#140 Ben Grabiner: UK upbringing, selling startup to Apple, building Side Stage Ventures and more
Manage episode 374772469 series 3309365
Ben Grabiner is a Partner at Side Stage Ventures, a newly formed Venture Capital firm in Australia. Previously he co-founded Platoon which was acquired by Apple. Platoon was created during Ben's time working at Local Globe, as an early employee at the firm. (Local Globe is now recognised as a leading seed stage VC fund in Europe).
It’s now time to explore your curiosity. Please enjoy!
(Timestamps below)
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00:55 - Where were you born and live now?
02:06 - What was your first job and now?
02:39 - High Flyer in Ben’s life
03:28 - Big family with 3 siblings
07:08 - Independently minded
08:50 - Career aspirations at age 18
11:25 - First date with media and tech
14:00 - Leaving corporate to found his first startup
16:45 - Struggling to raise capital
18:36 - UK startup ecosystem in 2014
20:14 - Joining Local Globe as a VC investor
24:00 - The problem that led to creating Platoon
28:25 - Business model with music labels
30:35 - Reflections on differences between the two startups he’s built
32:09 - How did the sale to Apple happen
34:55 - Balancing family and career
37:30 - Moving from the UK to Australia
40:50 - Building a network from scratch
42:54 - Origin story of Side Stage Ventures
45:09 - Applying a founder mindset to building a VC
47:17 - Uncovering unique founders early on
48:55 - Growing Side Stage with co-founder in Markus
50:17 - Rapid fire final sprint
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