For a long time my days looked like hospitality — managing and operating a Pizza Hut business. You learn quickly that “busy street” and “this rent works” are not the same sentence. Quiet stretches, staffing pressure, and a lease that does not bend make that difference feel personal.
I used to think location risk was mostly intuition. Talk to enough operators and you hear the same pattern: a shortlist from an agent, a walk-through, some public numbers, and a decision that locks in years of cost. Chains buy research. Most independent operators do not.
Then came Sydney. In 2024 we opened a business that looked like the right call — traffic, rent, the familiar positive signs. About eighteen months later it was sold after losing around $180,000. I can still list the hours we put in. That is not what failed. What failed was having a clear enough picture of whether the site could carry the lease.
That is an ugly sentence to write. I am writing it anyway because it is the reason Locatalyze exists. Not as a redemption story. As a constraint: do not build something theatrical. Build something an operator can use before they sign.
I work from Perth, Western Australia. Some days Locatalyze feels sharp. Some days it feels unfinished — because it is. I would rather say that out loud than polish it into a myth.
If you want the product, go to locatalyze.com (opens in a new tab). If you want what I am doing this month, see /now. If you want to talk, email me.