Sam Wong is a General Partner at Blackbird Ventures, who exist to
supercharge Australia's and New Zealand's most ambitious
founders. She was the first hire in their Australia fund and has
since invested in companies including Vow, Halter, Harrison AI
and led the raising of their inaugural $59M New Zealand Fund, and
$80M New Zealand Fund II (2022) + heads up their New Zealand
office. Sam was born in Perth, Australia and now lives in
Auckland, New Zealand.
In this episode #129 w Sam Wong, learn about:
Sam’s sunrise in Perth, Australia growing up in and around her
parent’s business packing Soundblaster boxes, and influenced by
various cultures with mum of Malaysian/Chinese heritage and Dad
being half English and half Chinese but grew up in India.
This one is wide ranging and Sam is very candid — we cover her
highlights from 7 years as a lawyer and influences from early
managers that have shaped Sam’s leadership style today as General
Partner at the Venture Capital firm, Blackbird.
Sam’s been at various vantage points in her career, from law to
early stage startup to co-founding a startup to investing so I
wanted to know where would she start her career if she could do
it again? Learn about her experience co-founding a startup with
her partner Ben, biases Sam had to delete switching from founder
to investor and we cover the Blackbird story to date, including
Sam’s reflections on her investments in companies like Vow and
Halter that seemed very non obvious at the time, the story behind
raising and building the NZ fund and her most painful learning to
date.
And our 7-star events are back! Yes as many of
you know — we are a special series of LIVE fireside
conversations in May and June. We are almost sold out for
event #1 with Niki Scevak on the 18th May, get your ticket today
HERE!
It’s now time to explore your curiosity. Please enjoy!
(Timestamps below)
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02:42 - Lowest ego to bad-assess ratio
03:15 - Where were you born and live now?
03:27 - What was your first job and now?
04:48 - High Flyer in Sam’s life
06:54 - Sandblasters, Perth, 80s
09:08 - Malaysian, Chinese, UK, Indian influences
12:32 - Helping others come up the ranks
15:50 - Not having a set path at age 18
18:00 - Highlights from 7 years in Law
20:56 - Niki Scevak’s “2/10 intellectually lazy” feedback
26:29 - time bounded experiments and firing yourself every year
31:50 - Practicalities of annual reviews
32:55 - Building a startup with her now partner, Ben
37:06 - Investor and founder biases
40:19 - Building success foundations of a VC fund
45:38 - Sam’s investments to date in Vow, Partly, Halter,
Harrison.AI
50:13 - Painful learnings as an investor
53:19 - The story behind starting the Blackbird NZ fund
58:44 - What would Sam like to change about the world of LP’s?
01:01:38 - Final sprint
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