Tag: Melbourne Angels

Brisbane start-up Grapple has a smart intuitive tool to help business managers plan projects faster & recently closed an oversubscribed $315,000 seed round

Coal mines are  well-known for being challenging to manage - just ask a canary. But, fortunately for our aviary friends, technology has helped improve...

It's an investment, you might say, of cosmic proportions. Melbourne Angels, an Australian investment group specialising in high value-add investment across the country, has spearheaded...

Paul Graham says decide to invest within 24 hours! Evidence says do at least 40 hours of due diligence! Have you read the latest essay...

Many of our young entrepreneurs in Australia glean their understanding of business, market and investment from vicarious or direct experience of Silicon Valley or Silicon Alley. However, Australia is not the USA. Our culture, business environment, market structure and consumer behaviour are all quite different. Assuredly there are similarities but, in thirty years of doing business in all these markets and many others, I have learned that it is the differences rather than the similarities which underpin the biggest opportunities.

Private Sydney-based angel group AngelLoft has launched an Entrepreneur in Residence Program to help grow new ventures and secure funding. In addition to place to a bunker-down and hang a shingle, participants score a seat at AngelLoft dinners, where they can shoot the breeze with the group’s high-powered business types.

A young entrepreneur asked me an interesting question, “If Twitter hadn’t happened yet and you had the chance to invest in it at start-up, would you?” As it turns out this is quite relevant as I did have the chance to invest in Twitter during a very early funding round through my own networks in Silicon Valley.

A sale is a process and the first step in that process is not to demand exclusivity. Exclusivity is either bought or earned and, in the case of raising capital, it is usually earned. An NDA implies exclusivity and that brings with it constraints on both parties. Would you ask a date to sign a pre-nuptial agreement before the first date?

A sale is a process and the first step in that process is not to demand exclusivity. Exclusivity is either bought or earned and, in the case of raising capital, it is usually earned. An NDA implies exclusivity and that brings with it constraints on both parties. Would you ask a date to sign a pre-nuptial agreement before the first date?

Recently, I have been reflecting on a saying I learned from VC friends when I was living and working in Silicon Valley: “Always invest in an A grade team with a B grade product rather than a B grade team with an A grade product”.

Recently, I have been reflecting on a saying I learned from VC friends when I was living and working in Silicon Valley: “Always invest in an A grade team with a B grade product rather than a B grade team with an A grade product”.

Unless you have deep pockets, your new venture is not going to get very far without a capital injection. Of course, different investment opportunities...