Former Culture Amp executive Rod Hamilton joins Rampersand

Rod Hamilton, co-founder and former Chief Product Officer of Culture Amp, has taken on a new role as Venture Partner at Rampersand, an Australian early-stage venture capital firm.

Hamilton co-founded Culture Amp in 2009 with Didier Elzinga, Doug English, and Jon Williams, aiming to help organisations measure and improve their employee experience. By 2018, the company had achieved unicorn status, valued at over AUD $2 billion. Hamilton, who drove platform development at Culture Amp for 12 years, stepped down in 2022 and has since been active as an advisor and mentor in the tech ecosystem.

In his new role at Rampersand, Hamilton will support founders in the firm's portfolio by leveraging his extensive experience in product development. He will also spearhead Rampersand's newly launched Product Counsel, a community designed to connect product leaders in Australia to share their knowledge and insights.

"Rod is one of Australia's most successful founders and entrepreneurs, helping to build a global unicorn whose products are relied on globally by millions of users," said Paul Naphtali, co-founder and partner at Rampersand. "We believe that Rampersand has a bunch of unicorns in our portfolio already, who are building new business models and solutions on the bleeding edge. With his extensive product experience and expertise, Rod will be instrumental in guiding our founders as they build and scale highly valuable businesses and in helping to unlock the unicorns of 2034."

Hamilton joins a team of distinguished figures at Rampersand, including notable names such as Sam Kroonenburg of Cuttable, Adam Jacobs and Chaz Heitner of Hatch, and Zac Duff of Jigspace. The addition of Hamilton follows the recent appointments of Andrew Poesaste from the UK, who had a successful tenure at Angular Ventures, and Taryn Pieterse, known for her leadership in major investments such as Hatch.

"What drew me to Rampersand was a shared passion for creating an environment where founders can do extraordinary things," Hamilton stated. "Having been on the journey myself, I know the difference that access to mentors with deep skills and experience can have when you're in the early stages of building the company and breaking new ground. I hope to bring some of this knowledge and expertise to Rampersand's founders and startups as part of our new product community, to help them build great products and teams."

Rampersand has a notable history of providing early-stage capital to Australian startups, having invested more than AUD $100 million in 35 companies over the past decade. Its recent investments include JigSpace, a 3D visualisation spatial computing platform, and Cuttable, an AI-powered digital advertising agency.