I’m a Partner on the investment team at Airtree. My job is to find and work for founders who are pushing us all towards the future. My focus has always been on early-stage companies in enterprise software, dev tools, AI, infrastructure and fintech. I love unsexy stuff that just solves problems really, really well.
I grew up in Canberra but left straight after uni and spent 15 years living in Beijing, Silicon Valley and London. I joined the Airtree team from Accel – the US fund behind Facebook, Atlassian, Dropbox and Spotify. Before that, I was a founder running a venture-backed fintech startup (Bipsync) in Palo Alto.
I know that startups are vital to Australia & New Zealand’s future prosperity. Until recently, our economy has depended on a property boom perched on top of a mining boom. Startups are helping pull our economy into the 21st century and are key to providing sustainable prosperity and opportunities for our kids.
When I left uni as a comp sci grad almost 15 years ago, Australia didn’t really have a startup ecosystem. Like many Aussies, I had to disappear overseas to find a fulfilling career in tech. It’s incredible how quickly things have changed. Nowadays, you can do incredible work in some of the world’s most successful startups without having to leave the country, and it’s awesome that we get to play a small part in that change.
Here’s where you’ll find me on the weekend
My focus on the weekends is switching off—I love any activity that gives me 100% temporary distraction. My current faves are video games and surfing. I suck at both, but love the escape.
I’m on the lookout for
The things I’m looking for rarely fit into well-defined boxes. The best founders I’ve worked for never fit into a stereotype—they’ve always been outliers on some dimension. Some are outliers in their technical skills, others in their industry experience, and some are just made of sheer bloody-minded determination. I spend my time looking for these outliers.
Behind the scenes of my role
I know that fundraising is a total pain in the arse. I’ve done it as a founder and also as a VC, and in both cases, I know how much it sucks. I realise how much of a privilege it is to meet great founders every day, and I try not to take it for granted.
Position
Partner
Joined
2017
