Matt’s journey in launching, scaling and eventually exiting DoneSafeDealing with co-founder breakupsHow to build investor conviction for pre-revenue or pre-product startupsThe rise of the Founder VCs & much more!Ģ.24 – Matts career journey from starting a business as a teenager to starting Black Nova Ventures 5.22 – Matt’s early interest in business and how side hustles can fuel a future passion for startups 7.59 – The decision to go full time at Donesafe 10.27 – Matt’s Financial advice for businesses and the way raising has changed since he first started 12.55 – What Black Nova looks for in founding teams and how they support founders to be more secure financially14.58 – Finding the right co-founder and managing when a co-founder leaves the business20.02 – Managing the process when a partner leaves and the importance of having empathy in the situation22.42 – The process of getting acquired and how the first acquisition of Donesafe fell through in the final hour 27.22 – How a company changes post-acquisition and how to decide whether you will stay or leave 28.51 – Working with good people and Matt’s decision to work with his co-founder Darc圓2.05 – Black Nova’s structure and how they manage their funds34.23 – Why Black Nova focuses on supporting founders and businesses they invest in rather than just funding them36.57 – Why Matt likes to be hands-on when supporting the businesses they have invested in39.20 – What Black Nova looks to invest in and why they like to be very early investors40.57 – What Matt looks for in founders when making investment decisions42.55 – The importance of focusing on what you’re good at and trusting others with what they’re good at 45.38 – How starting your first business can be very humbling 48.05 – Thriving in the US and global market compared to Australia 50.01 – How to get in contact with Matt

In this interview we discussed a range of topics including: A $20M early-stage VC fund built for B2B technology startups.ĭespite only recently announcing the launch their fund, they have already made 23 investments to date. Now, alongside being one of the founding members of Upflowy, Matt is also the Co-founder and Managing Partner of Black Nova Ventures. He also Co-founded Whispli, a Y-Combinator alumni SaaS startup that provides a whistleblowing platform for clients such as Qantas, Westpac and Oxfam. Prior to becoming a VC, Matt was the Co-founder and CEO of DoneSafe, a cloud based safety platform that grew to over 1.5M paying users before being acquired by HSI in 2020.

My guest for Ep156 of The Startup Playbook Podcast was Matt Browne, the Co-founder & Managing Partner of Black Nova Ventures.

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