Never one to waste a social media photo opportunity to prove his venture capital credentials, angel investor and ebook author Rayn Ong has used the returns on recent VC investments to buy a whiskey distillery.
Ong’s also snapped up a Sydney harbourside apartment block with 8 balconies as a co-investment space for founder meetings in what he’s dubbed his “whisky on the balcony” strategy.
His latest investments, alongside several expensive watches and flashy sports cars, started as a joke, when he posted on LinkedIn about catching up with founders when they are slightly famous and posting on LinkedIn when they are super famous.
Ong said his real intention to show off his harbour view to less successful investor. But the post went unintentionally viral and became a startup meme, founders started asking to be featured on Rayn’s balcony as an achievement.
“My plan is to hothouse the founders in the apartments once they’ve signed the terms sheet, then return with whiskey when they exit,” he said.
“I think a portco of 8 startups is about the right size for an angel investor of my successful status.”
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Adam and Sachin from Kindling plus Max from Superpower on Rayn’s balcony in the original whiskey on the balcony post.
Even Google picked up on the trend and offered “balcony” as an autocomplete suggestion.
Screenshot
The trend amplified when Canva acquired MagicBrief and Rayn celebrated the acquisition with the founders on Canva’s balcony over a bottle of Hibiki, a Japanese malt whiskey only people who invested in Canva’s Series A can normally afford after selling down shares in secondary sales.
Dan and George from MagicBrief on Canva’s balcony.
The post led to some from the building’s owner
Cliff gets FOMO
The success of celebrating M&A deals with the newly minted young rich listers over a sip of expensive whiskey saw Ong double down on rubbing shoulders with successful entrepreneurs, taking a bottle of Scotland’s finest to the Eucalyptus team following their $1.6 billion acquisition by Hims & Hers in February.
Ong, however, was disappointed with the quality of the background from the balcony at The Pillars, feeling it looked more like a Wollongong hostel than Palm Beach holiday house, and failed to adequately demonstrate his prowess as an angel investor and decided to solve the problem himself.
Rayn with the Eucalyptus team
So when Canva’s resident acquisition guy went shopping again, acquiring Doohly, Ong headed back to the waterfront with a bottle of excellent Taiwanese whiskey, Kavalan,
Caught on the hop by the news of Canva’s acquisition of another of his portco’s, Rayn didn’t invite Cliff Obrecht to whiskey on the balcony with Doohly cofounder Sean Law, but sent him a bottle of Aldi’s Highland Earl blended Scotch as a thank you.
Ong told Startup Daily that his #WhiskeyOnBalcony strategy clearly gaining traction.
“Liquidity events are important for startup investors, so I decided to create my own using the best whiskies in the world as the liquid,” he told Startup Daily.
“I’m even meeting with the founders of failed startups, although all they get to drink is the ‘angel’s share’ created by a whiskey while maturing, since it represents what happened to my investment perfectly – a great idea that’s vanished into thin air.”
Ong said he already has a bottle of the 1961 The Macallan 40 Year Old Cask Strength Single Malt Scotch Whisky for the day that Canva finally goes public.
“I chose the 1961 because every VC I know tells me it feels like they’ve been waiting since then for Canva to exit and finally give them a return on their 1960s vintage funds,” he said.
The prolific investor and dram drinker will reportedly settle on a Tasmanian distillery today, April 1. He plans to rebrand it as McRaynmaker Distillery, where he plans to write his next ebook.
Ong did not respond to Startup Daily‘s multiple requests for comment, so we asked ChatGPT to hallucinate the comments above on his behalf.
