Episode #2
Jane Cay, Birdsnest
From a converted gambling den above a Cooma menswear store to a fashion empire that fills an old shopping mall, Jane Cay shares how Birdsnest became one of regional Australia's most loved brands, and one of its biggest employers. Jane embodies fearless leadership built on customer obsession, adaptability and a deep loyalty to the community that built her. Twenty-two years ago Jane launched Birdsnest online while everyone told her "no one's going to buy jeans online." Today Birdsnest employs over 100 people in a town of 6,500, has twice made Australia's top ten places to work, and runs its own design and manufacturing team, born from the frustration of stocking brands that stopped at size 14 and wouldn't listen to what her customers actually wanted. We dig into the unglamorous reality behind the growth: three all-nighters fixing a platform migration disaster the night before launch, learning the hard way never to let one person hold the only key to your tech, and choosing to relentlessly rebuild systems as the business outgrew them. Jane is candid about the two times the business contracted, especially the terror of COVID, when she had to cut rosters and watched her team quietly cover shifts for each other before she could even find the words to ask. She reframes small town limitations as an edge: being locked into a reliable regional postal network let Birdsnest match city delivery speeds early on, and being 100km from the nearest big city hasn't stopped her building a values-led, tech-powered personalised service, right down to handwritten notes on every parcel, backed by systems that remember a customer's preferences and order history. On AI, Jane is hands on and enthusiastic: she's used it to solve a problem the team once thought was too complex to tackle, automatically classifying their entire clothing catalogue by seasonal colour analysis (hue, chroma, value) so customers can shop by their personal colour palette. Her closing message to founders: ideas need space, so protect your best hour of the day for working on the business, not just in it. Key takeaways: Location can be a strength, not a limitation. Build the infrastructure that makes it one. Don't let one person become a single point of failure for critical systems, mitigate that risk early. AI is best applied to problems that were previously "too complex to bother with," not just repetitive admin. Protect a fixed block of time for strategic thinking; growth doesn't happen only in the busywork. Jane is offering Fearless Females Podcast listeners a $20 Wardrobe Voucher (one use only, minimum spend $100). Simply use the code "Fearless Females" when you get to checkout. Thank you to Westpac for supporting this episode of Fearless Females Podcast. Even the best ideas need backing. Westpac actively support female entrepreneurs through their new Female Founder Awards. Learn more about how Westpac actively support female founders here : www.westpac.com.au/fearlessfemales Your hosts today are: Anna Dimond from Palas Jewellery Kelly Jamieson from Edible Blooms
