Living at the intersection of enterprise and innovation, Natalie Collins has led a successful career at Coca-Cola Amatil and now Woolworths Group. With 25 startup investments in the portfolio, Natalie provides insight into enterprise sales few other investors can match. Having set up Coca-Cola's corporate venture arm, Natalie has commenced her own journey into angel investing with a thesis built around finding founders who are carrying out their life's work.
Key Points:
- An accountant by trade, Natalie now spearheads commercial partnerships at Woolworths Group..
- Co-founded Coca-Cola Amatil's venture capital arm, diving deep into the startup ecosystem across Australia, New Zealand, and Indonesia.
- Manages a diverse investment portfolio comprising around 25 startups, with a strategic focus on retail tech, supply chain tech, and sustainability,
- Founders carrying out their life's work comes first while also focussing on technology uniqueness, market traction, and potential for social good when evaluating opportunities.
Find the full interview and an edited transcript below.
Tell us about your current professional roles?
These days I'm a corporate executive and a Non-Executive Director.
I've worked across finance, marketing, supply chain, corporate governance and spent a lot of time in corporate innovation - across professional services, CPG, retail and capital markets. In terms of what I do today, I'm Head of Commercial Partnerships at Woolworths Group, working with our acquisition businesses to unlock value across the Woolworths ecosystem.
I'm also a Non-Executive Director at Centuria Capital. They're a fund manager specialising in property funds and investment bonds.
And I'm really passionate about the startup industry where I act as an advisor and an angel investor.
And how did you get into Angel investing?
I had been working at Coca-Cola Amatil in corporate innovation - somewhere along the pipeline of innovation - for a number of years, and was given the opportunity to co-found our Corporate Venture Capital arm. That saw us run a corporate accelerator; and we also invested in startups across Australia, New Zealand and Indonesia. It was just a really great way to be introduced to the startup ecosystem. And from that moment, I didn't really look back. I went from spending Coca-Cola Amatil's capital, to my own.
And how long have you been in the venture space?
I was at Coca-Cola Amatil for about 20 years and in the venture capital space for the last three. It was an interesting journey getting to that point because I'd worked really broadly across the organisation. I'm an accountant by trade but haven't worked as one for a long time. Before moving to innovation, I had worked across supply chain and marketing, and really got to understand the business, and the challenges and opportunities that we had. And that placed me really well to then look across startup technologies and business models and figure out where they could fit along our value chain. I spent three years doing that before leaving and coming to Woolworths.
What was your overarching strategy when you started doubling down into angel investing?
I would say it was less of a strategy and more about following a passion when I started out. I’m an investor across all asset classes - it's just something that I really enjoy doing. And angel investing was a chance for me to follow something that I'm really passionate about. I love the positivity and the forward looking nature of startups. It’s obviously a lot higher risk, but hopefully there's higher returns there too.
I did, however, look to Jason Calacanis in the early days, and read his book Angel, just to help educate myself around portfolio construction and the amount of capital I should think about investing, the size of the cheque I should be looking at, and some of the things I should be looking for from founders and their business models before I decided to write a cheque.
And you also did the Startmate First Believers course. Is that right?
I did. That was another thing that got me started. It augmented what I'd been reading about in Jason's book but also introduced me to a lot of the players in the startup industry: a lot of the syndicates that are there, the figures that I guess once you're in it, you know them. They were all really welcoming and happy to give me some time so I could ask questions and help shape my thinking about how I wanted to turn up in this space.
Do you remember what your first investment was?
I do. It was a TEN13 investment, actually. And it was right in the middle of 2021; the height of when it was quite busy. I think for me, it was a frictionless way to start. Venture investments are all high risk investments, aren't they? But low risk in the sense that I was investing behind a VC that I trusted. I could piggyback off their DD. It was a really positive experience. So for me, it was an opportunity to jump in and get started.
Did you do any additional DD to supplement what the team had already provided?
Nothing in any amount of detail. And I guess that's one of the things I find most challenging in this space as an investor with the rest of my portfolio. I don't know if that makes me different to other investors or not, but working in a full-time Exec role, holding down a a Non-Exec Director position, and I'm a mum too - so family duties and responsibilities there too. I openly admit I don't have a lot of time to do DD at the moment.
Through the First Believers program I learnt a lot and I actually drew up my sort of investment thesis and how I would go about it. But it's not something I have time to put into practice. My model these days is to outsource that to people that I believe do a really good job. And then I overlay my own thinking about what sort of business models and industries I want to invest in. But the level of DD that I am able to do these days is quite light touch. Hopefully in a few years time when things might shift for me, then that's something I'd love to get a little more involved in.
With this particular asset class - you’ve got to be in it for a while before there's any sort of return - I'd prefer to get started now. And if that means, paying others who I respect and value a little bit to get access to the deals, then that's what I'm going to do.
How many in the portfolio thus far?
The portfolio is a mix of syndicate investments, funds, and a few direct investments. So there'd be about 25 now. They're not all large cheque sizes. In fact, none of them would be considered large. But yes, I've built some depth there now.
Have you got some focus areas or any things that are on the no go list?
I feel most comfortable investing in areas that I know, I think like most people. So for me, that's retail tech, supply chain tech, and potentially sustainability, particularly in the area of plastics. And then things that I'm less inclined to invest in would probably be crypto, just because I don't have an in-depth knowledge on that, so I tend to steer away from that. And other than that, I think, just like any asset class, getting some diversity in your portfolio in a good goal.
Do you want to talk us through your investment thesis?
Yeah, I don't think there's anything in there that's unique or will be surprising.
It's, looking at the team. For me, that's the first thing and can absolutely break a deal in my mind. Do they have the experience to be working in this space? And not just that, do they have that passion? ‘Is this their ‘life's work’ is a really good question to ask. Do you get that sense about them? Are they going to be committed to this in the long run? That for me is the number one.
And then, what's the technology? Is there some sort of proprietary tech or competitive advantage that they're building that others won't have access to be able to build?
Traction is another good one. Are their customers coming back? Are there any signs of revenue at this point?
And then trends. What are they tapping into that's trending at the moment that makes this moment in time the right time to invest?
And then terms, would be the other thing, are they the right terms for me to invest at?
When you talk to the founding team do you have any ways you like to assess whether it is their life's work?
Understanding their background is one. They really have to have an in-depth understanding of the subject matter.
And there's normally some kind of personal story to those that are setting up for this to be their life's work. It's generally not about making money, there's often a bigger picture, a higher purpose, and you can just get that sense through talking to them.
I always like when there's more than one founder, if that's possible. It's not a deal breaker, but it is nice to know that they're sharing that journey. It's a really hard journey, that of a founder. So if they can share that with someone, that just gives me an extra level of comfort.\
Are there any key questions you want answered by founders?
I ask what's the early evidence of product market fit/traction?
Do they have a functional prototype? What is it that they've put out there? It doesn't have to be the end game. In fact, I'd prefer if it wasn't because you like them to iterate through learning from customers.
I always like to know how much runway they're raising. Raising capital is generally a time consuming process so you don't want them to be raising all the time. So for me, I like to see 18 to 24 months runway. And I’m keen to understand what they're going to use the capital for. And, if there's any VC funding in the round as well.
What do you wish founders knew about investors?
I wish they knew that not all investors have access to a large pool of cash. And look, that's probably true for some, but I know a lot of investors that are like me, and that's not the case. They are angel investors because they really believe in founders and their vision and they're passionate about making a difference in the world. So, in addition to a little bit of funding (and it’s always nice to have some skin in the game), they want to use their experience to make a difference.
You said you mentor or advise a few companies, are you happy to elaborate on that?I’ve found that a lot of founders are trying to work out how to grow their business by working with enterprise. I can help them understand how to reach out to enterprise to unlock their sales pipeline, how to approach conversations with corporate customers and even how to think about early stage governance in the way that a corporate does, simple things like setting OKRs.
In addition to that though, is using my network. That might be to help a startup find the right advisor in the early days, they might be looking for a particular skill-set to bring into the management team. When you've been around the traps for a little while, you amass quite a network, so reaching out to that network to try and make those connections is another way I tend to help.
And then pitch deck feedback is a good one too. I think as an investor or as an advisor, you've seen lots of pitch decks so can draw on that experience to help other founders get their message across effectively . I find that's always a good practical way to help.
We'd love to hear what's exciting you at the moment.
One of the things I'm really passionate about is bringing together startups and corporates so that you can bring that startup mindset and new technology and business model together with the existing customer base and scale of a large corporate.
At the moment I'm bringing that to life within Woolworths Group. We've recently launched Woolworths Market Plus which is one door for third party sellers to sell their products across marketplaces within Woolworths Group - that's across MyDeal, Everyday Market, and the recently launched Big W Market. So we're leveraging the existing website traffic that exists across Woolworths Group marketplaces but now applying the proprietary technology that we bought through our 80 percent acquisition of MyDeal.
We launched late last year and the early results are really positive. And, there’s an exciting pipeline of future releases and expansion so watch this space!
For any founders out there listening in on some of these investor calls, is there an opportunity for anyone to reach out to you?
Always. I'm on LinkedIn, you can find me there. I'm always happy to hear from founders. If my experience and skill-set can add value to your business, I'd love to make some time to have a conversation.