She's On The Money - Michelle Battersby’s Playbook for Career Moves, Confidence, and Thriving in Tech

Episode Date: August 26, 2025

Ever wondered how people actually know when it’s time to quit, pivot, or back themselves in a huge career move? Well Michelle Battersby's career was made on those moves. She ditched her safe banking job to launch unkown dating app Bumble in Australia, co-founded her own tech company Sunroom (and sold it while pregnant), and even walked away from an “end-of-career” salary because her gut told her no. This episode is her playbook on doing the scary thing and landing on your feet... plus the inside scoop on Fanfix snapping up Sunroom and what she’s plotting next.Michelle shares:💻 The very first sign it might be time to make a career move💻 Her go-to frameworks that turn “scary leaps” into strategic ones💻 The career reframe that makes failure impossible💻 The tiny work habits that make you look like an all-star employee💻 How women can make serious money in tech without being a “tech bro”Michelle's Links:Follow Michelle on Instagram here and TikTok here.Find out more about the ultimate motherhood app, Peanut, here. Join our Facebook Group AKA the ultimate support network for money advice and inspiration. Ask questions, share tips, and celebrate your wins with a like-minded crew of 300,000+.And follow us on Instagram for Q&As, bite-sized tips, daily money inspo... and relatable money memes that just get you.Acknowledgement of Country By Nartarsha Bamblett aka Queen Acknowledgements. The advice shared on She's On The Money is general in nature and does not consider your individual circumstances. She's On The Money exists purely for educational purposes and should not be relied upon to make an investment or financial decision. If you do choose to buy a financial product, read the PDS, TMD and obtain appropriate financial advice tailored towards your needs. Victoria Devine and She's On The Money are authorised representatives of Money Sherpa PTY LTD ABN - 321649 27708, AFSL - 451289.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

My name is Natasha Bamblett, I'm a proud First Nations woman, and I'm here to acknowledge country. Tii, gilinyan ganya, nianakaka yao yinbina waka, nianakai nianbina yakarumja, duminyagumiga dumiga ithawaka nirawamundamun imalan. Mumu bangada boma ininyalan waka, gaunan yakarumja, wutunarana. Hello beautiful friends. We gather on the lands of the Aboriginal people. we thank acknowledge and respect the aboriginal people's land that we're gathering on today take pleasure in all the land and respect all that you see she's on the money podcast acknowledges culture country community and connections bringing you the tools

knowledge and resources for you to thrive she's on the money she's on the money hello and welcome to she's on the money the podcast that helps you build your career grow your income and actually get excited for monday mornings our guest today has a serious talent for spotting opportunities most people would probably be too scared to chase and then actually making them happen. She's gone from a very safe corporate job to launching the dating app Bumble here in Australia, to co-founding Sunroom, a platform changing the way women and non-binary creators make money. Along the way, she's raised millions, built brands that explode in the press, and crafted a career on her own terms. I'm your host, Victoria Devine, and here's

why I'm so excited about this chat. Michelle Battersby is the kind of person who shows you how to take bold moves and turn them into a career that just keeps getting better. Welcome to the show, Michelle, or should I say welcome back to the show? Cause you kind of did a cameo while I was on mat leave. Yeah. Well, I was thinking I have done this, but I've never done this with you. No, no. You got to take the wheel and now I've got the wheel back and now I get to interview you, which is very, very fun. I'm genuinely so excited about this. You live in LA. So this, I feel like has been a long time coming and a lot of like, what's your calendar look like? What's my calendar to look like oh maybe not this trip maybe next trip okay what about next trip like yeah we're

finally face to face I know feel surreal I'm so excited like and I just know that my community is going to be like this episode's going to be lit so Michelle when we have a little bit of a look at your CV I would say it is nothing short of inspiring which is exactly why in the show I'm going to be taking the opportunity to kind of put you in the hot seat and answer the career questions that our community is sending us consistently things like how do you know when it's time to change careers and how do you actually be successful in the tech space as a woman what does this look like but first you've been working on I would say something massive behind the scenes and it's taken like now more than a year tell me about it yeah it has taken a very long time so

I, we, we got Sunroom acquired. So it's been sold as we're dealing and dealing. Yeah. As we record this, it's actually being announced tonight. So it's being announced tomorrow morning in the U S the company that we sold to is a company called fan fix. And it was such a journey to get here. Like an acquisition process is just wild, very different to a fundraising process I've found. and it had so many ups and downs. So like we actually first spoke to this company about a year ago, but we started moving through the process with another competitor in our space and it was basically... Hey, that's fun. Do you know what? All you need is two to play them off against each other. Yeah. Well, it ended up basically being close to a done deal back in

February. And then as like, I think anyone who sold a company will probably have a similar experience where you can get really close maybe one two I don't know however many times people just needs a signature and then for some reason that part doesn't go ahead well what happened was this company actually ran into some very public legal struggles that just made them it would have been an unethical choice yeah so we had to completely pull back yeah and go back to the drawing board and it felt like such a whiplash and such a slap in the face at the time but it actually ended up being the biggest blessing because we had gone through the process enough to see how you would structure the deal and how you would de-risk it. And so we could kind of

take a second swing with all these other people and you're like, this is now not my first rodeo and I know what to ask and what to say and how to structure it and get our way. Like, yeah, how exciting. Let's, let's backtrack a little bit because for those of you who haven't heard of sunroom it is a brand and a platform that lives and breathes its values as you can hear you literally pulled a deal because you're like that's unethical and like I feel like a lot of people when they're at the point of sale they're like oh that doesn't matter so much like let's just get it done we could have overlooked it there's money on the table exactly and sunroom and you have obviously this mission and you're really passionate about

I guess sharing real creators and paying them properly and sharing creator wins so I guess you were achieving what you set out to do you've like done what people probably thought is not possible at this point why did you feel like right now you were like okay well obviously you've been talking about this for 12 months I think if someone approached me and said do you want to sell your company I'd be like no I love my company like that's not on the the cards like why did you feel like now was a good time to sell? Yeah so my co-founder Lucy and I started Sunroom with the intent to make women and non-binary creators as much money as possible on the internet and about a year ago we were approached by someone in our space to merge and so it's not like we'd

been sitting down talking about M&A and talking about selling our company it was I guess you know the example that you gave like someone came to us but it did get us thinking okay interesting you know, don't know if we necessarily want to merge with this company, but maybe we could sell our company. And could we actually help all the women and non-binary creators we've attracted make more money somewhere else? And so we started looking at our competitors, but we also started looking at social networks, talent agencies, even porn companies, like different ways our product might be appealing to bigger players. And we asked ourselves questions, you know, like, do they have a more extensive feature set than us? Do they have more resources? Do they have a bigger team?

Do they have better brand awareness? And Fanfix, the company that we've ended up selling to, they just ticked every one of those boxes. They had a similar ethos to us in terms of how they thought about creators and supporting creators. They built out a product. They just would always beat us. It was like, you know, that's what you want in this particular situation. Yeah. It's kind of like that. If you can't beat them, join them and we just sell to them. Exactly. It just felt like, oh, if we could land with them, this truly would be an amazing outcome for our creators. And as we worked through the process, there were many moving parts and many things to think about. Like you've got your investors and you're trying to think about what, you know, you can return to

them, you are kind of thinking about yourself. Like I've, you know, made financial sacrifices to start a business. A hundred percent. And you've spoken very openly about, you know, not earning much and taking massive pay cuts to like invest literally everything financially and otherwise into Sunroom. So like, these are big decisions. They're not like, oh, should we sell? Oh yeah, it's Monday. Let's go. Yeah. And also your staff. But then I think where we were in this unique position because we've got a consumer product and our consumer, our product is literally helping women make money. And so a lot of our users, they're paying their rent through their sunroom earnings. They're paying their car insurance. Maybe they're buying homes. Maybe

they're paying for their college tuition. So the decision of who to sell to, like it was mostly weighing on what would be the best outcome for our creators. And it feels so good to be at this point now and to have actually officially like done this deal and to have got them an outcome that actually has the potential to make them way more money. Like once this finally goes, everything is kind of transitioned over officially tomorrow. I'm so curious to see the data and to see are our creators numbers doubled on this platform because they have that much more traffic than us, that much more brand awareness. Yeah. So it's like, I truly hand on heart. I would have found it very hard to, I've been doing calls with our creators for the past week, like running a

very sensitive comms process to bring them in on this. Yeah. So it's not a surprise. Yeah. And I would have found those calls very difficult to have if I couldn't sell out basically. Yeah. If I couldn't truly say, here's all the ways like this product can actually help you in ways that we couldn't. Yeah. Like you've gone from being small to a medium and now like they actually have the platform of a large business, but the care and respect and the morals of a small business still like that's a deal. Exactly. And like Lucy and I are advising for them for the next year. So we're still there to care for our creators can be in touch with them. We'll still be behind the scenes and it's just, it's weird. It's a very surreal feeling, but yeah, I feel very happy

about it. And I feel like those were probably your biggest priorities when talking about this sale? Were there any other priorities that might come as a surprise that you were like, hold on, I didn't realize I cared so much about this. This now has to be part of the deal. That's a really good question. I think as we went through the process, because we had options, like we had different competitors in our space that were interested in acquiring us. We also went through the process for quite an extensive period with a really big social network. and we also were talking to quite a big porn site as well for months and I think what would have made your emails look really good I think what was a really interesting learning in that is that

there are so many different ways you can package your business up and tell the story to appeal to different people like the social network we were speaking to were really interested in our technology in our anti-screenshot tech and our team so the pathway we were going down with them was an aqua hire which wouldn't have been as good for our creators at the end of the day because they were more interested in our team and tech and how we could maybe be a project team within their business and work on monetization for them and then you've got the porn side of things which maybe would have appealed to a percentage of our creators. But that's not what your creators do as a whole.

And I think that that's, you know, as someone who's watched Sunroom grow and like followed it like a cult member. Yeah. I know that, yes, there are people who create that content on your platform and you champion them as much as everybody else. But there's also just so many women just creating content for women that you're like, hold on, would that turn them off then?

exactly so I feel like that makes sense to me but that's as somebody who's been following it going I actually really truly feel like I understand what types of creators you have on this app and it's not you know your only fans content creator you actually have just people creating good face to face content yeah and making a killing at the same time and that's really cool yeah so I guess it's like we learned our creators really were at the forefront of everything that we were doing and we made this decision for them and I think as I've taken all these calls over the past week or so it's been amazing to hear their reaction to it and that they see the opportunity that they're excited about it that they're like proud of kind of where we're at and it feels like we made the

right choice yeah absolutely and I feel like you've been so transparent about like your career journey and what that's meant and you are such a career person but then recently you became a mum so you have what now a 16 month old a 15 month old 15 as of recording that's crazy that is crazy and I feel like we've gone through this like motherhood journey together on the other side of the world like I've been watching you and you've been watching me and we've been like yep same queen we both have these little boof head boys and it's like the best thing ever yeah but I feel like that really changes the way you manage a business and it changes your priorities and before you're a mum, that's terrifying. Like both you and I were like, what have we done?

Like we wanted this, but also did we want this? Like, is this, you know, is this it? And I think both of us can agree. It's the best thing ever. Like this is the best part of my entire life. But like now you've sold your business. What are you going to miss the most? Cause I feel like that is such a defiant, for me, I find being a business owner. Also I'm a mum, but like primarily like on socials and the content I create and I live and I breathe business and work what are you going to miss the most I think what I'll I'm not going to miss it initially because I'm doing this advising for a year so I will be in on the goss but I just loved watching a complete unknown person discover our product and make bank like that was just the most rewarding feeling so I

think it's interesting because the little wins, I actually, I actually ended up feeling a bit resentful of my, of my company in periods because I felt like I was just surviving off little wins over and over and over. And I was like, God, can I just get a big win? I can't just live off crumbs. Yes. But now that I'm sitting here, I actually think I will miss those small wins and just being surprised by someone's potential on the platform. So I'll still get to hear about that for a year but then I think I will miss it but I get it's interesting I don't feel this huge identity shift in this moment because I've never I think my personal brand and career I've existed in big organizations and in my own organization so I kind of have like view myself as quite fluid

So I don't, I don't feel a great sense of emotion over not being a founder anymore. Like I don't. Well, I mean, you're still a founder. You're a founder who's sold though. Is that like a step up? Exited. I think I get to use exited now. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah.

That's boozy. That's definitely going in the Instagram bio. Talk to me about this though. Cause I feel like when I learned that you were selling Sunroom, I'm like, oh my God, that's so sick. And then I was like, what's she going to do? like I feel like oh god motivationally you and I are on the same page and like I just need a lot to do like and whatever I do I want to throw myself into and I go I see a lot of that in you

yeah what does the next chapter look like where are you going what are you doing because I already know that you're not gonna go I've retired I don't do anything now I'm just gonna be a mom that's not you that was the most painful part of how long this process took for me it was knowing this is going to happen, but I can't talk about it. I can't publicly begin to explore other things. I need to sit in complete silence and wait. That would kill me. Oh my God. I was born to yap. So that just wouldn't work for me. And I'm so impatient. This has been the hardest year for me mentally to trust that it was going to come to this moment and it was going to work out. And in amongst selling my company, like back in February, when that first deal fell through,

That was the same month I found out I was pregnant. Oh, my God. So I've got an eight-month-old, I'm pregnant, and I'm selling my company. Do you know what? Go hard or go home. And now I'm not selling my company. So, like, what do I do, you know?

Like, it was really quite scary. I would have cried. I would have cried a lot. I would have been under the table rocking just a little bit. Yeah, I was really scared. Also, I live in the US. so to be a pregnant woman potentially trying to work out if I'm going to re-enter the workforce or what I'm going to do I just had a lot of thoughts and what's happening with my health

cover you know I'm pregnant lots of things to figure out and so I really had to I did a lot of chat JPT card pulls through that period yep good good that shows you where my mind was at Do you know what? We've all been there. Yeah. But I really just had to trust that, you know, like the universe usually has my back and I would figure it out. And we like definitely got the train back on the tracks and it was looking pretty positive like throughout this year towards this acquisition. And I knew at the time I would look back at this year and actually be really grateful that I had the time to sit with my thoughts and to reflect. And I thought about consulting and I thought about starting my own business. And then I realized, I think I want to

go and work for a brand again. Like I, when I think about my career, I just feel so, I have so many fond memories of my Bumble time. I like to kind of take something that I see the potential in and like try to blow it up. And so I began to reach out to investors that we had at Sunroom that I trusted and one of our investors is this woman called Michelle Kennedy and she was actually on the board at Bumble she came up with the name Bumble and she invested in oh that's so cool yeah and she invested in Sunroom so she's kind of like always like been there she's part of the journey yeah and she's the founder and CEO of Peanut yeah which is a platform a community platform for mums you can also track very popular in the US but it's taking I guess Australia by storm like I'm on

peanut. Are you? Yes. I like send you screenshots to be like tracking. What a coincidence. Like look at my peanut messages. Yes. It's an amazing platform. I actually downloaded it when I was pregnant with Alfie because I didn't know. Like when I was having Harvey, I was like, I don't know what I'm doing. Yep. Yeah. So there's forums, you can track your pregnancy, you can connect with other women. And I didn't know where that conversation was going to go. I was just feeling a bit lost. And so I actually think I asked, you know, can I consult or contract for you as I'm kind of figuring out where my next move is. Yeah. And she ended up being in LA. She's based in the UK and I went and met her at a hotel and I think we went to talk for 30 minutes and it

ended up being two hours. I love when those happen because you just feel like you have like a deeper connection and then you're like, wow, this is really cool. Yeah. And then at the end of that meeting, it kind of went from potentially contracting to, I actually think you need to like come and like run this with me and yeah I just got goosebumps which is usually the sign like literally I'm like ah yes the world I feel like sometimes we feel like the universe doesn't have our back and then it's like moments like these it's like it does it does have your back I just couldn't believe it I got tears in my eyes and I just respect her so much and I just thought the opportunity to be able to work alongside her on a product I I care about this

problem and it's something I think about when I'm in the shower it's how I show up online naturally anyway it just felt like this it's a perfect fit it felt too good to be true when you told me I was like yes that is perfect yeah I'm still waiting for it to fall apart to be honest it's not going to it's not gonna fall apart it's gonna fall together yeah so I I'm actually today is actually meant to be my first official day as president of peanut and I'm gonna grow your president of peanut. Yes. And how many weeks pregnant are you? 30. So you're 30 weeks pregnant and got a job in the US as the president of a company. Okay, pop off queen. You know what, no biggie. It is a crazy moment. And I was so scared, like navigating that with my pregnancy as well. You know,

I had so much angst because I thought, oh, I really want to get in the door. I want to get some runs on the board and that I do need to go and have my second child. But yeah, it just feels like honestly such a perfect ending and like start of this new chapter for me and I just honestly couldn't be more excited and in addition to all of that like that's all so good but like the ethos of peanut the user experience of peanut the clients on peanut sorry you're on the journey with them like what a better person to know them and show them than someone going through the journey and be like no this is what I needed and like I feel like we need more of that yeah it's literally so perfect. I'm so excited for you. Thank you. It's very cool. All right. Let's take

a really quick break because I promised at the start of this episode that I'd ask you like career questions that my community had instead of talking about your journey. I'm like, well, what else Michelle? Stop talking about me. So we will, I would love to keep talking about you, but our community has questions that I think you are going to answer incredibly well. So don't go anywhere, guys. All right, we are back. And like I promised, it is time to put Michelle in the hot seat, not just the interview seat, to give us a little bit of career advice. We have so many career questions that come through literally every single week into our DMs. And I would say that one of our biggest questions that we get from our community is saying they just don't know whether

they should make the career leap. Like that is so scary. Like, do I take a step back? Do I apply for a job that I'm not qualified for? Do I, you know, take a step forward and do a little bit of training? Like, what if I don't even like it? Like, what do I do? So Michelle, what are the signs you think mean it's time to change things up and take that next step? I honestly think the number one sign is that you're even thinking about it. I agree. You're thinking it, do it. yes it's it's definitely that I think if you've got those underlying feelings but they're just making you feel uncomfortable so you're ignoring them that's your your trigger to start really like digging into this and I honestly think a great first step is just talking to people about

it admitting that that's the way you feel I think it then depends how like what your risk appetite is like so probably both of us we would just dive head into something without really thinking much honestly like as much as it's worked out um for both of us like I think we are both equally chaotic people and I'm gonna ask you this in a minute but people always like oh my god you're so like intentional and I'm like am I am I it just seemed like a good idea and I didn't take any time to look at the risks but yes intention yeah I think there's a couple of ways you can play it there's a couple of frameworks that I love I think if you're the sort of person who needs a bit of structure. So one thing that I actually did before I started Sunroom, which was almost out of

character for me, is have you heard, do you know what an ikigai is? Yeah, I have this course called Your Best Year Yet that I launch at the start of every year. And that is one of my suggested readings. Go find your ikigai. Yes, exactly. So it's basically a Japanese framework for finding your purpose in life, but it's been transformed and you can apply it to your career. So you really just ask yourself four questions it's what am I good what do I love what does the world sorry what am I good at did I put the at at the end of that whatever I knew what you meant everybody else knew too what am I good at what do I love what does the world need and what can I be paid for yeah and I actually looked back at my ikigai that I did in 2020 when I was founding sunroom

like a year ago as I was navigating my career as a mum I came back to it as like it was almost my personal North Star and realised I wasn't actually doing any of the things I loved or was good at in my day to day. Like I had been taken down this rabbit hole of just, you know, the daily grind. And so it's a really good exercise to also come back to if you're feeling lost. It's a little bit confronting, not going to lie. I went through it a year ago when I was like, oh, this best year yet course has been out for a while and it's really popular. I'm just going to go back through all of the readings. And I reread the book and I was like, cool, I need to just get a little bit more on track with what I said I was going to do, but it can be really helpful. Like that's one of

my favorite resources. Yeah. So I think that's a good one to start with. Then Tim Ferriss actually has a line of questioning in his book, The 4-Hour Workweek. So I think this is a little bit more tactical. So the first thing that you do is about defining your fears. So you ask yourself a whole bunch of what if questions and it's like, what if, you know, the worst outcome, what if my business fails and I run out of money? What if my business fails and I lose my visa and I have to leave the US? And you just get it all down on paper. And then part two of that is preventative action. Like, okay, here's all the things I'm really scared of, but what is actually the worst thing that's going to happen? Okay. If my business fails and I run out of money, maybe I've saved

three months salary and that's enough for me to reenter the workforce. I can reenter the workforce. I always have that in the back of my head. I'm like, do you know what? I make a mean coffee. I'd be a sick barista. I can go get a job in a cafe any day of the week. I'll be fine. Can't be that deep. Exactly. And like, okay, I need to leave the country. Maybe I have to go live with my parents for a bit. I think whenever you're taking some risk, there is a little bit of an element of needing to swallow your pride. And you might think everyone's watching you fail. They're not. Everyone's too absorbed with themselves. Like it isn't that bigger deal really. Even when I left banking and started working at

Bumble, I'd never heard of the company. It wasn't established in Australia. I had no idea if they were even going to pay me. I quit my job, worked in retail, got my old job back at a surf store when I was 25 and moved back in with my parents. And there was just this period of, okay, like I just need to do this until I figure out if this Bumble is even a legitimate company that's going to pay me. And that's what we need to talk about more as well, because I think that they're the non-shiny things that you did where people are like, oh, and I feel like sometimes, and this is not, I hope not disrespectful, but sometimes we can put your career on a silver platter and be like, oh my God, look at what she did at Bumble. And then she's going on to build her own business.

And that's insane. But like, also look at the sacrifice you made not knowing, like you went boots and all into this opportunity, not even knowing if they would pay you, but you were like, I'm really excited about it. And I'm going to swallow my pride and go get my job back at my old retail surf store, but like no one's talking about that part, but that's the sacrifice you make to kind of slingshot yourself forward. But then when people start talking about it, they just, they just see the shiny name and they see obviously what you've done. And that's incredible, but like, it actually takes two parts. Like you have to kind of like be willing to spoil your pride and be willing to take a step back. Cause if you're not, the opportunities aren't

just sitting there on a silver platter. They don't look like they're on a silver platter until you're looking at them retrospectively. Yeah. A hundred percent. I so, so believe that. Okay. And then the third part of this is you ask yourself, what would par, what could partial success look like if I did this? And I love that question because it's kind of segues nicely off your point. I think sometimes we're focused on the huge end goal, like not knocking it out of the park, making loads of money, reaching X downloads, all these sorts of things. But to actually ask yourself what would partial success look like, I think it gets you into the right framework, into the right headspace of realizing that there is actually no failure. Like if you

take a swing and miss, you've still learned so much. You've still inflated your own value as an individual. You can command more wherever you go next. You can bring unique experiences you didn't have before. So I really like the partial success question. And then the last one, and this is good. It is what would your life look like if there was no action taken three months, six months, 12 months from now, and you break it down into emotional, physical, and financial. So maybe it's like, okay, in three months, I'm actually in a toxic work environment. Emotionally, I'm going to be way worse off than I'm even feeling now. Like physically, maybe I'm so burnt out and like overrun and over this that I'm going to be living an unhealthy lifestyle because I have no time to

get out of the house or you know I'm just uber eating every night which I gotta do anyway but I don't want to feel attacked on my own podcast but you know just getting into those sometimes we do what we've got to do yeah exactly and seasons there are total seasons as well but just asking yourself those questions I think if you're the sort of person who really needs to see it on a page and needs a bit more of a push those are two things that I think you can do to identify if you know you actually really need to make a jump. Yeah I wanted to ask you about I guess this like career strategy that if we look at your career it looks like you are so intentional you're like yep and I'm going to go to Bumble and I'm going to do this and I'm going to smash it out of the park

and that's so cool and so inspiring but I feel like every single time you've pivoted and every single time you've moved to a different role or taken on becoming a founder you've obviously added massive skills to your portfolio which as you said before even if it doesn't work out you've got another feather in your hat that you can command more pay for more respect for a better job like you can do so much with it but what advice would you give to someone who's like I want to be strategic too because is there all that strategy or is it following your passion and following you know what you think is really exciting and what lights you up because I feel like so many times especially if you are in a salary PAYG job and you're like okay cool I've got this really

consistent income coming in it's a massive risk to leave yeah especially honestly as we get a bit older our responsibilities are more we might have a partner we might have rent on a more expensive place we might have a mortgage we might have kids and that stuff is not 25 year old decisions right Yeah. As you were speaking, I was thinking, yeah, I don't have a strategy, but it actually is a strategy. That's the strategy. Yeah. I, I fully just, I really trust my intuition and I know I question myself on why I'm making the choice that I'm making. So for example, this decision to go to peanut, um, one of the companies that was going to acquire us ended up offering Lucy and I, these packages. And it was, I feel kind of uncomfortable talking about this, but it's a

shoes on the money podcast. I think I need to. You also don't have to, because like at the end of the day, and I said this before you came on the podcast, like you don't have to disclose anything. It's nobody's business. Like if you sold for a hundred dollars or a hundred million dollars, it actually doesn't matter because it doesn't impact people. What impacts people is strategy and decision making. And wow, she had the balls to do that because do you know what, if you sold for a hundred dollars and you guys had decided that that was the best thing for your community for your business and for yourselves that's a slay same thing is true at a hundred million dollars people are just pervy and want to know how rich you got from it you know like

and that's actually none of their business and I feel like I do backtracking I do on Mondays every single week a money diary and a lot of people have said to me Victoria why don't you do a money diary and it's like well everyone on my show has been gifted anonymity like they come on my show, they tell me how much they earn, how much they spend, how much they earn, how much they owe, and they don't have a name to that. So there's no traceable. If I start coming out and disclosing my income, my salary, what I pay myself, how I pay myself, what my business is valued at, girl, that's going to be front page of the Daily Mail. And also the people who care aren't the people who benefit from it. The people who benefit from that conversation, they're not taking how

much I earned they're taking oh what strategy did you have how did you feel like like Michelle how do you back yourself so yeah I don't want you to be uncomfortable or answer anything that you're like oh I don't know because like we can admit all of that stuff but it's more around like the strategy and the game and what that looks like because like yeah nobody's going to build another sunroom because it's already in existence and if they do they're already three probably 10 steps behind you know no I think this is good and like it does kind of get to the strategy so one of these offers was like an end of your career type salary I thought I would yeah like I just kind of was like when I saw yeah I was like shit and I I went through the process because

I also had I was also really curious to see how am I valued in a big place like this after I've you know, done all this, I'd always believed that it didn't really matter what outcome I got with Sunroom because maybe I could go to one of these big companies and I could command a lot. So I was doing it as a bit of a challenge to myself. I really wanted to see how would I be leveled? What would my package look like? And I wasn't really going through the process with the intent to take the role because I was already listening to my heart. We can go shopping. It's called window shopping yeah but then when I got it I was like oh shit like this is very very hard like how do you not take this yeah and I had to really spend some time thinking about how it would feel

to show up in you know I kind of had peanut and then I had this other offer and I was trying to put myself in the position of showing up at these workplaces every day and working on the problem and about where my life is at now. And I'm the kind of person where if I can't identify with the problem or the product, if I can identify with the problem and the product, it just like all clicks and it feels really easy. And it's like my flow state and everything just comes and it feels amazing. Um, and that's kind of how I was feeling about the, the peanut thing, but but peanut is a like an amazing opportunity but also still startup-y vibes yeah and I've been working in startups for 10 years now and I found sunroom very hard it was very relentless it was

a grind the entire way through and so there was a part of me that's like do I need a break I'm a do I do I take the easier job that's going to pay me so well I could make bank um but maybe I wouldn't be that happy. Yes. And I'd be a cog in the wheel respectfully. I'd be, I would feel like I'm a cog in the wheel. And maybe if I wanted to do something, I'd need to ask two people's permission before I'm allowed to do it. And maybe they're going to mandate that I, and don't get me wrong. Like that's not a bad thing, but I think also once you've been a founder of your own business, it is very hard to take that step back where you aren't like, but I'm happy to take accountability for this project like I don't need other people's sign off yeah that's that would be

really challenging for me as well I kind of felt like if I was re if I was going to work in a in someone else's organization again this peanut opportunity just felt like bang on because I would be the owner back yeah I would still have that like owner mindset or a bit of like it's not like I need to be like in power or anything it's like I can't even articulate it but you know the decision making process. It's being able to have an idea and just start at that day. Implementation. Yeah. Yeah. Like I don't want to, I'm not doing a proposal. I'm not going to ask three people's permission. I need to start then. No, you can't sit on this for three months and like get me three different quotes and then we can maybe consider it and then we don't have

capacity. Sorry, Michelle. Yes, exactly. No, that's not how my brain works. Like I just need to be able to shoot my shot at this. And like, if it fails, I won't do it again. No issues. You know, like I so I really went inward and I really just trusted my gut and my instincts and I just to be honest even when I saw the huge offer it was more like well I already knew I'm not going to take it but I wish I didn't know it was that much like I already know I'm going to go with this other one but like now I'll know forever that I said no to that power move in your own house yeah but I also do think it was like, I was kind of only doing it to build confidence anyway. And this is why I find taking risks easier is because I just reinforced an assumption that I had, which is

like, I'll probably always be able to go and get that. Yeah. So I want to follow my heart and go where I see there's more long-term potential whilst I'm still really motivated by that. Because there are probably a lot of people in my community that have these offers and it's kind of like also similar in a way to staying where you're at. You're like, okay, maybe you've reached that hundred thousand dollar salary. And you're like, but I also know that next year that's going to be 110. And then, you know, a few years later I might be on 120 and like that feels really safe. And that's like a very good amount of money. Or do I pivot and go to a different industry and I don't know what that's going to pay or I don't know how sustainable that is. And, you know, you haven't

got enough experience to know what that career trajectory looks like you've played very heavily I would say in the tech space over your career and this is an industry that we've been talking a lot about on our podcast because women can make bank and I think that so many women are scared of tech because they're like oh I'm not really a techie person like I don't get it like but from an investment and then also a career angle we've talked about this idea of like high risk high reward and lots of people that are listening to the show we are high risk people because we want the reward like you don't listen to a show like she's on the money because you don't want to change your life be better at money be better at finance have a better career have a better life

like the community that I have built they listen to this content because they're like I want to do better for myself like I want to upgrade like I want to put myself in the driver's seat what do you think are the key things that made you so successful in tech, both as an employee, but then now as a startup founder that has exited? Interesting question. Cause it like, it really was Bumble that was sort of this breakthrough moment in my career. And I think what helped me get ahead at Bumble was I really gave a shit. I, a lot of people don't care about their jobs And it's fine. It's fine if you don't care about your job. There are also certain roles where you do just need someone to clock in at nine, clock out at five, and maybe it doesn't need to be

their passion. They've got other passions in life, you know? And there are lots of jobs that serve that purpose. Yeah. But for me, that job at Bumble did become my purpose, my life, my identity. And so I think I stood out in that role within the company because I really lived and breathed it. And I went above and beyond. And I do, as I've now gone on to employ people, I actually do think it's pretty easy to stand out as a bit of an all-star in an organization because there's just so many really little things people aren't willing to do. Like, for example, at the end of the day, before you shut your laptop and walk out the door, actually announcing, hey, I'm probably going to wrap up soon. Is there anything I can help you

with? That is just simply kind of caring, asking if anyone needs a hand, showing that you're a team player. And most of the time, no one will say anything anyway. They'll be like, oh no, no, thanks though, Michelle. Like have a good night. You go home. Like, oh my God, it's already 5.30. Like that's the conversation. Yeah. There's just little things that I think can make you stand out or like the way you celebrate other people in the team, or if you're a leader, exposing members of your own team in public Slack channels and calling out their work. There's just, yeah, so many little things that I think it also positions you as a leader, even if you're doing those things and you're not one, which I think then can get eyes on you for promotional

opportunities. And it's kind of the way you carry yourself. So I do think there's an element of like simplicity and just doing things like that to your point as well about, you know, maybe being a bit intimidated by the tech industry. Cause it's scary. Yeah. It's like, I'm not really, I wouldn't say I necessarily fit a tech. Girl, you grew a tech business. You sold a tech business. I think you, I think you're, you're very well educated in this space. It's weird though, because I would never have put that. If someone told me I was going to do that when I was in year 12, I'd be like, oh no, no, me working in finance, lol. But I also think tech has so many different ways to get involved in it without needing to be an engineer. Like you can be a product designer. You could be

a project manager. You could be marketing. You could be in social content. There are so many different doorways. Granted, if you do want to go on and found a tech company, it's like you will need to find an engineer. Oh, you're going to have to play in that space. But you can then attract engineers if you've worked alongside them previously. So that can really help as an avenue in. But I think one of the coolest things about tech is they are very fast, aggressively wired growth type environments. And I feel like if you can get involved in a startup early, like one of the first 10 employees, it just has the opportunity to really catapult your career because you will have to act like an owner, whether you want to or not, you will have

to develop an appetite for risk. You will have to get comfortable with being agile. Like there are just loads of skills that you have to build that I think make you, can make you really well-rounded and appealing to other environments. And it's a very unique experience and it doesn't need to make you like, I'm not necessarily saying you need to be a unicorn startup, like the Bumble experience, but I think you can learn those skills in, in any startup environment, to be honest. They're also kind of toxic, but it's like, we'll just sweep that under the rug for right now. I, what I'm hearing from this conversation as well is something that I feel like I need to point out because as women, we always underestimate our ability. We always like go, oh, maybe I need

to go back to university. Or we say things like, oh, I'm not smart enough for that. Or I haven't got experience in that but all the things that you just said make you this like unicorn employee like being on time caring about your job going above and beyond none of that actually involves intelligence they all involve you just giving a shit and stepping up and I think that you know it's 2025 but so many people aren't willing to step up now like and that's probably a little bit controversial to say, but I see it on socials all the time. Like I see it online and I see it in, you know, individuals I'm, you know, always hiring at the moment, or it feels like I'm always hiring and like our team is growing and you just see it even in interviews, you go, you don't give

two shits. Like you just want to clock in at 9am, clock out at 5pm. And like, that's actually irrespective of whether the job requires that. That's not the type of person I want to surround myself with. And when, you know, even individuals step back and you think about, well, what type of people do you want to surround yourself with? I want a team that champions each other. I want a team that says, Oh, Hey, did anybody need a hand before the end of the day? Like it's not the big things. It's not the degrees. It's not the, you know, how much you spent on college. It's not any of that. It's actually about being a good bloody human. Yeah. It's an attitude. And that's hard now. Yeah. I totally agree. I have found the hiring. I got asked a question last night and it's

like what would go down in sunroom law and I was thinking yes please well I was thinking it's just all the personnel stuff where Lucy and I would look at each other and be like what the hell was that like you can get really blindsided it's really hard to find good people and that's why I think once you've got them like we had some amazing employees and like we looked after them so well would do anything to retain them and just feel so like indebted to them and like that's how I feel about my current team and I'm obsessed with them yeah please nobody rock the boat yeah all right so I know I'm running out of time with you very quickly so for anyone who's listening who's maybe scared of making a really big career change what would you say to them right

now we've obviously talked about a lot but like what would you just direct advice say I said this to myself when I took the job at Bumble and I've said it to myself with like every step I've taken since. And it's so simple and basic and it's just better to try and fail, better to try and fail than to have never tried at all. And I just, that's kind of like my life motto. And so I really don't think there's, even now selling this company, I don't think there's such thing as failure at all because you do learn so much. And I've kind of just proven through this process, you can take it and then command way more where you go next. So I just, I don't know, it's not that deep. You're like, it's not that deep. Just do it. If it doesn't work out, you can go back to your old

job. Just don't burn bridges. But do like the icky guy and use that framework because I think it'll just reinforce that you're probably ready. Yeah. But yeah, I just think like better to try and fail than to have never tried at all. Love, love. Well, unfortunately, Michelle, that is all we have time for today. I know you are a very busy woman. So thank you so much for joining us and for sharing just so much with us. I feel like we did get a little bit pervy. We learned about your new job, the sale of your business, but like most importantly, we learned just do it. Like just rip the bandaid off. It's not that deep. And that sounds really silly, but I promise looking back, it's honestly so much more about the journey than the actual

destination because how many times do you get to the destination and you're like this ain't it I'm selling it and we're going to do it again yeah exactly thanks for having me of course and guys if you loved this episode as much as I have loved recording it for you go and follow Michelle to keep up with everything she's working on I'm going to make sure that all of her links are in the show notes and while you're at it if you found this chat inspiring share it with a friend and make sure you're subscribed so that you never miss an episode I'll see you guys on Friday bye the advice shared on she's on the money is general in nature and does not consider your individual circumstances she's on the money exists purely for educational purposes and

should not be relied upon to make an investment or financial decision if you do choose to buy a financial product read the pds tmd and obtain appropriate financial advice tailored towards your needs victoria divine and she's on the money are authorized representatives of money Sherpa PTY LTD ABN 321 649 27708 AFSL 451 289.