.
Guests include entrepreneur Lillian Ahenkhan (Flex Mami), Sunroom co-founders, Michelle Battersby and Lucy Mort, web3 digital marketing expert Lisa Teh and Zero Co’s Mike Smith.
Across the 8-episode series, listeners will also find an exclusive, timed offer from one of Her Black Book’s Brand Partners, including Bangn Body, In The Roundhouse, Modi Bodi and Naked Sundays.
To kick things off, the twin sisters share a candid chat, taking a trip down memory lane to revisit their Stylerunner days, and looking back on some insightful revelations as second time founders (including what word not to use in a capital raise pitch deck).
For the first time, Julie also opens up about the moment she found out Sali had breast cancer at age 27, and even come clean on each other’s childhood secrets. (Spoiler alert: one of them did maths competitions).
“We are so excited to see this podcast series come to life. It’s an opportunity for us to connect with our community on a more intimate level and share the compelling journeys of other STEM-industry founders and professionals,” say Sali.
“We feel so honoured to have attracted such an impressive guest lineup and are grateful for their willingness to speak unfiltered, sharing the warts-and-all reality of working in tech-driven business,” Stevanja adds.
The first episode of The Flipside with Her Black Book, powered by Samsung Galaxy, presented by POPSUGAR Australia is available to stream from 5am, Thursday September 1st, from wherever you get your podcasts.
Here, the three lessons we learnt from Sali and Julie’s episode.
Any founder will already know, it’s no easy feat to take your business from idea to conception. And it might seem from the outset that everybody knows exactly what they’re doing, but in reality, it’s all about putting in the work and doing the research.
From retail conferences to seminars, entrepreneur group sessions and individual research, Sali and Julie did it all in the early days of Stylerunner, something the pair admits helped make the business such a success.
“I literally Googled everything I had to do,” Julie reflects. “I just did it the best I knew how, went and researched it and became good at it until we had the funds to hire people.”
Any founder will already know, it’s no easy feat to take your business from idea to conception. And it might seem from the outset that everybody knows exactly what they’re doing, but in reality, it’s all about putting in the work and doing the research.
From retail conferences to seminars, entrepreneur group sessions and individual research, Sali and Julie did it all in the early days of Stylerunner, something the pair admits helped make the business such a success.
“I literally Googled everything I had to do,” Julie reflects. “I just did it the best I knew how, went and researched it and became good at it until we had the funds to hire people.”
Pitching to investors or VC’s is an inevitable part of growing and scaling a business, and it’s often one of the trickiest roads to navigate, as Sali and Julie explain. Through their experiences, they’ve learnt a few things, including the right terminology to use to get their ideas over the line.
“You would think that venture capital is interested in innovation, but I actually read to not use the word ‘innovative’ in your pitch deck, because innovation means it hasn’t been done before and it’s a risk,” says Julie. “You’ve got to understand things from their point of view too, every venture capital or private equity firm, they are trying to make money for their limited partners who have invested in them, but they also do need to manage the risk. Unfortunately, that’s the reality.”
“They want to back innovation, but only if it’s been tried and tested,” adds Sali.
Sali notes it’s important to always remember that people do business with people, and that relationships are a key factor of success.
As for Julie, she notes the famous story of the farmer and the horse, an adage that explains that nobody knows if something is going to be good or bad, until enough time has past.
