Pollenizer: Building and Investing In Australian Web Startups » pollenizer

My Startup Startup Wife

Mick Liubinskas — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 23:36:19 +0000

I got a plug in a magazine this morning amongst some big names. It’s a great little supporting statement for Pollenizer but I need to give it some context.

Firstly, startups are hard work. New, risky, vague, emotional, financial, complex and constantly changing. In the past two weeks we’ve taken some huge steps forward and at the same time I’ve screwed a bunch of things up. Some big ideas haven’t worked out, a change of approach back fired, a partnership didn’t gel and in all the work a few details got missed. I don’t expect perfection but it still hurts. We’re a young company, applying a new way to kick start new ideas. It’s hard.

Secondly, there were a few things missing. The Pollenizer team is everything. A group of committed, talented, creative, caring people who turn up day after day to deal with the uncertainty, risk and high walls of startups. We are currently working on 6 live businesses and advising 6 others. To think I could even start to do 1/100th of it myself is crazy. Let’s not even start talking about the amazing finance, product, engineering and design work that I can’t even contemplate. (OK, I could probably do the design… just kidding crew.)

Thank you team for making Pollenizer what it is – an amazing engine trying our best to produce great web businesses.

The big one missing is Phil. Typically we are joined at the hip on things like this but for some reason they picked me out. Maybe because I’m the ego of Pollenizer doing talks and workshops around the country in an attempt to placate my failed drama career. For whatever reason, to miss Phil is to miss not just a limb, but a heart, brain and soul.

I try to thank him as much as I can, but even with Wooboard I couldn’t do it enough. But lets face facts. He’s an ex theatre director, philosophy student who taught himself to build websites for money. Then he takes a crazy job at Kazaa as CTO and just keeps going. Then he has the audacity to think he can also do business deals by starting this thing with Dean called Spreets and sells it in 13 months. But it doesn’t stop there. He rolls the IP from Spreets into Dealised and raises $5m. CTO’s aren’t supposed to do that. He is a true entreprenerd and he’s completely nailing it. I’m working hard just to keep up.

Phil brings process, discipline, big thinking, integrity, openness, and relentless hard work in the face of intense, obscure adversity. He continues to blow me away with his ability to get things done and I’m starting to think his capability is limitless.

We refer to each other at times as our other wives. So a big thanks to my startup startup wife Phil, for putting up with me and lifting me up with you. I’m proud to be in the trenches with you.

Pollenizer Ventures Australian Startup Seed Fund

bronwen — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 02:27:08 +0000

Pollenizer has raised $500,000 for a seed fund it will use to invest in early stage Australian start-ups.

Pollenizer co-founder Mick Liubinskas said he hoped to have invested all the money by June next year, with investments between $10,000 and $100,000.

A key difference from other venture firms is that Pollenizer joins as a co-founder, working directly on developing and building the web businesses the company invests in.

Pollenizer has successfully built up high-profile portfolio of 16 companies including mogeneration, Posse and 99 dresses. These companies together employ more than 60 people across Australia.

Pollenizer co-founder Phil Morle, said Pollenizer Ventures would only invest in early-stage ideas with strong commercial growth potential. “We’re looking for businesses at a very early stage, that can be validated quickly,” Morle said. “We prefer transactional business models rather than be advertising based. We’ve learnt through solid experience that these are the companies with the best chance of success.”

Liubinskas said the fund comes at a time when the Australian technology sector is experiencing unprecedented growth and investment.

“There’s so much uncertainty in other sectors, that investing in growth in private companies is very strong,” he said. “We see the fund as another vote of confidence by the market, in the Australian technology sector. We thank the Pollenizer team for its dedication and the investors for their support. Most importantly, we thank the entrepreneurs we work with for their unending passion and hard work.”

The $500k seed fund is made up of some of Australia’s most experienced technology veterans including:

Scott Farquhar, Atlassian
Mike Cannon-Brookes, Atlassian
Matt Macfarlane
Stuart Richardson, Adventure Capital
Adrian Vanzyl, Adventure Capital
Matt Dickinson, Growth Angel
David Cooper, Deloitte
Mark Greig via Elevation Capital
Adam Broadway
Rob Antulov & Nick Gonios via 3eep Ventures
Chris Hitchen, Getprice.com.au
Alan Jones, The New Agency
Domenic Carosa, Dominet Digital
Phaedon Stough, Mitchell Lake
Tony Faure

Next steps?

Pollenizer Startup Process

Pitch your startup idea to Pollenizer

Dealised Group Buying Platform Raises $5.3m From Singtel Innov8 and Yuuwa

Mick Liubinskas — Sun, 25 Sep 2011 12:28:05 +0000

We’re happy to announce that Dealised have raised $5.3m From Singtel Innov8 and Yuuwa

Big congrats to the Dealised team in Pollenizer for an amazing year. From starting the company to growing some great customers and now closing this funding from excellent investors, it’s a hard job, done well. Hat’s off to Oliver, Andy, Serdar, Kevin, Fleur, James, Jon, Clare, Bree and Phil.

Huge welcome to the Dealised team into the Pollenizer hive.

Now the really hard work begins.

Here is the official media release;

Australia: Dealised raises A$5 million in Series A funding led by SingTel Innov8

Dealised platform powers group-buying market leader Spreets

UK (TBC): Dealised, leading group-buying platform solution names

new VP to lead European expansion

Dealised partners have already beaten Groupon
SINGAPORE | SYDNEY I LONDON (July ##, 2011) – Dealised, a group-buying platform solution innovator, has announced (S$6.5 million) – (A$5 million) – (£3.5 million) in its Series A funding to accelerate the global roll-out of its solution platform. Led by SingTel Innov8, the SingTel Group’s corporate venture capital fund, Series A also included Yuuwa Capital LP, an Australian-based venture capital firm. Dealised is the first to offer this group-buying platform solution in Asia. Dealised will use its regional Asian headquarters in Singapore to drive global business expansion and develop mobile group-buying solutions.

Dealised is already working with several UK-based customers, including The Daily Telegraph, as well as leading media owners Mecom in Scandinavia and with customers in Australia/New Zealand, the Middle East and the US. Companies, including media firms, mobile operators, retailers and others, use Dealised’s technology and services platform to create and manage their own deals. A firm can have a dedicated group-buying offer running within weeks, without significant upfront costs.

Dealised also announced the appointment of veteran telecommunications executive, Jonathan Marchbank as Chief Executive Officer. Mr Marchbank has worked in the US and Asia for the past 20 years, with both mobile operators and device manufacturers.

“Dealised partners in Australia and Scandinavia have already beaten Groupon and Living Social; our partners now dominate their respective market. With our platform, partners quickly create and manage regular offers for their customers, maintaining revenue and relationships at risk from Groupon-like clones. We are busy repeating that successful formula in other markets,” noted Mr Marchbank.

Mrs Yvonne Kwek, CEO of SingTel Innov8 said, “Dealised’s platform and market knowledge offers publishers, media companies and telco companies the opportunity to generate better value for their customers through innovative group-buying services.”

“The most exciting trend is in mobile, especially in Asia, and we see the volume of group-buying transactions on smartphones and other mobile devices growing exponentially over the next couple of years. Our operations in Singapore, as the business hub for Asia, are where we will focus on mobile growth,” concluded Mr Marchbank.

Dealised is one of the earliest entrants into what is a very young industry. It was created in late 2009 to power Spreets, an Australian deals site, which quickly became a market leader. Spreets was acquired by Yahoo7! in Australia in 2010 for A$40 million.

Other Dealised investors include Sydney start-up incubator, Pollenizer and a select number of angel investors. These investors bring a great depth of managerial experience, with backgrounds in digital media, e-commerce and mobile. The company will use the A$5 million from this fundraising to grow its base in Asia and in Europe, and to develop mobile group-buying solutions.

Media Contacts

Patrick Keenan (for Dealised)

Phone: +65 9822 0103

Email: patrick@litmuspr.com.sg

~~~

About Dealised Pty Ltd

Dealised is an Australian-based company offering a group-buying technology services platform. Dealised partners – media, telecommunication firms, retailers and others – use the platform to diversify and increase revenue, and strengthen customer relationships.

The business and platform began in Australia in 2009, powering a business called Spreets, now Australia’s leading group-buying player. In 2010 Yahoo bought Spreets exclusively for their Australia and New Zealand business (Yahoo7). The company’s technology and expertise was retained and is now offered as a Dealised package to companies around the world. Dealised is powering millions of dollars in deals each month in 15 countries and in over 100 cities.

The team behind Dealised are pioneers in the group-buying and social commerce industry globally, with backgrounds in digital media, e-commerce and mobile. Investors include Sydney start-up incubator Pollenizer, SingTel Innov8, a wholly owned subsidiary of the SingTel Group and Yuuwa Capital based in Perth, Western Australia, as well as individual investors.

About SingTel Innov8

SingTel Innov8, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the SingTel Group, is a corporate venture capital fund, with its own set of decision making, approval and funding processes. It has an initial fund size of S$200 million. SingTel Innov8 focuses its investments on technologies and solutions that lead to quantum changes in network capabilities, next generation devices, digital content services and enablers to enhance customer experience. It works closely with the ecosystem of leading innovators, developers, government agencies, R&D and capital providers to bring cutting-edge technologies and solutions to the various markets the SingTel Group operates in.

About Yuuwa Capital LP

Yuuwa Capital LP is a $40 million early-stage venture capital firm based in Perth, Australia. Yuuwa Capital is supported by the Australian Government through the IIF program, and private investors. Yuuwa seeks to invest in businesses where it can provide both capital and expertise to help founders, management and early investors turn good ideas into great companies.

Pollenizer Mentors for Mozilla Web FWD Accelerator

Fleur Fletcher — Fri, 08 Jul 2011 04:01:06 +0000

How cool is this?!

Recently, Mozilla launched a new programme called Web FWD, where young businesses are invited to spend 4 weeks in the Mozilla San Francisco HQ building their products.

They’ll have access to Mozilla-spiked resources and, at the end of four weeks, an MVP ready to launch.

Pollenizer’s Phil Morle is a mentor, along with guns from the Mozilla team, VC’s and entrepreneurs. Check out the full list of mentors here.

The program runs on a rolling submission schedule with the first spots opening in August.

You can find more (and apply!) at the Web FWD site.

Can our business afford a bookkeeper?

Clare Hallam — Tue, 10 May 2011 08:05:04 +0000

For most bootstrapped startups cash for a bookkeeper is often considered a luxury rather than a necessity and often only implemented when the business is well underway and the founder no longer has the time to maintain spreadsheets and a shoebox full of receipts.

Working with Pollenizer will give you access to the Finance and Ops Team who get stuck in, set up your company, open a Saasu account and an online filing system full of processes, procedures, budgets and financial reports that will be a very valuable asset when your business is ready for investment at Series A level.

At the closing stages of completing an investment round for serious money from the big guys you will embark on the Due Diligence (DD) journey. Generally, there will be tight deadlines to make in order to make this happen and get the cash in the bank or potentially watch everything you have sweated tears over in getting your business to that stage fall over because you have run out of money to get to the next level.

At Pollenizer our Finance and Ops Team use:

Mogeneration Raise One Million Plus

sudhir — Tue, 10 May 2011 05:08:36 +0000

The Pollenizer team are very proud to announce that our very first portfolio company ever has secured a nice chunk of funding and, more importantly, some great board members.

Big congrats to our old office mates Tom, Keith, Justin and the rest of the crew.

The official release:

Mogeneration, a leading Digital publishing provider, announced that it has successfully concluded a Multi-Million dollar deal as part of its first-round funding. This funding will be used for rapid expansion of Mogeneration in the Australian & global markets. Investors in this round include individuals involved in some of Australia’s most successful digital businesses, including Spreets.com, Hitwise and Getprice.com.au.
Mogeneration was founded in 2008 by Keith Ahern and Tom Adams to create apps and publishing tools for the emerging touch screen device market. Mogeneration has created more than 30 iPhone, iPad and Android apps for customers such as News Ltd, ACP Magazines, Oxford University Press, NRMA and Kraft.
“This investment and board formation has come at a pivotal time for the business. Mogeneration has established clear leadership in an area that promises the highest potential for publishers since the advent of the internet itself,” said Mogeneration CEO, Keith Ahern.
“25-30% of magazine circulation is predicted to occur via tablet devices within five years. In this environment, the simplicity of the Oomph solution enables all publishers and content owners to take the step of extending their content to tablet devices, including the iPad and Android devices, with consummate ease,” said Ahern.
Mogeneration was Co-founded by Pollenizer. Pollenizer builds and invests in web businesses in Australia. The Pollenizer team is composed of globally experienced technology web veterans covering all aspects of a web business including director level leadership, product management, engineering, UX design, marketing, business development, HR and finance. Mick Liubinskas, Co-founder of Pollenizer is on the Board of Mogeneration.

It’s Our Third Birthday!

Bree Clare — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 05:52:05 +0000

Hip hip hooray!

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.

Universal Startup Pitch Deck

Mick Liubinskas — Sun, 27 Feb 2011 06:38:36 +0000

Here is a set of slides we use at Bootcamp, Startmate and other forums when we’re working with new startups.

The idea is to be able to quickly and succinctly tell the full story of the business without thinking about it too much.

You get 5 seconds per slide. Just finish the end of the sentence.

Pollenizer Universal Pitch Deck

View more presentations from Mick Liubinskas.

The many ‘ands’ of a startup founder

Mick Liubinskas — Sun, 06 Feb 2011 22:54:24 +0000

As founders ourselves and working with hundreds of other entrepreneurs, we’ve found there are a lot of conflicting skills, principles and characteristics that it helps to have. Here are a few, add your own.

Big vision and brutal focus.
Deep empathy and benevolent dictatorship.
Daily flexibility and arrogant stubbornness.
Unending patience and constant change.
Respect of the past and belief in the future.
Collaborative management and decisive leadership.
Left brain creativity and right brain spreadsheet joy.
Super lean, frugal cost control and willingness to invest in growth.
A love of technology, processes and systems and a love of people, emotions and feelings.
Supreme confidence and openly admitting you’re regularly wrong.

Yahoo!7 Acquires Spreets, A Pollenizer Portfolio Company

Fleur Fletcher — Thu, 20 Jan 2011 00:20:50 +0000

Fantastic news today for the Spreets team, for Yahoo!7, for the Australian technology community and of course the Pollenizer team. Read below for the story, and a few notes from us at the bottom.

Yahoo!7 acquires Spreets – leading Australian and New Zealand online Group Buying
company

SYDNEY, Australia, 20 January, 2011 – Online media company Yahoo!7 today announced it has acquired leading Australian online Group Buying site, Spreets Pty Ltd, including its New Zealand operations.

Spreets (spreets.com.au and spreets.co.nz) was the first Group Buying site in ANZ having been in operation for almost a year with 500,000 members and more than 274,000 vouchers purchased since inception.

The Yahoo!7 business delivers a new audience to the Spreets site through distribution on the Yahoo!7 Network as well as access to the benefits provided in Australia and New Zealand through its joint venture partners Yahoo! Inc. and the Seven Media Group, including marketing and promotions.

The acquisition helps Yahoo!7 to deliver on its Local and Social strategies as well as providing further diversification of revenue streams outside of display advertising.

“After carefully reviewing the market it was clear that Spreets is a market-leader in what is becoming a highly competitive and fast growing market. The Spreets management team in Dean McEvoy and Justus Hammer come with strong expertise and experience in the Australian Group Buying market,” said Rohan Lund CEO of Yahoo!7.

“At its core Spreets is about leveraging insights to deliver the best local deals through an online social experience, and this maps perfectly to the Yahoo!7 Local and Social strategies. The acquisition of Spreets means we can bring the best of Yahoo!7 to grow the business even further,” he said.

According to Dean McEvoy, CEO of Spreets, the Group Buying model has rapidly evolved over the past year delivering cost-effective marketing to small businesses and addressing an unmet and growing demand from consumers for online coupon deals.

“Australians and Kiwis love an amazing deal and Spreets has seen significant growth delivering over $40 million in savings to consumers over the past year. We’re proud to be an Australian born company leading the market in this rapidly evolving space,” he said “We’re thrilled with the acquisition by Yahoo!7 as we see the huge potential that one of Australia’s leading online media companies, which has huge momentum in the market, will bring to the Spreets business.”

The financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.

Media Contacts:

Amanda Millar
Trade Marketing and Communications Mgr Yahoo!7
Tel: 8288 4758
Mob: 0407 454 229
Email: millaram@yahoo-inc.com

About Yahoo!7

Yahoo!7 (yahoo7.com.au) is one of the most comprehensive and engaging online destinations for Australian consumers and advertisers. Formed as a 50-50 partnership between the Seven Network Limited (ASX: SEV) and Yahoo! Inc. (Nasdaq: YHOO), Yahoo!7 brings together the successful Australian internet business, Yahoo! Australia & NZ, and the online assets and television and magazine content of the Seven Network, one of Australia’s leading media companies. The company also combines the strengths of Yahoo! search and communications capabilities and its global internet network, with Seven’s rich media and entertainment content and marketing capabilities..

/media release

Congrats to Dean, Justus and the hard working Spreets team for really driving hard at this incredible new space for the last twelve months. Big congratulations also to the Pollenizer team, particularly Oliver, Jon, Fleur and Phil, for their enormous contribution throughout the year. A massive effort and a job well done.

Today’s deal in Sydney – $90 for $181 at Jordons Seafood Restaurant.

Tomorrows deal? Sign up!