Tools for researchers and founders to increase value through growth and innovation
When people hear “Renaissance” they identify it with rebirth and a period in European civilisation that was marked by a revival of Classical learning and wisdom.
There were aspects of that period which made rebirth possible:
Innovation happing at an intersection of fields, disciplines and cultures
Breaking down the barriers between fields and learning from others
And making things happen despite failures, risks and uncertainty
If great things can happen at the industry-investor-university intersections, even greater growth can happen by bringing all three together.
Hello, my name is Olga Hogan.
I am an ex-founder, a full-time VC investor, part-time researcher, an occasional mentor, and a non-executive director in the aged care sector.
I currently work as a pre-seed VC investor, focusing on deep tech start-ups. I am an investment professional with over 20 years of experience across Europe, Asia, and Australia.
After completing a PhD in Theoretical Chemistry at Oxford, I worked at Deloitte (Cambridge and London) for several years. There, I qualified as a chartered accountant while gaining direct experience across many businesses and investment areas in start-ups, VC/PE acquisitions, and exits.
During my corporate finance career, I worked in investor relations for an FTSE100 mining company; managed multiple companies as a CFO/investment manager in a private equity firm in Australia; worked as an independent adviser in the M&A space, and also co-founded a predictive weather analytics start-up for energy traders in Europe.
I am also an Adjunct Associate Professor at Deakin University with the Institute for Health Transformation, where I add value through my entrepreneurial experience, as well as (more often than I'd like) experience the pain associated with commercialising evidence-based interventions such as Guided Self-Determination for or students and people living with chronic health conditions.
This site is my way of learning in public, where I consolidate and share my thoughts and tools for early-stage investing in university research spin-outs.