Ep213 – Rob Phillpot (Co-founder – Aconex) on scaling Aconex to a $1.6B exit and launching a $50M founders fund
Description
My guest for Ep213 of The Startup Playbook Podcast was Rob Phillpot.
Rob and his co-founder Leigh Jasper have played a huge part in shaping Australia’s tech landscape, building Aconex into one of the country’s most iconic companies, taking it public in 2014 and ultimately selling it to Oracle in 2017 for $1.6 billion.
Since then, Rob has dedicated his time to advising startups, supporting philanthropy, and investing through his family office, Gravel Road Ventures. Most recently, Rob, Leigh Jasper, and A Cloud Guru founder Sam Kroonenberg teamed up to launch Glitch Capital, a $50 million founders fund backing the next generation of global tech companies.
In this episode, we cover a lot of ground, including:
- Aconex’s journey to a $1.6B exit and overcoming multiple near-death experiences
- What it was like to sell a company when he didn’t want to
- Why advising founders is 20% strategy and 80% psychology
- The secrets behind building a high-performance culture
- Balancing big ambitions with family life
- What Glitch Capital looks for when backing startups
- And so much more.
Timestamps:
- 00:01:50 Rob’s background
- 00:06:27 Meeting Leigh Jasper: did school-friends always know they’d start a company together?
- 00:09:15 Switching tracks: advice for people stuck in a career they don’t love
- 00:11:07 Startup ecosystem in 2000 and the early days of Aconex
- 00:13:46 Staying positive: how did Rob and Leigh keep morale when things looked bleak?
- 00:18:22 Strength in vulnerability
- 00:21:58 Cultivating Aconex’s culture and common founder mistakes
- 00:37:58 The real story of the Aconex sale
- 00:43:13 Life after the exit: what did stepping away from Aconex feel like?
- 00:49:48 What Rob looks for as an investor
- 00:58:13 80% psychology: common founder struggles Rob sees as an advisor
- 01:00:48 Family, fitness and cooking dinner: balancing startup life with home life
- 01:07:05 Philanthropy focus: why Rob created the Gravel Road Foundation and how he thinks about giving
Our partners:
A big thank you to Ben Leach, Andrew Barron and Bill Phillpot for their help with this interview!
Also a big shout out to our long-term partners for the show:
Scendar
Scendar is the OG startup accounting firm in Australia catering to all stages of your business’ life. If you’re busy running your startup, you don’t have time to do your own books and forecast. Instead, fully outsource your finance function, giving you time and resources back to focus on what you do best in growing your business. Find out more at Scendar.com
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The Startup Playbook Podcast listeners get access to an exclusive offer of USD$1000 off their plans. Head over to vanta.com/podcast to get access to this exclusive discount.
Links mentioned:
Rob’s Links:
People mentioned:
Companies mentioned:
- Oracle
- Multiplex
- McKinsey & Company
- Amazon Web Services
- Deloitte
- A Cloud Guru
- HammerTech
- Firmable
- Payapps
- Mr Yum
- Leonardo.AI
Feedback/connect/say hello:
- Rohit@startupplaybook.co
- @RohitBhargava7 (Twitter)
- /rohbhargava (LinkedIn)
- @rohit_bhargava (Instagram)
- My Youtube Channel
Credits:
Music: Paycheck
Other channels:
Find all of the links for the podcast on Linktree here
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The post Ep213 – Rob Phillpot (Co-founder – Aconex) on scaling Aconex to a $1.6B exit and launching a $50M founders fund appeared first on Startup Playbook.
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