Ep 9: Alan Jones - M8 Ventures

If you work in the Australian startup scene and don't know who Alan Jones is then you have been living under a rock. Formerly of Yahoo Australia, Alan mentors founders in startup accelerators BlueChilli, Startmate, Catalysr and Collider, on issues around lean startup methodology, product strategy, marketing and team leadership. He is a founding investor in Australian tech startup venture funds Pollenizer, Startmate and Blackbird Ventures. Alan is currently raising a new venture fund, M8 Ventures, focusing on pre-seed and seed investment in early-stage tech startups in Australia and New Zealand. Alan has been an active angel investor here and in the US, with investments including Bugcrowd, Buzzy, Biteable, Elevio, GeoSnap, HappyCo, HowAboutEat, Macropod, Muru Music, Propeller Aero, TopMe, Tzukuri, Workyard, UpGuard and Upperstory. In this interview Alan talks about what it means to be an entrepreneur in Australia and some of our cultural hangups coming to terms with that. He also discusses how he manages stress and his views on what he looks for in a startup, solo founders v co-founders, how to manage investors and much more.