When investing our funds, we have one duty and one objective: to maximise the return on capital for our investors, which include over a million superannuation fund members who have entrusted us with a small portion of their retirement savings.
As we make investment decisions we are careful not to discriminate because of gender, race, age or geography. But we do discriminate strongly based on our views of what drives success in a startup: exceptional founders, global markets and big painful problems. We specifically back founders who are doing their life’s work, not seeking a quick exit.
If we see those things we will take big risks, investing pre-revenue, and in exceptional cases pre-product. On the other hand, if we don’t see those things we will not invest. Venture capital is not charity and investing in anything less than world-class teams and businesses will do nothing but destroy the wealth of our investors, waste the time and emotional energy of the founders and kill our own business.