Introducing Caitlin Ratcliffe, our new Communications & Community Manager

Joining us as Communications and Community Manager, Caitlin serves as a member of our marketing and operations team – and a catalyser of connection across the Investible group in Australia and Southeast Asia. Caitlin joins Investible from our Sydney office.

With a growing network of founders, investors and members of our global Club Investible syndicate, the pulse of Investible’s community is strong, and increasing. Caitlin will play a leading role in its next phase of growth. She will also help tell the Investible story and grow our reach and impact across the early-stage technology ecosystem.

Read on for a brief introduction to Caitlin and the insight and passion she brings to our team.

First, tell us about your background

In retrospect, it seems that both my education and career experience paved the path for me into a role in Venture Capital. Having done a Bachelor of Business majoring in Economics/ Marketing, my thought processes and strategic thinking have always been split between greater cultural and business trends (economics), and an individual's motivations and consumption (marketing). At University, I also had a strong interest in business operations within Southeast Asia, having completed an international management study in Hanoi and Kuala Lumpur.  

My career has been a varied, across marketing, media, communications and business development for companies ranging from large corporates, tech companies and innovative tech-based startups. I have worked for myself, offering freelance marketing consultancy for different businesses.

I learned valuable lessons from each sector and role, enjoying the autonomy, pace and agile structure working within a startup environment. Particularly, I learned that I love a work environment that requires learning about new sectors, businesses, and personality types on an ongoing basis.  

I found Investible and couldn’t have been more excited about the role – working under visionary leaders within an environment that encourages continuous learning and personal development whilst finding companies to improve the world we live in.  

What excites you most about joining Investible?

The continuous learning, career growth and people.

Not only is our team filled with high-achieving individuals with diverse backgrounds, within my role I am exposed to industry-shaping founders who are striving to change the world with their technological expertise every week which is incredibly motivating.  

My role allows me to share the unique stories of these founders, our company and help build a community among founders and investors with the objective of fostering meaningful connections to help expand the Investible portfolio.  

It’s also exciting to be a part of a company that is doing (and enabling others to do) incredible things and values genuine relationships with all stakeholders. Even within my first few weeks, I have been able to work on incredible projects, such as the Investible Women’s Network.  

What do you love about the startup ecosystem?

The diversity of the community, and the energy and drive within the ecosystem. Whether it’s on the investor or founder side, the people are passionate and open about ideas and enjoy collaborating, networking and sharing openly.  

It is incredibly humbling to be exposed to those who are at the height of talent within their respective fields, and motivated to improve the world.  

What's your personal philosophy?

Put yourself in their shoes.

On a personal level, I think it is important to understand people’s context and experiences to better communicate and relate to one another.

In a professional sense, particularly as a marketer, it is important to intimately understand your audience and stakeholders' motivations and intentions so that you can effectively communicate value and address their needs.  

What's something new you've learned recently?

Aside from wrapping my head around Investible and all of our products... in the spirit of cultural trends (aka. Oppenheimer) I have been obsessively researching the development of the atomic bomb, namely the ethical debate on Oppenheimer’s work from different parties in different periods.

After going to see the film, one profound lesson that stood out to me from a management perspective was not to forget the big picture and impact of our work by focusing too intently on the isolated task at hand.  

Something about you that might surprise people?

I am a qualified Pilates instructor – however, I have now opted to be the student versus the teacher and love trying out new studios around Sydney.  

You can connect with Caitlin on LinkedIn here.

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