Episode Summary:
Tom Humphrey, Partner at Blackbird and former operator, joins Cheryl and Maxine to reframe the conversation around Australia’s AI ecosystem. While headlines paint a picture of Australia falling behind, Tom argues we’re quietly sitting on world-class talent, global-first AI companies, and a capital-efficient edge that’s being overlooked.
They unpack Tom’s recent AFR opinion piece on the AI talent landscape, why Australia’s university-to-startup pipeline is broken (and slowly improving), and how “boomerang” PhDs are returning from Anthropic, Meta, and DeepMind to build ambitious companies onshore. Plus, Tom breaks down how product-led growth is evolving in the AI era, why enterprise motions are happening sooner, and what the new GTM playbook looks like when AI agents are selling to AI agents.
Episode Sponsors:
Chapters:
02:21 – Tom’s first investment: BHP shares via his parents, now passing on the habit to his son
05:19 – Robinhood, meme stocks, and the shift to founder-led brands
07:06 – Why Tom wrote the AFR piece: Australia’s culture of doubt vs the US lens of opportunity
08:08 – Australia’s untapped AI talent advantage: 8% of APAC experts, top-tier unis, and PhD immigration
12:18 – Six model releases, global leaderboard wins… that no one in Australia talks about
14:03 – The dangerous cost of silence: how lack of domestic celebration dampens ambition and capital
17:33 – Why Australia is absurdly capital-efficient (and how we squeeze every dollar)
19:23 – Commercialisation bottlenecks at Aussie unis, and what’s slowly changing
25:39 – How this affects investors: AI engineering vs AI research, the boomerang effect, and talent arbitrage
30:56 – Time zones, USD revenue, and Australia’s secret weapon: the 43% R&D tax credit
33:17 – Role gaps and brand new roles: the rise of AI architects and forward deployed engineers
34:27 – What PLG really means, and why it’s not just a freemium sign-up form
39:31 – Spammy AI agents, SEO collapse, and why brand and community are back
45:15 – Why enterprise motions are showing up earlier (and how that changes GTM)
48:32 – Single-player AI value unlocks a different sales motion: fast, bottom-up adoption
51:15 – AI fits into your workflow, not the other way around
54:14 – Picking your motion: don’t force PLG if it’s not a natural fit
55:05 – Capital-starved ecosystems and why enterprise is still harder to fund in Aus
56:15 – Tom’s Big Cojones moment: three boys under six and a startup-founder partner
Resources:
👤 Tom Humphrey LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/tomhumphrey1/
🚀 Blackbird Ventures – https://blackbird.vc/
