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In our latest Ask Me Anything (AMA) session hosted by Antler’s Community Manager, Rani Heraputeri, two of Antler’s portfolio founders - Kshitjia Deshmukh (KD), CEO of FOBOH, and Nathan Spiteri, CEO of Shopfront - shared valuable insights on their entrepreneurial journeys and how Antler's unique approach as a day-zero investor has played a pivotal role in their startups' success.
Antler is a global early-stage investor supporting founders from day zero, offering them capital, mentorship, and access to a robust network long before they’ve gone to market. By partnering with Antler, founders can benefit from hands-on support and strategic guidance from pre-concept to Series A and beyond.
Read on to see how Antler sets founders up for success from day one.
Building the Right Co-founding Team from Day One
Finding the right co-founder can make or break a startup. Antler fosters an environment that brings together diverse founders with various expertise, increasing the chances of forming powerful commercial-technical teams.
According to KD, having a co-founder with complementary skills was one of the most important steps in setting FOBOH up for success. Coming from a corporate background, KD was aware of the importance of collaboration but found that the stakes are much higher in a startup setting, where the dynamics of a partnership can directly affect the trajectory of the business.
"You're going to be spending the next seven to ten years with this person, so it’s vital to find someone whose skills complement your own."
With the help of Antler’s co-founder matching mechanisms like design sprints and their 50 Co-founder Questions survey, founders are able to engage in deep conversations and uncover founder values and non-negotiables while evaluating potential co-founders. This helped KD to connect with her co-founder, Bethany Lovell, after working together at Woolworths where they directly encountered the B2B wholesale problem and shared the same mission to solve it.
With access to a network of pre-vetted, highly motivated, like-minded individuals ready to build, founders in Antler’s residency can start sourcing their ideal co-founders from day one. Nathan shared his experience meeting his technical co-founder, Drew Flaherty, on the first day of the residency.
"On day one, I met Drew... and we clicked right away. I’m non-technical, so I was actively looking for someone with strong technical expertise, and Drew fit the bill perfectly."
Pre-residency activities like meet-ups and speed dating sessions provide opportunities for incoming founders to connect with potential co-founders ahead of time. As a result, people like Nathan, with a history of scaling businesses, can connect with their complementary co-founder like Drew, a software engineering and project management expert, as soon as the residency begins.
Antler Provides the Mentorship and Environment to Pivot and Grow
As a day-zero investor, Antler is invested in helping founders navigate the early - and often complex - process of validating and refining their ideas. Both KD and Nathan emphasise how crucial Antler’s support was as they built their startups.
During the residency, Shopfront dramatically pivoted after testing the marketing and conducting early feedback with Antler’s team of early-stage experts and advisors. The experience enabled Nathan and Drew to see that a greater opportunity lay in a problem space that was less saturated with competitors and offered more room to manoeuvre.
"We wanted to build a challenger marketplace—something like eBay but more intuitive. But the feedback we got from Antler quickly made us realise that buyers didn’t have as many problems as the sellers. That’s when we pivoted to focusing on seller tools, which became our core product."
Impact investors like Antler aren’t just about providing capital - they’re about helping founders solve meaningful problems that have real-world applications.
KD says Antler also helped her sharpen FOBOH’s focus early on through critical and effective feedback.
"We reprioritised maybe three weeks into Antler... and we pivoted a couple of times. Antler was really good at pushing us to think beyond just building a product and focus on solving a real-world problem… No one’s going to tell you what to do but they will ask you questions that will challenge your thinking."
By providing a structured process and feedback through office hours, trackouts, and idea validation sessions, Antler ensures founders are supported at every stage of their journey - not just at the beginning. This early-stage support sets Antler apart from more traditional VC firms that often only get involved after a product has been fully developed.
The Benefits of a Collaborative and Supportive Community
Building a startup can be a lonely and difficult journey, but with Antler’s residency and extensive community of early-stage entrepreneurs, founders are never alone.
For Nathan, this support and community was particularly valuable when hitting obstacles while building Shopfront.
“There were times when I thought, ‘I don’t know if I can do this,’ especially after we failed our first pitch to get into the due diligence phase. Having Drew and the other founders around helped me push through. We came back two weeks later with a completely revamped pitch, and we made it."
This supportive environment provides emotional and practical support, and enables founders to learn from each other and share resources.
KD’s experience was similar.
"We were the first ones [in the residency] to pitch, and then we got asked questions like, ‘Yeah, didn’t think about that. Come back tomorrow,’" she recalled. "There’s a lot of intellectual capital there... It was really, really good."
Both founders agree that Antler’s support extends far beyond the residency and initial investment. The residency-based coaching, post-investment mentorship, and access to a global network that spans 27 cities worldwide are critical in helping founders scale their businesses.
How you can get involved
For individuals looking to leap into entrepreneurship or founders ready to build their next big thing, Antler supports you to launch and scale high-potential startups. Whether you have an idea or are still searching for the right opportunity, Antler exists to increase our founders’ speed and success in solving important problems.
As KD says, “The best time to start was yesterday, but the next best time is now. You won’t know until you try, and Antler gives you the structure and the safety net to take that leap.”
Want more insights? Sign up for our upcoming online AMA sessions featuring more founders from the Antler portfolio.
Applications are now open for Antler’s February 2025 residency in Sydney, Melbourne, and Brisbane. If you’re ready to embark on your founder journey, apply now!
Watch the full AMA below
