Tractor Ventures

🎉 BIG NEWS ALERT 🎉 (Drumroll please… 🥁🥁) We have now FUNDED 200+ COMPANIES!! 🚜 🚀✨ This is more than a number to us - it’s: 200+ tractors fueled for the future, getting the funding they need to fuel their engines and drive their missions forward… 🚜 200+ businesses sowing the seeds to help spark innovation, create impact, and generate opportunities for growth and change in their industries… 🌱 200+ teams ploughing through milestones, empowered to turn their bold visions into reality, expanding their reach and making waves… 🌊 (𝘺𝘦𝘴, 𝘮𝘶𝘭𝘵𝘪𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘱𝘶𝘯𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘧𝘪𝘦𝘥 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘢 𝘤𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘣𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺 𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴...) It’s been an incredible journey so far - and we’re just getting started.  And despite turbulent times recently (like we’re all facing), our team is more focused than ever to help more founders and Tractors fuel their engines! The best is yet to come! 💥 But most importantly, we would not have reached this milestone without our amazing team (past and present), partners, shareholders, and our amazing Tractors who’ve made this milestone possible. We couldn’t have done it without you! Thank you 🫶 Let’s keep pushing boundaries and achieving milestones together. Here’s to the next 200+! 🙌🚜

In a meeting yesterday, Aprill Enright-Allen, co-founder and COO at Tractor Ventures described herself as the glue that keeps systems and processes together at TV (damn right she is!). ✨ Aprill went on to describe me / my role as glitter glue. And I couldn’t feel more prouder of this new title. We’ve built a community at TV (it's called Tractor Village). It’s a strong support community that helps startups to thrive and shine bright. That's where the glitter glue comes in! ✨ And in 3 weeks I’m going to be talking all about ✨ glitter glue at #HEXPO2024 by HEX 🎤 JOINING THIS PANEL: THE UNSUNG HEROES 🎤 Winners don't get there alone. There's always a village. Join us as we shine a light on the unsung heroes: from sports managers, startup operations wizards, government body and community builders. Champions are not always the ones on the podium! With Michelle Vu (Investment Manager at LaunchVic), Prayansh Desai (Metro Development Leader at Athletics Victoria) and Paz Pisarski (Co-Founder of The Community Collective). 🥇 What’s HEXPO 2024 you might ask? It's the premier event for ambitious go-getters and trailblazers! The program is a marathon of excitement, packed with high-energy sessions, interactive workshops, and networking opportunities. Whether you're shooting for the stars in startup land or aiming to break records in personal development, HEXPO is your ticket to victory. Join us as we harness the power of the Olympic spirit to propel you towards greatness and leave your competitors in the dust! Ready to compete in the arena of innovation? Join us at HEXPO 2024 and strive for greatness! Secure your spot now and aim for the podium! 🎟️ GET TICKETS: 👉 LINK IN COMMENTS!

Winners are Grinners! And when the best part of the win is the glory, I think we have to just take as much glory as we can, don’t we? Last week at Something Tech. was something special, as it always is. The wins I experienced and want to continue celebrating include: 1. The Laundry Lady winning the final pitch night - I got to know Susan Toft and Gavin Keeley at Tropical Innovation Festival in Cairns in June. Great humans, great business, and that dress!!! 2. Heatseeker winning best product at the final pitch night - Fiona Triaca and I have known each other through multiple businesses and life phases. Still buzzing from seeing Fiona nail her pitch! This is a very exciting business. 3. Hosting the afterparty with partners Cake and Think & Grow - I heard more than once that we put on the best ‘after party’ in Something Tech history. All the hard work in the weeks leading up certainly paid off and there is noting like being ‘in the trenches’ with the partners you are so aligned with! Such a win! 4. The success of this incredible event - being a part of the energy created by Pauline Fetaui, Zoe Fall, Laura Ashmole and the whole team is something not to take for granted. I can’t even begin to imagine the excruciating details that go into creating such an experience. Absolutely winners like Simon Beard sharing his keys to success is priceless. So many talented entreprenuers sharing their innovation, learnings and love. The theme Empower Every Human is a win for humanity. People over pixels. Empathy before algorithms. Heart over hardware. The more we lift and lead with love the bigger the win, for all of us. 5. Trying out a new networking trend. Playing basketball against some much larger humans than myself who have played alot more recently than me. Thanks for allowing me to get two shots when you could have blocked me into the middle of next week, legends! aj koch, Mark "Z" Zmarzly 🦄 , Paul Mitchinson, Sam Bricknell, Tyson Jennings. So much respect for my fellow little players Claire Bull and 🚜 🏳️🌈 Olivia Doherty! 5. Patrick Stewart and I taking the win on the debate “Securing Capital in an Ecominic Downturn for Emerging Tech Giants” was so much fun!! I mean, it was hard! The opposition were tough, the judges were deadly serious and Juanita Wheeler was taking no prisoners. Literally! She corralled the entire audience to kick us off if we went a second overtime. But thats okay, the best wins are the ones that are hard to get! Stew Glynn, Taryn Pieterse, Kuppulakshmi Krishnamoorthy, Paul Seymour. Can’t wait for next year superstars!!

Last week, we hosted the Something Tech. After Party in Brisbane, and what a night it was! 🎉 A massive thank you to our co-hosts from Cake and Tractor Ventures for bringing this event to life - we really couldn’t ask for better partners. The biggest shout out though, goes to the 200+ incredible humans who created a vibrant energy and made for a truly memorable night. We’ll certainly be back Queensland, stay tuned! Jason Atkins Kim H. Callum Davidson Ben Harrison 🚜 🏳️🌈 Olivia Doherty Paul Mitchinson Jodie Imam Anthony Sochan Pauline Fetaui Laura Ashmole Zoe Fall #SomethingFest #StartupCommunity

The theme of my build in public newsletter today is on “Musical Chairs”. And whilst musical chairs is the sort of thing you’d align with an activity at a 5-year old kid’s birthday party 😂, it’s a great analogy for what I’m about to share… In the world of startups, it’s a game we play more often than we’d like. Are the right people in the right seats on this bus - or in our case, this Tractor? It’s a question that comes up constantly for us and many of the founders we know - and let’s be honest, it’s something startups and companies worldwide wrestle with too. It’s crucial, because when we talk about changes in structure, we often position them in the best possible light. And why wouldn’t we? But today, I want to lift the hood on our own Tractor and give you a glimpse of the struggle behind the scenes - the messy, glorious struggle. I talk openly, mostly about the journey Matt Allen and I have been on, and how that has influenced the changes and the business. This is a picture of us very far from home at Bondi Beach earlier this year. If you are yet to subscribe to this monthly newsletter and would like to read this story please sign up here and I will forward it to you directly. https://lnkd.in/ehpien9Q

Recently, I spoke with Remco Marcelis, CEO of Standard Ledger, about customer acquisition cost (CAC) and payback times. These are crucial metrics for startups in growth mode – knowing how to accurately measure and optimise them is key. Dilhan Wickremanayake also shared insights on the impact of Temu’s entrance into the Australian market on CAC for e-commerce players, with a surge in digital ad costs making it tougher for local businesses like gathera to reach their audience. Click here to read more: https://lnkd.in/gzmyaGSU

Got a solid grasp on your CAC and Payback Period? 🧐 Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) is a crucial metric to grasp, yet it can be layered with complexities and nuances. However, it’s one that every tech founder needs to be deeply familiar with. It’s not just about knowing the cost; it’s also about mastering your CAC payback period - the time it takes to recover those acquisition costs to drive sustainable and scalable growth. As Remco Marcelis, CEO at Standard Ledger, puts it: “As you’re optimising your business for profit, you want your CAC payback period to get better and better.” Our financial storyteller, Stian Overdahl, had an insightful conversation with Remco and Dilhan Wickremanayake, co-founder at gathera, where they explored the challenges founders face when it comes to mastering CAC and payback periods, as well as hearing their experiences and perspectives on both. Remco highlights the importance of understanding your CAC payback. Shorter payback periods often indicate a strong product-market fit, while longer paybacks may expose inefficiencies. Accurate tracking is essential - overlook costs like onboarding, and your numbers could be way off. Of course, even with a solid strategy in place for acquisition, external factors can disrupt your plans. Dilhan from Gathera, experienced this firsthand when new competitors entered the market and spiked their ad costs. However, instead of getting derailed, his team adapted by refining their product lineup to stay competitive. Read more about Remco and Dilhan's thoughts and experiences, as well as other insights on CAC and payback periods (with some helpful resources for further reading) 👉 https://lnkd.in/gtTHEjEm

Thrilled to be featured by Tractor Ventures in their Growth Game series! 🚗🌱 Since launching evee in 2016, we’ve been driving the shift towards sustainable travel by making electric vehicles more accessible 🌍⚡ Check out the full story here: https://lnkd.in/g7Wp4uYV

Since first hitting the road in 2016, evee has grown to over 10,000 customers, with a fleet of 250+ electric vehicles across Australia and New Zealand. 🛣🚙🔋 Led by founder Slava Kozlovskii, evee is a peer-to-peer car-sharing network that allows electric vehicle owners to rent out their cars, offsetting the cost of ownership. At the same time, those considering purchasing an EV get a chance to try before they buy. “I wanted to do something to try and encourage more people to embrace the electrification of transport sooner,” Slava says. “The easiest way was to give them a personalised experience of driving an EV.” 🚘💡 Stephanie Palmer-Derrien recently caught up with Slava to dig deeper into evee’s growth journey and how they’re staying true to their sustainability-driven values. Slava says it best: "Having a principle and an ethical framework is really important. We’re trying to make the world a little bit better." Read about their Growth Game story right now: https://lnkd.in/g4jnN3E4

Well done to Nathan Mortlock and 🚜 portfolio company Claimo for their recent 7 News feature!! 👏