Technology should serve humans during the moments that matter most in our lives. 

I co-founded Vera to help families care for their ageing parents. After building products and teams at Google and Airtasker and advising and investing in numerous startups, I am applying my experience to solve this massive, often overlooked, problem. 

As well as my work at Vera, I co-host The Startup Podcast. TSP aims to provide actionable advice to founders looking to build a Silicon Valley-style startup, wherever they are in the world.

Meet Vera: https://vera.guide

Listen to The Startup Podcast: https://tsp.show


*My connection policy (tl;dr don't sell me stuff)*

I like to use LinkedIn as a way of building a community of interesting and interested people in technology and the technology industry. If you are:

-A software developer, product manager, designer, marketer anywhere in the world
-An organisational leader or manager in engineering or at a tech company
-Otherwise heavily involved in the tech industry

I'd be happy to connect! Even if we haven't met.

Even if you're not one of those things I'm probably happy to connect, as long as you don't immediately turn around and try to sell me something. If you do, I consider that a breach of trust and will block and report you.

Yaniv Bernstein

Sunday night. I'm on a plane, making multiple nontrivial changes to my product using Claude Code Web.

Don't listen to the haters, we live in an age of miracles.

Helping people care for ageing parents | The Startup Podcast

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I had a beer with one of Australia's best founders on Friday night, running a 9-figure company that will become a unicorn in the nearish future.

He was late, and sent me a text: "I have to wait for my agents to finish."

Ten minutes later, he showed up to the pub with an open laptop. "I figured I would just bring my agents with me". Every couple of minutes he would glance over at the screen to see what they were up to.

I wasn't mad. I understood. After all, I had kicked off two changes on Claude Code Web on my phone while I had been waiting.

Everybody is entitled to their own opinions, but not to their own facts. And here is a fact:

Every one of the best CEOs, CTOs, and business leaders I know is spending more time building than they have in years. They are AI-pilled, they are obsessed, and they are LOVING IT.

I've been in this game for 20 years now, and this does feel different. The way startups work is changing, and the change is coming from the top, driven by founders who have rediscovered the joy of building.

LinkedIn took away my 🤖 emoji, so I've updated my profile picture to include my little robot friend.

There's a club that more than 10% of Australians are members of...

...yet nobody talks about it.

...most of the members don't even know they've joined.

...and like the Hotel California, members can check out any time you like, but they can never leave.

It's Club Sandwich, the club for folks in the sandwich generation: juggling, work, kids, and ageing parents.

At Vera, Melissa and I are incredibly proud to have created the Club Sandwich podcast and community, hosted by the incomparable Sarah Macdonald.

Serious topics, discussed with warmth and humour by Sarah and our wonderful group of "Clubbers". 

Episode 1 dropped today, and is SO good. Get it in your ears now!

We're back baby!

After a couple of months off, The Startup Podcast is fresh in your feeds for 2026. With AI upending everything in startups, the discussions we are having with some of the best startup folks in the world are more important than ever.

Thanks to our marvellous sponsors .TECH Domains and Vanta for making this season possible.

Still reading? Why are you still here? Go get it in your ears now!

I know a number of you are jonesing for the 2026 season of The Startup Podcast to start.

Not long now! But in the meantime, here's a fun conversation I had with the marvellous Scotty Allen 🚌 on The Bootstrap- Startups from Scratch Podcast about what I've learned so far about building a startup in the AI era.

Tomorrow's episode of The Startup Podcast is with a founder who's started 10+ companies out of Silicon Valley, went through YC, was mentored by Paul Graham and Sam Altman, and regularly sits in rooms with Fortune 500 CEOs and unicorn founders.

She told me that this is the wildest time she has ever seen in Silicon Valley.

A few things we talked about:

The private anxiety among successful people in SF is the highest she's ever seen. 

She has a single interview question that she says now matters more than anything else on a candidate's resume.

She personally shows up at CEOs' offices and gives them three hours to build a working app. No delegating.

She told me why the era of loud, self-promoting founders raising big rounds is giving way to something much quieter.

Drops tomorrow. You do not want to miss it (trust me).

People | Tech | Community

FNDN
• Building startup compensation practices that clear, fair and competitive.

FNDN Series
• Insights and interviews showcasing startup people and compensation excellence.

Startup People Summit
• The 1-day virtual summit delivering the playbook on modern practices for building and scaling your startup people practice.

How to Become a HR Consultant
• Sharing every detail of taking a business from zero to $500k in revenue per year.

Matt McFarlane

We need to talk about the menstrual cycle.
 
This will come as a surprise to nobody, but I knew next to nothing about the menstrual cycle.
 
Then I sat down with Carmen Amador Barreiro and I realised just how much of an impact it has — not just on people, but on workplaces.
 
Things like:
– 45% of menstruating employees miss work due to cycle-related symptoms.
– Nearly 95% of workplaces offer zero support or benefits to address this.
 
And that Spain implemented menstrual leave three years ago. But almost no one takes it.
 
That last bit is the one that surprised me most.
 
I've spent years in People teams, built comp frameworks, designed policies, written about workplace performance. But this? This massive thing affecting half the workforce?
 
I had no real understanding of it.
 
Not about the issue, or the impact, or what it actually means for how people show up to work.
 
What was clear to me after this conversation, is that policies alone (even when well intentioned) won't solve this problem.
 
It has to come from within the organisations that actually want to support their people.
 
You can have the most progressive leave policy in the world, but if your people don't feel safe using it, you've just created expensive window dressing.
 
Thankfully I had an expert to help me understand how organisations can do this.
 
Carmen is a business psychologist and founder of The Cycle Method, and she knows how companies are getting this right — because she's helping them do it.
 
Carmen made a point that reframed how I think about this:

– policy without culture is performative.
 
Before you rush to implement menstrual leave, you need to start with demystifying the conversation.
 
Create psychological safety first. Then the policies actually get used.
 
This isn't just a women's issue (although it disproportionately affects them). It's a workplace performance issue.
 
When half your workforce is navigating something that impacts their productivity, energy, and wellbeing, and you're pretending it doesn't exist, you're leaving performance on the table.
 
The businesses that will win here are the ones that:
– Make it safe to talk about the menstrual cycle without stigma
– Train managers to understand and support their people (I needed this training too)
– Build flexibility into how work gets done (not just leave policies)
– Recognise that bodies come to the workplace
 
Start with awareness. I did.
 
Have the conversation. Listen to what your people are experiencing.
 
The next edition of the FNDN Series drops soon, and has my full conversation with Carmen on this topic.
 
If you want to learn alongside me about how to bring this into your workplace in a practical way, sign up for the newsletter to get it when it drops: https://lnkd.in/gUTnpE_s

Building startup compensation practices 👉 Compensation Philosophy + Job levels + Salary bands.

There's a lot of people I disagree with in the world of HR — but it's time to name names.
 
- Kim Minnick
- 🏡 Kim Rohrer (she/her)
- James A Seechurn
 
These three think pay for performance is *bad* and that you *shouldn't* do it.
 
And they're wrong (obviously).
 
We all disagree with each other so much that we're getting on a (virtual) stage to *actually* debate it.
 
And to even things out, I'm bringing some pals to show them how wrong they are.
 
And I've got some heavy hitters: 
Mark Frein and Jessica Z., are helping me fight the good fight.
 
We've also got Jessie Schofer, who has the unenviable position of keeping us all in line, as MC 🥊
 
Because this is going to be so ferocious, we're streaming it live for you to watch.
 
Not just that, we'll need your help to judge the winner. 

So why not join us?
 
We'll be live in your part of the world:
- Sydney: 5am on the 6th March
- New York: 1pm on the 5th March
- San Francisco: 10am on the 5th March
- London: 6pm on the 5th March
- Berlin: 7pm on the 5th March
 
Register here: https://luma.com/5b0jkc51
 
And a massive thank you to our legendary partners for helping us make this happen: Pave, Pando and Shapes (formerly DreamTeam) - all incredible products, many I've had the pleasure of actually using.

Th Great HR Debate

I've had this conversation more times than I'd like to admit.

An employee says they're burnt out. And my instinct — the one I've been trained into believing — is to start stacking:

"We have EAP. There's mental health days. Have you tried the meditation app? What about flexible working?"

It's wellbeing stacking.

Piling programs on top of programs like a jenga tower of support.

And the whole time, I'm missing the point.

Because the solution isn't another program. It's sitting right in front of me (of all of us) — and it doesn't cost a cent or require another people program.

I just wrapped a conversation with Nav, a fractional CTO who's been through the burnout wringer in startups. And what became clear is this: burnout doesn't get solved by policies. It gets solved by managers who give a shit.

- Not managers who are trained to spot the signs.
- Not managers who have a burnout prevention framework.
- Managers who treat their direct reports like humans and have actual conversations.

Here's what that looks like in practice:

Your best engineer is logging insane hours. They seem engaged, productive, even energised. Do you:
- Trust they know their limits and leave them to it?
- Or check in to make sure they're not slowly cooking themselves?

The answer isn't a policy. It's a conversation.

"Hey, I'm noticing you're doing a lot. How are you actually feeling about this?"

And then — and this is the part most managers miss — you actually *listen* to the answer. 

Not to assess risk. 
Not to tick a box. 
But to understand whether this person is thriving or heading for a wall.

The irony? 

Every time I stacked another wellbeing program, I'm probably making it worse. Because I'm reinforcing the idea that burnout is an individual problem that needs an individual solution. 

When really, it's baked into how we work — and it gets fixed by changing how managers show up.

Your manager isn't your therapist. They're not even necessarily your mentor. But they are managing a human being. And if they can't have a real conversation about workload, energy levels, and sustainability, then no amount of yoga subscriptions will fix that.

In this week's FNDN Series, Nav and I break down what burnout actually is (and isn't), why personal responsibility and organisational awareness both matter, and how to create an environment where people can speak up before they're already fried.

Read, listen or watch the full conversation here: https://lnkd.in/g_VaRmnJ

Over the weekend I read 25+ compensation philosophies to see what actually works.
Here's what the best ones do differently:

1. They explain how salaries are determined

Most comp philosophies tell you what they value. 

The good ones tell you how that translates into actual numbers. 
- Market positioning. 
- Salary bands. 
- Geographic adjustments. 

The formula behind the offers people get.

If your team can't trace the line from "we pay competitively" to their actual salary, you haven't explained it.

2. They nail the basics

- When are salaries reviewed? 
- Who's eligible for equity? 
- What happens if you get promoted mid-cycle?

The best philosophies don't assume people know this stuff. They spell it out. Because the basics are where most confusion (and resentment) lives.

3. They clarify who does what

Are managers involved in comp decisions, or just messengers? 

Does HR set bands or approve exceptions? 

Who actually signs off on offers?

Comp breaks down when people don't know who owns the decision. 

The best philosophies map this out clearly so there's no guessing.

Building your own comp philosophy? I've compiled a list of the best examples from companies doing this well.

You can grab them here: https://lnkd.in/gSSHpyqV

What's one thing you'd put in a comp philosophy?

Every few weeks someone asks me: "How do you actually learn comp for startups?"
Here's what I tell them.

I've never done a comp course.

Two things have helped me most:
- Doing the work
- Learning from people who are way better at it than me

And even now — even after dedicating myself to comp — I'd bet I know about 10% of this genuinely deep and complex field.

So in pursuit of that other 90% (pipe dream, I know), I'm religious about following people who don't hoard their knowledge. 

They share their thinking openly, and they make the rest of us better.

Here are the ones you should be following for practical comp education:

Paul Reiman — 20+ years of comp experience, a data-first mindset, and strong enough views to call himself a "Compensation Trouble Maker".

Martin Smit — doing some of the most interesting build-in-public work at the intersection of comp and AI. Follow for tools and resources you'll actually use.

Justin Hampton, CCP — If you want practical over theoretical, Justin's your person, and he's dropping some routinely great data and insights.

Giac Soliman — one of the clearest voices on how AI is changing comp and what that means for practitioners right now — both the what and the how.

Matt Schulman — CEO of Pave and one of the best data-grounded takes on what's actually happening in comp at an industry level. If you want to know what the numbers are saying, Matt's got you.

Vaso Parisinou — CPO at Ravio, sharing real stories from the frontlines of comp at some of Europe's biggest startups. Rare, honest perspective you won't find anywhere else.

Lola Han — founder of Kamsa and one of the most practical thinkers on what a modern comp strategy actually looks like when it's working.

Amee Parekh — brings lessons earned at some of the US's biggest scaleups (Uber, Hims & Hers). High-calibre, no-fluff comp thinking.

Denise Liebetrau, MBA, CDI.D, CCP, GRP — consistently drops deeply insightful posts on how comp is showing up in workplaces, and it's both deeply practical and insightful. Always worth reading.

James A Seechurn — author of What Pay Costs (one of my favourite comp books), and even though I'm about to debate him on pay for performance... one of the genuinely good ones.

Bryan Briscoe — you'll start following for the workplace stories. You'll stay for the brilliance on comp practices.

The cool thing about tagging all of these people (most of whom I've had the fortune to speak with) is that they're extraordinarily generous with their support of others in this space. So I'm counting on them to help make this list even more complete.

Do your thang, network.

Melbourne HR people! If you've got a quiet Thursday night planned, think again.
I'm in town, and I'd love to hang!

I'll be at HiBob's IRL launch of the In Good Company community, at the Commons QV in the city.

There will be:
- Food (yay)
- Drink (double yay)
- Good hangs, with
- Good people.

Yes, you will have to hear me talk (sorry).

BUT

Then you get to hear even smarter people join the convo as Sabrina, Jodi Rosenthal and Elise Morris jump in to chat about the challenges we're facing as a people profession. 

(hint: there's a lot, and you gotta be ready for it)

That aside, if you'd love to grab a drink and say g'day, I'd love to see you there.

There's other legends coming too like Adam Axon, Deepak Singh and Lisa Lie so you'll be in good company (😏)

Throw your name down here: https://lnkd.in/gmVsXhh3

We're literally *not* recording this. It lives and dies in the moment that it happens.

There's a lot of people I disagree with in the world of HR — but it's time to name names.
 
- Kim Minnick
- 🏡 Kim Rohrer (she/her)
- James A Seechurn
 
These three think pay for performance is *bad* and that you *shouldn't* do it.
 
And they're wrong (obviously).
 
We all disagree with each other so much that we're getting on a (virtual) stage to *actually* debate it.
 
And to even things out, I'm bringing some pals to show them how wrong they are.
 
And I've got some heavy hitters: 
Mark Frein and Jessica Zwaan, are helping me fight the good fight.
 
We've also got Jessie Schofer, who has the unenviable position of keeping us all in line, as MC 🥊
 
Because this is going to be so ferocious, we're streaming it live for you to watch.
 
Not just that, we'll need your help to judge the winner. 

So why not join us?
 
We'll be live in your part of the world:
- Sydney: 5am on the 6th March
- New York: 1pm on the 5th March
- San Francisco: 10am on the 5th March
- London: 6pm on the 5th March
- Berlin: 7pm on the 5th March
 
Register here: https://luma.com/5b0jkc51
 
And a massive thank you to our legendary partners for helping us make this happen: Pave, Pando and Shapes (formerly DreamTeam) - all incredible products, many I've had the pleasure of actually using.

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The Battle

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