Kirsti Grant

Some more great coverage off the back of the #GlobalSearchAwards win, this is in New Zealand from the Fairfax Media, The Southland Times & #ThePress Stuff, telling the story of Ben McIntyre's journey, teaming up with Dan Sim and taking the world by storm with Kia Ora Digital. One helluva story - congrats Ben, Dan, and the whole team. It's a privilege being part of this SEO 2.0 movement, where it's all about generating revenue from organic search for our eCommerce and SaaS clients worldwide. #EveryConversationIsGold #BuildingAnOrganicRevenueRocketShip #WaitUntilTheTechnologyIsReleasedForKeywordRevenueAnalysis

7

2 Comments

At the Launch Vic Awards Nights, there was a lot of talk about the VC’s in our ecosystem, and quite a bit of mention of Angel Syndicates, but no mention of Venture Studios. In fact when people ask me what I do, I often have to explain what a Venture Studio is. So let me make the Venture Studio pitch. Firstly, what is a Venture Studio? Venture Studios give life to startups in two main ways. 1. Ideas are incubated and validated within the Venture Studio, once validated, the team finds the external resources/ people needed to bring the idea to life. 2. External founders brings ideas to Venture Studios, in which the Venture Studio provides services and resources to the founder in exchange for equity. So who is a Venture Studio good for? High Quality Founders, with scalable ideas: The success of a Venture Studio relies on the success of the startups they work with so naturally Venture Studios are looking for the highest quality founders / startups. Early stage founders who are missing a technical partner: During the early days of your startup, if you don’t have a technical partner, you generally require investment or you need to take significant financial risk to fund your MVP build. While most investors won’t want to invest until you have a functional MVP, this is the exact stage many Venture Studio’s like to play in. Why choose a Venture Studio over a development agency? Your developers will have skin in the game The app development process often goes wrong, because building apps is hard. If things go wrong, it’s easy for relationships to sour, and shortcuts to be made. Since Venture Studio’s success is so heavily tied into the success of their startups, by choosing a Venture Studio you have the peace of mind that your developers are so heavily incentivised to deliver an awesome product. Support beyond development Again because the success of the Venture Studios are so heavily tied to the success of the startup, it’s in the our best interest to ensure you are supported beyond your product build. So when it comes to GTM, capital raising and beyond, we aim to provide support and introductions where we. De-risk your financial position So this is the obvious benefit, get to launch without paying or paying a lot less. All of this is not to say, VC’s, Angel’s, Dev Shops all don’t play an important role in this ecosystem, I just feel the Venture Studio voice needs to be heard a bit louder.

22

2 Comments

How much does a company waste on duplicated / unused technology? According to a report* NZ businesses are wasting $334M / year technology they don't use. For small business for $900 of spend, $600 of that was going to waste and when you scale.... phew.... it's not pretty! And while a 2022 report, I don't think this has got better. At STATE3 we see this a lot. A proliferation of similar technology all doing a similar job or technology subscriptions which were brought and used once if at all... why have one SaaS subscription / portal / CRM / app when you can have 6 that do the same thing and that are possibly never used! The reasons are pretty straight forward: Poor Processes IT Investment - The business goes off roading and buys something on a credit card without due diligence or engaging with the digital / technology team first. Shadow IT - total frustration with the processes in-house so someone gets a bright idea and buys something.... Mergers & Acquisitions - a company acquires another and they keep everything separate and ta dah! There will be others. In hard economic times, the belts get tightened so it makes perfect sense to aim for where the bloat is... in the spend that is duplicated or not used. And this means taking some steps, such as.... * Figure out what you have (Technology / capabilities audit) * Find out if its actually being used (surveying usage (if possible) * Standardise Technology Offerings via a menu of options * Move to a 'user pays' model * Undertake the very unsexy approach of strengthening technology Governance by making people accountable and responsible. We can help with this by showing you what you have, how integrated it is with the rest of your stack and what the TCO is. When you know what you have, you can optimise decision making and ditch the risk. #digitaltransformation #businessstrategy #success #state3enterprise * Report: https://lnkd.in/gRxU_7mC

29

10 Comments

Each month I find (and share) more and more fully-remote roles across Australia and New Zealand. While there's a lot of engineering roles, I'm also seeing sales, marketing, operations, legal, and finance roles too. Check out the numbers for May! - 460 newly advertised fully remote roles - Remote, Atlassian & Microsoft are hiring the most roles in the region - Some standout home-grown teams are hiring fully-remote including Ignition, Buildkite & Budgetly #RemoteJobsANZ #RemoteWorkInsightsANZ

28

11 Comments

With over 110 companies including the likes of Canva, Linktree, Employment Hero, Zoomo, Athena & many more, in their fast-growing portfolio, having helped over 250 founders create more than 17000 jobs, Airtree as the one of the most iconic Venture Capital firms in Australia & New Zealand doesn't need an introduction. I am super excited to have joined forces with Airtree as an Angel through their Airtree Explorer initiative for Angels across ANZ. Having just relocated to Australia from Southeast Asia last year, as a part of this initiative, not only do I intend to pick up the nuances of angel investing in Australia but more importantly I am so looking forward to meeting the like-minded individuals, investors, and founders building the next generation of tech companies out of Australia. If you're a founder based in Australia, working on a game-changing idea, please do feel free to reach out for a chat. And, if you're a startup that is already getting good traction & therefore intends to scale within Australia and to larger markets like India, Southeast Asia, USA, I will be happy to share my experience and help with introductions within our network. Also open to helping Aussie founders with their tech & product development, marketing, revenue growth initiatives for the ventures across B2B Tech, AI, Cyber Security, Robotics & Automation, Sustainability, Decarbonisation & Energy Transition, Manufacturing, Carbon Accounting, etc, areas that may have synergies with any of our group companies. If you're building in Australia with a mindset of Global from Day 1, and would like to bounce of ideas, or request an introduction to the Airtree team or any of the fellow angels, I will be open to helping if it is something that aligns with the fund thesis at Airtree. Until then, let's keep the hustle on... 🚀

143

50 Comments

Monetisation strategies for founders... that's what Square Peg and Airwallex will be tackling over an exclusive roundtable breakfast on July 3 in Melbourne. Despite the potential benefits of embedded finance to a SaaS or marketplace founder, a number of barriers to action - including education - still exist. That's why we have Airwallex's Global SVP of Product, Shannon Scott, and Square Peg's Principal Investor, Lucy Tan, joining forces to discuss the most effective financial model for scalable growth. Here are some of the questions that will be covered: 🏁 In today's competitive environment, speed to market is everything.... how can founders leverage embedded finance in their product roadmap? 🎓 Scalable growth is dependent on graduating from SaaS to monetised transactions, true or false? Why? 🔮 ​Jack Zhang, co-founder and CEO of Airwallex, often says: “every successful startup will become a FinTech” - what does that mean? Do you agree? 📈 Square Peg has a history of backing payments founders early in their journey... what makes this space so interesting to a VC? Has that interest shifted with changing market dynamics? Spaces are strictly limited. #startup #startupaus #community #vc

70

5 Comments

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

10

MORE SOFTWARE SUCCESS 7 years old and InvestorHub is already worth $34 million. Congrats then to ▲ Ben Williamson and Rhys Davis on their latest step forward. Shout out too to Ashley Baxter, founder of Monty Compost Co, another tech firm leaning heavily on both hardware and software. Can you see the elephant yet? Software is where it's at and just about every rapidly growing business is making it. We must start to acknowledge this at the most senior of levels. Our future quite literally depends on it! #MrSaaSSays - Bang, bang, bang goes my head against the wall https://lnkd.in/dvWWvKxX

2

Hey LinkedIn Family! I just read an insightful article from The Guardian about the incredible journey of Torello Farm Gate Store in Victoria, and I couldn’t help but feel inspired! 🌟 As someone passionate about community-driven initiatives and sustainable food practices, I wanted to share a few key takeaways that resonate not just with local producers but also with our mission at uForage. 🥰 Community Connection is Key: Torello Farm has cultivated a strong bond with its community by offering fresh, locally sourced produce straight from the farm. This dynamic fosters a sense of trust and support among consumers, much like what we aim to achieve at uForage. By connecting local growers directly with consumers, we’re reimagining how we access food! 👨‍🌾 Supporting Local Producers: The article emphasises the importance of investing in local food systems. At uForage, we’re all about championing local producers—from farmers to artisanal makers. Every time you share or swap food through our platform, you’re supporting those who pour their passion into their craft. 🌻 Sustainability is a Shared Responsibility: Torello’s commitment to sustainability serves as a reminder of how every action counts. By reducing food waste, supporting local agriculture, and embracing eco-friendly practices, we can all play a part in nurturing our environment. At uForage, we encourage users to think sustainably, making it easy to give surplus food a second chance. 🤝 Creating Accessible Food Sources: The article highlights the need for accessible food options for everyone. Through uForage, we’re working to ensure that every community member can access locally grown, healthy food without barriers. Let’s level the playing field and make sure that fresh produce is within everyone’s reach! 🍏 Empowering Consumers: Finally, the story of Torello Farm Gate Store reflects a shift towards empowerment—empowering both producers and consumers. By using uForage, you tap into a movement that not only enriches your own food choices but also uplifts your community. Together, we can redefine what it means to eat locally and sustainably. Torello Farm Gate Store is a perfect example of how we can nurture our local food cultures and support one another. Let’s continue to champion these values at uForage, making our communities stronger and more resilient, one food swap at a time! 💚✨ What are your thoughts on supporting local food systems? I’d love to hear from you below! #Sustainability #LocalFood #CommunitySupport #uForage #FoodSecurity #FarmGate https://lnkd.in/gYS37xEx

8

2 Comments

🌿 Final Day to Join X-Hemp's Mission: Capturing Carbon & Building a Better Future 🌿 Over $700k raised so far in an absolutely incredible performance by Andi Lucas and her passionate community! X-Hemp Pty Ltd's CSF campaign on Birchal closes TONIGHT! Don’t miss your chance to invest in a truly transformative business at the forefront of eco-friendly building materials. X-Hemp is Tasmania’s ONLY hemp fibre processing mill and one of only five in Australia. With strong first-mover advantage, they’ve already tripled the number of hempcrete homes built in Tassie, proving the demand for fire-and-flood-resistant, carbon-neutral building materials. Founded and operated by the trailblazing Andi Lucas, X-Hemp isn’t just building homes; they’re building a movement. Their innovative products like hempcrete, HempWood®, and HempWool® are tackling climate change from both sides of the construction supply chain. With contracts in hand, MOUs with U.S. partners, and a warehouse full of raw materials ready to convert into retail and B2B goods, they’re perfectly positioned for rapid growth. This is your last chance to be part of X-Hemp’s mission to replace traditional building materials with plant-based alternatives, while locking carbon into homes and delivering long-term environmental benefits. Invest now to help them scale their production, diversify their product range, and continue disrupting the building industry. Always consider the offer document and general CSF risk warning before investing. #EquityCrowdfunding #Innovation #Sustainability #Hempcrete #ClimateAction #FemaleFounders #CarbonNeutral #Startups #EcoFriendlyBuilding 🌏

11

5 Comments

ICYMI - here's the very first video edition of This Week in Australian Startups, Issue 96 Link to the full newsletter in the comments below

27

2 Comments

12 deals before Christmas! A massive few weeks ahead here at Birchal And female founders getting it done. Congrats to Jay Curtin and the team at Got Bakey for closing their $180k raise last week. And thrilled to see Andi Lucas founder of X-Hemp Pty Ltd in The Australian over the weekend. Closing in on $500k raised, doing an amazing job! Other things that piqued our interest this week: IPO market thawing according to Simon Evans at The Australian Financial Review. Klarna announces its plans to list in NY and not London. Australian Business Growth Fund (ABGF) commissioned report released last week identifies $38b equity funding gap holding back growth businesses and Australian productivity. Lots happening over the next few weeks, check it out in the comments. #equitycrowdfunding #csf #investment #startups #australia #founders

45

2 Comments

Bootstrapping is great but it can be hard to think BIG Whilst Matthew Sarre and I love the freedom of not being beholden to investors with Jumpstart we often fall into a trap of making incremental rather than step changes. With impetus from our incredible team, we have forced ourselves to think bigger this year in 2 phases: 1️⃣ Making our core product more scalable, which we have done through the platform Hugo Hazard has built 💻 ! 2️⃣ Using this platform to build a new stream for junior software engineers in the most scalable way possible 📈 Speaking to many senior Devs and CTOs (literally just talking to Max Huckerby at innerworks.me this AM!), finding good software talent is one of the biggest problems early stage startups face. Launching this stream deserved something big... SO we’ve teamed up with AutogenAI to give talented engineers an insider's look at the challenges London's leading CTOs are solving. Join us on 27th Nov for: 📽 Demos from 3 top CTOS at some of London’s most exciting startups 📲 An opp post event to connect with CTOs + apply directly to roles you’re interested in 🍻Chatting with a bunch of impressive devs & founders (fuelled by beers + pizza) See the pic below for a flavour of what Jumpstart events look like! Tickets are free but spaces are limited. Link in comments to reserve your spot 👇 #Startups #Jumpstart #Softwareengineers

42

6 Comments

It’s a huge day for the Grw AI team - we just raised our record NZ $2.4 million pre-seed (which apparently is the largest in NZ’s history 🚀 ). We're solving a critical challenge: scaling world-class 1:1 performance coaching for sales teams, empowering every organization to drive exceptional results. A big thank you to our amazing investors who are backing this vision. The round was led by Charles Hudson at Precursor Ventures in San Francisco, with participation from Incisive Ventures in Seattle (led by serial entrepreneur Martin Tobias), and Investible in Australia (Jayden Basha and Nicholas Oi). We also have support from an incredible group of US-based angel investors including: ⚬ Lauren Vaccarello - CMO at WEKA, former CMO at Salesloft and Talend ⚬ David Brock - Founder & CEO of Partners In EXCELLENCE ⚬ Shari Levitin - Founder & CEO of Shari Levitin Group ⚬ Woodson Martin - Former EVP of Salesforce AppExchange ⚬ David Schellhase - Former General Counsel at Salesforce, Slack, Groupon ⚬ Colin Wiel - Co-founded multiple unicorns, including Invitation Homes ⚬ Peter Kazanjy - Founder of Atrium and Modern Sales Pros ⚬ Scott Persinger - Founder of Supercog AI, founder CloudConnect, ex Stripe ⚬ Brian Bar - CEO & Founder of Victory Lap ⚬ Aaron Smith - Founder of Morphability Pty Ltd, ex sales leader, Sydney based ⚬ Michael Kelly - CRO of Wherewolf , one of Grw AI's customers We started Grw AI because we're passionate about coaching and the impact it can have on career and life outcomes - Alistair, Dan and I have all been fortunate to have been on the receiving end of incredible coaching throughout our careers - and we’re excited to scale impactful coaching out to millions of salespeople. We launched in April this year and have over 20+ companies in the US and ANZ seeing uplifts in sales performance from Grw AI (as high as 400% month-on-month). Our customers range from growth companies like Relab and Staffing Engine all the way up to large public companies in the US. This fundraise will enable us to set up an HQ in San Francisco, and to expand our engineering team in New Zealand. Here is the link to the full raise announcement: https://lnkd.in/gXNNggV2 Finally, a huge shoutout to those who have supported us on our journey so far. From our incredible advisors - David Brock, Lauren Vaccarello, 🇦🇺 Manik Surtani, 🏄‍♂️ Scott Leese, Shari Levitin, Scott Freeman and Linda Jenkinson, to our very first customers Glen Jones, Matt Dichter and of course to all of our other customers driving sales performance with Grw AI today. We owe a heartfelt thanks to all of you who have supported us on this journey - far too many to name here, but each and every contribution is deeply appreciated 🙏 We are so excited for what's next on our journey together! This is only the beginning.

540

302 Comments

Day 286: Meet James Matheson from Stripe 🚀 I had the pleasure of connecting with James Matheson from Stripe today. What many might not know is that James is not just a key player in the Aussie Stripe team—he's also a former Winter Olympian in Freestyle Skiing! 🏔️⛷️ While Stripe is a US-based company, James and his Australian team, operating from Sydney & Melbourne, work closely with fast-scaling startups. Stripe’s focus? Helping Aussie businesses thrive by increasing revenue and streamlining payments. 💰 Here’s what you may not know about Stripe/payment gateways: - Not just online: Many retail and hospitality stores use Stripe as a local payment gateway 🏬🍽️ - Beyond payments: Stripe helps with billing, managing subscriptions, and memberships 💳 - Enhanced customer journey: Use Stripe as a backend payment gateway to level up your customer experience 🚀 #Stripe #BusinessGrowth #OlympianMindset #ScalingWithStripe #CROFTI #Day286of366

7

1 Comment

The more I connect with like-minded leaders, the more I see the power of impact-driven business. It’s why I love what I do and the incredible clients we work with daily. One standout story is our recent work with RUNN SOFTWARE a New Zealand-based #BCorp. They found us through the BCorp directory, seeking a partner who shares their ethical values. Their thoughtful selection and interview process ensured their values were upheld throughout. We placed our first candidate with them, and they were so thrilled that they’ve already entrusted us with another role. We also collaborate with clients like Ranger Power (renewable energy), and Regenified™ (regenerative agriculture), and Ritual Zero Proof (non alcoholic spirits). These companies are dedicated to making a positive impact, and it's been a privilege to support their missions by finding the right talent. We’re proud to partner with companies that see the bigger picture and strive to make a meaningful impact. Thoughtful recruitment and a focus on values create a more engaged and effective workforce. P.S. Do you know a company that prioritizes values and impact? Give them a shoutout in the comments! #PurposeDriven #BusinessImpact #CreativeAlignments #Recruitment #Leadership

39

2 Comments

I went from 500 connections >> 4000 in the space of 9 months. My business grew from an idea to >> profitable business in under 12 months year generating 6 figures. Empathix has never paid for marketing. We are 100% organic growth and a lot of that has to do with LinkedIn. It is a powertool for SEO, personal brand and voice. The person who introduced me to this magic? Keri Little and Stuart Little The market is tough, you want to change your life? or just hear about how powerful LinkedIn can be for you, your company, your brand or want to find a role? Go along to this event powered by Accordant NZ 👏 - I'll be there talking (not on a stage, just in conversation with you all) all things recruitment tech and linkedin for anyone who's interested - tickets below, then if you are coming, dm me so we can hang :) https://lnkd.in/gq5vBhtS #recruitment #linkedinlocal #personalbrand #company #talentacquisition

26

8 Comments

Little did I know I was coming down with something, and so all the warm, reassuring things I meant to say at the start of my talk about if I, as an arts and communications grad, a former maths-despiser, and UX-type, could get my head around commercial concepts, then so can you… Well, that part just fell out of my head. What’s left are some (I think) pretty useful tools and concepts for product people who want to try to lift their financial awareness. Don’t let perfectionism get in your way! #productmanagement #value #viability

44

17 Comments