- 2 days ago
GravityFit create a suite of apparel and products to aid core stability, performance and health, and they are the product of choice for NASA, Aussie Golf Superstar Cam Smith, and plenty of ordinary people all over the world.
Kirsty Richardson is carrying on a family legacy, started by her mother-in-law Carolyn Richardson- who was the second ever Aussie to attain a PHD in Physiotherapy.
Carolyn pioneered the concept of ‘core stability’, and herself was hand-selected by the European Space Agency, to provide them with her ground-breaking theorems and research.
Kirsty and husband Dave lead this Queensland business that now has an office in the USA, is expanding rapidly in to Asia, and was recognised last year as a finalist at the Startup World Cup in San Francisco.
Kirsty Richardson is carrying on a family legacy, started by her mother-in-law Carolyn Richardson- who was the second ever Aussie to attain a PHD in Physiotherapy.
Carolyn pioneered the concept of ‘core stability’, and herself was hand-selected by the European Space Agency, to provide them with her ground-breaking theorems and research.
Kirsty and husband Dave lead this Queensland business that now has an office in the USA, is expanding rapidly in to Asia, and was recognised last year as a finalist at the Startup World Cup in San Francisco.
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SportsTranscript
00:02G'day, hello, and welcome to the show, Sports Cutting Edge, all for the Australian Sports
00:06Technologies Network, powering sport through innovation.
00:09Huge guest on the show today, co-founder of Gravity Fit, Kirstie Richardson, one of the
00:15most exciting sports apparel brands anywhere in the world right now, based out of Noosa,
00:20literally in paradise.
00:21And this is apparel that goes up into outer space with NASA and is worn by one of the
00:27great golf icons of modern-day sport, Cam Smith.
00:31This is a superstar business on the world stage, went to the World Cup of Startups last
00:35year and performed magnificently, representing Australia.
00:39Kirstie Richardson moments away.
00:40But first, we do need to thank our wonderful friends, JB and the team at Daily Motion, our
00:46wonderful sponsors.
00:47And today's show is proudly sponsored by Daily Motion Pro.
00:50Sports broadcasters, clubs, federations, this is for you.
00:54Daily Motion Pro is the most complete video suite for sports broadcasters, clubs, and
00:59federations, helping you stream on every screen, grow your fan base, and monetize content.
01:05Backed by AI-driven features designed to engage fans and supported by expert teams, it delivers
01:11high-performing, immersive video experiences with over 400 million active users.
01:17How about that, Kirstie?
01:18400 million active users per month, and a network of 5,000 partners.
01:23Daily Motion Pro is a trusted provider across the sports industry.
01:26Find out more, pro.dailymotion.com.
01:30Thank you very much, Daily Motion Pro.
01:32Okay, Gravity Fit.
01:34As I say, Kirstie Richardson, co-founder.
01:37You've got one of the hottest properties in the world right now in terms of sports tech
01:41apparel.
01:42You must be just on the crest of a wave.
01:44You've had so much success, particularly across the last 12 months.
01:47You went and represented Australia at the Startup World Cup, performed so well there.
01:52You went on the trade mission to Japan and absolutely dominated there with the ASTN team.
01:58You must be pretty excited about life right now, Kirstie.
02:01Oh, thanks, Lockie.
02:03Thanks for having me on the podcast today.
02:05Yeah, it was a really wonderful year last year, 2025.
02:08And we've started 2026 bringing a lot of that momentum forward.
02:11It's been a cracking start to 2026, so onwards and upwards for sure.
02:16Yeah, gotcha.
02:17Now, I mean, always fascinated to learn sort of the origin stories of people and of companies.
02:22Now, yourself, I mean, you've had such a fascinating career.
02:25So you did a Bachelor of Science at UQ.
02:28You worked at McKinsey & Co. back around the turn of the millennium, project manager there.
02:33Then you worked at Flight Centre, another great Queensland business, project manager there.
02:38And then it's such a beautiful family story with Gravity Fit.
02:43You start that journey June of 2013.
02:46Can you delve into, first of all, just your career, you know, the science that you studied,
02:51the work that you did with a couple of magnificent businesses, what you learnt through those early
02:56years, say 20 years ago, 15 years ago, and what you sort of brought into now your current
03:01iteration of your career?
03:02Yeah, completely.
03:03So it was computer science that I was studying, mostly, which is kind of why it led into a
03:07lot of project management and IT project management.
03:09So, yes, I was a, and still am a nerd.
03:12I was, through high school, I did famously wrote a program in year 12 that people could
03:20work out who they should invite to their school formal.
03:23So that was my claim to fame.
03:25And then worked in, it was really early days of computer networking and email and those sort
03:30of things. So a lot of very male dominated teams that my first team was me and 15 guys.
03:37And I worked part time, sorry, I studied part time and worked full time straight out of school.
03:43So essentially, it was getting a computer science degrees in the early days of IT, working.
03:48It took about eight and a half years to get that degree.
03:51And then straight off to London to kind of use that degree and the eight and a half years
03:55experience that I'd had in that space.
03:58And then, yeah, got a job at McKinsey and Company, which was just like literally one of the most
04:03incredible companies that you could ever work for.
04:07Not because they fly around first class around the world when you have to travel everywhere.
04:11That bit was great.
04:13Also, understanding the way that they problem solve and they critically think is just something
04:18that, yeah, I've absolutely taken that into everything that I've done from there.
04:21Yeah. That's so cool.
04:23That was great. And then, yeah, came back, was over there in London with my then boyfriend,
04:28now husband for five years, came back to Australia.
04:32And I didn't want to work in government and I didn't want to work in a bank.
04:35And I really wanted to work for a global company, you know, just felt that that was
04:39an exciting place to be.
04:40And so there was Flight Centre, which was the opposite of McKinsey in terms of its structured
04:48problem solving.
04:48It was like you did not know what you were going to get every day when you turned up.
04:53So I guess from that I learnt to really think on my feet and adapt the way that you manage
05:01dependent on the culture of an organisation.
05:03Yeah.
05:04And then, you know, finished up there when I first had, we had twins and then we had another
05:11little one a couple of years later.
05:14And, yeah, that kind of gap in my career was the time that Gravity Fit started being
05:18born. So, you know, slotted straight in there.
05:21It is an amazing career.
05:23Can we just rewind the clock again?
05:24What was the application that you created for the school formal to work out who you should
05:28take to the formal?
05:29What did you call that?
05:31I can't remember what the program I wrote because it was a program in those days.
05:34Yeah.
05:35Yeah.
05:35But, yeah, it was multiple choice.
05:38And I think I'd preload the answers to make sure that people got what they wanted.
05:42But it was like, it's hilarious.
05:44And multiple choice questions that people could answer and then it'd pop out, you should ask
05:48this boy, you know.
05:49You were so ahead of your time.
05:52I feel like if you wanted to, you could pick that back up because I feel like, particularly
05:57in the US, that's, you know, with the proms.
05:59I just watched a movie, an old school movie called She's All That.
06:02I don't know.
06:02It was on Netflix.
06:03Yeah, I've seen that.
06:04That's such a good movie with Freddie Prinze Jr.
06:07And, like, I feel like that app or that, yeah, modern day app, old school program, would
06:12work a treat in America.
06:14This could be another goldmine you could tap a little later.
06:16We'll have to see if there's an app out there doing that and we could collaborate and write
06:20one.
06:20And even if there is, you were ahead of the game by, like, 20 years.
06:24That's so cool.
06:25It was interesting.
06:25The degree that I started was actually a Bachelor of Information Technology at the University
06:29of Queensland, which, so I switched over to science majoring, doing double major in computer
06:34science.
06:38But it was the second year that information technology had ever been run as a degree.
06:42And I can remember people used to say, what IT?
06:45Like, what's IT?
06:46What's information technology?
06:48It was just so early days.
06:51But the beauty of the degree in IT was that it was more broad.
06:56It wasn't just, you know, focused on programming and those sort of things.
07:00There was a lot of management.
07:01There was a lot of communication.
07:02There was, you know, written communication as well as, you know, verbal communication.
07:05So I kind of felt like it played into a broader range of skill sets than just the IT
07:10nerd side of it.
07:11Yeah, gotcha.
07:12And what was that like?
07:14I mean, just quickly, because we'll sort of get into this maybe a little bit later.
07:19But the fact you had that challenge whereby, you know, as you said, that first workplace,
07:23there was 15 guys and then yourself.
07:27I mean, obviously, in terms of women working in IT, it's still an area that, you know, the industry as
07:35a whole needs to help create better equality for.
07:38But back then, it must have been like the dark ages a little bit, yeah?
07:41Like, how did that experience help shape you?
07:44Yeah, it was crazy.
07:45And then, you know, the first job that I got when I moved to London, I worked for a company
07:48called Edexcel for about 18 months before I went to McKinsey.
07:51And I had to manage a team of six guys who'd never had a manager before.
07:55They're like, and so this little fresh, you know, 25-year-old Aussie going over there and managing this team,
08:01you know.
08:02So great skills to take forward, you know, into everything we do.
08:06Look, I think you felt like you just had to work harder and you really had to have your answers
08:11right.
08:11There wasn't the bluffing and blagging your way through everything.
08:15You had like one shot to kind of get things right.
08:17But the teams were always super supportive and the people that I work with have been incredible.
08:21So there was, other than just those early days at Edexcel when I was trying to work out the best
08:28strategies to manage these previously unmanaged men, that was probably the only bit that got a little bit hairy.
08:36But, you know, we won them over and things were great.
08:40And, no, so it, yeah, I think that's it.
08:43You just feel like you've just got to work a bit harder and just be really sure about what you're
08:45doing.
08:47Now, Gravity Fit, June 2013, this journey starts and it is such a wonderful family story.
08:53And a shout out to the OG, your mother-in-law, Carolyn Richardson, PhD, Professor of Physiotherapy to Caroline.
09:01What an incredible legacy that she has running and the fact that the family's carrying the torch forward is amazing.
09:07Can you give us the, yeah, the Gravity Fit origin story, please, Kirst?
09:11Yeah, absolutely.
09:12Well, I mean, to go way, way, way back and Carolyn was in one of the first cohorts who ever
09:19did physiotherapy at the University of Queensland.
09:21So before that, physiotherapy wasn't a degree.
09:24So there was some very strong pioneering women who just went, this needs to be a degree in its own
09:30right.
09:31They were fighting the establishment, which was a lot of male orthopaedic surgeons, who was just like, physiotherapy isn't a,
09:39you know, a degree qualification.
09:41It doesn't require a degree.
09:42It's more like a TAFE course.
09:44It's more something kind of instructional that, you know, that sort of thing.
09:48But they just fought and fought and fought for it and got it established as a degree at University of
09:52Queensland.
09:52And so Carolyn was one of the very first, I think she was the second in take through.
09:56She was the second person ever to get a PhD in physiotherapy in Australia.
10:00So very pioneering in that.
10:02But when she went to choose what she was going to do her PhD on, she spoke to this wonderful
10:07professor who wanted her to have a look at, both of them were interested in it, the effect of gravity
10:13on the knee joint.
10:14And having a look at the different muscles and how the knee was supported, whether it was, you know, in
10:21and out of gravity.
10:22And that started a lifelong passion of hers to have a look at gravity's effect on our bodies and on
10:27our health and how we can kind of harness the effect of gravity to live better.
10:33And very passionate about the demise of bone and joint health in populations around the world and just really was
10:45very passionate about doing something about that.
10:48So through her work at the University of Queensland, she headed up a research team that was the first ones
10:53to understand the role of the multifidus and the transversus, which we all know as the core muscles, and their
10:59role in stabilising the spine.
11:01And, you know, from that, all of the research into low back pain and the work on the actual start
11:09of the whole core stability, core strength movement was that team at the University of Queensland.
11:13So, yeah, she really is just like a very incredibly impactful woman in what she's done.
11:19But from there, she got picked up by the European Space Agency because these muscles, these deep stabilising muscles are
11:26the ones that deteriorate most quickly in microgravity with the astronaut population.
11:31So she headed up a bed rest study in Berlin looking at some countermeasures that they could put in place
11:37to activate and build the endurance of these core and deep muscles in astronaut populations and then translated all of
11:46that over into populations here on Earth.
11:48So, yeah, incredible story.
11:50Absolutely incredible.
11:52I'll be honest.
11:52I didn't realise physiotherapy wasn't a degree.
11:54I mean, obviously, everything has to start somewhere, but I didn't realise that.
11:57So shout out to those ladies that got that going up in Queensland.
12:01That's so cool.
12:02And Caroline specifically.
12:05And also, because when I was sort of doing a bit of research about, you know, everything you do, like
12:11core stability, it's such a thing that's like so norm and mainstream now to talk about core stability.
12:16But the fact that Caroline was the one who actually came up with this whole concept and the role of
12:21gravity, for those of us that aren't so good with the science, can you, Kirsty, sort of put in a
12:26sort of a macro sort of assessment?
12:30What does gravity do to the body, to the muscles, the bones, et cetera?
12:35Yeah, well, the way that Caroline kind of started her research and the way that, you know, I understand her
12:40research and how it relates to us all is that it's putting us under this constant kind of resistance load,
12:46right, where we're pushing up against gravity the whole time.
12:50So moving from being apes who are resting their knuckles on the ground, so weight bearing through their arms and
12:57legs, to turn into people who are able to stand up on two legs and stand upright, we needed to
13:03have a strong musculoskeletal system that could support itself standing upright.
13:08And an important part of that was these deep stabilising muscles that sit around the joints.
13:14So not the big movement muscles that connect from, like, one joint to another joint.
13:19These are the deeper muscles that just sit around one joint.
13:23And their role is to provide tone and support to your musculoskeletal system to allow us to stand upright.
13:30And it's that constant force of gravity that we're pushing up against that gives these muscles the sensory load that
13:37they need to know to know what to do.
13:39So they come on and they stabilise you.
13:41So if you're in outer space, obviously, if you're in microgravity, you don't have that sensory effect of gravity.
13:48These muscles don't get the stimulation that they need to do to switch on and they, you know, deteriorate and
13:54stop providing that support.
13:56So where Carolyn's research went with that is obviously living in modern times.
14:01We sit down a lot.
14:03We wear shoes.
14:06We don't walk on uneven surfaces.
14:08So all of the things that we kind of evolved to do to pick up these sensory effects of gravity
14:14and switch these deep muscles on, we're kind of taking out of natural society.
14:18So what can we do to kind of allow ourselves to get some more of that sensory feedback that our
14:24bodies need to switch these muscles on is the start of the whole gravity fit journey.
14:28Absolutely extraordinary.
14:29Absolutely extraordinary.
14:30And you explain that so nicely.
14:31Like for someone who doesn't understand, it's so nice.
14:33Now I do understand.
14:35Okay.
14:36So you have this incredible body of work, this information.
14:39Second ever PhD, Carolyn Richardson brings all this info to the table through her research and discovery.
14:45Works with the top space mobs in the world out of Berlin.
14:50So how do you then take all of that, the wealth of information and then create the modern day suite
14:55of products that is gravity fit?
14:57Yeah, well, and this is where my husband was just absolutely instrumental in the whole thing.
15:01So David obviously grew up in a house where his mum was a pioneering academic and he just had, his
15:10passion was to help commercialise people's research.
15:12So that first of all, it could get out broader to the population, but also to ensure that people who
15:18do all this incredible research can build a legacy for themselves and have access to the population that can kind
15:26of help foster their research further.
15:28So Dave was inspired to do a degree in commerce and law at the University of Queensland, specialising in intellectual
15:35property law so that he could really help with those commercialisation paths and that protecting people's intellectual property.
15:43So he worked as, ended up being a partner at DLA Piper, which is one of the biggest global law
15:49firms as a partner in intellectual property.
15:52But meanwhile, was working, you know, with his mum saying, how can we commercialise your research?
15:58What can we do with this?
15:59How can we develop this into a range of products?
16:01And, you know, so there's lots of family lunches and family dinners where they'd be squirrelling away in the background
16:08doing bits and pieces with Gravity Fit.
16:10And Carolyn, honestly, just has one of those minds where she can come up with brilliant new ideas.
16:16And I think that that's something that is the heart of all innovation, right?
16:21So she'd go, right, well, we need a product.
16:23And what it needs to do is it needs to be able to do this and that and this and
16:26that.
16:26And so that was the start of it.
16:29Dave and Carolyn just really working together to pull together a suite of products that would apply her research.
16:37And I need to shout out to Alex Wall and the brilliant team at Design Works in Brisbane.
16:43They've gone on to wonderful things now.
16:46But at that point, they were a product design team who were in a little basement office at Orkinflower near
16:53where we lived.
16:54And so Dave, on his way to work to DLA Piper to be a big time partner in a law
16:59firm, would walk past and knock on their basement door and they'd all sit there and they'd like develop these
17:03products further and further and further until they became the suite of products that we have now.
17:07That's so cool.
17:09And just a little shout out to, you know, you guys in Queensland are killing it, you know, and well
17:13done to the Queensland government, like being so supportive of it.
17:16And, you know, even at the Sports Innovation Week in Melbourne last year, we were at the great privilege of
17:22seeing you again and doing a couple of interviews and that with you, Kirsty, there.
17:26The Queensland mob came down and you guys were representing in full force, Steph Bowfinger and the gang.
17:31It's just so good to see.
17:33So, like, can I ask, is there sort of that real teammateship you've got going on in Queensland?
17:40Because if you look at that, UQ, obviously, they're the, behind Loughborough in the UK, the highest ranked sports university
17:46in the world.
17:47So you've got everyone there, Carolyn, Dave, yourself all went to UQ.
17:51Then you've got Alex, who's given a chop out on the way through as well.
17:54Like, it's a real sort of Queensland fraternity, yeah?
17:57Yeah, I think Queensland's doing really well at the moment and Nikita would be so proud of you, Nikita, for
18:02giving Queensland the call out that we so rightly deserve.
18:07And I think, you know, in the lead up to the Olympics, it's just got everyone so much more fired
18:10up to work together and collaborate.
18:12And at the ASDN networking event that we went to the other night, a very big message behind it was
18:18not just to collaborate with other innovators and people in that space, but to, you know, have a look at
18:23what's happening in other sports, have a look at what's happening in other industries to kind of bring some of
18:27that back.
18:28But, you know, we love to collaborate in Queensland.
18:30We love to get behind a good team.
18:33But, yeah, no, we're doing well in Queensland at the moment.
18:36The government's obviously really supportive of innovation.
18:39It was the Queensland government who, you know, took us all down there for that Sports Innovation Week down there.
18:45So, always grateful to them for their support as well.
18:48Yeah, very nice.
18:48Good point.
18:49Shout out to Nikita Vogel, who's the Queensland boss of ASTN, who's just absolutely phenomenal.
18:56Okay.
18:57So, you come up with this suite of products.
18:59You start about 12 years or so ago.
19:02Can you tell us how you've been able to hit the ground running and over the last year, as I
19:08say, decade, really establish yourself as such a strong operator in the field?
19:13Like, how did you take it from that, you know, squirreling away at lunches, coming up with ideas to then
19:19actually hit the market and create the sort of market share you've got now?
19:23I mean, a lot of it's just through hard work, obviously, and perseverance and the passion that Carolyn had for
19:32it.
19:33I think that there's been some really important people on the way through who've just kind of believed in things
19:37and given us a little step forward.
19:40One of them was a really famous physio called Ramsey McMaster.
19:45I don't know whether you know Ramsey McMaster, but he was Scottish but based here in Australia, and he was
19:51just a people connector, and he loved to get people to share information.
19:56So, he was a golf physio for a lot of PGA Tour players, including players like Graeme McDowell and Louis
20:03Oostuzen, who's still playing now.
20:05And he'd actually been doing in practice a lot of the things that Carolyn had been researching and finding the
20:10reason behind and the understanding behind.
20:12So, when they met, it was just like sparks, and he was like, you're coming with me, and just took
20:19her along to introduce her to a lot of people in his networks and just was like, these products she's
20:25got, this work that she's doing, it's just absolutely groundbreaking, unbelievable.
20:30So, we've got a lot to be grateful for, for people like Ramsey, you know, in those early days, really,
20:36the early believers, the earlier doctors kind of pushing us forward.
20:40But in those early days, what we were, what the products were, it was a suite of products that were
20:45really applying to principles of Carolyn's research, so that three of the principles kind of underpin everything we do in
20:52Gravity Fit.
20:52And that is that the best way to activate these deep muscles is a combination of good postural form, so
20:59not like locking in or holding good posture, like, you know, in a, in a rigid way, but just being
21:04able to feel and sense good posture, and then providing axial load, so like resistance load along your limbs, or
21:11through the top of your head, axially.
21:14And that's the best way to switch these deep muscles on, so the products were designed to essentially do both
21:22of those things, allow you to feel where good posture was, and then when you're holding good posture, apply some
21:26axial load through resistance bands to activate those deep muscles.
21:31So we had a gravity cap, we had our T-pro device, we had a core awareness belt, and we
21:36were traveling around the world, providing physiotherapy education to physiotherapists, and hoping to sell little kit bags of products kind
21:46of so that they could apply these, the new learnings in practice, in their, in their practices.
21:51So once again, there was lots of really early days supporters who supported us, the women, Royal Women's and Children's
21:58Hospital, no, Royal Hospital, the, the, the, the, Queensland Royal Women's.
22:02Yes, yes, another one, yes.
22:04Yeah, that one.
22:06They were really big supporters, so they've been using our products there for a long time as well.
22:09Fantastic.
22:10So we were starting to get a lot of uptake in sport, and we were starting to get a lot
22:13of uptake in the physio world, and then golf just kind of exploded for us, you know, from those,
22:20those early days of Cam Smith using the product as a 12, 13-year-old through the Queensland golf programs
22:26to, you know, tour pros all around the world using it.
22:29So we kind of did a bit of a pivot towards golf in those early days.
22:34Yeah.
22:35It's a good place to, a good space to play in golf, you know, and not too many poor golfers
22:39out there.
22:40So, like, okay, so Cam, that's really interesting, the fact that Cam Smith, who's such a, you know, an icon
22:46of Australian sport, he uses your product.
22:50I mean, what an incredible endorsement.
22:52So what, he started literally as a young teenager using it, and obviously the fact that he's still using it
22:58shows that it works and does a bloody good job.
23:01Yeah.
23:02And, I mean, the beauty of that product, so this is the one that we started off calling the Thoracic
23:05Pro when it was like a physio product but got shortened to the T Pro.
23:08So, and we've sold about 65,000 of them around the world now.
23:13And, you know, it's absolutely where all of our revenue, a lot of our revenue comes from.
23:18And the beauty of the product is it has got kind of two purposes.
23:22It, first of all, it allows you to build strength and stability of your core and your deep muscles.
23:28But, second of all, it can be used to teach dynamic movement patterns in a range of different rotation sports,
23:35golf being one.
23:36Yeah.
23:36And they talk about it as sort of a universal feels enhancer.
23:40So if you're trying to feel and learn a movement in golf, it allows you to feel connected through your
23:45arms and your body to, while you're doing the work yourself through the resistance bands, to build up the learnings
23:52that you can then put into practice and then put into play.
23:56And so it's in the golf bags of some of the best coaches in the world.
24:02It's in the golf bags of some of the best tour pros in the world.
24:04And they still use it for both a strength and stability tool and also for honing dynamic movements in golf.
24:12And, yeah, it's great.
24:14Well, and I encourage people to jump on gravityfit.com, gravityfit.com to see the Terracic and also to see
24:20all the other range of products that you've got.
24:22I mean, it's just it's a magnificent website, too.
24:25It's so beautifully laid out.
24:27That's my IT skills coming into play there.
24:29Oh, yeah, totally.
24:31OK, so golf has been a really big one for you.
24:35And I guess, I mean, the way that as we record this, Australia's team's just been booted out of the
24:41T20 World Cup.
24:42I'm guessing very applicable to sports similar to golf.
24:45I suppose all sports, really.
24:47But, you know, obviously cricket, tennis, baseball right through the gamut.
24:51Even, you know, American football, the quarterback, the range of motion, the course, the ability.
24:56I mean, really every single sport.
24:58I mean, if you think about a rugby pass, you know, there's like rotation, there's arm body connection, there's, you
25:03know.
25:03So it's absolutely something that's applicable across a lot of sports.
25:07And not forgetting that its core use is in physiotherapy and rehab for like the general population.
25:14So, you know, it's a really broadly used tool.
25:17It's a wonderful invention.
25:19A bloody oath.
25:20Literally 7 billion potential customers out there.
25:23And the way you've been able to grow and grow has been exponential the last little while.
25:29I want to touch on, so we've got Cam Smith.
25:32That's a very cool celebrity endorsement.
25:34So too is NASA.
25:36Tell us about your involvement.
25:37Gravity Fit and NASA, please.
25:39Yeah, so obviously with Carolyn's work with the European Space Agency, we had a few connections into the space industry.
25:47But NASA's a pretty hard nut to crack, particularly from a little startup in Queensland.
25:53So we had a few introductions.
25:54And this is a funny story, but on one of our teaching trips over to the US, we had Carolyn
26:03and her husband, Bren.
26:04We had David and myself.
26:05And we had our three children, so who at the time, the twins were nine and our youngest was six.
26:12So we had, I think it was 11 different stops around the US where we were teaching.
26:17And we were on planes.
26:19We were on trains.
26:19We were hiring cars, like minivans to ferry us all around.
26:23We would teach or Carolyn would teach on weekends to Saturday, Sunday courses to a range of physios.
26:29We'd sell product and then we'd have a little bit of a family holiday and while we were transiting to
26:34the next weekend and the next trip.
26:35So huge trip.
26:37So on that, we'd organise a little bit of potential meeting with a few people at NASA.
26:43And it just wasn't, they weren't locking in times.
26:47They weren't locking in dates.
26:48But once again, somebody who's a supporter and a believer and just somebody else we always need to call out
26:53to say thank you to, was Dr.
26:56Smith Johnson from NASA.
26:57And he'd said, look, I'm really busy.
27:00Not sure.
27:01You're in Houston, right?
27:02You're in Houston.
27:02Great.
27:03I can see all your research.
27:04Great.
27:05Listen, I can't get you into the Johnson Space Centre.
27:08But if you come over to the, like, the tourist area, which is where they've got the, you know, so
27:14I can meet you there in the car park.
27:16So we're there with the kids showing them all of the, like, the tourist stuff.
27:20And Carolyn and Dave go out to meet with Smith in a side area.
27:25And Smith's just like, this is amazing.
27:28This is what everybody at NASA needs to go.
27:31Stick around tomorrow.
27:32I'll organise this meeting for you.
27:34So the next day, Carolyn, Dave and myself go to Johnson Space Centre to this meeting.
27:40Smith and a couple of other people he's got there.
27:43And the one guy in the room that, you know, it's the guy that you need to convince, the guy
27:47you need to win over.
27:48But he was sitting there, like, he was just a tough nut.
27:52So he was, like, fast like this with his hands behind his head.
27:55He had a baseball cap on and he was chewing gum.
27:58And you could see that he was so disinterested in what was going on.
28:02Didn't think it had anything to do with him.
28:05And gradually, as Carolyn was kind of giving her presentation and talking through the research of what she'd done, he
28:11started going, all right, well, maybe she's got something here.
28:14And by the end of the hour, he was, like, leaning forward like this, asking questions, fully engaged, absolutely loving
28:21what she'd said and the application that he could see for the astronaut population at NASA.
28:28So he was, like, right, great.
28:30You know, we're there for a couple of hours.
28:32And then he said, you're sticking around in Houston for a bit longer, aren't you?
28:35And we're, like, yes, yes, we can change whatever points.
28:38And the next morning at, like, 6 o'clock we got a call and he said, right, I've cleared the
28:43entire day for the ACER team, who are the strength and conditioning coaches, essentially, for the responsible for the pre
28:49and post flight training of the astronauts.
28:51Their entire day is clear.
28:52The team, you're meeting them down at, you know, doing your training.
28:56Can you provide, can you do the two-day training in one day?
28:59Great, excellent, we've lined that up.
29:00And then that was the start of, you know, our time with NASA.
29:03Yeah.
29:05We trained up the ACER team and, you know, the T-Pro particularly and then the G-SOOT we used
29:10in the pre and post flight training of astronauts.
29:11And, you know, it's just a wonderful organisation to be associated with.
29:17The best thing that happened for us as well out of the whole NASA because, you know, in terms of
29:22running a business and driving revenue, obviously, it's not a big population, right?
29:27But they were really interested in the G-SOOT, which we haven't really touched on yet, and the T-Pro.
29:33And so they sponsored some research that was done through Deakin University to have a look at the efficacy of
29:39the tools and what was actually happening under MRI and essentially proved everything that we had kind of been.
29:46Pulling all of our bits and pieces of research together to create these products.
29:50And then they sponsored the research on the products to actually show that, yes, the serratus and the multifidus and
29:57the transversus are all being activated in exactly the way that we say that they're being activated and building endurance
30:02through the training of these populations that they studied.
30:06And then both of those research studies are published, one in Frontiers in Physiology and one in Nature.com, which
30:12is just such a prestigious, you know, place to have your research published.
30:15I can only imagine for you all, and especially for Caroline, to have that crowning glory of having that research
30:22be completely and perfectly validated.
30:25It must just been such a beautiful feeling on the inside for you all.
30:29And as I say, well done to, shout out to Dr. Richardson.
30:33Okay, so I want to tap into that.
30:35You know, you're talking about this, the NASA bloke and the baseball cap with the bubble gum and leaning back.
30:40And I think everyone can probably, everyone that's listening can relate to that guy, right?
30:44We've all had that guy, you know.
30:46In terms of trying to resonate, to get some cut through because they're the decision maker, did you see the
30:54moment in time where he suddenly went from being disengaged to actually saying, okay, maybe there's something in this?
31:01And what do you think turned that key?
31:04It was, what I recall it being was some research, a research that Caroline had worked with that they'd worked
31:10with together.
31:10A gentleman, his name was Pertesh.
31:12And Pertesh is like a very well-known researcher in this space.
31:16And he was a big believer in Pertesh's work.
31:19And so he was like, you're working with Pertesh.
31:21I can see now.
31:22And it kind of linked a whole lot of things together for him.
31:24He was, it allowed him to connect his beliefs with her beliefs.
31:31And I think that that's, that's what you've got to do, isn't it?
31:33You've got to find the thing that somebody who might be the biggest detractor, there is going to be something
31:40that you're going to both agree on.
31:41And finding those points of agreement and then allowing that to kind of take the conversation forward, I think it's
31:46really important.
31:47That's such awesome advice.
31:49So applicable to every area of life.
31:51That's a little bit of gold there, Kirsty.
31:54I think that's so, such a powerful thing.
31:57And you guys have had that on the journey, whether it's Ramsey, the Scottish physio, working with the golfers.
32:03And then, you know, it's all these sorts of moments in time where you set up those, those key linkages
32:08with people.
32:09Yeah, the G suit.
32:10I'm actually keen on one myself.
32:12I've been looking at that.
32:13I've been eyeing that G suit off.
32:14Can you tell us, how does the G suit work, please?
32:17Well, in the same way that I said, you know, the principles are good postural form and axial load.
32:24And the goal was always to create a garment that you could wear that basically applied that completely.
32:30So the T-Pro obviously does that wonderfully for the upper body.
32:33And if you understand the science, you know that it kind of works as a system.
32:36So while you're putting this axial load through your arms in good postural form with your kind of your thoracic,
32:41while you're standing tall, your core and all of your deep muscles switch on as well.
32:46But the goal is always to build out this G suit, which is essentially in its simplest form, like wearing
32:53a suit made out of resistance bands.
32:56So it's putting you under a constant resistance load.
32:59So we've done a lot of work working with some some brilliant pattern makers to build resistance panels into a
33:07Lycra garment that's comfortable and can be worn by elite athletes in training situations that puts them under just the
33:16right amount of resistance load to activate these these deep muscles while they train without impeding their natural movements or,
33:24you know, affecting their regular training routines.
33:28God, I love it.
33:30Yeah, it's a great piece of kit.
33:32So it's it people kind of call it like the superhero suit, because not only does it like help with
33:40performance and it helps with, you know, building out strength from within.
33:43So like a little bit Superman, but you obviously look like a superhero when you're wearing it.
33:47Oh, literally, I would wear it only for fashion purposes.
33:51Like where I live in New York, you could wear that out in the street.
33:54People wouldn't blink an eye like that.
33:55They'd be like, oh, that's cool.
33:57Look, so I want to talk to you about this is very exciting.
34:03You've got a product and people listen to this at all different times.
34:06So maybe there'll be some people listen to this in a year from now when the product's already out there.
34:10But something right now, as we speak in February of 2026, you've got this amazing new product that is now
34:17in prototype, the Axel.
34:19And it's so exciting when you drop a new product, like I can only imagine it's like Christmas for you
34:24guys.
34:24But can you tell us about the Axel?
34:26What is it?
34:27What's it do and the journey forward?
34:29So Axel is kind of like a platform is what we're calling it a platform.
34:32And what we're doing is into those two key products that we've got, the T-Pro and the G-Suit,
34:37we've built in sensors, a range of different sensors that are pulling out really unique data that we can use
34:45our internal algorithms to help give a really good picture to you about what's happening with your core and deep
34:51muscles from the outside.
34:56So say with the T-Pro, the sensors that we're using are a mix of pressure sensors and stretch sensors.
35:02With the G-Suit, we're using a mix of EMG, IMU and stretch sensors to just build up a picture
35:09of what's happening on the inside with these all important deep stabilizing muscles.
35:13They're too deep to pick up really just from EMG alone because they're buried under other layers of muscles.
35:19So it's really important to understand the science and how posture comes into it and how pressure comes into it
35:26to be able to build up a really good insight into what's happening with you.
35:29Now, the beauty of that is these muscles are the ones that protect you from injury.
35:34So once these muscles start fatiguing, the bigger muscles have to take over and provide that role of holding you
35:42strong and stable.
35:45So once you start fatiguing these deeper muscles, you're probably in a pretty vulnerable state in terms of injury.
35:52So it's great to first of all, be alerted to the fact that you're starting to fatigue your deep muscles.
35:58Probably don't go and do that training session or stop the lift that you're about to do.
36:03100%.
36:04Second of all, the fact that these sensors are built into the product that's actually functionally improving you as well
36:09means that you've got a closed feedback loop happening.
36:12So as you're improving, you can see your progress.
36:14You can see that you're building endurance of your core and deep muscles.
36:18And I think that that's a really powerful motivator for people who are training that they can actually see I'm
36:26progressing.
36:27I can see what's happening.
36:28Because we've all been to the physio or what many people have been to the physio or the personal trainer
36:33or the strength and conditioning coach who's saying you need to be engaging your core or you need to be,
36:38you know, working on your posture for this.
36:40And you go and you do your exercises and you're like, did that work?
36:43Am I doing what I'm supposed to be doing?
36:45Is it actually helping me?
36:47Being able to actually use this data to be able to track your progress and see the improvements, I think,
36:52is really powerful.
36:54Absolutely.
36:55Ironically, I'm heading to the gym soon to do core.
36:57Today's core day.
36:58So it's so funny we're talking.
37:00But no, but I can totally relate to that in terms of trying to understand whether you are actually achieving
37:06what you're setting out to achieve.
37:07And, and Kirstie, I can imagine just as you're describing that, like, in terms of injury prevention, it would be
37:14so applicable whether it's elderly people, whether it's people with different, you know, not necessarily sports-based injuries, but just
37:24life-based situations.
37:25Like, how big is that for you guys?
37:28Like, obviously, you started in the health domain, but, you know, pushing further and deeper into the health, aged care,
37:36special needs, physical disabilities, et cetera, into that market.
37:39Because I think your product would just be so good.
37:41Yeah, completely.
37:43I mean, sport's super exciting.
37:44And we love what we're doing in sport.
37:45And I think particularly for a product like the G-Suit, it's a much, much fewer barriers to get into
37:52the elite athlete market than it is to, well, convince somebody else to wear full-body lycra.
37:57I mean, they're already pretty comfortable wearing full-body lycra.
38:02One of Carolyn's biggest drivers was every time we'd fly to the States to either see NASA or do a
38:08training course over there, we'd get off the plane and there'd be a longer and longer line of wheelchairs required
38:13to get passengers off the plane.
38:15And it would just horrify her that there wasn't more being done to help the general population to age well.
38:23You know, from her point of view, they didn't need to be suffering all of these degenerative bone and joint
38:29conditions that were really stopping them from being able to walk off a plane on her own.
38:34So, yeah, for Carolyn's legacy, as well as, you know, our own passions, it's a really important part for us
38:40to build more into health.
38:44One of the exciting things that we're looking at at the moment actually is working with some, which is going
38:50back into sport, but, you know, when we're talking about the general broad application of the products, is working with
38:55some of the para-Olympians because in terms of proprioception and stability, the G-Suit can offer really incredible benefits
39:02around those sort of areas.
39:04Yeah.
39:04So watch this space there.
39:07Oh, I like that.
39:08That's very cool.
39:09Now, last year you went to Japan, ASTN trade mission.
39:13How did you find that experience?
39:15Oh, it was wonderful.
39:17It was so wonderful.
39:18I'd never been to Japan before.
39:20And, you know, Christina Marino, another call out for someone who's done some incredible things, who put this trade mission
39:27together with ASTN, organized some really fantastic access with some really top Japanese corporates like Mizuno,
39:35or Mizuno, as they say over there, Dunlop Sport, and Zebio, who are the biggest retailers in Japan of sports
39:42goods and apparel.
39:44So we had fantastic access into some of those things.
39:47So we've got some just wonderful opportunities in Japan, some great things that are happening there, some collaborations with some
39:54of those big corporates that we're working with.
39:57And I just went back to Japan a couple of times again last year just to continue to build those
40:03relationships and get those deals over the line.
40:06So, yeah, really excited with what we're doing with some of those big corporates in Japan.
40:10Very, very cool.
40:11Yeah, shout out to the trade mission that went, the Australia-Japan Business Co-op Committee, and, yeah, your magnificent
40:17government there in Queensland and our magnificent one here in Victoria.
40:20So a great team effort, as always.
40:23It is a team thing, isn't it, Kirsten?
40:25It's funny, like, because in America, there's just such natural motion behind everything.
40:31But in Australia, we sort of do really have to work together to get somewhere.
40:35And I think it is really cool that even that example, the fact Queensland and Victoria as two states came
40:40together to help propel you guys to get over there.
40:43And now, obviously, you've got a few live options in terms of business dealing.
40:47So it's really cool that it's, you know, creating some discernible results.
40:53All right.
40:54Now, I really – this is one of the main topics I wanted to talk to you about.
40:57The Startup World Cup.
41:00How was that experience?
41:01It looked – I've seen the images online in San Francisco.
41:05So bloody cool.
41:06So Startup World Cup is on.
41:08You win the Queensland competition.
41:11You go over there to represent Australia.
41:14I mean, yeah, take us through that whole Startup World Cup comp and what it was like for you.
41:19It was just so exciting.
41:21The whole thing was amazing.
41:22So Innovate Moreton Bay, another, you know, fantastic partnership there.
41:28And the great people at Innovate Moreton Bay put on the semifinal for Queensland and was lucky enough to win
41:36that with my family in the audience, which was very exciting.
41:38The kids were kind of – you know, when the kids are watching like this and they're like, oh, no,
41:42it's okay.
41:43She won.
41:43It's great.
41:44It's very exciting.
41:46And the prize was Innovate Moreton Bay paid for you to, you know, travel over to San Francisco to compete
41:52on the world stage for a million dollars funding for your business.
41:57So it was put on by Pegasus Tech Ventures.
41:59And there was 130 different start-ups from around the world.
42:02So there was a lot of representation from the United States, obviously, but there were start-ups from all over
42:08Europe, all over Africa, all over Asia, South America.
42:12And there was someone from Sydney, someone from Melbourne, and then I was the Queensland representative.
42:17And, yeah, it was full on.
42:19It was full on.
42:21Before you went, you had to prepare a four-minute, a one-minute and a two-minute pitch.
42:25Interesting.
42:25And you didn't know, you know, how things were going to go.
42:29So everybody got to do the two-minute pitch and you're up there in front of a judging panel and,
42:34you know, 200, 300 – oh, no, sorry, 500 or 600 people in the audience who are watching.
42:41And from there they selected their top ten.
42:43And the top ten then went on to do their four-minute pitch on what they call the world stage,
42:48which is in front of 3,500 people.
42:51And all of the other competitors got to do a one-minute pitch in front of that 3,500 group.
42:57So I didn't make the top ten.
42:59The top ten were just – it felt like to get in the top ten, it had to be a
43:06combination of innovation that felt like magic,
43:09like real magic, and you also kind of had to have finished your – closed your Series A funding round.
43:16So because ultimately it's run by a VC, the million dollars goes to the least risky option and the least
43:23risky option.
43:24And the brilliant, brilliant technology that won was a group out of Harvard who are replacing the graphite component of
43:33EV batteries with silicon.
43:35So silicon is something that they've got sovereign capacity to create in the U.S.
43:40And these batteries also have like 600 times the capacity of a regular battery.
43:48So, yeah, they were absolutely amazing.
43:50So – but some of the other technologies were like a little device that you could plug in your phone
43:55that could detect smell.
43:57That was one of the New Zealand innovations, which was just amazing.
44:03And the use cases for it were things that I hadn't thought of, but it's – like a lot of
44:09it was in food production.
44:10But there were other ones where you could record someone's face for 30 seconds and they could tell your blood
44:16pressure,
44:16your heart rate, your risk of cardiovascular disease.
44:20Like it just felt like magic.
44:22So, I mean, I think for us, my husband Dave came over with me to support us over there.
44:29Getting to see some of these incredible innovations from around the world was really inspiring, super, super inspiring.
44:37Gotcha.
44:38And just the fact that you made it through to that level of competition because like as you illustrate there,
44:43you're up against not just sports tech products but all tech products.
44:47It's like – it's bloody amazing.
44:49I was the only sports tech there, actually.
44:52I thought that there would have been a few others.
44:53Interesting.
44:55Yeah, I was – but, yeah, it's fascinating.
44:58Well, that's – well, naturally then you win the subcategory of sports tech World Cup.
45:03Done.
45:05International sports tech World Cup winner.
45:07Yeah, absolutely.
45:08That's so cool.
45:10Hey, what was that like standing in front of three and a half thousand people in this event
45:16in San Francisco, peak tech globally?
45:20What was that like?
45:21It was crazy.
45:22You know, it was such a big event.
45:26Like the people that they had, you know, the day that they did the one-minute pitches
45:30and the ten finalist pitches, they had speakers from Google and LinkedIn.
45:34And so there was – the calibre of people in the room was incredible in terms
45:39of their cleverness, you know, their access to investment.
45:46But it was a big production deal.
45:47So, you know, you're waiting backstage for ten minutes with all the lights
45:50and the full production.
45:51And then they – like, you know, in three, two, one, you're out onto that mark there.
45:54And the stage behind you was, like, enormous, absolutely enormous.
46:00So the photos you see, like, there's little Kirstie in this massive big stage.
46:04Looks amazing.
46:05And you've got one minute.
46:06And then you're just, like, off and go.
46:08And then it's – you know, you hear the applause and you go, oh, right.
46:11And then you're off.
46:12And, you know, it was incredible.
46:13But met some great people and lots of really wonderful opportunities.
46:16And actually have employed a new business development lead over in the U.S.
46:21off the back of that opportunity.
46:22So, yeah, things are going well for us there.
46:26And grateful to innovate Moreton Bay for the opportunity for sure.
46:29Isn't that amazing?
46:30It starts with that, you know, the innovation group in your local council.
46:35It starts there and it ends in San Francisco and it ends with you starting
46:39an American office.
46:41I mean, that's really cool, Kirst.
46:43Okay.
46:44Two last questions.
46:46First of all, like, all right, I feel like your business is going
46:50so quickly that 10 years is too long a time.
46:52In five years' time, what do you want to get done between now
46:55and five years?
46:56Yeah, I think that – I mean, one of the visions is – so the G-suit, right?
47:03The G-suit can be a range of apparel.
47:05At the moment it's a one whole piece garment.
47:07Building that out into a range of apparel that you can put on that can really
47:11tell you a whole lot of information about your health that is invisible
47:14to you and can help you find the path to restoring and recovering that.
47:20I think that that – almost like the Jetsons, you know,
47:23the Jetsons got around in, you know, whole body suits and they could probably
47:28just go – and then they could read what's happening with their health
47:31and their fitness.
47:32I think that that's where we really want to see this going,
47:35having that sort of technology where you can put on a piece of apparel
47:38that's going to tell you everything.
47:40I think, you know, I think really diving into that legacy
47:43that we want to build for Carolyn around helping with the bone
47:46and joint, you know, problems that are just exponentially growing
47:51around the world, I think that's really important.
47:53And, yeah, getting the science out there to help the general population
47:58and win some gold medals for Australia at the 2032 Games.
48:02Yes.
48:04Amen to that.
48:06Okay, last question because this is very much a great family story.
48:11What are your kids' names?
48:12So we've got Phoebe and Isaac, our twins, and then Flynn is our younger one.
48:17Well, shout out to Phoebe and Isaac and Flynn and to your mum, Kirstie,
48:22and dad, Dave, and grandma, Carolyn, Dr. Richardson,
48:27who's an absolute superstar.
48:29To you, Kirst, thanks so much for your time.
48:31Congratulations to you all on what you are achieving,
48:34everything you've done and everything that is to come.
48:36Such an honour to chat with you, and thank you very much for your time.
48:39Well, thank you so much, Lachie.
48:40It's been just wonderful to just, you know, reflect on the whole journey.
48:44It's been great.
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