#129 Sam Wong: Soundblasters, Mixed Heritage, Blackbird's first hire to building the NZ fund + Finding alpha outcomes in non-obvious companies

The High Flyers Podcast with Vidit Agarwal

Sam Wong is a General Partner at Blackbird Ventures, who exist to supercharge Australia's and New Zealand's most ambitious founders. She was the first hire in their Australia fund and has since invested in companies including Vow, Halter, Harrison AI and led the raising of their inaugural $59M New Zealand Fund, and $80M New Zealand Fund II (2022) + heads up their New Zealand office. Sam was born in Perth, Australia and now lives in Auckland, New Zealand.

In this episode #129 w Sam Wong, learn about:

Sam’s sunrise in Perth, Australia growing up in and around her parent’s business packing Soundblaster boxes, and influenced by various cultures with mum of Malaysian/Chinese heritage and Dad being half English and half Chinese but grew up in India.

This one is wide ranging and Sam is very candid — we cover her highlights from 7 years as a lawyer and influences from early managers that have shaped Sam’s leadership style today as General Partner at the Venture Capital firm, Blackbird.

Sam’s been at various vantage points in her career, from law to early stage startup to co-founding a startup to investing so I wanted to know where would she start her career if she could do it again? Learn about her experience co-founding a startup with her partner Ben, biases Sam had to delete switching from founder to investor and we cover the Blackbird story to date, including Sam’s reflections on her investments in companies like Vow and Halter that seemed very non obvious at the time, the story behind raising and building the NZ fund and her most painful learning to date.

🎉 And our 7-star events are back! Yes as many of you know — we are a special series of LIVE fireside conversations in May and June. We are almost sold out for event #1 with Niki Scevak on the 18th May, get your ticket today HERE! 💥

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

(Timestamps below)

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02:42 - Lowest ego to bad-assess ratio

03:15 - Where were you born and live now?

03:27 - What was your first job and now?

04:48 - High Flyer in Sam’s life

06:54 - Sandblasters, Perth, 80s

09:08 - Malaysian, Chinese, UK, Indian influences

12:32 - Helping others come up the ranks

15:50 - Not having a set path at age 18

18:00 - Highlights from 7 years in Law

20:56 - Niki Scevak’s “2/10 intellectually lazy” feedback

26:29 - time bounded experiments and firing yourself every year

31:50 - Practicalities of annual reviews

32:55 - Building a startup with her now partner, Ben

37:06 - Investor and founder biases

40:19 - Building success foundations of a VC fund

45:38 - Sam’s investments to date in Vow, Partly, Halter, Harrison.AI

50:13 - Painful learnings as an investor

53:19 - The story behind starting the Blackbird NZ fund

58:44 - What would Sam like to change about the world of LP’s?

01:01:38 - Final sprint

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