8 figure exit to new AI company | Josh Cairns | The Chirp Podcast E3

Josh Cairns is an Australian entrepreneur and the founder of Op Central, a technology platform built to help franchise and multi-site businesses manage operations, compliance and consistency at scale. What began as a relatively simple idea ultimately grew into a global software business used across thousands of businesses internationally, before Op Central was acquired by global software company Ideagen in 2023.

In this episode of The Chirp, Christian Bird sits down with Josh to unpack the journey behind building, scaling and ultimately selling Op Central in an eight figure exit. Josh shares what it took to grow the business from the ground up, the decisions that shaped its trajectory, the realities of selling a company and what life actually looks like for a founder once the deal is done.

Josh is now back in the founder’s seat with Minke, an AI driven platform designed to help businesses make better decisions using their own operational data. Christian and Josh discuss the rapidly changing role of AI in business, what Josh learned from his first major venture and why, after a successful exit, he decided to start building all over again.