In this episode of Give It A Nudge, Steve chats with James Sneddon, the founder of Hyphen Health, Australia’s largest network of sexual health and harm minimization telemedicine clinics.

James didn’t start in medicine; he started in hospitality. The idea for Hyphen Health was born while owning a café across the street from a GP clinic, watching patients wait hours just to get a simple script. He realized the system was broken, and he built a digital solution to fix it.

Steve and James dive deep into the reality of scaling a business in a high-stigma industry. They discuss why doctors are legally refusing to treat steroid users (and why James steps in to help), the "cooking medication for grandma" privacy problem, and how COVID finally forced the public health sector to ditch fax machines and join the 21st century.

They also cover the massive shifts in the business—from buying out a co-founder and acquiring competitors to landing a world-first partnership with the public health sector.

TIMESTAMPS:

00:00 Intro: Taboo subjects and "Hyphen" Health

00:55 Steroids & Stigma: Why doctors refuse to treat users

02:25 From Hospitality to Healthcare: The "Founder Mindset"

06:10 The Epiphany: Watching the doctor's waiting room from a cafe window 08:40 How COVID killed the fax machine

09:50 Navigating regulatory panic & buying out a co-founder

14:40 "Cooking meds for Grandma": The need for absolute privacy

15:50 The reality of HIV today (vs Diabetes)

20:35 The "Work From Home" impact on testing trends

23:00 Acquiring "Hey Fella" & navigating growth

29:20 The World-First Public Health partnership

33:22 The 84% Statistic: Why you need to get tested

QUOTES FROM THIS EPISODE:

"HIV has less of an impact on your life now than diabetes."

"The same reason you don't see a doctor... You're cooking your medication for the next grandma."

"Covid ended the trust. It also encouraged public health to stop in line with fax machines and allow emails to work."

"16% of Australians from 16 to 49 have never been tested... So 84% of the population have never been tested."

ABOUT JAMES:

James Sneddon is the founder of Hyphen Health, a group of digital health brands focused on removing barriers to healthcare. His portfolio includes Stigma Health (sexual health), PrEP Health (HIV prevention), and other harm-minimization platforms.

Starting his career as an accountant before building a hospitality empire in Newcastle, James pivoted to health tech to solve the inefficiencies he saw in the traditional medical system. He has since grown Hyphen Health into a profitable, multi-brand ecosystem that is reshaping how Australians access sensitive healthcare.

LINKS

Connect with James → https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-sneddon-a3a4b52b/

Hyphen Health → https://hyphen.health/

Connect with Steve → https://www.linkedin.com/in/stevegrace/

The Nudge Group → https://thenudgegroup.com/

Give It A Nudge Podcast → https://www.youtube.com/@giveitanudge/

The Trouble With People → https://thetroublewithpeople.substack.com/

In this episode of Give It A Nudge, Steve chats with Yash Varma, a seasoned tech founder, investor at Empress Capital, and high-performance coach.

While Yash has a massive background in tech (founding Spaarks, investing in Tesla and Moderna, and studying AI at Stanford), this conversation is not about code. It is about code for the human body. Steve and Yash dive deep into the concept of Longevity to debate why the "retire at 65" model is broken and why health is officially the new wealth.

Yash opens up about the health scare that forced him to stop the "founder grind," the specific habits he uses to optimize his energy (including a live demonstration of a Tony Robbins style state change), and why eating food that "goes off" is actually the secret to living longer.

If you are a founder, business leader, or just someone looking to add more life to your years, this is a must-watch.

TIMESTAMPS:

00:00 Intro: Why we need a "grown-up" conversation about longevity

01:18 Defining Longevity: It is about quality of life rather than just years

03:55 Why retirement is an outdated concept

05:00 State Management: Jumping off bridges with Tony Robbins

07:06 LIVE DEMO: Yash teaches Steve the "Power Move" to change energy instantly

12:00 The 3 Pillars of Performance: Work, Purpose, and Health

16:30 "You can’t do anything if you’re dead": Prioritizing founder health

19:00 The Wake-Up Call: Yash’s hospitalization story

23:15 Parenting: Why kids do what you do, not what you say

25:00 The widening gap between the healthy and unhealthy

26:45 AI, Technology, and the "Glasshole" story

36:55 The pros and cons of wearable health tech (Whoop, etc.)

40:00 Yash’s Sleep Routine: Same time, dark room, and "sleepy tea"

46:50 Blue Zones & The "Centenarian Olympics" (Getting up without hands)

50:40 Yash’s advice: Move heavy things, eat fresh food, and connect with people

QUOTES FROM THIS EPISODE:

"It's not about living more years, it's about the life in your years."

"I prioritize my health over everyone else’s because if I want to give to my family and my business, I can’t do anything if I’m dead."

"Health is wealth. You can have as much money as anyone in the world, but without your health, you're on a hollow vision of performance."

"People do what you do, not what you say."

ABOUT YASH:

Yash Varma is a global citizen, tech founder, and high-performance coach. After founding and exiting the global software consultancy Spaarks (with offices in London, Glasgow, and Canberra), Yash shifted his focus to empowering other founders.

He is currently a Principal at Empress Capital and an active Angel investor with early stakes in companies like Tesla and Moderna. Beyond business, Yash is a certified high-performance coach, a mentor with Energy Labs, and a dedicated philanthropist leading the Canberra Chapter of Room to Read. He lives by three words: Love, Joy, and Contribute.

LINKS:

Connect with Yash → https://www.linkedin.com/in/yashvarma/

Connect with Steve → https://www.linkedin.com/in/stevegrace/

The Nudge Group → https://thenudgegroup.com/

Give It A Nudge Podcast → https://www.youtube.com/@giveitanudge/

The Trouble With People → https://thetroublewithpeople.substack.com/

In this episode, Steve Grace sits down with Albert Patajo, VP Strategy & Operations at Nexl, to unpack one of the rarest outcomes in Australian tech right now: a local startup hitting Series B, and what it actually takes to get there.

Albert shares his non-founder path into the operator seat, from Deloitte to early-stage startups to capital raise advisory, before joining Nexl with one urgent mandate: raise money and build a more capital-efficient business in a market that had tightened overnight. He breaks down why focus beats ambition, how Nexl went deep in the US Northeast instead of trying to launch everywhere, and what changed when top US investors started coming inbound with term sheets.

They also dig into the founder-operator partnership: trust, low ego, and working like co-founders without the title. Plus why Albert thinks AI’s biggest immediate impact in legal won’t be the practice of law, but everything around it, relationships, BD, and operations.

Timestamps:

0:00 – Intro: Nexl and the Series B milestone

0:40 – Darwin to Canberra to Sydney (and the culture shock)

3:20 – Why consulting is startup training in disguise

6:30 – First startup lessons: being employee #6 and doing everything

9:15 – Capital raise advisory in the 2020–21 boom

10:45 – How Albert met Phil (Nexl’s founder) and why the role existed

12:25 – Why Series B is "escape velocity"

13:55 – The first six months: raising with limited runway

15:30 – Capital efficiency: small bets, incremental hires

16:20 – The focus move: winning the US Northeast (not launching the US)

18:45 – What Nexl does: relationship-first CRM for law firms

20:35 – Inbound term sheets and testing the waters for Series B

22:00 – Bringing in the "dream" investor and why it was worth it

23:05 – Founder-operator dynamic: low ego, high trust

26:55 – Australia as the timezone bridge for US and Europe teams

28:50 – Post-Series B: hiring leaders who’ve "seen the movie"

33:25 – The big ambition: category leadership and deep penetration

35:10 – AI in legal: where it actually changes firms first

Links:

Connect with Albert → https://www.linkedin.com/in/albertpatajo/

Connect with Steve → https://www.linkedin.com/in/stevegrace/

The Nudge Group → https://thenudgegroup.com/

Give It A Nudge Podcast → https://www.youtube.com/@giveitanudge/

The Trouble With People → https://thetroublewithpeople.substack.com/