#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. 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 → 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 contact@curiositycentre.com today! Join our stable of commercial partners including the Australian Government, Google, KPMG, University of Melbourne and more. ________ CLICK HERE to read show notes from this conversation. Please enjoy! ________ Follow us on Instagram, LinkedIn or Twitter Get in touch with our Founder and Host, Vidit Agarwal directly here Contact us via our website to discuss sponsorship opportunities, recommend future guests or share feedback, we love hearing how to improve! Thank you for rating / reviewing this podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show! ________ The High Flyers Podcast is described as a "meticulously researched biography" that uncovers the untold stories of remarkable people and companies -- redefining the "high flyer". Launched in 2020, we have ranked in the global top ten podcasts for past two years, with listeners in 27 countries and over 200 episodes released. Excerpts of the podcast have been featured in Forbes, AFR, Daily Telegraph, and showcased at SXSW. 200+ guests have joined host, Vidit Agarwal on the show from 15+ countries. Prominent guests include Malcolm Turnbull (Prime Minister of Australia), Anil Sabharwal (VP, Product for Google Chrome, Photos and Drive), Andy Penn (CEO, Telstra), Stevie Case (Chief Revenue Officer, Vanta), Brad Banducci (CEO, Woolworths), Jean-Michel Lemieux (CTO, Shopify + Atlassian), Jillian Broadbent (Board Member, Macquarie Capital), Sweta Mehra (EGM, NAB; ex CMO, ANZ), Bowen Pan (Creator, Facebook Marketplace), Sam Sicilia (Chief Investment Officer, Hostplus), Craig Tiley (CEO, Tennis Australia), Niki Scevak (Co-Founder, Blackbird Ventures), Mike Schneider (CEO, Bunnings), Trent Cotchin (3x Premiership Winning Captain, Richmond FC), Jason Collins (Head of Australasia, BlackRock), Peter Varghese (Chief, Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs), Jack Zhang (CEO, Airwallex), Matteo Franceschetti (CEO, Eight Sleep) and many more. Our parent company, Curiosity Centre is your on-demand intelligence hub for knowledge, connections and growth to achieve your potential, everyday. Join 200,000+ Investors, Founders, Functional Leaders, CEOs and Emerging Leaders. Learn with the world's best and be 1% better everyday at https://curiositycentre.com