Fishburners Pitch Night: Health Tech

I am writing this on a Sunday night, and it’s been a very long week from last Sunday to today. This time last week, I was at the Lady Cilento Children's Hospital emergency room with my three-year-old niece. At the time, she wasn’t admitted into the hospital, and we thought it was all done and dusted. We were wrong. She was admitted on Thursday, had surgery on her knees on Friday, and she’s still there! My brother and his family live in Townsville. So they don’t have their cars here, so I have had to help out with logistics, so a lot of late night driving to pick-up or drop-off my sister-in-law. So it was fitting that my first ever attendance at the Fishburners Pitch Night was themed Health Tech!

Friday is my day at JOSARI HQ, so I wasn’t planning on attending. But everybody at Josari was keen to see what the Pitch Night was about and were looking forward to the food and drink, so we went together as a team. Fishburners Pitch Night is very different from River City Labs pitch events. River City Labs allows anyone to pitch. But you have to pitch without any visual aid, and you only have two minutes. River City Labs is about promotion, and there is no judgement. The Fishburners’ events did have judges, the startups pitching are drawing from Fishburners members, you do get to have pitch decks, plus the pitch is for five minutes. So it was very much a formal event, while the River City Labs events tend to be more informal.

The first pitcher was Sortal: Legacy, who were an offshoot of Sortal, and use the machine learning technology of Sortal to create memory banks for patients suffering dementia. It’s a great concept, but it’s only starting, the technology works but whether families will use it for people with dementia needs to be seen.

The next pitch was from Our Care Journal, and it interested me a lot because it’s almost beat for beat the same as Carers Connect/Caremate, which is a startup I am helping set up. But Our Care Journal is ready to download, while we are still building our app. But I am not worried because the market we are targeting is huge, so there should be enough pie for all of us to have a piece.

The third pitch was from Hearos App, which is a serious game that helps people with Cochlear implant to learn or relearn sounds. It was by the far the easiest understand in terms of what problem they were addressing, and what their solution offers.

I can’t remember the name of the last startup that pitched. But it was a meal prep startup and was an example of why I am not worried about Our Care Journal. They have a lot of competition, as do all diet and food-related startups. But no single one of them has been able to corner the market. My brother and I went in for the Prepd Colors Lunchboxes, which comes with a recipe app. We are waiting for the boxes but keen to try the Prepd system. I also use Noom, for which I recently bought a subscription for a recipe module. So there are a lot of competitions, but the market is so big, that there is always room for someone to try and take a slice of the piece for themselves.

Overall, I enjoyed the pitch night. I will consider attending again!

Business Cards: I think I finally got it right!

So business cards are still a thing. We do exchange them at networking events. A lot of people are going v-card or LinkedIn app based connection, but the pieces of cardboard still have a place in our society. So as part of launching Start with Tinni, had designed a new business card. Took me three goes but I think I finally got it right!

Firstly, let’s have a look at the first business card I ever designed — my card for Virgo 19 that I also use as a personal introduction card. I am proud of the TC in a binary motif that’s the header for this website.

Of course, I also slapped the banner I created for the Virgo 19 page on the back. Because technically, the card is supposed to be for Virgo 19, my app making business. It’s still technically going! I am not doing much with it at the moment, but it is still active.

Looking back at the card, I can say that I don’t much care for it. It’s okay but not memorable and isn’t great for branding. I am not saying my new cards are better at branding. But they are prettier.

Draft 01: Start with Tinni

However, I almost didn’t go for a pretty card because the first draft of my Start with Tinni business cards was a bit drab.

I went with a spaceship because that’s common imagery in startup land. Since my foundation clients were going to be from startup land, my brain fixed on motifs common among entrepreneurs. That includes the chalkboard.

So I thought I was being clever with the chalkboard drawing of a spaceship with the quirky title of “Start Consultant”. Thankfully, I asked for comments, and it didn’t play well with actual people. They didn’t get, and while I am beginning with startups, I do eventually want to work with small businesses. So I started rethinking the startup-heavy imagery as well.

Draft 01: Start with Tinni

So for the next draft, I want with more vibrant colour, and a picture that I thought was abstract enough to be open to interpretation. But still conveying what I am offering. Namely, a digital future or networks, data in the palm of our hands and greener pastures to be had past the digital horizon. People loved it!

I had 50 square cards printed through Moo.com. Both the shape and the colours seem to make the cards a little bit more memorable than your average business card. But that’s not to say that I am getting increased callbacks, although that might have something to do with the fact that the first print of my new cards had two flaws!

Final: Start with Tinni

Firstly, I left out my business mobile. Secondly, once printed, the black lettering proved a bit difficult to read. Both these I fixed for the second print. My new cards have arrived, and I look forward to using them more in 2019!

On that topic, I didn’t attend the anymore social gathering this month. So I doubly glad I went to the Silicon Beach Brisbane: Startup Christmas Party.

I am glad for the break, however, because big things are happening for me in January and February that I am looking forward to sharing. So watch this space!

Silicon Beach Brisbane: Startup Christmas Party

Last Tuesday, I attended the first of the couple of holiday-themed meetups I have scheduled for this month. I was a bit apprehensive about this one because there was supposed to be 300 guests, and I don’t handle crowds very well. But fortunately, Cloudland is an amazing venue, so while there was a lot of people, you could still move and mingle easily.

The party was more about being celebrating the connections I made this year, as opposed to making new ones. I did meet a few new people and did hand out my cards to both new connections and old connections. I also got a chance to get updates on what some people I haven’t seen for a few months are doing now. But overall, it was about the food!

The food was delicious. I don’t drink. So all I can say on that front is that soft drink selection was good. It was a very well organised event, and I am very thankful that Silicon Beach Australia took the time to host the party!

Now, I was supposed to attend the Brisbane Tech Christmas Drinks, but family commitments got in the way so while I have plans to attend at least The Festive Season Startup Spectacular. But given my track record, I can’t say for sure I’ll make it. But if this ends up being my only Christmas themed meet-up, it would have been worth it!

November was eventful: this week was not!

Well, this week didn’t turn out the way I hoped! First, I signed up to attend the series of Entrepreneurship Events with USA Investor Steve Barsh. But when Monday came around, I could barely get out of bed. I was so sick, all I managed was a Skype meeting for Koostoo, and that was about it.

I was down for the count for most of the week. Finally managed to get out to QUT Foundry for some meeting on Thursday but sadly, I missed the Duke of York, HRH Prince Andrew by ten minutes! But because of the Prince, QUT Foundry was more packed than usual, and I was able to show the person I was meeting around the Foundry better.

HRH also learned about the research projects undertaken at the Australian Centre for Robotic Vision and met with QUT students, including #pitchatpalace Alumni, at the QUT Foundry. pic.twitter.com/16My8CxLVP

— The Duke of York (@TheDukeOfYork) November 29, 2018

Lastly, today was supposed to be the start of the Global Startup Weekend Brisbane 2018, but it was moved to February. I got a refund on my tickets because I have something big on during that time. But that’s another post. Since I didn’t have the Startup Weekend, I signed up to attend the Fishburners Community Pitch Event powered by QUT. Unfortunately, I didn’t make it as I had a small relapse of the illness plaguing me all week. But I don’t feel too guilty about this week because I was generally good about networking and socialising during November. But it would have been nice if my flesh was as willing as the spirit!

Just Listening: Fashion Startup Weekend

This past weekend, the first ever Startup Weekend for Fashion was hosted by QUT CEA. I didn’t participate, and no, I wasn’t at the Mobile App Hackathon either, but I did turn up on Sunday to listen to the final pitches. I am glad I went because all the six pitches were fairly interesting, and all of them have the potential to be successful.

Interestingly, this startup weekend seemed to allow existing businesses to enter. Most of the other Startup Weekends make a big deal that the idea being pitched on Friday is fresh and new. However, SW Fashion allowed two businesses that were established but used the weekend to pivot or start a new line.

In fact, the winner of the weekend of was Electra and it is an existing business. But the Founder used the weekend to develop the LED module for the Colour-matching light up modular bracelet, which will apparently also be used in a purse in the near future. Also, the LED modules work as earrings too.

Their target market is club going party people. So it’s not my scene. My type of LED fashion is more fantasy inspired wear like the type made by Angela Clayton with stuff like her Christmas Angel costume. Admittedly, Electra’s designs are more practical, while Angela needs to create a ready-to-wear version of her creation. That said, Electra mentioned something about an LED embedded purse. That I would be interested in!

The other existing business that used the startup weekend to explore a new angle was the designer Nola Marta, who has a successful high fashion bespoke business in Indonesia. But because it’s bespoke and high fashion, also because Nola Marta wants to be sustainable and ethical to her employees, her growth in Indonesia has plateaued. So she’s looking to move into the Australian market. So she used the weekend to explore strategies on how to do that, settling on launching a more affordable but still bespoke line. I liked the designs she showed off. So I hope she makes it.

The runner-up was more my speed as they were the Modest Collective, who wanted to make a platform where modest fashion buyers and sellers could meet. I don’t wear hijab, but I still have issues buying clothes. Especially dresses with pockets and non-plunging necklines. I also have a friend who sells modest active wear that’s loved by a lot of pale Australian women because it protects their skin and stops them from burning.

So the market is there, and since they are creating a marketplace, instead of a label, they are not subject to trends as much as Electra or Nola Marta. Another startup that was about supporting fashion instead of being a fashion house was Puctto Magazine that wanted to marry a virtual changing room with the ability to buy clothing directly from the runway. It’s funny because I can at once see the novelty in what they are trying to do but also why it won’t work.

Similarly, Quirk was the other platform/marketplace pitched, and again, I can see the novelty and also the many, many, many reasons why they aren’t going to work. Lastly, BU Sunglasses were about making fashionable sports sunglasses for women and kids. The reasoning is that the alien-eye sports sunglasses aren’t loved by women as much as they are by men. So there is an untapped market there for women and possibly kids for non-alien-eye looking sports sunglasses. I honestly don’t know enough about the sunglasses market to comment.

So yes, the participants seemed to have had fun, and it was a successful weekend by all account. But I am glad I was only an audience member because my energy is currently low. You need to have a fair amount of energy to get the most out of Startup Weekend. So I better get my energy up because I am sign-up to participate in the Global Startup Weekend Brisbane 2018!