Fiona Hindmarsh is set to share the ins and outs of funding at the Female Founders X Billion Dollar Panel. Photo: Supplied.
On the one hand, Fiona Hindmarsh’s extraordinary journey to becoming the managing partner of a venture capital firm was mapped out in her career in finance and investment banking.
Being a successful woman in a densely male-dominated arena only made it all the more thrilling to watch the large-scale infrastructure and mining projects she’d secured long-term funding for take off.
But on the other hand, perhaps in a more significant way, the journey began well before that, when her dad John Hindmarsh started Hindmarsh Construction in 1979.
“When you grow up with a father in the throes of building a business, the daily challenges, the highs and lows, all become dinner table conversation,” she says.
“My brothers and I were exposed to talk about business from birth. I actually don’t remember life being any other way.”
This year, Hindmarsh is marking its 45th anniversary. During a deep dive into John’s legacy, the nucleus of this highly successful Canberra construction company became clear.
“He emphasised how important it was, in the first five years of business, to establish the sense of ethics you want to bring to business – how you choose to do business, who you do it with and what you want to be known for,” Fiona says.
“Putting reputation and integrity ahead of profit was always how Dad operated. It’s informed everything we’ve done since, and how the business continues to operate.”
All three Hindmarsh siblings went on to their own impressive careers, but the pull of the family business has been a common thread throughout all their lives. The youngest, Rowan, is now CEO of Hindmarsh and Fiona and Stewart are both Non-Executive Directors. In addition, Fiona oversees Significant Capital Ventures, an early stage venture capital fund that strategically backs deep tech innovation emerging from universities and incubators that drive regional development.
“What can I say: as a family, we love building businesses,” Fiona says.
Christina DeLay (pictured here with Altina co-founder Alan Tse) will join Fiona Hindmarsh on the Female Founders x Billion Dollar Panel. Photo: Altina Drinks.
Fiona will join Altina co-founder Christina DeLay later this month, when Canberra Innovation Network (CBRIN) combines its popular Female Founder and Billion Dollar panels to create a powerhouse panel.
The panellist will discuss venture investment, social enterprise, the Dos and Don’ts of raising funding for female founders and more.
Fiona will provide insights on starting and building a business from the perspective of the venture capitalist.
“I hope people walk away energised about bringing the values they hold dear to their business from the get-go,” she says.
“My observation working with families who have built and owned very successful businesses and crystallised incredible wealth is that you cannot change the fibre of the business – it goes right back to the founders and is embedded in everything you do.
“You have to build around it and add to the strength of the founders.”
Hindmarsh has had a long-standing connection with CBRIN and was an angel investor for a number of Canberra’s great start-up success stories – Instaclustr, Seeing Machines, Digitalcore and Liquid Instruments to name a few.
“One of the unique things about Canberra’s innovation ecosystem is that there’s no hierarchy – everyone celebrates all boats rising,” Fiona says.
At the Female Founders x Billion Dollar Panel, Fiona will discuss the power of mentorship, and “bringing in expertise”.
“The venture capital market has many of the hallmarks from investment banking years ago – this notion that you have to have bravado and make cool pitches and it’s just not true,” she says.
“One of the greatest strengths women have is the humility to bring great people along with them, because no individual has everything it takes.
“I hope at Female Founders, they can learn to sift through a lot of the noise, because I would love to see more female founders embrace an innate confidence that they have a right to be in the room.”
She’ll also be looking at how to tell if you really have – or want – a business.
“Some people simply want to create a great thing, bring knowledge to the market or conduct research,” Fiona says.
“Researchers are amazing – they are curious and love solving problems but aren’t necessarily as passionate about the customer’s problems. So they need to partner with people who are obsessed with the problem they’re solving for the industry they’re serving.
“Otherwise it may remain an exceptional idea, product or opportunity, but it will struggle to become a scalable business and make it over the long term.”
The Female Founders x Billion Dollar Panel takes place Tuesday, 11 March, from 12:15 pm to 1:30 pm at Canberra Innovation Network, Level 5, 1 Moore Street, Canberra. For more information or to book a place, visit Canberra Innovation Network.
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