Biography

I'm the Chief Strategy Officer and Australian Managing Director for Hnry. Hnry is a Post Series B Fintech and the world's first digital accountant and tax automation service for sole traders. My background is in Management Consulting, where I worked for ~13 years, mostly focussed on strategy in financial services. I've been at Hnry for more than 4 years now, initially joining as the company’s first hire in Australia to set up the Australian business and then later transitioning into a Global Chief Strategy Officer role. I love getting deep into problems, the breadth of daily challenges and the opportunity to shape a category from the inside.

What is the best thing about your job?
The best thing about my job is the customers we serve and the value we create for them. Our customers are the smallest of small businesses. The "mode" or most frequently occurring Hnry customer in Australia is a female disability support worker based in Queensland. She's a small business owner, but not the kind people typically picture when they hear that phrase—you might think of a café operator or the owner of a trades business. For her, working independently allows her to earn more, balance her family and personal commitments, and pursue her passion of being a specialist carer.

There’s something deeply powerful about that. For many of our customers, being an independent earner is more than just a way to make a living—it’s a form of self-actualisation. It’s the ability to shape their own working lives, contribute meaningfully, and as is often the case, the culmination of a career of vocational specialisation, which results in the ability to set your own rates, find your own clients and work your own hours. The one limiting factor for a number of our customers is the sheer amount of admin that's placed on their shoulders when they become business owners. To the extent that we can alleviate that pain, give them time back in their day, and in the case of Hnry’s largest customer demographic, provide more productive caring hours to support the most vulnerable members of society in Australia - that gives me a lot of satisfaction.

What is the most challenging project/problem you have worked on either as an external consultant or an internal strategist?
One of the most challenging projects I’ve worked on was helping write the corporate strategy, followed by a resourcing review for one of the main financial regulators in Australia during the Banking Royal Commission. It was a once-in-a-generation inquiry, and while the spotlight was on banks and misconduct, the regulators came under significant scrutiny as well. The challenge wasn’t just technical—it was about calibrating the settings of the regulator to clearly demonstrate how it would support the progress of the financial system going forward.

At the time, I had recently been promoted to Director and had done very little public sector work, so the orientation was quite different to what I was used to with commercial clients. There wasn’t a straightforward financial motive or a singular stakeholder to satisfy—instead, the work had to hold up to public, political, and institutional expectations. Navigating that complexity while also adapting to a new leadership role made it a uniquely demanding experience, and one I learnt a great deal from.

What advice would you give someone transitioning from a consulting firm to a role in industry?

One thing that some ex-consultants take for granted is that when you jump into industry you typically automatically get abstracted from the client. Most leadership or functional roles in industry are quite far removed from the end customer. A lot of ex-consultants get so focused on the mechanics of the organisation that they lose sight of the human at the other end of the value chain. One of the most important things that happened to me when I joined Hnry was out of necessity—I had to do a lot of different jobs, including being one of our first customer service reps in Australia. That experience at the coal face gave me a deep understanding of our value proposition, our product, and our customer experience. It’s one thing to understand that theoretically as a leader—it’s a whole other thing to live it firsthand. And that foundation has been invaluable ever since.

Who has influenced your career the most and why?

In my early consulting days, I was also fortunate to form a tight-knit peer group—we became each other’s sounding boards and trusted challengers. Fifteen years later, we've all fortunately done well in our careers so whilst time and each of our contexts have shifted, we continue to offer each other critical advice and perspective as our careers evolve.

More recently, it’s been my wife. She’s exceptional at being an ethical compass—always helping me determine when to proactively engage on something and when to let it go. Her clarity and emotional intelligence have helped me navigate some of the more nuanced leadership challenges I've faced.

What is the favourite piece of advice you have received and from whom?
I once received a piece of advice from Giam Swiegers, the former CEO of Deloitte, when we were setting up the Young Sikh Professionals Network—a Not for Profit organisation I co-founded and Chaired. He told us something that seemed counter-intuitive at the time: the strategic objective of any not-for-profit should be its own irrelevance. In other words, if you do your job well enough, the world won’t need your organisation anymore. That advice has stayed with me through more than a decade of involvement in not-for-profits, and I often reflect on its broader application to leadership—aim to solve the root problem so well that your solution becomes obsolete.

Please describe the most impactful leader you've worked under and what specific traits made them exceptional.
One of the early Partners I worked with—Selwyn D’Souza—had a profound influence on me. He possessed this rare, almost childlike enthusiasm for business problems that completely reshaped how I viewed strategic problem solving. Early in my career, I thought Consulting was meant to be formal and highly process-driven. Selwyn showed me that approaching problems with passion, curiosity and common sense could be just as powerful—if not more so—than rigid frameworks. That lesson has stuck with me ever since.

I’ve also learned a lot from our co-founders at Hnry. They have very different styles but share an incredible ability to apply abductive logic—using limited information to form strong, directional decisions quickly. Watching them navigate ambiguity, and lead with fairness and clarity has been hugely formative.

Can you share an example of your best hiring decision and what qualities or indicators made that person stand out during your selection process?
One of the best hiring decisions I made came from an interview process designed to test not just structured thinking, but common sense. I used to run a case study that involved a market sizing and market entry challenge for Australia—with a twist: the actual buyers of the product weren’t based in Australia. Most candidates launched straight into a top-down and bottom-up sizing, followed by a textbook framework for market entry, never questioning the underlying assumption. Only one candidate paused and said, "I might sound silly, but who is actually buying this in Australia? Isn’t the answer zero?"

That moment of clarity said more about her judgment than any framework could. I’d hire her again in a heartbeat.

As a child, what did you want to be when you were older?
A cricket player or commentator. Test cricket is probably the most strategic and complex sport there is. While I didn’t have the physical ability to pursue it professionally, I’ve always been drawn to the strategic side of the game—and I like to think I’ve channelled that into the career I ended up building.

Who is your personal or business hero/heroine, and what quality do you most admire in them?
Nelson Mandela. I visited Robben Island a couple of years ago, and standing in the cell where he was held was a surreal experience—sobering, but also oddly energising. What I admire most is the personal sacrifice he made for the beliefs he held. That kind of principled conviction, especially when it comes at great personal cost, really resonates with me. It's also a value that’s deeply embedded in my Sikh heritage—we have a strong legacy of standing up for what's right, even when the stakes are high. His long-term thinking, grace under pressure, and quiet strength are qualities I try to learn from, even if I'm applying them in far less historic settings.

Who would you like to sit next to you at a dinner party, and why?
Yuval Noah Harari, Tim Urban (the guy behind Wait But Why), or Naval Ravikant. Harari for his ability to distil complex global trends into thought-provoking perspectives. Urban for his unique blend of curiosity, humour and his ability to explore big ideas in a relatable way. And Naval for his clarity of thought and his ability to cut through noise with simple truths. I think the conversation would spiral in the best possible way.

What is your favourite quote or motto?
"A happy person isn't someone who is happy all the time. It's someone who effortlessly interprets events in such a way that they don't lose their innate peace." – Naval Ravikant. It’s a grounding reminder that happiness isn’t about constant positivity, but about perspective and inner stability—something I try to keep front of mind, especially in fast-paced or high-pressure environments.

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