Earlier this year, we hosted Brainwaves to Breakthroughs - a virtual First Cut series designed to help early-stage founders turn ideas into companies.
This series brought together six founders and industry experts with firsthand experience of the startup journey: Jono Ring (Zincovery), Miriana Lowrie (1Centre), Murray Whyte (Avid), Becca Gaunt (Icehouse Ventures), Anna Liumaihetau Darling (Sharesies) & Samantha Gadd (Humankind).
Across three sessions, we tackled the fundamentals: funding your startup, legal 101, and building a team. While the topics varied, one theme emerged consistently: deliberate choices compound. Here’s how that played out in practice:
Funding & Investor Readiness
Featuring Miriana Lowrie (1Centre) & Jono Ring (Zincovery).
- Progress compounds faster than capital. Every dollar of non-dilutive funding (customer revenue, grants, tax credits) is worth more than its face value because it buys time to de-risk milestones before you raise. That means higher valuations and less dilution down the track.
- Investor conviction starts before the pitch. The best raises are never “cold.” Consistent monthly updates and relationship-building mean that by the time you open a round, investors already believe in your trajectory.
- Your cap table is strategic. One wrong investor can slow decisions, block follow-ons, or distort incentives for years. Reference-check funds, understand their fallbacks, and pick depth over breadth - a small group of aligned investors beats a crowded bench.
- Storytelling is a must. Iterating your company’s narrative in real conversations will reveal what resonates and what doesn’t more than a rehearsed pitch deck will. A clear, authentic problem-story can raise pre-revenue; a rote-learned but shallow pitch rarely can.
- Mindset for the marathon: The most successful founders are those who dream bigger than feels safe, bounce back quickly from setbacks, and manage to keep the journey fun enough that others want to join them.
Lesson: Treat fundraising as proving progress and building trust - capital follows clarity.
Legal 101: Foundations That Don’t Break Later
Featuring Becca Gaunt (Icehouse Ventures) & Murray Whyte (Avid Legal).
- Check your employment contract first. Many founders unknowingly breach contracts in their day job by moonlighting on company time or hardware. One misstep can hand your employer ownership of your IP before you’ve even started.
- Incorporate with purpose. The best time to formalise your company is when you’ve hit a clear milestone - first customers, a new hire, or outside capital. That way, equity and admin are set up to support growth, not hold it back.
- Founder vesting = founder protection. Co-founder vesting arrangements should be agreed from incorporation to set expectations from the start, and ensure equity rewards those who remain and drive the growth. It’s less about pleasing investors, and more about safeguarding the relationship between founders so trust and fairness aren’t left to chance.
- Treat your company as its own entity. Setting up separate accounts, contracts, and systems early makes life easier later, and signals you’re building something real and investable.
- Build your moat early. IP is often your startup’s strongest asset, and protecting it doesn’t have to be complicated or expensive - but does need to be planned from the get go. Clear contracts, early trademarks, and smart choices on patents vs trade secrets go a long way.
Lesson: Future-proof yourself with clean, simple structures and unambiguous IP ownership.
Building Teams & Culture
Featuring Anna Liumaihetau Darling (Sharesies) & Samantha Gadd (Humankind).
- Culture is a mirror. People copy what founders do, not what they say. If you want a culture of trust, transparency, and resilience, you need to embody it daily.
- Look for adaptable early hires. Look for generalists who are humble, hungry, and emotionally intelligent. Attributes like adaptability and high EQ will outlast hard skills in a fast-moving startup.
- Your recruitment process is a brand-building exercise. Every candidate walks away either an advocate or a detractor. A fast, transparent, and values-aligned hiring process strengthens your brand, even for those who don’t get the job.
- Clarity beats perks. Early employees thrive when they understand how their role ties directly to strategy, what success looks like, and who is responsible for people leadership. Ambiguity is more often a cause of burnout, not necessarily workload.
- Let go of your Legos. The hardest founder lesson: if you’ve hired exceptional people, step back and let them own their domains. Micromanaging breaks down trust; delegation builds the company.
Lesson: Your people are your company. Invest in clarity, culture, and candidate experience from the start.
The Overarching Theme
Across all three sessions, one theme consistently came through: deliberate choices compound. Simple structures, authentic fundraising, and intentional culture all build momentum. Startups don’t collapse from one mistake; they collapse when avoidable cracks (in legal, funding, or people) go unaddressed.
🚀 Want to connect with other young founders and operators? Join First Cut.
📺 You can also watch the full Brainwaves to Breakthroughs recordings on the IV Resource Hub.
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