What do you get when you sit the CEO of Airtasker down to lunch with the CEO of Australia’s most innovative food business? A smorgasbord of business insights on everything from where business ideas originate to the power of collaboration.

Two founders. Two very different business problems. But there were a lot of shared insights between Tim Fung of Australia’s own job-share platform Airtasker and Nick Hazell, founder of plant-based protein manufacturer v2food. Here are three great take-outs from their recent conversation for Business Founders Talk.

1. Great ideas come from new solutions to old challenges

When Tim Fung started Airtasker in 2012, he was just looking at an old problem in a new way: “We often want to connect with someone in our local community to get something done and Airtasker is just about finding a new way to do that.” For Nick Hazell, the challenge of figuring out answers to sustainable food led him to the new technology of plant-based protein. “Most needs,” he says, “are just human needs.”

2. Collaboration is ‘super-important’

Tim Fung says that, when you listen to and understand other people’s needs, “it can help you adapt and grow your business, too”. For Nick, it’s about investing in expertise. “Because you can trust them, you don’t have to spend a lot of time checking stuff. It’s hugely enabling.”

3. Ask forgiveness, not permission

Nick says forgiveness is a core value of his business. “If you’re asking people to take risks, you’ve got to be forgiving when it doesn’t pull off.” For Tim, it’s about splitting ideas up into one-way doors and two-way doors. If it only goes one way, that’s time to think about it. “But if it’s a two-way door, let’s go for it, let’s figure it out, fast.”