Shane Chanel - Nothing’s Ever Going to Be as Hard as That Day

Shane Chanel bet his entire life savings, $20,000, on a four-wheel drive racing app when he was 14. It wasn't his last high-conviction bet. He went on to leave a stockbroking career to build Yondr Money, a digital bank that never became a bank, survived a hostile takeover attempt from his own investor, and is now building Kobble, the infrastructure that lets almost any business launch a financial product in weeks instead of years.He's honest about where the drive comes from: a chip on his shoulder he can't fully explain, a family that worked hard for everything, and a day in 2012 he's never spoken about publicly before this episode, the day his uncle's family was found dead and he became next of kin for his baby niece. It's the reference point, he says, for everything since. Nothing has ever felt as hard.Shane walks through the pain points that pushed him from asset management into building a bank from scratch, why he pulled out of the banking licence process, how a chance conversation with former ANZ CEO Mike Smith became one of his best investors, and how a wall covered in Post-it notes from fellow fintech Founders became Kobble.Stick around for the hardest lesson of all: the hostile takeover attempt from an investor who'd only just come on board, and why Shane now tells every Founder to have the uncomfortable conversations early, before you need them.Find ShaneShane on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shanechanel/ Kobble AI: https://ai.kobble.net/ Kobble: https://kobble.net/ Yondr: https://www.yondr.money/Join the Aussie Founders ClubThe Slack community, the newsletter and everything else live here: https://www.aussiefoundersclub.comWant to partner with Life After Launch?Explore sponsorship and partnership opportunities at https://lifeafterlaunchpod.com/partner-with-usTime Stamps00:00 Cold open + welcome to Life After Launch, introducing Shane Chanel02:54 From wanting to be an aeronautical engineer to financial planning and stockbroking08:35 Identity, the chip on the shoulder, and working twice as hard16:51 Betting his life savings on a racing app at 14, and the idea for a bank25:53 Building Yondr, pulling out of the banking licence, and landing Mike Smith as an investor38:48 The 2012 story: his uncle's family found dead, and the reminder that nothing will ever be this hard45:27 Acquiring Shouta and building Kobble from a wall of Post-it notes53:50 Kobble AI: prototyping a financial product in 15 minutes1:02:09 Life lesson: the hostile takeover attempt, and why you should always do the prenup1:05:12 Closing thoughts + outro