Sharing my observations of the UK market after having just completed our annual Tribe Global Ventures scaleup trade mission to the UK during London Tech Week and time spent in Germany. The airports are quieter Across the board during my time in the airports in Brisbane, Dubai, Frankfurt, Stuttgart, Munich and Heathrow, all are noticeably… Read more »
While venture capital funding is a benchmark of success that receives a greater share of attention than the daily business of startup life, building with bootstrapping is front-of-mind for many founders, often out of necessity. So Unfunded, a new podcast by tech writer Joan Westenberg is bound to be essential listening for many keen to… Read more »
TL;DR The last decade has been the ‘heyday’ for horizontal SaaS, and vertical SaaS has been comparatively quiet. What has held vertical SaaS back is simple: bad customers. Go-to-market motions in vertical SaaS have been stuck in clunky enterprise mode, while horizontal SaaS has consistently cracked product-led growth that has underpinned rapid and efficient scaling. AI is… Read more »
The recent outburst of rapping at the Canva Create event in Los Angeles has proven to be another dazzling cultural flashpoint between Australian and US tech. Well, here at least. We believe it’s not a coincidence that an event like this occurred right after a billion dollar share sale rightfully turned many early Canva employees… Read more »
There are days when I wake up and wonder what we’ve done. Let’s start with our origin story. Fiona Boyd and I were staring at a pile of consent forms for our three children on the kitchen counter. I was finishing up nearly five years of contracting for a SasS (Software-as-a-service) firm in San Francisco… Read more »
Thinking of starting a small business? Exciting isn’t it? That was me nine years ago. I had an idea for a Registered Nurse led professional ear wax removal business using safe and gentle microsuction. In these nine years we have grown from one clinic opening four hours a week, to a nationwide business clearing the… Read more »
Away from the VC mega-round headlines or the hard stories of founders who can’t raise capital at any price, is the solvable problem of how much money a new founder should raise. I’ve participated in hundreds of investments where founders have opted for different answers to this question, and watched the consequences unfold over the… Read more »
Over the past five years, accelerator and incubator programs in Australia have had their ups and downs. Some have opened, while others have closed, and through it all thousands of startups have applied for a chance to increase their odds of survival and growth. Having now completed three corporate run accelerator programs (with KPMG, PepsiCo,… Read more »
With overseas markets such as America, Europe and Asia providing substantial growth opportunities for Australian startups, overseas government tender opportunities are becoming a popular choice for founders to penetrate new markets and grow. There have been many stories of mixed success – from big contract wins to proposals being binned from the outset. In each… Read more »
(Note: the following are general observations only and do not constitute tax advice) News this week of Macquarie Bank writing off its $46 million investment into software company Plutora has once again brought to light the devastating impact that denied R&D tax incentive claims can have on a startup. Whilst the exact circumstances of Plutora’s… Read more »
In our journey through the business world, we often encounter hurdles that test our resolve, creativity, and strategic thinking. Transitioning from corporate burnout to building a six-figure business within a year, I learnt the indispensable role of essential systems in achieving scalability and profitability. I want to take some time to share with you the… Read more »
How I became a customer of, and then an ex-customer, of a password/security startup, PassCamp What happened (or didn’t happen) at PassCamp that lead to their demise What they could have done differently to (potentially) avoid their fate Lessons to takeaway in what they did well for sunsetting a product Most businesses fail. Of the… Read more »
Australia’s startup world glorifies venture capital as the holy grail—the insider’s ticket to fast scaling and billion-dollar valuations. FOMO sets in when headlines splash record-breaking funding rounds, fuelling a culture that views VC backing as the singular metric for success. As an ecosystem, we fixate on spinning the VC roulette wheel. Even founders who don’t… Read more »
Are you too trusting or too sceptical? Launching and running small businesses and startups have many moving parts to stay in the game and be successful. So many decisions are at play and risk minimisation is a key. Being too trusting or too sceptical will cause angst. Reaching a beneficial middle requires strong discernment muscles.… Read more »
2023 was a tough funding year across the market, so many founders are looking hopefully ahead to the promise of 2024. While I believe there is going to be some recovery this year for startups seeking funding, this will be gradual and geared towards the larger end of the market, as mergers and acquisitions and… Read more »
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