Ep 125: Grant McCarthy - Seed first investing with a Yahoo veteran

Inside the Rope with David Clark

Grant McCarthy spent the early years of his career at Yahoo observing and working across several of Yahoo's investments in some of Australia's early SAAS (Software As A Service) success stories such as Seek and CarSales. Today Grant runs Tidal Ventures, a seed-first venture capital investor primarily focused on SAAS businesses that he founded back in 2016. Performance for the initial funds has been impressive, with Fund 1 producing a money-on-money return of 3.6x since inception. Grant joins David to discuss the learnings through his career as well as the history behind Tidal Ventures. Grant also highlights the benefits of investing in what he considers high growth trajectory SAAS businesses when compared to traditional industrial-focused companies. He also touches on why he believes seed first is the most compelling area of venture capital to focus on. Grant leverages a background in digital media and 20+ years of experience investing in seed companies in Asia & Australia and advising early-stage founders on their most critical challenges.