The High Flyers Podcast with Vidit Agarwal | Podcast Guru

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The High Flyers Podcast is a global top 10% ranked show, launched in 2020. Hosted by Vidit Agarwal, our 200+ episodes to date go beyond headlines and fluff to unpack the real journeys behind influential leaders and companies — from their earliest beginnings to the decisions, failures and inflection points that shaped how they think, lead and build. Listeners often describe the show as “meticulously researched” and say “I learnt more about the guest from this episode, even after knowing them for 10+ years.” We're proud that more than 60% of our 200+ guests have trusted us for their first-ever public interview — or to go in-depth on their personal story for the first time. These include: ➝ Malcolm Turnbull: Prime Minister of Australia ➝ Jean-Michel Limieux: CTO, Shopify and Atlassian ➝ Jason Collins: Head of BlackRock (Asia Pacific) ➝ Brad Banducci: CEO, Woolworths ➝ Anil Sabharwal: Global VP Product, Google (Built Google Photos) ➝ Elena Verna: Head of Growth, Lovable ➝ Stevie Case: Chief Revenue Officer, Vanta ➝ John Haddock: Chief Business Officer, Harvey ➝ Michael Schneider: CEO, Bunnings ➝ Andrew Penn: CEO, Telstra ➝ Mark Suster: Partner, Upfront Ventures ➝ Bowen Pan: Creator, Facebook Marketplace ➝ Craig Tiley: CEO, Tennis Australia ➝ Peter Varghese: "One of Australia’s most influential architects of foreign policy" ➝ Ben Thompson: Co-Founder & CEO, Employment Hero ➝ Sweta Mehra: Executive GM, NAB; Ex CMO, ANZ Bank ➝ Niki Scevak, Partner, Blackbird ➝ Paul Bassat: Partner, Square Peg ➝ Trent Cotchin: 3x Premiership Winning Captain, Richmond FC ➝ Jack Zhang: Co-Founder & CEO, Airwallex ➝ Holly Kramer: Board Director, Woolworths & ANZ ➝ Sam Sicilia: Chief Investment Officer, Hostplus ➝ Ahmed Fahour: CEO, Citi, NAB & Australia Post ➝ Andrey Khusid: CEO & Co-Founder, Miro ➝ Bill Bartee: Co-Founder Blackbird + Main Sequence ➝ Rod Hamilton: Chief Product Officer, Culture Amp ➝ Brendan Hargreaves: CFO, Officeworks ➝ Simon Baume: COO, Eucalyptus ➝ Osher Gunsberg: Renowned TV personality ➝ Lisa Sthalekar: 4x Cricket World Cup Winner and ICC Hall of Fame Member Contact us via: Email: [email protected] Website: https://highflyerspodcast.com X (Twitter): https://twitter.com/vidags10 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/viditag/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thehighflyerspodcast/

Recent Episodes

#236 Matteo Franceschetti: Starting Eight Sleep, High Performance, Helping Elon Musk Sleep Better, Learning English at 20

DEC 16, 2025

#236 Matteo Franceschetti: Starting Eight Sleep, High Performance, Helping Elon Musk Sleep Better, Learning English at 20

Episode #236 features Matteo Franceschetti, Co-Founder & CEO of Eight Sleep — the category-defining sleep fitness company trusted by Elon Musk, Lewis Hamilton, NFL quarterbacks and Olympic champions, and backed by Khosla Ventures, Founders Fund and Y Combinator. Note: This is a replay of Episode 159, originally released in March 2024 — one of our most loved classics. In conversation with Vidit Agarwal, Matteo shares his journey from a small town near Venice to building a global category-defining sleep company. He reflects on learning English in his mid-20s, starting his career as a lawyer, losing his father early, and walking away from a “safe” path to bet on entrepreneurship. Matteo unpacks Eight Sleep’s real origin story — early prototypes, repeated YC rejections, the insight that temperature control beat sleep tracking, and the hard realities of building a durable hardware business. He also shares his philosophy on performance, health, leadership and why success comes down to one idea: chop wood, carry water.‍ It’s time to explore your curiosity — please enjoy. ________ To support this podcast, check out our some of our sponsors & get discounts: → $1,000 off Vanta: Your compliance superpower — vanta.com/high If you're keen to discuss sponsorship and partnering with us or recommend future guests, email us at [email protected] today! Join our stable of commercial partners including the Australian Government, Google, KPMG, University of Melbourne and more.

64 MIN

#235 Steve Hind: Forging Lorikeet’s Exponential Growth With Unlearnings from Debating, Bridgewater and Stripe

DEC 9, 2025

#235 Steve Hind: Forging Lorikeet’s Exponential Growth With Unlearnings from Debating, Bridgewater and Stripe

Episode #235 features Steve Hind — Co-Founder & CEO of Lorikeet, one of the fastest-growing AI companies backed by QED Investors, Square Peg, Blackbird and the founders of Canva. In this conversation, Steve traces his journey from growing up in regional Queensland to competitive debating, and then an unconventional path across BCG, Bridgewater, BuzzFeed, Stripe, Watershed and a Harvard MBA.Steve shares the lessons that shaped him: the discipline and thick skin he built through debating; the customer-first mindset he learned at Stripe and why he left; the performance culture and feedback systems he absorbed at Bridgewater; and the downsides of having strong opinions in environments that demand alignment. He also breaks down Lorikeet’s early pivot, how the team found real product–market fit after painful false starts, and the company’s rapid rise to US$75M+ raised in under 12 months. He explains why Lorikeet backs high-accuracy AI agents over copilots, how he thinks about safety and evaluation, and what he’s learned about building product, culture, ambition and customer trust while scaling globally. ________ To support this podcast, check out our some of our sponsors & get discounts: → $1,000 off Vanta: Your compliance superpower — vanta.com/high → Find out more about the Law Firm Allens and how they can help your company today at www.allens.com.au If you're keen to discuss sponsorship and partnering with us or recommend future guests, email us at [email protected] today! Join our stable of commercial partners including the Australian Government, Google, KPMG, University of Melbourne and more.

83 MIN

#234 John Haddock: From Phoenix’s desert trails to leading Harvey’s AI rise after a decade scaling Stripe’s hyper-growth

DEC 2, 2025

#234 John Haddock: From Phoenix’s desert trails to leading Harvey’s AI rise after a decade scaling Stripe’s hyper-growth

Episode #234 features John Haddock — Chief Business Officer at Harvey, the US$700M+ AI platform backed by Sequoia and OpenAI. Prior to Harvey, John spent a decade at Stripe, working closely with the Collison brothers and leading across sales, product and global risk — a rare cross-functional path that saw him help build card issuing and shape Stripe’s hyper-growth. In this episode, John shares his personal story for the first time, and his lessons from Stripe to Harvey on leadership, scaling teams, enterprise AI, and expanding Harvey across Australia, the UK and beyond. To support this podcast, check out our some of our sponsors & get discounts: → $1,000 off Vanta: Your compliance superpower — vanta.com/high If you're keen to discuss sponsorship and partnering with us or recommend future guests, email us at [email protected] today! Join our stable of commercial partners including the Australian Government, Google, KPMG, University of Melbourne and more.

82 MIN

#233 Peter Varghese: "One of Australia’s most influential architects of foreign policy" (special series with the Australian Government)

NOV 25, 2025

#233 Peter Varghese: "One of Australia’s most influential architects of foreign policy" (special series with the Australian Government)

Episode #233 features Peter Varghese — widely regarded as one of Australia’s most influential architects of foreign policy. He currently serves as Chancellor of the University of Queensland and previously held two of the Australian Government’s most senior diplomatic roles: Secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and Australia’s High Commissioner to India. Peter’s journey stretches from the highlands of Kenya to the upper echelons of Australian statecraft. Migrating to Australia under the White Australia Policy, he went from “accidental public servant” to key advisor to Prime Ministers, head of Australia’s peak intelligence agency, and architect of major diplomatic strategy. His story is defined by clarity of thought, courageous advice, and a quiet conviction that shaped Australia’s role in the world for over 40 years. To support this podcast, check out our some of our sponsors & get discounts: → $1,000 off Vanta: Your compliance superpower — vanta.com/high ________ This is the fifth episode in this special series with the Australian Government and their Centre for Australia–India Relations, highlighting the deepening ties between Australia and India across technology, business, media, culture and sport. With nearly one million people of Indian heritage now calling Australia home—the country’s fastest-growing large diaspora—this series brings to light the untold stories of change makers shaping the future of both nations. ________ If you're keen to discuss sponsorship and partnering with us or recommend future guests, email us at [email protected] today! Join our stable of commercial partners including the Australian Government, Google, KPMG, University of Melbourne and more.

80 MIN

#232 Jason Collins: Professional tennis dreams to Journalism to how he’s leading BlackRock with empathy first

NOV 18, 2025

#232 Jason Collins: Professional tennis dreams to Journalism to how he’s leading BlackRock with empathy first

Episode #232 of The High Flyers Podcast features Jason Collins — Head of Australasia at BlackRock, the world’s largest investment management firm, with over USD 13 trillion in assets under management (AUM). Jason's story from the Northern Beaches in Sydney, Australia to the top of global finance, Jason’s path is anything but traditional — rejected graduate, journalist, Spanish student in Guatemala, accidental move to Sweden, and eventually a leader inside the world’s largest asset manager. To support this podcast, check out our some of our sponsors & get discounts: → $1,000 off Vanta: Your compliance superpower — vanta.com/high If you're keen to discuss sponsorship and partnering with us or recommend future guests, email us at [email protected] today! Join our stable of commercial partners including the Australian Government, Google, KPMG, University of Melbourne and more.

60 MIN