Nick Maxwell – Be the Duck on the Pond

Nick Maxwell got cut by the same football club four years running. Cut at 14. Cut at 15. Cut at 16. Cut at 17, three minutes into a trial, with a snapped vertebra. He made the squad on his fifth attempt and still went undrafted.

Four days before Christmas, a phone call changed everything. Nick walks through the voicemail that told him he'd been picked up by Collingwood, the 200-plus games that followed, and how being captain had nothing to do with being the most talented player on the field. It was about the 1%, the tackles, the sprints nobody saw, and showing up for a team that eventually made him captain and led them to a premiership after 20 years without one.

Twenty years in sport later, Nick walked away from a stable, structured career to build something of his own. He's honest that the four years since have been harder than anything football put him through, learning IT infrastructure, managing staff, and figuring out leadership without a scoreboard to tell him if he's winning.

Stick around for his three life lessons: why resilience is the whole story, why he now buys himself time before reacting to anything, and what two decades observing the Melbourne Storm's most successful leaders taught him about chasing the extra 1%.

Find Nick

Nick on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nick-maxwell-060a2922/

Eclat: https://eclat.com/

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Life After Launch is an Aussie Founders Club podcast.

🦘 Aussie Founders Club is a community for founders, operators, and investors navigating the Australian startup ecosystem. What started as an events-first, in-person community has grown into a network of thousands, connecting people building startups with the people who've done it before. Join the conversation and the community at https://aussiefoundersclub.com/

Connect with Megan Luttrell on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/meganluttrell/

Connect with Geo George on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/contactgeo/

🤝 Kairos Recruitment is a recruitment company supporting startups and scale-ups across Australia, helping founders find the right people to grow their teams. Led by Megan Luttrell. Learn more at https://www.kairosrecruitment.com.au/

💵 Mayfly Ventures is a venture studio building industry-focused AI and software ventures. Mayfly is an Australian AI venture studio. We work with industry leaders to validate, build, and scale AI ventures, starting with the strategy and commercial foundations most teams skip. Learn more about Mayfly's approach at https://www.mayflyventures.com/

Time Stamps

00:00 Cold open: cut 4 times, then 4 voicemails

01:31 Welcome to Life After Launch, introducing Nick Maxwell

03:07 Manure at 12, KFC at 14, and getting cut from the Falcons 4 times

15:15 The Collingwood voicemails, and playing 200+ games

17:20 Not the most talented player: doing the 1%ers and becoming captain

22:13 Leadership styles, the Melbourne Storm, and the "finished product" trap

33:07 Media, an MBA in 18 months, and deciding to leave sport

35:57 Why Eclat, and building a "life MBA" into a workspace

44:04 Building the team, ownership, and trusting people to do their jobs

54:24 The hardest 4 years of his life: building Eclat from scratch

58:56 Life lesson 1: resilience is the whole story

59:54 Life lesson 2: buy yourself time before you react

1:02:41 Life lesson 3: chasing the extra 1%, with lessons from Craig Bellamy

1:09:35 Closing thoughts + outro