Episode 130: Woolworths v Coles, Cettire Nears the Precipice, Australia's Secret Unicorn Founder, Neurodivergent Founders and Dan's Brush with Dictators
The guys discuss Woolworth's Big W struggles, Cettire's horror earnings announcement, the benefits of neurodiversity, Dan Andrews' China vacation and chat to Dave Hyman, founder of Lendi.
The Contrarians catchup
Adir lives in Brighton, where his phone reception isn’t the greatest, so he’s deployed an eSIM so he can flick between phone numbers while he takes calls along the beach.
The guys discuss the exorbitant cost of some license plates, with a recent three-digit plate going for $650K at auction, which somehow led to a discussion of carjackings in Victoria.
Adam asked which famous Victorian visited China last week, to which Adir guessed Kim Jong Un, and Adam replied “I think Kim Jong Un could be a more effective leader than this Victorian. Voldemort was a relatively good boy compared to Dan Andrews.”
Adir quizzed Adam on the world’s 100 most valuable private companies. Here are the top 10 (because Adir didn’t let Adam guess anyway) in a rough order because it changes constantly: SpaceX, ByteDance, OpenAI, Databricks, Stripe, SHEIN, Anthropic, xAI, Revolut, Canva.
The benefits of neurodivergent founders
Neurodiverse traits such as creativity, directness, and divergent thinking are increasingly recognised as assets in business, particularly among founders and leaders like Bill Gates and Richard Branson. Late-life diagnoses, especially for women, are rising, helping individuals embrace strengths once viewed negatively.
Despite high unemployment and discrimination rates, neurodiverse people often excel in entrepreneurship and dynamic environments. Companies like KPMG now recruit neurodivergent staff, seeing value in their problem-solving, adaptability, and innovation - qualities that may prove essential in an AI-driven workforce.
Adir: “More and more, we recognise that different people need to learn in different ways. And I think at some point these people realise that instead of struggling through life because they learn differently and it's hard for them, or maybe they're kind of tricky socially or whatever it might be. All of a sudden these things turn into superpowers for them, and they're able to think and behave in a way that nobody else can understand. And that gives them this tremendous advantage.”
Big W’s struggles
Big W is dragging on Woolworths’ performance, with second-half losses now expected to hit $70M, almost double earlier forecasts. Struggling to shift clothing stock and losing ground to Kmart, the discount chain is under review. Analysts tip a sale within 18 months, valuing it as low as $250–400M.
Also, The Reject Shop will be rebranded to Dollarama following a July acquisition, with the transition already underway and some stores receiving makeovers and a significant number of products being replaced on shelves. This will create a more serious competitor for Kmart, Target, and especially Big W.
Adir: “There weren't many pages of the investor presentation that were nice. The acknowledgment of country - that was a nice page, then it just went downhill from there. But I don't think you need to have fancy 40-page investor presentation to understand what's gone wrong with Big W. You just have to go into a Big W and have the experience. ”
Adam: “I was at a petrol station last year getting something and this guy ordered a pack of cigarettes and it was 60 bucks - I almost fell over. I thought cigarettes were like 20 bucks. It shows how much I smoke, but I couldn't believe how you go from dissuading people from smoking to ruining people's lives who are smokers.”
Listen in for an incredible deep-dive into the Woolworths Group, with a focus on Big W and their brand new self-scanning machines that don’t work.
Australia's secret unicorn founder
The guys chat with David Hyman, founder of Lendi, which allows you to compare and apply online for home loans. David used to lead JumpOnIt, which offered group-buying flash deals, making him a former competitor of our Adam Schwab.
David: “If you think about the way the mortgage broker market has evolved, when we started back in 2013, something like 35-40% of loans had gone through brokers, and you still had to explain to customers what a broker was and you have to pay for it and all that sort of stuff. Now, 76% of loans go through brokers. The way the market has exploded is through these wholesale aggregation platforms, which enable brokers to get agreements with lenders or accreditations with lenders. But the brokers themselves are ultimately the lead generators.”
David: “When we first built Lendi, you couldn't actually write a loan end to end digitally, and we really focused on the top of the funnel in the early days, which was really about building scalable lead funnels. And as we built out those scalable lead funnels, that allowed us to attract more brokers, allowing us to control more of the process. We got a slightly different economic model, because we obviously own the customer flow and the net result of all of that is we now have over 5M customers on the platform. And that drives something like 70% of all of our transactions every month.”
Five other stories worth following:
The Acemate robot, priced at $2.5K, is a mobile tennis partner that returns balls at up to 80mph while tracking stats and offering technique advice. Marketed as both fun and functional, it simulates human play well enough—and yes, there’s even a pickleball version for enthusiasts.
Showrunner, an AI film app, recreated Orson Welles’ unfinished 1942 film The Magnificent Ambersons into 43 minutes of AI-generated footage. Without rights from Welles’ estate, it won’t be commercialised, serving instead as a promotional stunt for the so-called “Netflix of AI,” where users can remake their own versions of films.
Lego revealed its priciest set yet: a 9,000-piece Death Star costing $1,000. Standing two feet tall, it includes detailed scenes like the trash compactor and Obi-Wan vs. Vader duel. Though expensive, Lego increasingly courts adults, with around 15% of sets aimed at grown-up fans, like those adorable Lego orchids.
US EV sales are surging ahead of the Sept. 30 expiration of federal tax credits worth up to $7,500, prompting record purchases, especially for GM’s Cadillac, Chevy, and GMC brands. But inventories remain high, and once incentives vanish in October, automakers risk being stuck with costly unsold stock despite current momentum.
A CloudZero survey of 500 US tech professionals found soaring salary expectations the biggest barrier to hiring AI talent. Smaller firms especially struggle with inflated demands, compounded by long hiring processes and candidate shortages. Recruiters note a mismatch: companies expect to hire AI talent like software engineers, but market rates differ dramatically.