Kind of embarrassing my last blog post was in June. So much has happened over the last 6 months blogging simply hasn’t been anywhere near the top of my to-do-list. But today’s Boxing Day. I’ve given myself the day off. If I don’t write something today I probably never will.
First things first. Controlled Commodity finally launched on 10/10/14. The idea of starting an online fashion label premised on durable style and quality was conceived in late 2013. Considering we did everything from scratch – coming up with sketches, sourcing for fabric, preparing paper patterns, sampling the designs, manufacturing in-house – it’s not surprising it took nearly a year for the label to launch. Could we have done it any faster? Probably. Could we have outsourced some of the steps? Definitely. But what matters is that we are proud of this brand we conceived from scratch. As Vulcan Post puts it in their coverage of Controlled Commodity “nothing worth doing is easy.” We did it the hard way, and we can only hope it was all worth it.
In August 8Capita completed a successful listing of 8Common on the Australia Stock Exchange. This had been in the works for more than a year before we got it over the line and we are optimistic we can grow the newly listed entity into an important SaaS provider in Australia and beyond.
At around the same time 8Common listed on the ASX, Ninja Van closed it’s Series A round and I took on an executive position in a business development role. It was amazing to see Ninja Van grow from being an idea early this year to becoming a full fledged last mile courier handling thousands of parcels daily in a few short months. I am grateful the front row seat and look forward to contributing to Ninja Van’s growth over the next few years.
8 Capita invested in a bunch of Y Combinator Winter 2014 start ups after one of us attended Demo Day earlier in the year. Airhelp, Guesty and Camperoo join Lob on the list of YC startups in 8 Capita’s portfolio. I am looking forward to attending the next YC Demo Day next March with a couple of my partners.
Glints is a JFDI startup I mentored from the 2014A batch. The youngest team admitted into the program. I ended up investing in them both personally and through the fund. In September I participated in the friends and family round of Temasys and made that my last personal investment of 2014.
Maryanne and I welcomed Cory to the world on 21st July. It would have been an amazing year if not for the friend who unexpectedly left us. A reminder to cherish what we have and to make the most of our time on earth.
Goodbye 2014. Bring on 2015.
therealjohntan 