WELCOME TO DREAM BIG VOL 5!! Xmas Edition 🎅🏻

A newsletter to help Start-Up Founders, Operators + Investors DREAM BIG!

WHAT’S INSIDE:

• 💌 Letter from DBSC

• 💡 Gold Nuggets - Exclusive Interview with Jess Walker

• 🔥 LIVE DEALS - Dream Big Syndicate

• 🧙‍♂️ Cap Chat - with Chris Wilson

• ✨ LACH LIKES ~ Dig into something new

• 🎙️ Latest Funny Business Guest Recaps

💌 A letter from DBSC

And just like that 2023 has come to an end.

DBSC has just had its 1st birthday which is hard to comprehend. I posted recently that startup years at times feel like dog years because so much can happen in such a short period of time, which for DBSC is no exception.

We’ve released hundreds of podcasts, launched the Dream Big Newsletter, thrown events in multiple states, onboarded some incredible founders and their startups to our advisory roster, established a great variety of partner businesses that strengthen our network + ecosystem and have taken on board plenty of learnings and feedback from our community members on how we can build on the foundations we have established in year 1 for a huge year of scale in 2024.

Thank you to everyone who has thrown support our way and has backed the underlying belief of the social club. Making things happen in the world of start ups is not an easy task, our respect goes out to all the people for their grind and grit through what has been an overall challenging year due to market conditions.

Feeling optimistic and excited about the potential 2024 holds.

Rest up and catch you verrrrry soon.

BIG ❤️

💡 Gold Nuggets with Jess Walker

What’s it all about:

"Gold Nuggets" aims to extract invaluable insights and unfiltered truths from industry leaders, entrepreneurs, and experts. Today we are lucky enough to sit down with Jess Walker, Community and Programs Manager @ AirTree + Non-Executive Director at Fishburners.

Q+A:

1- You’re crazy until you’re not - what mindset do you think founders need to have in order to make things happen?

I think all founders have an element of crazy in them, myself included. You have to think and dream big, give up financial security and make a lot of sacrifices, for something that may or may not work out. It's a lot to ask of anyone so I admire all founders for giving it a go. The biggest mindset/characteristic I see in strong founders, is resilience. You need to be able to roll with the punches, of which there are many and let fewer things phase you.

2 - Moments of doubt - Did you ever question your ability to get to an outcome with startup, AirTree or anything else you’ve worked on?

During my first startup, I was 23-25, I was young and hungry and naive which in hindsight, worked in my favour. I had no idea simply how difficult it would become. There were moments towards the end when I was hoping to be acquired, I thought, how long could this take...? I was pretty exhausted by this point and everyday felt like an uphill battle. It ended up taking 6 months for the acquisition to go through and I honestly wasn't sure how much longer I had in me.

3 - VC vs Founder life - What’s life like now working in the investment world compared to life as a Founder?

I'm not gonna lie, working in VC is much easier than being a founder. When you're a founder it's grind, grind grind and it's hard to switch off. Being in VC is wonderful in the sense that you get to work with brilliant startups and still be in the action, but it's also possible to switch off when you need to. In saying that, the feeling of building something in a startup is pretty addictive, I see why people do it.

4 - Misconceptions - What are some misconceptions of the Venture Capital space and the people in it?

I think my biggest misconception about the venture capital space was that everyone posts their thought leadership from unwelcoming ivory towers while wearing Patagonia. Despite the intimidating facade, I was glad to see I was wrong (about everything except for the Patagonia part). The ANZ ecosystem is full of friendly and collaborative people who genuinely care about improving the broader community for everyone.

5 - Share some wisdom - What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received?

Less advice and more a quote I live by, 'Do one thing everyday that scares you' - Eleanor Roosevelt. The idea is to constantly put yourself outside of your comfort zone and overcome small fears daily so that when the big pitch happens or you need to ask for a payrise, you're better equipped. It led me to doing a course in stand up comedy which was invaluable to the work I do.

🔥 LIVE DEALS - DREAM BIG SYNDICATE

Current Listings:

➡️ SQUARE X/GREENSQUARE - RAISING INVESTMENT NOW

➡️ PAYSQUAD - RAISING INVESTMENT NOW
 
➡️ SECONDZ - RAISING INVESTMENT NOW

➡️ SEABIN - RAISING INVESTMENT NOW

About the Dream Big Syndicate:

Our syndicate aims to democratise access to investment deal flow to the wider DBSC network and provide opportunities for startups to access capital and the right strategic investors for their business.

🤝 Invest Deal by Deal in Early Stage Start Ups (Pre-Seed-Series A)
💵 Small Minimum Cheque Size, no fee to join, no obligation to invest.
⚙️ Investment process managed via tech through our Platform Partners.

➡️ Register your interest to join the Dream Big Syndicate here.

About Dream Big Advisory:

If you are a FOUNDER looking to raise investment or are craving support through your Pre Seed/Seed stage, we want to hear from you!! We have limited spots left available for our advisory offering and we’re pumped to open the year strong in 2024.

➡️ Register your interest for Dream Big Advisory.

🧙🏻‍♂️ CAP CHAT - with DBSC Director Chris Wilson

Xmas Day is next Monday. Enough said … that is crazy. 

And as such, I will keep this Cap Chat brief.

One thing I am guessing many Founders are hoping Christmas delivers is capital … nicely packed in a bag and tied with a bow. Wouldn’t that be nice…?

Well, I have some bad news … that ain’t happening!

So what I suggest you do instead over the coming weeks, is take some quality time to really reflect on your business and the year that was 2023. And do this with funding and capital in mind.

1. Investors are looking for many things … but they are ALL looking for Value Capture more and more these days. Many Founders I have worked with over the years are great at Value Identification and Creation, giving customers something of value (that they really value). But you need to be even better at Value Capture, which is where you turn the value you create for your customers into profit for your business. Proving yours is / will be a profitable business is important. The days of revenue based funding only are behind us.

2. Is the business you want to scale in 2024 the same as the one you sit in right now … take some time to consider any “tweaks” that might be needed. In the ‘busyness’ of the year, opportunities to alter course, slow down, speed up, dare i say it - pivot, can pass quickly, and be missed. Spend some time really thinking about what your business will look like in 12 months and come back with that in mind to act on quickly. If there is nothing to change, at least you have tested your resolve and perhaps your vision which is not a bad thing to do every now and then. Blinkered Founders can often fail when there are other options. 

3. Are you happy with the people in and surrounding your business? Building and growing the right team is essential, and requires focus and attention. Be very deliberate as you think about this, capital of the human kind is the most valuable of the capitals you can have. And who else are you talking to and spending time with? Advisors, mentors … investors (existing and prospective). On this latter point, make sure you are talking to people who may invest in you in the future. Get to know them, what they are looking for. Keep them informed so when you do need to access funding, you will have some trusted and friendly people to go to first. “Always on capital” can literally change the fund raising paradigm for you as you scale.

Anyway, I will leave it there for now. 

Apart from the three points above, I hope you also spend time NOT thinking about raising capital, building out your tech stack and opening up the US market. Be sure to take time out entirely, detox so to speak and enjoy some time away wherever you may be, and for however long you can take.

See you in 2024.

Onwards and upwards,

Chris 🧙🏻‍♂️