Our story
A community of outsiders
Our mission: is to help great outsiders break into the US.
Who we are: a community of founders and operators – mostly from Australia and New Zealand – who made this leap. We didn't start out here. We started companies or careers somewhere else then broke in. We've spent years building networks, making mistakes, learning the ropes. We've raised funding, built products and organizations, learned to spell with z instead of s.
Our motivation: for years we've paid it forward by helping other founders avoid our mistakes, and sometimes investing directly in their companies. But as individuals we could never help as much as we wanted. We came together to be more helpful to the most promising founders – pooling our networks and experience to help them break in faster.
OUR FOCUS
Helping outsiders break in
We believe:
Great companies are being started and grown from anywhere. Antipodean founders have always punched above their weight on a global stage, and are now supported at home with deep pools of funding and massive success stories. One thing that won’t change: the most ambitious antipodean companies need to crack the US market.
Why now:
A few years ago, breaking into the US usually meant relocating. That's now less important, thanks to improvements in remote work and more open-minded investors. But every globally relevant company needs to crack the US market in some way – and it's faster and easier to break in with friends who've done it before.
How we're different:
- Specific operating experience: As active founders and operators, with specific experience bridging US and ANZ markets, we can be uniquely helpful to founders facing these challenges.
- Power of the collective: As a collective, we have deeper reach than most individual investors, and shared incentives to maximize our impact.
- Collaborating, not competing: As a syndicate, we don't compete with venture funds. We happily invest alongside and then partner to support the most promising companies.
Our Approach
Your most helpful investor
How we invest:
We invest $50K-$200K as a syndicate, to give founders a single entry on your cap table. We do this by creating a special purpose vehicle (SPV) for each investment. We know how a messy cap table with small investors can create headaches down the road, so if you've sourced smaller investors, we're generally open to including them in the SPV, to reduce your operating overhead.
What we look for:
We back early-stage companies with foreign founders and ambitious plans to tackle the US market. We're stage agnostic, but need to believe we can bring unique value and experience in your journey. Antipodes means "the direct opposite" and commonly refers to Australia and New Zealand. We're not limited to companies with antipodean founders, but it's where we're likely to be most helpful.
How we help:
We aim to be your most helpful investor. Our collective includes founders and operators with experience in a range of industries and stages. We can help with US operations and setup, fundraising, recruiting, product and growth strategies. In short, we'll help you avoid our mistakes, leverage our networks and experience, to accelerate your progress.
FAQ
Quick Questions
