The Mining Worker Who Became a Power Player in Capital Markets | Dannika Warburton

What this episode is about

Dannika Warburton shares her unique journey from working in a gold mine during university to becoming a prominent figure in investment banking and capital markets. She emphasizes the importance of narrative in securing investments, highlighting how compelling stories often drive market success more than just numerical data.

Key takeaways

• From gold mines to Wall Street, an unlikely journey teaches that grit trumps glam in finance.
• Founders often chase numbers, forgetting the power of storytelling. Numbers are dull; narratives sell.
• Experience in corporate hell can spark entrepreneurial dreams—better to build than to be burnt!
• Investability skyrocketed during a pandemic; sometimes chaos breeds the best opportunities.
• Australia's ASX is mining-heavy, yet success lies in crafting compelling investor narratives over mere stats.

Who speaks in this episode?

• Daniel (Host) · 10 min speaking
• Dannika Warburton (Guest) · 14 min speaking

What is discussed, and when

1. 0:00 – 5:00: Investability, Danica Warbert Burton, Australian Stock Exchange
2. 5:00 – 10:00: Investability
3. 10:00 – 15:00: Investability, Todd Herman
4. 20:00 – 23:49: Investability, Investability TV, A16Z

Notable quotes from "The Mining Worker Who Became a Power Player in Capital Markets | Dannika Warburton"

• So, Danica Warbert Burton, super excited to have you today and you have a very interesting story. It might be one of the most unique stories, at least from somebody who's in the investment side,.

  about Danica Warbert Burton · at 1:02

• Being a West Australian my family was in the mining industry so I was lucky enough to be able to do that. but it really set the foundation of what investability is the company…

  about Investability · at 2:22

• Something's going to fail. I wish I had have learned more about neuroscience back then. I just read this fantastic book about the alter ego effect u by Todd Herman and that's…

  about Todd Herman · at 10:48

• Or via LinkedIn. They've got Investability IR on LinkedIn and we've also got a YouTube channel so they can check out our videos on Investability TV.

  about Investability TV · at 20:23

• And I don't know if you're familiar with A16Z, the VC firm. They just launched this whole thing where they're trying to incubate what they're calling new media, which is essentially right like they've.

  about A16Z · at 21:27

Who and what is mentioned in this episode?

People

• Danica Warbert Burton — Person · Main guest · 1 mention · first at 1:02
  Primary interview subject discussing her path from mining work to investment banking and founding Investability, plus fundraising storytelling and leadership lessons.
• Todd Herman — Person · Referenced expert · 1 mention · first at 10:56
  Mentioned as the author of a book that influenced the guest’s mindset and performance approach via the “alter ego” concept.

Companies & orgs

• Investability — Company · Business focus · 8 mentions · first at 1:35
  The company founded by Danica Warbert Burton, focusing on investor marketing and communication for small cap companies.
• Australian Stock Exchange — Company · Setting · 1 mention · first at 2:40
  The primary stock exchange where many of Investability's clients are listed, especially small cap mining companies.
  That I lead. because a lot of the companies that we support are listed on the Australian stock exchange. They're small caps and by virtue of the composition of the ASX that…
• A16Z — Company · Referenced expert · 1 mention · first at 21:27
  A VC firm mentioned in the context of media creation and its importance for companies, similar to Investability's approach.

Media & podcasts

• Investability TV — Media · Business focus · 1 mention · first at 20:32
  A platform by Investability for hosting investor events, panels, and interviews, focusing on the ASX small cap space.

Full transcript with timestamps

0:00 And you have a very interesting story. It might be one of the most unique stories at least from somebody who's in the investment side, but came from working in a mine.

0:11 When I was at university, uh during my breaks to get a bit of money, I would go and work on the mine sites, which was absolutely fascinating. After uni, I got into investment banking and then after that, I moved into sales and trading. sort of got the full spectrum of deal structuring and and how these really um transformational sort of corporate deals get done.

0:34 What is one thing that you find that founders misunderstand about raising money?

0:40 The fact that it's not necessarily the numbers that moves a market, it's the narrative. And so crafting a a a narrative that is an investable story and that is going to be compelling to an investor is really important. and something that often gets missed.

1:02 So, Danica Warbert Burton, super excited to have you today and you have a very interesting story. It might be one of the most unique stories, at least from somebody who's in the investment side, but came from working in a mine. I don't I don't know if I even know anyone that's actually worked in a mine before, but I can only imagine the skills that that mining teaches somebody. So, can you bring me back to that day when you you used to work in a mine before you were investability, before you were the person you are today?

1:39 Sure thing. Thanks. Thanks, Daniel. It's so exciting to be here speaking with you. Uh so yes, I guess being an Australian and you know in an economy that's driven by uh natural resources um when I was at university uh during my breaks to get a bit of money I would go and work on the mine sites which was absolutely fascinating to be honest. Um you know if you've never been underground in a in a large gold mine which I'm I'm assuming you haven't um it's just another world. It's like the you know going to the moon or something.

2:12 Um but it was an interesting um sort of exercise that I did over that sort of three or four years in the breaks um whilst at uni and I guess by virtue of being a West Australian my family was in in the mining industry so I was lucky enough to be able to do that. Um but it really set the foundation of what investability is the the company that I um that I lead. uh because a lot of the companies that we support are listed on the Australian stock exchange. They're small caps and by virtue of the composition of the ASX that means that a lot of them are actually mining companies. So I didn't actually work on the mine sort of full-time. Um after uni I got into investment banking and sort of did the rounds there. They got their pound of flesh for me. I worked for a US um bank actually and then after that uh moved into sales and trading um for a Canadian um bank. So sort of got the full spectrum of deal structuring and

3:12 and how these really um transformational sort of corporate deals get done um with an Australian focus. So um yeah at the foundation and I guess is a pretty unique mix um for investability to sort of have that origin story. But I suppose a real aha moment uh for me before founding investability was I consulted to a digital investor relations firm for just about three months. And um while I was there it was like upside down land this agency. Um the culture was super toxic and uh in the 3 months that I was there I kind of leveraged my relationships that I had and bought in about 800 grand worth of new business.

3:55 And I thought I kind of had two realizations I suppose. The first was that I can do this and do it better and these these people, but also secondly that I really want to build a a business that had a great culture. So that's uh that's what I did. Went um I was living in Sydney at the time, founded Investability right as the uh co pandemic kicked off. But um that was actually the perfect time to have started a investor marketing agency because we just were entering a bull market and so you know went from about one client to 45 clients in the space of about 12 months and did about 14 IPOs that year. So really built the plane as we we flew it.

4:37 It's a very commonality there. It's a lot of commonality I'd say between what you're saying and other successful founders as well where you had experience in an industry. You're able to take that experience into the industry that you that you found the company within. At the same time, you work for somebody and then you realize why am I working for someone when I can literally do this on my own? And I love that. I think I think that's you know it's such a great start because you have experience you're already working in it which is why I always find it's super helpful for people to work a corporate job like you said gain gain what you don't want to do like find leaders that you don't actually want to emulate and then you bring that to your own company and say I'm never going to do that but it helped you really craft this thing.

5:26 So you you've helped raise over over a billion Australian dollars. What is one thing that you find that founders misunderstand about raising money?

5:36 I think from the our perspective of when we're assisting uh companies going through a capital raise or a funding round that they're really quite focused on the technical details or the numbers and they may miss the fact that it's not necessarily the numbers that moves a market, it's the narrative. And so crafting a a a narrative that is an investable story and that is going to be compelling to an investor is really important and something that often gets missed I find

6:07 and I imagine within this you're pitched by many founders and I'm or I'm sure you you know a lot of people want to talk to you about um investing. I know everyone I know that's looking for money is like always, you know, talking to hundreds of investors and I can imagine being on the investor side, it can get quite overwhelming. Um, but what what would you say is a successful pitch? So, if somebody comes to you or if there's maybe one that stands out where you were like, "Wow, like that really got me compared to these other, you know, 50 that I've heard that I probably will pass on."

6:42 I think it's about a simple story. So, um, kind of what I was just saying before about things getting over complicated, the best stories that I've heard are ones where the company, the CEO or the chairman or whoever's presenting comes with three key points that they want you to walk away with. So, you know, um, and I guess that's because the human brain loves the power of three. You know, three wise men, three blind mice. It's kind of how they've grown up. um it's the best number of investment highlights to use for uh the brain retention um or you know memory retention for investors but there are multiple factors that I think make a compelling story so one would obviously be the context that the sector the industry that the company's in um and then secondly really honing down the story to to make it super punchy like what is it that investors should sit up and take notice out. Um so that's what

7:41 that's what we do at Investability to help these companies get noticed by investors um both on the institutional side and the retail side. So can be quite complex making the story um weighty and technical enough to to um I guess facilitate the institutional investors and what they're looking for um but then also simple enough uh to understand for just you know a mom and dad investor. Do you find when you give feedback to these founders because I know you you're helping them raise the money, right? And if you give them feedback, are they open to it or are they, you know, like, hey, I'm the founder. I know everything.

8:25 Uh, I think with us, we found that they um really treat us like a trusted advisor. So, they take on the feedback. they know that we're aligned with them. We're we're trying to help them and it's our specialty. So um a lot of the the MDs or you know the founders that we work with um come from a technical background. So, for instance, if we're working with a um say a mining company that's developing a um I don't know a big copper mine or something like that, their expertise is probably going to be in sort of mining engineering or geology, not necessarily in marketing and communications. So, or or the media side. So, um I think they do come to us and if we're uh giving feedback, we always do it in a you know really warm and supportive u way of course. Um, but they know that we're trying to help. So, I think they're always receptive to um to hearing positive feedback that's going to help them get their um

9:26 investment so they can go and make a difference by bringing their um company to life. Um yeah,

9:33 it's always good to have you need that trusted partner, that trusted advisor. I remember a moment in my business where I had this pos like a deal was handed to me and it was going to be like life-changing, business changing and I messed it up and I lost the deal and it really was my own fault and it was you know insecurities. It was early on and I it was just so it it felt so overwhelming to me like okay I don't know if I can handle this or what if I mess up and and I look back like wow you know I learned a lot even though I missed out on you know a substantial amount of money I really learned a lot.

10:08 Did you ever have any of these aha moments for you where it it didn't go as smooth as you wanted but it was one of those hard lessons that you needed to learn. Well, I totally agree with you that the the most painful uh things that happen are obviously the best or usually the best teachers. Um I've had many challenges like I think most founders would um things to overcome and and to your point around limiting beliefs. I think one of the things if I was going to go back to sort of six years ago and tell my younger self, you know, dealing with stress and the limiting beliefs of um that you get wrapped up in that you can't do something or or that, you know, something's going to fail. Um I wish I had have learned more about neuroscience back then. I mean, I just read this fantastic book about the alter ego effect u by Todd Herman and that's actually been gamechanging. probably a little bit off topic, but I think if you

11:03 can create a character, give it superpowers, and then press play, you know? It's just it's it's amazing. Embody this. If you're a procrastinator, for instance, embody build a character around someone who just gets stuff done. If you're a real stress head that can't um that sort of gets really overwhelmed and frazzled, build a character that is um super cool, you know, relaxed, nothing phases them, and just executes with, you know, with with good humor. Um so, so I think that's sort of something interesting that helps me to overcome challenges or times when I'm feeling that it's all too hard and and it's, you know, what am I doing? you know, those sort of moments. Um, one particular time where things were going really, really well. And I guess I didn't read the signs or, you know, you always have this intuitive sense and I think if you're guided by your intuition, then everything's going to go okay. It's when

12:04 you don't listen to your gut feelings that things go all right. Um so this was a time when um basically there was I think we had 10 employees sort of all resigned within a month and we had to drop clients and it was you know one of those times where you kind of feel like giving up. Um but you know everything um has a silver lining and if you have that growth mindset that you can see the benefits of um something bad that happens to you I think that's a really positive trait um and something you need to have as a founder to be resilient um but it allowed us to restructure the business um really scale back uh the operations to make them lean started it was sort of the time when um well it's a little bit before AI became sort of as common place as it is now but just we built better systems like the investability was so much better for it.

12:55 So I think um yeah I think when you go through a hard time just always know that there will be something good coming from it and what can I learn and how can I do better next time. That's really all you can do. I think

13:08 you have to build that superhero. I like that you have to you have to build that superhero in that moment to tell yourself like things are going to get better because they always do. But it's so hard when you're standing in the mud. It's really really hard not to envision your your feet falling deeper into it. If you could change something about the small cap world, and I don't really know a huge amount about it. Um, so thank you though for for filling me in more today, but if you could change something about it, maybe make something better, what would that be?

13:38 I think when we're dealing with the small cap companies, so small cap company is any company under about a million market cap. So these companies are often run by small teams. Um and I think the thing that they may you know do wrongs often I'm not saying all the time um but a lot of the challenges that we see when we are engaged by a company to assist is that they there's a bit of information asymmetry out there in the market. So maybe they're not communicating as effectively as they could with um their shareholders or with their investors. Maybe there's some perception issues um that need to be overcome by the people that are you know investors may think that a company's management team isn't supporting the shareholders in the way that they they want to be supported and all of this we've found we can over we've turned negative sentiment into great sentiment just by communicating with shareholders.

14:32 So I think that's really important. Um reducing the information asymmetry by just communicating more and some of the things that we do like you know investor webinars where we'll get on um and have sort of 100 or 200 people on these calls investors on the calls and give them the opportunity to ask two-way questions. It just builds uh I guess trust and um credibility in the in the management teams that they're the the right steward for the ship that's aligned with shareholders and going to be taking the company forward in the best interest for for shareholders and and investors. Um so I think that's probably the main thing in the small cap space um is about sort of uh getting the doing sort of best practices promotion. Um, and I'm I'm not really sure. I guess a lot of these companies as well because they've got lean teams, you know, things get missed and and and that sort of thing like so I always

15:29 think when you're, you know, you're working as founder, you've got to you've got to do the hard work. Uh, everything should be resultsoriented, but you've also got to be a like a good human that people want to work with. Um so it's about you know the the the small 1% actions that will will move you forward. Um I mean personally I don't believe in line uh you know life work life balance. Um I believe more in alignment. So building a team around you of people that are you know supporting the cause and that have your back and that will you know step up to the plate and be a good um a trusted adviser in our sense in our role. Um, and also as well, I don't think that when you're I don't think that anyone wants to hear about the labor pains, right? Like they just want to hear about the baby. So being results orientated, executing well, communicating with your shareholders and investors and keeping people up to date

16:24 um and and and then doing it with good energy. I think that's sort of the formula that all small cap founders should should should roll with. I I was just listening to Jeff Bezos talk about how he doesn't believe in balance but he believes in harmony and I like what you said which I think is along the lines of the alignment. Um going back to something you said early on was around when you worked in that corporate job it was a very toxic environment and I imagine normally that's driven through top down leadership. So, what is something within leadership that you've learned along the way that you're like, "Okay, I'm either never going to do this or I'm always going to do this."

17:07 Well, people want to work with good people. So, we know it's, you know, often quoted that you've got to build sort of the A team and then the A team is going to attract more of their A team, you know, fellows um to to join the business and that's how you scale um your human resources, the human capital component. Um and I think it's also true from the client perspective that you know people want to work with people that they like and trust um and you know who are easy to deal with. So I think that's pretty simple formula um in terms of lead you know leadership and building a team. Um but also I will I probably wasn't the best leader to begin with. Um it's it's not one of my strengths uh at all. So, it's something that I've had to sort of learn and carve out time to really, you know, build the culture and the and a team spirit, I suppose. Um, but always having had that past experience that I talked about

18:08 where I worked at that toxic place and it definitely was driven from the top down. I mean, the the MD was, you know, having an affair with one of the account managers. I think that sort of set the tone for all the other sort of things that happened there. that um when you see something that you don't like, it is a real impetus for doing something differently. And so that's why it's been so important to me to build investibilities culture based on warmth and being a good person doing a good job. Um and I think our sort of results speak for themselves in terms of the clients that um you know work with us that we've retained for a long time. Um and we're at the premium end of the market as well. So, um, kind of shows that people just want to work with people who are the best or doing a doing a good job and do it with good grace and good energy.

18:58 I'm I'm learning from you that being a good human really pays off. Not only just being a good human, being likable to other people and also communication. It's pretty wild how so many relationships, it could be friendships, business partnerships, client relationships, are ruined because of a lack of either a lack of communication or just people don't really understand how to communicate. And I think that's partially because we're not really taught like school doesn't really teach you how to communicate, right? It teaches you how to like add a add one plus one equals two. But we're not learning the I don't know if it's a soft skill or hard skill. I forget EQ. I I think it's an EQ thing. I'm blanking, but it's like we're not learned those skills. I think it's a soft skill. We're not learning like the soft skills to actually will benefit us, especially when it's like the business world, but

19:49 maybe maybe we need an MBA. We need to we need to learn the neuroscience. We need to read these books and we need to build our superhuman uh we need to build that into ourselves and we're going to be better. But um Danica Orbertton, founder of Investability, if people want to get in touch with you, they want to find out more information, maybe they're a small cap or they want to become small cap, how can they do so?

20:15 Oh, we'd love to hear from them. So, you can reach out via our website um which is probably going to be linked investability.com.au uh or via LinkedIn. They've got uh Investability IR uh on LinkedIn and we've also got a YouTube channel so they can check out our videos on Investability TV.

20:33 And what do you what is Investability TV? Tell me about that. Well, it's our um it's our platform where we host all of the all of the various investor events, uh some highlights from investor events, um panels that we've spoke on, investment panels, uh the interviews that we do with our ASX listed clients and webinar replays and and the like. So, lots of information there. Very much investor focused. Um, and give you more of a sense, Dan, on the uh ASX small cap space. For sure.

21:03 I'm gonna learn. I'm going to be like a I'm going to next time you come on this show, I'm going to be like a pro about learning about the I didn't even know I don't know too I don't know too much of the markets, especially outside the US. I am a little ignorant in markets. So, I'm I'm glad I'm learning. I actually have a final question though. How do you see the importance of basically what you're doing is media creation? Right. And I don't know if you're familiar with A16Z, the VC firm. They just launched this whole thing where they're trying to incubate what they're calling new media, which is essentially right like they've done a great job of media creation among among investment firms or corporations.

21:45 So how do you see this playing out in the future where like for example the clients of yours they need to create some sort of media like creating this media presence online uh might be either is it going to be mandatory for every company you know is only you know are a few companies going to win do they need to be a certain size like how do you see this playing out in the future as like content creation storytelling just becomes more of a thing

22:13 well it's a great question actually because um I was just speaking to someone about um we've got a couple of um clients going over to London for a conference and so we've put together a presentation investor deck pretty much um um but really I think that video is the new investor presentation. People are so investors included so attention deficit these days. If you can tell your your story in a 2-minute video rather than having someone have to read through a 25, you know, page slide deck, then they're going to choose like the quick 2-minute video. Um, I think it's incredibly powerful and the way that everything is moving. Um, I will say that it's very very crowded space. it's really hard to stand out and obviously as you know like making compelling content takes a lot of time and energy to to make it um high quality but it's so powerful when when you get it right and I think the companies that do commit

23:10 to investing in new media will outperform 100%. Danica, amazing. Thank you so much for joining us today on Founder Story. I learned a lot and I always enjoy having people from all around the world um because I think sometimes we get stuck in a bubble in the in the small place we are and then we're not really sure about what else is happening in the world but there's so it seems like there's so much opportunity now in front of us that we all can really win. So thank you for all that you do to help other founders as well.

23:41 Thank you for so much for having me. It was so great to chat to you.

Questions about this episode

Who speaks in "The Mining Worker Who Became a Power Player in Capital Markets | Dannika Warburton"?

Daniel (Host), Dannika Warburton (Guest).

What is "The Mining Worker Who Became a Power Player in Capital Markets | Dannika Warburton" about?

Dannika Warburton shares her unique journey from working in a gold mine during university to becoming a prominent figure in investment banking and capital markets. She emphasizes the importance of narrative in securing investments, highlighting how compelling stories often drive market success more than just numerical data.

What is mentioned in this Founder's Story episode?

6 people, works and ideas are mentioned, including Danica Warbert Burton, Investability, Australian Stock Exchange, Investability TV, A16Z, Todd Herman. Each one on this page links to its own page with every episode that mentions it.

How long is "The Mining Worker Who Became a Power Player in Capital Markets | Dannika Warburton"?

The episode runs 24 min; the transcript is about 4,363 words in 38 timestamped sections.

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