### Title: Understanding Square Peg Capital’s Investment Approach with Partner Dan Krasnostein
Welcome to Episode 166 of the Startup Playbook Podcast! In this episode, Rohit Bhargava sits down with Dan Krasnostein, Partner at Square Peg Capital, to dive deep into Square Peg’s investment approach. With over $3B in funds under management and a stellar portfolio of companies including Canva, Airwallex, Fiverr, and Stripe, Square Peg is one of the leading Venture Funds in Australia.
Dan shares his journey from management consulting to joining Seek and ultimately becoming a founding member of Square Peg Capital. They discuss Square Peg’s focus on cultural and team fit when making investment decisions, as well as their conviction-based strategy approach. They also delve into Square Peg’s long-term approach to building companies and Dan’s passion for teaching throughout his career.
Additionally, the conversation covers what founders can learn from global operators and the challenges and opportunities in the current global financial climate.
To learn more about Dan and Square Peg’s investment approach, listen to the full episode on the [Startup Playbook Podcast](https://startupplaybook.co/episode-166-dan-krasnostein-partner-square-peg-capital/) website. Don’t forget to subscribe to their newsletter on [Startup Playbook’s Substack](https://startupplaybook.substack.com/) for the latest updates.
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This episode of the Startup Playbook Podcast is brought to you by their partners:
– [Lawpath](https://www.lawpath.com/playbook): Get access to lawyers on demand and save up to 20% off their legal plans.
– [Scendar](https://www.scendar.com/): Empowering founders, funders, and startups with finance as a service.
– [Dovetail Studios](https://www.dovetailstudios.com/): Transforming ambitious ideas into unstoppable businesses.
Music in this episode: “Ballpoint – Paycheck”
Keywords/Tags: startup playbook podcast, startup playbook podcast rohit bhargava, dan krasnostein, square peg capital, what do investors look for, investor podcast, startupaus, venture capital funds, investment approach, founders, cultural fit, conviction-based strategy, long-term approach
*Transcript available on the website.*
My guest for Ep166 of The Startup Playbook Podcast was Dan Krasnostein, Partner at Square Peg Capital.
Dan began his career in management consulting before making the switch to joining Seek in strategy roles.
After spending 4 formative years at Seek, Dan was ready for a change and despite in his own words not knowing too much about Venture Capital, ended up joining Paul Bassat and the team at Square Peg Capital as their first hire.
Fast forward 10 years and Square Peg is one of the leading Venture Funds in Australia with over $3B in funds under management and a stellar portfolio of companies including the likes of Canva, Airwallex, Fiverr and Stripe to name a few!
Square Peg is one of the few Australian VC funds with a global presence and focus, having investment teams based in Australia, Israel and SE Asia.
In this episode we dug into Dan and Square Peg’s investment approach, covering topics such as:
– How Square Peg assess founding teams for cultural and team fit when making investment decisions
– Their conviction based strategy approach (i.e. larger cheques into smaller deals)
– Their approach to building companies over the long term
– Dan’s common thread of teaching throughout his career
– What founders can learn from global operators
– The challenges and opportunities in the current global financial climate
& much more!
Full show notes available at startupplaybook.co and subscribe to our newsletter at startupplaybook.substack.com
Feedback/connect/say hello: [email protected]
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Linktree: https://linktr.ee/RohitBhargava
A big thank you to our partners for this episode:
Lawpath
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Scendar
We’re Scendar, an accounting and advisory practice better described as Finance as a Service (FaaS). We’re focused on founders, funders and startups. Clients that are ever-changing and adapting. We like fast movers. And as you might have guessed, we’re not your basic accountancy. We can take care of tax and the books whilst building a syndicate fund and a multi-million dollar exit strategy. At Scendar, we’re empowered by our client’s potential. Find out more at Scendar.com
Dovetail Studios
Dovetail Studios operates a venture studio and VC to transform ambitious ideas into unstoppable businesses. On top of being a renowned product development partner for startups like Afterpay, they also operate a VC fund to invest in early-stage companies that go through their venture studio program. So if you’re a non-technical, early-stage founder looking for a talented team to help supercharge your success, check out dovetailstudios.com
Credits:
Music: Ballpoint – Paycheck
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