Amanda’s background as a startup operator put her at the forefront of the nascent Australian startup world back in the 2000s. Amanda was the CEO of AirWORKS Media in 2003, before relocating to Los Angeles to become EYE Corp’s Vice President of Business Development, Partner Relations and Operations.

Amanda then founded Ausemerge in 2010 representing Australian-based ventures, working with 80 high growth technology-enabled companies to accelerate their entry into the US.

Along with Advance, Amanda developed the elevate61accelerator and ran it for 3 years before joining KPMG as the Head of High Growth Ventures in late 2016, a role she continues to hold today. 

Amanda not only shares so much of herself in this episode but also some fantastic tips on the importance of self awareness, working with people NOT like you, coaching and the icebox concept on staying focused.

If you loved this season and our Connect to Capital podcast, let us know and send an email to ceo@scaleinvestors.com.au on who you want to hear from in 2024. If there is enough interest, we will run season 3.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

F5 Collective invests in women building high-growth tech ventures at early stage from Seed through to Series A. There on a mission to catalyse change for 1 BILLION women across the Asia Pacific region.

Trace talks to me about her recent trip to India for Startup20 in Delhi. Completing an Executive private equity and venture capital course dominated by men at Harvard business school and the work she is doing across the ecosystem including the Female Founder Circle a partnership with The Startup Network. As well as her lived experience as a Founder. 

The alignment with Scale Investors is electric as is the conversation. We always say picking apart early stage businesses is easy, building conviction however, is, what sets apart the best in the biz. Tracey's institutional grade business development background really shines through in her articulate high conviction in women founders and I loved every single moment!

Links and Resources

F5 Collective

Interested in learning more about Scale? Head to our website to find learn more!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Phil Dolan’s list of credentials are akin to the super long list of credits at the end of a great movie. He has played a multitude of roles over his illustrious career and is at the cutting edge of how the latest tech can permanently and fundamentally shift ways of working. This is particularly evident in his current role as Executive Director of the Institute for the Future of Business at The University of Melbourne.  

Phil begun his foray into academia after running the research team at Macquarie for 15 years, an extremely prestigious role in the world of finance. He then transitioned into Professor life, starting in the role of Professor at Macquarie University. He completed his PhD from Stanford University under Bill Sharp, was the Dean at The University of Western Australia and adjunct Professor at both Monash and La Trobe Universities. 

Phil talks to me about some of extensive angel portfolio of Scale companies and why he invested in them. Phil is also a member of our inaugural Investment Committee for our new fund, The Scaling Women’s Fund. We couldn’t be more honoured to have him. 

I am sure you will find this conversation as intriguing and insightful as I always find my conversations with Phil. Thank you Phil for being our number one fan and most loyal advocate. Carol would be so proud.

Resources and Links

Phil Dolan on LinkedIn

Persuasion by Robert Cialdini 

Noise by Daniel Kahneman

Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Shift 

The Rest is History 

Interested in learning more about Scale? Head to our website to find learn more!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jodie’s passion for helping businesses start and grow is evident throughout our conversation. Before founding Tractor Ventures with Matt and Aprill Allen she was the General Manager at SBE Australia, she also set up the Innovation Bay community in Melbourne and is an advisor to multiple startups and mentor at Statemate. 

Jodie also has experience as a founder of Occasional Butler, a two-sided marketplace that was acquired by rival Airtasker, and founded depo8 a coworking space. 

In this chat you will hear about how knowing your strengths, trying something new and what you focus on expands are all mantras Jodie lives by, not to mention learning who inspires her most. Truly a humbling and super fun chat! 

Links and Resources

Jodie on LinkedIn

Tractor Ventures

Interested in learning more about Scale? Head to our website to find learn more!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Neil Stanford is a highly accomplished executive and currently the Executive Director of heading up the Venture Capital team at Breakthrough Victoria. A $2 billion initiative to invest in innovative startups that make a positive impact in Victoria. 

Neil’s impressive career spans across his role as the Head of Private Equity and Venture Capital at HostPlus, where he led a remarkable investment team. Over the past decade, Neil's team has provided backing and support to a greater number of Australian venture managers than any other group in the industry.

Notably, Neil played a crucial role in introducing venture investing to Hostplus in 2014, initiating a wave of early-stage investments into superfund portfolios across the country. His visionary approach and unwavering support have been instrumental in driving the success of The Female Leaders Fund, a series A and B fund Scale investors has partnered with Artesian VC on with HostPlus serving as one of the cornerstone investors. 

Neil consistently seeks out untapped opportunities and unconventional strategies. His ability to identify overlooked prospects has been key to his track record of success. 

I am sure you will enjoy listening to this conversation as much as I did hearing it.

Links and Resources

Against the Odds: An Autobiography

Interested in learning more about Scale? Head to our website to find learn more!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

But Michelle is best known for her outstanding contribution to innovation that can make a real difference in people’s lives. Michelle co-founded OneVentures one of Australia's leading Venture Capital firms (with 600M in funds under management). Michelle brings unique insight to the healthcare and technology companies in which she invests, having herself built and successfully exited a global technology business in arguably the most difficult environment of the early 2000’s dot com bubble.

Michelle’s passion for innovation, entrepreneurship, women in business, diversity and ethical leadership are clear in everything she does.

Links and Resources

Portfolio company - Vaxxas

OneVentures

Interested in learning more about Scale? Head to our website to find learn more!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Despite having 1st Class Honours and University Medal in Chemical engineering and commerce from Sydney University and being described by those she works with as an inspiring leader, Yish is a recovering insecure overachiever who has had to work hard to find balance.

Her road to founder CEO took a circuitous path via management consulting, not for profit and venture investing. She is a passionate believer in the power of diversity and is a shining demonstration that it is possible to do well by doing good.

Links and Resources

Kit App

Masters of Scale Podcast

Happiness Lab Podcast

X15 Ventures

Academic Research In Your Hands

Interested in learning more about Scale? Head to our website to find learn more!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

At Black Sheep, Hannah is involved in all parts of the investment life cycle, from taking first meetings with startups, progressing due diligence and post-investment engagement and bespoke project work with portfolio companies. She is an active member of the local Queensland ecosystem, organising the Women in VC SEQ events and conducting regular office hours with local startups. She has a love for all things early stage, particularly companies with an impact lens.

Links

Hannah’s profile on LinkedIn

Black Sheep

Llamalife

Book an Artist

The Gist (Podcast)

Comments by Celebs (Podcast)

Dune (novel)

Victoria E Schwab

Interested in learning more about Scale? Head to our website to find learn more!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

After early roles in accounting and investment banking she founded two successful financial services companies. She is heavily involved in Perth’s startup community and has a passion for supporting innovation and mentoring future entrepreneurs. 

In addition to investment, Tracie brings invaluable tools for financial discipline but she is all about delivering benefit not creating bureaucracy. At Scale we are delighted that Tracie will be an inaugural member of the Scaling Women’s Fund Investment Committee.

Links and Resources

Tracie Clark on LinkedIn

Interested in learning more about Scale? Head to our website to find learn more!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Previously, she was the Managing Director of NAB Ventures, the venture capital arm of National Australia Bank, where she invested in and served as a director for several global fintech companies. This was preceded by her role as a general partner at SeaPoint ventures, a US based venture capital firm focused on mobile technologies and SaaS enterprise software solutions. She is an active angel investor who served on the board of US based Alliance of Angels, one of the longest running and most active angel groups in the world. She was a lecturer in the subjects of Venture Capital and Entrepreneurship at University of Washington’s MBA program.

Melissa is a classic example of founder turned funder, having led two companies to successful acquisitions that provided over a 10X return to investors, including enterprise software company, 7Software (acquired by Nasdaq listed Concur Technologies.

Melissa has helped transform the Australian startup sector since her relocation here with her Australian husband in 2009. Passionate about female entrepreneurship, Melissa co-founded and now chairs of Heads Over Heels, an organization that works with women entrepreneurs leading high growth companies. And at Scale investors, we are thrilled that she has recently joined our investment committee.

Links/Resources/Companies

Wave to be acquired by H&R Block for $537 million

Clarisonic

Car Next Door acquired by Uber

Iivy

Books

Small Giants: Companies That Choose to Be Great Instead of Big

Podcast

What Fuels You

Interested in learning more about Scale? Head to our website to find learn more!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Now an early stage investor, Noga is a Venture Partner at Black Nova VC and Entrepreneur-in-Residence at Tractor Ventures. Her insight into the startup journey and ability to work hands-on with early-stage founders has seen her mentor 100s of startups at Australia’s leading accelerators including Startmate and Founders Institute. She has served on the Board of SBE Australia which supports women-led business and boasts a proven track record of 85% of alumni going on to raise capital.

Before founding UrbanYou, Noga worked at top-tier law firms in Sydney and London, and was General Counsel at Yahoo!  during its reign as internet pioneer. She has Board experience across a diverse range of corporate, startup and not-for-profit organisations.

Noga is an MC and keynote speaker, which might be a result of her teenage experience as a professional actor.

Links and Resources

Podcasts

Startup School by Seth Godin

Masters of Scale

The 20 Minute VC

Books

The Hard Thing about Hard Things

Play Bigger

More on Scale Investors

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

She has spent over 20 years working across the high-growth eco-system, from co-founding her own start-up which sold to Microsoft in 2007, through to working in some of Australia’s leading technology businesses, including Intelematics and Aconex. For over 5 years Kerri-Lee led technical investment and venture capital deployment in one of Australia’s leading family offices, and sits on the Boards of several high-growth companies, including agridigital, conserving beauty and Spee3D.

An alumnae of the transformational SBE Australia Program, Kerri-Lee has been the Chair of the female-focused entrepreneurs network since 2018 having been involved since the early days of the program in Australia. She is engaged with hundreds of female entrepreneurs across the country helping them with the investment and strategic acquisition.  She is an advisory board member of invest victoria and is a member of the investment committee for the Alice Anderson Fund, the Victoria’s government’s pioneering angel sidecar fund which co-invests with private sector investors in outstanding women-led startups.

Links and Resources

SBE Impact Reports

The Hard Thing and Hard Things by Ben Horowitz

The Thing About Men and Women George Carlin

The Challenger Sale: How To Take Control of the Customer Conversation by Matthew Dixon  and Brent Adamson 

More on Scale Investors

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Les’ path to investing is unusual. He got a taste for power of business when he established a thriving clothes retailing operation at Paddys Market in the 1980s. He used his savings to backpack around the world for 18 months then returned to teach commercial law at UNSW and Revenue law at Syd U. From 1987 he became a tax consulting partner with Horwaths and then Deloitte. He wrote several books, gave lectures and took a lead role in marketing through financial media PR. Over 20 years as a partner taught me a great deal about business, and in particular how to structure transactions.

In his heart Les has remained a businessman and deal doer. He started angel investing in 1999 and since a substantial exit in 2004 he has increasingly involved himself in the world of angel and VC investment. In 2009 he left Deloitte to dedicate his efforts entirely to angel and VC investing.

Whilst continuing to angel invest personally, Les co-founded the VC funds manager EVP in 2014. And now actively manages $130M of VC funds. In addition to Chairing the EVP Investment Committee his time is spent as a non-executive director of several startups and mentoring Founders.

LINKS AND RESOURCES

Les Szekely on LinkedIn

The Singularity Is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology

SiteMinder debuts on the ASX with oversubscribed AU$627M IPO and AU$1.36B market capitalisation

Compare Club

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

With a degree in computer science majoring in Artificial Intelligence, in addition to his honours degree in law, James has over 25 years' experience assisting companies in Australia and around the world with acquisitions, investments and joint ventures for strategically important technologies. 

James is an enthusiastic angel investor and co-founder of Skalata Ventures - Australia’s first fully-integrated seed investment program, designed to help early stage companies prepare to scale and grow into significant, sustainable and global businesses.  

In addition to all this, James is also committed to Legal Innovation and his award-winning work in this area has received global recognition by Harvard University, the US Association of Corporate Counsel and the Financial Times.

While James recognises the importance of academic credentials, he reckons for those new to the startup technology scene, you can learn just as much from hit comedy TV show Silicon Valley.  

LINKS AND RESOURCES

Australian Investment Council (formally AVCAL) templates

The Lean Startup: How Constant Innovation Creates Radically Successful Businesses by Eric Ries

Silicon Valley

How Google Crushed My Company (Unlockd co-founder Matt Berriman)

Unlockd advertising start-up blames Google as it goes into voluntary administration

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Described by her fellow investing partners at Tidal Ventures, as a go-to-market guru and a fundraising gun. Georgie has extensive experience in investment banking as well as enterprise sales, working closely alongside founders to develop successful go-to-market strategies. She brings wisdom and dedication to help founders optimise their business and prepare for the next round of fundraising. Formerly Bailador, Rackspace, Lazard.

Books:

Still Life by Sarah Winman 

Klara and the Sun: by Kazuo Ishiguro

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Lisa is fluent in English, Russian and French and as a raging extrovert never stops being inspired by the entrepreneurs she works with.

Companies mentioned

Uluu

Baymatob

Like Family

Books:

• Quiet by Susan Cain
• Principles by Ray Dalio – it’s particularly interesting for company culture
• Atomic Habits by James Clear – one of the best life-hack books
• 21 lessons for the 21st century by Yugal Noah Harari – very thought provoking

Anyone looking to get into VC should read:

• The Hard thing about Hard Things by Ben Horowitz
• The Lean Startup by Eric Ries
• What You Do is Who You Are by Ben Horowitz
• The Innovator’s Dilemma by Clayton Christenson

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As the leader of the investment team, Sam is also quite unique. Described by some as a polymath, Sam loves numbers, finds human behaviour fascinating and has a special affection for the beauty and precision of well-crafted language.

While he certainly would not include this on his business card, Sam has a PhD in mathematical modelling and theoretical physics and really stumbled into finance by accident via academia in 1994. 12 years later found himself establishing what would become one of the most successful investment teams in the country, and key supporter of Australia’s then nascent venture capital ecosystem.

What I really liked when researching Sam’s background, is that he is much less interested in listing his qualifications and much more interested in talking about the skills that have helped him achieve success:

• Lateral Thinking.
• Intuitive Reasoning.
• Problem Resolution.
• and Decision-making under uncertainty.

All of which have been required in very good measure over the last decade and a half in financial markets.

Companies

Zoox -  acquired by Amazon for well more than $1 billion 

Vaxxas – Vaccine delivery patches

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Prior to joining the Clean Energy Finance Corporation, Kristin spent more than a decade at top tier Australian private equity firm CHAMP Ventures and prior to that was a consultant at leading management consulting firm AT Kearney. Kristin holds a first class honours degree in chemical engineering from the University of Sydney and the energy she has for her work is palpable.

Kristin Vaughn on LinkedIn

• Book: Into Thin Air, Touching the Void and The Adventurer's Son
• Podcast: The Interchange from Greentech Media
• How I Built This

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The first half of today’s duo is Sarah Nolet, an internationally recognized food systems innovation expert who has been instrumental in building the early stage agtech ecosystem in Australia - from advising dozens of startups, designing accelerator programs and consulting to established agribusinesses, all the way to helping industry, universities and government develop and implement forward-looking initiatives in food system innovation. 

Sarah is also the host of the AgTech...So What? podcast, telling stories of innovators building the food systems of the future. Sarah holds a Masters in System Design and Management from MIT, and a Bachelor of Computer Science and Human Factors Engineering from Tufts University in the US. 

Matthew Pryor is the other half of the co-founder team at Tenacious Ventures and a Partner at AgThentic. He was previously co-founder of Observant, an Australian agtech pioneer acquired by Jain in 2017. He was the founding chair of Rocket Seeder, a food & agriculture innovation accelerator, and having achieved multiple significant exits himself, Matthew is dedicated to promoting Australian agri-food innovation globally. Both Sarah and Matthew are passionate about helping Australia take its rightful place as a leader in the technologies which will solve global food and environmental challenges. Its such an important mission. 

Companies 

Geora - https://www.geora.io/ Simple and secure technology for farmer networks to track and finance global agri-supply chains. Founder Bridie Ohlsson  

Rapid Aim - https://rapidaim.io/ A precision pest management tool for today’s farmer. Founder Nancy Schellhorn, PhD  

Goterra - https://goterra.com.au/ Modular, autonomous waste management units using insects to consume food waste, directly where waste is produced or at a central site. Founder Olympia Yarger 

Resources 

Never Split the Difference: Negotiating as if Your Life Depended on It by Chris Voss & Tahl Raz  

Thinking in Bets: Making Smarter Decisions When You Don't Have All the Facts by Annie Duke

Angel: How to Invest in Technology Startups-Timeless Advice from an Angel Investor Who Turned $100,000 into $100,000,000 by Jason Calacanis  

Triggers: Creating Behavior That Lasts--Becoming the Person You Want to Be by Dr Marshall Goldsmith & Mark Reiter 

Other 

20 minute VC podcast 

Heavyweight podcast 

Sarah Nolet, an internationally recognized food systems innovation expert who has been instrumental in building the early stage agtech ecosystem in Australia - from advising dozens of startups, designing accelerator programs and consulting to established agribusinesses, all the way to helping industry, universities and government develop and implement forward-looking initiatives in food system innovation. 

Sarah is also the host of the AgTech...So What? podcast, telling stories of innovators building the food systems of the future. Sarah holds a Masters in System Design and Management from MIT, and a Bachelor of Computer Science and Human Factors Engineering from Tufts University in the US. 

Matthew Pryor is the other half of the co-founder team at Tenacious Ventures and a Partner at AgThentic. He was previously co-founder of Observant, an Australian agtech pioneer acquired by Jain in 2017. He was the founding chair of Rocket Seeder, a food & agriculture innovation accelerator, and having achieved multiple significant exits himself, Matthew is dedicated to promoting Australian agri-food innovation globally. Both Sarah and Matthew are passionate about helping Australia take its rightful place as a leader in the technologies which will solve global food and environmental challenges. Its such an important mission. 

Companies 

Geora - https://www.geora.io/ Simple and secure technology for farmer networks to track and finance global agri-supply chains. Founder Bridie Ohlsson  

Rapid Aim - https://rapidaim.io/ A precision pest management tool for today’s farmer. Founder Nancy Schellhorn, PhD  

Goterra - https://goterra.com.au/ Modular, autonomous waste management units using insects to consume food waste, directly where waste is produced or at a central site. Founder Olympia Yarger 

Resources 

Never Split the Difference: Negotiating as if Your Life Depended on It by Chris Voss & Tahl Raz  

Thinking in Bets: Making Smarter Decisions When You Don't Have All the Facts by Annie Duke

Angel: How to Invest in Technology Startups-Timeless Advice from an Angel Investor Who Turned $100,000 into $100,000,000 by Jason Calacanis  

Triggers: Creating Behavior That Lasts--Becoming the Person You Want to Be by Dr Marshall Goldsmith & Mark Reiter 

Other 

20 minute VC podcast 

Heavyweight podcast 

882774d1-a60a-4365-837a-914cb5580e91 false https://anchor.fm/scaleinvestors/episodes/Karyn-West---Steering-institutional-investors-to-greener-pastures-e1lbqvc 63444392869e290012690a7d 6344438de38312001123ddbc full Karyn West is the founder and managing director of Apostle Funds Management.  I think of her as the fund whisperer, with a seemingly mystical ability to connect institutional investors, like the big Australian super funds, with the exact specialist investment management capability they maybe didn’t even realise they needed.

Karyn left the security of a great job at Rothschild, to single handedly launch an unknown American manager in Australia and then when on to established Apostle in 2008.

Now with over 30 years of experience in the finance sector, Karyn refutes that her success is anything magical, it is just the outworking of years of honing her skills, network and always being able to see things from her client’s perspective.

Links

United National Principals for Responsible Investment UNPRI 

Who Moved My Cheese by Spencer Johnson 

Fear and Greed podcast 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jackie Vullinghs is affectionately known by most people as Jax. Far from her birthplace in the UK, she now finds herself as an investing partner at one of Australia’s most successful venture firms Airtree.

Despite winning most of the prizes there are to win growing up (1st class honours in History at Cambridge, 3 Cambridge Blues in Women’s Lacrosse, the Bundy Scholarship for Academic Excellence, the Dunster Prize for History and the Sarah Springman Prize for simultaneous excellence in both academic study and university sport), these days she is much more impressed by behaviours than badges of success. And when it comes to being a great venture capital investor, she believes that there is one attribute that trumps all the others, more important that curiosity, analytical skills, sales acumen and operating experience. Jax believes that the one trait that trumps all others is agency. The ability to develop a plan and take action, without anyone’s permission.

Jax is driven by the joy of making connections - between ideas, and between people. She also loves seeing companies where growth is driven by raving fans who feel compelled to spread the word. Years ago that led to an obsession with direct to consumer and creator-led brands. Today, despite its volatility she is fascinated by how Web3 is allowing creators to reward fans with ownership in their communities and can't wait to see the emergent behaviour that evolves as a result.

Links

Jackie Vullinghs on LinekdIn 

Behaviour over badges  - Substack newsletter

The Dream Machine by M. Mitchell Waldrop  

Complexity by M. Mitchell Waldrop

A Mind at Play: How Claude Shannon Invented the Information Age by Jimmy Soni and Rob Goodman.

The Idea Factory: Bell Labs and the Great Age of American Innovation by Jon Gertner.

A Man for All Markets: Beating the Odds, from Las Vegas to Wall Street by Edward O. Thorp

Endurance by Alfred Lansing

Companies

Grow Super - Super admin software

eucalyptus - healthcare technology company

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Libby loves working with business builders and has found that being surrounded by other incredibly entrepreneurial and accomplished women inspires her to be more engaged, take risks with her own business and strengthen her skills in supporting women-led ventures.

As facilitator Libby is passionate about supporting founders to hone their skills, grow in confidence as they talk about their businesses, create a strong narrative in their pitch and extend their networks for growth and scale. As the project manager she is agile and adaptive, working to create the best online education programs for female founders.

At Scale we feel so lucky to work with Libby!

Resources

The Moment of Lift: How Empowering Women Changes the World - Book by Melinda Gates

Cut Through Venture - Australian startup funding ecosystem newsletter

AirTree Open Source VC - free legal documents, checklists and databases 

Right Click Capital's Garry Visontay - curated list of blog posts, eBooks, reports and tools 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ali is an optimistic extrovert and an enthusiastic supporter of those who are early in their journey as entrepreneurs or venture investors.

She is the co-host of Artesian's "ArteHouse" podcast and her enthusiasm is infectious.

Artesian is an alternative investment manager focused on early and later stage venture capital as well as fixed income investment. Artesian is the largest early stage VC investor in Australia, offering an end-to-end VC platform for startups at seed, angel & growth stages in Australia and China.

Hero and mentor – Vicky Lay

Podcasts

Acquired podcast
Pivot podcast
Artehouse podcast
The Daily podcast
Axios podcast
Energy Insiders podcast

Books

Superpower: Australia's Low-Carbon Opportunity by Ross Garnaut  
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo  by Taylor Jenkins Reid
Normal Peopleby Sally Rooney
The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Adam is generous with his time and incredibly consistent in his focus on creating value for others, so make sure you listen to the end of the interview where Adam shares a fabulously curated list of resources for founders and business builders.

Links

Hex – education startup, CEO Jeanette Cheah

Humans of Purpose podcast with Mike Davis 

Brave New Work podcast 

First Round Review podcast and startup materials 

Venture Deals, book by Brad Feld and Jason Mendelson 

Startup Funding, Australian directory of VC's 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Kara is the Founder and Managing Partner of Tiger Financial Group, the investment firm dedicated to empowering Australian growth companies into global markets.

After growing up in the San Francisco Bay area, attending Princeton and then spending 15 years as an investor and adviser for financial services technology in New York and San Francisco she found the love of her life, moved to Sydney, and became as she calls it an accidental Australian.

Kara has thrived in her adopted home, with her firm Tiger instrumental in the $1.2 billion USD deal to list Tritium on the NASDAQ, and advising HR tech leader Culture Amp on the capital raise which propelled them to unicorn status, amongst numerous others notable deals.

Kara is committed to the future of education and diversity in tech, volunteering her time as a director of SBE Australia, Princeton University’s Alumni Schools Committee, and as an active mentor in the tech ecosystem.

Kara’s well publicised departure from Westpac’s corporate venture arm Reinventure and subsequent litigation, highlights her commitment to standing up for what she believes in and using her actions, as much as her words, to be a role model for others to be brave.

Companies

Tritium

Cover Genius

Indebted

Podcasts

Invest like the Best

Bloomberg

CNBC

Mentors and Heroes

Robyn Denholm – Board Chair, Tesla

Didier Elzinga CEO of Culture Amp

Daniel Petre Cofounder and Partner Emeritus of Airtree VC

Rob Koczkar Managing Director, Adamantem Capital

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Scott describes Firemark as a strategic rather than a financial corporate venture investor, investing in startups to bring their capability inside the big insurer IAG to transform how it delivers insurance to customers. By early this year Firemark had made 33 investments across 18 portfolio companies and had achieved 6 exits including several IPOs.

However Scott sees the real measure of success in the ability of IAG to meaningfully partner with investee companies and is very proud of the 13 corporate agreements across the portfolio to create mutual value.   

With years of both designing and delivering digital transformations across multiple industries, Scott possesses the skills and experience of both strategy and execution - a differentiator at the Board table that investee companies rave about.

Links

Scott Gunther on LinkedIn 

About IAG Firemark in Interface Magazine, Issue 27, and in the Australian Financial Review 

AI leadership coaching app, Bunch AI

European startup news media, Sifted. 

Crunchbase - VC research

How to create Google alerts 

EmpowerEd

EmpowerEd is a 10-week program that is detailed, practical and high touch.

Combining online learning, small cohort facilitated sessions, mentorship, networking and personalised support. The program has been specifically designed to decode the world of angel investing and venture capital for women-led startups across Australia and designed in a way that supports you, the founder- every step of the way!

Want to know more about the Empowered program? Apply here and don’t forget to use the code Connect to Capital for a 25% scholarship for the August 2022 program. Starting August 9th.

TAKE 10MINS TO APPLY NOW:  https://scale-investors.mykajabi.com/empowered

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Steve has been championing Australian startups and entrepreneurs since he founded River City Labs, Brisbane’s well-known co-working hub in 2012.  But many of us are most familiar with Steve as a result of his appearance as a ‘Shark’ on Channel 10’s Shark Tank Australia.

These days Steve is energised by TEN13 an investment syndicate platform for sophisticated investors to invest alongside him and the experienced Investments team that supports him.

It was a real treat to speak with Steve – and like me I am sure you will not die wondering what he really thinks.

Links

https://www.stevebaxter.com.au/

https://www.ten13.vc/

River City Labs

EmpowerEd

EmpowerEd is a 10-week program that is detailed, practical and high touch.

Combining online learning, small cohort facilitated sessions, mentorship, networking and personalised support. The program has been specifically designed to decode the world of angel investing and venture capital for women-led startups across Australia and designed in a way that supports you, the founder- every step of the way!

Want to know more about the Empowered program? Apply here and don’t forget to use the code Connect to Capital for a 25% scholarship for the August 2022 program. Starting August 9th.

TAKE 10MINS TO APPLY NOW:  https://scale-investors.mykajabi.com/empowered

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A couple of years ago leading VC firm Airtree recognised Matt and his wife Aprill as some of the best angel investors in Australia noting that at the time of writing they had:

• $533k invested into 26 companies
• With 58% of the active portfolio having a female founder
• And notwithstanding that 3 had gone to zero, the remainder had generated $2.6m in cash returns and $7.7m in equity value (at each company’s most recent valuation)

That means that Matt & Aprill are up ~19X so far…(!)

These days Matt is the CEO of Tractor Ventures, Australia’s first revenue based investment fund.

Matt’s goal is to connect dots and facilitate the magic that happens when great people work together.

Links

Matt Allen personal website

Matt Allen on LinkedIn 

https://www.tractorventures.com/

Airtree Halo Effect article

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Over his more than 30 year career at Macquarie, Dan has not only build arguably the most successful corporate venture business in Australia, or perhaps the world, with numerous investments becoming billion dollar technology companies with an incredibly high strike rate, but he has done it without fan fare finding time to actively support philanthropic and social causes which are important to him. Dan was one of Scale’s first investors and has been on the board of Australian Philanthropic Services, the not for profit organisation encouraging greater charitable giving, particularly by wealthy individual donors.

However, when you ask Dan why he seems to keep such a low profile, he honestly can’t accept the premise of the question. He believes it’s the entrepreneurs who do all the hard work, and his job as an investor is to provide the capital, connections and support to enable them to fulfill their potential. He genuinely wants the entrepreneurs he backs to take centre stage and be the stars.

It has definitely been worth the wait to meet Dan!

Links

Australian philanthropic services

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Together with the rest of the rampersand team, Nicole loves to fund companies that have built a product or service, brought it to market, have a few early customers and are now looking to grow. Fast. But notwithstanding the pace of innovation, Nicole takes a very considered approach and has clear mental frameworks. She often falls in love with the companies she meets, but she knows that to be a successful venture investor, giving a fast no is just as important as every high conviction yes.

Links

Nicole Small on LinkedIn

Rampersand

Anthony Ulwick Jobs to be Done methodology (video) 

The Disruptive Voice HBR (Podcast) 

Think Again by Adam Grant (book) 

Companies

Expert 360 founder Bridget Loudon 

Goterra  founder Olympia Yarger 

Mass Dynamics founder Paula Burton 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

My guess is that part of the success in building a specialist venture firm like Taronga that great entrepreneurs love to work with, is Jonathan’s very global outlook. He truly is a citizen of the world, having held senior roles in Sweden, Abu Dhabi, Singapore, New Zealand, Malaysia and Australia. He is fluent in Mandarin and Swedish and as an entrepreneur himself, he is also an expert in the language of founders and business builders.

Links

Johnathan Hannam on LinkedIn

Taronga Ventures

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Originally from Sydney, having secured first class honours in science and the university medal from the University of NSW, Tristen spread her wings initially completing graduate studies in software engineering in Germany and then an MBA from Stanford delivering her straight into the heart of Silicon Valley as the late 1990’s tech revolution was in full swing.

Over the following nearly 2 decades, Tristen has had a front row seat to the highs and lows of technology and venture, and has sourced, led or been operationally involved with private investments that have returned over $8 billion to investors.

Tristen seems to be able to live life completely to the beat of her own drum, now splitting her time between her home in California and her exquisite eco-friendly wellness retreat in Peru, situated between Machu Picchu and the Incan capital of Cusco.

Generous with her time and oozing with enthusiasm, the most striking thing about Tristen is how evidently she lives her values of integrity, excellence and diligence. Her story really is perception shattering!

Links

Tristan Langley on LinkedIn 

Wilka T'ika, Tristen’s yoga retreat in Peru https://willkatika.com/

Shaman healing Peru https://www.samadihealing.com/

Book: Creative Acts for Curious People: How to Think, Create, and Lead in Unconventional Ways by Sarah Steinn Greenberg

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Links

Not Boring by Patrick Mccormick (@Packy McCormick)

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Rachael was enticed here to be Managing Director of Eventbrite Australia, growing the tech business in our region, having previously been a consultant at Bain & Company in Silicon Valley and throughout Australia, advising Technology, Private Equity, Consumer Products and Retail businesses.

Her love of early stage companies was evident in her choice to head up Startups in Australia & New Zealand for Amazon Web Services, responsible for driving both quantity and quality of startups in our region. Along the way Rachael became an invaluable strategic advisor and investor and a Partner in Startmate, Australia’s most ambitious accelerator. She’s passionate about helping companies scale and increase their impact through differentiated customer experiences and new product development.

Rachael also works to create the right policy environment that’s conducive to a thriving sector, and served as Chair of the Board for StartupAus - Australia's national startup advocacy and lobby group - with a federal ministerial appointment distributing commercialisation and acceleration funding on behalf of the Department of Industry, Innovation and Science.

Educated in the States with an undergraduate degree from Stanford University and two Masters degrees from Columbia University, Rachael has bounced between Australia and the US for the last ten years and now proudly calls Melbourne home, alongside her partner and two children.

Links

https://www.flyingfox.vc/about

https://www.linkedin.com/in/rachaelneumann/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Michael is focused on the Health, Wellness and Beauty space, believing a passionate believer in the multiplier effect of taking care of body and mind, and leaving a positive mark on the world.

The majority of profits made from the investments by Michael and his family are donated to charities supporting health, employment and education initiatives.

But what Michael feels is his most important and proudest achievement, is being the father of three beautiful children.

Contact Michael via LinkedIn 

Book – The Art of Stillness 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jana has a fascinating background, describing herself as being Czech by birth, global by choice. She has lived and worked in Europe , the UK and the US and has studied areas as diverse as EU financial markets, monetary policy, and theology and religious studies with an honours thesis on The South Korean Economic Miracle and the Spirit of Protestantism.

These dates Jana is Focused on driving high-growth tech-enabled consumer brands with multi-platform revenue, relevancy, innovation, and impact. She really is EPIC!

More about Jana:

Jana Bobosikova on LinkedIn 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Mike has adopted Australia as his home, after more than 20 years as a founder, executive or investor in a wide range of technology companies both here and the US.

Mike is a committed deep tech investor passionate about working with Founders to help them achieve their ambitions and working with companies that are bringing a step change in new value to existing industries.

At Main Sequence, Mike leads the Supercharge Industrial Productivity Challenge, and also invests in the Feed 10 Billion People challenge and Next Intelligence Leap Challenge. 

Mike also sits on the Board of the Australian Investment Council, the Investment Committee for the State of Queensland’s Business Development Fund, and the Global Board of the Stanford Graduate School of Business Alumni Association.

Earlier in his career, he worked with Bain & Company and Goldman Sachs. He has an MBA from Stanford University and a BA from Amherst College. You will be hard-pressed to find anyone who has the combination of Mike’s experience, intelligence, insight all while being super generous with his time.

Links

Mike Zimmerman on LinkedIn

Inspirational portfolio founder Jamila Gordon 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

So began a life of adventure, including skiing in world championships and climbing most of the cliffs depicted on the apple screen saver.  

Along the way, Andrea has herself become a role model, blazing the trail as one of the very few professional women venture capital investors as the founder, CEO and chief investment officer of Jelix Ventures.

Andrea is convinced that disruptive, scalable, technology businesses are critical for the future economic prosperity of Australia and is passionate about backing daring technology founders to make the world better.

Her experience as a corporate lawyer, investment banker and a natural entrepreneur, enable Andrea to meticulously select, execute & manage investments all with an eye to mitigating risk. Because you learn some good habits as a world class rock climber and your life depends on excellent preparation!

Links and resources

Andrea Gardiner on LinkedIn

Jelix Ventures 

Podcasts and books

Origins 

Secrets of Sandhill Road by Scott Kupor

Venture Deals by Brad Feld

Other

Louise Shepherd

For more information about Scale: Scale Investors Scale Educated

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What becomes of a man who has the sort of innate smarts and stamina?

Surprisingly he has found himself halfway around the world, and together with his wife Andrea Gardiner one half of the possibly the most dynamic couple in the Australian startup eco-system with their firm Jelix ventures. Ian is also the co-founder of the wonderfully expansive network of technology and investment enthusiasts Innovation Bay and for good measure the host of probably my favourite Australian startup podcast Open the Podbay doors.

Along the way Ian became a Member of YPO, had a stint as the Head of Startups at AWS in Australia/NZ, has won the Pearcy award for IT Entrepreneur of the year. He is a Passionate startup mentor, Cyclist, gamer, skier, husband, geek, and father (but not necessarily in that order).

Links and resources

Ian Gardiner on LinkedIn

Jelix Ventures 

Podcasts

Open the Pod Bay Doors 

Other

Oxford Cambridge boat race

For more information about Scale:
Scale Investors
Scale Educated

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ben seems to have the perfect background for venture with degrees in both computer science and law and deep experience working with other talented people to change industries including SaaS, e-commerce, health care and fintech. He has been a product manager, strategist, people leader, investor and board director, in addition to spending 6 years at Telstra Ventures.

While Ben has enjoyed lots of success launching new businesses, bringing new products to market, built new $100M+ business units, he has the humility to admit that he has also learnt a lot from what didn't work and dealt with the consequences of failed initiatives including his own start up.

Links and resources

Ben at Archangel

Podcasts

The Twenty Minute VC

Companies

Bardee
Fresh Equities
Pearler
Shipeezi

For more information about Scale:
Scale Investors
Scale Educated

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In 2020 Marisa turned her first hand understanding of the difficulty women founders face raising capital into an opportunity, co-founding ALIAVIA Ventures with previous podcast guest Kate Vale. Based in LA, ALIAVIA invests early stage venture capital in female founders who are building world-changing enterprise and consumer tech businesses. Together Marisa and Kate have amassed angel investments with a valuation of $1.2 billion including investments in Vurbl, HowToo, Wakefully, Requipper and Eugene.

While very much at home in Silicon Valley, Marisa still sometimes longs for an Australian coffee!

Links and resources

Marisa Warren on LinkedIn

Books

Good to Great

Podcasts

Techcrunch Equity Podcast

Companies mentioned in the episode:

Wakefully
Vurbl
How Too
Requipper

For more information about Scale:
Scale Investors
Scale Educated

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Before Ecotone Partners, Dan was CEO of Impact Investment Group, one of Australia’s largest impact fund managers, with a special love of venture investing. Dan joined IIG following three years as the inaugural CEO of Impact Investing Australia. Dan began his career at Goldman Sachs JBWere across numerous finance and investment roles, culminating in his appointment as chief operating officer and then Acting CEO.

Despite all the success of his career, Dan admits that he has been in a constant war with self-doubt. Dan’s ability to extend and grow both personally and professionally is a reflection of his very deliberate practice of collecting ideas and then using extended annual reflection to determine what he wants to embrace and what he wants to leave behind. I think there is something for all of us in Dan’s very thoughtful approach to life.

Links and resources:

Dan Madhavan at Ecotone Partners

Companies mentioned in the episode:
Flowhive
Ability Made

Books mentioned in the episode:
Chasing the Scream by Johann Hari
The Narrow Road to the Deep North by Richard Flanagan

For more information about Scale:
Scale Investors
Scale Educated

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

And Kate knows plenty about fast paced scaling, having established Google in Australia and New Zealand, growing revenues from zero to more than $500 million over a six year period. She then moved on to head up Spotify in the region, being their first Australian employee and managing all aspects of the business.

After years of angel investing, Kate brings her wealth of experience as an operator and investor to the ALIAVIA portfolio companies, with a unique vantage point from her home in California to help Australian startups tackle the highly prized US market.

Links and resources
ALIAVIA

The CMO Podcast

For more information about Scale:
Scale Investors
Scale Educated

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Links and resources

Nick Crocker's Substack

For more information about Scale:
Scale Investors
Scale Educated 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Michael has Polish heritage but grew up in Austria and calls Australia home.

He had the chance to follow the traditional path into consulting and corporate life with jobs at Amex, PwC, and KPMG but he fell in love with the startup world. He more than doubling the team at Madpaws and was then part of the five-fold increase at expert360.com, including the $13M Series B capital raise.

In this episode Michael’s advice for founders who are thinking about raising capital might just be the best I have ever heard and his enthusiasm about building a city dedicated to startups is infectious.

There is no doubt he loves what he does and is always happy to help!

Links and resources

Everything you could want from the world of Michael Batko including his thoughts from Twitter, his newsletter on substack, resources, book and podcast summaries. 

The Australian 100 Innovators 2021 

The Courage to be Disliked: The Japanese phenomenon that shows you how to free yourself, change your life and achieve real happiness by Ichiro Kishimi and Fumitake Koga 

Follow Michael on Medium - the list of books he has reviewed is incredible.

• The Ride of a Lifetime — Bob Iger’s story of becoming Disney’s CEO
• Let my people go surfing — all things Patagonia an environmental driven company
• Power of Moments — powerful moments in life
• Grit — power of passion & perseverance
• Leaders Eat Last — leadership qualities
• 15 Commitments for Conscious Leadership — leadership is binary
• Pre-suasion — behavioural psychology principles
• The Power of Habit — all things about habits

For more information about Scale:
Scale Investors - https://scaleinvestors.com.au/
Scale Educated - https://scaleinvestors.com.au/scale-educated

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As a female leader, Fed is passionate about empowering women entrepreneurs. Having faced numerous roadblocks in her own career, Fed has developed successful strategies to transform hurdles into opportunities for career advancement and business success.

Fed describes herself as a creative thinker, whose weakness is that she just can’t say no.

Links and resources

Fed and the Foundry

Books Fed recommends:

The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment by Eckhart Tolle

Podcasts Fed recommends:

Unfuck your brain by Kara Lowentheil

For more information about Scale:
Scale Investors - https://scaleinvestors.com.au/
Scale Educated - https://scaleinvestors.com.au/scale-educated

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The first time Catherine met Alister, she was so impressed by the clarity and effectiveness of his mental frameworks. He seems to have a way of cutting through complexity by being able to structure information in a way that allows new connections to be made and insights to be gained. It was no surprise when Alister confirmed that he spends quite a lot of time thinking about how to think about things.

Links and resources

Alister at Folklore VC

Books Alister recommends:
Devil Take the Hindmost: A History of Financial Speculation

The Universal Laws of Life and Death in Organisms, Cities and Companies by Geoffrey West

Poor Charlie's Almanack by Charlie Munger (Author), Bill Gates (Foreword), Warren Buffett (Introduction)

Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes Are High

Podcasts Alister recommends:
Capital Allocators with Ted Seides

The Knowledge Project with Shane Parrish

For more information about Scale:
Scale Investors - https://scaleinvestors.com.au/
Scale Educated - https://scaleinvestors.com.au/scale-educated

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Paul returned to Australia after working in Silicon Valley and the UK to sprinkle some of the magic he learned as a marketing and strategic communications guru for a number of highly successful venture-backed tech companies.

Paul has had some fantastic investment wins, but is always looking for ways to make himself a better investor and the Australian ecosystem stronger.

Links and resources

Paul and Rampersand VC

Books Paul recommends:

The Undoing Project by Michael Lewis which explores the close partnership of Israeli psychologists Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky

Masters of Scale podcast with Reid Hoffman 

For more information about Scale:
Scale Investors - https://scaleinvestors.com.au/

Scale Educated - https://scaleinvestors.com.au/scale-educated

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Rachel escaped the clutches of a traditional corporate path in management consulting and corporate finance, since then, her career in venture has flourished. She's admired across the startup sector for her integrity, intelligence and capacity to create value through collaboration, always ready to invest in making the ecosystem stronger. 

Rachel is the co-chair of Startup Victoria a nonprofit grassroots organization, which supports startup founders to thrive. And she's also a member of the Victorian State Governments innovation Task Force. Rachel is a fabulous person to spend some time with.

Links and resources

Scale Investors - https://scaleinvestors.com.au/

Scale Educated - https://scaleinvestors.com.au/scale-educated

Giant Leap - https://www.giantleapfund.vc/

Start Up Victoria - https://startupvictoria.com.au/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.