Finlay Ekins

Finlay Ekins

Mechatronics engineer who left robots for AI. Builds the systems, and says plainly what does not work.

Finlay Ekins is the co-founder of Hourglass AI, where he leads the technical side of the build: the agents, the integrations, and the engineering judgement about what will hold up in production. He studied mechatronics engineering in Melbourne and left it for AI when it became clear the intelligence, not the hardware, was the interesting part. He started the business that became Hourglass on his own, made $700 in its first month, and spent ten months of failing and pivoting before it worked. He writes a weekly newsletter on AI from Australia at finlayekins.com, 14 essays since June 2026, and his standing advice to clients is to try ChatGPT properly for a month before commissioning anything custom.

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Track record

Companies first, then 27 pieces of his own writing, 0 podcast episodes, 2 press mentions and 0 recorded talks. Every claim links to its source.

  1. 2025 - present
    Company

    Hourglass AI · Co-founder

    AI implementation agency making Australian businesses AI-native. Leads the technical delivery: agent builds, integrations into the systems of record, and the engineering standards the work is held to.

  2. 2023 - 2025
    Company

    Independent practice · Independent AI consultant

    Two years helping businesses adopt AI before Hourglass, starting with brick-and-mortar operators and moving to startups. The period where the engineering met the commercial reality of what clients will actually use.

  3. before 2023
    Company

    Robotics engineering, Melbourne · Mechatronics engineering

    Studied mechatronics and worked in robotic engineering through university. Left when it became clear the intelligence, not the hardware, was the interesting part.

Writing

27 pieces, grouped by where they were published. Newest first.

Newsletter, finlayekins.com · 14

Weekly essays on AI from Australia: what he is seeing, what he is building, and where he thinks it goes.

  1. Sep 2026
  2. Aug 2026
  3. Aug 2026
  4. Aug 2026
  5. Aug 2026
  6. Jul 2026
  7. Jul 2026
  8. Jul 2026
Show all 14
  1. Jul 2026
  2. Jul 2026
  3. Jun 2026
  4. Jun 2026
  5. Jun 2026
  6. Jun 2026

Hourglass Digital newsletter · 3

The company newsletter he wrote before the personal one, January to March 2026.

  1. Mar 2026
  2. Feb 2026
  3. Jan 2026

Press

2 articles about him or quoting him, newest first.

  1. Apr 2026
    Former Startmate boss Michael Batko is back in founder mode building with Hourglass AI · Startup Daily

    Launch coverage of Hourglass AI, quoting him on skipping the grad job and rewriting the playbook from scratch.

  2. 2021
    Introducing our Season 7 Protostars · Blackbird Foundation

    Named as a Protostar for building a smart pet collar with his sister, a vet, to track a dog's biometric data.

Written by Finlay

2 pages on this site carry this byline.

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