Brendan Yell

This just keeps getting better and better 😍 ... As a recovering perfectionist, the scrappy early days of building something from 0 to 1 are highly uncomfortable for me. Add in the variable of about ~14 other people you need to work with to pull something off, and you've just taken that discomfort level from 10 to 100. But I'm learning to love it - this process of being OK with something evolving over time, learning and improving as you go and I'm growing a lot as a person as a result (if I can say so myself...!). I am SO proud and grateful for the amazing team of volunteer correspondents we've gathered to bring together Pulse Check (the new monthly newsletter from Overnight Success). They've been super patient and flexible as we've worked through the scrappy bits of pulling it together and now we're all seeing the rewards in the form of not only more subscribers (we'll crack 400 this month! 🤞 ), but also genuinely valuable, engaging content people are loving! 🎉 . If you haven't already, check out this month's edition and you'll find these gems... 💎 Kirstin Hunter & Preethi Mohan launching the first ever Investor Leaderboard for our 'Funding the Balance' initiative. Gav Parry offering a super insightful perspective on the role of tech innovation in the music industry. Lea Rausch's insights about Aussie startups going global, as gleaned from chats with Gecko.rent founder Ben Kennedy and Maxine Minter of Co Ventures. Berenice Chong putting a spotlight on the new Curtin University Venture Studio. Andrew Harding talking about Main Sequence's investment into the fascinating world of sustainable apparel dyeing via Xefco. Erin Howell answering the question - WTF is the Bitcoin halving...? Dickie Currer giving the 101 on how Australia's innovation ecosystem stacks up globally. Leila Oliveira with tips from Bae Juice founder Tim O'Sullivan on lessons from their recent fundraising round. Holly Clark explaining why agritech innovation is so challenging, feat insights from Olympia Yarger at the recent FutureAg Expo. AND Anna Mackenzie sharing her ever-insightful and perfectly articulated case for 'optimising for creativity' (and ideas on how to do it!). Phew..! It's a lot of amazing content all in one edition! 🤓 Check it out 👇 🚀

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Do you work with Startups or Scaleups? When our Founders, Startup / Scaleup Leaders, or Startup Employees join Aussie Founders Club's free membership on Frontcover, they then unlock exclusive offers for products and services. On the list, we currently have offers from companies like: Rapha: 6 months FREE on their recruitment system Heatseeker: A 30% disount on their subscription which gives you access to tools for generating value propositions, conducting live competitor audits, and running in-market experiments Mayfly Ventures: A free 45 minute Product Strategy Session HubSpot: Discounted access to Hubspot for Startups which opens you up to MANY MANY offers for startups BetaTrends: A 25% discount on their analytics subscription Granton: A free 30 minute consult to discuss eligible grants for your startup ScoreApp: 50% off your first month (I love Scoreapp) Informly: 10% off your Idea Validation report (I've used this - their reports are incredible) Also offers from my own businesses: Kairos: Offering exclusive AFC rates for your first hire placed through Kairos Mployd: Discounts on services for startup employees looking for work I've got many more in the works but if this sounds like something you and your business wants to get across, getting you in front of your target market and supporting them with an exclusive offer - you can! Fill out our EOI form and we will be in touch - link here: https://lnkd.in/gWqN32cb

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Watch Video: https://lnkd.in/g9g8i6vQ So the revolution of Social Media, our decentralised TikTok Killer App called OWN is launching this year. Here’s a recent interview that puts it into a nutshell.: #socialmedia #decentralized #creatoreconomy

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Finding the perfect cofounder is like matchmaking for your startup – it’s not just about finding someone with the right skills, but also someone you’ll actually 𝘦𝘯𝘫𝘰𝘺 building a business with. That’s why Aussie Founders Club is teaming up with TALY Australia to offer a service specifically for solo founders on the hunt for their ideal cofounder. ✨ 𝐒𝐭𝐞𝐩 1: 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐟𝐢𝐥𝐞 𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟 Taly, led by Peter Treloar, provides personality profiling that digs deep into what makes you tick. First, as a founder, you’ll complete a profile that gives you valuable insights into your own personality traits, strengths, and work style. ✨ 𝐒𝐭𝐞𝐩 2: 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐟𝐢𝐥𝐞 𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐏𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐂𝐨𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫 Once you’ve met someone who feels like a potential cofounder, they’ll complete their own profile. This helps you both get clarity on whether you’re truly aligned. ✨ 𝐒𝐭𝐞𝐩 3: 𝐆𝐮𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 From there, Taly provides tips on the types of conversations to have with this potential cofounder – discussing the role each of you will play, how you’ll handle decisions, and how your personalities might clash or complement each other. This is huge in filtering for serious candidates who are genuinely a good fit, both professionally and personally. 💬🤝 ✨ 𝐒𝐭𝐞𝐩 4: 𝐑𝐞𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩 𝐃𝐲𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐜𝐬 𝐑𝐞𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭 And once you’ve chosen each other and made things official? Taly pulls together a relationship dynamics profile – highlighting your partnership’s strengths, potential friction points, and insights to help you work better together. Think of it as a blueprint for a smoother working relationship! 📊🧩 When I went through this process with Veronica Munro, we got to see exactly where our personalities diverge. You can probably guess which line represents me (I’m a lot 🤪), while Veronica is the calm, considered one. Knowing this from day one is helping us actively understand each other from day 1 and work towards building a safe space to play to each other’s strengths without stepping on toes. 𝐂𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚 𝐜𝐨𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮? Reach out, and we’d love to help you kickstart this journey!

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Many Aussie/Kiwi founders eventually face the decision of: what market should I go to next? Often, the answer they land on is the US. The key decision points then become: 1) when should I enter the US? 2) how should I break in? I spent the last 2 weeks with US VCs in San Francisco and New York, exploring those two questions and understanding what they've seen work and what they've seen fail. If you're in the early stages of building a venture scale business, I wrote the below as a simplified guide for thinking through those two decision points: https://lnkd.in/gY2JzByV

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Great result by the Kiwi SaaS community In 2023 New Zealand’s Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) sector earned $3.6b in revenue. It has been growing revenue by a 15 percent compound annual growth rate (CAGR) since 2016, and at this rate it is on track to earn $9.7b by 2030.  By 2030 the report estimates that SaaS export-led added value will be growing faster and contributing more nominal GDP ($4.5b) than New Zealand’s top three primary sector industries (horticulture, dairy product manufacturing and meat product manufacturing).  Since 2016 SaaS exports have been growing at an inflation adjusted rate of 8.7 percent.  This is two and a half times higher than the inflation adjusted CAGR of 3.4 percent that New Zealand’s overall export economy has recorded in the past two decades.  Bruce Jarvis, Head of kiwiSaaS, says that the SaaS sector remains an ‘invisible giant.’  “How much the SaaS sector contributes to our economic wealth today, and could do in the future, is only just becoming visible,” says Jarvis. 

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ok that all got a bit silly i've been messing with earlystage.au for the last few weeks along with some actually smart people the point of it is that each of us has a bunch of high-quality tech people we know who love early-stage companies, and who aren't looking right now... but also aren't _not_ looking, if you know what i mean! so we got them onto the platform then sent it to a couple of founders we were talking to apparently those founders sent it to some others - things moved a bit faster than expected there seems to be appetite for this, there are always high-quality early-stage founders looking for high-quality tech co-founders or ctos or tech people to make things happen, especially in the current market where it's the best conditions to start something since about 2012 and it's not easy for recruiters to fill that gap, because the roles are often weighted towards equity so what do they even charge so it feels like a huge service to the whole ecosystem in aus+nz if we can fix that matching problem a bit completely non-commercial, just a thing that's easy enough for us to do and if some founders benefit then we're happy so: - if you're a founder looking for a great tech person feel free to put your details in - stage (up to series a) doesn't matter, but we do vet to see if we think there's a chance of success here, we're not recruiters so we can be opinionated - if you're a tech person who gets excited by early-stage, also feel free to put your details in - again though, we vet people, so no guarantees that you'll go on the list, but we'll try to give you feedback and of course let me know if you have any feedback https://earlystage.au/ edit: so this is really aimed currently at developers/engineers/techies, but we're seeing a bunch of less technical people come through - that's cool, but the survey will be not completely useful for you right now - feel free to put your details in but it might be a slow burn, sorry

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The co-founder and CEO from one of Australia's leading VC firm told me last year "𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂'𝘃𝗲 𝗹𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝗶𝗻 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗳𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲, 𝘆𝗼𝘂'𝘃𝗲 𝗺𝗮𝗱𝗲 𝘂𝗽 𝗶𝗻 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗲𝘁𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲." The CEO is Rohan W. and the VC is Skalata. Since then I've thought about the relationship between confidence and competence. Both are vital. And can't afford to lose either. How to increase both Confidence and Competence: 𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗱 𝘄𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗹𝘆 Read biographies, history, philosophy, economics. Get a base level of how the world works. You'll never gain enough experience on your own. Books allow you to live a thousands lives in one. Learn from others. *Avoid books with the "F" word in the title and bright covers. 𝗦𝘁𝘂𝗺𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘄𝗮𝘆 Your first pitch will be lousy. Your first draft will be rubbish. Your first of anything will be well below your standard. Stumble your way through things. Review your learnings and refine your process. Get a little better each time. 𝗥𝗲𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘄𝗲𝗲𝗸 Write yourself a weekly update. I have a folder with over 120 weekly updates that touch on all things sales, marketing, product, finances, operations, triumphs and tragedies. I share these with our investors and co-founder. When re-reading these you'll look back and realise how far you've come. 80/20 𝗥𝘂𝗹𝗲 Use the 80/20 principle when approaching new skills. All skills can be boiled down to fundamentals. What are the top 20% of the fundamentals you need to master to develop 80% off the skills. Focus on and nail those few things. 𝗗𝗼𝗻'𝘁 𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗶𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀 Keep things simple, the more complicated you make things the messier they will become. Nietzsche said: they muddy the water to make it seem deep. Focusing on the 80/20 principle helps with this. 𝗥𝗲𝗾𝘂𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗳𝗲𝗲𝗱𝗯𝗮𝗰𝗸 Find someone who's been-there-done-that. Your "Plus" (from my post last week) who can walk you through the darkness. More importantly they can highlight what you're doing well and where you need to improve. This will solidify your confidence and increase your competence. 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗰𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 Each new skill increases your competence. The feeling of knowing how to do something fuels confidence. These two stack upon each other. Keep the momentum. - If you found this helpful, give it a reshare and follow me for more startup, entrepreneurship, and founder advice.

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Mark "Z" Zmarzly 🦄 substack brings all the startups to his yard. And the startups are like, it's better than yours. And Mark's like "Damn right it's better than yours ... I can teach you, but I have to charge." Good thing he's got access to plenty Amazon Web Services (AWS) credits. See you in Melbourne at Intersekt next Wednesday and the AWS Financial Services Symposium in Sydney on Thursday. #AWSStartups #CloudInnovation #StartupEcosystem #AWSActivate #ScalableSolutions #TechForStartups #CloudForStartups #AWSGrowth #BuildOnAWS #StartupSuccess #AWSPartners #CloudFirst #FounderSupport #StartupJourney #TechInnovation #AWSCloud #ScaleWithAWS #StartupResources #AWSFunding #EntrepreneurSupport #AWSStartupsAccelerator

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I was invited behind the scenes of the most impressive live webinar event I’ve ever seen. When you think 'webinar,' you probably imagine a dry, repetitive Zoom session. Now picture that concept supercharged by one of the sharpest marketers around. Nathan Latka has invested $175 million across 415 software companies with Founderpath, gained 11 million podcast downloads, wrote a Wall Street Journal bestseller, and created a magazine with 10,000 readers—all in B2B software. He doesn’t do anything halfway. Even big names like Alex Hormozi use similar live-event studios, but Nathan’s setup is on another level. Here’s how he makes these events unforgettable and profitable: 1- Nathan creates a “backyard BBQ” feel, calling on attendees by name, encouraging them to unmute, and turning the event into an interactive, community-driven experience. 2- He insists that everyone keeps their camera on, even threatening to kick out those who don’t. 3- Nathan wears the same all-black outfit for every event. This allows him to film multiple clips across sessions without them looking like they were shot on different days. 4- The studio itself costs $3-4k per hour, but he presells the session deck to cover these costs—turning a major expense into profit before the event even begins. 5- Nathan doesn’t rely on a rigid script; he polls attendees on their revenue stages and tailors the content live, creating a personalized experience. 6- He uses SMS and email countdowns to drive urgency, making attendees feel like they need to act quickly to secure session materials. 7- With a simple edit to the event title, he triggers extra email notifications to attendees, reminding them to join and maximizing attendance. 8- For real-time monetization, Nathan gives select attendees a chance to pitch their business live, bringing in up to $10,000 in ad revenue in just one-minute slots. 9- Every attendee gets a free physical copy of Latka Magazine, shipped directly to their home. The link to claim it is live for only three minutes, and capturing home addresses means Nathan’s brand ends up on customer’s coffee tables. 10- To create social proof, Nathan pretends he can't see the Zoom count and guesses a lower number. Attendees then jump in to correct him with the real count which was close to 500 attendees. Which tactic will you use for your next live event? Can't wait to implement these at the next Creator Match 🧩 event 👀 *** 🔔 If you found this helpful, you would love my other content - be sure to follow me AJ Eckstein 🧩

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Sydney Founders & Investors: Tired of the typical, stuffy networking events where connections feel forced and conversations go nowhere? Bars and pitch events are loud and forced, making networking feel shallow and transactional. Founders and investors deserve authentic connections. So we're trying something different... Join us for the first ever Founders Walks in Sydney on Thursday, 14 November at 12 pm! This isn’t your usual meetup – we’ll spend an hour strolling, exploring the urban landscape, networking as we walk, and then finish with coffee and a bite to eat. The Old Way 🍸 Loud bars and noisy venues 📢 Forced, uncomfortable conversations 💼 Shallow, transactional networking The New Way 🌳 Relaxed, open-air walks 💬 No pressure, natural conversations 🤝 Real, meaningful connections Are you in Sydney tomorrow and want to meet investors and fellow founders in a natural way that helps you get fit (but not overly sweaty)? When: Thu, 14 Nov, 12pm - 1:30pm AEDT Where: Starting at Circular Quay Note: We're limiting this to 10 spots only. Comment "WALK" for an invite, and let’s take networking outside! Feel free to tag any friends, colleagues, or associates that might want to join us. Btw, if you can't make it today but want to be notified of our next event, comment "WAITLIST", and I'll add you to the waitlist.

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Social Engineering ROBODEBT2.0 Australia's #NDIS Gets a Government App With Blockchain But No Ethics from the what-could-possibly-go-wrong dept. Good news, disabled Australians! You'll be getting an app that will implement a welfare #compliance regime designed by the people who brought you robo-debt. But don't worry, it'll have blockchain. No, this isn't good news at all. What makes it worse is that it's clear the #government wants to extend technology-driven compliance to all Australians, with an emphasis on cracking down on your mistakes, not theirs. Kathryn Campbell, ex Secretary of the Department of #Social Services, says the long-term plan is to have one app for all Commonwealth government services. "One to rule the world," she said, apparently oblivious to how evil that sounds. Senators are already worried that the disability app, intended to be used by participants in the #NDIS to claim expenses against their support plan, will go the way of COVIDSafe: Millions of dollars spent on #technology that doesn't really do the job. The intention was to fix a poor web experience, & allow claims to be made from a mobile device. But instead of simply creating a better website, in 2018, the Digital Transformation Agency (DTA) joined forces with CSIRO's Data61 and the Commonwealth Bank to trial blockchain-based smart money that would magically know whether the expense was legitimate or not. According to the ex CEO of the NDIA, Martin Hoffman, that pilot app has been "very popular and well-received," and the feedback has been "extremely positive." The app will be "fully available in the coming months, first on Google Play and then Apple's app store," he said. "Given the horrendously complex NDIS environment, defective processes and vulnerable people, there needs to be considerable caution in the application of blockchain technology," wrote former NDIS Technology Authority chief Marie J. in a submission to the Parliamentary Joint Standing Committee on the NDIS. "Blockchain in itself -- as with other technology innovations -- does not address fundamental design & human rights issues. Ethics is paramount. The involvement of the #Commonwealth Bank itself raises further ethics issues, given the value of participant data; the size of the market; and the yet to be realized emarket honey pot of data, funds and services." You can view the detailed "Making Money Smart: Empowering NDIS participants with Blockchain technologies" https://lnkd.in/gV9VWK64

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DDD Melbourne's agenda voting opens on November 8. Anyone can take part in the voting process (though your vote counts for more if you're a ticket holder!) How does it work? Read on to find out! #DDDMelb #agenda #voting #techcommunity

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Unhappy with your digital agency or development team? Learn why they're not delivering results 👇 Over 60% of Australian businesses are dissatisfied with their web design and development agencies. The root of the problem is usually lies in misaligned goals and poor execution. This leads to stagnant digital platforms, frustration, and missed opportunities. Want to know more about why this happens and how to fix it? Click the link: https://lnkd.in/gsGfMwMD

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AI guardrails are important. However. For any that are unsure about this - please read Superintelligence by Nick Bostram. But at the same time, we, a very hardworking nation, need to be at the forefront of AI; focused on building more jobs in the space and protecting Australians from even further uncertainty. The safe and responsible development and deployment of AI is good to see, but the government appears to still largely be focused almost exclusively on building guardrails rather than also enabling innovation.

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The Creative Co-Operative* spotted in TechCrunch! Through our 2022 report led by Dr Sana Ashraf*, the State of the Startup Ecosystem for Bla(c)k and Women of Colour Founders in Australia, we released the continent's first intersectional datapoint around financial inequality experienced by early stage First Nations, Black and Women of Colour founders. The funding discrepancy was 0.03% (link to Executive Summary in comments below). Since then we’ve seen the ecosystem start taking steps to do something about it - its a start. We look forward to the Workplace Gender Equality Agency collecting and reporting on the intersectional pay gap. Making this start is long overdue but it’s better late than never. #intersectionalpaygap #blackwomen #womenofcolour #startups *PS The Creative Co-Operative has been referred to as a consulting services agency as I assume the journalist referenced our old website. Unfortunately it is out of date as of 2021! We only consult on very specific projects, our focus is on building Maya Cares and programs such as the Anyone Can Community Startup Program to create mental health and economic access, equity and justice for the communities we serve. ** Dr Sana and I are not related, we just happen to share the same surname 🙂

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Day #2: The Importance of User Experience (UX) in Mobile App Development User Experience (UX) is a cornerstone of mobile app success. A well-designed UX ensures your app is intuitive, engaging, and meets user needs effectively, leading to higher satisfaction and retention rates. Here’s why UX is critical in mobile app development: 1. Enhances Usability • UX design focuses on simplicity and ease of use, making it easy for users to navigate and complete tasks without frustration. 2. Boosts User Retention • Apps with seamless UX encourage users to return, reducing churn rates and building loyalty. 3. Increases Engagement • Thoughtful UX design encourages interaction, helping users stay engaged with your app’s features and services. 4. Improves Accessibility • A great UX considers diverse user needs, including accessibility features for those with disabilities, ensuring inclusivity. 5. Drives Conversions • Apps with optimized UX lead users smoothly through conversion funnels, whether it’s making a purchase, subscribing, or completing a form. Key Elements of Exceptional UX in Mobile Apps • Consistency: Maintain uniform design elements throughout the app. • Speed: Ensure fast loading times and smooth transitions. • Feedback: Provide clear feedback for user actions (e.g., button clicks, form submissions). • Personalization: Offer tailored experiences based on user preferences. Investing in UX is not just a design choice—it’s a strategic move that directly impacts your app’s success and profitability. Make user experience a priority in every phase of development! Connect with our UX specialist to fulfill your requirements. Reach out to us at +91 8448552528 or email us at [email protected]. Visit our website: https://nzsoftech.com #MobileAppDevelopment #UserExperience #UXDesign #AppSuccess #AppDevelopmentTips #MobileUX #UserRetention #AppEngagement #UXMatters #InclusiveDesign

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