Pick My Brain with Alan Jones 
About Stephen Neli
Stephen Neli is the founder of Zellus, a Sydney fintech venture he was developing by late 2024 to help small and medium businesses deal with late and unpaid invoices. As he described it on Day One, the planned product combined a one-to-five-star risk rating for prospective clients based on live credit reporting, advances of up to 95 per cent on selected invoices, collections support through partner firms, and integration with existing accounting software.
Neli came to the business after about a decade in financial planning, sales and collections. He built Zellus as a solo founder in the Plus Eight Pre-Accelerator, a Spacecubed program supported by Investment NSW at the Western Sydney Startup Hub.
On Pick My Brain with Alan Jones, recorded six weeks into the build, he pitched Zellus and discussed finding a technical co-founder.
- Talks about
- Founder Journey, Fundraising, Product
In conversation.
1 episode
Pick My Brain with Alan Jones Go straight to the good bits.
Key moments from Late Payments, Big Problems: Stephen Neli on Fixing Small Biz Cash Flow with Zellus.
- 1:27Stephen’s startup story and the birth of Zellus
- 2:20The pitch: how Zellus helps small businesses get paid faster
- 5:30Alan’s feedback: strong structure, clear gestures, great storytelling
- 8:18Who Stephen needs on the team (CTO wanted!)
- 12:13Building in public and what Instagram has taught him
- 14:52Partnerships, pilots, and early traction
- 17:32Customer interviews, pivots, and prototyping with Figma
- 25:06Imposter syndrome and learning to share the lowlights
- 27:27Why sharing the lowlights helps others (and you)
- 29:49Mailout mishaps and the power of founder vulnerability
Zellus on Day One
Zellus is an early-stage Australian startup building software to help small and medium-sized businesses deal with late and unpaid invoices.
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