Ending Guesswork: Building a Better Informed Future with Kate O'Keeffe

In this episode of Chasing Financial Equality, host Kane Jackson speaks with Kate O'Keefre, the serial entrepreneur, innovator, and CEO + co-founder of Heatseeker, who is revolutionising how businesses make product decisions through AI-driven market experiments. Drawing from her extensive experience in Silicon Valley and as a partner at BCG Digital Ventures, Kate shares insights on replacing flawed survey methodologies with real-world testing that reveals what customers actually do rather than what they say they'll do.

Known for her directness and efficiency, Kate explains how Heatseeker works to democratise access to market experimentation, leveraging AI to create and test product hypotheses through controlled social media campaigns. She discusses the journey of building Heatseeker with her co-founders, the challenges of creating a new category in the Australian market, and how data-driven decision-making can help diversify whose ideas get implemented in both startups and corporations.

The conversation explores Kate's previous work founding Cisco's Hyper Innovation Living Labs, where she connected corporate executives directly with end users like cancer patients to build more human-centered solutions. Kate also shares her perspectives on gender equality in tech, the potential for crowdfunding platforms like Birchal (where she serves as a board member) to democratise access to capital, and the critical importance of strong governance in scaling startups. The episode concludes with Kate's personal reflection on the power of kindness and supporting others through difficult times.

Key Themes & Timestamps 1. Heatseeker's AI-Driven Market Testing (04:16 - 07:21)

Kate explains how Heatseeker helps businesses validate ideas through live market experiments rather than traditional surveys, revealing the gap between what people say versus what they actually do.

2. Ship Fast and Iterate Philosophy (07:21 - 08:54)

Discussion of the startup mantra "ship fast and iterate," with Kate emphasising that shipping must include getting products in front of real customers to gather meaningful feedback.

3. Recruiting Co-Founders (09:04 - 11:15)

Kate shares the serendipitous story of how her husband met Rutger Coolen, former head of product at Atlassian, on a snowy hiking trail in New Zealand, leading to him joining Heatseeker.

4. Australian Product Development Culture (11:15 - 12:00)

Brief comparison of American versus Australian approaches to product leadership, highlighting the more formal methodologies used in the US.

5. Building a New Category (12:00 - 14:24)

Kate discusses the challenges of creating a new category in market research and experimentation, and how Heatseeker has evolved its messaging to communicate its value.

6. AI Implementation in Heatseeker (14:38 - 18:38)

Detailed explanation of how AI powers the Heatseeker platform - from ingesting information about clients and competitors to generating experiment variants, executing tests, and interpreting results.

7. Data Aggregation Strategy (18:38 - 20:21)

Kate reveals Heatseeker's ambition to build a large data repository that provides pattern recognition capabilities, giving clients an "unfair advantage" based on insights from previous experiments.

8. Supporting Diverse Founders (20:21 - 26:32)

Discussion of Kate's evolution from wanting to create a female-focused VC fund to now believing her greatest impact comes from being a wildly successful female founder who delivers returns to investors.

9. Hyper Innovation Living Labs Experience (26:59 - 32:06)

Kate shares her experience at Cisco creating environments where senior executives built and tested prototypes directly with end users like cancer patients, leading to successful startups like Circle Of.

10. Disconnection Between Executives and Users (32:06 - 35:28)

Conversation about how executives often become disconnected from end users, using an example of banking executives trying to understand millennials without actually engaging with them.

11. Gender Inequality in Tech (36:03 - 40:50)

Kate discusses historical factors contributing to gender inequality in STEM, including how early computer marketing targeted boys, and reflects on whether data-driven platforms like Heatseeker might perpetuate or help address biases.

12. Crowdfunding and Democratising Access (41:29 - 42:34)

Kate's perspectives on how Birchal, Australia's largest crowdfunding platform, supports more diverse founders with 40% of deals having female founders.

13. Governance in Fast-Growing Startups (42:45 - 46:36)

Discussion of the importance of strong governance, financial transparency, and board oversight in scaling startups successfully.

14. The Power of Kindness (46:38 - 50:14)

Kate shares a personal story about recovering from PTSD and how investor Dom Pym's consistent support and encouragement helped her get "off the mat" profess