Our Experts

Joel Abraham

Joel Abraham has over 20 years of commercial experience, is a marketing and finance graduate from Flinders University (Adelaide), holds an International Certificate in Corporate Finance from Columbia University (NY, USA) and undertaken the Company Directors Course from AICD (Australia).

Between 2005-2018 Joel was the CEO of Australian Institute of Business (AIB) and during this time led the business through the turnaround from a small family-business to become the largest MBA provider in Australia and one of the largest private higher education institutions in Australia.

In 2015, Joel led a sale process that resulted in a top- decile Australian private equity firm acquiring 50% of AIB. Joel stayed on as CEO until his exit from the role in 2018, and still maintains a board seat and significant equity position. 

Joel is now an active director and investor, specifically working with high growth South Australian SME’s.

David Bartholomeusz

David is a serial entrepreneur and super dad who spends more time volunteering than working on his businesses and more time with his kids than he does volunteering. He is known for his explorations in behavioural economics and applied evolutionary psychology with a particular interest in habit systems and organic growth of communities.

David is ThincLab’s Entrepreneur Facilitator and delivers our ThincStart and ThincScale development sessions.

Sasha Baranikov

An entrepreneur and specialist in growth strategy, governance and communications for start-ups, Sasha’s 15+ years of experience spans both B2C and B2B, with strengths in rapid go-to market, capital raising, operations and communications. Prior to her Executive role at Fleet Space Technologies, Sasha co-founded and as Executive Director grew Uniti Wireless Limited (UWL) from a home office through to an ASX listing in 4.5 years. Now known as Uniti Group, the fixed wireless broadband provider and NBN alternative, is a National and multi-technology telco with a >$3bn market cap.

Specialities:

• Development and enhancement of scalable business models
• Creation of high-performance teams
• Stakeholder/shareholder management
• Customer experience and UX for revenue acceleration
• Seed to Series A Fundraising
• Adaptation and creation of new revenue streams
• Brand development

Nurturing her creative side, Sasha is currently producing commissions as an Australian artist @BaranikovArt, and is passionate about local Adelaide Hills produce.

Geoff Kwitko

Geoff Kwitko is digital marketing consultant with 17 years of proven success. First Geoff founded and sold 3 of his own technology companies by the age of 25.  Next he grew and helped grow & sell another 3 client companies as a consultant. Then he advised and trained over 250 Adelaide companies in digital marketing. Geoff specializes in marketing strategy, social media, online advertising, SEO, web design, video, lead generation, CRM, email & marketing funnels.

Sanja Hendrick

Sanja is an award winning public speaking coach and mentor based in Adelaide. She has worked with TEDx speakers, start up founders, diplomats and global thought leaders to develop their stage and screen confidence in presentation skills. Whether it be a pitch for funding, keynote speech or media call, Sanja can help craft the talk, handle the public speaking fear and nail the presentation with confidence.

Michael Macolino

As a technology and business strategist, Michael focuses on the commercialization and adoption of AgTech and technologies which enable a sustainable environment.

Throughout his career as an entrepreneur and consultant, he have built businesses and delivered projects across a broad range of industries, with a common theme of utilizing technology to drive efficiency and growth.

In recent years he has moved from operating his own businesses, to be an advisor and mentor of founders and innovators. Michael is deeply involved in the development of the AgTech and South Australian Startup Eco-systems, through his roles as AgTech Lead at BDO Australia, Lead mentor at SproutX and AgTech expert at ThincLab.

Toby Strong

Toby Strong has successfully grown Podpac, a coffee pod manufacturing and online marketing business, from concept to now employing more than 50 staff. During his journey he has experienced the highs of winning awards including Product of the Year 2019, the lows of near failure and the challenges of having to pivot their business model multiple times.

Toby is part of the Entrepreneurs’ Organization and hosts a podcast called ‘How to Win at Life’ where he hopes to help others with their journey.

Specialty Areas

• eCommerce
• Branding which cuts through
• Customer Retention
• Prioritisation & Accountability

Craig Rivett

With strong business acumen and technical rehabilitation knowledge, Craig established Helping Heroes Rehabilitation Services in 2014 after noting a hole in the market. The organisation provides rehabilitation, injury management and assessment services exclusively to the Veteran community, nation-wide.

In 2020, Helping Heroes expanded and created Community Assist which aims to support people with disabilities navigate the NDIS through a range of support, assessment and therapy services. 

Specialty Areas:

• Social impact
• Business strategy and strategic planning
• Legal director duties including governance, risk and quality management
• HR and people management
• Managing growth 

Feng Fu

Feng Fu has worked in asset management industry for 14 years. He is a senior consultant to several Australian start-up companies for global ventures in Digital Innovation, FinTech, Internet of Things, Cyber Security etc, covering start ups to IPO including M&A. Some of the companies he has mentored have already reached A series capital raising round in Australia.

Feng Fu also established a scholarship at University of Adelaide for undergraduate female students in pursuing of knowledge and encouraging them to pursue careers in STEM fields.

Sean Grealy

Sean is the founder of Sell Anything and believes everyone can learn to sell.
Sean's speciality is helping a founder make their first sale, repeat, tweak and scale the process to their 100th+ sale/customer. Sean knows how to do this because he has done it with 3 SaaS companies and put the proof in the pudding. 
Beyond Sales, Sean is entrenched in the startup ecosystem and has been a part of Startmate Accelerator, spent time in San Francisco and Tel Aviv with his own tech startups. 

Adrian Johnston - Technology and AI

Adrian Johnston is the Chief Technology Officer and Co-Founder of Xamin, a company developing a No-Code platform for building Artificial Intelligence. He previously worked as a lead engineer on AI products for both GamerAI, building AI products for E-Sports, and LifeWhisperer, a medical AI tool for selecting the best embryo for IVF. Adrian holds a PhD from the Australian Institute for Machine Learning (The University of Adelaide), where he was funded by the Data2Decisions CRC (D2DCRC) and Australian Centre for Robotic Vision to undertake world-leading research in Computer Vision and Artificial Intelligence. 

With his expertise and passion for technology, Adrian enables ThincLab founders to feel confident to take on any technological challenge.