Helping launch the ideas of innovative and impactful minds

Every day Amanda works with founders who are curious, confident, resilient, and passionate about building new technology and improving people’s lives, and it is a job that has taken her all over the world. She invests globally, helping to launch the ideas of some of the world’s most innovative and impactful minds. 

Amanda’s childhood in Cairns, as the daughter of two innovative business owners, helped plant the seed for the career she has today. 

‘Back then they were not called founders or CEOs, but they built businesses, and created new jobs and new technology,” she said of her parents. 

'Business (both positive and negative) was a normal topic of conversation at our dinner table.’ 

It was during these formative years that Amanda believes the mantra ‘there is no right path, there is no wrong path, there is no normal path, but there is your path,’ was instilled in her. 

When she graduated from Brisbane Girls Grammar School in 1989, she studied law and finance, then digital media and marketing. At the time a career in venture capital investment hadn’t entered the lexicon. 

‘I didn’t study entrepreneurship, how to raise money, or how to build a mobile app in school, but I have managed to do all those things,’ Amanda said. 

In 1997, Amanda moved to New York where she worked as an attorney for one of the oldest and most prestigious law firms, Milbank. She was then recruited into investment banking at Citi and spent nearly a decade working long hours, travelling the world, and building new businesses. 

‘I had always thought of myself as a hard worker, disciplined and willing to try anything,’ she said. 

‘But, it wasn’t until I read Angela Duckworth’s book Grit that my approach to life made more sense. I have not always been the smartest, had all of the “right” traits or experience, but if I wanted something I found a way to get there. 

‘Failing is inevitable, so I needed to learn to roll with the punches and adapt. Many startup founders actually fail before they succeed. Failing is also important if you want to follow your dreams and create your own path.’ 

In 2008 Amanda left investment banking, setting her sights on combining a love of sports and technology. She built a digital business for a major sporting league and it became one of the first live-streaming apps in the App Store. 

Following this experience, Amanda joined another startup and started investing. 

‘The next startup I ran was not the experience I had hoped for,’ she said. 

‘When raising money from venture capitalists I realised just how many times people say “no” before someone says “yes”. Grit, confidence, conviction, and a healthy dose of humility are essential. We did raise, but we did not succeed. Was it a failure? Perhaps, but given the founder experience, and the technical and product expertise I gained, for me, this was a necessary step that propelled me forward to the next adventure,’ she explained. 

Amanda’s passion for technology remains and today she is focused on investing in emerging and transformative founders and technology. 

‘I am also now in a position to give back and help balance the scales for female and other diverse founders,’ she said. 

‘The technology industry needs more diversity and more women. Research has shown that startups run by diverse/female founders are likely to succeed; however, the amount of funding allocated to women-led startups hovers around two to three per cent each year. 

‘I hope to continue to motivate intelligent, resourceful, and resilient women, and encourage them to find their dreams or path in life.’