Connect to Capital

Hello! It's Catherine Robson Chair of the Scale Investors Board and host of this podcast. We'll be releasing Season Two in the next couple of months with more fascinating conversations. In the meantime, we're so excited about Scale EducatED, the education platform we created for both founders and investors. The goal is to help founders secure the funding they need and investors to identify the thriving businesses that will change the world. Scale has developed two programs specifically for women founders. The first is FoundED an online only program designed for women founders at the very early stages of their capital raising journey. The second is EmpowerED a 10-week cohort based program tailored for female founders looking to raise capital, and more specifically get the investor perspective on their startup. For investors, we have InvestED a self paced online course that explores the risks and significant rewards of angel investing in startups.Head to our website to find out more. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Noga Edelstein is a corporate lawyer turned entrepreneur and investor, who has experienced every stage of the startup lifecycle from inception and launch, to funding and exit. She co-founded on-demand home services startup UrbanYou, which scaled rapidly Australia-wide to secure leadership of one of the largest technology-disrupted markets, consolidated the industry with three M&As, and successfully exited via trade sale. 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 ResourcesPodcastsStartup School by Seth GodinMasters of ScaleThe 20 Minute VCBooksThe Hard Thing about Hard Things Play BiggerMore on Scale Investors Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Kerri Lee Sinclair is an Investor, operator, entrepreneur, and global citizen exclusively focused on driving positive outcomes for those dedicated to building the new world, or transforming the broken.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 ResourcesSBE Impact ReportsThe Hard Thing and Hard Things by Ben HorowitzThe 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 Szekely has a bit of a cult following as an angel investor. After multiple successful exit, he has a reputation for finding great founders, then backing them with boundless energy, creativity and the humility to know when to get out of the way.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 RESOURCESLes Szekely on LinkedInThe Singularity Is Near: When Humans Transcend BiologySiteMinder debuts on the ASX with oversubscribed AU$627M IPO and AU$1.36B market capitalisationCompare Club Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

James Crowe is a partner of law firm Norton Rose Fulbright and one of the few lawyers who is equally as passionate about technology and all of its transformational potential, as he is about the law. 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 RESOURCESAustralian Investment Council (formally AVCAL) templatesThe Lean Startup: How Constant Innovation Creates Radically Successful Businesses by Eric RiesSilicon 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.

Georgie Turner is excited about the potential of Aussie startups. Partly because she has been entrepreneurial since she was a child, and partly because Australians have plenty of first hand experience of the world's most pressing problems, Georgie believes nothing motivates quite like a mission to save the world! 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

Lisa Fedorenko is passionate about helping create a fairer world through increased diversity and sustainability. After completing a triple major in Advanced mathematics, computer science and econometrics in her combined Commerce/Science degree, she began her career in equity research sales at Credit Suisse before moving into a range of finance roles spanning value investing (at Montgomery Investment Management), venture capital (at Reinventure), and venture debt (at Marshall Investment Management). Lisa is now the investment manager at Alberts, a unique family business with over 130 years of history and a commitment culturally rich, inclusive, healthy and sustainable world. 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

Sam Sicilia is Chief Investment Officer at Hostplus, one of Australia's largest and most successful superannuation funds. With its roots serving the hospitality and related industries, Hostplus has a unique member profile with an average member age of just 37. 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

Kristin Vaughn is managing partner of Virescent Ventures, where Cleantech Innovation Meets Commercial Ambition. An offshoot of Australia's Clean Energy Finance Corporation, Virescent invests in founders, technologies, and businesses that help achieve zero emissions and beyond. Kristin beleives there's no need to choose between emissions impact and commercial outcomes. Along with her team at Vircent, Kristin invests from pre-seed all the way to late-stage growth companies across 4 main areas Clean Energy; Mobility And; Smart Cities; Food And; Agriculture; the Circular Economy. 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

It is an extra special episode this week with 2 great investors sharing their passion for agtech and the specialist fund they co-founded Tenacious Ventures. 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

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

Jackie Vullinghs 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

This week we have an extra special guest, Libby Briggs who is the superstar designer of Scale's entrepreneur education program, EmpowerEd. Libby is steeped in rigorous pedagogical training and experience having taught for 9 years at one of Melbourne's highest achieving academically selective schools. Having then emersed herself in the startup world with SBE Australia and started her own business, it's hard to think of anyone better to design educational experiences for founders. 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

Alexandra Clunies-Ross wanted to be lots of things when she was growing up – a doctor, a lawyer an actress and a journalist. As the portfolio Manager for Artesian's clean energy / climate tech VC funds and the Female Leaders Venture Fund, she has sort of found a way to be a bit of all those things. She has built a formidable network of scientists and technical experts to enable her to cover the enormous span of investment opportunities she sees from solving intractable medical problems, to finding commercial solutions to some of our most pressing climate challenges. 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

Adam Milgrom grew up in a very entrepreneurial family and being the third generation of business builders, he always know that he would somehow be involved in selling stuff. However early he had an epiphany that he would only be successful if he was selling stuff that he really believed in and which would make the world a better place. Since then, he has been committed to combining his interest in technology with the desire for impact, being a serial angel investor and now partner of Giant Leap Australia's first 100% impact venture capital fund. Along with previous podcast guest Rachel Yang, Adam using his expertise across consumer marketing, ecommerce and innovation to invest in exceptional, rapidly scalable businesses that blend financial returns with deep social and environmental impact. 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

Kara Frederick believes that chance favours the prepared mind. From her life trajectory, it is also clear that fortune favours those that are prepared to take chances. 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

You know you are doing a good job as a venture investor when your portfolio companies rave about the value you add to their company completely independently of the capital you have provided. That's certainly the case with this week's guest Scott Gunther, General Partner of IAG's Firemark Ventures. 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

Steve Baxter says it like it is. He is not shy about being controversial and he is comfortable with the discomfort of disagreement. But as one of Australia's most visible tech entrepreneurs, active investor and mentor to numerous startups, he has done more than almost anyone in the country to popularise early stage technology investment. He also provides some of the most useful and easy to remember advice to entrepreneurs, like ‘execution is everything' and ‘don't treat your business as a cash register'. 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

This week's guest, Matt Allen, knows Startups are hard. He knows because he has founded 4 tech startups, invested in more than 26 and advised countless others over the past 20 years. 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

I have confession to make – I have been wanting to meet this week's guest Dan Phillips for years. Ever since I started my career as a graduate at Macquarie bank in the 1990's, the founder of Macquarie's Technology Venture Capital Business has seemed like the stuff of myth and legend. 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

Nicole Small knows that growth-stage technology businesses need more than just money to succeed. They need partners who understand the pace, challenges and opportunities of the startup process. As investment director at rampersand, Nicole knows that an injection of funds into a business will make a difference financially, it's the support with sales & marketing, communication, exposure to our global network & more that delivers the real value. Nicole knows how to provide this support, or find someone who can, having been part of the team responsible for building one of Australia's most successful start ups, Seek which now has a market capitalisation over more than $9 billion. 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

Our guest this week is Jonathan Hannam, the co-founder of real estate technology investor Taronga Ventures. Jonathan was introduced to Scale Investors by one of our most successful female founders, whose property technology company was funded by Taronga. She raved about working with Jonathan and his team because of their intelligence, ambition and deep property expertise. But importantly she also loved the firms' genuine commitment to positive impact, both socially and environmentally. 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

The best thing about working with Scale Investors, is that I am regularly introduced to someone who completely smashes my perception of what is possible. That's how I felt when I met Tristen Langley, who could be described as one of the original gangsters of Australian technology and venture capital investing and I was amazed that I had never heard of her. 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

Kylie Frazer is a co-founder of Flying Fox Ventures, an early stage venture capital firm, which makes it easy for private investors to build their own diversified technology investment portfolios. Flying Fox has invested in more than 30 great Australian startups including Fresh Equities, Jig Space, Goterra and Mr Yum, making material capital contributions to their growth journeys. Flying Fox's model is designed to focus exclusively on early stage tech investments, long recognised as one of the most prospective yet neglected segments of the Australian venture capital market. Passionate about introducing more investors to the joys of early stage tech investing, Kylie is a regular contributor at Australia's leading investor education providers: Wade Institute's VC Catalyst; The Australian Graduate School of Management's Angel Education Program and Scale Investors' very own InvestEd platform. Kylie brings empathy to the founder experience, having founded two technology businesses herself. She has almost two decades experience as a corporate transactions lawyer, and just as I could have nerded out with her about tax law and web 3 all day, there is almost no topic about which she does not have a thoughtful and well considered opinion. Links Not Boring by Patrick Mccormick (@Packy McCormick)

Rachael Neumann is Founding Partner at Flying Fox Ventures, but she is so much more than that. In fact it feels like Rachael Neumann is at the epicentre of the Australian startup ecosystem and has been instrumental in bringing some of the secrets of silicon valley's success to our shores to enable both Australian companies and investors to thrive. 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/

You will be hard pressed to meet anyone more genuine and keen to help than Michael Da Gama Pinto, the CEO and Founder of The Foundry Group. When we talked about recording a podcast together, rather than wanting to focus on the two exceptional Australian brands he helped achieve international success in Aēsop and Swisse or the operational expertise he brings to his portfolio companies, helping management teams with the right capital structure and resourcing to take advantage of favourable industry conditions, he wanted to share a couple of very personal stories which he thinks really demonstrate essential learnings from his journey. He wanted to share not because they would cast him in the most favourable light, quite the opposite. But because Michael is always thinking of the most effective way to help founders truly absorb the learnings which will underpin their success. 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

We are lucky enough to be joined this week by Jana Bobosikova the founder and CEO of EPIC Brands – the health and beauty venture studio based in California. 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

Our guest on Connect to Capital this week is Mike Zimmerman, a partner at Main Sequence Ventures, the Innovation Fund of the CSIRO, the Australian Government agency responsible for scientific research. 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

When Andrea Gardiner first saw an image of pioneering female rock climber Louise Shepherd hanging off the side of a sheer rock face, it was like a punch in the chest. It was the realisation for Andrea that if one woman could climb some of the most challenging rock faces in the world, there was no reason that she could not do the same. 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

When Ian Gardiner was 10 years old, he was the fastest kid in his class to solve the rubix cube. He was also quick enough to sense a business opportunity so he sold the solution to his classmates. Despite the modest circumstances of his childhood in Glasgow, he went on to secure a place at St Peter's College Oxford and row not once, but twice in the prestigious Oxford Cambridge boat race, the culmination of 6 hours of training 6 days per week for 7 months on top of demanding Oxford academic expectations. 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

Ben Armstrong is a co-founder of Archangel, an early stage venture fund and investment syndicate. He and his partners work with great technology founders to build game changing companies together. They are industry agnostic and have backed over a dozen companies including Bardee, Fresh Equities, Pearler, Sendle and Shipeezi. 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

Marisa Warren has more than 20 years experience in tech as a venture capital investor, advisor and operator working for companies like SAP, Microsoft and Workday. After an award studded career, Marisa left big corporate in 2015 to pursue her passion for early-stage businesses. Whilst living in New York, Marisa founded ELEVACAO a global pre-accelerator for women tech founders. Fast forward to today and ELEVACAO has empowered over 175 women across the U.S. and Australia to raise significant capital and achieve 3 successful Exits. 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

Daniel Madhavan is passionately curious about how business and finance can be utilised as tools for building a sustainable and equitable future. Through his business Ecotone Partners he looks for ways that capital can play a significant positive role in shaping the future for people and the planet. 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

Kate Vale founded ALIAVIA Ventures in 2020 with Marisa Warren, on a mission to invest in the highest potential female founders in Australia and the US, and help them achieve outsized success. 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

Our guest this week is Nick Crocker who is a General Partner at Blackbird Ventures, one of Australia's largest and most successful venture firms. He is an investor in a string of flourishing startups including Culture Amp, Applied, Eucalyptus, Dovetail, and Beyond Ag. Nick knows the world of venture capital well, having co-founded one of the first companies that Blackbird funded called Sessions. As co-founder and CEO of Sessions, Nick was dedicated to creating technology to help people live better, healthier lives. Sessions was acquired by MyFitnessPal 2013 which itself was acquired by Under Armour in 2015, with Nick proceeding into the role of Chief of Staff for their entire Connected Fitness business. On the side, Nick co-founded We Are Hunted which was acquired by Twitter in 2013. Returning to Australia from Silicon Valley, Nick was the inaugural CEO of accelerator Startmate before handing the CEO baton to our previous podcast guest Michael Batko. Nick is endlessly curious and while studying Political Science and Law at the University of Queensland, he worked as a journalist with News Ltd. His love of writing if evident in his fascinating substack newsletter and while he knows lots about integrated hardware/software products, he never wants to limit the types of founders he connects with in case he misses the next one who absolutely inspires him. And somehow, he manages to do all this while being a role model as a husband and father. Links and resources Nick Crocker's Substack For more information about Scale: Scale Investors Scale Educated

This week, Catherine Robson speaks with Michael Batko and the word she would use to describe him is prolific. Not only is Michael the CEO of Startmate, the accelerator whose aim is to be the epicentre of startup ambition across Australia and New Zealand, he speaks multiple languages, creates incredible weekly, monthly, quarterly and annual content, and is so captivated by the energy of startups that rather than confine himself to working with just one, he wants to cultivate as many as he can. 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

This week, Catherine Robson speaks with to Federica Nicolao. Known to just about everyone as Fed, she is a partner at The Foundry, a team of health and wellness brand experts who partner with motivated founders to accelerate the creation of enduring global brands. 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

This week, Catherine Robson speaks with Alister Coleman, the founder and Managing Partner of Folklore Ventures. Folklore is an Australian venture capital firm which invests over the full start up journey, right from the first cheque to later stage growth funding. A trajectory he knows well, he is a co-founder of ShippingEasy (acquired by Stamps.com). 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

This week, Catherine Robson talks with Paul Naphtali who is the cofounder of Rampersand VC, the early stage Australian technology fund established in 2013 to help close the funding gap for Australian and NZ startup founders. 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

This week, Catherine Robson talks with the amazing Rachel Yang. Rachel is a partner at Giant Leap, Australia's first 100% impact venture capital fund backing founders who are using business as a force for good. 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/

Is the secret to raising capital really all about who you know? At Scale Investors, Australia's leading gender diverse investment network, we believe that access to investors, advice and education is the crucial missing piece of the capital-raising puzzle. For too long it's been limited to an exclusive club. We believe it's time to open access. It's time to Connect to Capital. Hosted by Catherine Robson, chair of the Scale Investors, this podcast provides open access to an impressive network of Australia's most successful and thoughtful venture investors. Connect with their stories of success, learn from their mistakes and collect pearls of wisdom as these accomplished industry leaders share their experience and disclose priceless advice. At Scale Investors we believe that knowledge is power and education is a key driver in removing the investment gender gap. We are thrilled to grant access to these pivotal conversations and play our part in providing entrepreneurs the opportunity to create a better future. Together, let's empower investment.