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Lover of startups. Investor at Jelix Ventures. Co-founder of Innovation Bay. YPO member. Ex-AWS.
Cyclist, gamer, skier, husband, Scotsman, geek, father (not in that order)
Who is Ian?
Ian is deeply passionate about the local startup ecosystem, and loves nothing more than seeing startups succeed. In addition to his work at Innovation Bay, he is a partner at venture capital fund, Jelix Ventures. Prior to this he spent four years as Head of Startups at Amazon Web Services looking after all things startup across Australia and NZ. He has founded and run several technology startups, including video software platform Viocorp.
When he's not working, he is also a decent cyclist, mediocre squash player, and reasonable skier. He loves playing computer games, and is a doting husband to Andrea and father to Felix and Jasper.
One of Ian's few claims to fame was that he rowed for Oxford University twice in the Oxford-Cambridge Boat Race (won one, lost one). He has also won the Pearcy Award for Technology Entrepreneur of the Year.
Open the Pod Bay Doors Podcast
Since 2017 Open the Pod Bay Doors has been telling the story of the founders, investors and others from inside the Australian startup ecosystem.
Over 100 Episodes later Ian and Phaedon are still behind the mic capturing amazing stories and releasing a weekly podcast.
Ian on the mic
Find it at Open the Pod Bay Doors, or on your preferred podcast player.
Ian and Phaedon
Why am I @Rabbieburns?
On 25 January 1759, Robert Burns was born to a poor farmer and his wife in a small town called Alloway in Ayrshire, Scotland. Burns went on to have a fascinating life. A life that influenced an entire nation. He was best known for his prolific poetry, mostly written in a heavy Scottish dialect. He loved hanging out with his friends. He loved drinking. And he loved women. In many ways, he was the ultimate Scotsman.
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Whilst I now live in Sydney Australia, I remain a proud Scotsman. My Twitter handle is @rabbieburns
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If you want to go a little further down the @rabbieburns rabbit hole, here is a video of me reciting his epic poem/tale, Tam O' Shanter. I even added subtitles for those not fluent in old Scots.