Afleveringen
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Audrey runs Mapo Studio, offering product design for AI-first startups and scaleups like Heidi Health, Relevance AI, Eucalyptus and Lorikeet. She's also grown to over 100K followers across social media platforms, posting about working in tech, freelancing and running a business.
In this episode, Audrey and Saurav talk about the importance of asking for what you want, what good AI product design looks like, the mindset you need to be a content creator and increasing your surface area for luck.
Timestamps:
00:00 - Cold open
00:54 - Introduction
02:29 - Childhood and early lessons
05:03 - Early career experimentation
08:24 - What makes good product design
09:47 - The freelancing journey
13:38 - Working at Lorikeet
16:20 - Relaunching Mapo Studio
18:33 - Why chat is a lazy default in AI product design
21:02 - A week in Audrey's life
22:08 - Habits for successful content creation
28:49 - Retirement as freedom from money-first decisions
31:21 - The importance of luck
33:19 - Writing cold emails that work
37:00 - nonlinear's 3 closing questions
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Jessy Wu spent seven years as a management consultant and VC investor before walking away to do two things: start a business and write a novel. A year and a half later, she's done both — running her comms agency, Encour, and publishing her debut novel, Good Intentions.
In this episode, Jessy and Saurav talk about why she left a stable career in finance to chase writing, how she turned her real experience in VC, consulting, and journalism into fiction, why she's willing to be a "trailblazer and a firebrand" on LinkedIn even when it invites backlash and how she's trying to make a full-time career as a writer.
Timestamps:
00:00 - Cold open and Intro
03:42 - Early reactions to Good Intentions
05:10 - The pivot from VC/consulting into the arts
08:24 - The intersection of art and commerce
11:39 - How Jessy's experiences shaped Good Intentions
13:00 - The purpose of good writing17:29 - The early drafts of Good Intentions
20:26 - The writing and publishing process
28:08 - Personal branding and being outspoken online
31:59 - Making a career as a writer
39:38 - What's next
40:59 - Advice for anyone with a creative itch and a corporate job
43:52 - nonlinear's 3 closing questions
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Zijn er afleveringen die ontbreken?
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Vidit Agarwal is the Founder & CEO of Curiosity Centre, an Insights, Marketing & Consulting Firm trusted across the USA, Australia, India and New Zealand.
He also hosts The High Flyers podcast, releasing over 250 episodes with senior leaders in tech, government, sports and beyond.
But the path here was anything but linear. A below-average ATAR, a pathway diploma at RMIT, three years at Coles, a quick jump into startup land, a stint at P&G and then a move to Sydney just weeks before COVID hit — losing two jobs in eight weeks in a city where he barely knew anyone.
That was the fuel to start The High Flyers Podcast, the lockdown project that soon became a calling.
Timestamps:
00:00 — Introduction
03:00 — Vidit's formative years
05:15 — Vidit's influences growing up
08:15 — A low ATAR and finding the "third door"
13:30 — The Coles internship
16:24 — What a mentor saw in Vidit in his early career20:20 — Heading to startup land
22:30 — The P&G experience at Gillette
24:30 — Moving to Sydney; COVID and two lost jobs
26:00 — Why he started the High Flyers Podcast
30:35 — The craft of interviewing: curiosity-first
37:30 — How Vidit's concept of a "high-flyer" has evolved
39:40 — Building The Curiosity Centre
49:10 — Balancing the different verticals of The Curiosity Centre
51:00 — The value of having a financial safety net
56:00 — Luck and the surface area of opportunity
57:30 — nonlinear's 3 ending questions
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Franko Ali has spent over a decade in marketing and storytelling, from growing YouTube channels at Discovery Media in San Francisco to brand-building for one of Australia's leading venture capital firms.
This year, he's taking a sabbatical to reset while still staying in motion. He's helping to launch Build Australia: a grassroots movement turning collective anxiety about the future into something optimistic.
Timestamps:
00:00 - Opening highlight and introduction
01:39 - The link between marketing and optimism
03:50 - Growing up in California, Steiner schools and accidental stoicism
10:13 - How the early internet influenced Franko
17:30 - Going viral on Facebook while in college
19:00 - Franko's early career in media at Discovery
25:24 - The move to Australia
29:44 - Finding community as an outsider
32:15 - Working in tech and VC in Australia
45:00 - Franko's sabbatical experience
49:08 - Build Australia: turning anxiety into a national optimism movement
59:27 - AI content overload and the fear of losing our humanity
1:04:12 - nonlinear's 3 ending questions
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🎙 ABOUT NONLINEAR
nonlinear is the podcast about the messy, winding path to doing meaningful work. Each episode, host Saurav Risbud sits down with someone who took an unconventional route, whether that's starting a company, taking a sabbatical, or finding meaning beyond a job title.Subscribe and share with someone who's figuring out their next move.
