UQ Innovation Panel: Back by UQIES invite to be a panellist!

I was back in UQ on Wednesday to be one of four panellists for UQIES Innovation panel. It was fun, especially since I got to stir the pot a bit!

Also, I hadn’t met my fellow panellists before, at least so far as I could recall, and so it was always nice to meet new and interesting people. The other panellists were:

1. Pauline Fetaui, the current General Manager of River City Labs

2. Indi Tansey, the chief officer of people, product and planet

3. Amelia St Bake, the Digital Strategist of St Baker Energy Innovation Fund

Below are the questions that were emailed to me before the event. I think we got through most of them with some variations and some additions from the audience. I am sure you can see where they gave me the opportunity to say some very controversial things!

1. Your background and the journey you guys have taken to get to where you are now?

2. What does innovation mean to you and why is it such a critical component of your life?

3. Touching on successful entrepreneurs for a second do you believe there is a pattern of behaviour they all exhibit that makes them successful? And if so, what are they?

4. Is consulting or experiences in other “traditional career paths” a requirement in the start-up world or is that a misconception or does that consulting experience add extra value?

5. What opportunities are available for business students in the fields of start-ups & technology, bearing in mind a lot of us have little to no technical knowledge?

6. All of you have amazing experiences and projects you’ve worked on. Thinking back to one of those many journeys or projects you’ve worked on or built, firstly what was/is it and what’s something you wish you knew at the start?

7. What valuable gem of a resource has helped you in the past and that you’d recommend to students?

A good time was had by me, and hopefully by the audience. I had some great conversations with the students over the cheese platter. I have also seen a few people connect with me on LinkedIn. Finally, having nothing in particular to promote, apart from Kyco and The Great Australian Rip-off, I decided to finally go ahead with that podcast I have been thinking of launching for some time now. Episode 1, out now!

Another day, another rip-off: #StopTheRipOff

The Great Australian Rip-off campaign is in full swing as we at Kyco work to bring more attention to the problem with comparison sites. As if to validate our problem statement, Trivago was fined $44 million for misleading customers coming to their site looking for the best price.

My CEO, Trond Smith, appeared on Sky News to explain how this goes beyond travel. Highlighting that outside of comparison tools from consumer groups who compare the whole market, these websites are largely sales engines that will highlight the more profitable deals for them. Not to mention they aren’t always upfront about who owns them and sometimes they are owned by the people they are promoting.

It’s all very shady and very late-stage capitalism to a certain extent. 30% of people are switching, so the 70% who are not switching are in a way bearing the cost of the switchers. But also, the switchers are paying with their time and effort to keep switching. Wouldn’t it be better if we all just save as a collective?

Kyco is trying to be that collective and I am proud to do what I can to make that happen!

Finally attended a Silicon Beach Australia Virtual Pitch Night!

Silicon Beach is Australia’s largest network of startup communities and it is a community I have wanted to stay connected to for some time. Yesterday, I was finally able to attend one of their pitch nights!

There were some great pitches from people trying to solve some real, pressing problems. The one I related to the most was Wirl App. Just because I often use food to keep myself functioning. Not great for the waist line but beats not being able to get out of bed! Wirl was one of the winners from the night.

The other winners were Diana’s Closet, which is a curated online clothing store. I loved her personality and her style is great too! I can see myself buying from her.

The other big winner was GoMicro which allows you to assess food quality using your mobile. As someone who struggles to judge fresh food lifespan, this is something I would buy if it were to become a consumer item. Although right now GoMicro seems to be focused more on large scale businesses.

Of the other pitchers, I noted MyAxis as someone who appeared to be post-revenue, which is always a strong selling point for a startup. Also, Terran Industries is trying to tackle climate change and currently raising capital. While Coat’d startup is trying to market a long-term disinfectant.

Other pitches were delivered from:

• Gowell

• Nutribe

• Harpoon Analysis

• Query Law

• Silfresh

• Real Fringe Hair Bands

I have definitely missed a few and my apologies to the ones I missed. My notes were not exhaustive. Anyway, a good time was had by all and I look forward to the next pitch!

The Great Australian Rip-off: What we are doing to #StopTheRipOff

I can’t believe that it’s already the end of March! I didn’t even do a New Years post! Have I been that busy? Yes, yes I have!

It’s been incredibly rewarding and challenging working full-time as the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of Kyco Australia. As much as I would like to say that it’s been smooth sailing with nothing but wins but that has not been the case. We have suffered many setbacks and even forward steps often resulted in us going backwards. That is, however, the reality of startup life with the journey being more of a zigzag then a straight line.

Onwards with new partners and a new plan! On Thursday the 24th of March we launched The Great Australian Rip Off campaign to expose the secret payments and incentives many Australians don’t realise are driving up their cost of living for services including electricity and the internet. 

 Insurers have admitted secret commissions paid to commercial comparison websites – some as high as 40 to 60 per cent – end up being passed on to most Australians through higher premiums. Our startup was created to address the market inefficiency born from this rip-off. So it makes sense for us to shine a light on the problem. So join us to #StopTheRipOff, your wallet will thank you!

UQ Ventures Entrepreneurship Bootcamp - MVP Development + Kalvitree

A new experience for December and Thursday, I got to have a nice “fireside chat” style session with Marvin Fox for the MVP Development Workshop as part of the UQ Ventures Entrepreneurship Bootcamp for Business Bootcamp for Australian alumni and ex-pats in Mumbai. The BootCamp is delivered in partnership with the Australian Consulate-General in Mumbai.

The session went for two and half hours, during which I discussed my experience developing MVPs, pitfalls when developing and releasing MVPs, finally engaging in the philosophical discussion of what even is an MVP!

It was a great experience and I hope to do more of these types of sessions and give back to the university and startup communities in 2022.

Another thing I am looking forward to in 2022 is continuing to assist in the growth and development of Kalvitree as their tech advisor on their brain trust. Subha Chari and the Kalvitree team had a big win recently by being chosen as one of the recipients of the Techvista, Catalysr Migrapreneur Activate Grant (MAG). Here’s hoping for more good things for Kalvitree in the new year to come!