#58 Craig Blair - Co-Founder of AirTree

In this episode, I interview Craig Blair - co-founder of AirTree - one of the largest Venture Capital firms in Australia. AirTree has been an early investor in some of the country’s biggest startups, such as Canva, Mr Yum and LinkTree. Founded in 2014, Craig has helped grow the business to now manage over $1.3 Billion with over 80 active investments.

Craig talks about his journey starting out as a country kid, starting his own construction business, owning a profitable business during the dot com era and now his success with AirTree. He also talks about the characteristics that make the best founders and interestingly, the benefits of reading fiction.

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Chapters

• 0:00 Highlight Clip
• 0:36 Introduction
• 2:03 Guest Background and Introduction
• 3:16 Craig Blair's First Major Success in Business
• 4:43 How Craig Blair First Got Into VC
• 5:38 When do you know a Founder is the one for the Job
• 6:54 How Long Does it take for Intangible Qualities of the Founder Reveal Themselves
• 8:57 The Lessons Craig Learnt from His First Business
• 9:41 Would Craig Blair Do An MBA in Hindsight
• 10:48 The Biggest Lessons Craig Blair Learnt From His Second Business, $100M Travel Selects
• 12:29 The Benefits of Craig Blair Having an Engineering Background
• 13:33 Lessons Craig Blair Took From the Dot Com Boom/Bust
• 16:51 The Biggest Change in VC Space Craig's Seen Over the Last 20 Years
• 18:41 Is there a Technology that is Currently Underrated?
• 21:50 Craig Blair's Biggest Strength as a Founder and how it's Helped Him Succeed Over the Years
• 23:03 Why Craig Blair Tried to Retire at Age 30
• 24:23 Craig Blair's Biggest Weaknesses and How he Overcomes Them
• 28:34 The Best Advice Craig Blair has Ever Been Given
• 31:42 The Business Person that Inspires Craig Blair the Most
• 33:19 Craig Blair's Favourite Business Books
• 36:03 Craig Blair's Quotes and Mantras that He Lives By
• 38:00 What's Next for Craig Blair and AirTreez
• 39:19 Outtro