From Midnight Pitch Decks to Global Growth

In January, Finn and Oliver from Fluency were the first founders we backed. They don't need help often; they simply make things happen without being steered. But when they do need help - whether it was hiring, fundraising, storytelling, or just thinking through a pivot, we are always ready.

Like when Finn called last Wednesday evening. He was prepping a new deck before his trip to the US and needed feedback that night, so we could iterate before the flight. I spent a few hours until lam combing through, then the next morning we were texting at 8am about the feedback. He iterated that day, called again the next, and we went again.

When Fluency launched their raise, we helped him shape the messaging. Not by owning it, just reviewing what he'd written, pressure-testing the press release, the launch video, and the narrative. We've never tried to shape his vision, just enabled him to express it in the most authentic and articulate way.

When it comes to hiring, Finn tapped one of our student investors, Varad, who helped lead the investment into Fluency. He's now Fluency's full-time Growth Lead and one of their strongest early hires. Varad never applied for a job, it happened because of the trust Finn had built with Varad, my ability to reference check, and belief in our talent pool.

This is being played out again, right now. Finn has told us that despite not needing to expand his team, we've introduced talent upon his request, and he's considering hiring a current NextGen student. We hope this continues for Fluency and all of the startups we back - access to trusted, grassroots Australian talent.

There are plenty of investors on his cap table (and all much bigger than us). But we're proud that when things get messy, or confusing, or fast, we're still his first call.