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First Cheque with Elicia McDonald from Airtree 🌳
And Earning Ears podcast launch! 👂
DayOne.FM
March 19, 2024
🎧 New First Cheque Episode 🎧
First Cheque exists to share some of the most interesting and informative early-stage investing conversations in Australia, and around the world.
Here’s another lesson-packed First Cheque interview with a leader in the Aussie VC ecosystem. Check out the launch of Day One’s brand new podcast deep-diving into how earning attention.
🌳 Meet Elicia McDonald 🌳
Partner at Airtree based in Sydney, AUS
On the latest episode of the First Cheque podcast, Elicia McDonald from Airtree shares insights from being on investment team with over $1.3B funds under management supporting Aussie and Kiwi startups.
Airtree supports +100 breakout tech companies, including Canva, Go1, Employment Hero, Pet Circle, Immutable, Linktree - and Elicia has been involved with supporting portfolio startups Abyss Solutions, Reejig, HotDoc, and Regrow Ag.
Before joining Airtree in 2016, Elicia developed expertise in growth after some time in investment banking and as a Enterprise Relationship Manager at LinkedIn.
In the startup world, Elicia advocates for focusing on company culture, making data-driven decisions, and the transformative power of enterprise sales.
In the episode, Elicia shares her personal beliefs on optimism and resilience as key traits for both investors and founders. The episode has segment focused on EIQ as Elicia discusses being empathetic with founders, cultivating resilience, and setting priorities while balancing full personal and professional lives.
Elicia's key insights reflect her understanding of the VC, her commitment to supporting founders throughout their journey, and her strategic approach to investing.
Listen to co-hosts Cheryl Mack from Aussie Angels and Maxine Minter from Co Ventures interview Elaine McDonald about finding and supporting the best startups on the First Cheque podcast.
 | In this episode, Elicia shares key lessons around resilience in startups, founder empathy, standards when investing, building trusted relationships for effective sourcing, and how embracing the venture capital industry's constant change is essential for long-term success. |
💸 Interviews on First Cheque 💸
 | 🔮 Trang Nguyen from Transpose Platform in San Francisco shares insights on connecting with +36,000 LPs, disrupting industries, and using a platform-based approach - all while helping to create +15 programs, +1,000 startups and making direct early-stage investments into 9 unicorns. |
🌳 Craig Blair from Airtree shares key lessons from early-stage investing since the early 2000s and running a fund with $1.3B funds under management. Craig’s interview
🐦 Samantha Wong from Blackbird in New Zealand discusses spotting opportunities and intentionally building community with +100 startups, +150 founders and +6,800 operators. Samantha’s interview
🛠️ Anabel Lippincott Paksoy from 43 invests in pre-seed and pre-product startups based out of the Bay Area with a focus on community operators. Anabel’s interview
🦄 Elaine Stead from M8 Ventures in Adelaide has made +100 personal investments (including 2 unicorns) discusses bravery and risk when supporting startups. Elaine’s interview
😱 Rayn Ong from Archangel Ventures in Sydney is one of the best connected investors with +100 personal investments. Archangel has +$10M invested into +40 companies with +90 founders. Rayn’s interview
🌱 Judy Anderson-Firth from Euphemia in Melbourne investing and supporting +40 companies and +20 funds with their ~$70M portfolio. Judy’s interview
🐑 Daniel Gavel from Black Sheep Capital in Brisbane aims to invest with a ‘everyone wins’ approach with multiple strategies running a fund, a syndicate and personally investing in startups. Daniel’s interview
⚡ Jessy Wu from AfterWork Ventures in Sydney has $20M funds under management and they've invested in +50 startups so far with +$100M revenue ambition. Jessy’s interview
📣 NEW PODCAST: Earning Ears 📣
 | How do brands keep your attention? What is it about their content that makes you want to keep reading or listening or clicking? From Day One, Adam Spencer interviews legendary community leaders sharing their stories about how they attract people into their ecosystem, engage audiences in a meaningful way, and keep their attention. |
As an angel investor and founder of Circular (a tech subscription service), Yaniv Bernstein shares insightful perspectives with his over 10,000 followers on LinkedIn, and over 4,000 subscribers on Substack. Yaniv Bernstein boasts a multifaceted career as was previously COO at Airtasker and an ex-engineering guy at Google.
As the co-host of The Startup Podcast, Yaniv has generated over 100,000 episode downloads sharing resources around mindset and methods driving Silicon Valley-style innovation.
In this episode of Earning Ears, Yaniv discusses impulsively launching a podcast and developing it into a business and community.
Launched in early 2022, Gemma and Will created Overnight Success - an email newsletter which now has over 2,800 subscribers. It's become one of the leading startup newsletters in AUS sharing stories of growth (with the impressive 53% open rate and 15% CTR).
Gemma Clancy is also co-founder and Head of Marketing at Stella Startups - a marketing service purpose-built to help early-stage startups develop their marketing foundations and build strong, sustainable brands from day one.
Will Richards is also head of investments at the Regional Angel Investor Network and recently launched Startup Speakers - a speaking bureau representing startup leaders with a mission to get more diverse voices talking about entrepreneurship.
In this episode of Earning Ears, Gemma and Will discuss the foundations required and the consistency needed to grow newsletter subscribers.
🎙️ More DayOne.fm Podcasts 🎙️
Want an episode from the archives?
 AUS Audio Startup History 📜 The History of the Australian Startup ecosystem is Day One’s flagship doco and interview series featuring a compilation of over +100 interviews and a 6 part audio documentary. |  Building Resilience in Startups 🧠 Tune into the latest Founder’s Fortitude episode with LinkTree co-founder Alex Zaccaria to learn about resilience, fundraising under pressure, and more tips for founder wellbeing (without the burnout). |
First Cheque is supported by our wonderful sponsors:
Turo & Scendar
 Scendar – Australia’s OG startup accounting firm catering to all stages of your business’ life.Free 1-hour consultation about your Business’ growth plans and finance needs. |  Turo – The world’s largest car-sharing marketplace, and it’s the perfect app for travel.The booking process is so convenient, you can get the car delivered, and the hosts are super friendly. |
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