I'm Alan Jones;
tech angel investor and startup founder coach.
NEW Everybody learns to pitch at Pitch Club
Over the years I’ve become known as one of Australia’s best startup pitch coaches, for programs such as Australia's best-known accelerator Startmate as well as Atto, BlueChilli, Catalysr, Collider, CyRise, Fishburners, LuminaX, Monash Generator, Moonshot, muru-D, QUT Collider, Remarkable, Sydney School of Entrepreneurship, Sydney University Genesis, UNSW and UTS Startups.
Now, I’ve launched a pitch training program of my own, and I’m ready to prove that you can be great at pitching!
Pitch Club's members meet regularly to learn how to improve their pitching skills and practice, with expert help from me, and the support of a growing community. In-between Pitch Clubs we practice what we’ve learned and share it in a Slack community.
One of our members describes it as “like a masterclass in storytelling x open mic night x improv” and that nicely captures the collaborative, informal, supportive atmosphere. Pitch Club happens in a cool underground bar, with food and drinks included in your ticket price.
Your pitch doesn’t have to suck. Join me at Pitchclub.coach
Some of the startups I’ve coached
How I work with you
The startup founder journey is a hard road, and it's difficult to get advice from someone who's been where you are before, without any strings attached. I'm here to help you work through the challenges you face in finding valuable problems to solve, understanding customer behaviour, building a product, managing a team, commercialising your product and raising investment to power your growth.
After an initial introductory video call, we can collaborate on a bespoke coaching program for you, or your team. Or, if you’d like to self-serve, you can book-in for 30min founder checkins or one hour workshop sessions whenever you need it.
Services
For startups
Founder coaching
Pitch coaching
Network building
Fundraising and scaling
Growth marketing and content
Team and performance management
For startup community partners
Event hosting
Keynotes
Workshops
Entrepreneur-in-residence
Mentorship in programs
Content and curriculum
My process
Introductory session.
Let’s get to know each other. It’s as important for you to get to know me, as it is for me to get to know you. What’s your origin story? Why are you doing this? Who’s with you on the journey? What challenges have you overcome to get here?
Goals and planning.
It all begins with an idea. But if it remains an idea for too long, it will never become a startup. Let’s review your progress against the goals you currently have, or set some first-time goals for you that are measurable, achievable, and right for you.
Accountability and counsel.
Just like a fitness coach, you check in with me regularly to keep you accountable, deal with the problems that arise along the way, and discuss how best to take advantage of new opportunities and directions.
Where my startup story begins
I began as a reporter for tech media, so long ago, it was before the web was a thing.
In the late 1980s I began reporting on the tech industry for IDG Magazines publications including Computerworld and Macworld. I got sent to Silicon Valley regularly to attend trade shows, expos, product launches and interviews with industry leaders. Gradually I realised I fit in better with the tech companies I was reporting on than the media company I was working for, and decided to try to switch industries.
I joined my first kind-of-a-startup in 1995, as part of the production team that conceived and built some of what became ninemsn. In 1997 I took what I thought was a huge risk and joined a tiny Silicon Valley startup that none of my friends had heard of. It turned out to be Yahoo, and soon, all my friends had heard of it.
When I left Yahoo in 2002, I thought I knew everything about how to be a successful tech startup founder. I spent the next ten years learning how wrong I was.
Today, I’m an angel investor and founder coach; independently, and with tech accelerator programs.
Working with Jason, Denis and Zac from Tixel as a founder coach at the QUT Collider accelerator (Brisbane, 2018).
Along the way, I’ve been learning by doing (undoing) and trying (and trying again) until the team and I find something that works. I’ve formed lasting relationships with a network of world-class professionals across disciplines, industries, and cultures. And I’m still learning.
With the Muru-D tech accelerator team as one of their on-staff founder coaches (Sydney, 2019)
By working with me as your founder coach you benefit from that network, those experiences and those years of experimentation in many aspects of building startup products, managing startup teams, marketing and sales, and raising capital from angel and venture investors.
What people are saying
In the media
