Backstage at Side Stage: How a bunch of founders founded their own VC fund

If you had to pick a point where Side Stage Ventures began, it would be backstage at the Splendour in the Grass music festival in 2018. Jaddan Comerford, founder of Unified Music, was there feeling chuffed with himself. Despite never having had to raise money for his own bootstrapped agency, he’d just dabbled in a spot of angel investing while living in LA. 

He met up with his friends Alex and Anthony Zaccaria behind the main stage. While Comerford was there representing his muso clients Ocean Alley and Amy Shark, the Zaccarias were also access-all-areas types because their agency, Bolster,  specialised in digital ad buying for music festivals, and Splendour was a client. 

Their little side hustle, Linktree, was picking up speed, fast approaching its first million users, but they had never raised capital either.