Rohan Workman
Co-Founder & GP at Tall Order Ventures
Rohan Workman is co-founder and chief executive of Tall Order Ventures (formerly Skalata Ventures), a Melbourne early-stage fund he led from 2018 until a management buyout with chief operating officer Maxine Lee in July 2026, when the firm rebranded to focus on AI-era founders. Under his leadership the fund raised three funds and made more than 80 early-stage investments, including in Doohly, later acquired by Canva. Before Skalata he co-founded the HR software company RosterCloud, later acquired, and ran the University of Melbourne's Accelerator Program, after starting his career in corporate recovery and advisory at McGrathNicol. On Investment Thesis, Workman discussed backing overlooked founders as AI rewrites the venture playbook.
In their own words
From Rohan Workman of Skalata — Backing overlooked founders as AI rewrites the thesis · Investment ThesisOn paper, Uber and Airbnb are the worst ideas — and yet they turned out to be extraordinarily successful companies.
Career
- Now Co-Founder & GP · Tall Order Ventures
- Earlier Corporate advisory consultant · McGrathNicol
- Until 2016 · Startup Co-founder · HR management software company (sold 2016)
Sources: balancethegrind.co
Key moments
Jump straight to the part of Rohan Workman of Skalata — Backing overlooked founders as AI rewrites the thesis you want.
- 0:00 Cold open
- 1:56 Accountant in the GFC, to founder, to VC
- 4:46 Skalata's first formulaic thesis (and why they unwound it)
- 6:04 The thesis today: innovative, capital-lean, market-ready
- 7:42 Sector-agnostic — and AI-native operating leverage
- 10:00 Cheque sizes: up to $500K at valuations to ~$10M
- 12:08 What he looks for in a founder
- 14:25 First-time vs repeat founders; backing the overlooked
- 15:22 Breaking the rules: Brossa and an ASX-listed medtech
- 18:43 Selling Xero too early — why great companies take 10–15 years
Connections
Spot something wrong? Suggest a correction Updated 28 September 2026
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