This chapter explores the speaker's transition from a structured legal career to the dynamic world of startups, highlighting the early influences that sparked their entrepreneurial spirit. Reflecting on a decade spent in law, they reveal the monotony that propelled them toward founding a venture-backed startup while studying at Stanford. The conversation also addresses the challenges faced in securing female representation in venture capital, illuminating their commitment to supporting women in the industry.
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The Startup Playbook Podcast
Insights and lessons from the world's best entrepreneurs and investors
My guest for Ep185 of The Startup Playbook Podcast was Maxine Minter.
Maxine is the Founder & General Partner of CoVentures a $5M pre-seed fund.
Alongside her role at Co Ventures, she is also the Founder of Co Lab, a platform that matches Founders & CEOs with executive coaches.
In this interview we covered a range of topics including,
why Maxine decided to launch a dedicated pre-seed fund
how she assess investment opportunities at that stage
the importance of effective communication as a leader
How to get the most out of an executive coach
& much more
Timestamps
1:40 Maxine’s background
14:46 Making the leap to startups
21:11 Performance coaching for founders
26:52 Leadership mental models
30:29 Developing better communication and empathy skills
41:12 Common traits of world class performers
50:38 Launching a dedicated Pre-Seed fund
55:24 The huge opportunity in the Australian ecosystem
1:04:16 What Maxine looks for when investing in early stage companies
1:22:04 Lessons from previous venture backed startup
Our partners
A big thank you to Chris Bartlett and Jax Vullinghs for their help with this interview!
Also a big shout out to our partners for the show:
Scendar
Scendar is the OG startup accounting firm in Australia catering to all stages of your business’ life. If you’re busy running your startup, you don’t have time to do your own books and forecast. Instead, fully outsource your finance function, giving you time and resources back to focus on what you do best in growing your business. Find out more at Scendar.com
Vanta
Vanta helps businesses get — and stay — compliant by automating up to 90% of the work for the most in-demand compliance frameworks. And with over 300 integrations, you can easily monitor and secure the tools your business relies on. Join over six thousand fast-growing companies that use Vanta to manage risk and prove security in real time. Startup Playbook Podcast listeners get access to an exclusive offer of USD$1000 off their plans. Head over to vanta.com/playbook to get access to this exclusive discount
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