About Dogwood Path Advisory

Registered business

Dogwood Path Advisory operates as Dogwood Path Advisory Pty Ltd, registered in Western Australia. We have been advising first-time founders since 2019.

How we started

Elena Vasquez founded Dogwood Path Advisory after fifteen years in small-business banking and commercial lending. She noticed a recurring pattern: capable people with strong trade or professional skills arrived at the bank with incomplete plans, unrealistic cash forecasts, and structure choices that did not match their risk profile. The rejections were often avoidable.

Rather than continue on the lending side, Elena opened a small advisory practice in Perth focused exclusively on people starting a business for the first time. The name references the dogwood tree — slow-growing, sturdy, and common along the paths she walked while thinking through the business model.

Our team

Elena Vasquez — Principal Advisor. Former commercial lending officer with Bankwest. Holds a Graduate Certificate in Applied Finance from Curtin University. Specialises in retail, hospitality, trades, and professional services.

James Okonkwo — Associate Advisor. Former operations manager at a regional bakery chain. Joined Dogwood Path in 2022 to support hospitality and food-service founders with staffing, supplier, and permit questions.

Priya Nair — Administration. Manages scheduling, document intake, and client correspondence. First point of contact for new enquiries.

How we work

We believe first-time founders need clarity, not complexity. Every engagement starts with listening — understanding what you have already committed to, what keeps you awake at night, and what decision is most urgent.

We write things down. You leave every session with documents you own: forecasts, checklists, and annotated plans. We do not hold your materials hostage behind a subscription or portal.

We refer openly. When your question requires a lawyer, accountant, or industry-specific consultant, we say so and help you prepare for that conversation.

Values

• Honesty over optimism. We will tell you if your timeline is unrealistic or your margins look thin.
• Specificity over templates. Your bakery plan should not read like a generic SaaS pitch deck.
• Local context. Australian tax, employment, and registration requirements shape every recommendation.

Community

We sponsor the Perth Founders Breakfast, a monthly meetup for people in their first year of trading. Attendance is free; details are shared with active clients.