Airtree

Heading to _SOUTHSTART this week? Here’s where you can catch the Airtree team 👀 👭 Monday 3 March • 6pm - 9pm: Kate Coffey and Victoria Lowe will be at ‘IWD25: Curate confidence. March Forward’ by Forever Projects 🍸 Wednesday 5 March • 2pm - 4pm: Sid Kasbekar will be judging the Pitch Showcase • 6pm - 9pm: We’re teaming up with our friends at Vanta to host the Airtree x Vanta Espresso Martini Cart during the Sundowners and Entertainment session Get all the event links in comments + book time with Kate Coffey, Sid Kasbekar and Victoria Lowe during the conference via the Brella app 👇

Lots to celebrate this month for the Airtree portfolio. Here are some of the highlights 👇 🧶 Twine raised a $2.3m pre-seed round to build the operating system for modern go-to-market and product teams. “What sets Twine apart is how they've leveraged cutting-edge AI advancements to shape their company and product. The Twine founding team are not just AI-native, they have proven that a new generation of startups are going to unlock massive amounts of value for enterprises, with smaller teams and at pace,” says Craig Blair, Co-founder & Partner at Airtree. 🦸 Employment Hero passed US$250m ARR and reached profitability. “They have exceeded the goals outlined at their Series A deck and proven their ability to build a world-class company,” says Craig Blair. “Operating at this level as a profitable business demonstrates shrewd, capital-efficient leadership. These are traits of an outstanding company with a bright future of continued global expansion.” 💜 Hnry announced their UK launch. “Over the years, we’ve helped tens of thousands of sole traders across New Zealand and Australia to never think about tax again, and now we’re bringing Hnry to the UK—with the opportunity to revolutionise the way that millions of sole traders work,” says James Fuller, Co-founder & CEO at Hnry. 🤖 Abyss Solutions Ltd announced their new partnership with Petrobras. "This new [partnership] strengthens our diverse portfolio of projects with major energy companies and demonstrates our long-term commitment to the Brazilian market, providing innovative and efficient solutions to meet our clients' needs", said Paulo Cesar Martins, Regional Director for South America at Abyss Solutions.

Should you be a startup founder? 🤔 Join 22k+ monthly readers and find out in February’s edition of AirMail—our monthly newsletter with startup resources, insights, news and more 💌 The next release will be sent out tomorrow (link in comments) and includes: 💅 Tips for nailing founder-led sales 💬 Lessons from Slack’s growth journey 💡 A differentiation framework to help you measure up against competitors

It’s no secret that startups evolve fast ⚡ The product you’re building now isn’t the same as the 10-year vision you pitched to investors; it’s a stepping stone on the roadmap to that endpoint. That’s why positioning isn’t a one-time exercise—it’s a continuous process, and your strategy needs to shift as you move from early traction to scale. Learn how to grow your product positioning alongside your startup with our guide on building a sales pitch that wins with April Dunford, product positioning expert and author of Obviously Awesome (link in comments 👇)

The best teams are the ones that think like owners—that's where ESOPs come in handy. Figuring out the right employee share scheme structure for your startup at the beginning and as you grow can be a headache. Rather than being a hassle, we want to help simplify the process. Selecting the right structure comes down to 3 factors: 1. What are you eligible for? 2. What is the most tax effective? 3. What will drive the right behaviours? Here's a decision tree to get you started and get the full explainer from David Parfett on Open Source VC (link in comments) 🌴

We're excited to welcome Twine to the portfolio 🧶 Twine builds AI-powered connective tissue for modern organisations, empowering collaboration and routing intelligence between product and go-to-market teams. “What sets Twine apart is how they've leveraged cutting-edge AI advancements to shape their company. The team are not just AI-native, they're illustrative of a new generation of startups that will unlock massive amounts of value for enterprises, with far smaller teams and at pace,” says Craig Blair (Co-founder & Partner, Airtree) We look forward to supporting Brian Swift, Max Bausher and the ambitious team into this next chapter of their growth journey. Read the news from Daniel Van Boom and Capital Brief, in the comments 👇

Building in an emerging market? Your first job isn’t selling, it’s teaching 👩🏫 If you’re genuinely building a new category, your customers often won’t realise they have a problem yet. So, if you start marketing your solution to them, it’s going to fall flat. Rather, you need to focus on marketing the problem you’re solving, so they understand the importance of your product. What more product positioning insights? Check out our full session and guide on building a sales pitch that wins with April Dunford, product positioning expert and author of Obviously Awesome (link in comments 👇)

"How the hell do I set up an employee option pool?" That's a question we get asked A LOT by founders, and it's a good one. Employee options are one of the most important tools a founder has for building a world-class team. These schemes aren't rocket science, but they can be fiddly. Save yourself the hassle and head to Open Source VC (link in comments) for the template documents we use when setting up ESOPs for our portfolio companies 👇

Your biggest competitor isn’t another startup—it’s the status quo 💡 Even if you don't have a competitor building the same solution as you, your customers are still finding ways to solve the problem, whether that’s using spreadsheets, interns, or doing nothing at all. The key to beating this invisible competition is understanding what you’re really competing against and positioning your solution accordingly. Want to learn how to build a sales pitch that wins? Check out our full session and guide with April Dunford, product positioning expert and author of Obviously Awesome (link in comments 👇)

ESOPs are complex, especially amidst changing valuations. So how do you make sure your employees understand the value of equity? 🙇 Attracting and retaining top talent is crucial for any startup's success, and Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOPs) are one of the most powerful levers you can pull to attract, retain and motivate staff. But if employees don’t understand its value, it loses its impact. To help, we’ve put together a best-practice guide to communicate the value of your ESOP to employees, including a free ESOP value calculator (link in comments) 👇