My guest for Ep152 of The Startup Playbook Podcast was the Co-founder & Managing Partner at Folklore Ventures, Alister Coleman.

Alister started his career in portfolio management and banking for family offices before going on to become the Co-founder of ShippingEasy in 2011. 5 years later, ShippingEasy was acquired by stamps.com for $80M.

He is now the Co-founder & Managing Partner of Folklore Ventures, which is a $55M pre-seed and seed stage VC fund.

In this interview we discussed:

• Lessons from Al’s journey with ShippingEasy including why selling too early is not a great outcome for founders & investors
• Folklore’s unique investment approach which has led to a portfolio with next to no overlap with other VC funds in Australia
• A look into Folklore’s thorough due diligence process
• Alister and Folklore’s vision and approach in building a multi generation fund
• & much more

Timestamp 

• 1.59 – Alisters’ background and startup experience
• 2.59 – Lessons learned from working with Shipping Easy 
• 5.27 – The significance of Shipping Easy in the early days of ecommerce
• 8.59 – Balancing the investor and founder visions 
• 11.26 – Hiring the best team to work with you 
• 13.58 – Acquisition and knowing when it’s the right time to sell
• 20.55 – Managing stressful times and getting support from your team
• 23.55 – Hiring for intellect and skills that can’t be taught 
• 28.04 – The importance of investing in companies that have a positive impact on the world 
• 34.04 – Folklores’ approach to investment and why the safe option isn’t always actually safe
• 38.37 – Supporting startups who are doing the ‘impossible’ 
• 41.40 – Innovation in the drone industry and how it can be used for the distribution of vaccinations
• 43.42 – Building a mentor-mentee relationship with founders and why that support is so valuable 
• 48.08 – The future of the Australian startup and investment ecosystem 
• 51.57 – How to get in contact with Allister and Folklore 

Links Mentioned

Alister’s Links:

• Alister’s LinkedIn
• Alister’s Twitter
• Folklore VC Website
• Contact Folklore VC

People Mentioned

• Mark Helvadjian
• Hannah Field (Folklore)
• Brett Cairns
• Eric Peck

Companies Mentioned 

• Folklore VC
• Tempus Partners
• HealthMatch 
• Shipping Easy
• Magellan
• Auror
• Swoop Aero

Special Thanks:

Special thanks to Hannah Field and Eric Peck for their help with research for this interview! 

Feedback/connect/say hello:

Rohit@startupplaybook.co
@RohitBhargava7 (Twitter)
/rohbhargava (LinkedIn)
@rohit_bhargava (Instagram)
My Youtube Channel

Credits:

Music: Joakim Karud – Dreams

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