Launch Codes

Hannah Parton-Cyr is a venture analyst at Black Sheep Capital. Black Sheep is a leading early-stage VC in Australia, with a portfolio including Airtasker, sendle, go1 and amber.

Hannah studied chemical engineering at the University of Southern California, before making the jump to Australia and working at rail company Aurizon. After completing a masters in international economics and finance at UQ, she joined Black Sheep in August 2020. I chatted with Hannah about how she thinks about risk, the gender gap in VC funding and how a background in science helps her as an investor. 

Timestamps:
[1:08]- Who Hannah wanted to be when she grew up

[1:57]- Hannah’s college and career journey

[4:40]- Comparing the corporate environment of Aurizon to startups

[7:37]- Hannah’s experience at Black Sheep so far

[9:42]- How Hannah’s background in chemical engineering helps her as an investor 

[11:15]- What metrics do you look at in early-stage investing?

[13:40]- Companies in the Black Sheep portfolio

[14:32]- What’s surprised Hannah about the role?

[16:28]- The collegiate nature of Aussie VC

[17:41]- How does Hannah think about risk?

[20:45]- How Black Sheep works through different opinions on a company

[22:20]- What keeps Hannah up at night?

[23:36]- Favourite books

[25:00]- Black Sheep’s investment in Milestone Pay

[27:40]- Tackling the gender gap in venture funding

[33:03]- The best investment Hannah has made in her personal life

[35:20]- How a failure to get into consulting opened up other doors for Hannah

[38:58]- Hannah’s advice for students

References:
Black Sheep Capital
MilestonePay
A Promised Land by Barack Obama
Becoming by Michelle Obama
The real reason female entrepreneurs get less funding- Dana Kanze

Pasha Ryan is the co-founder and CTO of Forage. Forage is a digital platform offering free virtual work experience programs from top companies like Citibank, BCG and General Electric.  

Pasha studied commerce, philosophy, and computer science at UNSW. After uni, he worked as a management consultant at KPMG as well as a product manager at Freelancer.com before starting Forage in April 2017. I chatted with Pasha about the process of starting Forage, his experience in YCombinator and what the role of a CTO involves. Enjoy!

Timestamps:

[1:08]- Who Pasha wanted to be when he grew up

[3:44]- Pasha’s career journey

[4:58]- Studying a combination of commerce, philosophy and computer science

[5:53]- Where the idea for Forage came from?

[11:09]- When did Pasha realise that the virtual work experience model was the right one? 

[14:03]- Going through Y Combinator

[17:42]- Was there competition with the other companies in the accelerator?

[19:33]- What are the strategies Forage has used to scale?

[21:07]- Has it been hard to find the right talent?

[22:34]- What does the role of a CTO involve?

[24:28]- The impact of COVID

[29:00]- What was the Series A fundraising process like?

[31:30]- Rebranding from InsideSherpa to Forage

[35:12]- The long term vision for Forage

[37:58]- Pasha’s tips for those looking to starting their own business

[39:12]- The best investment Pasha has made in his personal life

[41:04]- Advice for students

References:
Forage
Y Combinator
My Life & Work- Henry Ford

Max Kausman is an investor at Tidal Ventures- an Australian venture capital firm that focuses on investments in the seed phase. 

Max studied commerce and law at Monash University, and also worked at corporate advisory firm Vesparum Capital during his studies. He then jumped into the world of consulting at Bain and Company before joining Tidal in November 2020. I chatted with Max about how venture capital works, trends in the Australian startup ecosystem and the importance of building strong relationships during your career. Enjoy!

Timestamps:
[1:05]- Who Max wanted to be when he grew up

[1:55]- Max’s career journey

[5:10]- How Max’s interest in investing started

[7:14]- Highlights of working at Bain and Company

[9:12]- Is consulting a good training ground for those interested in startups and tech?

[11:48]- Tidal Ventures Explainer

[14:53]- What are the different stages of VC funding?

[17:09]- What metrics do you look at the seed phase?

[20:10]- What are the mechanics of a VC fund?

[24:08]- Hurdle rates at a seed-stage fund

[25:31]- Surprises of working at Tidal.

[27:27]- What makes a great founder?

[31:52]- Trends in the startup and VC industry

[34:20]- Are there any sectors that Max is interested in?

[36:32]- Carted explainer

[41:20]- The best investment Max has made in his personal life

[44:42]- Advice for students

References:
Tidal Ventures
Vesparum Capital
The Seed Stage- Georgie Turner- Principal at Tidal Ventures
TheLoops
PredictHQ
Carted

Anna Podolsky is the cofounder and CEO of Lyka Pet Food. Lyka, named after Anna’s border collie, is a dog food subscription company that delivers fresh, healthy meals for your pup to your door.

Anna studied finance and maths at UQ before starting her career as a management consultant at Bain and Company. Here, she had the opportunity to work across Australia, the US and Chile. I chatted with Anna about how she started Lyka while still at Bain, the fundraising process for a startup and why you shouldn’t only focus on getting brand names on your resume.

Timestamps:

[1:06]- Who Anna wanted to be when she grew up

[2:25]- Anna’s career journey

[3:20]- Highlights of working at Bain

[4:50]- Where the idea for Lyka Pet Food came from

[9:30]- Balancing working full-time with starting a company

[11:08]- What did the first iteration of Lyka look like?

[11:57]- Customer stories from Lyka

[13:45]- How Anna thinks about recruitment and talent acquisition

[15:45]- Crafting the Lyka brand

[16:45]- The long-term vision for Lyka

[18:10]- Challenges around maintaining manufacturing in-house

[19:40]- What does the fundraising process for a startup look like?

[22:02]-How did Anna learn how to pitch her company?

[23:03]- The best investment Anna has made in her personal life

[26:55]- How Anna thinks about failure

[28:55]- Advice for uni students

References:
Lyka Pet Food

Today’s guest is Nandini Meka, Head of Operations at Simply Wall Street, which is an online platform that empowers investors to make great decisions, with analysis on over 100 thousand stocks.

Nandini studied Finance and Economics at UTS before starting her career in corporate development roles at News Corp and Aristocrat. She then jumped into the world of startups, heading up biz ops at AbhiBus in India for four years before moving back to Australia and joining Simply Wall Street. I chatted with Nandini about what’s involved in an operations role at a startup, what to look for when investing in companies and the importance of taking risks in your career.

Timestamps:
[1:10]-  Organising for her mother to meet the Dalai Lama
[3:13]- How roles in finance/corporate development prepared Nandini for the world of startups
[7:30]- Moving to India to work for AbhiBus
[12:05]- Was there ever a sense of fear moving to a new job in India?
[14:14]- Moving back to Australia and joining Simply Wall Street
[16:50] - What does Simply Wall Street do?
[20:32]- What does an operations function at a startup involve?
[23:10]- What skillset does a good ops person need?
[25:36]- Has the role gotten easier over time?
[26:30]- Challenges in scaling rapidly
[29:18]- Nandini's motivations for exploring angel investing/VC
[31:02]- What makes a great founder?
[32:47]- How to assess companies that are tackling a brand new space
[34:28]- How immigrating and travelling has helped Nandini when analysing businesses
[35:32] - Nandini's perspective in failure
[37:30]- Nandini's advice for uni students



References:
AbhiBus
Simply Wall Street
Michael Batko- Luck as a System
Sequoia Investment Memo for YouTube

Jessy Wu is an Investment Manager and Head of Community at AfterWork Ventures. Afterwork is a community-powered VC, supported by a group of seasoned operators that help source startups and support portfolio companies.

Jessy studied Philosophy and English literature at ANU before joining Strategy& as a management consultant. She then jumped into the world of corporate VC at NAB Ventures before joining Afterwork full time in May 2021. I chatted with Jessy about how studying the humanities prepared her well for venture capital, how community is becoming a defensible business model and the importance of leaning into your strengths.

Timestamps:

[1:07]- Who Jessy wanted to be when she grew up

[3:02]- How studying the humanities prepared Jessy for the world of VC

[7:00]- Jessy’s role at AfterWork VC

[10:40]- Was Jessy ever scared about taking a leap and joining AfterWork?

[13:10]- Was there ever a specific point where Jessy made the decision to join AfterWork?

[17:10]- What makes AfterWork’s community-powered model special?

[18:45]- Is community a defensible business model for businesses outside of VC?

[20:21]- Is there a secret sauce for building an effective community?

[22:24]- Community as value creation rather than value capture

[22:53]- Why is community becoming so popular at this particular moment in time?

[24:49]- What kind of companies is Jessy excited to invest in at AfterWork?

[27:38]- An eye-opening experience relating to direct-to-consumer marketing

[30:37]- The importance of having agency in your career

[34:39]- How to think about failure

[37:20]- The importance of leaning into your strengths

Links to things we mentioned:

AfterWork website

Lyka Pet Food: Investment Notes

OnDeck Community Builders

Outlaw Soaps

The 20 Minute VC- Harry Stebbings

David Lu is the co-founder of Textboook Ventures. He studied a Bachelor of Commerce and Laws at UNSW and has since gone on to work in venture capital and start his own cryptocurrency hedge fund 256 Capital. We had a wide-ranging with David, covering his experience starting Textbook Ventures, the exciting new cryptocurrency startup he’s founded as well as the challenges dealing with imposter syndrome. 

Timestamps:
[1:10] David’s introduction and professional background 
[2:21] How his interest in VC space started 
[5:56] Challenges he faced building the first student VC fund in Australia
[8:03] Events leading to co-founding Textbook Ventures 
[15:16] How co-founding Textbook Ventures helped David’s career trajectory 
[17:48] What sparked his interest in cryptocurrency 
[20:28] The basics of cryptocurrency 
[24:03] His perspective on mainstream media around cryptocurrency and blockchain buzz
[26:00] A sneak peek into David’ funding on an exciting project! 
[33:02] His challenges with facing imposter syndrome 
[35:00] His experience being on the Australian Fencing team 
[38:00] His past failure setting him up for success as a co-founder
[43:05] ‘What advice would you give to a smart, driven university student about to enter the “real world”? What advice should they ignore?’ 

Brent Liang is the co-founder and executive producer of The Quest Podcast, together with Justin Kan, co-founder of Twitch. He has also founded 3 startups and been a recording artist as well. We chatted  to him about his journey founding no-code startups, working on his mental health as a teenager and his view on setting big and ambitious goals.

In this episode, we cover:
[1:20] How would Brent describe his current profession
[1:55] Brent’s cultural upbringing and background story growing up
[4:05] What led him to the startup world and founding no code startups
[6:30] How his law degree influenced him in his startup career
[8:00] On his journey with mental health as a teenager
[13:36] On his experience developing empathy as a founder
[18:20] The importance of building communication skills for young people
[25:00] His story of becoming co-founder and producer of The Quest podcast
[29:50] Mindset behind setting big goals and setting to accomplish them
[37:23] What advice would you give to a smart, driven university student about to enter the “real world”? What advice should they ignore?’

References
Brave Podcast, Jeremy Au 2021, Brent Liang on Co-Founding with Justin Kan, Weekly Moonshots, and Vulnerability in Leadership
Brent Liang 2019, 9 Places, 9 Learnings, 365 Days,
Brent Liang 2021, At last a life: surviving anxiety
Twitter, Brent Liang 2020, Bucket list before 30 

Ed Barker is a senior associate at Square Peg Capital. Square Peg is Australia’s largest VC fund, with over $1.4b of funds under management.  We chatted with Ed about his investment process, the industries that excite him the most and his advice for students at the start of their career.

Timestamps:

·         1:04: Who Ed wanted to be when he grew up

·         2:05: What Ed studied at university

·         3:45: Landing a role at Square Peg Capital

·         5:40: The importance of reaching out to people and having conversations

·         6:00: The role of a VC investor

·         7:50: How the investment process works: team, thematic and timing

·         9:10: The impact of COVID-19

·         10:30: Moving to Singapore

·         12:40: The rise of Grab in South East Asia

·         13:15: How a background in consulting helped 

·         14:00: The industries that Ed is excited about

·         15:50: The rise of social commerce

·         18:10: Surprising things about VC

·         19:35: Qualities that make a great founder

·         21:35: Books, podcasts and articles that informed Ed’s thought process

·         24:45: How has failure set Ed up for success in the future?

·         28:10: Ed’s advice for uni students

Sam Koslowski is co-founder of The Daily Aus- a social-first news platform, offering up bite-sized news on Instagram as well as a daily newsletter and podcast. We chatted to Sam about his journey leaving a corporate law job to go full-time at The Daily Aus.