Produced by W2D1 Media. Work with us →
Alexey Mitko

Alexey Mitko

Partner at Co Ventures

Uncategorised

I make sure that the Finance, HR, and Legal teams are built and become self-sustaining, but I also dabble in anything else that needs to get done (Customer Support, Recruitment, Product Management, Corporate Secretary, General Ops). One day I do a bit of bookkeeping and the other moment lead the due diligence and close on more than $156.7m (and counting) in fundraising. To date, I have experienced the fast-paced growth at Canva (SAAS), did it again @ Koala.com (Digital Retail) and now reinventing healthcare at Eucalyptus (Telehealth) and its brands - pilot.com.au, kinfertility.com.au, skin.software, Juniper.

Now I am putting all my skills into another adventure as a Partner at a pre-seed stage fund Co Ventures.

Watch the episode Jump to key moments LinkedIn ↗

Career

  1. Now Partner · Co Ventures
  2. Earlier · Scale-up Finance/HR/Legal leadership · Eucalyptus
  3. Earlier · Scale-up Finance/HR/Legal leadership · Koala
  4. Earlier · Scale-up Finance/HR/Legal leadership · Canva

Sources: dayone.fm

Key moments

Jump straight to the part of How to Think About Equity as a Startup Employee you want.

  1. 3:01 The three ESOP questions every founder needs to answer
  2. 5:58 How to model equity allocation across rounds and hundreds of hires
  3. 9:10 Using ESOP as your most powerful recruitment and retention tool
  4. 12:02 How walking 200 employees through their equity built culture and trust
  5. 15:02 Open financials, shrinking cash balances, and what went wrong along the way
  6. 17:55 Why Australia's ESOP ecosystem is still behind Silicon Valley
  7. 26:48 Teaching employees to understand equity: the Google Sheet that started at zero
  8. 29:20 High salary vs heavy equity: giving employees a real choice
  9. 32:16 Common ESOP mistakes founders make and how to avoid them
  10. 35:03 Why Australians treat startup equity like monopoly money

Heard on

▶
First Cheque · 8 June 2026 How to Think About Equity as a Startup Employee

Co Ventures on Day One

Co Ventures Co Ventures is a pre-seed venture fund backing Australian software founders building for global scale from day one. 2 people · 22 episodes →

Connections

Spot something wrong? Suggest a correction Updated 25 September 2026

Produced by W2D1 Media

Want a show of your own?

W2D1 Media — the team behind the Day One Network, which helped build Blackbird Ventures' Wild Hearts — builds and produces podcasts for funds, founders and operators. If you want a show built around your brand, let's talk.

Start a show →
—