Sachin and Adam

This week we talked with Maxine Minter who will become the first female solo GP in Australia after she started her $10 million pre-seed fund Co ventures! She has had a fascinating journey which saw her going from being a lawyer in Australia to moving to San Fransisco where she went to Stanford, becoming a founder, starting an executive coaching business and now being back in Australia.

We talked deeply about who she is as a person, her journey towards VC and how she is aiming to win the game of pre-seed investing. She still has some allocation left in her $10m fund so if you want to invest in an extraordinary person whose starting Australia's first pre-seed fund, then reach out to us.

This week we had the honour of interviewing the amazing Rex Woodbury, partner at Index Ventures and author of Digital Native. We dived deep into Rex’s drivers, family unit, sacrifices and journey into VC. We then explored consumer investing, trends amongst Gen Zs and how Rex identifies the best founders. This isn’t an episode you want to miss.

We were privileged to podcast James Tynan from Square Peg and announce his recent addition to the Square Peg Partnership. James has had an incredible journey which has seen him traverse McKinsey, Khan Academy, Startmate as well as a number of health problems. We talked to James about ambition, how to balance energy, why Square Peg was the place for him, his passion for healthcare and many more topics. Enjoy the episode!

This episode is sponsored by Recess a great Aussie startup providing furniture for your home and office. They’ve fitted out thousands of Aussies including the offices of Eucalyptus, Lyka and Afterwork. Use the code SACHINANDADAM for 20% off your next order. Check them out: https://recess.com.au/

This episode is also supported by our friends at Employment Hero. Make sure you search Global Teams by Employment Hero. You can get your first months management fee free! All you need to do is go onto the employment hero website and click on the “request a demo” button on the website, and mention Sachin & Adam. You can find more at https://employmenthero.com/products/employer-of-record/.

This week we were joined by one of our good friends (and one of the best young founders we know) Max Marchione. Max is the founder of Next Chapter and UltraViolet Ventures and is currently founding a health-tech startup in stealth. We got into Max’s 100 year goals, how we’ve all changed as people, creativity/intuition and discussions around life as a founder and VC. Enjoy

This episode is sponsored by Recess a great Aussie startup providing furniture for your home and office. They’ve fitted out thousands of Aussies including the offices of Eucalyptus, Lyka and Afterwork. Use the code SACHINANDADAM for 20% off your next order. Check them out: https://recess.com.au/ 

This episode is also supported by our friends at Employment Hero. Make sure you search Global Teams by Employment Hero. You can find more at https://employmenthero.com/products/employer-of-record/.

This is a special episode dedicated to the South East Asia Region. We interviewed Peter Huynh of Qualgro and Tushar Roy of Square Peg Capital. They are both Australians who are living in Singapore, spending their time investing in early stage technology companies across South East Asia. We talked about the opportunity that South East Asia presents, how to think about the region and the differences of investing there. 

This episode is sponsored by Recess a great Aussie startup providing furniture for your home and office. They’ve fitted out thousands of Aussies including the offices of Eucalyptus, Lyka and Afterwork. Use the code SACHINANDADAM for 20% off your next order.

Check them out: https://recess.com.au/

This week we were joined by Afterwork Principal Jessy Wu. Jessy has built a standout brand in Australia through her unique takes and contrarian views. We dived into Jessy’s upbringing, the power of controvery and branding as a super power. We then went deep into the Australian venture capital market and Afterwork’s story and comparative advantage.

This episode is sponsored by Recess a great Aussie startup providing furniture for your home and office. They’ve fitted out thousands of Aussies including the offices of Eucalyptus, Lyka and Afterwork. Use the code SACHINANDADAM for 20% off your next order.

Check them out: https://recess.com.au/

This week we sat down with the man of the hour, Tim Doyle. Tim is the founder of one of the hottest startups in Australia, Eucalyptus. We discussed Tims drivers, his competitive and contrarian nature and his lessons in business. We dived deep into his marketing and hiring principles and of course got onto some of his controversial tweets. There were so many takeaways from this episode and we left amazed by how Tim’s brain works.

This episode is sponsored by Recess, a great Aussie startup providing furniture for your home and office. They’ve fitted out thousands of Aussies including the offices of Eucalyptus, Lyka and Afterwork. Use the code SACHINANDADAM for 20% off your next order.

Check them out: https://recess.com.au/

We chatted to Australian venture capitalist Nick Crocker, of Blackbird

Nick has been a partner at Blackbird since 2016 and previously was CEO at Startmate and a serial entrepreneur.

He’s one of the most well known VCs in the country and has played a significant role in the Aus startup ecosystem.

We chatted deeply about his career as an entrepreneur and investor but we also got personal on this episode, allowing Nick to reflect on significant life moments, his qualities and why he is the way he is.

If you like this episode, we’d love for you to let us know. We’re always open for feedback or suggestions.

Timestamps: 

0:00 start

1:16 why the love for Fred Again?

3:46 where does Nick’s curiosity come from?

6:48 what are Nick’s top 3 qualities?

12:14 what were you like at 23?

17:15 becoming an entrepreneur

22:10 Starting We are Hunted

23:12 was he bold growing up?

29:58 navigating family with living overseas

34:05 how he got involved in Blackbird

43:59 what makes Nick a great assessor of talent?

46:24 can young people be good venture investors?

48:16 judging an investment track record

49:30 reflections on the Australian ecosystem

This week we had the pleasure of chatting to David Shein. David is the founder of Australia’s first unicorn Com Tech, Author of The Dumbest Guy at The Table and the co-founder of the VC fund OIF. We dived into Daves lucky breaks, identifying talent, living a fulfilling life and OIFs mission. This isn’t an episode you want to miss.

Show Notes

Book: Ride of a Lifetime- Bob Iger

Podcast: Master of Scale

Dinner Guest: Mikel Arteta

Favourite Investor: Instaclustr

If he could share something with the audience : Imagine- John Lennon

Todays episode was with Vow co-founder George Peppou.

Vow is a cellular based meat company that has taken Australia by storm in the past few years.   

They’re trying to reinvent the food system by creating meat that is grown in labs.  

Recently they raised one of Australia’s largest Series A investment rounds at $73.5 million.   In todays episode we talk about George’s story, how he started vow and lessons from the whole process.