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On this episode:
Jonny Wilkinson is the Co-Founder of Equitise, a crowdsourcing platform which allows small investors to buy into small and large private companies. Traditionally, the pre-IPO industry has been reserved for established venture capital funds, sophisticated investors and fund managers. Equitise opens up this market to investors of all sizes and takes a small cut of the amount raised on its platform.
For many reasons, investing in small private companies is at the highly risky end of the equity market, so keep that in mind. However, while savvy small company investors often achieve a hit rate of less than 40%, they can unearth one or two companies with significant long-term potential.
Throughout this conversation, Jonny tells how he got involved in finance, the genesis of the Australian and Kiwi crowdsourcing industry, how beer and an idea with a mate led to him quitting his job and starting a business within two months and why crowdsourcing could have a big future ahead.
I hope you enjoy this conversation with Jonny Wilkinson, Co-Founder of Equitise.
Timestamps:
- 0:45: Owen’s story and an intro to Jonny
- 4:00 – Jonny does the books for the family business… at age 11
- 8:30 – How Jonny got a job at Citi in the height (or depth!) of the GFC
- 11:30 – How Jonny and Chris pitched for $100k of funding for their business
- 15:50 – What is Equitise and what does it do?
- 23:00 – Jonny moves to NZ to launch the business
- 25:30 – How do you start a “platform” business?
- 32:00 – What happens if a deal falls through?
- 37:30 – The future of crowdsourcing and venture capital in Australia
Learn more about Jonny:
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