The High Flyers Podcast with Vidit Agarwal

Explore your curiosity w Christie Jenkins + Josh Thomas about bout professional athlete transitions into the business world and how Christie, Josh and nearly a 100 of Australia’s best and brightest athletes across all sporting codes have created an investing syndicate in Athletic Ventures.Please enjoy! ***Find out more about Curiosity Center, including 80+ episodes at www.curiositycenter.xyz Find out more about the Athletic Ventures at www.athletic.vcShare your feedback and discuss sponsorship opportunities with us by emailing vidit@curiositycenter.xyzFollow the show on Linkedin / Instagram***TIMESTAMPS02:09 - Josh’s career in the AFL 03:13 - Christie’s career across 3 sports 04:07 - Planning life after sport 07:10 - Routines, habits and sprints 11:45 - Would you do anything differently if you go back 5 years? 14:31 - First interaction with startups and VC 17:31 - Knowledge building into venture capital work 20:52 - Coach, work ethic and people better than you 22:24 - Early days of building Athletic Ventures 24:47 - Biggest surprise 25:48 - How does Athletic Ventures best serve founders 28:26 - Long term excitement for Athletic Ventures 29:18 - How should founders view athletic on their cap table 31:39 - Most recent publicly announced deal and why 34:12 - Industries athletic ventures can best help in 36:28 - Key focus on Series A and why 

Thank you for rating / reviewing this podcast on iTunes and Spotify, it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show! Follow us on Instagram, LinkedIn or TwitterContact Vidit directly at vidit@curiositycenter.xyz to discuss sponsorship opportunities, recommend future guests and share feedback. ***Welcome to episode #80 w Bill Bartee! Here are 5 key takeaways you will learn from this episode:1. How growing up near a NASA facility started Bill's love for science, tech and engineering2. Reflections on working in Silicon Valley in the 80's seeing the early technology evolution3. What he learnt from his most painful learning and why one advice has stuck the most 4. The 5 hall of fame Australian VC's Bill would love to be in a room with5. Why is deep tech innovation different and how does talent equate in Australia vs the USAPlease enjoy!***TIMESTAMPS03:03 - Growing up seeing rocket launches 03:40 - Papers, washing cars and labourer 04:24 - Double nobel prize winner in Physics and Chemistry 06:12 - Economically poor, intellectually rich 08:01 - Aspirations to be an astronaut 09:48 - Building information sources in the 1960/70’s 11:07 - 25 year love for Australia 12:45 - Working across the spectrum: large, medium and early companies 15:13 - Evolution in rate of learning 17:54 - what makes people succeed 21:08 - 99% of learnings coming from failing 23:36 - Not judging a book by it’s cover 26:39 - Applying mathematics love to startup investing 30:32 - Venture Capital today vs the early 2000’s 35:02 - Co-founding 3 x VC firms 38:12 - top 5 hall of fame investors 41:10 - founders from 2000’s that impressed the most 43:47 - metrics in sass vs deep tech 48:23 - How do investors help deep tech founders? 50:54 - Most challenging mental models 52:43 - Talent equation in deep tech: Australia vs USA 54:26 - final sprint 

Explore your curiosity w Yolanda Redrup about media, journalism and how news operates in startups, technology and capital markets. Please enjoy! ***Find out more about Curiosity Center, including 75+ episodes at www.curiositycenter.xyz Find out more about the Australian Financial Review at www.afr.comShare your feedback and discuss partnership opportunities with us by emailing vidit@curiositycenter.xyzFollow the show on Linkedin / Instagram***TIMESTAMPS02:00 - Melbourne and swimming 02:32 - Being set on journalism from age 13 04:15 - How you can build your career in journalism 06:09 - Behind the scenes of how an article comes together 09:27 - Inbound, Outbound and reactive news sources 10:46 - Does the first sentence need to be a hook? 13:08 - How much editorial approval does a journalist need? 14:36 - what software is useful for interviews and writing articles? 15:52 - How does street talk differ from tech news? 17:30 - What is the biggest unknown about your role? 19:06 - How to invest and nurture relationships? 20:50 - Being a journalist with an investor approach 21:34 - How do VC’s get their capital raise featured in the AFR? 23:50 - Biggest change having covered tech for 10+ years? 27:44 - How do you keep up your learning of media landscape? 29:15 - What separates a great journalist from the rest? 30:09 - How to decide what news platforms to read? 31:36 - The role of independence in journalism and being neutral? 33:30 - One thing you’d like to learn in the next 6 months?

Thank you for rating / reviewing this podcast on iTunes and Spotify, it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show! Follow us on Instagram, LinkedIn or Twitter Contact Vidit directly at vidit@curiositycenter.xyz to discuss sponsorship opportunities, recommend future guests and share feedback. ***Welcome to episode #78 w Matt Allen! Here are 5 key takeaways you will learn from this episode:1. How Matt found his passion for music and computers in high school2. Why success at age 20 was building out his first startup, providing web based solutions for insurance companies3. Balancing a conservative approach to finance with investing in high growth (and high risk) startups 4. What is venture debt, how it's structured and when should founders consider it5. The five active hall of fame investors in Australia / New Zealand to be in a room withPlease enjoy!***TIMESTAMPS02:28 - Birth place and residence now 03:16 - First job and various roles now 04:07 -  High Flyers under the radar 05:08 - eldest of 3 brothers and attending agricultural school 08:24 - Computer teacher being an influence 09:37 - Infamous blue hat 10:25 - Early days of the internet: building web based solutions for insurance companies 11:25 - Biggest unknown for startups in the 90’s 14:03 - Balancing financial conservative approach with investing in high risk startups 16:10 - Most painful learning 17:43 - First time into angel investing 21:30 - Process for getting to know founder / business from scratch 24:33 - Meeting thousands of founders at Amazon startups 28:02 - 5 people to have in the “active hall of fame investors” room 30:24 - Decided to be a founder again with Tractor Ventures 36:04 - Financial structure within Venture Debt model 38:23 - 3 use cases for a founder to consider revenue based financing 41:10 - Supporting the longevity of a company 43:42 - Building education in community about finance and debt 46:56 - Matt’s routines to balance his various roles 49:09 - Building and maintaining reputation 52:07 - How Matt got started making websites for bands 54:02 - final sprint 

Thank you for rating / reviewing this podcast on iTunes and Spotify, as it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show and grow the show with sponsors and partners. Follow us on Instagram, LinkedIn or Twitter for more!Contact Vidit directly at vidit@curiositycenter.xyz to discuss sponsorship opportunities, recommend future guests and share feedback. ***Learn about Rachael’s sunrise in New York, with her dad being the son of jewish immigrants and mum from a rural part of New York with 8 brothers and sisters with Rachael's mum being the eldest. Welcome to episode #77 w Rachael Neumann! Here are 5 key takeaways you will learn from this episode:1. Influences of growing up in New York with two sides of the family, with her parents bringing different perspectives2. Navigating her career having varied interests and taking the the entrance exams to law, business & medical school3. Why the transition from the US to Australia was hard personally and professionally4. 2 big learnings from leading eventbrite and Amazon startups teams5. Process to get to know founders from scratch to consider investing in, how to say no with empathy and valuations vs hypePlease enjoy!***TIMESTAMPS02:25 - New York and Melbourne 04:00 - Re-imagining a high flyer 06:00 - Being a social chameleon navigating the two sides of her family 08:33 - Wanting to leave New York City 11:33 - Heroes in Nobel Prize Winners 13:30 - Success at 20 15:35 - Painful learning from having varied interests 22:04 - Moving to Australia by accident 25:25 - Major differences between US and Australia 28:51 - Hiring a team for a new category that doesn’t exist yet 33:10 - How investing in startups started 36:45 - Process for getting to know a business from scratch 40:26 - Dislocation of Valuations vs hype in valuations 43:33 - How to say no with empathy 48:17 - Transition from individual investor to a fund 53:22 - Final sprint!  

Explore your curiosity w Kate Dinon about PR, communications and investment to scale startups.Learn about how Kate had her break into PR & CommunicationsBuilding out her own firm Character & Distinction, based in Melbourne with a roster of recognisable brands. First few months of starting the firm, client relationships, bad story telling and displaying culture in their office space. Unpacking Kate’s foray into supporting startups through mentoring and investment via Protagonist Capital & what they're looking for in founders and early stage startups. Don’t miss out on a special rapid fire round with your community questions! Please enjoy exploring your curiosity as I did mine through this conversation!***Find out more about Curiosity Center, including 75+ episodes at www.curiositycenter.xyz Find out more about Character + Distinction and Protagonist Capital at https://ofcharacter.com/Share your feedback and discuss partnership opportunities with us at vidit@curiositycenter.xyzFollow the show on Linkedin / Instagram***TIMESTAMPS02:20 - Where you were born and live now 03:02 - Do you remember the first time you heard of PR & Communications? 04:16  - Was it a conscious decision to start your own PR firm? 06:08 - What were the first months like in 2017 and unknowns? 07:55 - Did you find building relationships was a focus moving back to Australia from Switzerland? 10:31 - How does a client relationship work in practise? 12:40 - How does a first client meeting work and what can PR help with? 15:14 - What is bad story telling? 17:22 - Are there high maintenance vs low maintenance industries? 19:44 - What are your sources of learning and inspiration? 22:17 - Importance of Character and distinction visible in their office space 25:15 - Supporting startups through Protagonist Capital 27:32 - What are you looking for in the deals? Specific sector or person to support? 29:00 - Supporting founders in consumer facing brands and enterprise tech for future of work 30:32 - Naming conventions for Protagonist and Character + Distinction 32:29 - Rapid fire round of your community questions  

Thank you for rating / reviewing this podcast on iTunes and Spotify, as it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show and grow the show with sponsors and partners. Follow us on Instagram, LinkedIn or Twitter for more!Contact Vidit directly at vidit@curiositycenter.xyz to discuss sponsorship opportunities, recommend future guests and share feedback. ***Learn about how curiosity has driven his professional journey in Science, Retail, Pharmaceuticals, Energy & currently Last Mile Delivery leading Deliveroo in Australia. Ed shares how to transition well into a new industry, how to build strong personal relationships, how to manage up authentically, and the advantages and disadvantages of being a generalist. I was curious for Ed’s take on structured education and whether an MBA is helpful on your journey to being a leader. And stay tuned to learn about Ed’s varied interests including Bee Keeping, Archery and more!Welcome to episode #75 w Ed McManus! Here are 5 key takeaways you will learn from this episode:1. How parents shaped Ed and his 2 siblings2. Curiosity leading to PHd in Biochemistry and transition to business3. How to manage up authentically in your career4. Should you do structured education to position yourself to become CEO5. Advantages and disadvantages of being a generalist leader***TIMESTAMPS03:08 - Ireland and Australia 04:08 - Primary and secondary carers 05:27 - Growing up in Ireland in the 80’s in a fractured country 07:30 - How parents shaped Ed and his 2 siblings 12:27 - Sporting heroes 13:57 - Curiosity driving work in science, business & more 16:44 - Doctors and nurses being high flyers for Ed’s family 19:47 - Transition from biochemist to commercial business roles 23:26 - How to build strong personal relationships 26:58 - How to figure out a new environment and where to add value 30:20 - Don’t be under pressure to come up with answers only 32:54 - Transparency, performance and managing up 37:50 - Advantages and disadvantages of being a generalist vs specialist 41:21 - Side hobby as amateur bee-keeper 43:45 - Should you do structured executive education? 46:59 - Supporting startups through capital and knowledge Please enjoy!

Hear from Kal Jamshidi, founder of Letter of Intent -- the daily Australian business activity newsletter read by 6k subscribers. This conversation will take you inside: How and why Kal started this newsletter, being anonymous at the beginning, utilising the power of LinkedIn, Creating a habit for the readers and serving utility, defensibility, media trends and we end with some of your most requested community questions. Please enjoy exploring your curiosity as I did mine through this conversation!***TIMESTAMPS—————02:30 - Life before Letter of Intent 04:23 - How 6 years in San Fransisco was inspiration 06:57 - Building a habit for the consumer 09:52 - The growth engine of LinkedIn 11:04 - Anonymous marketing 14:05 - 5 hours each night 15:20 - Filtering news into 1 page 16:22 - Creating habits and serving utility 17:38 - Peleton and RM Williams 19:44 - Balancing gossip and facts 21:04 - The Aussie corporate 21:34 - Unique community 23:55 - Changing landscape in Media 28:28 - Community questions***Find out more about Curiosity Center at www.curiositycenter.xyz Find out more about Letter of Intent at https://www.letterofintent.com.au/Share your feedback or questions directly with us at vidit@curiositycenter.xyz or via Linkedin / Instagram

Learn about drive and determination at a young age with a deep desire to be a professional athlete, to then having his startup shut down and making his way into VC and co-founding AfterWork Ventures, a community led VC doing things differently for the next gen. Welcome to episode #73 w Adrian Petersen! Here are 5 key takeaways you will learn from this episode:Deep determination and focus to be a professional athlete, being obsessed with Tennis & Cycling at a young ageThe importance of be team first and win collectively with an "open up" policyAdrian's non traditional path to Venture CapitalThe birth of AfterWork and the cold start challenge of building a communityBiggest surprise about investing in Sports Tech startups***TIMESTAMPS02:31 -  Perth, Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra 03:48 -  Dream to become a tennis player 05:25 - Both parents worked in grandpa’s scaffolding company 06:25 -  Roger Federer and Lance Armstrong 07:25 - Australian Institute of Sport 08:45 - importance of be team first now vs being single mildly focused in his past 10:11 - Working with people smarter than you 12:00 -  Learning the importance of “open up” when closing his first business 15:12 -  First 3 months re-setting to find next opportunity 16:40 - The path to becoming a VC 19:55 - The birth of AfterWork 24:28 - Cold start challenge of building a community 26:20 - Deal flow sources being a community first VC 30:23 - Ability to significantly follow on 32:21 - Direct to consumer investments 34:15 -  Investor changing sentiment 36:46 - Mentors that have shaped his thinking 38:20 - Going from zero to one and beyond 40:26 - In house team complimenting the community advisors 42:14 - Investing in sports focused startups 43:30 - final sprint***Thank you for rating / reviewing this podcast on iTunes and Spotify, as it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show and grow the show with sponsors and partners. Follow us on Instagram, LinkedIn or Twitter for more!Contact Vidit at vidit@curiositycenter.xyz

Learn about power of self belief, dreaming big, dealing with the lowest of lows and coming out stronger with a level headed perspective on work and life, Mac shares his journey to founding the VC firm, Rare Beed. Welcome to episode #72 w Mac Conwell! Here are 5 key takeaways you will learn from this episode:How his father always made Mac dream big and push to do moreFiguring out life at age 19, after loosing his dad and being homeless to securing a job in government that paid more than what his parents earntHow to secure 1000+ meetings via Twitter to raise Rare Breed Ventures and 3 secrets of cold emailingHow should founders get the attention of investors through succinct company updatesVC's that inspire Mac and markets outside of the US he wants to invest in***TIMESTAMPS02:30 - From seasoning fried chicken to venture capital 03:10 - Mac’s father being a high flyer 03:45 - Dad was postal worker and Mum was bank teller 05:55 - Mr Davis & Patrick Jackson 08:00 - Success at age 20 09:15 - From lowest of lows to making an impact today 11:23 -  Heroes 12:15 - Most painful learning 14:55 - Attraction to Venture Capital 16:48 - learnings about people from 1000 meetings to start RareBreed VC 20:12 - 3 biggest secrets about effective cold messaging 23:00 - Managing influx of requests 24:20 -  Giving founders the room not to be perfect 28:00 - How to get VC’s attention with company performance update 29:35 - Founders that make the receptionist rich, make everyone rich 32:38 - Not hiring the quarterback 36:46 - Market outlook 38:00 - Interest in Africa and Pakistan startup ecosystem 39:45 - Inspiring VC’s and founders 42:05 - Final sprint***Thank you for rating / reviewing this podcast on iTunes and Spotify, as it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show and grow the show with sponsors and partners. Follow us on Instagram, LinkedIn or Twitter for more!This show showcases relatable role models, re-imagining a high flyer to help you achieve your potential and be 1% better everyday!Contact Vidit at vidit@curiositycenter.xyz