The Shearwater team like to share our thoughts and updates on our LinkedIn profile. Please follow us there. Here are some of our previous posts:
August 30, 2019
A founder can change every aspect of their business except their shareholders. Anyone who has had a difficult shareholder knows the real truth in this statement. So founders should be equally thorough in Read More
August 27, 2019
In late 2013 Y Combinator released its innovative Simple Agreement for Future Equity (SAFE) investment instrument. The purpose of the SAFE was to allow pricing to be deferred in an early investment round, as early stage companies are somewhat difficult to value. YC wanted to take some of the benefits from Convertible Notes (which are debt) and make them available in equity form. Thus the SAFE was born. Read More
August 6, 2019
At Shearwater we often say to founders that if there's strong demand for your round, that's the best time to raise *less*. The demand lets you tap into extra funds later, when the valuation of your business is likely to be higher. Read More
August 2, 2019
As the managing partner of Shearwater, I frequently find myself thinking about the quality of our own 'product'. One of the differentiators of Shearwater is that we're three founders investing our own money to back the generationally best tech companies in Australia and NZ Read More
July 13, 2019
July 2, 2019
J.P. Morgan released data this month that $90 billion has been pulled from active funds in public equity markets in 2019, while $39 billion flowed into index-style funds. Passive funds (including quant funds) now control a whopping 80% of equity assets. Passive investing has won the public markets. Read More
June 28, 2019
In the early 1980s AT&T asked McKinsey to estimate how many mobile phones would be in use worldwide by the year 2000. Their conclusion was it would be a niche market of around 900,000 subscribers. They were off by 108 million. Read More
June 20, 2019
As investors in high growth tech businesses, it's typical that our portfolio companies have an employee share option plan (ESOP) in place. ESOPs allow staff to feel ownership in a business and lets them benefit from growth in the value they directly contribute to. This is why ESOP is a common device around the world for ensuring alignment between founders and their employees. Read More
