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Ignite - world's greatest speed pitching event is coming to Melbourne! We’re proud to announce Ignite Melbourne 2010 (#ignitemel), a part of Global Ignite Week, will be held on March 2nd, 2010 at Loop bar. Ignite is a fast-paced, fun, thought-provoking, social, local and global event. It’s a high-energy evening of 5-minute talks by people who have an idea – and the guts to get onstage and share it with the world. Run by local volunteers over 6 continents, Ignite is a force for raising the collective IQ and building connections across Melbourne.
Upwards of 10,000 entrepreneurs, technologists, DIYers, creative professionals, and enthusiastic knowledge-seekers will gather in local pubs, theaters, and other convivial venues for an evening that is a unique blend of networking, information, and fun, encapsulated in the Ignite motto: “Enlighten us, but make it quick.” In talks that are exactly five minutes long, Ignite presenters share their personal and professional passions, using 20 slides that auto-advance every 15 seconds. To register for the event or to become a speaker, go to the website: http://www.ignitemelbourne.com. Hurry before the seats run out! Check out this great video to get a taste of the event (featured in Anthill) Posted by Tian @ 8.09pm, 8/2/10 |
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Attend these cool events to kick off your entrepreneurial 2010! While most of us are still in the holiday mood, some of the most entrepreneurial organisations in Melbourne are kicking off their new year with an exciting public event! If you're looking to get a head start in 2010, here are two good ones you should seriously consider attending: Beer Mat Challenge (10th Feb) - the first event of MUEC 2010, hosted by our lovely friends from Melbourne Business School (i.e. the MBA kids). The event is open to all undergraduate and postgraduate students from any university. Join them for a fun night of brainstorming ideas, pitching and lots of BEER! Entrepreneurs Essentials (20th Mar) – for those of us serious about starting up a business in the new year, or already running one of your own, this is an event designed for you. The day will be divided into four sessions to teach you everything you need to know about running a successful startup. Book before 5th February! See below for more details: Beer Mat Challenge When: Wed, 10th February Entrepreneurs Essentials When: Sat, 20th March Host: Jordan Green, Co-Founder and Deputy Chairman of the Australian Association of Angel Investors; Founder and CEO of Melbourne Angels, and was a founding partner and Managing Director of Melbourne Venture Partners. Jordan has been director, CEO, executive, or engineer for over a dozen technology and engineering companies since starting his career with IBM. His executive roles in start-ups have included a Silicon Valley software company, Australia’s largest Internet registrar and an Internet Business Incubator. He has led international technology and business projects up to $500,000,000 in value. For more information, see: http://entrepreneuressentials.com.au/ To maximise the benefit for his participants, Jordan restricts the audience size to 30 people. == Stay tuned to this blog, Napkin Competition 2010 is about to launch in just a few weeks. Write your best business idea on the back of a “napkin” and win an innovation tour to Sydney and visit the Google HQ! Posted by Tian @ 6.28pm, 29/1/10 |
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Exams are (pretty much) over - more entrepreneurial events to attend! Now that exams are over for the uni students, we can finally get back to doing interesting entrepreneurial things. There are a couple of events happening in the next couple of days worth going to: The Hive Melbourne meets Tony Wheeler from Lonely planet (Tuesday 24th Nov at 7pm) - link to Calendar: http://www.agentsofchange.org.au/?q=node/397 and Ben and Jerry's Seminar - Doing Well by Doing Good, presented by founders Ben Cohen & Jerry Greenfield about sustainable and community friendly business practices (Wednesday 25th Nov at 12pm) - link to Calendar: http://www.agentsofchange.org.au/?q=node/398 also happening early next month is: Terri Irwin from Australia Zoo who will speak on how a savvy new group of entrepreneurs called Ecopreneurs could be the saviours of the planet by confronting climate change (Tuesday 8th Dec at 11:30am - but places are limited so register on http://www.secureregistrations.com/ecopreneurs/) - link to Calendar: http://www.agentsofchange.org.au/?q=node/399 Hope to be seeing a lot of you at these events! Email us at hi@agentsofchange.org.au if you'd like to know more about any of those events. The events are also listed on our Calendar. Posted by Arum @ 11:54pm, 23/11/09 |
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Dell Social Innovation Competition - US$50,000 to be won! Dell is holding a Social Innovation Competition with US$50,000 as the grand prize. This is definitely an awesome opportunity for most of you - especially past competition entrants. The University of Texas and Dell are inviting all Uni and TAFE students to take part in a global competition to generate ingenious ideas to change the world. Individuals, or groups of University or TAFE students are challenged to submit a plan that combines creativity and innovation to tackle a pressing social issue and win US$50,000 to put that plan into action! Entrants are asked to push for positive change at home, or anywhere in the world, with a social innovation that tackles a social problem to help every human reach their potential. There is no limit to the imagination and any significant social issue can be addressed in this competition. The competition is open worldwide and students have until 1 March 2010 to develop their plans. How it works: One winner is chosen and awarded US$50,000 as seed funding to launch their venture. You be the judge! Along with the student competitors, anyone can comment and vote on the ideas submitted into the competition. In each round of the competition, people can vote on the projects they like the most by promoting them up in the ranking. It’s also possible to leave comments and suggestions on the ideas you find most intriguing and add your expertise. For more information, including deadlines and eligibility, please go to: http://www.dellsocialinnovationcompetition.com/LearnMore We really hope to see some of you enter this competition! If you are entering, let us know! Posted by Arum @ 4:04pm, 21/10/09 |
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Female Entrepreneurs Breakfast, and "10 ways to make your business appear bigger than it is" (from Anthill) The 2nd Female Entrepreneurs Breakfast is happening tomorrow morning at 8am. This month, the Female Entrepreneurs Breakfast will feature Jenny Jiang and Jess Rae from Melbourne Op Shop Tours, winners of IdeaPitch 09! It will be held at 8am, at Ex-S Cafe at 121 Exhibition Street. Girls - come along to meet other female entrepreneurs! Also, I came across a great article that a lot of young start-ups and student entrepreneurs may find relevant. Below is an excerpt: Fake it til you make it: 10 ways to make your business appear bigger than it is 1. Dress Sharp Yes, there is only 9 tips there, but the last one is: 10. You tell Me! Check out the full article at http://anthillonline.com/fake-it-til-you-make-it-10-ways-to-make-your-bu... Posted by Arum @ 4:53pm, 19/10/09 |
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IdeaPitch '09 Winners! Last night's IdeaPitch '09 Finals Night was amazing - 8 awesome teams of students pitched their ideas in front of a panel of judges and an audience of 50. Entrepreneurs, students, academics and investors alike enjoyed the presentations, and by the end of the night the judges had tough decisions to make. For those of you who missed last night's Finals, here are the winners: Category 1: Idea Stage Category 2: Open Stage Congratulations to all the winners and also all the Finalists - it was safe to say that the audience was amazed by the presentations! Videos of the pitches will be gradually published on our blog, keep an eye out for the next couple of weeks! Posted by Arum @ 1:48pm, 16/10/09 |
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Interview with the Entrepreneur - Malik Laibi, Founder of Globalvations.com The entrepreneurial ecosystem will improve by the rise of new start-ups that are designed to help out other start-ups, fellow entrepreneurs and innovators. Globalvations.com is one of them - a vertical search engine indexed and categorized innovations throughout the world, connecting visitors to new technologies, innovative companies, products and business opportunities. Our ChangeAgent Hubert Wu recently had a chance to interview founder of Globalvations.com, Malik Laibi. Malik says he wants to see Globalvations.com to become the Google of innovations and entrepreneurship in ten years time. Do you think he can make it? Read the full interview transcript below and decide for yourself. (Globalvations.com is a collaboration between Multilingual Global Marketing (MGM) of Melbourne, Australia and SearchChannel, LLC of Oak Brook, Illinois.) Interviewer: Hubert Wu (Agents of Change) Hubert: What was your story before becoming Managing Director of MGM? Work, study, school etc… Malik: I was born in Algeria and French educated. After the University (Bachelor Degree in Journalism) I travelled through Europe in the 70s and then settled down in Germany. In Germany (Duesseldorf) I worked for the German Business and Financial daily HANDELSBLATT as International Advertising Manager. Yes I speak fluently French and German besides English and Arabic. From Germany I then moved to Saudi Arabia where I worked for 13 years in the Media industry (print and TV). In 1997 I came to Australia. That was the time when the internet and e-commerce were just taking off. So I became obsessed with the idea of becoming an internet entrepreneur. My first e-venture was a bi-lingual (English-Arabic) e-commerce venture in 2001, a shopping mall enabling shoppers from the Middle East to buy from Australia and vice-versa. But then came 9/11 and the dream was out. I then set-up an international marketing consultancy helping Australian companies entering the Middle East markets. Hubert: When exactly was Globalvations founded? Malik: Globalvations was founded in 2008 and officially launched in July 2009. After the official launch (globally) we were very surprised by the positive and encouraging feedback. I even received accolade from Tony Dyson, the man behind the robots of “Star Wars”, saying “Globalvations is a great resource”. Hubert: How did the idea of Globalvations come about? Malik: I am an obsessed market researcher. After a while I discovered that a myriad of innovations from all industry sectors emerge on a daily basis. If we wanted to know the latest innovations from a specific industry sector no source could help, not even Google. And here came the idea to develop a vertical search engine on innovations. Globalvations was born. Hubert: Many consider entrepreneurship an exciting, yet often notoriously inaccessible concept. The creation of a domain-specific, vertical search engine focussed on innovation is no mean feat and has never in fact been done before. Were you familiar with the industry prior to founding Globalvations, and were you at all intimidated by the fact that you were breaking new ground? Malik: it is a fact that to be a successful entrepreneur you must fulfill 3 paramount conditions: So I knew from my own research that: 1. There was no such a service ( a vertical search engine on innovations) Hubert: Being the Managing Director of MGM (Multilingual Global Marketing), an international consultancy firm, how exactly has the experience from that role helped in 'taking the edge off' the challenges of founding Globalvations, if at all? Malik: The digital age has opened up a world of new business opportunities, and has given birth to a networked world where information is quickly and easily accessed, shared or published across a variety of devices from almost anywhere on the planet. A new wave of digital serial entrepreneurs have emerged in the US, Europe and Asia-Pacific, setting-up new ventures with impressive innovative ideas. The list of these amazing ideas, which keeps growing, includes digital marketing, digital printing, mobile search, vertical search, ad networks, ad auctions, mobile content, video advertising, in-game advertising…and the list goes on. In this environment, we founded MGM to help born global start-ups go global. In this environment also we founded Globalvations to maintain our integrated strategy of promoting innovations and entrepreneurship. Hubert: Have you ever stopped and thought to yourself, “I cannot believe I'm actually doing this!?" Malik: Yes definitely. When the world economic downturn became pandemic, particularly after the collapse of Lehman Brothers, I was meticulously monitoring the news in various languages (English/French/German and Arabic) and all I could read was “Innovations and entrepreneurship are the emergency exit out the recession”. I said to myself “My God, we are coming with the right product at the right time”. The best things that happened since the launch was the encouraging feedback. Hubert: The accelerating rate of change around the globe clearly seems to be a double-edged sword: on the one hand, Globalvations will have more and more exciting material to work with. Yet on the other, there's the increasingly daunting task of collecting and sorting it all out. Given the highly varying nature of the term 'innovation,' do you think Globalvations is up to the challenge of achieving this without compromising its results integrity? Malik: Yes, we were very careful from the beginning about the definition of innovation. We see 2 kinds of innovations: This is why we have the “How does Globalvations work?” section on the Home Page, to make it easy and simple for the user. We know the user is time poor. Hubert: Where do you see Globalvations in 10 years time? Malik: To be the Google of innovations and entrepreneurship. Hubert: What’s the most important thing you’ve ever lost? Did you find it? What advice would you give to people the next time they lose the remote control and find out that it is not, in fact, under the couch? Malik: Yes my wallet. One day I forgot to take it with me, and I was worried all day wondering whether I really left it at home. Arrived at home, a sigh of relief. I found it. My advice: Do not panic, think and focus. Hubert: Finally, what's your next project? Malik: We have a long-term Business Development Program (BDP), focusing on Vertical Media (Off-and online). Globalvations is the first online project from the BDP. The second project is offline and it is a multilingual Specific Directory on innovations. It is the Globalvations Directory. We are presently looking for suitable partners for the worldwide distribution of the directory. Posted by Tian @ 6.58pm, 15/10/09 |
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IdeaPitch Finalists! Tonight was a great night at the IdeaPitch 09 Semi-Finals, with teams battling it out for spots in the Finals. This pitches this year was great - the students were very well prepared and the judges were impressed with the quality of the presentations and ideas. We are proud to announce the Finalists for the IdeaPitch 09: Category 1 - Idea Stage Finalists: Category 2 - Open Stage Finalists: Congratulations to all the Finalists and good luck for the Finals. Everyone is welcome to the Finals next Thursday (15th October) - RSVP to daniel@agentsofchange.org.au to get a name-tag printed. We look forward to the Finals and keep you all updated! Posted by Arum @ 1:55am, 09/10/09 |
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Elevator Pitch from Evernote CEO Phil Libin In light of the current IdeaPitch competition, here is a one-minute elevator pitch from Evernote CEO Phil Libin. The IdeaPitch 09 competition is going through it's most exciting stage, with Semi-Finals round this week. 18 Semi-Finalists will battle it out for a spot in the Finals next Thursday. Come along and check out the Finalists next Thursday October 15th. RSVP to daniel@agentsofchange.org.au if you'd like a spot. Drinks and canapes are included so that should be reason enough to go! :) We are also looking for some helpers on the night, so if you could lend a hand just for a couple of hours, please email Daniel on the email address above. Looking forward to seeing you all there. Posted by Arum @ 4:04pm, 06/10/09 |
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Just Markets: Harnessing Capitalism for Social Change Just Leadership in conjunction with the Social Enterprise World Forum presents Just Markets: Harnessing Capitalism for Social Change The ‘justice of markets’ is intricately connected to the treatment of the poor and disadvantaged. Markets have become the most powerful instruments shaping the future. In the lead up to Anti Poverty Week we are delighted to invite you to the fourth and final Just Leadership Breakfast for 2009. This is a fantastic opportunity to: Guest Speakers: Andy Kuper (Leapfrog, UK) Lilliam Masebenza (SEN, South Africa) and Rebecca Scott (STREAT, Australia) Just Leadership is an exciting collaboration between Jesuit Social Services, its partner the National Australia Bank, the City of Melbourne, Mallesons Stephen Jaques, and BP. Speaker biographies: Andy Kuper Lillian Masebenza Rebecca Scott Rebecca is the founder and CEO of STREAT, a new homeless and disadvantaged youth social enterprise due to start its foodservice operations at Federation Square this December. STREAT provides homeless and disadvantaged youth with a pathway from the street to long-term employment in the hospitality industry. Before starting STREAT Rebecca was the Vice-President of KOTO, a social enterprise café for homeless youth in Hanoi. Prior to this she worked for a decade in management positions at CSIRO, Australia’s premier science research organisation. Rebecca is passionate about the role that governments, non-profits, businesses and community groups can play together in poverty reduction and sustainable development and has worked hard to ensure STREAT takes a collaborative approach to addressing these issues. Thanks to Jason Cotton from Dynamic Horizons for providing this information. Posted by Tian @ 11.51am, 30/9/09 |
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IPitch and Student Entrepreneurs | Agents of Change! In light of the upcoming IdeaPitch competition, Student Entrepreneurs | Agents of Change is proud to announce another media sponsor: IPitch (http://www.ipitch.com.au/). IPitch.com.au is the place to follow Australia's startup community. Browse through startup profiles, find investment and get inside information on entrepreneurial news at Australia's new destination for startup culture. At IPitch startups can create a free profile to market their business, communicate what they're looking for from investors and highlight what sets them apart for media. With relationships with Sydney Angels, Innovation Bay and more, IPitch does the leg work for startups helping them get exposure to investors, and then provides news and articles that help them know what to do once they get noticed. IPitch was created by Australian investment group Green Lane Digital who made an exit from their own startup, countrycars.com.au, and wanted to use the money and experience they earned to reinvest in the Australian tech community. IPitch is bringing together the Australian startup scene in an unprecedented way and trying to stir up excitement, investment and international attention for the nation. Check out www.ipitch.com.au when you have the chance! Posted by Arum @ 11:03pm, 28/09/09 |
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Startup School this November If you’re planning a Corporate Escape or are an early stage entrepreneur. Then this 2 day event run by Steve Sammartino - founder of Rentoid, author of startupblog.wordpress.com and all round good guy - is an investment worth considering. For a very simple reason: It’ll save you many thousands by not having to make all the mistakes Steve did before he got it right. What stuff will be covered? Content taught includes: All of which will be interactive – and busts the myths of success. You wont read the truth about this stuff in books because the truth isn’t shiny and doesn’t sell. All 10 alumni graduates get Steve as an on going mentor to help them startup and success like he has with www.rentoid.com. It also includes food & drink for 2 days. It is $998 for the 2 days. It’s not cheap – bit it’s the real deal. A worthy investment with a money back guarantee to blow your mind. If you think it’s expensive – then think about this: How much is 17 minutes of prime time ‘in program’ TV coverage worth? More than $500,000. Steve's done it and startup school will teach you how. It’ll be running in Sydney and Melbourne for 10 people only. It’s pretty much a one off event. So if you want to come book a seat at www.startupschool.com.au or feel free to give Steve a call {0438 779 566} for more info. Be quick it’s limited to 10 people only. Posted by Amir @ 5pm, 28/09/09. |
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Beer Mat Challenge happening next Tuesday! The Melbourne Business School Entrepreneurs Club is holding the annual Beer Mat Challenge at the Queensberry Hotel next Tuesday the 29th at 7pm. The Beer Match Challenge is designed to provide a forum for socialisation for budding entrepreneurs. Participants from all levels of university are welcome! The event is an exercise to boost idea generation and to meet experienced people interested to support new business ventures. Format of the challenge: The assessment will take place immediately after the presentations and the winners will be announced. This event will be a great way to warm up for the upcoming IdeaPitch competition, where you'll get to meet a range of entreprenurial-minded people and share ideas, stories and experiences. Where: Queensberry Hotel (corner of Queensberry St and Swanston St) There are limited places available, so register now: http://bmc2009.eventbrite.com/ Posted by Arum @ 12:38am, 25/09/09 |
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"Digital Marketing for Profit" Sminar Our club's long time supporter and companion Ben Bickford from Mobile Monday Melbourne is putting up a Digital Marketing For Profit half-day seminar in Melbourne (8 OCT) and Sydney (22 OCT). The ability to harness the full power of digital marketing has become an essential skill for any business person or entrepreneur in this digital age. Digital Marketing For Profit half-day seminar helps you to rapidly educate yourself with the latest tools and strategies to gain new customers, build deeper relationships and grow more sales across Web, Email, Search, Social Media and Mobile Marketing. Ben has offered our club members a whopping 50% discount for the first 30 people to book using the Agents of Change special discount code AOC50 (you are automatically a member of our club if you sign up to our newsletter here, FREE, if you haven't already) Additionally, for those who book using this special booking code, they will also receive a free eBook on "Online Marketing Inside and Out" from Sitepoint. Ben himself is a gun in the digital media space, not to mention the five additional industry experts he has invited to speak at the seminar. Book now for the Digital Marketing For Profit half-day seminar and learn how to measurably boost your bottom line.
Posted by Tian @ 10.24am, 19/09/09 |
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Pitch your product "really great, easy and awesome" Steve Jobs style Ever wonder how Steve Jobs leave the indelible impression that Apple's products are really great, really easy and just plain awesome? Since it's the "pitch month" at SE|AoC we are going to post a lot of stuff to help you pitch. Here's a 2-minute YouTube video of the Zen of presentation at Apple's Sept. 9 event, stripped of just about everything but the adjectives. Yes, Steve's secret formula is to use heaps of "awesome" adjectives during his presentation. The point to make is don't be afraid to flatter your idea or product during your pitch. If you believe your product is incredible, tell your audience, and more importantly support it with evidence (you will notice this if you watch the full video). But remember not to overdo it in case someone will make another video like the one above to mock you. Video originally posted on Branstorm Tech Think you can do it too? Kick start your next entrepreneurial endeavor at the upcoming IdeaPitch 2009! Posted by Tian @ 8.58am, 17/09/09 |
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IdeaPitch 09 - pitch your ideas to win $1,000! You're invited to PITCH your business ideas for a chance to win over $1,000 worth of prizes! IdeaPitch 09: Network, showcase ideas and promote business endeavours - elevator pitch style. Finalists will have the opportunity to pitch to an audience of investors, venture capitalists and the entrepreneurial community. There is $1,000 worth of prizes to be won, including cash and consulting hours with innovative firms. The IdeaPitch Competition will be officially launched at the Elevator Pitch Essentials Workshop. ELEVATOR PITCH ESSENTIALS WORKSHOP When: Thursday 17th September, 5:30-6:30pm There will also be a Workshop happening at Monash University, Clayton Campus, on Thursday the 24th of September. VISIT www.ideapitch.org.au TO FIND OUT MORE AND REGISTER! The Student Entrepreneurs team is also looking for passionate and hard-working people to help us run the events. Email us at hi@agentsofchange.org.au to get involved. See you all there! |
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Female Entrepreneurs Breakfast One of our Entrepreneurs-in-Residence, Marita Cheng, is starting up a new networking and social event for all the entrepreneurial girls out there! It will be a monthly event, with the inaugural breakfast taking place this Tuesday: The breakfast has a guest speaker, but is pretty informal. It's free to attend (other than buying breakfast) and no registration is necessary. More info available on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=135292802702 Posted by Mark @ 1am 12/9/09 |
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Insights from US Venture Capitalists - for those of you missed out the VC Movie Night during Eweek09 For those of you missed out the VC Movie Night during Entrepreneurs Week, here's your chance to catch up! Many thanks to Brendan Lewis from The Churchill Club for taking his time digging out all the gold from the one hour footage. Even for those of us already watched the video at the movie night, if you haven't taken enough notes (like myself) this is an excellent summary of the many insights about tech startups and VCs that came out of the video. The movie was a never before seen series of interviews with the Principals of Draper Fisher Jurvetson taken in late 2005, courtesy of Bill Lang International. DFJ is one of the biggest Venture Capital firms. Based on the West Coast of the USA, it was formed in 1985, has assets of over $4.5B, has affiliate offices in 30 cities. The firm has funded well-known technology companies including Hotmail (acquired by Microsoft), Overture (acquired by Yahoo), Skype (acquired by eBay) and Glam Media. Other notable investments include SugarCRM, Technorati, Interwoven, Meebo and Baidu among others. The 3 principals, Tim Draper, John Fisher and Steve Jurvetson spoke and covered a number of varied topics. I have copied the section "The Entrepreneur" from the original post below. To read more about topics such as "Venture Capital as a Career" and commentary on past DFJs deals, be sure to click here. The Entrepreneur Steve Jurvetson had worked with Steve Jobs at Apple. He described Steve Jobs as an extreme form of the charismatic leader and a reference point for other entrepreneurs. Jobs has a vision and is not easily swayed from it (despite this sometimes being bad). Consequently he has an employee base that operates with a missionary like zeal. Pragmatic steps are taken to reach the vision with enormous speed, such as hiring and firing multiple VPs of Marketing over the course of a summer. They felt that Entrepreneurs they wanted to fund: * Had a very clear vision of the future They also noted that youth and inexperience weren't a barrier to success. Young founders were the norm with global success stories: They look for entrepreneurs that want to change the world for the better. It was also noted that traditionally there has been a flood of consultants and bankers to entrepreneurship during boom times. They felt this was okay for ICT during the dot com boom - but can't happen for science based areas : Life Sciences, Nanotech, Space etc because the knowledge barriers are too high. Therefore in these particular areas the technology has a much higher weighting when considering making a deal and the value of management is devalued somewhat. It was also considered that a great engineer or scientist is extremely unlikely to make a great entrepreneur as the skills required to be great sat at opposite ends of a spectrum. Instead they recommended that technologist partnered up and concentrated of developing a deep level of respect for their commercial “other halves” rather than trying to be the entrepreneur. This strategy appears to happen all too often in global success stories and in fact they felt that this “dynamic duo” arrangement was worthy of study by the business schools. Click here to read the full article. Feel pumped after reading this article? Kick start your next entrepreneurial endeavor at the upcoming IdeaPitch 2009! Posted by Tian @ 5.24pm, 10/09/09 |
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The Hive Melbourne TONIGHT The Hive is a get-together that happens on the 2nd Tuesday of every month. This month's hive is happening tonight (Tuesday, 8th September) from 7pm, featuring Tom Howard and Fenn Bailey of Adioso. Tom Howard was a panelist at one of our Entrepreneurs Week events - Monash's IT Start Ups Panel. Come down to network with the entrepreneurial community and find like-minded people! The Hive is held at The Order of Melbourne, 401 Swanston Street, just opposite RMIT. Hope to see some of you there - shoot us an email at hi@agentsofchange.org.au if you're going :) A little bit more about Tom Howard and Fenn Bailey (http://adioso.com/au): Tom Howard and Fenn Bailey are the entrepreneurs behind Adioso.com, the world’s only fully-flexible, natural language flight search tool, making it simple for travellers to find cheap flights and cool destinations. With the backing of some of Silicon Valley’s finest they are determined to make Adioso the world’s leading flight search and destination info site for backpackers and casual travellers. In January 2008 Adioso was launched from an internet cafe in Hanoi, Vietnam, quickly establishing a loyal following of backpacking enthusiasts and grey nomads, and building just enough traction to make the idea worth pursuing seriously. Cut to earlier this year where after being accepted to a startup funding & mentoring program in Mountain View, California, Tom and Fenn moved the USA for three months to work on Adioso full time. At the end of the program in March they presented the second beta version to a room full of leading Silicon Valley identities, quickly securing a further round of seed funding from a range of prominent angel investors. Now back in Melbourne they continue to develop the site and prepare for a full public launch and a return to Silicon Valley later in the year. http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=123614787429&ref=ts or http://www.thehive.org.au/ |
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3 Things an angel investor wants to hear in your pitch Got a business idea ready to take over the world? Here are some practical tips for those interested to compete in the upcoming IdeaPitch Competition 2009 (application opens 18 Sep, closes 2 Oct). David Bennett @ Pitch Club Three things I want to hear: I want to know what problem is solved Thanks to Startup Melbourne for originally posting this video. Posted by Tian @ 3.39pm, 07/09/09 |
