Phil Morle 🖖🏻

Not sure what to think about this.

@Alfred_Lin @DanielleMorrill Love this.

A CEO from one of our portfolio companies shared this with their team. I’m re-sharing it with their permission, because it resonated and reflects what all founders and CEOs should be communicating. -- We are living through a period of compounding change. And in moments like this, the biggest risk is no longer making the wrong decision. It is moving too slowly while the world moves around you. There are two paths. We can play defense: - Protect what we have - Optimize what works - Wait for clarity It feels safe. It isn’t. Or we can play offense: - Learn faster than the environment changes - Use new tools to solve old problems in better ways - And create entirely new strategies and businesses That’s where the opportunity is. Challenge yourself to do things faster and better than you have ever attempted. Stay uncomfortable. Stay on the front foot.

Disagree with this. It is much easier, and not necessarily true, to comment on enemies than it is to comment on friends.

@GilmourSpace Well done @GilmourSpace We’re on our way!

Liftoff completed, launch tower cleared, stage 1 tested. Awesome result for a first test launch.

TestFlight1 — Liftoff 🚀 Today, Eris became the first #AustralianMade orbital rocket to launch from Australian soil — ~14s of flight, 23s engine burn. Big step for 🇦🇺 launch capability. Team safe, data in hand, eyes on TestFlight 2. (More pics and vids to come from the media.)

Another one of life's hardest lessons: The goal isn't to grow fast. The goal is to grow forever.

@Samirkaji Tragic that this needs to be said. It should be fundamental to our practice. Why isn’t it?

Critical PSA for investors (VC/Growth/PE): If you've spent *significant* time with a founder and put them through multiple cycles, the worst thing you can do is not close the loop if you decide to pass. It's 100% fine to pass, but when you've spent multiple rounds and don't get back to them on the pass (ideally with clear feedback - but not always necessary), your NPS within founders will be bad. I don't think investors owe that after one or maybe two meetings, but if an investor has had several meetings with a founder and multiple data requests, the least investors can do is email or call. This goes a longer way than people think. Some of the best investors have high NPS scores even when they pass.

Venture Capital is not 9-5. philmorle.medium.com/duty-in-ventur…

I’ve tried to provide some tips beyond the cliches for pitch decks. What have you discovered as a cut through approach?

Who is doing the best research into large language models and emotion/intuition?

@trevoryoung @Superhuman all the way. Not free but worth every cent.

I've used Gmail via Chrome browser for years, but it's become so slow & always needs rebooting. Swapped to Apple Mail but flicking that as the search function is all but nonexistent - can't find emails from someone who emails me daily! Any email app recommendations appreciated :)

@srigsri23 Thanks! Super interesting.

@philmorle Melatonin (and good sleep) helps muscles recuperate and regenerate, thereby keeping them young and strong for longer timespan.

Several of our portcos have been selected as finalists for @StartupDailyANZ’s Best in Tech Awards 2024! ⭐ As investors in groundbreaking deep tech, we’ve seen how these companies are solving global pressing challenges with their innovative ideas & achievements. Congrats to @NourishFats, @samsara_eco, @cauldronferm & other finalists! 👏 Check out more below.

Australia’s synbio community left a lasting impression at this year’s @SynBioBeta, leading to their overview of the blossoming #synbio slipstream in AU. There is a groundswell of people working hard locally to make Australia a destination for the new global #bioeconomy. Read on for more. ⬇️

@GeniusNet @samsara_eco @GeniusReFi Thank you @GeniusNet

We already covered @samsara_eco on @GeniusReFi recently. But there is just so much going on in #deeptech over here. Devouring @philmorle's wonderful blog content with a harbour view today btw.

Building Out Loud #10: The Venture Professor Trackand more - open.substack.com/pub/philmorle/…

The Venture Professor Track Spending time building companies in a university takes academics off the Professor track. There is no path to become a "Venture Professor". The default career pipeline is to publish and academics (in Australia at least) are not rewarded for entrepreneurial activity. So a year out might be seen as a year BACK and, even when academics get over that, they will be weighed as a poor academic and struggle on the professor track if they are spending time entrepreneurially instead of publishing.   I propose a new career pathway that is recognised and rewarded. A Venture Professor is a senior, highly regarded academic who stays in the institution and has a focused output on company spin outs and creation over publishing. Like a venture investor is a company builder operating across a portfolio rather than a single spin out, a venture professor is an academic who operates across a portfolio. Like a some of the well known examples in the US, these professors will have a small amount of equity in tens of companies that they have incubated in the university.  So what is the track to get there? Well, it begins with a Venture Fellowship where post docs can do a 1 year fellowship. This is a deep immersion into creating companies from science. There is specific training in company creation and mindset through residencies in VC firms. There is time in the most 'agile' of labs in research orgs that are already working dynamically with external innovators and adapting as they go.  The objective is to incubate a science leader who is passionate about building impact through companies and spin outs.  These people might be our 'Founders' in company creation projects for that first year. Then we would be more focused on hiring chief scientists into the companies. I have discussed this with a few of the more entrepreneurial scientists I know and they have liked the idea.  The trick will be to make sure that the university culture does not repel them when they come back enthusiastic about this approach. This pathway might internalise an incubation engine that creates customers, employers and inspiration for the university. WDYT? How do we build on this idea, and who wants to try it? - I'm a Partner at Main Sequence, a VC purpose-built to create global companies from scientific ideas with the inventors who imagine them. I build-out-loud here: philmorle.substack.com

Inspiring to hear Mark’s stories.

Inspiring day. Inspiring people.