Yas Grigaliunas turned a backyard charity garage sale into Circonomy, one of Australia's most recognised circular-economy companies — years before "circular economy" was even a phrase. In Part 1 of her Perspective X conversation with Pauline Fetaui, she traces the rise: from selling homemade cupcakes at 5am triathlon training and asking herself "how do you raise money without asking people for money," to $15,000 in a single day, to quitting her job with no plan B, to a $4 million raise in four weeks with Officeworks on the cap table.

It's also a portrait of the engine underneath: a relentlessly data-obsessed, "burn bright, not burn out" founder who walked into rooms she was told she didn't belong in — including a memorable run-in with Steve Baxter at River City Labs — turned "surprise chain" into supply chain for Officeworks the weekend COVID shut the world down, and built a company on the conviction that idle assets, and overlooked people, are worth far more than anyone assumes.

Part 2 is the harder conversation — the cost, and what happened when it all changed.

Episode Summary

Yas Grigaliunas, founder of World's Biggest Garage Sale and Circonomy, joins Pauline Fetaui for Part 1 of a Perspective X conversation about building a circular-economy company in Australia before the term existed. From a charity garage sale that did $15,000 in a day to a $4 million capital raise in four weeks, Yas unpacks the data discipline, the conviction, and the well-timed moments that turned "dormant goods for good" into a national enterprise — and the energy source that, after 30 years of people predicting her burnout, still hasn't run dry.

Time Stamps

00:00 - A garage full of stuff, and one question: how do you raise money without asking for money?

02:10 - Welcome to Perspective X: Pauline's "love letter" introduction to Yas

03:13 - The cancer-charity origin and "dormant goods for good"

05:30 - The first World's Biggest Garage Sale: $15k in a day, 50 volunteers

12:58 - Scaling the events: $15k to $60k to $150k in a single day

18:06 - River City Labs, Steve Baxter, and "I'm not a tech founder, I'm a business builder"

24:55 - 168 hours in a week: time, data, and consistency

31:14 - Confidence, the seesaw, and falling in love with yourself

36:57 - Coining "Circonomy" before circular economy was a buzzword

41:29 - From events to a warehouse: building a real business

48:07 - Officeworks, "surprise chain," and the Retail Rescue the weekend COVID hit

49:54 - The $4 million raise and the "capital raise cave"

51:13 - Raising $4M in four weeks as a female founder

58:55 - Preparation, persistence, and watching who opened the pitch deck

About the host

Pauline Fetaui hosts Perspective X, the Day One Network show that goes beyond the highlight reel to explore the inner worlds, convictions and turning points of founders and leaders.

About Day One Network

Perspective X is part of Day One, the podcast network dedicated to founders, operators and investors. Join our newsletter at https://dayone.fm/newsletter to hear about new and upcoming shows.

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