0:00 Introduction and platform overview

Steve Grace welcomes Steve Torso and asks him to describe Wholesale Investor. Torso explains the platform connects high-net-worth investors with high-growth private, pre-IPO, and small-cap listed companies, with a network crossing 32,000 across Australia, Singapore, and the UK.

3:00 Launching in the worst week of the GFC

Torso describes launching in October 2008 during the worst trading week of the global financial crisis. He recounts a launch party where a guest asked who was behind this venture, clearly thinking it was insane, and Torso had to awkwardly confess it was him.

6:00 Starting as a magazine and building the network

Rather than a website, Wholesale Investor launched as a physical magazine published every two months for four years. It was placed on the coffee tables of law firms, accounting firms, and VCs, generating brand awareness and inbound registrations that seeded the online platform. Torso credits the magazine as one of the best decisions they made.

12:00 Live events era: 48 events in seven countries

The second iteration of Wholesale Investor was an online-to-offline strategy, generating investor interest online and converting it at live pitch events. At its peak, the company ran 48 events across seven countries in a single year. Torso describes this as the craziest year of his life and also the moment he realised the model was not scalable without a deeper technology investment.

15:00 AI matchmaking and relevancy investing

Torso explains the AI matchmaking engine launched that week, describing how it surfaces investors whose domain expertise and industry networks are relevant to a specific company’s stage and sector. He argues that this kind of smart, relevant capital is exponentially more valuable to a founder than undifferentiated money.

22:00 COVID pivot in three days

When lockdowns hit, the team had a new business model mapped within three days and ran its first virtual conference within two weeks. Torso used the period to raise capital, accelerate platform development, acquire an Australian Financial Services Licence, and onboard a large number of new team members, all simultaneously.

30:00 How COVID changed beliefs about remote work

Torso describes shifting from an expectation that everyone comes to the office every day, to a model where people start and finish the week together and work flexibly in between. He notes that remote work revealed which team members were truly high-performing and gave them the space to shine.

34:00 Why join Wholesale Investor

Torso pitches the company as an ideal environment for anyone passionate about the innovation and startup space, noting that Wholesale Investor sees everything from the exciting to the ugly in early-stage companies. He highlights several team members who have risen from volunteer or entry-level roles to lead significant parts of the business.