The VC Land Podcast connects you with some of the leading players in Australia’s growing venture capital (VC) market.
Hosted by news media and PR veteran, CEO of Mojo Media, Justin Kelly, we chat to leading VCs on how to get started, what it takes to build a successful business, how to overcome challenges, and advice for early stage businesses looking for funding.
In this episode, Justin speaks with veteran VC investor and chairman of Equity Venture Partners (EVP) Les Szekely.
Les has been an active angel investor since 1999 and has had a full time focus on startup investing since 2009. Prior to that, over a 25-year professional career with Horwath Chartered Accountants and Deloitte, he established a reputation as one of Australia’s leading tax advisors. He lectured extensively and authored over a dozen books on tax planning, investment and cross border structuring.
Les is now focused full time on startup investing, both in his personal capacity and (since the launch of EVP) via the EVP Funds. He is a director and/or shareholder of Alternative Media, Rezdy, Oneflare, Shippit, Snaprevise, Uptick, CL8 (formerly Drivemycar), DesignCrowd, Bluethumb and UrbanYou. Les is also chairman of ASX-listed Microequities Asset Management and a director of not-for-profit group 40K.
In this episode, he talks through how EVP assesses deals and the company’s third VC fund. Les provides guidance to founders on how to approach VCs, why investing at an early stage is all about risk and reward and how crises accelerate change, which in turn, create opportunities for investors.
Click below to tune in.