Scaling, Unplugged - A Conversation with Dawid Naude
Scaling, Unplugged - A Conversation with Dawid Naude
Some of the best conversations you've had about building a company happened with a drink in your hand.
So that's the format. Thirty founders who are already running something, a bar, and Dawid Naude in the middle of it, talking about how he took Pathfindr from nothing to a $15 million acquisition in two years, and what AI is actually doing inside companies that have teams and revenue.
The room is founders with people on the payroll, or $1m plus raised. Every registration is reviewed.
Dawid started Pathfindr in early 2024, teaching organisations how to actually use AI. Inside two years he had the Victorian Government and Honey Insurance as clients, an AFR BOSS Most Innovative Companies listing in his founding year, and an offer from Affinda Group. He rolled 100% of his equity into the buyer, still runs Pathfindr, and is now Chief AI Officer across the group.
He's also Saxton's preferred AI keynote speaker, which usually means a conference ticket and a room of four hundred. Here you can interrupt him.
Half the night on the growth story. Half on AI. All of it with a drink and the person next to you.
Key event details
Date: Thursday 17th September
Time: 5:30pm - 8:30pm
Location: Melbourne CBD, shared on approval
Drinks and food provided
Capped at 30 founders
Who's in the room
Founders with people on the payroll, or $1m plus raised. Thirty people means you get to ask the thing you actually came to ask, and everyone in the room has already been through the hard parts. We review every registration and hold the mix.
Our guest
Dawid Naude, Pathfindr. Founded Pathfindr in 2023 and sold it to Affinda Group in 2025 in a deal valued at $15 million, rolling all of his equity into the buyer rather than taking cash. Before that he led Accenture's AI Technology practice in Australia, and went through an acquisition from the inside at Cloud Sherpas. He now sits across hundreds of companies trying to work out what AI is worth to them, which makes him unusually blunt about which parts are real.
What we'll get into
What actually drove the curve from zero to acquired in two years
How a two-year-old company wins government and enterprise clients
The first hires that mattered, and the ones he'd make differently
How to read an acquisition offer, and why he backed the buyer with all of his equity
What breaks at 5 people, at 15, and at 30
What changes in how you run when you stop being the one doing the work
Where AI is genuinely changing how a business runs, and where founders are burning months for nothing
What a team of 5 to 50 should have in place by now, and which workflows to rebuild first
Hosted By:
upcover
Big thanks to upcover. upcover are an AI-enabled digital insurance brokerage built for growing businesses. Fast cover for small businesses, specialist support for complex needs. We’re a team of insurance experts and builders focused on making risk management simpler, more transparent, and better aligned with how businesses grow.
Kairos Recruitment
Shout out to Kairos, my startup & scale up focused recruitment company. Through running AFC and working deeply with startup clients, we help companies scale their teams with the right people, at the right time. Whether you're hiring your first engineer or your next Head of Growth, we know how to match startups with standout humans who thrive in the chaos.
Proudly Supported by Innovation Victoria
Innovation Victoria exists to grow Victoria's startup ecosystem - bringing support, capability building and investment together in one place, and connecting founders and investors with the tools, advice and capital that turn good ideas into scalable companies.
RSVP
Thirty seats. Secure yours now!