Problem

At the school gate, every parent asks the same question: "What are your kids doing these holidays?" Kids mostly want to know which friends are going.

What I built

A two-sided marketplace. Parents find kids' activities and see which friends are going. Providers list their sessions and fill them. I built the iOS app, Android app, website, provider portal and backend with Claude. I run it day to day with my co-founder.

Result

Live on the App Store and Google Play. I spent the year making it as simple for parents as I could.

App Store → Google Play → parentpal.au →

"People see the end product, not the hundreds of ideas and rabbit holes, and the things you decided not to do."

Problem

A marketplace needs providers. Finding and contacting hundreds of them by hand does not work for one person.

What I built

A CRM with Claude in the sales process:

• Claude researches each lead from Google Places data, using web search.
• Each research batch has a hard dollar cap. If the cost goes over, the run stops.
• Claude Haiku sorts inbound email by intent.
• Claude Sonnet summarises each thread and drafts a reply.
• Nothing goes out until I approve it.

crm research --batch medium --cap-usd 80
  Claude + web search, one lead at a time
Example Swim School     researched
Example Tennis Club     researched
  · stops by itself at the $80 cap
crm inbox
sorted by intent        Claude Haiku
thread summarised       Claude Sonnet
reply drafted           waiting for Gary to approve

Illustration with made-up names. No real CRM data.

Result

1,044 leads researched so far.

Problem

One founder, five areas of work (app, website, provider portal, CRM, business admin), and new tasks all day, often on my phone.

What I built

I send a task in plain English from my phone or laptop. A Claude agent decides where it belongs, adds it to the right backlog, and splits work that touches more than one area into linked tasks. Then it starts the work.

Result

One place to send everything. With AI, one person has the power of ten.

Problem

A UK cycling club for riders aged 50+ ran on a slow WordPress site. Riders typed their details and emergency contact again for every ride. Membership and renewals were tracked by hand.

What I built

I built the club a new booking site. Members sign in with an email link and book a ride in one tap. Full rides get a waitlist. Emails go out by themselves: confirmations, waitlist places, reminders, leader lists and renewals. Each ride shows its own map from the route file.

Result

The club runs on it now, with a few hundred members.

new.wirralcycling.org →

Problem

A family day is full of small things to remember: who has sport, who needs a library book, bin day, whether the washing is done.

What I built

A screen on the kitchen wall. In a couple of seconds each morning I see the plan for the day:

• The time here, in the UK and in New Zealand, where our families are.
• The weather and the family calendar for the week.
• A card for each of my two kids: what is on today, what to take to school, and after-school sport.
• Alerts when the washer or dryer is done, which bins go out, and when rain is coming so the washing comes in.
• Chore charts. The kids earn iPad time by doing chores. A small iOS app I built locks their apps until they have minutes left.

The pool

The pool pump, filter, chlorinator and heater run on our solar panels and battery. Each morning an AI model reads the weather forecast and picks the sunniest window to run the pool, so it runs on free power. I can set a target, like "30 °C by Saturday lunchtime", and it plans the heating in the days before. A live diagram shows the water moving through the pump, filter, chlorinator, heat pump and solar mats.

Result

Things my brain no longer has to hold.

Tracks every coffee you make at home and counts down to the day your machine pays for itself. One tap to log a cup, from the app, a Home Screen widget or Control Center. Optional AI reads a bag of beans from a photo. No account and no tracking.

Splitwiser

When my friends and I went away, we used a cost-splitting app. I built my own, simpler version for iOS. It makes it easy to split rounds of drinks, food, tickets, flights and hotels.

HYROX trainer

I see good workouts online. I take a screenshot and load it into the app. Claude works out the exercises, reps and muscle groups. Then I start the workout and clap to move to the next exercise. In fast, timed workouts there is no time to run to the phone.

Silent Disco in a Box

A Raspberry Pi that runs its own WiFi and streams music to up to 20 guests' phones. Code on GitHub →

Problem

Indigenous businesses in Australia were mostly small, and big companies saw them as sport or arts and crafts. Other Indigenous founders kept asking us the same thing: how does Message Stick get in front of the CEOs of large companies?

What we built

We decided to share how we did it, at scale. Teach people to fish, rather than give them a fish.

Michael McLeod and Dug Russell studied how other countries help minority-owned businesses win corporate work. The strongest model was the US National Minority Supplier Development Council. It certifies minority-owned businesses, then introduces them to large companies. We brought the model to Australia, lobbied Canberra for several years, and won government funding for a pilot.

It launched as the Australian Indigenous Minority Supplier Council (AIMSC) and became Supply Nation in 2013. It connects majority Indigenous-owned businesses with corporate and government buyers.

My part

Michael and Dug were the public face. I worked behind the scenes with them to set it up, and I ran the launch at Parliament House on 15 September 2009. It is one of many large events I have run at Parliament House, along with the National Apology Breakfast.

Result

Supply Nation members spent a record A$6.79 billion with Indigenous businesses in 2025–26, up 16.5% on the year before. That money goes to Indigenous owners, their staff and their communities.

The 2025–26 result → Supply Nation's history →

Why

On 13 February 2008, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd apologised to the Stolen Generations in Parliament. The National Apology Breakfast marks that day every year.

What I built

I set it up and ran it every year from 2009 to 2023, with Michael McLeod as host: the guest list, the speakers, the run sheet, the room. In 2009 it was largely unknown.

1. 2009National Press Club, Canberra The first breakfast, on the first anniversary of the Apology. Richard Marles MP, now Deputy Prime Minister, spoke.
2. 2010 – 2014Government House, Sydney With NSW Governor Marie Bashir and Minister for Indigenous Affairs Jenny Macklin. Kevin Rudd spoke most years from 2011.
3. 2015 – 2020NSW Parliament House NSW Indigenous Affairs Ministers, Stolen Generations survivors and young Indigenous professionals. The 10th anniversary in 2018 ran twice: in Sydney, and in the Great Hall of Parliament House, Canberra. Guests in 2020 included Adam Goodes, Pat Turner, Jenny Macklin and Richard Marles.
4. 2021 – 2022Online During COVID we streamed it live from a studio in Sydney, with Kevin Rudd joining from Brisbane.
5. 2023Great Hall, Parliament House, Canberra My last breakfast. Kevin Rudd spoke. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles and Minister for Indigenous Australians Linda Burney attended.

"It was completely my little baby."

Result

Fifteen breakfasts in a row. It grew from a largely unknown event of about 50 guests to about 500 in the Great Hall, with the Prime Minister in the room. It still runs every year.

1. 2025 – nowParentPal Co-Founder & CEO. Built the apps, website, backend and CRM with Claude.
2. 2023 – 2026Eye Heart Science COO. Pivoted from after-school clubs to science kits. Profitable in 12 months. Signed Junior Adventures Group, Camp Australia and TheirCare. Went from packing kits by hand to a factory in China and a 3PL warehouse.
3. 2013 – 2023Side ventures Marine Riley: Riviera yacht dealership, sold my stake at 3×. One Smart Star: brought Israeli short-dial and Visual IVR tech to Australia, signed Telstra and Optus. WiFi Weddings: multi-camera livestreams during COVID.
4. 2008 – 2023Message Stick First employee to Chief Customer Officer. $0 to an A$10M+ run rate. Big Four banks, insurers and federal government. Led a sales team of 8 for eight years. Helped set up Supply Nation and ran its launch at Parliament House in 2009. Set up and ran the National Apology Breakfast from 2009 to 2023, growing it from 50 guests to about 500.
5. 2006 – 2008Genesys Conferencing, Sydney Sold video meetings and screen sharing before they were normal.
6. 2002 – 2006Sidlow (Volkswagen Audi Group), UK Built "Deal Negotiator", an online dealership with one salesperson. It outsold many physical dealerships combined.
7. 2000 – 2001IBM, London On the launch team for new IBM machines.

What I'm good at

• Spotting new tech early and making it pay.
• Getting people to actually use new tech.
• Building from zero.
• Big accounts and long sales cycles.
• Knowing when to walk away.

gary.williams.au@gmail.com

linkedin.com/in/garywilliams

Download my CV (PDF) →