Shared Learnings
StreetHawk founder on a successful pivot, pitching to retailers
In May this year, at one of their weekly 'pivot or persevere' meetings, the founders of StreetHawk decided to change tack and try a different business model for their startup. Founders Natasha Rawlings, David Jones and Sri Panyam decided to develop white-label apps...
read morePozible founder on the 20% rule, building a profile and pitching for investment
On Tuesday night, Alan Crabbe stood in front of a room full of investors, at the 150 year-old Union, Universities and Schools Club in Sydney. He was pitching to Sydney Angels, Australia's largest collective of early-stage investors. The period decor, vintage red...
read moreWhere is the money: investment trends for startups in Australia
It's become an annual undertaking — each year Andrew Stead, Director of Business Development at Sydney-based incubator ATP Innovations — pieces together an overview of the state of investment in Australia for investors and founders. He's just completed a survey of...
read moreMelbourne founder’s US quest: 10 cities in 20 days
It's the conversation you hope you never need to have: when you have to tell workmates, investors and family it's time to quit; time to give up on the startup to which you've dedicated the past few years of your life. In part, it's this experience which has...
read moreLIFX founder: delivering on a Kickstarter promise
Just one week after launching on Kickstarter, LIFX, the Melbourne-based company co-founded by Andrew Birt had raised more than $1.3 million to produce an initial production round. That solves some problems, and introduces others. LIFX is a Wi-Fi enabled LED light...
read moreStageBitz founder on closing $890k angel round
Catherine Prosser is at home in Narrabundah, Canberra, when we speak; I want to find out more about how StageBitz, the theatre inventory management platform she started with co-founder Mat Lawrence, raised an $890,000 angel investment round from a consortium including...
read moreThe hardware renaissance: is it hitting Aussie shores?
There seems to be an increasing number of tech startups creating hardware, in what's being dubbed by some entrepreneurs and investors as a 'hardware renaissance'. It's something we've been following with interest — the recent Australian experience seems to support the...
read moreVesting schedules, equity shares and loans to founders
A few days ago we came across this post from Rebekah Campbell, Founder of Posse.com. In a nutshell, Campbell explained the only mistake she really regrets is giving away too much equity to people who were there at the start, but didn't end up pulling their weight. Her...
read moreHow to make better use of your social media
On Friday afternoon, I went to a talk by Euan Semple, former Director of Knowledge Management for the BBC and now influential speaker and adviser to companies like Nokia, the World Bank and NATO, on all things social media. Almost every startup I've interviewed for...
read moreHow many of X does it take to change a lightbulb?
Q: How many angel investors does it take to change a lightbulb? A: They'll never change it but they're full of advice on how you should change it. Q: How many VCs does it take to change a lightbulb? A: Getting one interested is nearly impossible but once you've got...
read moreCritical Arc founder on selling to universities, improving signups
The founders of Wollongong based startup, Critical Arc, plan on using large organisations like universities or hospitals to drive downloads of their security app. Glenn Farrant and Jahmai Lay spent six months working with potential customers to develop the app,...
read more121cast founders on raising investment with no product, launching an MVP
Speak with Long Zheng and Ed Hooper and you realise they're the kind of tech entrepreneur with hundreds of ideas, and the ability to quickly bring them to life. They're the kind of startup founder that put us non-techies to shame. Zheng and Hooper are two of the...
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