Founder Collective

We've been founders, operators, and investors. We’ve experienced success and we’ve experienced failure but most importantly… we deeply understand the struggle of building a business from the ground up. We write the first cheque into the best early stage companies. Then we lean in to help the founders build & scale. We back people. We’re comfortable investing across all sectors and business models. And our goal is simple: To be the most valued early-stage partner for the top 1% of founders in Australia. How we invest We typically invest up to $500k in pre-seed or seed rounds. We are super collaborative and enjoy investing alongside other great investors both in Australia and around the world. We are sector agnostic but looking for the best surfers riding the biggest waves - outlier founders, building in big markets. We are early stage specialists - we focus on solving the challenges of 0–1. It’s never too early. We’re comfortable backing companies very early, often pre-revenue. Why founders work with us We are founders and we behave like founders - with passion, enthusiasm and belief. We are flexible on valuation and ownership. We think what’s best for the founder is best for us. We offer active and collaborative support focussed on the earliest stages of building a business - such as hiring, fundraising and getting to product market fit. We have a high Helpfulness to Cheque Size ratio (H:CS) We’re building a unique community of founders who want to contribute. We are an global team with a global network. We feel fortunate to be here and absolutely LOVE what we do. What we look for Outlier Founders: First and foremost, we back people. We look for outlier founders who have proven hustle, a compelling, global vision, the hunger and drive to build a billion dollar business and the capability to sell their vision to employees, partners and future investors. Differentiated Product: We look for products that are solving real and meaningful problems, with passionate first customers and that have the potential to be orders of magnitude better than their nearest competitor. This could be demonstrated through sticky initial customers, accessing an underserved market or through a compelling and non-consensus product insight. Big Markets: Our focus is sector agnostic but with a bias towards big markets that have either billions of potential customers or billions of dollars in accessible revenue capacity.

We seek contrarians who envision futures that feel impossible today— and build alongside you as your most impactful early investor.

We don’t just say we invest Pre-Seed. We’re a $300M fund focused on pre-seed, pre-traction, pre-everything. We don’t focus on what can go wrong. We look for what can go right. Just like you, we’re risk-takers - not risk-mitigators. All-in with you! We play to win. We don’t tell you something’s awesome just to be nice. We have your back and ask the tough questions. Think of us as your SWAT team. We don’t mind if your idea is raw. We’re product people who see your vision. Bring on the sushi-grade. We don’t wait 'til Monday morning. We work fast to make our decisions. We’re founders too - and waiting is the worst.

To understand us as investors, it’s important to know the core beliefs and values that guide us. Technology has the power to transform the world. We believe in technology’s ability to solve problems and disrupt the global landscape - across industries, disciplines, populations, and continents. Whether it’s improving service delivery, democratizing access to resources, simplifying collaboration, or tackling other social challenges, we want to help today’s innovators make a difference. We’re committed to supporting your vision for making society and the world a better place. Mission-driven founders form the nucleus of a generational company. We back mission-driven entrepreneurs - those who will stop at nothing to solve a deep pain point that they know well. It’s this passion, even obsession, that can inspire, create, and lead strong teams through all the ups and downs of building an iconic business. We want to work with partners who are ready to go after big things and we're dedicated to helping them turn their vision into reality. You can build a large company in any location. While talent and great ideas can exist anywhere, opportunity is not always equally distributed. We aim to help bridge that gap - empowering entrepreneurs in any location to find the opportunities they need to realize their vision and grow successful businesses. Every entrepreneur deserves a fast, open, and respectful process. We know that every minute you spend fundraising is one less minute spent building your business. That’s why we strive for a turnaround time of just a few days. We value your time and keep things moving briskly, so you can stay focused. We can make the greatest impact as a Seed investor. The seed stage is the most formative time for a startup and often, where you need the most support. This key stage is where we believe we can add the most value - whether it’s helping you with hiring, finding product market fit, building your company culture, or getting your next financing round. We lead or co-lead with an investment of $500k - $1.5m and often back our startups through multiple rounds. An investor should be your biggest cheerleader and most trusted partner. We’re committed to building strong relationships with all of our entrepreneurs. That begins with earning your trust - something we strive for from the very first meeting. Our job is to support you and act as your biggest advocate, but we also never shy away from asking the important questions and providing tough feedback when necessary. Having run our own companies, we pass on as much of our operations knowledge as possible to help you build a successful venture. Our ultimate goal is simple: to be the first investor called when a founder needs advice. We never stop learning. We will never stop challenging ourselves to be better mentors, attract the right deals, and pick the best opportunities. We’ll always work tirelessly to help our founders be their best selves and make the biggest impact. It’s been our mission from day one.

Exceptional early talent is the greatest leading indicator of a company’s potential. Since 2017 our partners have backed or founded companies with over $1B of enterprise value. We’ve taken companies from napkin sketches to thriving businesses, hired world-class talent and raised capital from top-tier investors. From these experiences, we’ve learned how to identify great talent early, allowing us to lean in well before data, revenue, and sometimes even a deck. We lead pre-seed rounds in founders who:Are magnets for top-tier talent Have the clear, pragmatic vision needed to build a world-changing company, and Are a ton of fun to be around We blend the network of a top-tier fund with the value-add of your most impactful angel. We tailor founder support to optimize for impact. We can be high touch, high energy, or write a check and get out of the way.

We Founder Circle is a global community of successful founders & strategic angels, who want to actively collaborate with early stage startups to help them grow fast by offering seed funding, business development and global networking . Why join We Founder Circle? We Founder Circle is an online community to support early-stage startups to scale faster. We help investors to invest in filtered start-ups from various industries, alongside some of the most strategic investors & successful founders, thus increasing the chances of a successful outcome. What makes WFC unique from other fundraising forums? WFC provides multi-domain expertise through a diversified network of distinguished Businessmen, Professionals & HNIs spanning across various geographies, industries and areas of expertise, hence higher chances of success is associated with WFC community.