The day after this conversation was recorded, the government blinked: on 18 June it announced targeted CGT carve-outs for innovative startups, following more than 1,000 submissions to a Senate inquiry, one of the largest responses to a budget measure on record.

About the guests

Sam Maher is the founder and CEO of GovTech and the driving force behind the Coalition for Australia's Innovation & Investment Future (CAIIF), the cross-industry group that formed within two days of the budget and now represents more than 180 entities. Cheryl Mack is the CEO and co-founder of Aussie Angels, the platform behind more than 45 angel syndicates and over 3,000 wholesale investors, with close to $70 million deployed into early-stage companies. Both have been meeting Treasury and ministers' offices directly to respond to the changes.

What this episode covers

• Why the May 2026 budget changes to CGT, scrapping the 50 per cent discount in favour of indexation and a 30 per cent minimum tax, hit early-stage investment hardest

• The zero or low cost base problem and why inflation-based indexation does little for founders and angels who start from almost nothing

• Why the Early Stage Innovation Company (ESIC) rules, set in 2016, now exclude most pre-seed and seed rounds, and why that matters for the new carve-out

• What CAIIF asked the Senate for: separating property from productive capital, more time for consultation, a sunset clause, and harmonisation across innovation policy

• Cheryl Mack's practical advice to angels: hold fast, keep writing committed cheques, and wait for guidance rather than freezing

• What founders facing a liquidity event in the next twelve months should watch, including ESVCLP structures and debt instruments

• How Australia's proposed CGT settings compare with the United States, the United Kingdom, Singapore, New Zealand and Israel

Why now

The 18 June carve-out announcement does not end the uncertainty, it reshapes it. Treasury submissions close on 10 July, the second tranche of legislation may not be settled until close to the 1 July 2027 start date, and the carve-out's reliance on the ESIC definition leaves real questions about who actually qualifies. Founders and investors are making capital and hiring decisions now, against rules that are still moving.

Who this episode is for

• Founders raising capital or planning a liquidity event in the next twelve months

• Angel investors and syndicate leads weighing early-stage cheques

• VCs and fund managers assessing how ESVCLP structures change the picture

• Operators and employees holding or being offered equity through an ESS

Links and resources

Coalition for Australia's Innovation & Investment Future (CAIIF): https://www.linkedin.com/company/caiif/

Read the submissions to the Senate Economics Committee tax reform inquiry: https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Economics/TLABITRTaxReform/Submissions The Periodic Table of Australian Innovation: https://www.innovationperiodictable.au/

Australia has passed a regulated framework for tokenised assets before the United States has, and the Reserve Bank's Project Acacia has already tested it on live use cases with the major banks.

About the guest

Alan Burt is Executive Chairman of Redbelly Network, the public blockchain infrastructure named in the Reserve Bank of Australia's Project Acacia, and Co-Founder and General Partner of Beachhead Venture Capital. He came up as a technologist and IT services founder, exited his cloud services business in 2013, and has spent the years since investing across B2B SaaS and, more recently, blockchain and tokenisation. He invests alongside Utiliti in a number of companies.

What this episode covers

• What tokenisation actually is, and why it is not the same thing as crypto speculation.

• The Corporations Amendment (Digital Assets Framework) Act, which received Royal Assent on 8 April 2026, and the two new regulated categories it creates.

• Redbelly Network's role in Project Acacia, including settling a central bank obligation on a public blockchain for the first time anywhere.

• The liquidity unlock: research cited in the episode points to roughly $24 billion a year in savings, around 1 per cent of GDP.

• What it would take for an Australian fund manager to offer investors genuine liquidity options on assets that have never had them.

• Collateral mobility, the looping trade, and why borrowing against an asset can matter more than selling it.

• Founder liquidity, the secondary market problem, and the early-stage funding gap in Australian venture.

Why now

Australia has gone from policy ambiguity to a defined regime, while the equivalent United States legislation is still pending. The Act carries a transition runway before it commences, so the next 12 months are when fund managers, issuers and custodians decide how to use it. Capital markets have tightened, exit windows have narrowed, and a credible new route to liquidity changes the calculation for anyone holding illiquid assets.

Who this episode is for

• Fund managers and GPs weighing whether to tokenise an LP interest or offer secondary liquidity.

• Founders thinking about exit options beyond an IPO or trade sale.

• Investors and LPs who want optionality on long-dated commitments.

• Operators in financial technology building on the new regulatory clarity.

Subscribe for new episodes every two weeks.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/utiliti-group/

Growth can feel like momentum. But momentum without financial control is not steering — it is a crash waiting to happen. Ryan Barnes, Managing Partner of TWIYO Capital & Advisory, has worked at CFO level with more than 100 businesses across sectors. He knows what the warning signs look like before most founders do.

Ryan Barnes is Managing Partner of TWIYO Capital & Advisory, a Sydney-based CFO and capital advisory firm he co-founded in 2020. Before TWIYO, he was a CFO at 26, building his career across large chartered firms, multinationals, and high-growth businesses. Since founding TWIYO, he has worked at CFO level with over 100 businesses across sectors, guiding them through rapid growth, capital raises, and strategic transactions. TWIYO is an AFR Fast Starters firm and a certified B Corporation.

The era of cheap and abundant capital is behind us. Australian founders who built their models around serial raises are now being asked to prove they can sustain the business on its own terms — and that any raise serves a specific, strategic purpose. Ryan speaks from inside 100+ engagements through this transition, across a broad range of industries and business types, which makes this one of the most grounded conversations on sustainable, profitable growth you will hear.

Subscribe for new episodes every fortnight.

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/44IVscPmz3sgMSmxEvk312

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/rule-of-40/id1887992198}

Youtube: https://youtu.be/VRT9jWn5pjc

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/utiliti-group/