Long-form conversations with Australian service-business founders — trades, construction, advisory, agencies. The wins, the losses, and the messy middle of scaling past yourself. Hosted by Tristan Wright. Semi-weekly. 62 episodes.
Australian–English film producer and director Cameron Watt on burning the boats, selling his house and car to start Skie Video, scaling to eight staff and pivoting back to a leaner model. The two-week holiday test. Hiring for grit. Why a health scare refocused everything on people and presence.
Katherine Tuominen on building Catalyst Brand Strategy across timezones with a remote team in the US, Philippines and Europe — and the async workflows, zone-of-genius roles, and AI-without-trashing-brand-voice playbook that makes it work.
Listen on Apple Podcasts →Maria Kathopoulis of UNTMD Media on losing $50–150K to agencies that couldn’t produce clarity, jumping into Meta Ads herself, scaling brands to eight-figure revenues, and engineering marketing ecosystems built on commercial outcomes — not vanity metrics.
Listen on Apple Podcasts →Brendan Ellich on growing BluFire from a "why not" freelance experiment during COVID into a Melbourne paid-media agency working with 7-8 figure service businesses. Retainer model, ad-spend tiers, weekly lead-quality conversations.
Listen on Apple Podcasts →Maxim Claes of Media Waffle on niching down exclusively into beauty and aesthetic clinics, the cycles of momentum → complacency → rebuild, and why habits and structure beat hustle and more information.
Listen on Apple Podcasts →14 years inside the evolution of social-driven e-commerce. Simon on the realities of hitting rock bottom, finding direction through mentorship, and rebuilding with The Ecommerce Accelerator.
Listen on Apple Podcasts →Chris Hogan of MeMedia on two decades in marketing — burnout, "infinite loops", small sparks of progress, and why "you can’t ride two horses with one arse" is the focus rule every founder needs.
Listen on Apple Podcasts →Lex Stanley of Vastly Digital on "corporate punk" — old-school customer service with a modern rebellious edge. Saying no to bad-fit projects, building culture, the cost of payroll anxiety.
Listen on Apple Podcasts →The complete back catalogue — every episode of The Growth Equation, with show notes and guest links — lives on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and YouTube.
Open archive →New episode semi-weekly. No filler. No sponsor reads.
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