A few weeks ago, I wrote about how 4 days can be a long time in business. A year even more so. And it was only this week I was trying to convince my friends at Tribe Global Ventures to do a 2023 wrap up of startups and tech in their excellent podcast (full disclosure, I helped them get… Read more »
Australian tech has lost its director on the board of OpenAI after Helen Toner resigned from her position at the Artificial Intelligence juggernaut. While she cited fulfilling her role requirements as the reason for her departure, specific details or reasons for her resignation were not disclosed, leaving the decision somewhat unclear. The whole episode has… Read more »
Australia’s startup ecosystem is maturing. We’re nearing the milestones of home grown VC funds like Blackbird reaching a decade of investing and AirTree investing in 100 companies. As a result, we’ve built a healthy roster of founders and operators with more than a few notches in their belts. Ready to expand into leadership roles but… Read more »
Another year, another Black Friday has been and gone. Black Friday is generally the shopping spree that sends consumers into a buying frenzy and businesses into a logistical tangle, but more and more we’re seeing the sale period drag away from the big day and into a month’s worth of offers for savvy shoppers. For… Read more »
If you believe that bad things come in threes, then it was a big week for geopolitics, music and investing. A prominent trio paid the ferryman within days: Henry Kissinger, the controversial former US Secretary of State and security adviser to presidents Nixon and Ford, died aged 100; Shane MacGowan, the charismatic Irish poet and… Read more »
The last decade in corporate Australia has seen a much greater acknowledgement of toxic workplace practices and their impact. In the startup sector in particular, over recent weeks we have seen many women come forward to share their experiences of gender discrimination, sexism, harassment and abuse, a subset of toxic behaviour. I am in the… Read more »
Lived, an app designed to help people with addiction has closed down as its founder deals with her own health issues. Founder Sally Metelerkamp announced the business had shut down on X (formerly Twitter) last week. “With a mix of gratitude and reflection, I share that the company I led, Lived, has gracefully wound down,”… Read more »
It’s hard to imagine there is anything left to say on OpenAI, that hasn’t already been said in any one of the millions of hot takes over the last few weeks. But never fear. In startup land, there is always room for one more hot take that absolutely no-one asked for. Today I was asked… Read more »
About seven years ago, I stood at an art gallery in Sydney in front of a crowd not dissimilar to this one and pitched our startup as part of the first batch of the UNSW Founder 10x program. On that demo day, we did not come across as the best startup, we did not get… Read more »
Global jostling involving companies and governments of many countries is underway that is more far-reaching than what occurred over oil in the first half of the 20th century. It’s in an industry that will drive the development of tens of billions of products over the next few decades – semiconductors. This is because the next… Read more »
A lot of folks have expressed surprise and dismay this week about awful comments by Sam Joel, and the wider idea that the ANZ startup ecosystem might have a sexual harassment problem. Here’s why I’m not surprised. I wanted to write about this because working on consent education at Normal and doing work on gender… Read more »
First, some caveats before we go on: I know I’m using a niche example to make a very broad point. The point still stands, even if you want to get the world’s tiniest violin out for me. I know that as a white woman, my struggles are not nearly as dire as that of women… Read more »
The 2023 Startup Muster report reveals how central artificial intelligence (AI) and impact principles are important to founders and central to the Australian ecosystem. The startup “census”, last released in 2018, saw more than 1100 people, including nearly 600 founders, answer a range of questions – delivering 165,000 responses – about the state of play… Read more »
After travelling through the investment climates of Europe and South East Asia, it’s clear that a tide of optimism is rising for early-stage startups, including those based in Australia. The terrain for securing funding has become more conducive, but how should an Australian entrepreneur navigate this promising period? Let’s explore. Global trends, local implications Firstly,… Read more »
It is no secret that the success of any startup lies in the hands of its people – the passionate, talented individuals who bring visions to life and drive innovation. But with limited resources, fierce competition and the constant battle between time and talent, finding and retaining those people can be a huge challenge. We’ve… Read more »
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