Investment Thesis
Building an investment thesis from the ground up — one conversation at a time.
Host Kali Norman invites listeners to join her on her journey as a startup investor, as she builds her own investment thesis from the ground up—learning directly from experienced investors who have already defined (and redefined) theirs.
Through candid, structured conversations, Kali uncovers the thinking, frameworks, and experiences that shape the way money moves in early- and growth-stage investing.
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Building an investment thesis from the ground up — one conversation at a time.
Every episode
Latest Mick Liubinskas' Investment Thesis
Climate Salad founder Mick Liubinskas has spent more than 25 years obsessing over one thing: backing incredible people. From building one of Australia's first online business databases in 1998, to getting wiped out in the dot-com crash, to co-founding Pollenizer, Mick has built…
Katharine Giles of Brandon Capital - The Investment Thesis Behind Backing Life Sciences
Katharine Giles started her career as a doctor, but quickly realised that life on the medical frontline wasn’t the path she wanted to stay on.
Don McKenzie's Investment Thesis
Kali Norman sits down with Don McKenzie, Co-Founder of Tribe Ventures, to unpack how his investment thesis has evolved over more than two decades of angel investing and company building.
Alex Khor's Investment Thesis
Kali Norman builds her investment thesis with Alex Khor, co-founder of AfterWork Ventures — on pricing risk, backing founders, and why optimists make money.
Alan Jones of M8 Ventures - Distribution barriers and backing founders you want to be mates with
Veteran angel investor and M8 Ventures co-founder Alan Jones joins host Kali Norman to unpack his 20-year investing journey
Rohan Workman of Skalata — Backing overlooked founders as AI rewrites the thesis
Skalata Ventures co-founder and CEO Rohan Workman joins host Kali Norman to unpack a thesis built on backing overlooked founders — capital-lean companies with a defensible edge, founders who can read a balance sheet and ship an MVP, and che
Taryn Pieterse of Rampersand — How a VC backs early-stage founders
Rampersand partner Taryn Pieterse joins host Kali Norman to unpack how she backs early-stage founders — from A$250K–A$2M first cheques to the founder traits she screens for (grit, execution, balanced
Episode Five: Dan Coughlan's Investment Thesis
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.
Episode Four: Maxine Minter's Investment Thesis
In this session, we sit down with investor and founder Maxine Minter.
Kali Norman
Kali Norman is the kind of person who somehow runs growth at Innovation Bay, programs an entire tech festival (West Tech Fest), hosts a podcast about investment theses, invests in startups through two VC funds, and still found time to become a certified yoga teacher in Bali. Based out of Western Australia's Margaret River region, she spent 2+ years at Atlassian building out their Foundation programs across APAC before jumping back into the startup ecosystem full-time. Her background is genuinely all over the place in the best way — from recruiting, sales, community building, corporate philanthropy, and events to government, enterprise, and scrappy early-stage startups. She's an LP in Co Ventures and AfterWork Ventures, hosts the Investment Thesis Podcast where she picks apart how investors actually think, and co-runs After Dark, a series of unofficial afterparties at major Australian tech conferences with Garry Williams. Curtin University grad, board volunteer, meditation student, and apparently someone who thrives on running between airport gates.
Bring your thesis to the table.
Have an investment perspective worth exploring? Book a conversation with the Investment Thesis team.