Cheryl Mack
CEO & Co-founder, Aussie Angels at Aussie Angels
Hosts First Cheque with Cheryl Mack & Maxine Minter
Connect on LinkedIn
In their own words
It's easy to get a 652 multiple return if you only invest once, because you're always going to get the best return from your first investment.
The best founders also ignore 90 percent of advice that they get from people within the ecosystem.
I'm going to be the person that helps founders connect with capital and helps investors deploy capital, but I'm not going to be the one that deploys it.
About
Cheryl Mack is the CEO of Aussie Angels, a platform dedicated to democratizing angel investing in Australia and New Zealand. With over 20 startup investments, she leads an angel syndicate of more than 120 investors and co-runs the 361 Angel Club, which includes over 400 investors. Cheryl is a strategic advisor to several startups and a mentor for programs like Startmate and Founder Institute. Her career includes leadership roles at Stone & Chalk and the Australian Computer Society, and she was the CEO of StartCon for four years, where she created the APAC-wide Pitch for $1M competition. Cheryl is also known for her appearances on Startup Daily as the Pitch Doctor. She is passionate about community building, marketing, and helping both startups and angel investors succeed.
Career
- Now CEO & Co-founder · Aussie Angels
- Earlier Ran StartCon (grew event 1,500 to 4,000 attendees) · StartCon
- Earlier Community leadership · Stone & Chalk
- Earlier Community leadership · Australian Computer Society
- Earlier Founder, Vancouver chapter · Startup Grind Vancouver
Sources: capitalbrief.com
Key moments
Jump straight to the part of How VCs Really Assess AI Startups | Cheryl Mack, Maxine Minter and Georgie Healy you want.
- 2:15 Are Cheryl and Maxine AI skeptics or advocates?
- 6:00 What's actually fueling the AI hype?
- 10:45 Are we in a bubble—or just early in the cycle?
- 16:20 Valuations, FOMO, and how investors are pricing AI
- 21:00 What angel investors should look for in AI startups
- 27:30 AI’s biggest red flag: When it all just sounds like magic
- 31:00 Are agents real or is everyone faking it?
- 36:40 AI in venture workflows: What Maxine actually automates
- 41:30 The real power of personal brand in VC
- 44:50 How Cheryl preps for founder calls with Google NotebookLM
Also heard on
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▶ Aussie Angels on Day One
Aussie Angels is an Australian investment platform that enables sophisticated investors to co-invest alongside experienced startup investors through syndicates, thereby… 1 person · 26 episodes → Connections
Georgie HealyHost, In The Blink Of AI 
Maxine MinterFounder & General Partner, Co Ventures, Co Ventures 
Will RichardsHost, The Startup Retro 
Gemma ClancyHost, The Startup Retro 
Emma GrifeHead of Founders, Startmate, Startmate 
David BurtDirector of Entrepreneurship, UNSW Founders 
Adam SpencerHost, Documentary: The History Of The Australian Startup Ecosystem 
Simon ThomsenEditor, Startup Daily Spot something wrong? Suggest a correction Updated 25 September 2026
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