An Angel Investor and co-founder of multiple startup ventures, Susan Oliver has also served as a board member on over a dozen organisations in her long and rich career, including The Wheeler Centre, Fishermans Bend, The Smith Family and Fusion Retail Brands. Susan is a co-founder and recently retired Chair of Scale Investors, Australia’s first network of Angel Investors committed to investing in and supporting exclusively female founders. In her conversation with Adam, she discusses what she looks for in a founder when investing, and her belief that Australia should invest more in the technology products of Australian startups, rather than relying so heavily on the technology products of other nations.
Chapters
00:00 Introduction to Day One Podcast
00:29 Meet Susan Oliver
00:31 Overview of Scale Investors
01:18 Overview of the Alice Anderson Fund
02:20 Importance of Investing in Women Entrepreneurs
03:27 Diversity in Investment Panels
04:08 Understanding and Empathy in Investment
05:01 Relationship with Launch Victoria
05:37 Journey into Investing
06:46 The Start of Scale in Australia
08:03 Landscape of the Startup Ecosystem in 2013
09:39 Support for Startups in Australia
10:27 Challenges in Deep Tech Investment
11:15 Unpopular Opinion on Australian Market
12:41 Current Trends in the Startup Ecosystem
14:45 Advice for New Entrepreneurs
15:27 The Importance of Early Stage Investment
16:28 Opportunities for Australian Technology
17:35 The Need for Local Customers
18:25 Cultural Attitudes Towards Innovation
19:43 The Future of the Australian Startup Ecosystem
Resources
Scale Investors: https://scaleinvestors.com.au/Susan Oliver Profile, Melbourne School of Design: https://msd.unimelb.edu.au/alumni/alumni-profiles/susan-oliver
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