Backing founders
before it's obvious.
EarlyWork Ventures is John Keith's personal angel investing vehicle, backing early-stage founders across Australia and New Zealand — before the round is competitive, before the narrative is clear, and before everyone else sees it.
How we think
about investing.
EarlyWork's investment approach is structured around three frameworks.
Falsifiable assumptions
Every investment thesis is a set of falsifiable assumptions, tested rigorously rather than confirmed.
Execution over mythology
A philosophy that prioritises execution and founder capability over startup mythology. The best founders have unfair insights grounded in domain expertise.
Outcome pre-filter
A pre-filter that classifies outcome potential before committing to deeper analysis.
Where we
spend our time.
We're sector-agnostic but find ourselves repeatedly drawn to a few areas where technical innovation is creating entirely new possibility spaces.
Tooling, orchestration, and compute for the next generation of AI-native products.
Software that makes software engineers dramatically more productive and creative.
Hard science and engineering applied to decarbonisation and resilient energy systems.
Computational approaches to drug discovery, diagnostics, and precision medicine.
Infrastructure that keeps data, identity, and digital systems safe at scale.
Platforms that reshape how people collaborate, learn, and create value together.
Angel Investments
John Keith invests from his own resources, not from a fund. Portfolio details are available on request.
John Keith
Angel Investor · EarlyWork Ventures
John Keith is a Sydney-based angel investor who backs early-stage founders across ANZ and beyond, investing from personal capital — not a fund.
He was previously a Director at BNP Paribas (capital markets, regulatory, and structured finance) and former Chair of Atomo Diagnostics (ASX:AT1). He brings deep capital markets, governance, and regulatory experience to the companies he backs. He is a mentor within the StartMate accelerator programme, an Explorer within the AirTree community, and a Practice Lead at the University of Sydney Business School, working with MBA/EMBA students and the Genesis accelerator.
Perspectives on
early-stage investing.
Thoughts on early-stage investing, ANZ ecosystem, and what I'm learning.
Follow along on LinkedIn
I write about early-stage investing, the ANZ ecosystem, and what I'm learning as an angel investor.
View profile →Building something
that shouldn't work?
If you're building in ANZ — or further afield — I'm interested in hearing from you. Pitch decks welcome. I respond to everything personally. Pre-pitch deck conversations are genuinely preferred — a short note on the problem you're solving is a great place to start.
- Emailjohn@earlywork.ventures
- Based inSydney, Australia
- Response timeI reply to every founder within 48 hours.