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Bardia Khalilifar’s Transition from Corporate Leader to Startup Innovator
Bardia Khalilifar shares how he left a 20-year corporate tech career at HP to found Conicio Advisory, landing his first client in two weeks flat.
About the guest
Bardia Khalilifar
Founder of Conicio Advisory
Bardia Khalilifar is the founder of Conicio Advisory, a consulting firm helping SaaS and software companies with sales strategy and go-to-market execution. He spent 20 years in corporate technology, starting as a programmer and network engineer before moving into solutions architecture, sales, and executive partnership roles. His last corporate position was at HP.
Episode overview
Bardia Khalilifar joins Steve Grace on Give It A Nudge to talk about walking away from a 20-year corporate technology career to start his own consulting firm. The conversation covers the emotional reality of leaving a stable paycheck behind, the mechanics of landing clients quickly through an existing network, and why the rapidly shifting AI landscape is both a challenge and an opportunity for a small advisory business.
From programmer to corporate executive to founder
Bardia’s career started in programming and network engineering before he realised he was more of an extrovert than a typical engineer. He moved into solutions architecture, then sales, partnerships, and alliances, holding executive positions across multiple regions over two decades. His last role was at HP. The shift toward entrepreneurship was partly influenced by his membership at a business community called Club, where he was surrounded by founders and business owners rather than the corporate crowd he had always known. That exposure planted the seed.
“I won’t lie. I felt very vulnerable. I felt extremely scared and exposed. And I was more worried about, okay, when’s my next paycheck going to come.”
Bardia Khalilifar 14:00
Two weeks to the first client
Within two weeks of launching Conicio Advisory, Bardia landed his first client, a data analytics company that needed help driving more sales and revenue. His approach follows a three-phase model: full assessment of the customer’s environment, strategy build, and then implementation. He credits the speed entirely to the network and relationships he built during his corporate career. The lesson is clear: your existing connections are your most valuable asset when making the leap.
Wearing every hat as a solo founder
Going from an environment where everything was established to being a one-person operation was a shock. Bardia had to learn tax, accounting, website building, and content marketing from scratch. He chose to be frugal and do everything himself before looking for help. He has since brought on university interns, mentoring them one to two days a week on consulting fundamentals while they assist with the business. He views the vulnerability of that first year as a necessary forcing function that taught him to be a real business owner.
“You’re essentially a one-man band wearing multiple hats and at the same time you constantly have to keep up with information and data at the same time doing your own job as well.”
Bardia Khalilifar 14:00
Staying relevant in a rapidly changing AI landscape
With 60 nations now having national AI strategies and AI contributing $4.4 trillion to the global economy, Bardia’s challenge is staying current enough to advise clients credibly. He subscribes to research from McKinsey, Bain, Gartner, and IDC, and hosts roundtable discussions with CEOs, CIOs, CTOs, and CFOs. His focus on the SME market rather than large enterprises is deliberate: he sees the most innovative and disruptive technology coming from smaller Australian companies, and he wants to be the bridge that connects their products to market.
Key takeaways
Chapters
00:00Introduction and setting the scene00:18Meet Bardia Khalilifar of Conicio Advisory02:05Founding Conicio Advisory and its mission06:05Bardia’s first client and early successes12:14Building a future vision for Conicio Advisory14:00Challenges of starting a business from scratch18:25Balancing growth and innovation in a consulting firm
Mentioned in this episode
Frequently asked questions
What is Conicio Advisory?
Conicio Advisory is a consulting firm founded by Bardia Khalilifar that helps small and medium SaaS and software companies with sales strategy, go-to-market planning, partnership development, and advisory board services. The name comes from Latin, meaning “to connect.”
What was Bardia Khalilifar’s corporate background?
Bardia spent 20 years in corporate technology, starting as a programmer and network engineer before becoming a solutions architect. He then moved into sales, partnerships, and executive roles across multiple regions. His last corporate position was at HP.
How quickly did Conicio Advisory land its first client?
Bardia landed his first client within two weeks of starting the business. It was a data analytics company that needed help building a sales strategy and driving revenue. He credits his existing corporate network for the speed.
What challenges did Bardia face leaving corporate for entrepreneurship?
Bardia describes feeling vulnerable, scared, and exposed. His biggest worry was when his next paycheck would come. He had to learn tax, accounting, website creation, and content marketing while simultaneously serving clients as a solo operator.
How does Conicio Advisory stay current with AI and technology trends?
Through subscriptions to McKinsey, Bain, Gartner, and IDC research, roundtable discussions with C-suite executives, and continuous engagement with the startup ecosystem. Bardia focuses on understanding fundamentals and history rather than chasing every new trend.
Topics discussed
Full transcript
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Show full transcript (29 minutes, 7 sections)
00:00 Introduction and setting the scene
Steve: Welcome to another episode of Give It A Nudge. Today we have a really interesting journey for you. We have a friend of mine Bardia from Conicio on and he’s going to talk to us about his journey. So when I met Bardia he was working in the corporate world. He has now made the transition into the wonderful world of startups and scale-ups and I think we’re going to explore why he did that, how he did that, and how it’s all going. So welcome Bardia.
Bardia: Thank you for having me.
02:05 Founding Conicio Advisory and its mission
Bardia: Conicio in Latin means to connect and to unite. Whether that means connecting businesses or individuals to other businesses or to information, knowledge, products and services, the objective of Conicio is to bring people and things together essentially. I’ve structured the business in doing services such as sales, go-to-market, partnership development and then also advisory board as well to some businesses. The target market is SaaS and software companies within the small medium enterprise space.
06:05 Bardia’s first client and early successes
Steve: Give us an example of your first customer. Talk me through that first customer which I think is always the most exciting one.
Bardia: I was very fortunate, very lucky. Within two weeks of starting the business I managed to get my first customer. I owe that to building the networks and the relationships. I took on board a data analytics company. What they needed was to help drum up more sales, more revenue. My job was to formulate a strategy based on three key areas: one is doing a full assessment of the environment, then based on that assessment I do the strategy build, and from that strategy build I do the implementation.
14:00 Challenges of starting a business from scratch
Bardia: Coming from a 20-year career in a corporate world where everything’s established for you, everything is sort of going at its own pace, you’re comfortable, you’re getting a paycheck every day. And then eventually coming out of that into a very brand new realm, brand new world. I won’t lie. I felt very vulnerable. I felt extremely scared and exposed. And I was more worried about okay, when’s my next paycheck going to come. That vulnerability really helped me to force myself and throw myself in the deep end to really understand the key areas of owning a business. As simple as okay, what do I have to do when it comes to tax stuff or accounting. You’re essentially a one-man band wearing multiple hats.
18:25 Balancing growth and innovation in a consulting firm
Bardia: There are 60 nations globally now who have AI strategies, national AI strategies in place. And in today’s market AI is contributing $4.4 trillion to the global economy. That’s something you have to be aware of. Being able to learn from smaller businesses, see their really great innovative technology that’s disruptive in the market, and be able to take that idea and implement it in other areas really helps to keep things going as things are changing.
About the host
Steve Grace is the CEO and co-founder of The Nudge Group, a talent and advisory firm working with Australia’s fastest-growing tech and professional services companies. He has spent two decades recruiting and advising executive teams. Give It A Nudge is where he shares unfiltered conversations with founders, operators, and investors building something worth talking about.
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