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/