We’re in the middle of ‘startup week’ in Perth, with an incredible array of start up events, conferences, hackathons, demo days, meetups and even reports being published (one is already out.) The media, MPs and Ministers are all over it. There’s a bit of ‘bandwagon jumping’ going on, but that’s OK, as long as something now happens...Read More

Google “I like lawyers” and the top results are articles such as “Why do people hate lawyers so much?” and “People like lawyers less than you think”. Even Google can’t find a positive result. It might be easy to knock them, but finding a good lawyer or accountant is critical to the success of any business. I...Read More

Last week I did a talk to BloomLab, the university based co-working space for student startup folk here in Perth, WA. My slides are visible above (and also here). Here is my 10 “flearnings” (learning from failures) – hard won advice from making the wrong decisions (many times), but learning from them. Startups are easy...Read More

Almost exactly three years ago I attended the first Startup Weekend in Perth. 100 plucky individuals bought tickets to attend. 40 or so got up on Friday night to make a 1-minute pitch (if they went one second over, they were stopped in their tracks). From these 40 pitches 15 or so teams formed by 9pm...Read More

I’ve met a few people this year interested in getting into Perth’s startup scene… so here’s a humble overview as I see it. Go to a few of the events below, meet some of the folks and quite quickly you’ll be at the centre of the action. Why not help out and get involved? Perth Morning Startup...Read More

Fifteen years ago, Lisa and I attended an unforgettable ‘Night with Barry Humphries‘ at the Regal Theatre with a few friends. Having just graduated with my MBA I was back teaching full time and for some reason I was not enjoying it anymore. I didn’t know why, but I was getting around to the notion that a...Read More

[slideshare id=35465689&style=border:1px solid #CCC; border-width:1px 1px 0; margin-bottom:5px; max-width: 100%;&sc=no] On Thursday night I gave a presentation on ‘Naming your Startup‘, (see slides here, or above) to the Perth Founder Institute. In many ways, the name of your company can mean everything, and nothing. You could name it “Blaghhh” or “Twitter” or “Google” or “Snapchat”...Read More

Last week’s federal budget axed the Commercialisation Australia (CA) program (and a few others), saving $847 million from the public purse. It is to be replaced with a new $484 million scheme, the Entrepreneur’s Infrastructure Program (EIP), of which there is scant detail. Hundreds of Aussie companies will be affected by the closure of Commercialisation Australia. (Over 500 have received funding...Read More

As you may know dear reader, I spend  bit of time among the startup tech community here in Perth, WA. Like the startups themselves, the scene is a very small part of the economy, but has potential. Small businesses are the ones that create jobs. Often it’s the larger businesses that are cutting them. 80% of jobs created...Read More

I enjoy mixing with startup people; and I’ve been catching up with quite a few recently, a meeting here, a cup of coffee there, a presentation somewhere else. So it got me to thinking about the top 10 tips I’d pass on to anyone contemplating a startup… 1. PROBLEM: Focus on the problem you are solving –...Read More