He fled the Taliban and came to Australia, now he’s a mortgage broker rated in the top 20 out of 16,000+, writing over $100 million in settlements
Release Date: 12/26/2019
65: Abhi Maran - The Venture Capital Fundraising Blueprint
The James Harrisson Show
What you’ll learn from this interview: How to think about approaching a fundraise to increase the velocity and probability of success How to craft your story and structure your raise Common pitfalls at the pre-seed/seed stage that founders need to avoid Today I’m interviewing Abhi Maran, he’s an investor at Rampersand, an early stage Australian venture capital fund. He also writes regularly as part of his substack which is a phenomenal resource for founders looking to navigate the often opaque world of venture capital. I’ve enjoyed reading Abhi’s work and wanted to bring him on...
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64: Giovanni Pino - Growing Sourci from his spare bedroom to $43 million+ revenue, how to build real company culture, personal growth through entrepreneurship
The James Harrisson Show
What you’ll learn from this interview: What it took to reach the “overnight success” moment that took Sourci from $1M in 2019 to $43M in 2020 The importance of knowing our strengths and doubling down on them after he struggled with dyslexia in school and early career How he thinks about building true company culture as the business has grown to dozens of employees in multiple countries Today I’m interviewing Giovanni Pino, founder & CEO of Sourci which helps Australian businesses connect with world class manufacturers and suppliers. Gio started Sourci with his business partner...
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63: David Lemphers - 4x successful exits, frameworks for building startups & navigating acquisitions
The James Harrisson Show
What you’ll learn from this interview: Lessons from building and successfully exiting 4 startups Frameworks for building companies and navigating the unexpected challenges of the acquisition process Lessons from his time at Microsoft, PWC, Amazon, and how those experiences have shaped him as a founder Today I’m interviewing . He's built and exited 4 companies including ZenDeals which was acquired by RetailMeNot for $18M & Code Pilot which acquired by AngelList. David has such an interesting insight into the acquisition process having gone through it multiple times. He’s a...
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62: Mark Woodland - Lessons from the Australian Army, building Xplor (acquired by private equity) & making healthcare more accessible with Kismet
The James Harrisson Show
What you’ll learn from this interview: What Mark learned about leadership from the army and how he applies that to business today Why his “retirement” after the Xplor acquisition only lasted 2 weeks before he jumped back in the founder seat How he's applying learnings from education with Xplor to healthcare with Kismet Today I’m interviewing , Founder & CEO of which is on a mission to make healthcare more accessible, recently announcing their $4M pre-seed round led by . He previously served in the Australian Army and was the founder of , a product he originally created to...
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61: Michael Watson - Lessons from Google, building Leesy & frameworks for career design
The James Harrisson Show
What you’ll learn from this interview: Frameworks Michael used to design his career Lessons from his time as a Product Manager at Google How he’s making the renting generation love renting Michael has 8+ years experience managing global products, including successfully launching a global redesign of Google Play (worlds largest double sided marketplace) and scaling up the 3rd largest commercial real estate marketplace in the US. He’s now a Co-Founder of which is on a mission to make the renting generation love renting by building an ecosystem of products & financial services that...
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60: Rohit Bhargava - Launching a global digital football league, raising a $3M pre-seed round & how to invest in early stage startups
The James Harrisson Show
What you’ll learn from this interview: Tips for founders fundraising in this current environment Frameworks for investing in early stage startups as an Angel Investor How to build strong professional and personal relationships Rohit Bhargava is the Co-Founder of , the world’s first global digital football league, which just recently came out of stealth and announced their $3M pre seed round led by Blackbird and has involvement from a number of international athletes like Naomi Osaka, Nick Kyrgios, Steve Smith, Chris Smalling, Patrice Evra, Kamaru Usman and more. He’s also an investor...
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How to build a multimillion dollar eCommerce brand in less than 12 months: Sunny Gosal
The James Harrisson Show
What you’ll learn from this interview:
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4 years of podcasting, burnout and breaking mental patterns & beliefs: Rohit Bhargava
The James Harrisson Show
What you’ll learn from this interview:
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How Sourci is disrupting the global sourcing and procurement industry: Ellie Vaisman
The James Harrisson Show
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Love, relationships & meaningful work: Ryan Tan
The James Harrisson Show
What you’ll learn from this conversation:
info_outlineHe fled the Taliban and came to Australia, now he’s a mortgage broker rated in the top 20 out of 16,000+, writing over $100 million in settlements
What you’ll learn from this interview:
- The incredible story of how Yousof came to Australia with his mother, after his father and uncle were publicly executed by the Taliban
- Whether greatness comes only from adversity, or whether we can cultivate grit without going through severe trauma
- How he has built up his own Mortgage Broking business, rated in the top 20 brokers out of 16,000 nationwide, writing over $100 million in settlements
- Why giving back and service is so important to him
- How he found his purpose in life, and how you can do the same
My guest today is Yousof Ahmadzai, I’m always blown away by stories where people climb out of adversity and do big things which is why I’m really excited about this interview.
Yousof came to Australia as a refugee from Afghanistan when he was 4 years old after his family was torn apart by the Taliban
Yousof went on to work in financial services, starting at Commonwealth bank, servicing the origination and maintenance needs of CommSec clients before becoming a partner at Simplify Finance which has been rated in the top 20 brokers out of 16,000 nationwide, writing over $100 million in settlements.
The thing that really impresses me about Yousof is how well rounded he is. Not only is he successful in career and business, but he is also committed to his health, personal relationships, and giving back with service to various causes including the Rotary International Organisation, Conviction Group, United Nations Youth NSW and more.
I wanted to bring Yousof on the show to find out more about his story, how he overcame such challenging circumstances and how he’s been able to rise up in business and life
IG: @yousof.orbion