In this episode, Steve Grace sits down with Kevin Lu, founder of Atrium, to unpack the "reverse journey" of leaving a prestigious career in Venture Capital to enter the trenches as a founder.
Kevin reveals why he walked away from investing in some of Australia's most successful tech companies to solve a problem that haunted him for years, which was the absolute chaos of managing professional relationships.
Kevin breaks down the "Founder Hierarchy" used by top VCs to spot unicorns (and why having a "chip on your shoulder" is the ultimate competitive advantage), the 100-year-old secret from Rockefeller’s Rolodex that inspired his new AI startup, and why he believes constraints rather than massive funding rounds are the true drivers of innovation.
Timestamps:
0:00 – The “Reverse Journey”: Investor to Founder
1:47 – Escaping the “Lawyer Trap” into Tech
6:11 – Corporate VC (Reinventure) vs. Pure Play (AirTree)
10:07 – The 2021 Funding Craze: “It was nuts”
14:10 – The Founder Hierarchy: Why you need a chip on your shoulder
22:42 – REVEAL: What is Atrium?
25:18 – Rockefeller’s 120,000-card secret
30:17 – The joy of co-founding with a sibling
33:17 – Why constraints create value (Bootstrapping vs. VC)
37:47 – US vs. Australia: Risk appetite and hiring bias
40:47 – Where have all the young founders gone?
Links:
Connect with Kevin → https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevin-lu-514420112/
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/