Back in 2016, around the time LaunchVic was kicking off in Melbourne, Dave McManus left the city for Silicon Valley, determined to become a startup founder. Now he’s back in Victorian capital and the founder of Lightning Ventures has plenty of stories to tell and advice to share on episode 40 of Startup 360. Explaining… Read more »
If you’ve been in the workforce for more than about five minutes, you’ve met them: The boss who thought the title automatically made them brilliant – and would like you to know about it – the same one who called “urgent” meetings that could have been an email, or could have waited until next week. The… Read more »
Alex Miller was having rapid success with his subscription management platform Hudled when he spotted a nugget of insight in that startup and launched a second, Rechargly. Like a Marvel movie spinoff, he’s now enjoying even more success, as Alex explains on episode 39 of Startup 360. Listen here Cohosts Simon Thomsen and Majella Campbell… Read more »
Back in the depths of raising funds during Australia’s funding winter, I was given some unexpected but prescient advice by an overseas investor: “Don’t come here.” My co-founder Skye and I were on the outskirts of London and meeting with the General Partner at one of UK’s largest fintech funds, canvassing the idea of expanding… Read more »
For 60 years, Warren Buffett has written an annual letter to shareholders of the company he’s run since 1965, Berkshire Hathaway. He acquired the small textile company for US$18 a share to fire the CEO. Buffett subsequently described it as “the dumbest stock I ever bought” despite the fact that today, Berkshire Hathaway Class A… Read more »
Australian entrepreneur Ned Dwyer has reason to celebrate, after Great Question, the San Francisco-based startup he co-founded in 2020, raised $20 million (US$13 million) in venture capital investment. And the Series A round has also prompted Dwyer to reflect on his experiences as an expat in Silicon Valley, and what has changed since for fellow… Read more »
The hardest lesson I’ve learned about raising capital is that there’s no such thing as the right investor — only the right capital stack. Every time we started raising for Goterra’s next phase, the advice was the same: find your lead investor, fill the round, move fast. That playbook hasn’t changed much, even as the… Read more »
Australia is “not on track” to meet the federal government’s goal of 1.2 million technology‑related jobs by 2030, according to new economic data from its Department of Industry, Science and Resources (DISR). The target, which was set by industry lobby group Tech Council of Australia and adopted by the federal government in 2022, would no longer… Read more »
For decades, Silicon Valley has been the default destination for ambitious founders. It is still the centre of gravity for venture capital – but that monopoly is quietly eroding. A growing number of global founders, particularly from the US, are now looking beyond the Valley for their next funding partner. And increasingly, that includes Australia.… Read more »
The Founder Institute and Ben Chong, partner at Right Click Capital, take you through how to nail your startup pitch. tl;dr Pitch Deck Templates Don’t have time to read the guide? You can access our Pitch Templates quickly below. One‑Sentence Pitch Template | Elevator Pitch Template | One‑Minute Pitch Template | Long Angel/VC Template Introduction… Read more »
Form-building startup Paperform has launched an artificial intelligence (AI) platform, called Stepper, to help small businesspeople automate workflows. Paperform, which founders Dean and Diony McPherson bootstrapped for the past decade, now has more than 23,000 subscription users globally. Stepper is the next logical step: automation for business people to scale without adding complexity or cost, Dean,… Read more »
ASX-listed tech investment & advisory firm Scalare Partners has launched an AI-powered startup services platform, called The Founders Union. The AI-enabled matching engine offers founders with curated access to organisations providing education, community, services, perks, and investment options, based on a startup’s growth stage and needs, taking into account issues such as budget and availability,… Read more »
Australian technology leaders are losing sleep over increasing regulatory complexity, growing damage from ransomware, and the challenges of near-ubiquitous artificial intelligence (AI) and deepfakes, a new survey by cybersecurity body ISACA has found. Generative AI (genAI) and large language models will drive the agenda in 2026, with 64% of Oceania respondents to ISACA’s 2026 Tech… Read more »
In the startup world, we’re conditioned to worship at the altar of data. We’re told to build cases based on data before we build products, to chase quantifiable metrics, and to present spreadsheets that prove a market exists. But what happens when you discover a problem so fundamental that no one has been able to… Read more »
When growth slows, every founder feels it. The pressure for bigger. The instinct that says, “We need new products.” So you react quickly, and it feels like progress. Yet often those fresh new products are good, but not great. And there’s a good chance that you might not be able to be the best at… Read more »
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