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.