From Corporate Ladders to Building Empires: How Australian Women Founders Are Redefining Success

These women had their pick of traditional careers but chose to make something entirely of their own.

Lauren Kennedy was just 32 when she walked away from a flourishing career at Macquarie Bank. It wasn’t the first time the Sydneysider had made a major pivot.

In her early 20s, Kennedy traded her dream of owning a fashion label for a physics degree and career as a data scientist. But this time was different. Kennedy wasn’t just switching lanes; she was building something.

“Once you’re in a company like Macquarie, you see the progression, the promotions, the opportunity to work globally,” she says. “It’s also a big decision as a woman, choosing to leave the financial security of a job and risking the path of buying a house, getting married and starting a family.

“It was a real sliding-doors moment, but I knew I wanted to do something on my own, to take the opportunity to pursue my own company.”

Driven by a mission to fuel the secondhand fashion industry by catching fraudsters, Kennedy is part of a small but hungry cohort of women opting out of the corporate climb and leaping into the high-stakes world of entrepreneurship. They’re building the companies they once waited to lead.

She caught the start-up bug on a gap year in San Francisco. While it took a decade to return to those roots, her perspective on work was permanently shaken while living at “Start-up House”, a base for founders travelling to Silicon Valley to pitch to investors and connect.

“That’s what lit my fire, showed me what was possible.”

After returning to university at age 22, Kennedy proved her chops at technology consultant Capgemini and then Macquarie in fraud detection. She got her break when Woolworths’ head of commercial partnerships, Natalie Collins, introduced her to then Centuria Capital chairman Garry Charny, who would become her mentor.

“We’d catch up for coffee and he’d challenge me on what I was thinking, on what I wanted to do. When I was ready to do something, he backed me to make that leap and raise my first round.”

Today, Kennedy is building a knock-off detection system for high-end fashion houses. Her first company, High End, is a curated resale marketplace app where thousands of secondhand listings are created and authenticated each month. Her second, the newly launched VerityAI, is automating the process of verifying products from Alemais, Aje and Zimmermann with artificial intelligence. The venture has attracted backers from luxury fashion house Oroton to Harvey Norman CEO Katie Page.

“I would never go back and change my mind. Sure, you miss a bonus every now and again, but it’s fulfilling,” she says. “What drives me is learning and experiencing new things. The amount of people I’ve met and how much I’ve learnt through this process is second to none. I hope to do this for the rest of my life (if I’m lucky enough).”

Funding Fortress

Building a business isn’t for the faint-hearted, but that’s especially true for women.

Paloma Newton is the co-founder of Elita Genetics, a start-up that prolongs pets’ lives by developing Australia’s first stem cell bank for animals. Raising money to realise her dream showed her the harsh realities of being a female founder in Australia’s male-dominated capital markets.

“My [male] co-founder turned to me after a pitch meeting for our first raise and said ‘It’s crazy, because I feel like we’re walking into meetings and I’m starting at plus 10 per cent [investability] and you’re starting at negative 15 per cent’.”

Kennedy also noted the difficulties women face to be taken seriously in fields like software development and artificial intelligence.

“In our sales meetings, you notice the difference in how people lean in or lean away depending on who is there. Even if my male growth lead wasn’t to say much in the meeting, and I’m leading it, you get a barrier of: do you know what you’re talking about, you’re a little bit younger, maybe you don’t know about business. You can sense how hard it is to get a sale across the line.”

Newton never dreamt of being a founder – nor did she have anyone in her personal life who had built their own businesses. Her early career traversed hospitality, managing restaurants like Chiswick and pop-ups for influential chef Matt Stone, before following her parents’ footsteps into advertising. She thrived, but still something wasn’t quite right.

“At the time, I figured this is just what I’m going to do, I’m pretty ambitious, was good at it, but somewhere along the way I got really frustrated with ownership and execution – not being able to execute on ideas end-to-end.”

The turning point came via a friend who recommended she try start-up life. Newton secured a spot in the first women’s fellowship at start-up accelerator Startmate and ran marketing at self-driving car sensor start-up Baraja. With her foot in the door, Newton’s perception of herself and the work she wanted to be doing shifted.

“I used to say things like I’m a fantastic operator, a cog in the machine, I don’t need to be in the spotlight. I did view being a founder as being the star of the show. You have to be comfortable with that once you do it. It took a while, but I’ve gotten there.

“Working in a start-up was really eye-opening. It was there I realised anyone could do anything – and I genuinely believed it.”

Now well off the career ladder and two years into building Elita Genetics, Newton says she feels fortunate to be where she is and energised by her work. These days, she defines success not by the title or tenure, but by impact on pet health.

“It’s definitely not financial – there are far better ways to make money. For me, it’s about creating something that will have a global impact. It’s about creating something that leaves a better system than the one I walked into.”

Corporate Detox

Founder life can be rewarding, but it’s not for everyone. Arani Satgunaseelan, who is almost nine years into running her management consulting business Vollardian, speaks of the highs and lows of running a business. She says founders have to be resilient, thick-skinned and a little obsessive to succeed.

“It’s like you’re on a rollercoaster. You feel you’re on top – yes, we just got paid – or you’re down at the bottom, about to crash because payroll is due. There are some real realities of business ownership that I definitely wasn’t prepared for.”

For Satgunaseelan, becoming a founder was a complete surprise. Since high school she had followed a conventional high-achiever’s path – great HSC results, a double degree in commerce-law from Melbourne University and a coveted investment banking graduate position at Macquarie Group. But she realised it just wasn’t the right fit.

“Becoming a managing director was the long-term goal; I’d been cultivated that way, to reach for the top, and that’s what you did. It was part me, part my parents ... classic immigrant family.

“[But] I realised that doing all this analysis and PowerPoints wasn’t enough for me. I wanted to get to the coal face, where the money is actually being made, where operations are.”

At 25, Satgunaseelan jumped from Macquarie into a sales operations role at eBay. She thrived there, becoming instrumental in launching the marketplace’s sexual wellness category. Yet, after three years, the knowledge that she was working hard to generate revenue for someone else’s business diminished her drive.

“It was this nagging feeling ... when you’re at a corporate you’re trying to hit things to be recognised and compensated and get a title,” she says.

“There was a moment where I was making all this money for eBay, and I thought, well, this is bullshit. I’m going to get promoted from level 25 to level 26. It was this feeling that I may not be cut out for working within the bounds of a typical corporate.

“I think I was quiet quitting for 12 months before I left, prepping myself, looking at other opportunities.”

Determined to improve the way sales teams operate, an initial consulting gig with the AFL bloomed into a full-blown management consulting firm: Vollardian. Co-founded with then Gumtree head of sales Bodine Jones, the firm builds and restructures sales teams for large corporate clients such as Bunnings, LJ Hooker and Officeworks.

“You morph into a very single-focused person,” Satgunaseelan says. “This is my baby now, and I want to win. Now I have this competitive itch. There’s a lot of negative press around consulting firms – the misuse of artificial intelligence. I can smell an ‘in’ for a technology-first, ethical firm that can deliver impact.”

While she still harbours ambitions of leading a large company, she’s clear on one thing: it will be on her own terms.

“I want it to be mine, surrounded by people I’ve nurtured from seedlings. There’s this element of authority defiance that’s probably underlying it. I want to do it my way.”

Serial Builder

While some fall into the start-up life, Hannah Spilva was a born founder. The daughter of a businessman, she knew from a very young age that she wanted to build a company – drawn to the promise of independence and creative freedom.

After a decade in advertising, learning the ins and outs of working with big brands, she co-founded her first company, flower and gift delivery service LVLY. It was a harsh lesson in operational grit. She recalls the make-or-break pressure of her start-up’s first Valentine’s Day, which tested the operational limits of the young florist.

“It’s important you go into it with your eyes wide open,” she says. “[Being a founder] is one of the most challenging career paths you can follow. It’s not just about stepping away from the career ladder – it’s about understanding your values, your risk appetite, and validating your ideas because all of the odds are stacked against you.

“As encouraging as I am for everyone to follow their dreams, you also have to temper that with a heavy dose of realism.”

The persistence paid off. In 2022, Spilva successfully exited that business, selling to South-East Asian-based Limitless Technology for $35 million. She’s already onto her second business, hair colour start-up Done, which began selling its products on Adore Beauty in February.

“Climbing the career ladder was the antithesis of what I wanted my career to be. Success looked like being in a really creative role where I had a huge amount of autonomy – freedom, independence and importantly, fun. You don’t often see those things happening in combination in the corporate world.

“The excitement of building something from ground zero to a household name – that was the challenge that drove me ... the ultimate career ride. Challenging but so rewarding.”

Spilva’s definition of success has changed over the years. In the early years, she says she placed a lot of emphasis on commercial success. Now, she says success is multi-layered.

“Yes, the one thing that will always stand true is that a business needs to be commercially successful to win. But that’s just one part of it. The more important thing is that commercial success allows you to design the life you want to lead – that allows you flexibility with your family, gives you freedom to live life on your own terms.”