Happy Birthday To Us

It’s been three years since Pollenizer began (well kind of, we were incorporated on the 29th of February).

What an amazing journey it’s been for not only us, but our clients, co-founders and partners, friends, family and the whole Sydney startup scene. Without these groups, we not have made it.

So a big, big, big thank you and here’s to the next three years and beyond!

Our biggest highlights:

• Helped to start 20 new companies.
• 500+ startups worked with, advised, bootcamped.
• 200+ people employed.
• Won 3 awards.
• Endless challenges, fun and focus.
• 10,000 skype calls.
• 35,000 yammer messages.
• Helped sell 140,000 copies of OzWeather on iPhone.

Sydney, Australia, 14th January 2011 – Pollenizer today announced that it ranked Number 38th on the Deloitte Technology Fast 500 Asia Pacific 2010, a ranking of the 500 fastest growing technology companies in Asia Pacific.  Rankings are based on percentage revenue growth over three years.

Pollenizer grew 818.766 percent during this period.

“Making the Deloitte Technology Fast 500 is commendable in today’s highly competitive technology industry,” said Yoshitaka Asaeda , Deloitte Japan partner in charge of the Deloitte Technology Fast 500 Asia Pacific program. “We congratulate on being one of the 500 fastest growing technology companies in the region.”

Deloitte Technology Fast 500 Asia Pacific selection and qualifications

The Technology Fast 500 list is compiled from the Deloitte Asia Pacific Technology Fast 50 programs, nominations submitted directly to the Technology Fast 500, and public company database research. To qualify for the Technology Fast 500, entrants must have had base-year operating revenues of at least US$ 50,000.

Entrants must also be public or private companies headquartered in Asia Pacific and must be a “technology company,” defined as a company that develops or owns proprietary technology that contributes to a significant portion of the company’s operating revenues; or manufactures a technology-related product; or devotes a high percentage of effort to the research and development of technology.  Using other companies’ technology in a unique way does not qualify.

Pollenizer has been named a Finalist in Anthill Magazine’s Fifth Annual Cool Company Awards, a national program developed in 2006 to recognise Australian companies that are doing things differently to bring about positive change.

Over 700 aspiring ‘cool companies’ were nominated for the 2010 awards, making ‘The Cools’ one of Australia’s largest business awards programs. The winners will be announced at an award’s function on Thursday 16 December 2010 and published on AnthillOnline.com.

“The Cool Company Awards are extremely egalitarian,” said James Tuckerman, Editor-In-Chief, Anthill Magazine. “Previous winners have included two-person start-ups, not-for-profit social enterprises, large private companies and publicly-listed corporations.”

“Judging takes into account far more than mere business variables, such as revenue and wealth. The criteria is geared to consider other qualities, from the disruptive nature of the product or service to the culture of the organisation.”

“Applicants either nominated themselves or were nominated by peers, work colleagues, family, friends and other ‘admirers’. A field of hundreds was examined (and cross-examined) before our judges were able to isolate three Finalists for each of our seven categories.”

The program will conclude with an end of year bash, on 16 December 2010, in Melbourne.

What are Cool Company Awards?

The Cool Company Awards was launched in 2006 as a way for Anthill Magazine to publicly acknowledge and celebrate Australian organisations that are doing things differently to bring about positive change. In its fifth year, the awards attracted nominations for over 700 organisations, making it among the largest business award programs in Australia.

What is Anthill Magazine?

AnthillOnline.com is a digital business magazine that celebrates creativity, inspiration and commercial ingenuity, providing a fresh, exciting and practical perspective on Australian business in a global world. It is among the Top 50 Business & Finance websites in Australia, as ranked by Nielsen Online Ratings, and is home to the Cool Company Awards, the 30under30 and the Smart 100. It’s where ideas and business meet.

Pollenizer is proud to be a sponsor, and to be able to offer friends and family a $200 discount. To receive yours, simply use the Pollenizer promo code (POLLEN) when registering.

Growth Summit brings a host of renowned speakers:

• Verne Harnish, author of ‘Mastering the Rockefeller Habits’
• David Meerman Scott, marketing strategist
• Hermann Simon, world authority in strategy, marketing and pricing
• David Thomas, CEO of Think Global Consulting
• Guy Parsons, leading authority on LEAN methodology
• Gregory Will, PricewaterhouseCoopers
• Sarina Bratton, founder and Managing Director, Orion Expedition Cruises

Plus, four workshops will run concurrently on the second day. Choose from:

• Herman Simon and How to Increase Profits in Highly Contested Markets
• Getting Lean with Guy Parsons
• Mastering the Rockefeller Habits with Verne Harnish
• Technology to Drive Growth, where our very own Mick Liubinskas and Tim Parsons discuss business technology solutions, strategies and trends

There will be heaps of networking opportunities too.

For more information, and to book, go to www.growthsummit.com.au or call Cara Pring on 1300 721 778. Early Bird rates apply if you register before 18 December 2009.

What’s a Jelly? A Jelly is when people come together to share an office for a day. We’re providing the desks, wireless internet and excellent coffee up the road. All you need to bring is your work for the day, and an openness to meeting new people.

What are the benefits? You can share your knowledge and learn from others. And sometimes a change of scenery is all you need for a burst of inspiration.

Pollenizer Jelly Details:

Where: Suite 1, 65-67 Foveaux St, Surry Hills NSW 2010

When: This Thursday 19th November, anytime from 9am

RSVP: here

For more info on Jelly, check out the website

World-renowned for its buzzing nightlife, dazzling ice sculptures, and exotic street fair*, now the City of Perth can add one more line to its list of solid attractions – The Edge of the Web conference.

Take a couple of hundred international geeks, add several dozen speakers, re-searchers and web enthusiasts, sprinkle with a handful of professionals trying to figure out “what that Twitter thing is good for”, wrap the whole thing with impeccable organisation and you get a world-class conference with a good grip on tomorrow’s web landscape.

Out of the 20 or so talks on the agenda, I picked six according to my tastes and thirst for knowledge. Most of these talks were highly valuable. I have highlighted two of my favorites for your viewing pleasure :)

Ruth Ellison on “Guerrilla user & design research: Undertaking Research on a Shoestring”


View more documents from Ruth Ellison.

Matt Balara on “Flogging Design – Daily Disasters & Best Practice in Online Shop Design”

View more documents from Matt Balara.

I also recommend Pascal Klein’s presentation on “Beautiful Web Typography” and Judd Exley on “Optimise Everything”.

If you want to experience the buzz generated by the conference I suggest you look at the twitter feed (#eotw09) and Flickr photo-stream.

Now if you feel like you’ve been missing out on something, wait no longer and lock some time in your Agenda for Edge of the Web 2010 :)

* Some or all of the facts cited here might actually be erroneous and/or fiction based ;)

If you have even a passing interest then I recommend checking out some of the events! Some of my picks for the week are:

• Mon – Networking Drinks at the Ivy in the city, 6pm-8pm
• Tue – Speed Networking at Australian Technology Park, 4pm-4.30pm
• Wed – Product Development Meetup at Surry Hills  8.30am-10am
• Thur – Open Coffee at Allianz in the City, 8.30am-9.30am
• Fri – Pitchfest at the Powerhouse Museum, 4pm-5pm
• Sat – BarCamp Unconference at Australian Technology Park, 9.30am-5pm

Check out the full event listing here for many more events across Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra and Brisbane. Full details on the week at Unleashing Ideas.

5 from eastern Europe – Poland, Hungary, Croatia, Romania and Estonia
5 from central Europe – Austria, Germany, Belgium, France and the UK
2 from the Middle East – Jordan and Israel

Seedcamp in it’s 3 year effort to date 2007, 2008, 2009 has managed to cross borders, bridge cultures and languages, and most importantly unite investors, mentors and entrepreneurs across the European startup hubs to create a European startup scene. It’s also the place to point out the contribution of Mike Butcher from TechCrunch Europe to report not only what’s going on in the UK, but inviting local guest bloggers to contribute from across Europe.

Without further a due – here are the Seedcamp finalists:

• Advertag – London, UK
• Boxed Ice – Bromsgrove, UK
• Brainient – Bucharest, Romania
• Codility – Warsaw, Poland
• Comufy – London, UK
• Erply – Estonia
• Joobili – Budapest, Hungary
• Kukunu – London, UK
• Loc8 Solutions – Edinburgh, UK
• Patients Know Best – Cambridge, UK
• Petsicon – Berlin, Germany
• Plug in SEO – London, UK
• ShoutEm – Zagreb, Croatia
• T27 Systems (Pearl Systems) – Bristol, UK
• Talasim.com – Amman, Jordan
• Teachable – London, UK
• Vooices – Wigan, UK
• VouChaCha – London, UK
• Wondergraphs – Leuven, Belgium
• World on a Hanger – London, UK
• YubiTech – Ramat Gan, Israel

Pollenizer Icebreaker Drinks – join us this Sunday!

We invite all Seedcamp participants, finalists, mentors and investors to icebreaker drinks this Sunday to meetup in an informal surrounding and swap notes before the big week commences.

The drinks will be hosted from 4pm to 6pm at The Carpenters Arms, 68-70 Whitfield St (map), a short walk from the UCL buildings.

James Peck, Mick Liubinskas (Mr. Focus) and myself are looking forward to meeting you and the other participants this Sunday or latest next week!

If you are in the startup scene in Europe you have for sure heard of Seedcamp or at least read an article about them on TechCrunch Europe. If not, here’s the short run down.

Seedcamp was initiated in 2007 by Saul Klein, of Index Ventures, and is run by CEO Reshma Sohoni and her team to promote the creation of startups in Europe and to seed finance the best of them (surprise, surprise). Many of the best known investors, entrepreneurs and mentors in Europe are investors or supporters of Seedcamp. Seedcamp orchestrated this year 7 one day events or “mini Seedcamps” in Tel Aviv, Berlin, Helsingborg, Ljubljana, Paris, London and Warswaw by choosing 20 startup teams to participate at each event. The teams get to pitch their ideas in front of a group of approximately 80 mentors and investors within a carefully orchestrated schedule which enables each team to have 8 mentoring sessions per day, with 3-5 mentors per session. This structure allows the teams to receive invaluable feedback from mentors with diverse backgrounds to their pitch, business model, marketing, product, strategy, technology – in short, all the aspects you need to build a great web business.

Next week, September 21-25th is Seedcamp week, which is *the* event of the fall for Europe’s upcoming startups. 21 finalists have been announced from across 10 countries in Europe including 1 from Israel and 1 from Jordan to come and meet over 300 mentors and investors in a full on program consisting of 4 themed days: founders day, going to market, how to scale and investors.

We are proud to announce that we are partnering with Seedcamp to select 3 of the finanlists in conjunction with our venture capital partners to provide each of them a one day Focus Workshop covering target customers and product core utility.

Why do we think this is of need?

We’ve found that the biggest difference between success and failure of a new venture is the teams’ ability to focus and execute. Using the Pollenizer methodology, we’ll identify the first target segment the company should focus on, scrutinize the core utility to serve that segment and develop a product and marketing action plan. We believe this focus exercise will be invaluable for these companies and are happy to provide our experience to these teams.

We look forward to seeing you at Seedcamp London!

About Pollenizer:

At Pollenizer we build web businesses and have helped more than 80 start-ups grow. Founders and investors engage our veteran team of technology, product, business and marketing specialists for focus and execution within their ventures. We tightly integrate the business focus with product development and technology creating value for the end user in alignment with a business model. We bring an ‘agile’ approach to all aspects of operations applying our experience learned at companies such as Kazaa, Yahoo, BBC, Naspers, Skype, Amazon and Xing. We like to share the risk and reward with our clients, which extends their runway and leads to a long term partnership.

Some of the Pollenizer team are live in the Sydney-side of the Future of Influence Summit and we’re keeping you in the loop.

As the day rolls on, we’ll keep adding more comments, content and maybe the odd photo/video or two (if you’re lucky).

It starts at 8.20am, so get some coffee and let’s get started.

7.43 – Mick – The room is being prepared, Randall is checking over his notes and you can smell the coffee in the air.

7:50 – Fleur – Doors open in 10 minutes

8:10 – Fleur – What are your thoughts on The Influence Landscape? Who are the major players?  How is this going to change in the future? All this and more open for discussion today.

8:22 – Fleur – Room filling up. Not long now until we’re watching Howard Rheingold live from San Fran!

8:31 – Fleur -  Howard’s the author of Smart Mobs, and credited with coining the term ‘virtual communities’. Today he’ll be discussing ‘The Future of Reputation’ - How much will trust be integral to the development of future virtual networks?

8:40 – Fleur – Video link is up to San Fran, and Howard about to begin…

9:00 – Fleur – Howard has come up with the term ‘Infotention’ – A combination of attention, information and intention, and a description of the way we digest information online. We’re bombared with so much news, opinions, images….How are we meant to trust everything we see online?

Today, influence is largely built on search. If you’re first on google, you’re top dog. But it’s increasingly important to be tell the difference between good and bad content on your own terms. Those who can differentiate will be ahead of the pack.

Information filtration tools are being developed to help us. These are of incredible value to the future of trust and reputation online.

9.06 – Mick –

More Photos

9:37 – Fleur – Does  social networking = influence? Howard talks about the importance of building up your social learning network. Hook up with credible people you can learn from.

11:15 – Fleur – Sorry everyone, some internet issues. Catch up on this morning coming soon…

11:27 – Fleur – Cross-continental panel No. 1

Michael Brito, social media strategist, Intel
Intel is using social media to listen to cosumerers. It’s vital to take this information and act on it. Social media is an opportunity for innovation.

Paul Fisher, CEO, IAB Australia
We need to come up with an innovative way of measuring influence.

In the current model, engagement is being measured as time spent on a website, how many pages did they view, click through rate.
But as the investment of dollars into digital  grows, advertisers wil want to know more. They will be buying influence, but what exactly is this, and how will it be measured? It has to go beyond simple audience measurement.

Brian Solis, Author, Putting the Public back in Public Relations
It’s hard to define influence. What is it? What does it involve? Brian defines it as the “ability to inspire action”.
He argues that twitter, facebook etc. is activity, not influence. To have influence, you have to figure out what you are doing with the data you gather on social media. What do you want out of this engagement with so many people? You have define what you’re going to measure.

Tony Surtees, CEO, iPrime
Does the buzz coming from social media represent the opinion of real leaders?  It’s important that those in power are  actively involved in the conversation. In this current confetti economy, how rationally can an organisaiton be actively involved in these conversations?

Erin Byrne, Chief Digital Stratgist, Burson-Marsteller
For comapnies to be able to reach people, they have to create a social brand. Which large companies can you think of which are engaged in social media? They are taking part in a great opportunity.
Erin advocates Quality over quantity. She tells her clients that it’s better to reach 10 people who really matter as opposed to 10,000 that don’t.
Companies can build brand awareness through advertising, and then use social media to connect.
In today’s market it’s less about having control over an audience, and more about having influence. To do this, you must find the people who are relevant to your brand, and create meaningful conversations with them.
Consumers aren’t as trusting of media anymore. They require more in depth information from both online and offline channels from credible sources.

11:30 – Fleur – Brian Solis says it’s important to remember there’s a world outside of this social media thing. There are huge networks that have no idea what twitter is. Are we making this into somehting bigger than it is?
Yes, it may interest and influence people in the digital industry, but is this enough evidence of real influence?

11:31 – Fleur – Erin Byrne: Reputation can take a long time to gain. Social media might not be the only answer, as it tends to only paint part of the picture. Important to now forget the greater vision.

11:36 – Fleur – Conversations…

Paul Fisher- interactive industry is in danger of reproducing old metrics instead of creating innovative ways of measurement. We need to understand dvertising is just one branch of strategy. Marketing and advertising barriers are becoming blurred.

Brian Solis- to have influence, you have to find the people that are open to it. Discover your brand personality, and figure out how you are going to convey that in a conversation.

Tony Surtees – companies have to keep informed of the communities that have conversations about them

Michael Brito – It’s about people. Respond, Listen and Engage in the community, and you become influential.

11:50 – Fleur – Cross-continental conversation Number 2
Stephen Howard-Sarin, VP Products, CBS Interactive – influence doesn’t come from the top down anymore. It’s horizontal network.

Duncan Riley, Editor, The Inquisitr – the line up of trust agents has changed. The individual is becoming more and more powerful. In the new world, the market has more power.

Steve Weaver, Network Research Director, Channel Nine – Is finding they need to focus on specific markets. Traditionally in charge of the broadcast, things have changed, and the viewer has more power. Broadcast channels are driving the message, viewes are receiving it, and then replaying it back in new ways.

Khris Loux, CEO JS-Kit – People are not fooled anymore. They can sort the truth from the lies. If you open up and give them the truth in the beginning, you win.

12:15 – Fleur – Panel: Tapping the power of influence in real life

Richard Bell, Marketing Director, Threebyone
What are the issues in engaging influence campaigns in real life?
People want to be a lot more responsible, and ethical. They want to find brands that have that as part of their personality too.

Larry Hedgles, Co-Founder, Brewtopia
Does word-of-mouth marketing work? How do those conversations transfer to actual financial transactions?
They risk looking contrived.

Sharyn Smith, CEO, Soup
Controversy creates conversations. But is success measured by the number of people talking about your product?
How can we ignite conversations? What do people want to talk about? These sorts of questions forces companies to think about their brands in new ways.

Mike Hill, Director, Holler Sydney
Digital marketing must be relevant, show a true value exchange, and be sharable
When we say trust and credability must be earned, this represents blood, sweat and tears. But this is where the money lies.

12:20 – Fleur – Marketers should invest in the long term, while working in the short term.
Short term involves constant contact with your consumers/audiences. Via iPhone you have access to them all the time. Use this for the big picture.

12:30 – Fleur – authenticity as king – Pressure is on brands to do everything right. Is this mentality time-specific (eg swayed by GFC) or audience specific?

Has marketing lost its sense of fun? We can’t mess around with people anymore, everyone wants honesty and truth. Does this mean it’s the perfect time for your brand to move in the opposite direction?

12:32 – Fleur – How do we use social media in a successful way?

• Listen to your target audience. Put the leg work in and use available tools.
• Don’t trust the average. Go to the leaders and get their reactions.
• Learn by mistakes. But go hard.

12:55 – Fleur - Roundtable Discussions…

• The ‘new’ agency – what will it look like? How will they function?
• How do brands protect themselves from the Hype Cycle?
• How can you tell the early adopters vs cool people?
• What is the future of twitter? Are we thinking of all it’s possible uses?

13:00 – Fleur - Questions to think about…

• What drives successful word of mouth marketing?
• How can publishers tap influence to build audiences?
• What capabilities do agencies need to build when influence is at the centre?
• How can you best use online tools for  identifying and engaging influencers?
• How will Twitter be used in the future by influencers and marketers?
• What is the relationship between online and offline influence?

14:02 – Fleur – The Future of the Infuence Economy

Joe Talcott, Group Marketing Director, News Limited – The technology is taking a background place. It’s the great enabler, but what matters is what, and how, we communicate. It’s not just a blog – What are you saying? Are you making a difference? No one cares if you twitter 50 times a day. What did you say?

Trust online is based on the affiliation, or likeness, you see in others. If you think they’re like you in some way, you’re more likely to trust them

Wendy Hogan, Vice President, CBS Interactive Australia – Be in contextually relevant environments, don’t just throw it out there and hope.

Paul Bennet, CEO, Euro RSCG – Trust is something we have to nurture.

80% of communication is non verbal. How does this work in a digital environment?

14:05 – Fleur – Question: How do you reach the non-tech influencers?

14:18 – Fleur – Expert Workshop – Practical Steps to Identifying and Engaging Influencers Online beginning soon…

14:30 – Fleur – Brian Giesen, Director of digital strategy, 360degree digital influence

Why does social media matter?

Because it’s where the people are.
Trust is shifting. We’re looking to others to help us make decisions.
Content is consumed differently. Not only a website anymore. Expected social web presence.
Search is the new homepage -
Research on social media leads to smarter marketing
Can generate offline action
It is safe – Companies can open the barriers without worry
Builds preference – using influential bloggers to help you
Expands the reach of offline events – make it easy for users to publish at events – real time reporting
Employees are hungry for training – help them

14:45 – Fleur – Listening to social media
Companies should have systems in place. Discover the positive and negative word of mouth.

Develop conversation criteria – the keywords you’ll be searching for.

Free tools: google alerts, google blogs, technorati, blog pulse trends, dailyinfluence.com, facebook lexicon, search.twitter.com

Consolidated Monitoring: radian 6, buzz numbers

Advanced Services: nielsen buzz numbers, visible technologes, brandtology, buzzlogin, umbria, kaava, andiamo, biz360, ewatch, mediasource, crimson hexagon.

Use to:

• gather marcom insights,
• rapid response (crisis management),
• media optimisation – analyse key trends,
• measurement
• Product development

14:53 – Fleur – Assessing Influence – what do you look for when looking for an influential blogger?

• The number of inbound links
• Frequency of blogging – the more the better
• The number of followers or subscribers
• The number and content of comments. More than 10 is good, and the longer the better. It means the writer is engaging audience.
• Look at the about page to see their background
• Check their searchability – does it come up on the first page of google?
• Check their traffic

For other forms of media such as YouTube, forums, social networks – look for number of followers, links, downloads, views, relevant groups, community features, affiliations and peer assessments/ratings.

15:05 – Fleur – Influencing Mapper – Who are the influencers you’re after?

Do a influencer audit…

Look at them from a broad perspective, and then define the ones you want to research/target.

Then use tools to search for them – blogs, message boards, social networks, multimedia, bookmakring sites, consumer review sites, groups.

Use tools to determine influence (as above in ‘assessing influence’).

Here are Brian’s slides – very detailed. Have a flick through and you’ll have a thorough grasp of all things discussed during the workshop.