Open the Pod Bay Doors

Welcome to the latest edition of the OTPBD News Special, our fortnightly series analysing the news that matters for Australian and Kiwi startups.Meet this week's panel...Yolanda Redrup, AFRJames Alexander, Galileo VenturesJustin Webb, AgriWebbTopics we discuss:In this news special, we discuss recent raises by Marketplacer, Morse Micro, Flare, Hypr and Diffuse Energy. There was lots of big news coming out of the Victorian startup ecosystem to cover, including the new budget which allocates $186m to startups and the establishment of a $25m Victorian venture fund. We also talk about the tech founders that made this year's AFR Young Rich List, Andreessen Horowitz closing two mega funds, the spike in Bitcoin, Macquarie Telecom becoming a unicorn and lots more.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Welcome to the latest edition of the OTPBD News Special, our fortnightly series analysing the news that matters for Australian and Kiwi startups.Meet this week's panel...James Riley, Innovation AusAmanda Price, KPMG High Growth VenturesVuki Vujasinovic, Sling and StoneTopics we discuss:In this news special, we discuss the recent and upcoming IPOs of several Aussie companies including Hipages, Booktopia and Airtasker, as well as global and local funding news like Hopin's recent $125m raise and Aussie accounting platform Bookipi's $1.6m seed round. We also talk about how the recent positive vaccine news and the results of the US election might impact the Australian startup ecosystem.As mentioned in this episode, the 2020 Founder Survey from KPMG High Growth Ventures is now live. If you're a startup founder willing to reflect on your work-life balance, health and wellbeing, participate in the survey here.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Patrick Llewellyn is the CEO and President of 99designs, the global creative platform that makes it easy for designers and clients to work together. Patrick is Open the Pod Bay Door's second ever two-time guest. Since we've last chatted with Patrick, a lot has happened for 99designs. 99designs now employs over 100 people, has a community of over 25,000 active freelance designers, and in October, was acquired by global printing giant Vistaprint.In this chat with Ian, Patrick speaks about his lockdown experience living in Melbourne, how a plan for a massive global restructuring was completely disrupted in March by COVID-19, and how a casual coffee meeting with the founder of Vistaprint ultimately led to an acquisition. Patrick dives deep into his mindset and decision making progress around the acquisition and how the company and his role will evolve as a result of the new partnership. Some other topics covered include how reverse brain drain may be impacting the talent market and the key macro insights from the new Design Without Borders: The Future of Freelancing report from 99designs.Recommendations from PatrickBook: by Verne HarnishScaling Up: How a Few Companies Make It... and Why the Rest Don't Podcast: Recode Decode, Pivot, Techmeme Ride HomeProductivity tool/app: Spotify (to listen to podcasts at 1.2x speed)Favorite tech CEO: Mike & Scott from Atlassian, Melanie Perkins from Canva, Luke Annear from SafetyCultureTed Talk topic: "Globalization isn't a dirty word"See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Welcome to the latest edition of the OTPBD News Special, our fortnightly series analysing the news that matters for Australian and Kiwi startups.Meet this week's panel...Rebecca Wilson, Starts at 60Justin Lipman, EVPJodie Imam, SBE AustraliaTopics we discuss:In this news special we cover Adore Beauty's ASX debut, lots of recent local raises from the likes of Linktree, Sundrive, Zero Co, v2food, and SafetyCulture and the downfall of Quibi. Elections are up for discussion, including how the outcome of the US election could affect local startups and the results of the Queensland election. We also discuss Antler Sydney's hot streak and the arrival of the "no-code" generation.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Welcome to a very special milestone for Open the Pod Bay Doors -- our 100th episode! To mark the occasion we brought back some of our favorite guests from the past 3 years of the podcast and asked them what they're most looking forward to in the next 3 years.A rockstar lineup of investors and founders shared their insights: Daniel Petre (E1), Luke Anear (E20 & E79), Niki Scevak (E14), Leigh Jasper (E86), Kate Cornick (E45), Patrick Llewellyn (E26), Ben Keighran (E56), Sam Sicilia (E60), Paul Bassat (E69), Alan Jones (E33), David Walsh (E96), Olympia Yarger (E94), Sam Wong (E42), James Cuda (E43), and Emma Weston (E51). Their vision for the next 3 years certainly has us excited for what's to come.We'd like to extend a huge thank you to our listeners, all of our amazing guests, and our supportive sponsors AWS, AIG Firemark Ventures, KPMG High Growth Ventures, and Macquarie who have made the last 100 episodes possible. Here's to the next 100!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Welcome to a fresh edition of the OTPBD News Special, our fortnightly series analysing the news that matters for Australian and Kiwi startups.Meet this week's panel...Sam Wong, BlackbirdBronwen Clune, InklMick Liubinskas, Director of Product and Growth for BCG Digital Ventures and Author of She's Building A Robot!Topics we discuss:As always, we cover recent local and global deals like 99designs being acquired by Vistaprint, an oversubscribed Epi Minder Series A, Hopin raising a new round at a valuation of as much as $2 billion, and two new deals from agtech-focused VC firm Tenacious Ventures. The panel discusses whether COVID-19 is accelerating reverse brain drain with more Aussies and Kiwis flocking home, the decline in funding for female founders shown in Quarterly VC's funding report, a recent instance of Facebook and Twitter cracking down on fake news and what measures can be taken to regulate the role social media plays in society, à la Social Dilemma. We also talk about a splash for cash for science and tech in the federal government budget, Startmate's first all virtual cohort, and progress on renewables, with renewables reaching 100% demand in SA for the first time ever.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Chris Hitchen is the Germany-based, Australian-born Founder and Managing Partner of Inventures. Inventures invests €100k - €500k globally in early stage tech companies and actively helps founders reach their first institutional VC Round. Chris started out as an entrepreneur; he built and sold price comparison business Getprice to News Corp, eCommerce marketplace Next Commerce to Future PLC and programmatic ad marketplace Hynt to Zalando. He has invested in more than 60 startups. Prior to establishing Inventures, he was an angel investor and worked as Venture Partner with VC funds EQT Ventures, Project A and SquarePeg Capital.In this chat with Phaedon, Chris talks about:His investment thesis and the structure of his portfolioWhat he looks for in a founderWhy he doesn’t join boards anymoreThe backchannels he uses to conduct due diligenceThe LPs that make up his fundRecommendations from Chris:Books - Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Evans, The Road to Character by David BrooksPodcast - The Twenty Minute VC, Notion Capital, Where Should We Begin with Esther PerelNews Source - TwitterHoliday Destination - South Tyrol, Italy Favorite Founders - Bill Gates, Mike Cannon-BrookesProductivity Tool - QatalogTed Talk Topic - "How We Turn Off & Disengage"See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Welcome to the OTPBD News Special, our fortnightly series analysing the news that matters for Australian and Kiwi startups.Meet this week's panel...Tim Burrowes, MumbrellaJackie Vullinghs, AirtreeSteve Fanale, Drive YelloTopics we discuss:Our panel discussed the explosion of e-commerce in Australia, changes to the JobKeeper program, and recent revelations about the Cambridge Analytica scandal. Some other topics include the launch of Amazon's new indoor home drone, Airtree's new explorer program, and easing restrictions in Melbourne. We also talk about recent raises from companies including Airwallex, Airbirds, Snapper and Catalyst and IPOs from Adore Beauty, Palantir and Asana.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Daniel Darling is the founder and managing partner of Darling Ventures, an early stage VC firm based in San Francisco. Daniel is an Aussie that's been working in the California tech scene for over a decade. He started his journey on the founding team of Mobile Interactive Group, an advertising tech startup that was acquired by NASDAQ-listed Velti for $60M. Back in 2014 he identified a unique opportunity to build a venture firm that would grant Aussie investors access to US-based investment opportunities. He swapped his operator hat for an investor hat, and founded Darling Ventures. Their specialty is writing the very first check for domain-expert founders using software and data to transform an industry. 6 years on, the firm has made 23 investments to date and recently launched Fund 3, a $30 million pre-seed fund.In this conversation with Phaedon, Daniel discusses his early career experience working in ad tech, his unique investment thesis, and how he prepares portfolio companies for rockstar series A rounds. Daniel also shares his advice for angel investors new to tech, how he mitigates the many risks that accompany early stage investments, what his due diligence process looks like, and the role he believes a great investor plays in a founder's journey.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Welcome to Innovation Bay's OTPBD News Special, our fortnightly series analysing the news that matters for Australian and Kiwi startups.Meet this week's panel...Founder: Olympia Yarger, GOTERRAInvestor: Andrea Gardiner, Jelix VenturesEcosystem Leader: Alex McCauly, StartupAusTopics we discuss:Some of the biggest headlines our panel discussed are the continuing war over media bargaining between the Government and the tech giants, and what to expect from the the Federal budget in a few weeks. We also talk about the Safety Culture's first acquisition of EdApp, Atlassian's announcement of a new $70M venture fund, plus Snowflakes record breaking IPO with predictions on which other unicorns will go public.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.