Episode Summary

Blackbird partner Tom has spent the last decade obsessing over one thing: why Australia talks about innovation from a place of doubt, while the US talks about it from a place of opportunity.

From buying BHP as a kid through his parents, to operating at Canopy before it was acquired, to spending most of the 2010s investing out of Colorado and now back in Australia at Blackbird, Tom has seen both sides of the talent arbitrage.

In this episode of First Cheque, Tom joins Maxine and Cheryl to share why 8 percent of all AI experts in Asia-Pac are based in Australia, why we have more AI PhDs than any other country in the world and why no one is celebrating it, and what it really means that 88 percent of our PhD students are immigrated talent. They also dive deep into why commercialization is still broken, how Foundry and Baker Street are trying to fix the bridge from lab to seed, and why product-led growth is not dead — it just changed.

Tom also reflects on the boomerang effect, the R and D tax credit as Australia's secret weapon, and why the next decade of Australian companies will be built with a base in Australia and a base on the West Coast.

Time Stamps

00:00:00 - Intro: Doubt versus opportunity

00:01:12 - Hey, I'm Cheryl. I'm Maxine. This is First Cheque

00:03:45 - What was the first thing you ever invested in? BHP and the Canva vs BHP math

00:05:51 - Invest early and hold: learning compounding from his parents

00:06:52 - Invest America: what happens when every kid gets $1,000 to compound until 18

00:08:14 - Robinhood, retail, and the new CEO playbook

00:11:02 - Why aren't we more excited about Australia? The AFR talent piece

00:12:29 - 8 percent of Asia-Pac AI experts are in Australia and we have 6 of the top 100 AI universities

00:13:59 - The output story: 6 foundational models trained in Australia, Leonardo at number 5 globally

00:16:52 - Why Australia builds global-first: Heidi and Leonardo are 90 percent offshore revenue

00:18:20 - The cost of not celebrating: US pre-seed up 70 percent, Australia going backwards

00:20:33 - Capital constrained but the most capital efficient market in the world

00:21:31 - Sourcing from universities: the good and the bad

00:23:20 - Why we are last on the OECD for commercialization: Google Maps, Wi-Fi, and Bluey

00:25:10 - What is working: UNSW 10x, Melbourne NextGen, and defence tech accelerators

00:27:28 - Baker Street and the rise of alumni syndicates

00:28:40 - Foundry: building the bridge from lab to seed round

00:30:18 - What this means for your average angel investor

00:30:42 - Grading Australian talent: from C minus to B minus

00:31:16 - Two types of AI talent: engineering versus research PhDs

00:32:54 - The boomerang effect: Jesse Clark and why top researchers will come back

00:33:41 - The Australia plus US operating model and the 14-hour flight

00:35:13 - Talent arbitrage and the 43 cent R and D secret weapon

00:36:45 - Do you take a talent haircut outside the Bay Area? No.

00:39:18 - Is product-led growth out of vogue? 2019 to 2021 and why Australia got so good at it

00:41:14 - What PLG actually is: methodology, not freemium

00:44:15 - AI agents in the sales funnel and why go-to-market feels stale

00:46:15 - Back to the Stone Ages: brand, community, podcasts, and in-person events

00:49:47 - Building in public, hype cycles, and Manus AI

00:51:20 - Why enterprise is coming earlier: 2023 consumer AI, 2024 prosumer AI, 2025 enterprise AI

00:53:18 - Single-player versus multiplayer mode: why AI changes the buyer

00:57:48 - Palantir, CrowdStrike, and when enterprise motion makes sense

00:59:20 - What does a capital-starved ecosystem mean for enterprise go-to-market

01:00:38 - Biggest big cojones moment: 3 boys under 6 with a founder CEO wife

Resources

Sponsors:

First Cheque is supported by our wonderful sponsors:

Deel: Global hiring and payroll can be a headache. Deel brings HR, IT and payroll together in one platform, helping companies including Shopify, Revolut and ElevenLabs scale internationally.

Ready to expand your business?

Build your global team with Deel at deel.com/dayone.

___

Pear Tree: Pear Tree helps Australian and New Zealand founders build high-performing offshore teams without the agency middleman.

As local hiring becomes more expensive and harder to fill, many operators are turning to offshore talent across engineering, development, marketing, accounting and operations at a fraction of local salary costs.

The offshore horror stories you hear usually aren’t a talent problem. They’re the result of outsourcing agencies that overcharge clients while underpaying staff. Pear Tree takes a different approach through a direct, transparent model where your team is paid fairly, fully compliant, and focused entirely on your business.

As part of the Day One community, you’ll receive a free team audit to identify where offshore talent could move the needle in your business, plus 20% off your first hire. Learn more at http://dayone.fm/peartree

First Cheque is part of Day One.

Day One helps founders and startup operators make better business decisions more often.

To learn more, join our newsletter to be notified of new First Cheque episodes and upcoming shows.

Mentioned in this episode:

Pear Tree

If you're a founder or operator trying to scale, here's the reality — Australian hiring is getting harder, salaries are at record highs, and the talent you need is increasingly out of reach. The best operators are quietly building offshore teams of engineers, marketers, accountants and analysts at a fraction of the cost. Pear Tree does it differently. We headhunt highly skilled talent from the Philippines and South Africa with full transparency on where every dollar goes, so your team is paid fairly and fully focused on your business. As a Day One listener, you’ll receive a free team audit to identify where offshore talent could move the needle in your business, plus 20% off your first hire.

Deel x FC_Script 01 - Sep 2026

Deel x FC_Script 02 - Sep 2026