Ep 36. Annie Liao on Designing a Dream Career and Building a Training Campus for 1 Million AI Builders by 2026

Calling Operator with Laura Nicol

Today, I'm connecting with Annie Liao, founder and CEO of Build Club. What began as a weekend AI project among friends has now evolved into APAC’s largest AI learning platform. Fresh off closing her pre-seed round and going all-in on Build Club, Annie shares what’s next for her and her team. In today’s episode, we discuss: Annie’s early career journey as a data scientist, consultant, venture capitalist, community builder, operator, and startup founder—and the lessons she gained from each transition; A nod to her recent crowning as a Forbes Australia 30 Under 30 honoree; Scaling the impact of why Build Club started: to empower everyone to build their dreams into reality; Build Club’s internal AI strategy and approach to building; Why providing clarity is the most valuable role a founder can play; Taking a leap of faith to build custom GPTs (a beginner's guide); How to upskill your workforce in AI; The rise of AI workforce manager roles—plus why operators are uniquely suited for this shift. And, of course, I ask the “stupid” questions to help us all accelerate our AI learning journey.

Find Annie Liao:

• LinkedIn
• X
• Art
• Build Club events
• Join Build Club’s waitlist: www.buildclub.ai

Annie Liao’s Northstars and Frameworks:

• The Build Club Story and Why We Raised Venture Capital Funding
• This 23-year-old banked $1.2 million to build the ‘Duolingo for AI learning’
• Goal setting: Objectives and Key Results (OKRs)

ANZ Operators—Ones to Watch:

• Mitchell Hughes (Co-founder at NextGen Ventures)
• Clinton Lui (Build Club)

Other Folks Mentioned in the Episode:

• Julia Wells (Lecturer at the University of Technology Sydney)
• Daniel Vassilev (Co-founder at Relevance AI)
• Jacky Koh (Co-founder at Relevance AI)
• Tom McKenzie (CTO at Build Club)
• Jessy Wu (Founder at Encour)

Do you have an operator on speed dial who could be perfect for the show?

Please share your suggestions with me via LinkedIn.

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A note from your host, Laura:

My goal for Calling Operator 2.0 is to open-source stories with startup operators across various functional areas and learn how they excel at building and scaling companies. As a Chief of Staff, I often find myself in (virtual) rooms with people tackling similar challenges. I want this podcast to open a line for operators in Australia and New Zealand to learn from each other—diving into the execution behind big ideas, pivotal career moments, successes, failures, lessons and personal stories.