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Learn more about NetSuite's Business Grows Here event series: https://tinyurl.com/bdeabwr7   In this episode of the NetSuite Podcast, cohost Megan O'Brien sits down with JD Weinstein, Global Director of Oracle's Venture Capital Practice. He discusses the findings from a panel he moderated at NetSuite's Business Grows Here event stop in St. Louis [2:01]. They then play excerpts of the panel featuring Dan Conner, general partner at Ascend Venture Capital, and Craig Herron, managing principal at iSelect [8:50]. They discuss the advice they have for early-stage founders, including tripling the amount of investors they reach out to and tripling the amount of time spent fundraising [15:46]. Dan and Craig cover the status of dry powder since its 2021 highs [27:37]. They conclude by sharing their top takeaways for founders [36:25]   Follow Us Here:   Business Grows Here: https://tinyurl.com/bdeabwr7   JD Weinstein LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jdweinstein/ Dan Conner LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danconner1/ Craig Herron LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/craig-herron-3a2801/   Oracle NetSuite LinkedIn: https://social.ora.cl/6000wKFhC X (Twitter): https://social.ora.cl/6007wK2zD Instagram: https://social.ora.cl/6003wK2Hv Facebook: https://social.ora.cl/6005wK2Dv   #NetSuite #VentureCapital #Fundraising   ---------------------------------------------------------   Episode Transcript:   00;00;04;04 - 00;00;40;00 Hello everyone. Thank you so much for tuning in to the NetSuite Podcast. I'm Megan O'Brien, a co-host of the podcast. We have quite a unique episode in store for you all today. Recently, NetSuite has been hosting events in various different cities across the US called Business Growth Here. This tour is geared towards helping local entrepreneurs and business leaders discover strategies and tools essential for business expansion, as well as valuable insights on effectively managing all aspects of a growing business from cash flow to overall operations.   00;00;40;02 - 00;01;10;11 The events are tailored to the unique challenges and opportunities of each city and feature local leaders and visionaries. In the Saint Louis tour stop, one of the sessions that really stood out to me was a panel on the current venture capital landscape. It was moderated by JD Weinstein, global director of Oracle's venture capital practice, and featured Dan Conner, general partner at Ascend Venture Capital, and Craig Herron, managing principal at iSelect.   00;01;10;13 - 00;01;35;22 There's a lot of great insight in there around the market build back, what venture capitalists are looking for right now in companies, and how founders can increase their chances of getting funding. After hearing that, I knew I wanted to share the valuable insights with all of you, our wonderful listeners. With that, let's jump in, because you're not going to want to miss out on this episode.   00;01;35;24 - 00;02;02;02 You're listening to the NetSuite Podcast, where we discuss what's happening within NetSuite, why we're doing it, and where we're heading in the future. We'll dive into the details about the software and the people at NetSuite who are behind all the moving parts. We'll also feature customer growth stories discussing the ups and downs of running a company and how one integrated system can help your business continue to scale.   00;02;02;05 - 00;02;22;01 To kick us off, we have JD Weinstein, the global director of Oracle's venture capital practice, who moderated the panel. He joined us for a quick interview just to give an overview of the session and some of his key takeaways. Could you begin by telling our listeners a little bit about yourself and what you do for Oracle? Sure thing.   00;02;22;03 - 00;02;56;26 My name is JD Weinstein. I joined Oracle just over six years ago and now lead our global venture practice. I've previously worked for various early stage accelerator programs and strategic or corporate venture funds to help entrepreneurs grow their businesses with special advantages. At Oracle, we work alongside VCs globally to help early stage portfolio companies scale with our cloud technology solutions, global customer network, and rich enterprise ecosystem.   00;02;56;28 - 00;03;22;25 So that starts with NetSuite and Oracle Cloud infrastructure, but extends to database to Java and our rich application suite. We also make strategic equity investments alongside our M&A function under our corporate development line of business. You were the moderator for a session at the St Louis Business Grows Here event called Raising Capital to Fuel Growth in an AI-Driven Era.   00;03;22;27 - 00;04;00;10 Could you give us an overview of the panel for all our listeners? Sure. We covered a good bit of ground here, starting with the state of the economy and what it means for venture and founders growing their businesses in this era. I had the pleasure to interview Craig Herron, the managing principal of iSelect, a venture fund focused on the agrifood supply chain and health care, and Dan Connor, a general partner at Ascend Venture Capital, who leads an early stage thematic VC specializing in data-centric companies.   00;04;00;12 - 00;04;30;13 We talked about the state of the economy and what it means, from rising interest rates, fewer public listings, valuation correction to other complex macro headwinds, and how it really translates to start up business building. And then how that has changed fundraising in this climate overall too. We spoke to what makes a great business venture backable. So what the general partners on stage look for in exceptional entrepreneurs.   00;04;30;16 - 00;04;57;20 And then we also talked to tactical advice on just a general approach to fundraising and how to run a successful process. Hint: exactly like you would a sophisticated enterprise sales strategy. And then, of course, we concluded with the surge of AI capabilities and how we're going to be more productive with less. How that's impacted our industry. Why do you think this session was so important to include in our St Louis Business   00;04;57;20 - 00;05;23;27 Grows Here event? I mean, what is it about today's landscape that made it especially timely? Yeah, I think it's so important that we highlight the investment in commercial activity that's booming in the Midwest and specifically in Saint Louis and broader Missouri for this Business Grows Here event. Oftentimes we get this false perception of only venture activity buzzing on the coasts.   00;05;24;00 - 00;05;50;24 And while the majority of megarounds do happen there, at the earliest stages, we're seeing more and more data show the spread of entrepreneurial ecosystems emerging across this entire mid-continent. Steve Case and The Rise of the Rest phenomena, right? And so, with connectivity everywhere in the world, everybody has access now to build a great company. What was the highlight of the venture capital panel in Saint Louis for you?   00;05;50;25 - 00;06;24;24 Any particularly interesting thoughts you heard? You know, I can recall, I loved a quote that Dan pointed out in the panel, which was really just a description for founders to go back to the fundamentals that I see so many startups miss. Your customers are the most important stakeholders, period. Full stop. Without them, there is no business. So he describes a funny metaphor for saying they look for mission-critical businesses to invest in.   00;06;24;28 - 00;06;49;03 And so, if a customer, you know, the example he gave was somebody's hair is on fire and you may be selling sandwiches, which could be the best in the world or best in town, but someone's hair is on fire, that they're probably not going to want to sandwich. A much better business would be, you know, leasing fire extinguishers or something else that drives mission criticality.   00;06;49;05 - 00;07;19;13 What are your thoughts on the venture capital landscape as a result of the panel? What did you leave with? I'm really bullish on the venture landscape as I've always been and believe that entrepreneurs have the chance to shape the world for the better while advancing humanity. In this particular time, especially when we look at, you know, other hard times in the economy, an astounding number of companies were created from the last ‘08 Recession.   00;07;19;15 - 00;07;48;29 WhatsApp, Venmo, Pinterest, Slack, Uber, Airbnb, list goes on. Same thing happened after '01. And just less than half of Fortune 500 companies can actually trace back to being created in a crisis. And so why is that? People look for security, behaviors shift immensely, fear plays in. So the world becomes a pretty giant opportunity for entrepreneurs to take advantage of in these times.   00;07;49;02 - 00;08;14;17 That's such a great description. Kind of uplifting, and I love it. So, to end it, are there any best practices that you have for any listeners here that might be seeking funding right now or in the near future? You know, there's one insight that's one insight that's always stuck with me profoundly, which is this: Investors invest in lines, not dots   00;08;14;17 - 00;08;40;25 metaphor. What that means is rarely investors will wire you funds after your very first meeting, which is a dot or a data point. More often than not, they're evaluating your execution, your communication, trust building over time. And so each meeting that you have with an investor is a dot or a potential data point. And what investors are really looking for is to connect those dots. They're investing   00;08;40;25 - 00;09;19;24 in that connection, that's fantastic. Thank you so much for joining us, JD. I really appreciate it. Thanks, Megan. Enjoyed it. NetSuite by Oracle. The number one cloud financial system is everything you need to grow all in one place. Financials, inventory and more. Make better decisions faster so you can do more and spend less. See how at NetSuite.com/pod. With that, let's jump into the panel recording with JD, Dan Connor, general partner at Ascend Venture Capital, and Craig Herron, managing principal at iSelect.   00;09;19;27 - 00;09;47;13 So, you know, today's climate in venture it's been an interesting couple of years to say the least. So investors are dealing with, you know, the uncertainty of rising interest rates, fewer public listings and exits, valuation corrections, and a bunch of other complex macro trends. And so hopefully Dan and Craig will just distill this information, maybe give us some insights as to how to raise money in this climate.   00;09;47;15 - 00;10;15;20 I still strongly believe that there is a ton of upside to growing a business in today's world. And so a brief introduction. Maybe we can start with Craig Herron, who is the managing principal of iSelect and then we'll move on to Dan, who is the general partner at Ascend Venture Capital. I'd love for all just to give us brief introductions of who you are and your fund's focus and maybe your core thesis.   00;10;15;22 - 00;10;42;13 So iSelect Fund, we've deployed about $200 million over the last several years. We've invested in 78 companies. 65 of those are still active. Others, the others have exited. We invest in three areas: the agrifood supply chain, health and wellness with a focus on cardio, metabolic disease, and then food is health. How do we use nutrition to change the health care system?   00;10;42;15 - 00;11;07;14 Right. First, I'd like to say this is a great event, awesome job to everybody, the production team and all the staff. This is awesome. So I'm Dan Connor. I'm the founder and general partner of Ascend Venture Capital. We're a thematic VC, which means we're focused on a specific theme. Currently, the theme that we're investing under is this data-centric transformation that's happening across every industry.   00;11;07;16 - 00;11;30;00 The expectation that every decision should be made based on data. For instance, 15 years ago, when you used to land on a plane, there's sometimes I would go on the air and say, ‘This plane was just landed on autopilot' and it used to freak people out. But now if you got on the plane and the pilot said, ‘I'm just gonna do this one by feel,' people would be terrified.   00;11;30;00 - 00;11;55;08 So that just signifies how much that shift has taken place. We're investing out of our third fund right now, and just making trouble in the venture capital industry. Awesome, we love trouble. So before we go on with a couple of questions, I love just a quick show of hands just to see who we've got in the room, who are entrepreneurs or growing small kind of or early stage startups.   00;11;55;09 - 00;12;22;12 Can I get a show of hands? Traditional SMBs if you identify maybe over there? Great. Investors in the crowd? Okay. And then large enterprises, corporates? Okay. How about Cardinals fans? Okay. You guys aren't sleeping yet. Good. Great. So as you know, as we all know, many businesses hit an inflection point and need capital to fuel their growth.   00;12;22;12 - 00;12;44;14 But raising venture funding isn't always the most strategic decision. And so I'd love to hear from each of you what actually makes a great business venture backable? And then maybe what are some qualities of exceptional entrepreneurs? Dan, if you'd like to kick us off. Yeah. So initially in our search, we're looking for three things. Number one, does it solve mission critical problem?   00;12;44;17 - 00;13;08;22 Is the problem solving a problem? That is, is it a product solving a problem that ranks among the top three strategic priorities for the customer base? The example that the algorithm I give is if your hair is on fire, I could try and make a case that our sandwiches are the best in town. You're probably going to need a sandwich is some point in the future, but it's much better to be in the business of leasing fire extinguisher services at that point.   00;13;08;24 - 00;13;35;23 So mission criticality. Second is the business transformative? If it works, does it change the whole face of an industry? We're not looking for a slightly better or slightly more socially conscious Uber, we're just we're looking for something that changes the way that things are done in an entire industry. And thirdly, is it a unique value proposition? Are they solving a problem that is completely different from how things are done today?   00;13;35;25 - 00;13;56;24 And are they the only one that's taken that approach? Those three things to me make a venture backable business. So I agree with everything Dan just said. I'd throw in two more in there. So first of all, size of market, right? If you're going after $100 million market, there's really just not enough room to scale there.   00;13;57;01 - 00;14;26;23 We're looking for markets that are, you know, potentially billions of dollars. So if you get a decent market share that there's a big opportunity for the company to scale and grow. And then second is team. You got to have a venture backable team at that point in time. So those are you know, typically we're looking for people that have come out of leading research institutions or, you know, have been entrepreneurs already once or.   00;14;26;25 - 00;14;57;10 You know, if they're in the AG business, they there's been a career of Monsanto in a specific area or have been at Danforth or, you know, some of the other kind of major centers in that given industry. And there's a really great metaphor that we like to share with a number of entrepreneurs that we work with, which is that as you go out to market and raise funding, investors, often they invest in lines, not dots.   00;14;57;12 - 00;15;31;03 And so what this means is that you may meet an investor on day one and you may walk out with a $10 million blank checks. That typically doesn't happen. 99 percent of the time. But what does happen is typically investors are looking to invest in each of these data points. Every time that you meet an investor and you show growth in your company or you communicate what's going on, you are overcoming challenges, it's the progression of how you go through business is often what, you know, we look for in early stage companies.   00;15;31;10 - 00;15;46;03 And so if you think of that strategy, then you can line up, you know, as you go to market, ‘I want to get as many of these lines in as possible.' And so start these relationships as early as you can and demonstrate growth over time.   00;15;46;05 - 00;16;06;19 So like to that theme I'd love to hear from each of you, maybe more a little bit about like real tactical advice that you have for early stage founders. So often, like we get caught up with, you know, there's a lot of glitz and glamor of venture capital and they raise these $100 million rounds and how did you do it?   00;16;06;19 - 00;16;39;04 And $100 million rounds. Yeah, exclamation point. But what if you're just going for like an early call it seed or series A stage raise and you're kind of early to this practice, what best practices can you recommend? I'll jump in. So there are a lot there tend to be a lot of incubators and accelerators out there that are specifically focused on a given industry or segment.   00;16;39;04 - 00;17;12;03 And, you know, often if you've not been a successful entrepreneur previously, they provide a lot of great education. They have networks to introduce you to early adopter customers. And, you know, and they can also introduce you to VCs and typically have VCs or angels that are interested in investing. I guess secondly, you know, it's great if you're coming with a customer in hand, right?   00;17;12;03 - 00;17;39;18 Because every VC wants to see some sort of traction that you've there's actually been proof point that this actually is going to work in the marketplace. And I guess I'd leave it at those two to start with. Absolutely. Yeah. So three things I would add to that. See, seed and series A have gotten extremely squirrely right now. It's very hard to engage investors.   00;17;39;20 - 00;18;07;05 They're the number of investors who actually have capital to invest, has gone down, since 2021, when actually a lot of folks raised funds and then were immediately unsuccessful at investing them. The best way to lose a small fortune is to start with a big one, and that's what's happened in venture capital recently. So a lot of people have gotten tighter with their funds to invest in new companies at all versus doubling down on existing portfolio companies.   00;18;07;08 - 00;18;31;15 So seed and series A have gotten very squirrely. So the first piece of advice I would say is you got a triple the number of investors on your list that you plan to reach out to. Triple it. And then triple the time that it's going to take you to dedicate to fundraising because it's a slog and it's the number of times that you have to follow up with one investor to get a response has gotten has gotten a lot longer.   00;18;31;17 - 00;18;55;17 So that's what I would say is build the database of three times the number of investors that you're going to reach out to and reach out to every single one, one by one. It takes hard work, but I know I'm not the only troublemaker out here, so I feel like there's something that everybody is dedicated to. Secondly, as you have those calls, as you engage with those investors, you have to also be listening to what they're telling you about.   00;18;55;23 - 00;19;24;12 We invest in seed stage companies or how they define seed stage companies, or we invest in series A companies. And, you know, you're too early for us. As they say that to you, you say two things: One, okay, tell me your criteria so that you can take good notes on that call and then keep that database. And then thirdly, say if they're saying you're too early for them, say, would you mind if I put you on my investor newsletter to keep you updated in a lightweight way?   00;19;24;14 - 00;19;55;01 You'd be surprised the number of folks who do ask permission to put you on their online newsletter, or actually follow up with newsletters. It set you aside. It keeps you front of mind. And then when it comes time to raise that next round or series A or series B, you have a list of folks who have told you their criteria and that they will invest later on if you hit these certain milestones so that it's not the first call when you're reaching out to folks and saying, you know, we're actively fund raising, we've got two weeks left to raise this round or else we're out of business.   00;19;55;03 - 00;20;16;17 So those three things. So first off, triple the number of investors you're going to reach out to and the time it takes to actually dedicate to fundraising. Number two, reach out to every single one and keep good notes on everybody. And three, maintain a monthly newsletter that you reach out to and drip campaign to everyone in that in that list you connected with.   00;20;16;19 - 00;20;39;25 To add something to what Dan just said, and agree with those, there are a lot of tools out there that are available to you for free. You know, Crunchbase, you know other things that you can go out and find to do research on the VCs. It's helpful to do the research upfront. Figure out who actually could be investing your space.   00;20;39;27 - 00;21;04;20 The other thing that, from a very tactical standpoint, is that different VCs have different ways in which they will source deal flows. So there are VCs out there where if you don't get into a partner, right, there's no way you're going to get funded. Right? And so sometimes going in you had a lower level through an associate or otherwise isn't going to get you where you need to be.   00;21;04;23 - 00;21;29;02 But there are other VCs like us where we make team decisions and so it's, you know, coming in through any member of our team is perfectly fine, but it's just you should try to figure out that going in so you make sure you're trying to get a connection into the right person that's actually going to be able to take your deal through and, you know, through to an investment committee or otherwise.   00;21;29;05 - 00;21;49;15 Yeah, I'll give you one more hack, which is a really strong, warm introduction. It's often hard to get if you're not already sort of well-versed and connected within the networks. But often people think, hey, this investor can introduce me to other investors. Like a lot of times, right? That that network runs strong and they all know one another.   00;21;49;15 - 00;22;25;25 We all know one another. Actually, I think the most quality warm interaction you can get is from a portfolio company. So from a different founder that they've already put money to work into because there's a reason they've already gotten that check. And I'd venture to guess that you all are going to probably take that call probably 100% of the time if a company that you've invested in is, you know, telling you, Hey, meet xyz company, and then, you know, to Dan's point, like, run this, like you're running an enterprise sales operation. Like it is a numbers game at the end of the day.   00;22;25;25 - 00;22;47;19 And so you do how it can be a slog and but with the right planning and persistence, you know you will break through to get there. Go ahead. One other thing. When you figure out, you know, figure out who your top list of like, ‘this is the perfect VC.   00;22;47;22 - 00;23;11;06 They do exactly what we do.' Then go pitch to ten other people first, right? Because you don't want to go into that VC the first time if you've never done a pitch before, right? You want your materials refined, you want your presentation refined. You don't want to be reading your presentation. The kiss of death is somebody who gets up there and just read slides.   00;23;11;08 - 00;23;44;07 You know, we, unlike some others, do like to actually be walked through a deck. But I don't want somebody who's just going to read it and, you know, like they are standing in a room giving a presentation. You have to get the reps in. I want to put an emphasis on Dan's point with a question that he kind of skirted by, which is when you are meeting investor, how many folks have met and raised funding or attempted to raise money and you've gotten a, ‘hey, no, this is a little bit too early for us.'   00;23;44;09 - 00;24;10;23 Has anyone ran into that? If you haven't, you most definitely will. I promise you. And so the way to answer that is just asking the question, you know, in a very polite way, ‘Hey, what would you want to see or need to see to make this an investable business?' You can curate a lot of that information from investors or other folks that you're meeting and that sets at least a rough guideline right to where you're going.   00;24;10;26 - 00;24;42;16 I'd like to ask a question. So of the folks who have talked to venture investors, how many of you have a story of an investor that's just acted in a thoughtless, like inappropriate or unprofessional manner, like ghosting, not showing up, any stories like that? Well, if you haven't, you will, because there's a lot of really, really subpar human behavior that's rampant in the venture industry, especially in the early stages.   00;24;42;18 - 00;25;10;19 So you need to have a hard shell and let's make all that, just to take it and then move on to the next. And then remember those stories for when you're when you're IPOing and you're having drinks with everybody in your team and telling those stories about those investors later on because it's a big problem. Yeah, so, on the other side of the equation, maybe you'll have like what major pitfalls should entrepreneurs avoid?   00;25;10;23 - 00;25;37;29 Is there some proactive insight you all can share to get ahead of some challenges before for the entrepreneurs run up against them? Yeah so first off, not dedicating time, a set period, where fundraising is your main focus. If you're if you're running an organizational sales campaign, you're not you're not just running an undefined period.   00;25;37;29 - 00;25;59;04 You're setting aside certain hours every day where you're tackling a certain number of investor reach outs, investor prospect reach outs, so that you can handle on a weekly basis going forward just week by week and reaching out to as many as you can, engaging as many as you can. That is, it's hard to do.   00;25;59;04 - 00;26;37;25 It's hard to carve out that amount of time in your schedule because you're doing 50 other things. I get it. I founded this firm in 2015. We've been scrambling ever since so setting aside that dedicated time and actually reaching out to literally hundreds of investors, literally hundreds, is something that it will set you apart. I don't know about Dan's firm but our firm biases against a CEO at an A or seed level, an entrepreneur hiring an investment banker or other representation, right?   00;26;37;25 - 00;27;06;09 We view it as the job of the CEO to go out and raise money, and that is, you know, we want to see that the CEOs putting in that kind of time, that kind of effort, etc., in order to do that, that role at that level, when you get to a C or D level, yeah, there might be more reason for a banker to get involved, but typically not at seed and A level.   00;27;06;12 - 00;27;26;12 Yeah. Otherwise, you need to make sure you're, you're prepared, right? You're going to, you're going to get a lot of questions. To Dan's point earlier, there are a lot of people out there who, you know, are can be not the nicest people in the middle of pitches. But these are not two of them. The only friendly faces on stage.   00;27;26;14 - 00;27;47;17 Yeah I actually I can honestly say that we've gotten into a lot of deals by not being jerks as opposed to kicked out of deals for the other reason but yeah. To that point, people do try all sorts of different mediums to raise funds because it is quite challenging right now. There's a lot less dry powder, it's called out there.   00;27;47;17 - 00;28;11;10 So since the venture investment dollars have gone down in both dollars and deal amounts since 2021 and ‘22 at the highs, you know, we're living in a new world. So just curious what you all have been seeing maybe in Missouri or more broadly with your funds. Is this impacted investment activity or deal flow for each of you?   00;28;11;13 - 00;28;41;25 We're actually still doing a decent amount of seed and A business. We'll do 6 to 10 seed and A rounds this year, which is pretty consistent with par in the past. In the past, we also were doing more B and C and later stage deals. All of that effort is now solely focused on our existing portfolio and, for that matter, a decent amount of the A businesses as well.   00;28;41;27 - 00;29;09;11 And in terms of like us prospecting or doing outreach or even inbound for seed deals where we've cut back on the amount of time we have available for that. Just because I've got issues I've got to deal with my existing portfolio that take precedence over putting new capital to work for new investments.   00;29;09;14 - 00;29;31;07 I mean, I'm sure Dan's going to echo the same thing because that is pretty consistent across the board. You're seeing a lot of firms that used to do early stage stuff retrench and do later stage, change the criteria. They're now growth investors looking for ten plus million in revenue. So, yeah, it's definitely gotten a lot more challenging.   00;29;31;09 - 00;29;54;14 You know? Yeah. So actually, we're a kid in a candy store right now. During the pandemic, there were  60% more companies started every month than any time before in history. So for every three companies started prior to the pandemic, there were five started every month just based on how the averages were working out. And that was sustained for three years.   00;29;54;16 - 00;30;19;04 So there are so many new companies right now that have been around for a couple of years and are now looking for seed series, series A funding, it's immense. The number of companies that we used to be able to review every month just to keep up was about 300. Now we're scrambling to do 500 a month and we're not keeping up with the number of companies that are entering our search criteria.   00;30;19;07 - 00;30;38;23 We need to be doing more because there are just so many companies, and that's the most exciting time to be investing, because in these times that in these times of turmoil in which people lose their jobs, they leave their company because they want to go live on the beach and are sick of it. They bring the knowledge and the funding that they have to start a new idea.   00;30;38;27 - 00;31;04;06 And the most the most consequential companies get started in these times. Google was founded in the dot com bust. Airbnb was founded in the global financial crisis. These iconic companies get started in times just like this. And we're scrambling to find those gems in that deal flow. So in Missouri, I guess I'll put it to you this way.   00;31;04;10 - 00;31;29;22 So what can you tell me what geography has the monopoly on brilliance on brilliant founders? Can anyone tell me what the what the limitation oof sending an email is geographically? Can anyone tell me how much more difficult it is to send money from one place in the country to another outside of Missouri?   00;31;29;24 - 00;31;54;09 There's no limit on where you have to be to be able to start an iconic company. The talent pool is everywhere. Brilliant entrepreneurs start up everywhere in the country. Sam Altman's from Saint Louis. Taylor Swift's mom lives in Saint Louis. So there's no there's no limit to where you can go with your company.   00;31;54;12 - 00;32;28;02 You can sell into the e-commerce market from anywhere. I think that's one thing that's changed as well, that folks have gotten a little more devious in terms of the revenue, in terms of the dollars they're bringing in. Every dollar of revenue is, by the math, an infinite valuation fundraising dollar. And so getting devious about new product lines, new revenue lines to actually front your growth in the future, SBA loans, bank loans, grants from their CEO.   00;32;28;02 - 00;32;51;12 I mean there is funding outside of venture capital if that has been to drive a well so. That's right that's a really good point. We'll be sure to have an angel panel with Mrs. Swift and Sam Altman next time around here. You know, one more question to you both, which is just given the surge of AI capabilities, it's clear that we're all going to be much more productive with less.   00;32;51;15 - 00;33;16;26 And so founders and investors alike are you know, it seems to be a trend. We're all moving back to the fundamentals of, you know, not grow at all costs, but maybe grow with efficiency or dare I say, profitability, maybe. So I'm curious, how does this how does this affect your thesis or, you know, have your expectations changed when you're meeting early stage companies?   00;33;16;28 - 00;33;35;17 Unknown So we're thesis driven, as I mentioned. So the thing that we've been focused on since fund one was is this data-centric paradigm shift that's been taking place. Every company needs to become a data company to stay competitive. I think that you can make the case in the future that every company is going to have to become an AI company to stay competitive.   00;33;35;19 - 00;33;56;08 But right now, we're in the middle of the hype cycle. So I don't I'm not ready to stake a claim, stake a fund in investing in that theme. But I think that in the future it may be. On the ground. I think that we're seeing a lot more, as you mentioned, efficiency, productivity coming from individuals in an organization.   00;33;56;10 - 00;34;19;02 And that is that has been a trend that's been happening for the last 60 years. Super producers are emerging and finding those other super producers to join your team is a way to grow a company fast. It costs less to start a business. There are fewer people required to start a transformational business. OpenAI   00;34;19;02 - 00;34;48;25 was four people when they were valued at $5 billion. There is a time coming where there will be a single person company who is worth $1B just by the just by the path of that trend. So maybe it's you. So even in our sectors, we are still investing a lot in AI-driven companies.   00;34;48;28 - 00;35;13;07 I'd say the first thing is you really need to make sure you're an AI-driven company and not, you know, just adding it to your name for the sake of it. It's the hype, as Dan said, the hype cycle because it's pretty quick to tell whether or not you're really an AI company or not, right? And the kiss of death is labeling yourself that one when you're really not.   00;35;13;10 - 00;35;38;18 It really hasn't changed our theses or the kind of way we looked at things. You know, to the other side of that, in terms of, you know, shifting back toward fundamentals, I'd say certainly in our later stage portfolio, we are much more driven by, you know, how quickly can we get to cash flow. Early stage portfolio.   00;35;38;18 - 00;36;12;10 There's still a little bit of leeway there, but you'd better, you know, you better have a clear line of sight to customer's revenue. Everything else, if not preferably already have customers revenue or minimal viable product, etc. You know, in general, bootstrapping or not raising venture funding leads to limited resources, which often leads to better decision making, which then leads to better outcomes.   00;36;12;12 - 00;36;39;21 Right. And so we see it all the time. Too many people get, you know, the $100 million round, you have more cash than you know what to do with. And so actually there is some truth to growing a real sustainable business in this way too. So we're about out of time, but I wanted to give each of you just an opportunity maybe to, you know, for a piece of parting advice you'd like to share with entrepreneurs in the crowd that are going out to raise or maybe in the thick of it right now.   00;36;39;24 - 00;37;11;00 So I'd go again with early adopter customers, right? The more if, you know, every business needs a customer, so the faster you can get them, the quicker you can get them, it shows somebody you're trying to fundraise with that you've got traction, that the product is actually something somebody wants to buy. And it goes just a long, long way towards proving out that whatever it is your invention or idea is actually going to work.   00;37;11;03 - 00;37;53;19 So focus first on customers, you know, and then think, how do you go from there? Yeah, my advice would be bold, go boldly. The thing that binds us is this human element that everybody that we're interacting with should be expecting to be interacting a positive way. And if you can just get in front of that person with the right, think about where they are in their in their day, what they do on a day-to-day basis and get in their shoes, whether it's a customer or an investor or a person who you're courting to join your team, make sure that you understand that person's   00;37;53;26 - 00;38;28;29 culture. Their driving theses and figure out how that how you can craft your story to get in front of that person. I talked about out of the playing the entrance road to the to the global economy is this wide open and it's unlimited but the thing that we remain rooted in is our culture, our way that we do things as tribes, the knowledge that we share as individuals in a group that is extremely important.   00;38;28;29 - 00;38;53;17 And remembering that as you go out and try to meet new customers and build relationships is crucial and the only way to do that is to remember that human element. So be bold. It's great. I have the last word on this. So Doug Leone from Sequoia has a great quote where he says, ‘Architect your top table like you would your product,' meaning   00;38;53;19 - 00;39;15;21 you know, really just stressing the importance of choosing, you know, your early investors and partners. They're going to be going on a very long journey with you if this works out as successful. If it's not successful, you also want to make sure that you chose the right partners alongside that. The one caveat with that is the best deal is, is the check that gets signed.   00;39;15;21 - 00;39;35;17 So at the end of the day, you've got to do what you've got to do to grow your business. And anyway, so with that, thank you so much for being here. I know we're just out of time and thank you for your insights. Thank you. Thank you. Thanks,Oracle. Well, that wraps up another great episode.   00;39;35;20 - 00;40;02;21 One of the pieces of advice that I found most interesting from the panel was being realistic around how much effort it would take to raise money in today's environment and founders needing to triple the amount of investors they reach out to and triple the amount of time fundraising. It might be harder to get an investor on board right now, but, like JD said, some of the biggest companies have been built in times where investors weren't as willing to invest.   00;40;02;23 - 00;40;22;16 Thank you so much to JD Weinstein for not only moderating the panel but also taking the time to join us on the podcast. A big thanks as well to our panelists, Dan and Craig. If you want to learn more about NetSuite's Business Grows Here events, be sure to check out the link in our show notes to see if we're coming to a city near you.   00;40;22;18 - 00;40;43;24 As always, a big thanks to our wonderful editing team over at Oracle and to all of you for tuning in. If you want more episodes just like this one, make sure you subscribe to our channel and give us a rating and review. Until next time! You just listened to the NetSuite Podcast. Be sure to tune in every week with more   00;40;43;24 - 00;40;51;04 NetSuite developments, stories, and insights into the benefits of one integrated system to help you run your business.

Carter Williams is the CEO and Managing Director at iSelect Fund, who invests at the convergence of agtech and human health. Carter has spent his entire career working on innovation. First as a young engineer at McDonnell Douglas, next in his leadership roles at Boeing managing R&D and starting Boeing Ventures.  Later as a successful entrepreneur and venture investor. Throughout his career, he has directly managed investments of over $600 million in early-stage ventures and corporate research, resulting in several billion dollars of new product revenues. As part of Boeing Phantom Works, Carter led Boeing's technology planning process, involving all aspects of internal and external technology development and manufacturing research. This eventually led to his role in founding and managing Boeing Ventures. After Boeing, he was President of Gridlogix, initially a small 4-person startup that grew over 3 years, exiting successfully to Johnson Controls in October 2008. Gridlogix became Johnson Controls Panopics system. Before leading iSelect, Carter was Senior Managing Director at Progress Partners, an energy and technology investment banking firm. He was a Managing Partner at Open Innovation Ventures and a Director at Clayton Capital Partners. Carter is the past President and Founder of the MIT Corporate Venturing Consortium and Co-founder of the MIT Entrepreneurship Society. He has an M.B.A. from the MIT Sloan School and a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.  He also writes about innovation at the substack Creative Destruction. — This episode is presented by American AgCredit. Learn more HERE. Check out Matt Woolf's episode on the California ag market HERE. — Links iSelect Fund - https://www.iselectfund.com Carter on Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/carter/ Carter's Substack - https://creativedestruction.substack.com Join the Co-op - https://themodernacre.supercast.com

We are excited to announce a new segment for you, How to Invest Series. Where we will be revisiting some of the smart insights, tips, and advice from our past guests on the show. To start off the series we will be touching on the Biotech and life science subject. So, let's dive right in and hear the answers to the question I made to each of our guests back in 2021: What makes for a successful company in this segment? Our first five guests are: Carter Williams, CEO and Managing Partner of iSelect Fund, Maximilian Bade, Founding Partner at Nucleus Capital, Orrin Ailloni-Charas, MD, who was the Managing Partner of the Global Health Impact Fund, Eyal Lifschitz, Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Peregrine Ventures, and Ron Paliwoda, President of the Paliwoda Group. Carter Williams, a seasoned innovator and venture investor, has an extensive background in managing R&D and spearheading technological advancements. Currently, Carter leads iSelect, an early-stage venture firm based in St. Louis, which focuses on investing in companies tackling global issues with financially attractive business models. Maximilian has founded Nucleus Capital to support purpose-driven entrepreneurs addressing systemic challenges to planetary health. Nucleus Capital is a venture capital firm focused on investing in pre/seed stage companies at the intersection of synthetic biology, climate- and food technology. Dr. Orrin Ailloni-Charas is an experienced anesthesiologist and investment leader, with a diverse background in healthcare. In 2021, he was the CEO and Managing Partner of the Global Health Impact Fund (GHIF), a physician-led venture fund. Eyal, is an experienced entrepreneur and VC partner, with over 20 years of experience managing and investing in healthcare companies. Peregrine Ventures is a leading Israeli capital fund focused on high-tech companies in the life sciences, pharma, and digital health. Ron Paliwoda is an accidental entrepreneur and seasoned investor, primarily through the Ventures arm of The Paliwoda Group. Links from today's show: iSelect Fund: ; Nucleus Capital: ; Global Health Impact Fund: ; Peregrine Ventures: ; Paliwoda Group: .     _______________________________________________________ For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at:    Check out our other podcasts here:   For Investors check out:   For Startups check out:   For eGuides check out:   For upcoming Events, check out    For Feedback please contact info@tencapital.group    Please , share, and leave a review. Music courtesy of .

Kevin Van Trump and Carter Williams sit down with Trevor McKeeman, CEO at HitchPin, to discuss introduction to Your Outsourced Ag CTO, iSelect's most exciting current investments, HitchPin's first ever customer, providing producers with technology to build their own storefront, thinking about locational as well as transactional businesses, listings for over $1 million on the platform, some of the biggest concerns in the ag supply chain, and why hay is gaining the most traction with HitchPin. There are also lots of other… Continue Reading ›› The post Your Outsourced Ag CTO featuring HitchPin appeared first on FarmTank.

Carter Williams went from designing aircraft to revolutionizing the future of nutrition and health. Hear his story on the Matt Balaker Podcast. Carter Williams has spent his entire career working on innovation. First as a young engineer at McDonnell Douglas, next in his leadership roles at Boeing managing R&D and starting Boeing Ventures, and later as a successful entrepreneur and venture investor. Through his career, he has directly managed investments of more than $600 million in early-stage ventures and corporate research, resulting in several billion dollars of new product revenues. As part of Boeing Phantom Works, Carter led Boeing's technology planning process, involving all aspects of internal and external technology development and manufacturing research. This eventually led to his role in founding and managing Boeing Ventures. After Boeing, he was President of Gridlogix, initially a small struggling 4 person startup that grew over 3 years, selling successfully to Johnson Controls in October 2008. Prior to leading iSelect, Carter served as Senior Managing Director at Progress Partners, an energy and technology investment banking firm, and was a Managing Partner at Open Innovation Ventures and a Director at Clayton Capital Partners. Carter is the past President and Founder of the MIT Corporate Venturing Consortium and Co-founder of the MIT Entrepreneurship Society. He has an M.B.A. from the MIT Sloan School and a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. https://www.iselectfund.com/  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z6VxmsGRldg  https://twitter.com/jcarterwil

iSelect was created to help solve a complex web of interrelated challenges with food and human health. By connecting investors with the innovative companies fixing these industries, iSelect provides the network to create investment opportunities that are making a real impact on the future of our world. Mark has over 25 years of experience in investing, executive leadership and business development while growing six early-stage funds/companies. He has extensive experience in impact investing, as an investor, developer, and operator. Most recently he was EVP Business Development for Cadenza Innovation, a leading energy storage technology company. Previously, he was CEO of HPA Sonics, an early stage specialty materials company developing a clean process for the production of a key LED raw material. Prior to that, he was CEO of Greenleaf Biofuels (now American Greenfuels). At Greenleaf, he and his partners built the largest waste-to-biofuel plant in the Northeast U.S. Formerly, Mark was an investment banker at Progress Partners where he led the clean energy practice, and a Managing Director of two long/short equity hedge funds that he helped grow to $500M in combined assets. Mark has B.S. in Finance from Babson College.

Lead to Soar! is a production of A Career that Soars Michelle and Jo have a conversation about a question they're asked a lot by women. Should I do an MBA?  We discuss how an MBA builds confidence, how to fit an MBA into real life, and why you must have this conversation with your boss (and boss's boss!) Jo also shares practical tips on how to successfully navigate and complete an MBA – sourced from her MBA students around the world. About Jo With well over 15 years of experience in senior roles for some of Australia's most iconic companies, including iSelect and Compare the Market, Jo is currently the Chief Executive Officer of the Australian Institute of Business, Australia's leader in online postgraduate education. Over her career, she has learned a lot about what drives rapid and sustainable growth - flawless execution, authentic leadership, and innovation. Operating at the intersection of technology, people, and data, Jo gets a kick out of making both the workplace and customer interactions life-enhancing experiences. With a track record of transformational leadership in digital businesses, she has had the privilege of leading large teams of extraordinary people to deliver exponential growth. ~ Resources The Confidence Scoop Episode Jo Thomas LinkedIn Simon Sinek, start with why Video Australian Institute of Business ~ Bio for Michelle Redfern Michelle is the founder of Advancing Women, an enterprise providing research and advisory services on workplace gender equality, inclusion and diversity. She is co-host of A Career that Soars! the founder of women's network Women Who Get It  co-founder of CDW (Culturally Diverse Women) and host of the Lead to Soar podcast. Michelle is an experienced Non-Executive Director with Board and advisory roles in the finance, sport, for purpose and supply chain sectors. She is a proud Ambassador for Flexible Working Day and Girls Uniform Agenda. She has held executive leadership roles at ASX & FTSE listed companies NAB, Telstra and Serco during her 30-year corporate career. Michelle is a Graduate of the AICD, holds an Executive MBA (Distinction) and holds various accreditations in organisational diversity and coaching. She is an in-demand speaker and is a regular contributor to the discussion and advocate for gender equality and inclusion in sport and business workplaces.   Bio for Mel Butcher Mel Butcher is a consulting engineer focused on growing business through serving enterprise industrial clients in the environmental, water, and sustainability spaces.  In her free time, she is a host inside A Career That Soars! and on the Lead to Soar! podcast where she supports women in achieving their highest career ambitions. Mel is a goal advocate for diversity, equity and inclusion in the engineering and industrial world. She also gives time to supporting young engineers early in their career. Reach out here.

In this episode, Carter talks about the biggest challenges in venture firm building, investment decision-making in the partnership, how does iSelect fund connect investors to startups, when is the right time to pull back vs when to be aggressive in deployment, problems with mainstream investing, and much more!

In the boardroom, the marketers' numbers are likely the least trusted, Brodie Arnhold, Chair of iSelect, Endota, says. Why? It was a “cost line without the accountability”. In his experience, adding up the sales, PR, and marketing figures, “the company should have been about eight times the size it really was. That always left with this kind of funny feeling of mistrust,” he says. Hence, he's invested in Mutiny, an Australian company shaking up how marketers use econometrics, with AI and cloud processing, to demonstrate return on investment. “Whoever can prove their budget's worth is going to be the one who keeps it in a recessionary environment,” co-founder Henry Innis says. Marketers can turn procurement enemies into allies with the right data, TrinityP3's Darren Woolley says.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode, Amanda Hsieh talks with Christine Tomas, Managing Director, Head of Business Development, and member of the Executive Leadership Team at iSelect Fund. Christine joined the iSelect Fund Executive Leadership Team in 2020, bringing over 25 years of global investment experience with institutional investors, family offices, sovereign wealth funds, and business owners. Christine previously served as Managing Director and trusted portfolio advisor at Goldman Sachs in London and New York. Christine is a bilingual Spanish speaker, also fluent in French and German. She received her M.B.A. from the MIT Sloan School of Management, and her B.A. Magna cum Laude from Harvard College. Christine is passionate about the investment opportunity created by technology's transformation of AgTech, NutritionTech, and WellnessTech and loves to engage iSelect Fund's current and prospective investors on the topic. Listen as Amanda and Christine talk about how investments are helping to address sustainable challenges by transforming wellness and supply chain issues, driving increased productivity, and decreasing inflation. The information shared will support both novice and experienced investors who wish to create strategic investment strategies with long-term ESG impacts top-of-mind. Make sure to subscribe to ESG Decoded on your favorite streaming platforms and our YouTube Channel so you're notified of our vodcast episodes! Don't forget to connect with us on social media. Enjoy this episode! Interested in being a guest on the podcast? For consideration and scheduling, please fill out this form.

Welcome to The Unmakers, Unmade's latest podcast series where we talk to people who are trying to remake the media and marketing world. Each episode will feature people who are doing business differently. We're going to meet the startups, the troublemakers, and the dreamers who've looked at the communications industry and are trying to find a better way. If you're an unmaker with a story to tell about how you're changing the media and marketing world, we'd love to hear from you on letters@unmade.media. In today's first episode, Tim Burrowes talks to the founders of Mutiny, Henry Innis and Matt Farrugia. After leaving big network jobs, they chose not to simply start yet another agency. Instead, they launched a software company which helps marketers understand the return on investment of their media spend. Rather like Google analytics helps marketers to understand their digital activity, Mutiny attempts to do the same for marketing investment using the data that brands put into it. Mutiny's been around for more than three years, and a few days ago, it closed its first seed round with investors putting in $2.4m to help take the company global. The deal valued Mutiny at more than $10m. Tim caught up with Henry and Matt in Melbourne a few days before the announcement.Below is the full transcript of the interview. Today's episode of The Unmakers was edited by Abe's audio. And don't forget, Unmade is offering 55% off an annual subscription to a paid membership of Unmade. That reduces the $650 price down to $292.50 per year. It will never be as low as this again. Transcript Tim Burrowes: I'm Tim Burrowes from Unmade. Welcome to The Unmakers, a series in which I talk to people who are trying to remake the media and marketing world. Each episode, I talk to people who are doing business differently. We're going to meet the startups, the troublemakers, and the dreamers who've looked at the communications industry and are trying to find a better way. If you're an unmaker with a story to tell about how you're changing the media and marketing world, I'd love to hear from you. Email me at tim@unmade.media. Before you remake it, you've got to unmake it.In today's first episode of The Unmakers, I talked to the founders of Mutiny, Henry Innis and Matt Farrugia. After leaving big network jobs, they chose not to simply start yet another agency. Instead, they launched a software company which helps marketers understand the return on investment of their media spend. Rather like Google analytics helps marketers to understand their digital activity, Mutiny attempts to do the same for marketing investment using the data that brands input into it. Mutiny's been around for more than three years. A few days ago, it closed its first seed round with investors putting in $2.4m to help take the company global. The deal valued the company at more than $10m. I caught up with Henry and Matt in Melbourne a few days before the announcement. I began by asking Henry what this moment will mean for the business.Henry Innis: What we had set out to do over the past two to three years was we obviously started the business where it had a look and feel of a consultancy. We always set out with the plan to have SaaS and technology products at the heart of that.Tim Burrowes: SaaS being software as a service.Henry Innis: Yeah. So, and we proved out a SaaS model with some fairly large enterprise customers who have renewed a number of times. For us now, the key focus is how do we build what you would describe as a bottom-up SaaS model. So, a SaaS model which is, one, driving growth through its own product, and two, it's able to deliver value increasingly in a very automated way, both to our customer base but also to their agencies. This allows us to build tools on top of the platform that don't just do the core of marketing ROI, but also integrate back into agency workflows and also customer workflows more effectively.Tim Burrowes: Well, we'll get into the model and also the fundraising a little bit more. First, I guess the headline description of what mutiny offers is an ability for marketers and agencies to see how their media spend is being used most effectively.Henry Innis: Yeah, it's the best, we call it marketing investment analytics. So, in the same way that every single business has Google Analytics for their website and that is the primary form of measurement that you have within the marketing space, we envisage the same thing coming against your marketing pricing media going forward. So, marketers will install a platform that acts as a marketing investment analytics platform across all of their activities and allows them to see financial returns.Tim Burrowes: Well, we'll get into that properly in a moment. Matt, let me come back to you then. Let's do the origin story. Where did the two of you get together then to build Mutiny in the first place?Matt Farrugia: So, Henry and I met at WPP, I think it was around 2017 or thereabouts, and I was managing director of Y&R Creative Agency and also worked with a group across WPP, various clients at the time, and Henry was our national strategy director, and we struck a kind of natural working rhythm and a shared interest in real disruption for doing things differently and better, and also shared a frustration with a lack of speed to things like speed to insight and also evolving capabilities. So, then through that shared frustration, I guess, we thought, "Hey, let's go and start our own disruption and call it Mutiny."Tim Burrowes: And it's still fairly unusual for people who've got big network jobs to actually make the jump because you're quite well paid, there's not too much risk. Was it the opportunity in front of you or was it frustration in the world you were in? What actually propelled you out the door?Matt Farrugia: Great question. I probably put it to I became uncomfortable with being too comfortable, and I think those environments are really set up for you. We have to again, great environments for many people. You can build your careers in those networks. I think I was interested in looking beyond that and outside of those networks in terms of to create real change takes a level of risk, and also Henry and I set out to create something of real value, and the product that we have in market today, it didn't exist. The type of product we have today didn't exist. So, I think we just found that so incredibly exciting, and I think you hear of a lot of stories of large enterprise wanting to create new products for their customers, be it massive telcos or banks, whatever. It's a struggle. To create a new product, creating new value or tapping into white space as it's called, it the best way to do it is go and acquire a company who's doing it, or create a complete skunkworks team outside of that company to build that product. Yeah, do you know what I mean?Tim Burrowes: Well, Henry, let me bring you back in on that point. What you have now as a product, how close is that to what you had in the back of your mind when you first made the leap? Because I honestly thought you were adding a bit of a bit of sizzle to it, but basically you were starting another agency, and it took quite a while for the penny to drop for me that really, you're a software company.Henry Innis: Well, so I've always had a background in software. So, I think that's first thing is that Matt's had a background in avionics engineering. We both understand problems from an engineering and systems mindset. So, I think that helps. When we started, we looked at it through one of two lenses. Either we were going to be a consultancy, but we were going to use technology to attack the pricing structure really, really well. So, by way of example, you might do a consulting-style project, but at a much cheaper fee, much less head hours because you had something producing the outputs much cheaper. The alternative was pure placed SaaS, but either way, we were going to be reliant on some kind of technology product at the core from the very start of the business.I think the penny dropped for us that we were going to go down the SaaS route when we started seeing usage numbers. So, where people were coming into the platform, largely without us necessarily having to supervise and handhold, and that's where we started to go, "Well, this is really leaning a lot more towards SaaS." We weren't sure, being honest, which way it was going to go, just because of the nature of some of the industry. It is used to having a lot of support structures around it. But I think we decided about six months in when we started seeing some of those early numbers to do that. The other strength I think of SaaS is it actually allowed us to work better into the ecosystem because what we don't really want to do is you don't really want to replace the ingenuity of a media agency or a really good media agency planner because you can't replace that with data. The same goes with groups like creative agencies and things like that.So, I think one of the good things about being a SaaS product is you can build for both the agency and the customer and that helps, and versus if I'm one of our competitors, they bring in consultants and it's a bit off-putting, I think, to agencies to have an army of consultants sitting there critiquing their work in PowerPoint. I mean, I wouldn't really like that, whereas for us, it's a bit like installing Adobe or something similar. So, I think for us, that's why we focused on SaaS and those sorts of elements. Also, just think SaaS is more fun as a kind of something to execute.Tim Burrowes: Well, also presumably much more scalable as well. Well, I guess, talk about that sort of what it contributed to kind of the speed of the business's growth and everything. Let's just drill in a tiny bit into the product itself. I guess some of our listeners from a hardcore martech background will have a pretty clear picture. Others won't. If you were describing this in the pub, what is the problem that you're helping solve?Henry Innis: Well, I think, firstly, every marketer has more decisions than ever to make. We're not looking at decisions, shrink number of decisions shrinking. We're looking at number of decisions growing. The only platform at the moment that helps you make those decisions from a data-driven perspective realistically is website analytics. That's about as close as we get which is why everything has been so digitally skewed, and also because the data around digital is timely and it's provisioned in a format that's accessible, and it's quick and easy for an average person to use. For us, we believe that the orientation of the market around website analytics basically has, I don't want to say stuffed marketing, but it kind of has. What we are building is marketing investment analytics. So, a true, actual end-to-end analytics platform across your growth that sits across everything.Tim Burrowes: So, Matt, could you think of a good sort of hypothetical example of a decision that would be changed by using the product or it might be?Matt Farrugia: Yeah. No, great question. There are so many, and I think we're seeing a lot of use cases from our customers using the platform, and the decisions, we're seeing a lots of different types of decisions. The ones that we didn't anticipate, how they were using the platform, but I'd say the one would be relocating budget across channels that are underinvested that can deliver a greater impact. So, for example, we've had customers shift, they've identified $800,000 of budget for a particular campaign, and they were able to reallocate that with a high degree of accuracy into other channels that were underinvested, that the platform indicated if they moved this budget across these channels, they would get this.Tim Burrowes: And how specific are we being with channels? Is it just like, okay, if you move from, I don't know, magazines to newspapers, to use two old school examples?Matt Farrugia: That is an example. We can get down to the level of shifting budget across channels. So, for example, from online video to out of home, etcetera, or even to at a geography level, across publishers, across creative types, and also formats of advertising. So, a level of granularity that to do that previously, it took a hell of a long time, a hell of a lot of data, and really heavy on resources to determine that, where our platform now can deliver that insight to inform that decision in seconds.Tim Burrowes: And which of the agency groups have supported you now? Are all of the major holding companies involved?Henry Innis: We work primarily with customers.Tim Burrowes: So, mostly, it's brand side, as opposed to agency side.Henry Innis: Brand side are the people that will commission the contracts, yes.Tim Burrowes: Interesting.Henry Innis: So, we certainly go direct, but we have a number of various, I mean, you'd say across most of the majors, we probably, we have some level of interaction. I'd also just say most of them are pretty good at provisioning the data as well. They know what to give us and all those sorts of things. So, it's been pretty successful like that. We generally see once it's installed, again, I draw the analogy to Salesforce and Adobe. A customer normally install Adobe Analytics or something like that, and then following that, the agency will then start to use them and all those sorts of things as well. So, they'll come together and coalesce around a platform. I think for agencies, it can be quite good because they're not kind of marking their own homework in a sense, and so there's an independent platform where both the customer and the agency can come around and go, "Well, here's what we did working, and if not, why not?" and start to make those decisions in a fairly impartial kind of way.Tim Burrowes: And, Matt, how do you and Henry divide your labour? Who does what between the two of you as co-founders?Matt Farrugia: Good question. I think Henry spends a lot of time with the product and engineering team. I think that's where his strengths definitely lie, and I think and I spend a lot of my time with our customers and guiding them to how to get the most out of platform and how to see value and help them, educate them how to make those decisions that we're talking about, and then there's a whole bunch of operational stuff that we kind of share, but yeah.Tim Burrowes: Now, one of the side jobs to the main job recently has been doing a fundraising round which is a massive job in its own right. So, this would be, I suppose, if we talk about kind of preseed, seed, round A, the sort of size of the round of fundraising you're doing would be a seed round, presumably sort of $1 or $2m, something like that you've raised?Henry Innis: $2.4m.Tim Burrowes: $2.4m, and how will you spend it?Henry Innis: So, right now, I mean, there are a few factors that dictated why we raised. Right now, we've kept our burn roughly flat. We're not on a kind of a runway type model which must…Tim Burrowes: Yeah, so you weren't highly profitable but you weren't losing money in other words.Henry Innis: Correct, yeah. We hadn't really burnt significant amounts of capital and things like that. So, we weren't on a runway model or anything like that, but we wanted to move into two areas. The first is moving in and starting to data mine insights and things like that, just to make finding some of the areas a little bit easier and more responsive for our customer base and for our user base. That drives usage up for us and also just starts to get us into the workflows. The second is doing a lot of workflow integration. So, getting back into Slack, Teams, all those sorts of things, building links back into those areas. Again, the reason why is to build a stickier product. And then the third is to start to release data management tools on the other end of the funnel to make the whole process of data collection organisation easier, and we just want to basically make that free and make that the standard of how people collect and manage enterprise marketing data.We think that managing enterprise marketing data is a really hard and challenging thing for most organisations at the moment. We look a lot to a business called Dovetail who does the same thing in UX research, very, very large business now and very successful business. The way that they built a repository around UX research, we want to try to build the same kind of repository for marketers to use and manage that data. If we do those three things, we'll have, one, made managing data far easier, more effective for the market which is just good for us in the category generally. The second thing is we'll have provided a lot more value to customers through really strong usage based value, automated value creation products as well. And then the third thing that we'll have done is we'll have integrated far more into the workflows and the daily workflows of our user base than before.I think it's important to note our entire organisation is KPId on usage of the product. So, none of us are actually KPId on renewal of contracts and things like that. That's important to us, but the really important thing to us that we know matters is usage. If people are using our product, they're loving it, and therefore they'll renew. The same goes for kind of any other kind of business performance you look at. So, I think it's a very software way to view the world, but this raise allows us to continue to align to that and to invest in R& D in those spaces.Tim Burrowes: And what sort of people have invested this time round? What sort of backgrounds?Matt Farrugia: Yeah, varied. I guess we're quite humbled by the investors that have come in, and they do vary from being CEOs and chairpeople of very large organisations locally and globally. There's CEOs, former CEOs of very large media companies. There's some founders of some very successful product tech-focused companies. We're excited by the group of people that are getting on board and believing in our product and getting onto the journey.Tim Burrowes: And are there any names you are allowed to share at this stage?Henry Innis: Well, we certainly had some really great support, so I mean, the names, I mean, there are names like Brodie Arnold who's the chairman of iSelect, he'll be joining our board, and Charlie Gearside, he was one of the co-founders of Eucalyptus. Alexey Mitko as well who's a co-founder of Eucalyptus. We have Sir Robin Miller from the UK who was former CEO of Emap and chairman of HMV. And then also we had a UK quant fund Bloomsbury Information Capital who anchored the round effectively for us. So, most of our existing investors also followed their money which obviously helps and is a really good sign. So, we're pretty lucky that we feel we've found the right mix of technology, media, marketing leaders, and also just business leaders. You've also got a lot of people, we've been lucky to have Chris Savage people like John Curtius and other kind of those sorts of that sort of era as well.Tim Burrowes: And I think earlier in your life, before he went off to another gig in Asia, you had Cheuk Chiang on your board or CEO.Henry Innis: I think Chewy pursued other avenues which potentially were better suited to what he wanted to do.Tim Burrowes: For those who aren't really familiar with how these sort of raisings were, you kind of go preseed, seed, like you're planting a seed, and that's with the view to becoming big. Matt, how big can you get?Matt Farrugia: Sky's the limit. I think if we look at demand, we're sensing a lot of demand coming from other markets, including the US, and I think in terms of how big we can get, I think it's probably not just the amount of employees we are. It's probably the volume of media inventory money that's coming through the platform is what we are really interested in as well.Henry Innis: The way you can do it is that you can look at there are 150,000 businesses in the US who are able to get this product. If you were to assume a 10% conversion rate, so you get to about 10% market share. So, it's 15,000 businesses in the US. There are over 1,000 businesses in Australia. Again, you do the same maths. We estimate that the category itself could be somewhere in the orders of $10b plus. For us, we envisage that various players within the market could be taking up to $500m in recurring revenue.Tim Burrowes: And what's your pricing structure? You kind of alluded to the fact that there's a kind of entry level free level. Where do you go from there? What points do the businesses start paying and how?Henry Innis: Well, so there are two conceptual models in SaaS at the moment. Model one is what most people would be familiar with which is enterprise SaaS where you go in, you negotiate big contracts, and things like that, and to an extent, I think that's where we have traditionally been as well.Tim Burrowes: And that's usually priced on the number of users for instance?Henry Innis: No, so, well, it can be, but it's priced on a license for the enterprise and seats and features basically. Where we want to get to is primarily pricing against I would say usage and value. So, we want to be able to collect the data and do that data management piece largely for free. Then if you'd like to switch on the unified WarChest model which is able to model all of your data very quickly and effectively, that comes at a cost, but it can reliably deliver this result. Then on top of that, we then want to have pricing structures that exist around if we see a low ROI channel, able to data mine recommendations around that channel and provide that to get it from A to B and basically give people that confidence, or if there's a low performing brand or business unit, same again.Henry Innis: I think for us, it's important to note, we're not there yet. This raise gets us to that sort of model, but for us I think as a business, we want to be pricing around where value is created, not where reports are generated and things like that because ideologically for a business that gets us much closer to customer value, and again, I come back to that concept of usage and things like that. If you're constantly priced against usage, you're constantly incentivised against usage, and if you're entire business thinks about usage and workflows, then your entire business will be more in sync with your customer base than ever which is dangerous in tech if you're not doing thatTim Burrowes: Now, I guess you must have quite a nice sort of network effect as well, where the more data you get into the system, the more you mine, the more information you get. Matt, I guess when you're talking to customers, one of the objections you must get is well, what about protecting my data. How do you make sure that you kind of keep ward off each individual client's information and data? How do you reassure them about that?Matt Farrugia: We've tested out that. So we adhere to very strict standards around data security, information security, network architecture security, etcetera. I think the key thing there is data segregation. We have our engineers and our entire architecture is configured. When we roll out what we call an instance of WarChest for a customer, we have very, very well defined architecture that drives and manages what we call data segregation. There is no crossover of data. If there is, our automated notification systems just light up, and ultimately, that's the assurance and confidence we give our customers. We work with many customers across many categories, including banking, and finance, and retail and every other, all the other major spenders within advertised media. Australia especially has one of the higher standards and most strict requirements around things like compliance and security.Tim Burrowes: And of all of the insights that you've generated, just give me one really great example, "Oh, blimey, okay, that's interesting," where you'd never have thought that about the ROI of a particular channel, for instance. Henry, you look like you thought of one. You certainly leaned forward at that point.Henry Innis: So, well, I think there are two, one, out home is incredibly cyclical. So, one really interesting thing I think is that we see the effectiveness coefficients or what you call the time varying data of out of home varies across seasons, particularly it's obviously affected by the weather, but our working theory is, for example, shorter days equals shorter exposure times. Right? So, the actual amount of daylight has a direct effect on at home viewability as it were.Tim Burrowes: Even with digital outdoor, for instance?Henry Innis: Well, I think most digital outdoor, it's still not a dominant part of it. Right? So, I don't know if that would change with digital outdoor. It might, but that's an interesting one that we've picked up. Right now, we're exploring how long a Facebook scandal will impact effectiveness for Facebook.Tim Burrowes: Oh, that's interesting.Henry Innis: That's something we're exploring in.Tim Burrowes: What's the early information on that one?Henry Innis: Stay tuned, and I think the next thing, the other kind of interesting areas that we look at is one thing that's quite consistent is sometimes certain channels will have low ROI in a system, but that doesn't necessarily mean that they're bad. Sometimes it actually means they're underinvested. So, by way of example, some customer bases will maybe spend 5,000 or 10,000 in TV or 5,000 in TikTok or something like that, these quite visual mediums, and they tend to perform quite poorly. Why? Because they actually need a certain amount of weight. If I buy one TV and it gets lost in the noise versus if I buy 500 TV ads in a week, suddenly everybody remembers me. It's like Harvey Norman. Right? Everyone knows a Harvey Norman ad.Tim Burrowes: So, where would be the very last place you would spend your last thousand dollars based on everything you've seen?Henry Innis: Oh, it's a really dependent question on the actual business itself. So, I'll give you a really good worked example of this which is like search is a really funny platform to be in. Unless you have one of two factors, it's hard to make money in search, well, make profits in search, unless you've got two things. Right? One you've got to have a better operating margin. So, if you have a better operating margin, you can outbid other people effectively, and search works amazingly to drive ROI in that kind of case.Henry Innis: The second is if you have no competition. So if you have no competition in search again, it's an amazing place to be. So, those are the two vectors in which you look at search, but if I've got three companies, all who can pay up to a hundred dollars each for a customer, and then I'm in Google's ad bidding system, every company will basically bid away each other's margins in the auction system within search. So, I'd say search is a really interesting example of how it's brilliant in some context, but there have to be really clear dynamics on which it works to drive high ROI versus how people conventionally think about search which is as the kind of last element of it. It's very often it needs, there's certain dynamics you need.Tim Burrowes: Interesting. Now, obviously you're still quite early in the journey, but equally, once you start doing fundraising rounds, you have investors who are investing to see a return down the track and they want some pictures on the potential exit. What's the likely exit for you guys? Is it to get acquired by someone? Is it to float as an IPO? What are the options, do you think?Matt Farrugia: Good question. I think there are options. Right now, our focus is on in building our product and evolving our product roadmap. There is absolutely a complete obsession about our product and usage as Henry mentioned earlier. So, I think while an exit down the track of sorts might be there, right now, our focus and attention is actually just continuing.Tim Burrowes: And where would you naturally sit in an exit? Would it be with like a, I don't know, an Adobe or something like that, that already has a stack, do you think?Henry Innis: There's probably three to four categories of buyers that you think about. I think one thing I'd just say is we're enjoying building this business way too much to think about an exit. I think if you'd asked me three years ago, I probably would've had an exit in mind. These days, I think it's too much fun. So, I think that changes your calculus a bit, but I mean, your buyers are probably more in the data, analytics and business analytics space, I would say. So, I'd say groups like the S&P and those sorts of groups, or Bloomberg, tho those sorts of companies, I'd say, far more than an Adobe or far more than a Facebook or a Google, and there's a reason why, because those platforms have execution built into them, and because you're trading on their systems or trading on their rubric and things like that. There's a natural conflict if they acquire us so it's a little bit more difficult, and that's also why it's more difficult for them to enter our space as well.Henry Innis: So, those two things kind of work hand in hand. It's strategically hard for them to enter our space. That's why they haven't done it, or they haven't done it successfully at scale, but it also means that our buyer profile probably sits more towards that business intelligence group, but that's a long way off too. That's a long way off.Tim Burrowes: No, maybe might be the last question. Matt, I'll come to you first on this one. From the outside, this looks like a story of just like a rocket ship taking off. One of the realities of any kind of startups is never actually like that inside? You're zigging and zagging on the upward line. What's been hardest?Matt Farrugia: Yeah, good question, Tim. If I think about what's been the hardest, at the same time, the hardest had been the most rewarding. So, I think in the early days, Henry and I wore many hats. We kind of still do. One day I would be the customer lead, the legal council, the payroll manager, looking at cashflow.Henry Innis: You still are.Matt Farrugia: Yeah, thanks Henry. Yeah, and then the table tennis champion, but that's another story. So, I think, look, yeah, coming from large companies, I think anyone, when you get into a... Startups are not for the faint-hearted. They really aren't. Your risk appetite, you've got to be brutally focused on the vision and where you are heading and the potential and maintain that belief because the second that you let those little whatever you want to call them, the thoughts around negativity or the thoughts around that risk that's going to weigh you down that, oh, maybe we shouldn't do this, there's no point in going forward. You're not going to be cut out for it. So, I think the hardest bits were not having that complete support team around you like you did in a larger company. As we're growing, we're filling those gaps, but yeah, that's probably...Tim Burrowes: And Henry, what have you found the hardest?Henry Innis: Startups, you have to just be extremely resilient, and you have to effectively try to take every knock. I think the most important thing and the hardest thing is even if things aren't going your way, you've got to project an immense amount of confidence to everybody around you, and that's the hardest thing, I think. I think giving security and certainty to others in a very uncertain environment is a challenging thing to do and project, and it's a challenging thing to do mentally. You have to compartmentalize a lot. You have a lot of stress associated with that you can't let through, and that also creates a high degree of loneliness as well I'd say. So, I think the one thing I know is that certainty and confidence in decision-making and a decision, even if it's not perfect is better than no decision.Henry Innis: Those sorts of things are really important characteristics to bring through. And so, one of the things day in day out is providing that certainty, that confidence, even when you are feeling at your lowest, and I think that is the hardest bit that nobody talks about is providing that certainty, shaping that certainty, giving that confidence to people around you so that you are able to tackle big problems, big industry issues, big fires and all that kind of thing, do so with a focus and a clarity.Tim Burrowes: Well, it's going to be really interesting from where I'm sitting watching what you do next. So, Matt and Henry, congratulations on the fundraising and thank you very much for joining me.Henry Innis: No problems.Matt Farrugia: Thanks, Tim.Tim Burrowes: Thanks for listening to The Unmakers from Unmade. If you're an unmaker, I'd love to talk to you. Email me, tim@unmade.media. Today's episode of The Unmakers was edited by Abe's audio. I'm Tim Burrowes. Before you remake it, you've got to unmake it. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.unmade.media/subscribe

Download the “65 Investment Terms You MUST Know to Reach Your Financial Goals In The Shortest Time Possible” for FREE by going to https://TodaysMarketExplained.com/ This episode's guest is Carter Williams (iselectfund.com ). He has spent his entire career working on innovation. First as a young engineer at McDonnell Douglas, then in leadership roles at Boeing managing R&D and starting Boeing Ventures, and later as a successful entrepreneur and venture investor. Prior to leading iSelect, Carter served as Senior Managing Director at Progress Partners, an energy and technology investment banking firm, and was a Managing Partner at Open Innovation Ventures and a Director at Clayton Capital Partners. He has an M.B.A. from the MIT Sloan School and a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Follow @TodaysMarketExplained on TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube to see short videos of all the best and most valuable moments from this episode! To see short videos of all our best Today's Market Explained tips follow us on: Follow TME on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@TodaysMarketExplained Follow TME on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/TodaysMarketExplained Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYjCaTkX698mc6yAFaFz4tg Like TME on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TodaysMarketExplained Follow TME on Twitter: https://twitter.com/PodcastTME Website: https://todaysmarketexplained.com/ DISCLAIMER: This podcast is provided by FourStar Wealth Advisors for the general public and general information purposes only. This content is not considered to be an offer to buy or sell any securities or investments. Investing involves the risk of loss and an investor should be prepared to bear potential losses. Investment should only be made after thorough review with your investment advisor considering all factors including personal goals, needs and risk tolerance. FourStar is an SEC registered investment advisor that maintains a principal business in the state of Illinois. The firm may only transact business in states in which it has filed or qualifies for a corresponding exemption from such requirements. For information about FourStar's registration status and business operations please consult the firm's form ADV disclosure documents, the most recent versions of which are available on the SEC investment advisory public disclosure website at www.adviserinfo.sec.gov

In today's episode we are chatting with Shaun Bonett. Shaun is an Australian entrepreneur and property developer who founded and is CEO of Precision Group, Co-Founder and Executive Chairman of Prezzee, the leading global eGift card provider and a Non-Executive Director of iSelect. Shaun is an extremely successful businessman, worth over a billion dollars, but his approach to business and the mentality he has behind it is anything but expected. Shaun's journey to the top of the business world faced some hiccups like recessions, the GFC and most recently the pandemic and in this chat you'll hear how he navigated each of them to continue on the path of success. Shaun is a people person. Everything he has created has people in mind. It's keeping people in mind that has created the foundation of all of Shaun's business success. He's a big, friendly giant! He's 6 foot 5 with a smile that beams from ear to ear. In this chat we talk a lot about his family, and his very close relationship with his brother. We speak on how he navigates raising his children and their home filled with 15 cats!  As for all of these podcasts, Shaw and Partners have generously donated $10k to the charity of choice of each of our guests. We discuss who that money goes to in this chat.  This podcast is brought to you by Shaw and Partners It is hosted by Gus Worland and produced by Keeshia Pettit See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

If you're considering raising money for your company now or in the future this is a must listen episode. We talk about the rapidly changing structure of venture capital. Carter Williams has spent his entire career working on innovation. First as a young engineer at McDonnell Douglas, next in his leadership roles at Boeing managing R&D and starting Boeing Ventures, and later as a successful entrepreneur and venture investor. Through his career, he has directly managed investments of more than $600 million in early-stage ventures and corporate research, resulting in several billion dollars of new product revenues. As part of Boeing Phantom Works, Carter led Boeing's technology planning process, involving all aspects of internal and external technology development and manufacturing research. This eventually led to his role in founding and managing Boeing Ventures. After Boeing, he was President of Gridlogix, initially a small struggling 4 person startup that grew over 3 years, selling successfully to Johnson Controls in October 2008. Prior to leading iSelect, Carter served as Senior Managing Director at Progress Partners, an energy and technology investment banking firm, and was a Managing Partner at Open Innovation Ventures and a Director at Clayton Capital Partners. Carter is the past President and Founder of the MIT Corporate Venturing Consortium and Co-founder of the MIT Entrepreneurship Society. He has an M.B.A. from the MIT Sloan School and a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. -------------------------------------- Sign up here for the EDGE's Weekly Newsletter and get all the BONUS material. It's FREE! -------------------------------------- Please Support this Podcast by checking out our Sponsors: Mad River Botanticals 100% certified organic CBD products. The product is controlled from seed to end product by it's owners. Use code: EDGE22 to get 10% off all your orders. Shop here>>> EPISODE LINKS: iSelect Fund Homepage PODCAST INFO: Apple Podcasts: EDGE on Apple Podcasts  Spotify: EDGE on Spotify  RSS Feed: EDGE's RSS Feed SUPPORT & CONNECT Sign up for the EDGE's Weekly Newsletter and get all the BONUS material. It's FREE! EDGE Weekly Newsletter >>> Twitter: Follow Brandon on Twitter Instagram: Follow Brandon on Instagram LinkedIn: Follow Brandon on LinkedIn *We respect your privacy and hate spam. We will not sell your information to others.

A feature length episode with Carter Williams, who is CEO and Managing Partner of iselect Fund. We talk about his post degree experience in the President Bush campaign. He left politics to spend time in industry. He then became an aircraft engineer, where he solved complex problems. There is an incredible story of the development of the first AWS and computation of complex problems from 1991.He then moved to Boeing, and he was managing the research and development with $£2.5 billion a year fund. Lots of employees wanted to start their own companies but Boeing helped by setting this venture fund. Carter managed the R&D the innovation strategy.Carter again demonstrated his passion for innovation with spending time in renewables industry in 2006. The complex systems problem of making renewables more efficient was the reason why he was attracted to this project. We then talk about his own VC fund called Iselect. This is split into 2 different areas firstly, food and health, with developing plant-based protein products. Improving nutrition by more protein but doing this without animal-based products. The second is helping high net worth individuals investing in entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurs are the best way to solve problems not politicians. This is going to be fascinating how big this fund can grow. Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/Absolutebusinessmindset)

The S&P/ASX200 closing up this Wednesday session, hitting the month's high water mark. AGM season dominating today... from Fletcher Building to iSelect, we went to the c-suite.Every sector bar energy posted convincing gains. Spare a thought for Star Entertainment and Whitehaven Coal. In contrast, the online retailers Kogan and Redbubble did well. Oil prices are lower, iron ore is higher and the Australian dollar is a hair away from the 75c mark against the US dollar. Two inflation reads tonight (UK, Canada) could set a cat amongst the pigeons. We'll get you across it all tomorrow. Our top three VODs:Fat Prophets' prophecy materialises: the sharp correction hitCOP26: what will success and failure look like?Squid Game shoots the lights out for Netflix See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Find the full youtube video here: https://youtu.be/D6oqfVKL4nY

In episode #71 Dexter Cousins chats to Nathan and Michael as they celebrate the 2nd birthday of Athena's official launch. Athena is on a mission to save Australians a whole lot of money and help pay off their home loan faster. Founded in June 2017 to revolutionise the home loan industry and make it better in every way, Athena built an innovative digital home loan platform to deliver savings to borrowers, backed by local home loan experts.Athena is backed by Australia’s leading investors, including AirTree Ventures, AustralianSuper, Hostplus, Macquarie Bank and Square Peg. Athena has been the proud recipient for Finnies Emerging Fintech Organisation of the Year Award for 2 years in a row – 2019 and 2020.Nathan WalshCo-founder & CEO, Athena Home Loans, AustraliaNathan Walsh, Athena’s Co-founder and CEO, is a fintech entrepreneur with over 20 years’ expertise in financial services, top-tier consulting and legal practice. Nathan is a former NAB executive who started his career with BCG before taking senior roles at Citi and NAB in wealth management. At NAB, Nathan founded Nabtrade and built it from an idea into a $40 billion platform over 7 years, winning multiple innovation awards along the way.Follow Nathan on LinkedinMichael StarkeyCo-founder & COO, Athena Home Loans, AustraliaMichael Starkey, Athena’s Co-founder and COO, has an entrepreneurial background, having been the co-founder of iSelect in AU. He spent 7 years at NAB in personal banking, was a board member of the Australian Payments Council and ASX listed Homelands Ltd and former director of the New Payments Platform (Australia’s new real-time payments network). Follow Michael on LinkedinFind out more about Athena hereLaunch, Scale, Innovate Leaders in Fintech Executive Search and RecruitmentThanks To Our Partners FinTech Australia Connecting, challenging and advocating for one of the fastest growing tech communities in the worldFinnies 2021 - ENTRIES OPEN Will you be a winner at Australia's PREMIER FinTech Awards? Entries close 30th March 2021

Malcolm Mackerras ranks Australia's PMs and analyses the upcoming elections in Queensland and the US, plus ACCC chairman Rod Sims discusses the $8.5 million penalty for iSelect and Maureen Jordan shares stories from Tilly Money.

Over the next few months two justices of the High Court of Australia will retire. What is the process for choosing their replacements? How different will our process be from what’s taking place right now in the USA with the US Supreme Court vacancy? Also, the Federal Court has just fined price comparison site iSelect $8.5 million after it admitted to misleading and deceptive conduct. This comes just few days after the court imposed a $7 million fine on ticket reseller Viagogo. But these two wins, follow two courtroom losses for the ACCC, both involving products spruiking their green credentials, flushable toilet wipes and disposable picnic ware.

Over the next few months two justices of the High Court of Australia will retire. What is the process for choosing their replacements? How different will our process be from what’s taking place right now in the USA with the US Supreme Court vacancy? Also, the Federal Court has just fined price comparison site iSelect $8.5 million after it admitted to misleading and deceptive conduct. This comes just few days after the court imposed a $7 million fine on ticket reseller Viagogo. But these two wins, follow two courtroom losses for the ACCC, both involving products spruiking their green credentials, flushable toilet wipes and disposable picnic ware.

On today's episode, Nathan and Michael takes us through some of their greatest life lessons:Their early experiences founding iSelect and NABTrade; Why they hired their entire executive team before building a single product; Why startups should be happy to dance with the hippos; Why Australia is a phenomenal place to build a FinTech startup.Find out more about Athena, Michael and Nathan at https://www.athena.com.au/

Scott started his career pushing trolleys at Woolworths. In his career he rose to management levels in retail with Woolworths, consumer goods with Kraft Foods, Fonterra SPC and PZ Cussons, then in media with 21st Century Fox. He then became the CEO of iSelect, a role he left earlier this year to start his own AI company Wilson AI. We speak about: * Focus on customer needs * Digitising industries to access more data * Helping companies in multiple industries to begin their data analytics journey * How to differentiate your company when competitors have access to the same data * How to overcome being "data rich but insight poor" * Changing industry power dynamics through data * Creating new teams to create value from data * The importance of storytelling in data science * Defining objectives with your data analytics communication * Educating industries to use data more effectively * Understanding costs & priorities across the value chain to make better decisions * Eliminating your biases when dealing with customers * Process re-engineering & AI * How to think outside of the building * How to start an AI company * The importance of translating between business and technical * How to connect data science and the boardroom * The importance of data science education in an organisations journey * How to achieve a wider spread adoption of AI * Focusing on cost & revenue with data science for maximum impact * Resist the urge to boil the ocean * The role of a CEO in a publicly listed company * Focusing on the top 3 business priorities * Productionising AI & monitoring unintended consequences Show notes: www.datafuturology.com/podcast/31 Scott is based in Sandringham, Victoria, Australia And as always, we appreciate your Reviews, Follows, Likes, Shares and Ratings. It really helps new data scientists find us. Thank you so much, and enjoy the show! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/datafuturology/message

The rules were simple: pick one stock each and the winner is the one whose stock gained the most, in percentage terms, by the end of the year. Alec chose insurance comparison website iSelect, and Bryce chose pharmaceutical company Mayne Pharma. This episode we review where our picks are at and who is winning! In this episode you will learn: • How NOT to pick a stock • How these two companies performed over the last half • The highlights and lowlights from the reporting season for each company • Who is winning! Stocks and resources discussed: • Mayne Pharma ASX:MYX • iSelect ASX:ISU

In this bonus episode of Elite Broker, The Adviser talks to iSelect chief executive Scott Wilson about ranking among this year's Top 25 Brokerages. Tune in as he explains why technology is the future of broking and how iSelect has overcome customer pain points by simplifying and streamlining the home loan process with an online service offering. In this special episode, find out: - The value online services bring to the broking industry - How brokers can harness the power of technology to optimise the customer experience - What iSelect has in store for the future http://www.theadviser.com.au

iSelect Fund, a Venture Capital firm, raises funds from private investors and finds funds worthy of investment.  Investors can select those firms in which to invest or they can invest in eSelect's evergreen fund, which chooses the next twenty funds for investment.  Carter Williams, founder and CEO with a strong background in venture capital,  seeks to match  investors with middle America companies needing capital.   This portfolio diversifier allows a private investor to participate in vc investing at a lower amount with greater diversification than is usually possible.  Focused on middle America companies, as opposed to Silicon Valley, iSelect is on a mission to increse early stage funding for companies in non-Silicon Valley industries.  Investors and Advisers looking for investment diversifiers and ways to penetrate this historically productive investment asset class will find this interview to be very interesting.  

Dr. David Urpani (a doctor of Artificial Intelligence) co-founded iSelect - Australia's largest and most successful online insurance comparison portal ... turning it in to a multi-million dollar powerhouse. He is now on to his next venture, which he's named moneytribe. Listen in as David shares his insights in to: How he went from being an architect to a doctor of artificial intelligence to starting iSelect. How a tennis match and a freak roller blading accident lead to the creation of moneytribe. The importance of tapping in to social capital in getting an idea off the ground ... or for that matter - basing an entire idea around social capital. The rise of the social search engine. Why it made sense to create moneytribe as an app and not a website. How he plans to monetise moneytribe without losing it's independence and objectivity. During the interview, we talk about the soft launch moneytribe did recently. To tis end, here's the email David sent to some freinds and family to softly launch MoneyTribe last month: Hi [Insert Name] ... As you know I have been working on a new startup - well, we went live with moneytribe Thursday night at 11.30 pm.  I thought I would target a few choice friends who are social influencers & butterfiles!  We are, at this early stage in the life of moneytribe, aiming to spearhead a grass root drive to build authentic members ... moneytribe's value is predicated on having people provide content as they themselves learn about their purchases and where they sit relative to their peers.  To this end I wonder whether you would be able to 'spread the word' to at least ten of your family & friends (who hopefully, might, in turn, be persuaded to spread the word to ten of their family & friends).  This way the moneytribe service will quickly start to generate useful intelligence to its users, the moneytribe members.  If you are happy to spread the word, that would be much appreciated and I include below a script we have been using. Moneytibe now available on the Australian Apple iTunes StoreToday we released Version 1 of moneytribe for iPhone on the Australian iTunes App Store.  You can download it here.  It's free and anonymous. moneytribe connects you with other people who have the same financial products as you.  It helps you compare what you have, are paying, doing and saying with other people like you to help you save time and money and keep your providers honest.  Happy? Discontent? Switching? Find out if others feel the same way. We're building a whole new way for people to compare and get advice on financial products based around trusted peers (your ‘tribes') as well as third party brokers and providers.  And our members always come first. No ads. No pressure. No stress. The more people who use moneytribe the more powerful it will become.  It's early days and we need some tribe leaders to sign-up, share what they have and then tell their friends and family to join. So stand up and be counted – join moneytribe today and take the power back. Links & Resources Mentioned In This Episode .. MoneyTribe website - David's current business. Download the MoneyTribe app from the App Store. iSelect - David's first business. Marketing Coaching with Timbo - Email me at tim(at)smallbusinessbigmarketing(dot)com if you'd like to enquire about my Marketing Coaching package - I'll set up a 15-minute Discovery Call where I'll be able to establish if I can help you move your business forward. Join the marketing discussion beyond my podcast ... For in-depth marketing discussion, join the Small Business Big Marketing LinkedIn Group. See the lighter side of marketing on the Small Business Big Marketing Facebook Page. Receive small business marketing tips on the Small Business Big Marketing Twitter feed. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.