Blog Posts

Another FKA Friday ● 5 August 2022#27

5/8/2022


	5 August 2022 #27		820

David was cycling in Colorado last month, then he spotted shutl. at ADI yesterday. He will take a closer look. Join him if you dig two wheeled communting.

ADI.Clinic is always interesting...

Terry from Eight360 is a founder and also a father. Welcome his little angel Lilly.

All the best from everyone to the whole Miller family !

Jono wants to join as a Flying Kiwi Angel. Caro, Cornelius and Arron have talked with him and inspected his wings. They reckon he'd be a good fit.

Please, advise the Board in confidence if you know of any reason why Jono should not join our group.

Interesting discussion about The End of Social Media as we know it. Also less influence for influencers. Good Riddance! □

From the NBR. IHV's next seed fund is filling up irregardless of the global economic climate. Gangbusters—NBR is a big IHV fan. Dambusters!

Is Zuru a bad employer or is it a case of bad employees badmouthing?

Two articles: ONE & TWO.

This has absolutely nothing to do with angel investing nor entrepreneurship, also very little with Alimentazione Sportiva but it is funny. Watch Models VS Reality!

Also, on LinkedIn and over 2,000 FKA GIFs on GIPHY.

Another FKA Friday ● 29 July 2022#26

29/7/2022


	29 July 2022 #26		821

We had a great birthday party last night, kindly hosted by Kami—thank you! Katheren, thank you for putting together an awsome party

170 investors, 60 of them active angels, $19.0m invested in 34 startups, $13.6m so far returned from 7 companies. More escrow to come and 27 companies still in the running. Thank you to everyone who has helped along the way!

FKA is definitely a Team Effort!

Thank you to everyone who came out to join us for the occasion.

A resource from Callaghan Innovation worth checking out! product360.nz

Still room! Leveraging channel partners for your SaaS business! Serge will spill the beans on carrots and more. Secure your spot HERE!

"Carrots and Sticks" or "Carrot on a Stick"?

From the NBR. The theory goes that having founders with ‘skin in the game’ – owning a decent chunk and/or having an influential leadership position – will lead to better decision making for all shareholders. However, there are exceptions.

Who says it is only angels who help founders? Here a case where Eight360 founder Terry is thinking of FKA's Chief Cat Herder and flicking him this Amazon deal.

An interesting discussion about the tension between standards that help with wider adoption and innovation. READ ALL ABOUT IT

Suse and Bridget are throwing another party, the annual AANZ Angel Summit.

Secure your place here! □

Also, on LinkedIn and over 2,000 FKA GIFs on GIPHY.

Another FKA Friday ● 22 July 2022#25

22/7/2022


	22 July 2022 #25		821

Kara has been heard across the ditch, $500k from an Ozzie VC is taking their round into overdrive! The board is seeking formal approval from existing shareholders who will have a last opportunity to top up on same terms. Ashley is managing FKA's rights. Interested? Get in touch for more info.

The CEO Arash has not lost his hair! The American Sign Language demonstration for "MONEY" was taken from HERE, it is not Arash □

Leveraging channel partners for your SaaS business! Serge will spill the beans on carrots and more. Secure your spot HERE!

The archive photo looks to be from the pre-SaaS era□

Here comes the recording of the panel discusson that Julian organised.

The hat is the latest addition to the FKA merch pack. Available from Katheren!

FKA is turning 8! Numbers for the party are building! Angels, founders, investors, partners, and everyone who has helped us along the way—are invited to join us next Thursday, 28th July at 18:30 for the birthday party. PLS RSVP

The lines between over-optimism, deception, and fraud are not always bright, and investment schemes can move slowly between those categories over time. On bullshit in investing reveals some of the red flags!

ADI.Clinic never fails to surpirse! This week Julia Imo was one of the founders who surprised us with science to read the mental state from the way walk. READ MORE!

Investor rep and founder work as a team. Knowing how to support each other is important to maintain sanity in the crazy startup world. Therefore AANZ is running the Abroad Wellbeing programme again in 2022. Check it out!

Suse Reynolds says, "It is crazy good!"

Mike is a Flying Kiwi with a new day job! Formerly with NZTE, he is now with red bird. With so many birds to chose from it is tough to know which one will be laying the golden eggs. Deskbird will get a lot of laughs with their video.□

Q&A with Suse Reynolds and Bridget Unsworth of AANZ. READ ON!

Ava Gardner is no more but there will be plenty of wine at this year's angel summit in Queenstown! Register HERE. Yet another bird, chase the early bird!

Also, on LinkedIn and over 2,000 FKA GIFs on GIPHY.

Another FKA Friday ● 15 July 2022#24

15/7/2022


	15 July 2022 #24		823

You've heard it from everyone else, James and the awesome team at FileInvite have closed their Series A with just over $10M.□ The biggest raise in FKA history yet and with $1M well supported by many of the Flying Kiwis.

HERE come the speeches

From the NBR. What is it that attracts James from FileInvite and many other Kiwi startups to Denver in Colorado? Surely it is neither the Barbarella graffiti nor John Denver!□

Wow! Not three days since Campbell from Cerulean aka Spaces has delivered his investor update showing great growth, and we get this from Chicago! Best of Show award and free press, once, twice. Awesome!

Not mocking like Best in Show! ‍□

The AmCham Awards 2022 entries are open, promising more than a chocolate fish! The Emerging Exporter and High Growth Exporter categories are fit for startups.

Last year's finalists included Kami & Fuel50. GO ENTER! And clean up!

Flying Kiwi Glen. "A great catch!", says Jeneene. "A big fish investor!", says Rudi.

Uli is another of our angels with a day job. Now, the co-owner of AdvisoryWorks he is sharing their FREE webinar series. CHECK IT OUT! Also, recordings of the first two.

From Lojo's Rick Shera. Twitter’s legal claim against Mr Musk is not just great reading for legal geeks like me. Beautifully crafted for anyone to read. The trick in writing such a submission is always to get the reader to go “OMG, open and shut, there can be no defence”. THE CLAIM

The Unleash Space opened 5 years ago in 2017 and had over 5,000 active users through its doors establishing new ventures, prototyping, creating, and innovating.

Cake and games! SEE MORE

By the way, the Kara team practised their signing skills in the Unleashed Space before braving public demonstrations. We'll have more good news on Kara soon.

Meeting an investor for the first time is a lot like going on a first date. Both founder and investor are trying to get to know each other and see if they are compatible. Here are 5 ways founders can lose credibility with potential investors. DON'T!

A VC's program to grow angels. They're looking for 20 across Australasia. MORE □

Also, on LinkedIn and over 2,000 FKA GIFs on GIPHY.

Another FKA Friday ● 8 July 2022#23

8/7/2022


	8 July 2022 #23		820

Well done Julian for putting on this panel discussion. Rudi, Cassie and Rob spoke on behalf of FKA, Movac and Hillfarrance. 85-95 founders listened in. So, Julian got two plugs for CFO4U: "moving shit" and "necessary evil"!

The recording via Horn.co will be coming next week. Thanks, Lawrence, for providing your awesome video conference platform for this panel discussion and every week for ADI!

The film and its sequel depict incredible technological progress. So why is life shown as so implausibly awful? READ

Tim is one of many of our Flying Kiwi Angels with a day job. His business Reason is one of Asia Pacific's fastest-growing digital companies and gives clients full visibility over conversion analytics. HEAR HIM!

Ben Hamm Conard at Creative HQ, Wellington is no couch potato and has launched this new podcast in the startup space. LISTEN UP□️

From the Intelligencer. Masters of the Bubbleverse - Secretive hedge fund Tiger Global changed the rules on tech investing. Then it all went bad.

Your loss for not putting up your hand to join this motley crew tonight. Katheren had her work as Chief Event Officer CEO cut out. Not easy to find a restaurant that would accommodate the numbers as everywhere seems to be affected by staff shortage due to Omicron. Bon Appétit & Skål!

1) e-commerce site 2) cannabis for canines 3) posture correction for school kids 4) coffee cups. Glen proved again to be a real angel!

Secure your place for a great night! Thursday, 28 July!

Angels, Founders, and Partners come and join us

R S V P

From the NBR. Does NZ’s startup ecosystem really have a bullying problem? Debra and Lance Wiggs are proving more photogenic alongside their commentary than Rudi and Marcel van den Assum.□

Emails that surfaced after the death of Jake Millar suggest that NBR management can be heavy-handed with obtaining interviews from founders. See Debra's lament.

Not just photogenic, see HERE the documentary of one man's incredible journey from Target furniture salesman to multi-exit VC!

Also, on LinkedIn and over 2,000 FKA GIFs on GIPHY.

Another FKA Friday ● 1 July 2022#22

1/7/2022


	1 July 2022 #22		818

One actor is in bed with corona so the play has been postponed.But we'll still have dinner, now at 19:00 in Ponsonby. RSVP--Katheren will advise the final venue.

Everyone welcome, wings or not!

From The Economist. The great Silicon Valley shake-out. High burn, end of runway, end of startup! READ!

Sara pitched Supie last July at our pitch night with NZTE. She is now raising $5m via Snowball. From the NBR.

It was Techweek'16, not just corporate tech promos in those days. Go back in time!

Jordan: Guessing you know that Dan Rosen (the photo) and Dan Rose (the tweets) are different people. Rudi: Thanks, Jordan. Looks like we're just not paying our journalists enough.

Full Twitter Threat

Matt Ward from Switzerland compiled and shared this list of 500 climate investors.

Investment bankers with a sense of humour? See HERE 10 Stages of a Startup.

Save the night! Thursday, 28 July! It will be a night to remember.

Our investment #2 in December 2014, pays dividends with a splendid venue.

More next week. Katheren is working it all out.

Rudi just got the 2nd lot of 100 Hustonisms in the post.

Feeding zombies involves two blunders:
not stopping to think and not thinking to stop.

The antonym for "politician" is "angel": We're on the give.

Angels network with each other, realising they cannot
make all possible blunders on their own.

Also, on LinkedIn and over 2,000 FKA GIFs on GIPHY.

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