Building the go-to recruitment firm for Australian startups

This episode flips the format. Rather than interviewing a founder, Steve Grace steps into the guest seat to tell the story of how The Nudge Group was built: from its origins as a niche recruitment business serving early-stage companies to becoming one of the most recognised talent partners in the Australian startup ecosystem.

Steve unpacks the evolution of the business, what it takes to build trust with founders and candidates simultaneously, and why he launched Give It A Nudge as a platform to tell better stories about the people behind Australian startups.

“Recruitment gets a bad name because most people do it badly. If you actually care about the person in front of you and the company you’re placing them with, it changes everything.”

Why startups need a different kind of recruiter

Most recruitment firms are built around volume: fill the role, collect the fee, move on. Steve built The Nudge Group on a different premise. Startups need partners who understand their culture, their stage, and what kind of person will actually succeed in a fast-moving, resource-constrained environment. That requires genuine knowledge of the ecosystem, not just a database of CVs.

Building in public: why Give It A Nudge exists

Give It A Nudge started as a way to give founders a platform to tell their stories. Over time it became something else: a way for The Nudge Group to stay close to what was actually happening in the market. The founders who came on the show often became clients. The conversations often surfaced talent. The content became a business development engine.

“Every founder we’ve had on the show has taught me something. And that compounds. That’s the unfair advantage.”

What the ecosystem looks like now

Steve shares his perspective on how the Australian startup ecosystem has matured since The Nudge Group was founded, the biggest talent challenges he sees founders wrestling with, and what he thinks the next chapter looks like for recruitment in a world where remote work has dissolved geographic constraints.

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