Getting to know our newest Partner — meet Albert

To many in the startup world, Albert Bielinko needs no introduction. He spent the last 10 years building Titanium Ventures (fmr. Telstra Ventures, ~A$1.8bm FUM), which backed 105 companies, including 19 unicorns; where he operated as a General Partner and on the Investment Committee. 

Few Australian investors have as deep US VC connections as Albert, which he’s built from over a decade of supporting companies scaling into the US. 

This experience - coupled with previously building a startup, investing in private equity and a stint as a corporate lawyer - makes him an excellent addition to the firm, and a great partner to our founders.

So, what was your journey to ‘first cheque’? ‍

“I was born, at 0 months, wanting to be an investor. I pretty much popped out spruiking Apple stock. 

More seriously, I’ve been a student of investing for decades. I love understanding trends occurring in the world and the founders that are bold enough to become a catalyst for change.

I started out as a corporate lawyer, and co-founded an on demand food delivery start-up. Investing is certainly my passion. At Goldman Sachs, I covered tech and found myself thinking deeply about which startups could disrupt incumbents, moats and team building.

This was followed by private equity and after that, I started in venture capital with Telstra Ventures (which we rebranded to Titanium Ventures post spin out) more than a decade ago when it was very small. At Titanium, I invested in companies like Enable (rebate and pricing software), Auth0 (identity and access management), Samsara Eco (AI based plastic recycling), OpenSolar (solar software), Bedrock Energy (geothermal heating and cooling), Safe Security (cyber risk quantification), Corvus (cyber insurance) and others.”

‍Insight from multiple VC cycles - what’s changed, and what hasn’t ‍

“It’s been an intriguing decade of investing in founders building outlier technology companies; and I’ve been fortunate to support many great founders, build friendships with some resourceful partners and invest alongside some of the top investors in the world, especially in the US. There have been so many interesting journeys. Witnessing a founder you believed in early ring the IPO bell is very special. I introduced my portfolio company Enable to Flintfox - 2 years later they acquired them to expand their product suite. 

Over multiple cycles, the fundamentals of what makes a ‘great capital partner’ haven’t changed. Founders should try to find the best early supporters, those that believe willingly rather than being reluctant naysayers. The right capital partner will often also shortcut growth. They will:

• Ask probing questions to uncover blind spots or challenges one may run into;
• Encourage reflection on potential weaknesses based on their prior experiences, so these can be shored up;
• Have a strong network they can introduce you to
• Have experienced many ups and downs so can help with advice;
• Remain cool when things don’t work out or change - stress is high enough already;
• Stay engaged but ultimately let the founder run the business;
• Vouch for you - give you credibility before you may have fully earned it.

VC has become much more competitive, fast paced and data rich. In 2015, you could mostly rely on personal networks and gut sense for deal sourcing. In 2017, at my fast firm, we started focusing heavily on data science and I continue to have a strong interest in data science. Data is now more important than ever. Equally, as the power to create has been democratised, personal relationships are more critical. We’ve seen large funds ascend and become deployment machines. AI has clearly changed the world - both in terms of investing and also in internal use as part of the investment process.”

‍Why Folklore? Why now?‍

“I think there will be tremendous value created by Australian and New Zealand founders and investing “first cheque to forever” will help create really impactful global companies. 

Folklore has seeded some excellent businesses and I think there is so much more to do. I am bullish on Australian founders creating world changing companies, often with less capital than our heavily armed American peers ;)”

‍What’s next?‍

“I am bullish on many themes such as resilience, energy transition and robotics. There are many deep tech companies that are showing strong customer ROI - like Hullbot, which has validated with customers that it reduces fuel use 10-26% with their autonomous underwater drones that clean hulls. 

The opportunity to turn services into software is large and will create many exciting companies. I think GenAI will massively change the world but I suspect the second and third order effects are likely more important for an investor than the first.”