Transparent VC Podcast

Our podcast interview with Ben Thompson from Employment Hero is now live. In this episode he shares the origin story of Employment Hero, and the key lessons he has learnt as a founder about scaling a business. He also addresses some of the recent criticisms raised against him and the business. Full episode linked in the comments below. Tribe Global Ventures Don McKenzie Ashleigh Greaves

🎉 Episode number 50 for the Tribe Talkin' format of Transparent VC Podcast! 🎉 A big episode that includes (ep link in comms): - Mr Free Speech himself, Mr Crylon Musk continually learning freedom of speech does not equal freedom of consequence. - An article from Bronwen Clune of Capital Brief talking about the "quiet exits" that some VC's don't want you to know about. We talk about our own quiet exit occurring at the moment. - An article by Kate Burgess of Capital Brief describing Sircel Limited's capital raising journey, and CEO Anthony Karam's frustration of big institutions not walking the walk. We share our view on where founders waste a lot of time with "look right, but very wrong" investors due lifecycle location differences. - Tess Bennett of The Australian Financial Review's article on Loam Bio laying off the majority of its staff in the US six months after its commercial launch in the country. We give our view on commentary from CEO Guy Hudson and their decision to downsize. - An article discussing that five executives have left Canva by Nick Bonyhady of The Australian Financial Review, and how this is often a normal lifecycle location manifestation. - Dean Freestone's legal action against Breakthrough Victoria. - A great awesome report into public company SaaS metrics made available by Matt Aird. Where do you compare? And lots more! Link in comms:

It's the "VC's are risk adverse, biased, stupid & lazy" episode of Transparent VC Podcast (ep in comms). Discussions included: - Some of Simon Thomsen's best ever work covering the recent Budget announcement, and that the Startup Daily awards are now open. A humble request for a new category of Worst Podcast please. - An article by Hugo Mathers of Capital Brief on Build Club, a new accelerator launched by Annie Liao 🇦🇺. We talk about our views on the good, and not so good of accelerators. Times, they are a changin'. - 😱 Rayn 🍇 Ong wanting to talk to the managers of people saying Australian VC is too conservative, and a post by Claire Bristow on a similar theme. - An article by Kate Burgess of Capital Brief interviewing Camille Goldstone-Henry of Xylo Systems overcoming challenges and biases from VCs. We provide some thoughts and different perspectives on some aspects. - A post by Jason M. Lemkin re small signals when a deal is a "maybe", and criticism by David Charlot, PhD, MSEng and defense by Stéphane Nasser. And the usual collection of random charts! Episode in the comms. Aaron Birkby Jack Butler

A lot of thought provoking articles in this weeks episode of Transparent VC Podcast. We discussed David Swan's article about what's next for Scott Farquhar after stepping down from Atlassian. The article highlighted the complementary nature of Scott and Mike Cannon-Brookes, and what founders and investors can learn. Bronwen Clune's article on criticism of equity crowdfunding by the VC community. We discuss Chris Gillings comments on the sector and the dropping of equity crowdfunding numbers from the Cut Through Venture's report. We discuss Matt Vitale's defence of the sector and our perspectives on crowdfunding within the ecosystem. Nick Bonyhady's article on the $1b invested in PsiQuantum and our thoughts on this move by the government. Other discussions included: - LinkedIn posts by Jason Andrew on Xero's strong pricing power, and not being a "Geoff Bozo". - Harry Stebbings pointing out how exceptional founders are exceptional at cold emails (the latest ep of 20VC is awesome btw). - Adam Robinson giving more evidence to what we're seeing- traditional outbound is dying. Episode link in the comms:

Adrian Bunter is back on Transparent VC Podcast! (ep in comms). As Adrian is a director of Employment Hero, he shared his perspectives on the issue between Employment Hero and Hostplus that has be widely written about. We then moved to trends and insights. Discussions themes: Capital Raising: Tips on effective engagement with investors, valuation insights, and the significance of early investor relations. Leveraging AI: The role of AI in startups, not as a trend but as a genuine business enhancer, emphasizing technology’s potential to solve real problems. Traits of Successful Founders: What makes founders successful, including their resilience, passion, industry knowledge, and ability to communicate their vision. Scaling Beyond Initial Success: Challenges of expanding sales and operations beyond initial networks, underscoring the need for scalable strategies. Navigating the Investment Landscape: Insights into the evolving field of angel investing and venture capital, and strategies for fruitful founder-investor relationships. Tribe Global Ventures Aaron Birkby Adrian Bunter