Rachael Neumann

Head of Startups ANZ, Amazon Web Services

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Rachael plays across many parts of the startup ecosystem. She serves as Chair of the Board for StartupAus, Partner in Startmate and was a founding board member of LaunchVic. In her current role as Head of Startups ANZ at Amazon Web Services, she is charged with growing out the market, driving quantity and quality of startups in ANZ. Additionally, Rachael is a strategic advisor and investor to a number of founders and their early stage companies. She has been sharing her passion for early stage investing through her role as Lead Facilitator for VC Catalyst and now, through Working Theory Angels.

Colin McLeod

Executive Director, Melbourne Entrepreneurial Centre

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Colin McLeod is the inaugural Executive Director of the Melbourne Entrepreneurial Centre.

Colin is a Professor in the Melbourne Business School where has been the Program Director of the Master of Entrepreneurship degree and the Academic Director of the Wade Institute of Entrepreneurship since 2015. He was awarded the title of Enterprise Professor in 2016 in recognition of his contribution to industry and academia.

Colin has a long-standing interest in entrepreneurship. He co-founded his first business in 1992, which expanded to a national company with almost 200 employees, he was a Visiting Scholar at the Haas School of Business in 1995/96 during the first ‘Internet Boom’ (and crash!) and completed a PhD in 1998 that identified some of the key factors that lead to the successful commercialisation of innovation. He has also been a Senior Associate of the Judge School of Business at the University of Cambridge.

In 2007, Colin and colleagues at the University of Melbourne were amongst the first researchers in the world to look at co-production with customers as a source of innovation. Their research was published in the highly ranked Journal of Retailing and has been cited over 800 times by other researchers.

Colin continues to have an interest in the commercialisation of innovation, and he contributed a section called “From Innovation to Entrepreneurship,” to a recent book by Danny Samson and Marianne Gloet titled Innovation and Entrepreneurship and published in 2016 by Oxford University Press.

He is currently a Director/Investor/Co-founder of six early stage companies in retail technology, online training, wireless technology, employee management, aged care and wearable biotechnology. All these companies started in Melbourne and have raised venture capital in the US and Australia, and have expanded to offices in Silicon Valley, Berlin and Manchester with partner operations in India, Malaysia and Uganda.

Colin was a member of the Executive Committee that raised almost $200 million to construct the Olivia Newton-John Cancer & Wellness Centre at the Austin Hospital and is a member of the AFL Research Board.

Pedram Mokrian

Adjunct Prof, Stanford University

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Matt Allen

Managing General Partner, Pick and Shovel Ventures

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Matt is a software developer, ex-CTO, ex co-founder, ex-recruiter, ex-BD guys. In his own words, that’s a lot of ex’s! Now he’s focussed on early-stage investing with a bias towards founders building enduring companies over the long haul.

Paul Bassat

Co-Founder, Square Peg Capital and SEEK

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Paul is a co-founder of Square Peg Capital.

Prior to founding Square Peg, Paul co-founded SEEK in 1997 and served as Joint CEO from 1997-2011. SEEK is the world’s largest online employment business and has market-leading businesses in Australia, China, Brazil, Mexico and throughout South-East Asia.

Paul is a director of Wesfarmers Ltd and a Commissioner of the Australian Football League (AFL).  He is also on the board of Innovation Australia, the Peter MacCallum Cancer Foundation and the P&S Bassat Foundation. Paul started his career as a lawyer and practised for 6 years.

Paul holds a Bachelor of Laws and a Bachelor of Commerce from The University of Melbourne.

Michael Batko

CEO, Startmate

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Michael started his career in corporate – including roles in finance at American Express and consulting at PwC and KPMG – before working for two of the largest Australian marketplaces, MadPaws, a marketplace for pet sitters, and Expert360, a marketplace for independent consultants. After taking Expert360 through a $14m Series B, he joined Startmate, Australia’s most ambitious accelerator. Following 2 years as Head of Operations, Michael is now leading the organisation as CEO.

James Cameron

Partner, AirTree Ventures

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Nick Crocker

General Partner, Blackbird Ventures

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Alister Coleman

Founder and Managing Partner, Tempus Partners

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Alister is the founder and Managing Partner of Tempus Partners, a first cheque investor into ANZ startups with global ambition and a mission to achieve the ‘impossible’. He previously co-founded ShippingEasy, a SaaS company delivering fulfilment automation to eCommerce merchants that was acquired in 2016, and has more than 15 years’ experience as a VC, founder and adviser to technology companies.

Dr Bronwyn Darlington

Founder and CEO, Agscent

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Bronwyn has more than 25 years industry experience in a variety of sectors, including senior roles in mining, engineering, agriculture, local government, community legal practice, finance, and textile and apparel design and manufacturing. She also has significant small business experience as a serial entrepreneur. Her latest deep tech venture, Agscent Pty Ltd, is applying nanotechnology to digitise the breath of cows in order to detect pregnancy at a very early stage.

Nisha Dua

Co-Founder and Partner, BBG Ventures

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Nisha Dua is a Co-Founder and General Partner at BBG Ventures, a NYC-based seed fund which invests in consumer start-ups with at least one female founder. BBGV invests across commerce, connected communities, future of work, personalized health and wellness, and Gen Z. At BBGV, Nisha has invested in over 60 start-ups including Zola, The Wing, Pymetrics, KiwiCo, Spring Health, Future Family and Winky Lux.

Nisha has spent the last decade working in media, tech, strategy and law. She was the GM of AOL’s millennial site, Cambio, which she re-launched as a site “for girls, #BUILTBYGIRLS” in partnership with Girls Who Code. She founded the #BUILTBYGIRLS WAVE platform, which has connected over 5000 girls with professionals to help them build their first networks in tech.

Nisha was previously Chief of Staff for the AOL Brand Group, working on strategy, operations and special projects. Nisha cut her teeth as a management consultant for Bain & Company and an M&A lawyer at Blake Dawson. She received her Bachelor of Commerce/Bachelor of Laws from UNSW.

Kylie Frazer

Founder, Eleanor Venture

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Kylie is the founder of Eleanor Venture, an early stage venture capital firm, which makes it easy for private investors to build their own diversified technology portfolios, fitting their own investment theses. In its short history, Eleanor has invested in over a dozen great Australian startups, including Fresh Equities, Jig Space and Goterra, making material capital contributions to their growth journeys.

Peter Gahan

Professor of Management, University of Melbourne

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Peter Gahan is Professor of Management at the University of Melbourne and a Research Fellow at the Centre for Workplace Leadership, where he was Foundation Director from 2012 to 2017. He has previously held academic and visiting positions at UNSW, Monash, University of South California, The European University Institute, Cardiff Business School, New York University and Stockholm Business School. Professor Gahan has also worked as senior public servant as Director of Workplace Innovation in the Victorian Department of Industry, Innovation and Regional Development. He has undertaken commissioned research for both state and commonwealth governments on areas related to employment relations, regulatory arrangements to support workplace innovation, and the consequences of various regulatory labour market reforms. Over the last 25 years, Professor Gahan has published widely on conflict and negotiations, employment relations and collective bargaining, high performance workplaces, labour markets and the future of work, and the consequences of labour market regulation. His current research focuses on two major drivers of change at work: workforce ageing and how technology is transforming the nature of jobs. Peter is currently exploring how older works are perceived by others (co-workers, managers and customers) in the workplace and how these perceptions influence hiring decisions, promotion and performance evaluations.   

Phoebe Gardner

co-founder and CEO,Beyond Ag

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Phoebe is the co-founder and CEO of Beyond Ag, founded in 2019. Beyond Ag’s mission is to reshape the global food system by transforming food waste into protein and fertiliser with insects. Every tonne of Beyond’s insect protein offsets 50 tonnes of CO2e emissions. Beyond Ag was selected to participate in the Melbourne Accelerator Program in 2019 and Startmate in 2020. 

Ben Hensman

Senior Associate, Square Peg Capital

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Ben is an investor at Square Peg Capital, a global venture firm with over US$800m under management. He sources new investments in Australia & New Zealand. In the Square Peg portfolio, Ben works with Airwallex, Athena, UpGuard, Vend, Vero and Zeller.

Ben is a director of Smiling Mind, a not-for-profit focused on the mental health of young people. Prior to joining Square Peg in 2016, Ben was an equities investment analyst at Fidelity International with a focus on tech, media and telcos. Ben holds a Bachelor of Laws (LLB) and Bachelor of Commerce (Finance) from the University of Queensland.

Peter Huynh

Co-Founder and Partner, Qualgro

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David Kenney

Partner, Hall Chadwick

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David Kenney is widely recognised as the leading legal advisor to businesses/start-ups/scale-ups in Australia. An advisor, partner, mentor, angel investor, he understands the challenges in business, raising capital and growing teams and revenue. With a background in corporate finance, accounting and international tax, he sits on many advisory boards across a range of sectors.

Jill Klein

Professor, Melbourne Business School

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Jill Klein joined Melbourne Business School in 2009 as a Professor of Marketing and is also a Professorial Fellow at the Melbourne Medical School.

After completing her PhD in Social Psychology at the University of Michigan, Jill joined the faculty at Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University. In 1997, she joined INSEAD. Jill has also held visiting positions at Fuqua School of Business at Duke University, and Helsinki School of Economics and Business Administration.

Jill’s research has been published in the Journal of Marketing, Management Science, Journal of Consumer Psychology, British Medical Journal, and more, with a focus on decision making biases and how they affect decisions in both business and medical settings.

Jill teaches Managerial Judgement, Decision Making and Resilient Leadership on the MBA, Executive and Senior Executive MBA programs, Advanced Managers Program, Specialist Certificate in Clinical Leadership, and a variety of executive education programs.

Jill has also appeared in the Huffington Post, Wall Street Journal, Guardian and other international media outlets.

Jeremy Kwong-Law

CEO & CIO, Grok Ventures

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Jeremy is CEO/CIO of Grok Ventures, the private investment firm of Mike & Annie Cannon-Brookes.

Prior to Grok, Jeremy was a 2x fintech startup founder, and an investment banker at Macquarie Bank and Rabobank.

Leila Lee

Head of Distribution, Square Peg Capital

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Leila is responsible for building relationships with investors, raising Square Peg’s funds and investor relations. Leila has considerable experience in working with institutional investors, family offices and financial advisors, as well as raising funds across multiple asset classes and strategies.

Previously, she was an Executive Director in the Institutional Sales team at Goldman Sachs Asset Management (GSAM) (2009-2017). Prior to that, she managed relationships across asset consultants and research houses for GSAM.

Bryn Leggett

Founder and Director, HelloCFO

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Bryn is the Founding Director of HelloCFO, a specialist accounting and advisory practice supporting startup and high-growth businesses.

With a diverse background covering tax and accounting, corporate finance and CFO services, Bryn delivers practical advice drawn from a wealth of experience with clients ranging from VC backed startups, high-growth disrupter businesses and ASX listed entities.

Bryn currently supports numerous Seed to Series B stage startups operating within Australia and globally in sectors spanning SaaS, fintech, hardware, agtech, and consumer internet.

Alex McCauley

CEO, StartupAUS

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As CEO of Australia’s national tech startup advocacy organisation, Alex’s role is focused on helping build Australia’s startup ecosystem. StartupAUS work with startups, corporates, and governments across the country to help get the settings right to make Australia one of the best places in the world to build and grow a tech company.

Jules Miller

Partner, Mindset Ventures

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A seasoned entrepreneur and VC investor, Jules is currently Partner at Mindset Venture in Los Angeles. Prior to this, she was Partner at IBM’s Blockchain Accelerator in NYC and Co-Founder of Prose Ventures, an independent fund focused on professional services. Jules has exited three major startups including Evolve Law and Hire an Esquire. She has degrees from UCLA and LSE and is a Kauffman Fellow and mentor for young women.

Paul Naphtali

Co-Founder and Managing Partner, rampersand

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Paul is an international investor with extensive experience in Silicon Valley, the UK and Australia. Following a prolific career in strategic communications and leading many startups through to major acquisition, Paul cofounded rampersand to invest in and support Australian early-stage technology companies.

Sarah Nolet

Co-Founder, Tenacious Ventures

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Sarah is an internationally recognized food systems innovation expert, the CEO and Founder of AgThentic, a global food and agriculture strategy firm, and co-founder of Tenacious Ventures, Australia’s first dedicated agrifood tech VC firm. Sarah has been instrumental in building the early stage agtech ecosystem in Australia – from advising dozens of startups to designing accelerator programs and consulting to established agribusinesses.

Rayn Ong

Investment Manager, Ong Heng Venture

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Rayn Ong has been an active angel investor for the past 6 years. He has invested in over 60 startups and funds including Blackbird, Instaclustr, Propeller Aero, Carbar, Eucalyptus & Fresh Equities. Rayn is a mentor at the Startmate accelerator program and he has been voted the most valuable mentor twice by the founders. In his free time, Rayn loves to collect startup tshirts and Linkedin recommendations.

Nicole Small

Investment Manager, Rampersand

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Nicole joined Rampersand after seven years in SEEK’s strategy team, following on from a number of years in strategy consulting and investment banking. That journey has given her broad insight into investing, product strategy, general business operations and fast growth environments, all very useful when it comes to finding — and helping — the best tech startups in the country.

Julie Uhrman

Angel Investor, Los Angeles and Founder and President, Angel City (WFC, LA)

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Rachel Yang

Investment Manager, Giant Leap Fund at Impact Investment Group

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Rachel is the Investment Manager at Giant Leap, a venture capital fund backing founders using business as a force for good, driving social and environmental change across three themes: health and wellbeing, sustainable living and empowering people. Giant Leap has invested in 18 companies to date.  Rachel is also on the Board of Startup Victoria, a non-profit, grassroots organisation with over 20,000 members supporting startup founders succeed, and is a member of the Victorian State Government’s Innovation Taskforce.

Mike Zimmerman

Partner, Main Sequence Ventures

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Mike Zimmerman is a Partner with Main Sequence Ventures, an early stage venture capital firm investing in deep-tech companies creating future industries.  Main Sequence manages the $240M CSIRO Innovation Fund, backed by CSIRO, the Australian government, Temasek and other institutional and private investors. Mike has over 20 years of startup operating and investing experience in Australia and the US, been a founder or executive in several venture-backed companies and worked with several dozen companies as an advisor, director and/or investor. He has an MBA from Stanford University and a BA from Amherst College.