Pak Chat

About Pak Chat

Pak Chat is a weekly long-form podcast hosted by Blake Thorn. Blake is a Top 20 mortgage broker nationally and co-director of Auspak Home Loans, family-owned in Sydney since 1998. Each episode, Blake sits down with people who have actually built something in Australian property, business, sport and performance. Real lessons, honest conversations, and the complex made simple. If you work for yourself or want to build something of your own, Pak Chat is for you. New episodes weekly.

Publisher

Blake Thorn

Category

business

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

28 Apr 2025

Latest episode

18 Sept 2026

Latest episodes

21 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   18 Sept 2026

   #23 - Tim Veron: From zero to $1 million in revenue in 90 days

   Tim Veron looked fit until a blood test showed prediabetes. That shock pulled him into continuous glucose monitoring, then into building Vively, the Sydney metabolic health platform behind CGMs, deep blood work, and a membership health team. Tim Veron is Founder and CEO of Vively. In this Episode: How oats and an oat milk latte sent his glucose on a rollercoaster, and how months of changes moved him out of the pre-diabetes range What Vively’s CGM program actually is: about two weeks on the arm, meal photos, and context from sleep, exercise, stress and more The baseline health check: over 70 markers across ten areas, aimed at optimal ranges rather than sick-or-not Buying Natural Therapy Pages in 2020, vendor finance on a business losing about $1 million a year, and no personal income for the first couple of years Launching Vively’s CGM offer, about 20,000 on the waitlist, and zero to about $1 million in revenue within 2 to 3 months Why he says the real bottleneck is decision making, how AI supports practitioners, and how he thinks about GLP-1s inside a holistic plan CHAPTERS0:00 Welcome: Tim Veron, Vively1:40 Fit, triathlons, then prediabetes3:05 Oats, oat milk lattes, glucose spikes5:08 Making CGM usable beyond diabetes6:21 How the Vively CGM program works9:07 Sushi surprises and behaviour change9:54 Baseline health check: 70+ markers15:36 Insurers, Bupa, and prevention17:37 Pre-primary care outside the clinic19:41 Over 95% with a marker out of range21:46 Acquiring Natural Therapy Pages25:28 Zero to $1 million in 2 to 3 months27:22 20,000 on the waitlist, then education30:53 $99 membership and your health team34:35 AI, decision making, real bottleneck39:04 Vendor finance on a loss-making buy42:10 No income for two years49:24 Co-founder Michael: roles and debate53:24 Worried well, normal is not optimal57:03 GLP-1s and holistic care1:00:41 You cannot manage what you do not measure1:01:50 How to start with Vively CONNECT WITH TIM VERONWebsite: https://www.vively.com.au (https://www.vively.com.au/)Instagram (Tim): https://www.instagram.com/timveron (https://www.instagram.com/timveron)_LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tim-veron (https://www.linkedin.com/in/tim-veron) PAK CHATYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@pakchatpodcast (https://www.youtube.com/@pakchatpodcast)Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1LW0IWTos5kf3cbVTHZimi (https://open.spotify.com/show/1LW0IWTos5kf3cbVTHZimi)Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id1811229763 (https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id1811229763)Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pakchatpodcast (https://www.instagram.com/pakchatpodcast)TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@pakchatpodcast (https://www.tiktok.com/@pakchatpodcast) #pakchat #timveron #vively #healthtech #metabolichealth #cgm #founder #sydney #preventativehealth #glucosemonitoring

2. 

   1 Sept 2026

   #22 - Oliver Williams: He walked away from nearly a million in commission to build Sunday Salt

   Oliver Williams hit rock bottom on his apartment floor, got sober, and left Sydney real estate to build Sunday Salt. Blake frames the early real-estate run as nearly $1 million in commission in the first year and a half. He talks through fruit baskets in Double Bay, six months without a deal, and a first stock order that jumped from $45,000 to upwards of $200,000. Oliver Williams is Founder, Sunday Salt. In the episode we unpack: How a Bathurst kid with zero leverage chased Gavin Rubinstein with monthly fruit baskets, 5 a.m. gym photos, and streets learned off by heart Six months of hell on the phones, a first deal, then a volume of calls he calls unreasonable not to succeed Waking up on the floor, getting sober, and betting the house on maple-syrup gels with no stevia Why he would rather the business flop publicly than not do it, and why Australian CPG is a hard raise next to tech Gels live about six weeks at taping, powder electrolytes still coming, Australia first, then the States CHAPTERS 0:00 Trailer 0:46 Welcome: Olly Williams, Sunday Salt 2:48 Average student, Double Bay, chasing Gavin 4:45 Fruit baskets, 5 a.m. gym, streets off by heart 8:35 The call, six months of hell, first deal 10:08 Volume of calls, Sunday 10 till 412:19 Year three, opening Hunters Hill 13:11 Ego, going off the rails 14:27 Rock bottom, hospital, sober 16:40 Why Sunday Salt 18:29 No stevia, Celtic salt, maple gels 21:41 Launch, email list, 45k to 200k 24:16 Betting the house, fail publicly 26:24 Community, run clubs, premium product 29:18 Mistakes: marketing basics, Canva, copy 33:35 Building in public 37:49 4 to 9 impressions, 40,000 to make a sale 39:45 70-hour weeks and raising capital 46:52 Why raise, CPG versus tech 52:47 Australia first, then the States 56:03 What's in the gels 1:00:38 Sunday Salt, where to find him CONNECT WITH OLIVER Sunday Salt: https://www.sundaysalt.com.au (https://www.sundaysalt.com.au/) Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ollywynnwilliams (https://www.instagram.com/ollywynnwilliams) Sunday Salt Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sundaysaltau (https://www.instagram.com/sundaysaltau) LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/oliver-williams-688432241 (https://www.linkedin.com/in/oliver-williams-688432241) PAK CHATYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@pakchatpodcast (https://www.youtube.com/@pakchatpodcast) Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1LW0IWTos5kf3cbVTHZimi (https://open.spotify.com/show/1LW0IWTos5kf3cbVTHZimi) Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id1811229763 (https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id1811229763) Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pakchatpodcast (https://www.instagram.com/pakchatpodcast) TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@pakchatpodcast (https://www.tiktok.com/@pakchatpodcast) #pakchat #sundaysalt #oliverwilliams #founder #sydney #realestate #buildinpublic

3. 

   24 Aug 2026

   #21 - Bree Brown: When You Sell an Agency, You Sell the Rent Roll

   Bree Brown is a New Business Partner at The Agency Surry Hills, talking Sydney property management and leasing while sales have slowed. She prices stock from $600 to $4,500 a week, and walks through why a $3,000 listing that sits two weeks can cost $6,000, why the tenancy ledger beats a glowing reference, and how she personally signed 144 new managements last financial year. The half of real estate that actually holds the value is the property managers behind the rent roll. Bree: https://theagency.com.au/team/bree-brown (https://theagency.com.au/team/bree-brown)Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/breebrown_theagency/ (https://www.instagram.com/breebrown_theagency/)LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bree-brown-0ab0ab168 (https://www.linkedin.com/in/bree-brown-0ab0ab168)Watch: https://www.youtube.com/@pakchatpodcast (https://www.youtube.com/@pakchatpodcast)