Why I got involved in Startup Victoria

A couple of years ago I had cocktails in Docklands with a highly successful Australian digital entrepreneur, who told me something that profoundly changed the way I viewed start-ups. He told he that he had set-up a small fund that made thirty five $50,000 investments into start-ups. And despite the fact that he was a fairly cluey guy, he did his dough on all but one, which looked like it might actually just give him his money back .

He felt he learned a lesson that cost him around $2M.

Since then he has made a series of very profitable investments and had a number of new ventures he has been intimately involved with turn to gold. He said “Every time people pitched me for money, it meant they were focused on capital raising and being a start-up. This is clearly the wrong thing as they always went belly up.” And then “But when I did research, found exciting start-ups that were starting to grow, and cold called them to pitch them to take my money and connections to help them grow — I always made a motza”.

So here’s the lesson he learned

“If people pitch me today, its an immediate red flag — as they are focused on the wrong things. If instead they are focusing on growing an innovative business, and I have to pitch them to take my money to help them grow — its an immediate green flag.”

From that day forward I wanted to help founders build better start-ups, better meaning opportunities that would draw investors like moths to a flame. Leni Mayo was the third person at the table, and two years later when he said to me “Do you you want to get involved in Start-up Victoria and building a better ecosystem” I couldn’t say no