We have another cracking episode for you today, with the legendary and outspoken VC, the “bolder than bold” Steve Baxter of TEN13 VC. For those of you to not know Steve, he is a Tech Tour da force and national hero of the Australian Tech scene, created by his insightful  wisdom on TV show “Shark Tank”, which made his name down under. More recently, Steve has focused his efforts on investing through his excellent and early staged focused VC, TEN13,  in one of my favourite cities in the world Brisbane. They are a very active bunch and one to focus on, for our Founder listeners – as they are invest globally!

Anthony and I caught up with Steve on an early Friday morning in Mid April 2021. During our 40 minute conversation, Steve hones in on these areas in today’s episode and provides his own, unique spunky wisdom to the conversation around the Australian Tech and VC scene:

# How ballsy the Australian Start-Up scene has been during the pandemic, where unprecedented levels of capital are being pumped into VC as an asset class
# The growth of the Australian Unicorns, where their have been a flurry Unicorns announced in the last 12 months, as the scene matures and more talent is getting backed and built. TEN13  has backed a number of these winners!
# The focus of TEN13 on Software, APIs especially, showcased in the 17 deals transacted in the last 16 months. 4 of these deals closed in the week before Christmas, right in the middle of the Australian Holiday season  !! They are looking for more !!!
# TEN13 invest globally and invest any where from £100k – £5m, with the vast majority of founders from Australia and NZ, but based usually in the US, as most tend to migrate via the Delaware / San Francisco flip, more-so than heading to London
# On his Start-Up Catalyst advice for Founders: Basically cut to the chase fast in pitches, “life is too short and I don’t want to hear the loads of drivel – say what you do and what you want in the first 5 minutes of a call or a pitch”. Also “Research from day one what capital you need to raise, know this number and stick to it!”

# There are many, many more nuggets – so listen or watch here. If you enjoy, we highly recommend connecting with Steve HERE