#138 Tom Humphrey: 3 siblings, scaling a successful startup with his sister to becoming partner at Blackbird & the economics of happiness!

The High Flyers Podcast with Vidit Agarwal

Tom Humphrey is an Investor with Blackbird Ventures, a globally top ranked venture capital fund supercharging the most ambitious founders. Prior to Blackbird, Tom was a partner with Access Ventures based in Denver USA and was on the management / founding teams of two successful startups. Tom was COO of OurDeal, a “group-buying” ecommerce website in Australia that over 12 months scaled to a team of 80 and a successful exit to News Corp, and then became COO of Kanopy, a B2B video streaming platform that he guided to an exit in 2018 delivering a 14x return to investors.

In this episode #138 w Tom Humphrey, learn about:

Tom’s sunrise in Sydney, Australia being the youngest of 4 siblings, with his mother a high school teacher and then business executive and dad an architect. I loved his reflections on how his older sister, stayed up at night and sometimes missed school because she was looking after Tom, and then their journey later in life building Canopy for nearly a decade to now being one of the top 10 M&A exits for a tech company out of Australia. 14x return on investment

I asked Tom about the key differences between Australian and US culture given his 10 years living, studying and working in the US, his reflections on his time in Bhutan and learning about the economics of happiness, his insecurities and how he manages them, how he’s learn what good looks like in sales and go to market for startups, the concept of deposits in the care bank to be a great manager and his balancing act on decision making with analytics and gut feel. We also cover his transitions from consulting to a a startup at a time when startups weren’t the buzz they are today and his reflections on what he would change if he could start his career today.

It’s now time to explore your curiosity. Please enjoy!

(Timestamps below)

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💥 This episode is brought to you by Fullstack Advisory, Australia's top tech accounting firm, designed specifically for innovative tech founders and investors. They provide founder-friendly support across Accounting & Tax, R&D Tax Incentives, Bookkeeping, and CFO Advisory -- so you can focus on what you do best, innovating and growing your business. Get in touch with Stuart and the team today!

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03:30 - Where were you born and live now?

03:57 - What was your first job and now?

04:57 - High Flyer in Tom’s life

07:09 - Youngest of 4 children

09:01 - Sports, Studious and Adventure

10:29 - Australia vs USA friendship culture

13:04 - Hungry not the proven

14:08 - Falling into Law due to a timetable clash

16:33 - Should you join a startup straight out of university?

19:40 - FullStack message

22:13 - 7 to 85 people in 10 months

24:46 - Economics of happiness

28:05 - Learning how to lead people

31:04 - Joining his sister in building a startup in the US

33:34 - Experiences taking VC capital money

36:06 - Door knocking universities in the US

39:13 - Learning sales and go to market

41:40 - Chip on his shoulder

44:39 - Learning from founders

45:45 - Slack vs HipChat vs Microsoft teams

47:18 - Strength of talent in Australia vs the world

52:44 - Most valuable career experiences

56:38 - Perception of self worth and happiness

58:52 - Deposits in the care bank and connection to leadership

01:01:54 - Building trust with a new team member

01:04:34 - Balance with analytical and intuition muscle

01:08:30 - Being a VC or working at a startup?

01:10:55 - Final sprint rapid fire

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