River City Labs First Friday Bytes!

Last Friday, I got out of the house again! I attended Group Mentoring with Llew Jury (which I wrote about in more detail in a different post) and the newly revamped River City Labs Pitches, which are now called River City Labs First Friday Bytes.

The big change was that the first talk of the afternoon was a from an entrepreneur who had “made it”. Last Friday the found was Bradley Rasmussen of Sizztech. He shared some tips and tricks he learnt along his journey. He explained that his current business grew out of his first business. He also explained that Sizztech was self-funded. I think a lot of people miss opportunities when they become too focused on their current business. Also, too many get caught up in raising capital, when they can create a perfectly viable business by bootstrapping. So it was great that River City Labs highlighted a business that opted not to raise money.

Finally, we went onto the pitches for the night, and AI was over-represented. We first AI pitch from a founder who has created a sleeve that is looking help people with upper limb loss to have fine motor control of their robotic prosthetics. It’s interesting, and I am keen to see how the startup grows and evolves.

The second AI pitch was from Red Realities whose pitch is that they want to free creatives from doing low-value artwork. So one way of putting it is that “AI is now after artists jobs!”

The AI heavy pitches prompted a man with a gorgeous beard to go up and pitch his business Blue Life AI. He offered those in attended a free trial of his training program. During the questions, he mentioned that he has already taught millions of people online and mentioned his main business is called SUPER DATA SCIENCE!

It was then that the penny dropped and I realised the speaker was Kirill Eremenko, or as he is known to my brother and I “the R guy”. I clearly blanked out when they announced his name. So yes, I got to meet that man whose online course my brother and I took to learn R. It was like meeting a minor celebrity. It was fun; I took a selfie. 10/10 would go to another First Friday Bytes!

The Connect Collaborative

A few weeks ago, two people reached out to me on LinkedIn about The Connect Collaborative. I didn’t know anything about this collaborative, but I asked around. I got wildly different takes. One of my mentors, I have several, had heard about the Hub. So she let me know that it was a well-known networking venue with hundreds of members. A co-worker in one of the startups I work with said he had gone but got bad vibes. But another founder I am working with said that he had been a few times, and found the people lovely. Also that he had worked with people he met at some level. So naturally, I had to go and check things out for myself!

Turns out that the two people who invited me, Doug and Wells, knew each other. Doug had invited Wells. So that worked out. I attended the talk last week, which on personalities. That’s bumped the article I have wanted to write about personality tests near the top of my to-do list. I went back yesterday, but I couldn’t stay for the talk. I touched base with Doug and Wells, and a few others that Doug invited to the Hub. But I am suffering from a weird ear issue and chronic headache, so by the time 7:30 PM rolled around, Tinni.exe was very much shutting down.

So why did my co-worker get “bad vibes”, and why did the other founder think everybody was lovely? Well, Connect Collaborative does use network effect, which can give of multi-level-marketing (MLM) vibes. Indeed, just last night Doug acknowledged that some people do come into the Hub thinking they are about to get an MLM pitch from Amway. Amway being notorious for co-opting entrepreneurial language. Some rules might not make sense on the surface, like waiting to be introduced. But I can see the benefits of slowly meeting people.

Also, I think that whoever the speaker is the first time you attend can make a huge difference as does whoever invites you into the room. Also what you know about the Hub can probably colour your impression. I got such wildly different takes on people who attended that I am more curious than apprehensive. But so far, no one tried to sell me anything, and it seems like a small business version of a lot of startup events I have attended.

There are overlaps, of course. People I know from the startup scene turned out to be regulars at the Hub. So it’s interesting. I’ll try to go a few more times and see where it leads. It should be fun and interesting!

Collider Accelerator Demo Day 2019

Last Thursday was demo day for the Collider Accelerator’s 2019 cohort! As I mentioned previously, I was present at Collider Bootcamp with Josari. But sadly, Josari did not make the cut. However, what that meant that I got to see the startups graduating from Collider, just before they started their journey. It was interesting to see how far they had come.

I think the two startups that came the further from when I saw them at Bootcamp was Shotstack and Trusted Voice.

Shotstack during Bootcamp showed off the technology, but I personally couldn’t see an application. But turns out, there is a great demand for automated video creation en-mass. It was build in response to market demand, but that wasn’t made clear at Bootcamp. But on demo day, it was clear that there was a business model around that product. It wasn’t a solution looking for a problem. There was a problem that Shotstack was addressing because there is a need to create short videos en-mass. I get it now!

Similar to Shotstack, I didn’t know what The Trusted Voice, back then called Master Your Video, was trying to do. I got that the founder, String Nguyen, was an amazing social media influencer but I wasn’t sure what she wanted me to buy from her. But now I get it. The Trusted Voice a coaching program that promises to teach me how I can increase my influence and share my content. String has come a long way from Bootcamp!

AirSyne’s pitch improved a lot! They also found a target market in sports. AirSyne is the location-based messaging app that puts augmented reality (AR) messages in the air. I tried it out during the event. It’s pretty cool, but it is a “critical mass” issue. So I think they have targeted the right beachhead market with sporting events. I also see many other applications for AirSyne, but also a lot of pitfalls. Let’s face, someone will leave an ASCII dick as a message sooner or later!

The other startups also polished their pitches, and I am sure developed a lot in the background. But being more mature startups when they went into Collider, they didn’t go as dramatic a transformation as Shotstack, AirSyne and The Trusted Voice.

I mean, Anti Ordinary, who make beanies as strong as a helmet, and Cardly, who make customised cards with mimicked handwriting, are more scaleups then startups. So it makes sense that Anti Ordinary did not change a lot during the three months of the Collider accelerator. I don’t know what Cardly was before Collider because I don’t have any memory of them in the Bootcamp. I think they skipped the Bootcamp. But it’s clear from the pitch they are a mature startup.

Colour Space, an art rental service and Whatpods, training for podcast hosts, had a proper identity at the Bootcamp, and I think they just developed more during the accelerator. I think Whatpods used their time in the accelerator to create their training modules. Changes with Colour Space was not apparent from the pitch at demo day compared to Bootcamp.

Analytics.Lol was the sole representative of the gaming industry. Analytics.Lol is an analytics software for competitive gaming with the beachhead being League of Legends. I know enough about e-Sports to realize they have a high ceiling and potential for great success as the industry grows. But even the best ideas don’t turn into successful businesses.

Lastly but not least was the startup that actually went first, Umelore! Back in the Bootcamp, I knew Umelore was a sure bet to get into Collider. Umelore is an online marketplace that is connecting Indigenous artists with those looking to source authentic Indigenous artwork, ethically. It’s a brilliant idea from a brilliant Indigenous female founder, Alisha Jayne. I wish her all the luck!

Lord Mayor's Social Enterprise Business Forum

I joined many of my cohort mates from the Impact Boom Elevate+ last Wednesday at the Lord Mayor's Social Enterprise Business Forum. I have heard about these, but this was the first one I attended. It was perfect timing too because my new business cards as the CTO of Abide had just arrived! So my co-founder, Andy and I, used the event as a massive opportunity to pitch Abide so that we get inputs and have the opportunity to explore collaborations.

The forum was also a learning opportunity boasting the speakers Alex Hannant, Co-Director, Yunus Social Business Centre, Griffith University who spoke about the "Ingredients for success and failure - 10 things I've learnt about social enterprise". It was a great talk that highlighted the realities facing social enterprises. I especially liked the tip about "letting zombies dies". He was saying that as social entrepreneurs, we are often driven by passion and belief. So we might often keep ventures going that are in realities zombies. I think this is a good tip for everyone who are passionate about what they do. It's not just about business but also jobs, creative endeavours etc., etc.

The second speaker was Emma-Kate Rose, General Manager, Food Connect, who spoke about "Running a business with heart and purpose: why social enterprises are on the rise". But unfortunately, I was not able to stay for that talk. Overall, I had a good time, and I am going to see if I can't make more of these forums!

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!