Start-up Zoom club turns into $10m VC fund

“One thing we’re super proud of is that seven out of 40 of the founding teams that we’ve invested in before are actually investing in our next fund,” Mr Petersen said.

“We think that’s a really strong signal that we’re creating an amazing experience for the founders we work with, and we’re pretty proud that it’s happening this early in the life cycle of our families of funds.”

These backers include Anna Podolsky and Gabriel Guedes from Lyka, and Michael Nuciforo from fintech platform Thrive.

Full-time focus

AfterWork started with two initial “proof of concept” funds. The cheques may have been smaller than what other firms could offer, but the founders argue that the due diligence performed on companies was the same.

Earlier in 2021, Mr Khor, Mr Petersen, and Mr Insull decided to make AfterWork their full-time focus. Mr Khor and Mr Petersen were due to move to Sydney last month from their home city of Perth, but their interstate migration plans have been waylaid by the COVID-19 lockdowns.

AfterWork head of community Jessy Wu, who quit an analyst job at NAB Ventures to join the firm full time after being drawn in by its unique culture, said she sees AfterWork’s enthusiastic community as one of its competitive advantages in an evolving local venture capital scene.

“I think AfterWork has the opportunity to pioneer a different model for VC investing, one that’s more democratic and brings a true diversity of viewpoints to the table,” she said.

“In addition to being a VC fund, it is also a spiritual home for the best, brightest and unironically hungry start-up devotees in Australia and New Zealand.”

Regardless of whether AfterWork risks diluting its more renegade vibe as outsiders come on board, Ms Wu said its founding team were taking precautionary measures to set expectations even as the firm scales up.

This included defining AfterWork’s core values in writing, such as “dream diligently” and “let your freak flag fly”, and publicly celebrating the kind of member attitudes and behaviour they want to cultivate.

For instance, when AfterWork received a pitch deck from a pre-teen who had an idea for a more comfy pet bed, AfterWork member and Lyka chief operating and financial officer Mr Guedes responded with detailed, actionable next steps for the wannabe pet industry disrupter.