Adrian Petersen: Deep seeded professional athlete ambitions in Tennis & Cycling to co-founding AfterWork Ventures, and how they're doing things a little different

The High Flyers Podcast with Vidit Agarwal

Learn about drive and determination at a young age with a deep desire to be a professional athlete, to then having his startup shut down and making his way into VC and co-founding AfterWork Ventures, a community led VC doing things differently for the next gen.

Welcome to episode #73 w Adrian Petersen! Here are 5 key takeaways you will learn from this episode:

1. Deep determination and focus to be a professional athlete, being obsessed with Tennis & Cycling at a young age
2. The importance of be team first and win collectively with an "open up" policy
3. Adrian's non traditional path to Venture Capital
4. The birth of AfterWork and the cold start challenge of building a community
5. Biggest surprise about investing in Sports Tech startups

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TIMESTAMPS

02:31 - Perth, Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra

03:48 - Dream to become a tennis player

05:25 - Both parents worked in grandpa’s scaffolding company

06:25 - Roger Federer and Lance Armstrong

07:25 - Australian Institute of Sport

08:45 - importance of be team first now vs being single mildly focused in his past

10:11 - Working with people smarter than you

12:00 - Learning the importance of “open up” when closing his first business

15:12 - First 3 months re-setting to find next opportunity

16:40 - The path to becoming a VC

19:55 - The birth of AfterWork

24:28 - Cold start challenge of building a community

26:20 - Deal flow sources being a community first VC

30:23 - Ability to significantly follow on

32:21 - Direct to consumer investments

34:15 - Investor changing sentiment

36:46 - Mentors that have shaped his thinking

38:20 - Going from zero to one and beyond

40:26 - In house team complimenting the community advisors

42:14 - Investing in sports focused startups

43:30 - final sprint

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