Podcast host Kali invites listeners to join her as she builds her own investment thesis from the ground up—learning directly from experienced investors who have already defined (and redefined) theirs.

In this session, we sit down with investor Dan Coughlan.

Dan Coughlan is a Principal at Airtree, one of Australia's leading venture capital firms. With a background in commerce, he began his career at Credit Suisse as an equity research analyst covering publicly listed software companies before transitioning into venture capital; he joined Airtree as an Investment Manager and has since risen to Principal. At Airtree, Dan invests across both the firm's early-stage fund—backing founders from pre-seed through Series A—and its $400+ million growth fund, which supports high-growth companies from Series B to pre-IPO. He has developed a particular depth in data infrastructure and AI tooling, and holds the view that the best investors don't predict the future—they see the present very clearly.