Unlocking Startup Success: Office Hours with Quentin Wallace

In the fast-paced world of startups, receiving the right guidance can truly be the difference between the next Australian unicorn or the 90% that fail.

Recently, student founders from Monash University and the University of Melbourne had the unique opportunity to tap into a wealth of experience during exclusive office hours with Quentin Wallace, Co-Founder and Partner at Archangel Ventures.

For student founders, office hours are an invaluable resource. It provided a rare opportunity to gain 1-on-1 advice and insights from a seasoned professionals who have navigated the complex startup landscape.

Sustainabite Founders in 1-on-1 session with Quentin

Who is Quentin Wallace?

As the founder of Archangel Ventures, a $40 million fund investing in pre-seed and seed-stage startups, Quentin is a true heavyweight in the Australian startup ecosystem.

His track record speaks volumes - Archangel raised $20 million in just three weeks and Quentin was previously the General Counsel at Culture Amp, a unicorn that has recently closed an $82 million Series E funding roundnow valued at $1.5 billion. And with a history of running office hours, his commitment to nurturing the next generation of founders was evident.

A Diverse Cohort of Startups

The office hours attracted a wide array of startups, each at different stages of their journey.

From healthtech to ERP software, these startups represented a broad spectrum of industries. There was a clear emphasis on social impact across many of the startups and every founder had ambitions set to a global scale. Some were just weeks into validating their ideas, while others had been operating for a year with paying customers.

However there were some common themes that arose while startups discussed their most pressing concerns. Here's 3 key learnings from the sessions:

Key Themes and Learnings

*Outcoach in 1-on-1 session with Quentin*

During the 30-minute sessions, founders had the opportunity to discuss pressing issues with Quentin. Common themes are written below!

Learning 1: Building a product that customers love.

Focus on your customers.

Not sure what to do? Quentin reccomended to talk to customers.

From what I have heard speaking to experienced founders, 100 or more customer interviews is a great number to aim for.

Customers will often have the answers for the uncertainties that founders might be facing, and have the information needed to help guide the direction of the product.

Personally, after every customer interview, I sit down and go through my notes with the aim of distilling the actionable insights from the myriad of feedback I received from my customers. I also learned the importance of asking the right questions, specific enough where you get the answers you need but open ended so that you don’t force a biased response.

Don’t offer things for free even if it’s your first customer.

Co-designing and working with your first few customers is super exciting! But the greatest test is seeing how much they love your product.

These were some of the questions that Quentin asked founders:

Are customers willing to pay for it? Are customers referring your product? Are there testimonials they can provide?

The nature of product market fit.

For me, product market fit has been that magical - ah ha! - moment. But what Quentin said changed the way I perceived PMF.

Quentin revealed that as founders we will never know if you have achieved PMF in the present, it is something that you only identify in retrospect once you have achieved it.

Achieving PMF comes down to how strong of a pain point your product solves and how much your customers love your solution.

Learning 2: Mission focus vs business focus.

Mission focus and business focus is an observation that Quentin has made in founders who are able to overcome the many slumps and roadblocks in the founder journey.

Mission focused founders have a clear purpose as to why they are solving this problem. Maybe they have a personal connection. Maybe they want to create a better world for their customers. Business focused founders are in it to make money, and that is totally a valid reason!

Quentin believes it’s fine to lean towards one focus more than the other, but you need to have both. If you are it for the mission, he suggests that founders still need to focus on the business side of the start up to ensure that its actually able to scale financially.

If the reason founders are working till 5 am in the morning is because of money, still need to nurture your mission as ultimately that is what your customers buy into

Not everyone is meant to be a founder and that’s okay : )

Learning 3: What VCs look for in founders and investments.

Below are some questions that Quentin asked founders to get a better understanding of them and what they were building.

Customers

Who exactly is your customer? What problem are they experiencing? Can you quantify their problem? Are they willing to pay you to solve this problem?

Market & Competitors

How large is the market? How many customers do you have? Who are the competitors? How are you unique in the market?

Venture scalable

There are a lot of great business ideas out there that could achieve $1m ARR. However, what VCs are after is in a different order of magnitude.

Can you reach $100m ARR? What is your strategy to reach that number?

Founder-market fit

Does the founding team have experience in the industry? Does the founding team have the capability to build the product?

Traction

How many customers have you spoken to? How many customers are using your product or have expressed interest in using it?

Looking Ahead

As NextGen Ventures continues to evolve, we’re hosting more events like these office hours to level up the support we provide to student founders. We're committed to constantly exploring new ways to offer ongoing assistance and guidance to the next generation of entrepreneurs.

So if you're a student founder with a burning idea or a startup in its early stages, we’d love to hear about what you’re building so feel free to reach out to anyone on our team to connect!