Podcast appearances and mentions of niki scevak

Niki Scevak is co-founder of Startmate, and founder and partner at Blackbird VC, Australia's largest venture capital fund, with its 5th fund having raised AUD$1B (US$640M). Blackbird was an early investor in Canva, SafetyCulture, CultureAmp, BugCrowd, RedBubble, and many more, and has to date generated a net internal rate of return of 56%.    Niki joined me today to discuss: His life before Blackbird Successfully raising his first fund back in 2012, without having a network or any startup successes of his own  Getting beyond the trough of disillusionment How Australian superannuation funds are opening their wallets to VC Scaling culture Generating deal flow Advice for founders and budding VCs on raising capital in a down market The AI investment landscape The battle between AI-powered indie hackers and venture-backed startups Whether sophisticated investor rules preventing retail investors from getting direct exposure to venture capital is just increasing the wealth gap  Diversity, quotas, and Startmate's merit-based selection criteria And more.    Show Notes: Email Niki: niki@blackbird.vc  Web: www.blackbird.vc   Twitter: https://twitter.com/nikiscevak?lang=en Contact Steve on Twitter at: https://twitter.com/steveglaveski Email Steve: hello@steveglaveski.com 

Sam Wong is a General Partner at Blackbird Ventures, who exist to supercharge Australia's and New Zealand's most ambitious founders. She was the first hire in their Australia fund and has since invested in companies including Vow, Halter, Harrison AI and led the raising of their inaugural $59M New Zealand Fund, and $80M New Zealand Fund II (2022) + heads up their New Zealand office. Sam was born in Perth, Australia and now lives in Auckland, New Zealand. In this episode #129 w Sam Wong, learn about:Sam's sunrise in Perth, Australia growing up in and around her parent's business packing Soundblaster boxes, and influenced by various cultures with mum of Malaysian/Chinese heritage and Dad being half English and half Chinese but grew up in India.This one is wide ranging and Sam is very candid — we cover her highlights from 7 years as a lawyer and influences from early managers that have shaped Sam's leadership style today as General Partner at the Venture Capital firm, Blackbird.Sam's been at various vantage points in her career, from law to early stage startup to co-founding a startup to investing so I wanted to know where would she start her career if she could do it again? Learn about her experience co-founding a startup with her partner Ben, biases Sam had to delete switching from founder to investor and we cover the Blackbird story to date, including Sam's reflections on her investments in companies like Vow and Halter that seemed very non obvious at the time, the story behind raising and building the NZ fund and her most painful learning to date.

Niki Scevak is the co-founder of Blackbird and founder of Startmate, making him arguably Australia's most influential and successful venture capitalist (VC). Niki Scevak recently joined Owen Rask on The Australian Investors Podcast to talk about venture capital investing, co-founding Blackbird, startmate, the Blackbird investment process and so much more. Talking points & resources ASK A QUESTION: https://bit.ly/3QtiY00 Owen's full investor curriculum Take Owen's brand new Value Investor Program, which gives you all the tools and knowledge you need to invest successfully in companies, including valuation spreadsheets, investing checklists and ASX company case studies. Alternatively, why not take Owen's FREE investor bootcamp: bit.ly/rask-analyst J.P. Morgan Asset Management If you want to thank us for putting this show together, please give The Australian Investors Podcast a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify - it's a 5-second task that really helps support the show (and puts a big smile on Owen's face). The Australian Investors Podcast series is proudly supported by J.P. Morgan Asset Management. With over $3.4tn in assets under management globally, J.P. Morgan ETFs push the boundaries of ETF investing to help build stronger, diversified active portfolios. This information is generic in nature and does not constitute as offer or personal financial advice. Investors should seek professional advice, refer to further details, relevant Product Disclosure Statement and Target Market Determination on their website. Join The Intelligent Investor & save This podcast is brought to you by The Intelligent Investor, Australia's premier investment research membership service. Use the code "RASK", to get $100 off your annual membership or get a free 15-day trial (no credit card details required):

In this special (live) episode #115 w Niki Scevak and Vince Allen, learn about:Source of Niki's ambitionVince's first meeting with NikiDynamic of a university student as Vince was (Phd I might add) and Niki being more experienced in his careerHow they've helped each other in unexpected ways given the founder/investor relationship is built on a commercial agreement but is very personalNiki and Vince's global cultural influences Vince unpacks exactly how Australia can be the global leader in solar energyTwitter memes The two shits (Yes, you read hat right)It's now time to explore your curiosity. Please enjoy!***Follow us on Instagram, LinkedIn or TwitterEnjoy all episodes via our website and find out all about the Curiosity Center hereEmail the host Vidit Agarwal directly at vidit@curiositycenter.xyz to discuss sponsorship opportunities, recommend future guests or share feedback. He reads every email. Thank you for rating / reviewing this podcast on iTunes and Spotify, it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show! 

Niki Scevak is a co-founder and General Partner at Blackbird Ventures - an Australasian investment firm whose mission is to invest in wild hearts, with the wildest ideas, right from the beginning - and co-founder of Startmate. Niki describes the wildest idea he's ever been pitched and invested in. This is a fascinating insight into the origins of some of the biggest companies in the current stock market and how angel investment philosophy brings these companies into existence.Follow our new Instagram for The Dive. The Dive is our new podcast. Who says business news needs to be all business?****Calling all bulls, bears and party animals.Come and trade ideas at Australia's biggest investing festival - Equity Mates' FinFest.With expert speakers and guests, DJs and booze, it's an inspiring event for investors of any level of experience.Save the date - 15th October, 2022 Sydney - Head to equitymates.com/finfest to register your interest.Equity Mates' FinFest, powered by Stake****Want more Equity Mates? Come to our website and subscribe to Equity Mates Investing Podcast, social media channels, Thought Starters mailing list and more at or check out our Youtube channel.*****In the spirit of reconciliation, Equity Mates Media and the hosts of Equity Mates Investing Podcast acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respects to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people today. *****Equity Mates Investing Podcast is a product of Equity Mates Media. All information in this podcast is for education and entertainment purposes only. Equity Mates gives listeners access to information and educational content provided by a range of financial services professionals. It is not intended as a substitute for professional finance, legal or tax advice. The hosts of Equity Mates Investing Podcast are not financial professionals and are not aware of your personal financial circumstances. Equity Mates Media does not operate under an Australian financial services licence and relies on the exemption available under the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) in respect of any information or advice given.Before making any financial decisions you should read the Product Disclosure Statement and, if necessary, consult a licensed financial professional. Do not take financial advice from a podcast or video. For more information head to the disclaimer page on the Equity Mates website where you can find ASIC resources and find a registered financial professional near you. Equity Mates is part of the Acast Creator Network. Our GDPR privacy policy was updated on August 8, 2022. Visit acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode of Inside The Rope, David is joined by Ian Beatty the Managing Partner of SecondQuarter a fund that primarily invests in growing but commercially viable Australian and New Zealand technology businesses. Ian and David discuss the difficulty of investing in venture capital businesses in the current environment, alongside the opportunities that it presents for investors. Growing up in Melbourne and spending his weekends on the family's sheep farm, Ian has always had a keen interest in financial markets thanks to his father's involvement in the industry. Ian began his career before the dot com crash at internet.com, an analysis and insight business for websites, where unbeknownst at the time, Ian was afforded the opportunity to work alongside now Australian tech royalty Mike Cannon-Brooks and Niki Scevak during the early stages of their careers. Ian has since accumulated further experience spanning funds management, multi-asset-class investing, particularly venture investing, as well as operational experience in technology startups.

Niki is the Co-founder of Blackbird, a venture fund that exists to supercharge the most ambitious founders. Blackbird Ventures is one of the leading Venture Capital funds in Australia and NZ, counting companies such as Canva, Culture Amp, and Safety Culture as part of its portfolio. Niki Co-founded Blackbird in 2012 with an initial $29M. That initial fund proved to be hugely successful, with the fund selling 40% of fund 1 for $100M. The sale provided a guaranteed 3x return to all 96 investors who contributed to fund 1 while retaining an interest in the 12 portfolio companies with a carrying value of $6.50 per $1 invested. On today's show, Niki shared his journey from starting a business with his University friend, Mike Cannon Brookes, whom you may know as the founder of Atlassian, all the way to co-founding Blackbird Ventures and how he became known as the 'Godfather' of Venture Capital here in Australia. He also shared the Blackbird's investing philosophy, "Taking a chance on the hungry, not the proven" which means he is more interested in those who are passionate to succeed than those who possibly have already proven themselves, and also discussed why "investing is more phycological than it is data and analytics".  Niki also shared with us :What are some of the key qualities he looks for in entrepreneurs which lead to success, The pivotal role organisational Culture plays in startups What the Australian Start-Up Scene looks like over the next 5-10 years His advice for entrepreneurs to attract investors  His beliefs in the constant need for Personal growth  What does the future look like for Blackbird Ventures. Books  mentioned in this episode:Poor Charlie's Almanack - The Wit and Wisdom of Charles T. Munger By: Charles Thomas Munger Zero to One -  Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future By Peter Thiel, Blake MastersWhere to find  Aaron Hickmann:LinkedInWebsiteTwitterJoin the conversation on Synergy IQ on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram (@synergyiq), and please support other leaders by liking, subscribing, and sharing this podcast. Access SynergyIQ Website to get to know more about us. Say hello to our host Daniel Franco on LinkedIn.

My guest for Episode 159 of The Startup Playbook Podcast was the Co-founder & General Partner of Blackbird Ventures, Niki Scevak. Blackbird Ventures is one of the leading Venture Capital funds in Australia and NZ, counting companies such as Canva, Culture Amp and Safety Culture as part of its portfolio. Niki and previous podcast guest, […] The post Ep159 – Niki Scevak (Co-founder & Partner – Blackbird VC) on raising ambition appeared first on Startup Playbook.

Welcome to episode #67 w Niki Scevak! Here are 5 key takeaways that I think you will learn from this episode today:How accessing his first internet modem in his childhood changed Niki's worldWhat is the source of his courage and ambition and seeking it in othersHow does Niki structure his week to balance thinking, meeting founders and growing Blackbird?Applying the Orchids and Dandelions concept to parenting and businessWhat prevents investors from making the first move?BONUS: Starting Blackbird Ventures in 2012: out of 500 meetings, 97 people said yes to raise $29M fund***TIMESTAMPS03:05 — Niki quick facts 04:30 - High Flyer in Niki's life 06:45 - Niki's family unit and growing up in Newcastle 08:25 - How the internet very early on influenced Niki 10:00 - Source of being courageous and highly ambitious 12:15 - Learnings about successful characteristics in people 14:05 - Living in New York in the early 2000's 18:10 - How leading thinkers like Peter Thiel have shaped Niki's mindset 22:30 - How does Niki structure his week to balance thinking, meeting founders and growing Blackbird? 26:00 - Being out of his comfort zone in last 12 months? 28:35 - Niki's insights on his framework to taking a meeting and pitch decks 32:40 - A career is not a 10 move chess match 34:10 - Applying Orchids and Dandelions concept to parenting and Blackbird 38:30 - Managing the dynamics with Blackbird going from the new kid to now one of the big players 40:15 - The key mechanisms that scaled Blackbird 45:10 - Media first investor landscape in the USA and Australia 47:35 - Providing value add as a board member 52:15 - What prevents investors from making the first move? 56:44 - Starting blackbird in 2012: out of 500 meetings, 97 people said yes to raise $29M fund 57:20 - Final sprint***Thank you for rating / reviewing this podcast on iTunes and Spotify, as it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show and grow the show with sponsors and partners. Follow us on Instagram, LinkedIn or Twitter for more!This show showcases relatable role models, re-imagining a high flyer to help you achieve your potential and be 1% better everyday!Contact Vidit at vidit@curiositycenter.xyz

This episode is with Niki Scevak - co-founder and partner at Blackbird Ventures, one of Australia's leading VC funds, turning $1.2B invested since 2013 into a portfolio valued at $10B with investments including Canva, SafetyCulture and Eucalyptus. In this episode we talk about how to raise money from a VC fund with discussions around the VC industry in Australia, Blackbird Ventures' investment strategy, what they look for in a startup opportunity, how to pitch a VC, and what founders should focus on after they get funded.

Niki Scevak has a long and diverse background in the Australian startup ecosystem. From his entrepreneurial beginnings co-founding two software companies, Niki would go on to co-found Blackbird, a venture capital firm which manages over a billion dollars, and found Startmate, an accelerator that has helped 170+ startups since its inception in 2011. In his conversation with Adam he discusses what he sees as gaps in the Australian startup ecosystem, as well as the reasons for feeling optimistic about the future. See the full show notes https://w2d1.com/niki-scevak

When new businesses are created every day, how do you know which ones will become world beaters? Niki Scevak is one of Australia’s most successful venture capitalists. Niki founded Australia’s best incubator, Startmate, in 2010, and two years later, created VC giant, Blackbird. Blackbird has been at the forefront of Australia’s venture sector for a decade, investing in Canva, Culture Amp and Safety Culture. In this episode Niki shares with host Adam Schwab about being college roommates with Atlassian founder Mike Cannon-Brookes, his own incredible entrepreneurial journey through three start-ups across two continents, and why it's more meaningful for him to see other entrepreneurs succeed than to make money.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Welcome back to part 2 of our interview with the legend himself, Niki Scevak, partner and co-founder of Blackbird Ventures and co-founder of Startmate. In this episode we pick up where we left off with more gold from Niki and David. They discuss the evolution of the startup ecosystem in both Australia and the US and the implications of staying local versus expanding overseas. Niki talks about his love of numbers in the sense of seeking the truth about our reality and gives his thoughts on David's 5 pillars for building a company that reaches $100m in revenue. To wrap it up, Niki shares his secrets on building successful startup communities. For more from Niki follow him on Linkedin @Niki Scevak and Twitter @nikiscevak Sanity Check is an independent podcast. To support the show please subscribe and also rate and review to help us reach more people. To stay up to date be sure to follow us on: Instagram: @sanitycheckofficial LinkedIn: SanityCheck Twitter: Sanity Check AU Facebook: Sanity Check And Done!

This week on Sanity Check we are joined by the incredible Niki Scevak, partner and co-founder of Blackbird Ventures, a venture fund that exists to supercharge Australia's and New Zealand's most ambitious founders. He is also the co-founder of Startmate, a founder community helping the next generation succeed. Our chat with Niki was so insightful that we didn't want to leave any of it on the cutting room floor. So we have decided to split this interview into two episodes. In part 1, you'll hear about Niki's journey co-founding both Blackbird Ventures and Startmate and the lessons he learnt along the way. He also shares his philosophy on building community relationships, tangible advice for working smarter not harder, as well as his thesis on investing and making quality decisions. Stay tuned for part 2 next week! For more from Niki follow him on Linkedin @Niki Scevak and Twitter @nikiscevak Sanity Check is an independent podcast. To support the show please subscribe and also rate and review to help us reach more people. To stay up to date be sure to follow us on: Instagram: @sanitycheckofficial LinkedIn: SanityCheck Twitter: Sanity Check AU Facebook: Sanity Check And Done!

Today we're bringing you my conversation with Niki Scevak, co-founder and partner of Blackbird Ventures in Melbourne, Australia. We're going to talk about the Australian tech ecosystem, which was virtually nonexistent in 2010 when Niki and his co-founder Rick Baker started raising Blackbird fund number one. And now today they have over $1.3 billion under management across four funds. Blackbird's investing thesis is that they value the relationship with the company first and often start by investing early before product and revenue and follow the company through every round of venture financing.

My guest today is Niki Scevak, co-founder and partner at Blackbird Ventures. Blackbird is a leading VC firm in Australia and New Zealand and has invested in companies like graphic design platform Canva and autonomous vehicle company Zoox. Our conversation covers the types of wild ideas Blackbird invests in, the landscape of venture and start-ups in Australia and New Zealand, and everything Niki knows about gross margins and customer acquisition. We also introduce a new concept on the show I'm calling Breakdowns, where we dive into a single business, what it does, how it operates, and what makes it tick. I hope you enjoy the conversation.   This episode is brought to you by Koyfin, one of the fastest growing fintech startups. I discovered Koyfin earlier this year when I asked twitter for the best Bloomberg alternative, and the overwhelming winner was an intriguing new product called Koyfin.  Koyfin has tons of high-quality data, powerful functionality, and a nice clean interface. If you’re an individual investor, research analyst, portfolio manager, or financial advisor, you should definitely check them out. Sign up for free at koyfin.com   This episode of Invest Like The Best is also sponsored by Assure. Assure is changing the way investors manage private transactions.  With Assure, investors can eliminate nearly all the admin cost of private investment. On top of that, they handle all the backend, legal, taxes, accounting, and compliance. All of it, with a straightforward one-time fee. Learn more and try Assure for yourself at https://www.assure.co/patrick.   For more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast. Sign up for the book club and new email newsletter called “Inside the Episode” at InvestorFieldGuide.com/bookclub. Follow Patrick on Twitter at @patrick_oshag   Show Notes (2:39) – (First question) – Defining a wild heart (3:38 – How you identify someone doing their life’s work (4:30) – Defining a wild idea (6:13) – Origin of Blackbird and importance of small teams (7:05) – Investing in companies and not rounds (09:57) – Signs of a good story and storyteller (11:37) – Any places he disagrees with the majority of thinkers in the tech investing space (13:11) – The sleepy firms backing high growth companies (16:02) – The products of an investment firm (18:17) – What he likes to see in a startup after their initial investment and gets him worried (20:21) – Unique characteristics of the New Zealand and Australian markets (23:36) – Trends he’s seeing in companies he’s backed recently (24:46) – Everything he knows about gross margins (25:36) – Range of gross margins in software companies and the quality of the business (27:00) – Lessons on customer acquisition (28:23) – Unique way a company acquired customers early on (29:23) – Customer retention (31:12) – Finding the best product thinkers (32:30) – Question he is trying to answer (34:01) – Lessons from his investing career (35:40) – Business breakdown of Canva (38:36) – How Canva gets to its customers (41:25) – Figuring out the monetization model (44:42) – Canva’s moat (46:08) – Most delightful feature (46:41) – Positive portable lesson from Canva (49:13) – Best way to learn more about the company             (49:24) – How I Built This with Melanie Perkins             (49:27) – This Week in Startups with Melanie Perkins (49:41) – Kindest thing anyone has done for him   Learn More For more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast. Sign up for the book club and new email newsletter called “Inside the Episode” at InvestorFieldGuide.com/bookclub. Follow Patrick on Twitter at @patrick_oshag  

Leading into 2020, there was already strong interest from the Australian investment community regarding healthtech solutions. Now moving into our new normal world, the use of technology in delivering better patient outcomes is no longer a novel idea, it's mission critical for Australia, and the rest of the world.  In this episode of the Talking HealthTech podcast, Peter Birch hosts a panel discussion with representatives from 3 top Venture Capital firms in Australia, who all have experience and interest in investing in health technology: - Niki Scevak: Co-Founder & Partner @Blackbird Ventures - Dan Krasnostein: Partner @Square Peg Capital - Jackie Vullinghs: Principal @AirTree Ventures Some of the topics discussed and questions answered: The Role Of Venture Capital In the healthcare ecosystem Differentiating pure healthtech versus life science-based companies Marketing healthtech products - avoiding common mistakes At what pace should healthtech companies generate investments & sales? How challenging has raising funds for a healthtech company been in 2020?  What investment opportunities do venture capitals consider?  Advice for founders seeing investment This episode was recorded as a live webinar, with over 100 attendees attending live who interacted in the session with chat, Q&A, and polls. Check out the episode and full show notes here. To see the latest information, news, events and jobs on offer at AirTree, Blackbird, and Square Peg, visit their Talking HealthTech Directory listings. 

SunDrive is a solar technology company aiming to create low cost, energy efficient and more material abundant solar cells.“We are in a very fragile period in time. Everything that we are doing is to try and accelerate the day in which we can continue to progress as a civilisation without the expense of destroying the environment” says SunDrive co-founder Vince Allen.In today’s episode, SunDrive’s co-founders will discuss their first steps to building a category defining business. We’ll also hear from Blackbird co-founder and Partner Niki Scevak on the importance of milestones and the backlash from the cleantech graveyard.As promised, head to https://www.sundrivesolar.com/ to learn more about SunDrive.Episode interviewees: SunDrive co-founders Vince Allen, David Hu and Blackbird Partner Niki Scevak.Key topics covered:Australia can lead the world in solar energySunDrive’s vision, product and business modelVince and David’s founding storyThe best of Vince & David: “We have everything that's needed for Australia to be the first solid power developed country.”“Today only 3% of the world's electricity comes from solar. There is still a long road ahead of us. And the technology today is not well suited for the longer term.”“Although the current solar cell structures have suited us well to get to this point, more advanced solar cells are going to be needed and we need to get around this silver problem. Copper is a thousand times more abundant than silver and a hundred times cheaper than silver.”“We’re not in the business of trying to manufacture the entire value chain. We’re focusing on our copper step - the last, most critical step in the solar cell manufacturing process.”“We are in a very fragile period in time. Everything that we are doing is to try and accelerate the day in which we can continue to progress as a civilisation without the expense of destroying the environment.”“You have to find somebody you trust and who shares the same values, vision and moral standards - everything.”“As soon as you bring up working on Cleantech, they’re already running for the hills.”Niki Scevak on SunDrive: “When we make an investment at Blackbird, we think very deeply about what are the three most important things that need to happen to show the unit of progress in the first seed round. SunDrive smashed all of those milestones.”“The road we’re on, using silver in solar panels, is a dead end road. Overall we’re just going to run out of silver to build the solar panels.”“I think everyone at Blackbird believes that a world powered by the sun is a world we want to be in, and that SunDrive can produce a high margin, great product or process that fits into that world.”“You can make so much progress with so little capital and so little time, and Vince, Dave and the team have done everything that they hoped to do in the seed round, and they’re very down to earth.”“A lot of hardware startups can prove something in the lab, in a small way, but they fall over when they try to make a lot of money from it or they try to go mainstream.”“We’re open to investing and not ruining the environment. What are the activities we’re doing that are not sustainable and let’s fix those activities. We’d love to invest in those new solutions and new ways of going about things.”

Today, See-Mode have announced their Series A funding led by MassMutual Ventures. This is the second time Blackbird has invested and partner Niki Scevak has also now joined the board.The mission of See-Mode is to predict the recurrence of strokes by detecting plaque build-ups and modelling blood flow through computational fluid dynamics.Their software, made for clinicians and sonographers, can report vascular ultrasound scans with a single click and in less than a minute. That's in contrast to the widely used processes that take between 10 to 20 minutes."Our seed round helped with building and validating our first product, including the core technology and getting it to the point of regulatory approval," said Milad Mohammadzadeh, cofounder of See-Mode."Our Series A is about expanding on the products that we've built, solving more of our customer's problems, and getting to a repeatable and scalable sales process."Episodes air every second Wednesday/Thursday at 5:30 am. Don't forget to subscribe.AI is Saving Lives with See-ModeEpisode interviews: See-Mode cofounders Milad Mohammadzadeh and Sadaf Monajemi, and Blackbird Partner Niki Scevak.Key topics covered:The state of healthcare in 10 years, according to See-ModeWhy healthcare data should be in the public sphereHow See-Mode produces health reports in minutesImproving clinicians work lifeSee-Mode's product journey and milestonesWhere is See-Mode heading with their Series AThe best of Milad:"Patients' connectivity to doctors will take a turn for the better over the next decade.""I imagine that we will see two important changes over the next decade. We will speed up the workflow of the clinicians and unlock a level of depth of understanding from the clinical information that we didn't have access to before.""We use mathematical equations (the geometry of blood vessels) to simulate how blood flow would move through the neck or the brain of a patient. Imagine a very intricate piping system.""We've had to be as creative as we can with fast iteration loops, while at the same time building good relationships with a handful of clinicians that have bought into the mission to access a wider network.""Blackbird has this fantastic motto of ‘the hungry, not the proven.’ We are starting to subscribe to that more and more every day.""We have tried to build See-Mode in a way that doctors don't have to make any changes to the current clinical workflow or scan their patients any differently.""We're trying to make interactions with See-Mode as-easy-as logging into your email.""Anyone who has access to [medical] data has a responsibility, and obligation, to ensure that that data is being used for the benefit of future patients and the society."The best of Sadaf:"I can't imagine anytime in the future that AI would replace doctors, but I can imagine clinicians who use AI as a tool will replace the ones who don't.""When you make data public, you're increasing the chance every month every single patient will have better treatment sooner.“We are enabling precision medicine and patient-specific information.”“The blood vessels in my brain look different compared to yours, but based on the current guidelines, both of them would be treated with a single data point.""The human brain by nature is systematically biased, and this is the case for the clinicians as well. The way your doctor interprets your scan very much depends on the past 5,000 cases they have seen."Niki on See-Mode"AI has allowed computers to see like a human, and to interpret imaging like a human, so all of these interesting categories of AI investment, in the beginning, are around industries that require the solving of images.""A wave of problems that we've gravitated towards at Blackbird is healthcare diagnostics and the ability of software to help humans diagnose medical conditions.""The idea of investing in healthcare was one of our anti-investment themes when we started Blackbird in 2012. We said we'd never invest in a healthcare company, but, of course, technology will lead you in fresh directions.""See-Mode's product is so transformational. When the product is so transformational, when it completely reinvents the radiologist’s day, when it completely reinvents the user of the product's work life, that makes it worthy because it is such a leap forward versus an incremental one.""The world truly is divided into people who do things and people who talk about things. With such a small amount of capital in their seed round, and such a small amount of time they went and built a wonderful product.""Sadaf single-handedly wrangled regulatory approval in a matter of months, they built a wonderful team in Melbourne full of talented engineers, and there were no complaints — it was just results, results, results."

We’ve just announced our fourth fund of $500M.And so today we are going to do a deep dive into Blackbird’s founding story.The very first believer in Blackbird was Mike Cannon-Brookes, the Co-founder and Co-Ceo of Atlassian. In this episode, we’ll unpack what excites him about the start-up ecosystem in Australia and the culture he hopes to help Blackbird build upon.Hunter Somerville, General Partner at Greenspring Associates, will then explain his belief in ANZ’s new wave of home-grown talent building world class companies and the importance of trusted relationships between founders and investors when making venture fund decisions.But first, I’ll be talking with Niki Scevak and Rick Baker, co-founders and Partners at Blackbird. We’ll cover Blackbird’s origin story, our investment philosophy, and what the future holds for Blackbird’s founders, the team and its investors.

Flavia is connecting everything on earth via sending toaster sized satellites into low earth orbit. In the second episode of Wild Hearts, host Mason Yates speaks to Fleet Space co-founder and CEO Flavia Tata Nardini and Blackbird Partner Niki Scevak about the rocket science company that is connecting everything on earth.Key topics covered:How the next industrial revolution will be in space.The unique challenges facing space start-ups.The small data revolution.The importance of having a focused market.What Fleet did to shorten their customer feedback loop.Why a CEO has to be everywhere.The best of Flavia Tata Nardini:"Focus is the biggest lesson I’ve learned in the startup world.”“A lot of people talk about big data, we hated the word, it was just bullshit. So we called it a small data revolution. Just get a little piece of data. The smart data.”“The [space] industry has got ninety percent awareness of everything that’s deployed. They just make decisions in a way that is not right. We want to change this, we want to give [everyone] full visibility. The problem has always been that connectivity was not present or super expensive.”“We decided to fire all our customers that were tiny and focus like crazy in working with big energy companies and others.”“You need to be a believer, you need to believe [in your product] in the first five to six years like crazy.”“You cannot let people build you a product [and think] they will build it for you the way you wanted it. You have to be there. You have to do it. You have to show them the path.”Niki Scevak on Flavia Tata Nardini and Fleet:“The ability to do something you could not do before to this huge industry, and to make it a hundred X cheaper was incredibly exciting."“As much as it was about space, it was about the opportunity to build a telecommunications network for a tiny amount of money.”“When you compare space startups to software startups, the disadvantages are around feedback loops."“How Flavia in particular has wrangled people from around the world … I think it’s just incredible coordination and project management to get things to happen with not a lot of money and certainly with not a lot of structure."“You have to divorce the outcome of something from the weighted probability of doing it.”“You need to keep shooting. Luck is a process, you have to expose yourself to be lucky.”

Today you’re going to hear the story of Startmate featuring the head of operations at Startmate, Michael Batko.Startmate is the leading tech accelerator in Australia and they take 10 to 15 companies and new stage founders in each cohort and help them from three to four months to get them to the next stage of their business.They look for just the most ambitious founders and then work with that talent. Startmate doesn’t necessarily specialise in a certain area or industry. Startmate just focuses on the most ambitious founders and work with them to create immense value.Let’s go back to day one, to a pub in Surry Hills where this story begins…

Welcome back to TFR for another Cram Session. In these special releases, we have aggregated the takeaways and tips from previous episodes. In this installment, we will be recapping the following episodes: 121. Customer-centric Startup Investing Down Under, Part 1 (Niki Scevak) 122. Customer-centric Startup Investing Down Under, Part 2 (Niki Scevak) 124. Space Tech Investing, Part 1 (David Cowan) 125. Space Tech Investing, Part 2 (David Cowan) 127. Sector & Niche Focused Funds, Part 1 (Jordan Nof) 128. Sector & Niche Focused Funds, p2 and Driving Value with a Regulatory Focus (Jordan Nof)   To listen more, please visit http://fullratchet.net/podcast-episodes/  for all of our other episodes. Also, follow us on twitter @TheFullRatchet for updates and more information.

This week is the first of two ‘Sunrise Island’ special episodes of Open The Pod Bay Doors. A few weeks ago, the Innovation Bay team along with over 1000 founders, investors, students & enthusiasts, set-sail for the infamous Cockatoo Island, also known as, Sunrise Island.Blackbird Ventures annual conference was back, bigger and better than ever. The day long event featured inspiring keynote speakers, an abundance of workshops (powered by Zambesi), mentor sessions with Startmate, and plenty of opportunities to network. You could feel a real buzz on the island as the best of #startupaus caught up with old and new faces in the ecosystem.Sunrise is the celebration of Australian startup founders. Sunrise organiser and Blackbird Head of Community, Joel Connolly said it best. “It’s time to start celebrating startup founders in the same way we celebrate artists, sports heroes, and politicians.”In that same vein, in the next two episodes we strive to highlight and share the successes and learnings of founders and others within the vibrant community. And so, with mics-in-hand, Ian and Phaedon set out to speak with as many people as they could, interviewing the keynote speakers of the day and chatting with a bunch of Sunrise Island dwellers.In this episode we talked to main stage speakers:Laurie Yoler, Zoox:Phaedon caught up with Laurie (and the seagulls!) just before she hit the main stage. All the way from US, Laurie talked about how she became involved with Zoox, eventually joining their board of directors. She also discussed how she served as a founding board member of Tesla Motors, what it was like working with Elon, and shares some advice for founders on how to select their own board members. And most importantly tells us what makes a great founder.Cedar Anderson, FlowHive:With a unique solution to extracting honey, Cedar chatted with Phaedon about their one-of-a-kind beehive and how they’ve tackled their exponential growth and demand. Initially, Flowhive launched a campaign hoping to raise $70,000 for a custom injection mould. Instead, they ended up raising over $12 million and received nearly 25,000 orders from over 130 countries, and have already raised $14+ million for Flowhive 2. Cedar was kind enough to sit down with us for 20 minutes before he hit the main stage and share his amazing story and passion. Niki Scevak, Blackbird Ventures/Startmate:Ian chats with Niki Scevak, partner at Blackbird Ventures, the organisers of Sunrise Island. Blackbird invests in Australians with big ideas who want to be the best in the world. They provide equity capital for Seed, Series A and later stage. No cheque is too early. Hear from Niki how Sunrise is bigger and bolder than ever before, how the Startmate accelerator program was formed, and how the ecosystem is maturing. As well as great advice to all founders “The grander your ambition, the more likelier you are to succeed”.We also stopped to chat with a few favourites in the community:Joel Connolly - Blackbird VenturesRuby Jones - KPMG High Growth VenturesAndrew (teacher) - Mitchell High SchoolAndy Tsao - Silicon Valley BankNicola Farrell - muru-DKarthi Sepulohniam - Partners for GrowthMonica Wulf - Startup MusterJamie Pride - The Founder LabRohan Sood - ReinventureWe hope you enjoy this first episode of our Sunrise Island two-part special. Tune in for more next week.

Bill has had a long career in the startup and venture space. He was a co-founder at Blackbird Ventures (with Niki Scevak and Rick Baker). He has a huge passion for #DeepTechFounders and has now recently launched Main Sequence Ventures along with Phil Morle, Mike Zimmermann, Martin Duursma and Mike Nicholls. It's a $100m fund part funded by CSIRO and part funded by the federal goverment.Bill proved his geek chops and street cred by nominating Rick & Morty as his favourite TV show. Love it.

Niki Scevak is the founder of Australian accelerator program Startmate as well as a founding partner at VC Blackbird. He's been passionately involved in the Australian startup sector since 2008 when he returned home from the USA.Niki has done about as much as anyone I know to support and grow the startup ecosystem. Startmate is on its fifth (or sixth?) cohort. Blackbird has now made almost 40 investments across its two funds. Many of their most recent investments are in what one might call "non-standard" sectors such has self-driving cars and space. Niki is a deep thinker with a keen intellect. And a great guy too.

In Episode 53 of The Startup Playbook Podcast, I interview Pete Cooper, the Founder of SydStart, StartSoc and iCentralCo. Pete has been one of the pillars in growing the Australian startup ecosystem, particularly in his hometown of Sydney. He is probably best known for founding the SydStart Conference (now known as StartCon), the first tech conference of it's kind in the country and he actively mentors, invests and is helping to develop an ecosystem to provide the best chances for startups to succeed. In the episode we talk about a range of topics including his transition from a corporate career path to being heavily involved with startups, how to find mentors, how to build communities and how to get started in the startup ecosystem. LIVE PODCAST WITH VICKY LAY (MANAGING DIRECTOR - ARTESIAN VENTURE PARTNERS) Show notes: - SydStart - Sunrise conference - Elias Bizaanes - Mick Liubinskas - Cicada Innovations - Startcon - Freelancer - Spark Festival - Maxine Sherrin - Niki Scevak - iCentral - Lana Hopkins - Mon Purse - Jodie Fox - Jane Lu - Michael Biercuk - Sydney School of Entrepreneurship - Startup Genome - Newcastle Slingshot Program - Eighteen04 - Tyro - Fishburners - StartupAus - StartSociety - Sydney Angel Group - Founder Institute - Ben Chong - Springboard enterprise - 500 Startups - Lean Canvas - Silicon Beach Melbourne - Athula Bogoda - Atlassian - Canva - Envato - Tom Ellis - Paul Napthali - Startup Playbook 50th episode - Airtree Ventures - Blackbird Ventures - Blue Sky Venture Capital - Square Peg Venture Capital - Pete Cooper (Twitter) Blog: 50 Lessons from 50 successful founders, investors & experts (Part 1) Blog: 50 Lessons from 50 successful founders, investors & experts (Part 2) Feedback/ connect/ say hello:  Rohit@startupplaybook.co @playbookstartup (Twitter) @rohitbhargava7 (Twitter – Rohit) Rohit Bhargava (LinkedIn) Credits: Intro music credit to Bensound Other channels: Don't have iTunes? The podcast is also available on Stitcher & Soundcloud The post Ep053 – Pete Cooper (Founder – SydStart) on the old and new economy appeared first on Startup Playbook.

Matt Pearson, along with Fleet’s other two co-founders, saw an opportunity to use nanosatellites to enable the world’s next industrial revolution, the connection of the estimated 75 billion devices set to come online over the next decade. Beginning in 2018, their plan is to launch more than 100 nanosatellites into space to create a free, global network. Just following a recent fundraising with Niki Scevak at Blackbird Ventures, Atlassian co-founder Mike Cannon-Brookes and other investors - I caught up with Matt in Sydney to talk about why the future of global communications is cheap, small and disposable.

Matt Pearson, along with Fleet’s other two co-founders, saw an opportunity to use nanosatellites to enable the world’s next industrial revolution, the connection of the estimated 75 billion devices set to come online over the next decade. Beginning in 2018, their plan is to launch more than 100 nanosatellites into space to create a free, global network. Just following a recent fundraising with Niki Scevak at Blackbird Ventures, Atlassian co-founder Mike Cannon-Brookes and other investors - I caught up with Matt in Sydney to talk about why the future of global communications is cheap, small and disposable.

In episode 39 of The Startup Playbook Podcast, we did a live podcast interview with Nick Crocker, the Melbourne Venture Partner of Blackbird Ventures. Nick was the founder of We are Hunted, a digital music chart which sold to Twitter in 2012. He then co-founded Sessions, a digital health coaching program, which sold to MyFitnessPal 2 years later. After MyFitnessPal was acquired by Under Armour for $475M, he went on to lead their Product Strategy and Operations in San Francisco. Nick is now back in Australia and is the Melbourne Partner at Blackbird Ventures, a $230M Venture Capital firm that counts companies such as Canva, Red Bubble, Shoes of Prey, Culture Amp and Edrolo as part of it's portfolio and runs the Startmate Accelerator program. In this interview we talk about the importance of proving your business on a small scale, what the best companies focus on, what to do when you first meet with an investor and the importance of culture and values in building a successful company. Audience questions: 1. What does a company like Blackbird look for in startups? 2. What are some of the biggest mistakes that people make when they are pitching? 3. Do we miss founders who don't match the typical startup founder profile? 4. What does Startmate bring to Melbourne? 5. How important are valuations when making investment decisions? Show notes: Musicadium The 9 ways to ride the digital music age We are Hunted Boxee Zach Klein Vimeo College Humour CabinPorn authored by Zach Klein Steven Leckart Spark Capital Union Square Ventures Sessions MyFitnessPal Under Armour Blackbird Ventures Startmate Niki Scevak Rick Baker Rock Health Ben Hartney Albert Lee Mike Lee Culture Amp Shoes of Prey What Blackbird is Looking for in 2017 Mike Cannon Brookes Safety Culture Michael Fox Zoox Andrew Denver Didier Elzinga Atlassian Melanie Perkins Cliff Obrecht Canva Matta (Matt Allen) Startup Playbook TV is now on Youtube!!! Australian Podcast Awards – Voting Feedback/ connect/ say hello:  Rohit@startupplaybook.co @playbookstartup (Twitter) @rohitbhargava7 (Twitter – Rohit) Rohit Bhargava (LinkedIn) Credits: Intro music credit to Bensound A big thank you to Matt Allen and the team at Teamsquare for hosting The Startup Playbook Live session. The post Ep039 – Nick Crocker (Venture Partner – Blackbird Ventures) on people, culture and products appeared first on Startup Playbook.

Today we cover Part 2 of Customer-centric Startup Investing Down Under with Niki Scevak of Blackbird Ventures. In this segment we address: What's your take on water and the water crisis in Australia?  How do you see innovation happening around water in the country? Would a company like Instacart be...

Niki Scevak of Blackbird Ventures joins Nick to discuss Customer-centric Startup Investing Down Under, Part 1. We will address questions including: To start off… in your estimation, what are the key factors that make a startup investable? What are your thoughts on a company like Box? At the seed stage...   To listen more, please visit http://fullratchet.net/podcast-episodes/ for all of our other episodes. Also, follow us on twitter @TheFullRatchet for updates and more information.

In Episode 1 of Startup Journeys, I sat down with Niki Scevak, co-founder and Director at Blackbird Ventures, the largest venture capital fund in Australia, at Blackbird’s offices in Surry Hills, Sydney. In this conversation, we talk about Aussie’s great startup successes, what it means to be global day 1, not having an exit strategy, waves of technology innovation, and a whole lot more.

Niki Scevak is one of the smartest people I know. He and I worked together at Jupiter Research, over a decade ago. Now he runs Blackbird Ventures, Australia’s largest VC fund with nearly a quarter of a billion dollars under management. When I visited him at his offices in Sydney, we talked about how enterprise software companies have shifted from steak dinner selling to letting their products pitch themselves. It is not that people aren’t important, but as Niki pointed out, the expensive people have been shifted from the start of the process, to the end of it, once users have created a groundswell. In this episode you will also hear us debate the power of founder passion, whether or not big companies can really emulate startups and the unit economics of driverless cars.

Niki Scevak is one of the smartest people I know. He and I worked together at Jupiter Research, over a decade ago. Now he runs Blackbird Ventures, Australia’s largest VC fund with nearly a quarter of a billion dollars under management. When I visited him at his offices in Sydney, we talked about how enterprise software companies have shifted from steak dinner selling to letting their products pitch themselves. It is not that people aren’t important, but as Niki pointed out, the expensive people have been shifted from the start of the process, to the end of it, once users have created a groundswell. In this episode you will also hear us debate the power of founder passion, whether or not big companies can really emulate startups and the unit economics of driverless cars.