#140 Ben Grabiner: UK upbringing, selling startup to Apple, building Side Stage Ventures and more

Ben Grabiner is a Partner at Side Stage Ventures, a newly formed Venture Capital firm in Australia. Previously he co-founded Platoon which was acquired by Apple. Platoon was created during Ben's time working at Local Globe, as an early employee at the firm. (Local Globe is now recognised as a leading seed stage VC fund in Europe). 

It’s now time to explore your curiosity. Please enjoy!

(Timestamps below)

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00:55  - Where were you born and live now?

02:06 - What was your first job and now?

02:39 - High Flyer in Ben’s life

03:28 - Big family with 3 siblings

07:08 - Independently minded

08:50 - Career aspirations at age 18

11:25 - First date with media and tech

14:00 - Leaving corporate to found his first startup

16:45 - Struggling to raise capital

18:36 - UK startup ecosystem in 2014

20:14 - Joining Local Globe as a VC investor

24:00 - The problem that led to creating Platoon

28:25 - Business model with music labels

30:35 - Reflections on differences between the two startups he’s built

32:09 - How did the sale to Apple happen

34:55 - Balancing family and career

37:30 - Moving from the UK to Australia

40:50 - Building a network from scratch

42:54 - Origin story of Side Stage Ventures

45:09 - Applying a founder mindset to building a VC

47:17 - Uncovering unique founders early on

48:55 - Growing Side Stage with co-founder in Markus

50:17 - Rapid fire final sprint

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