The Pulse Australia » Mat Beeche

Build a business, not an app

Mat Beeche — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 22:31:41 +0000

Angry Birds – one of the pioneering games that sparked the app craze

It seems people are just putting the word “preneur” on the back of anything these days, aren’t they? We’re seeing entrepreneur morphed into Mumpreneur (now in the dictionary), Wantrepreneur (someone that desires to be an entrepreneur), Kidpreneur (little crazy-smart kids building businesses), Foodpreneur (oh gawd!), Propertypreneur (someone please punch me in the face).

Now every second minute someone is introducing themselves to me as an Appreneur (an entrepreneur that is building an app, unless they are Mums as well).

No matter what title you want to bestow upon yourself, the app phenomenon has well and truly hit the shores of Australia.

The fact that a lot of people are making apps is not what concerns me. Apps are great and this trend will likely stay for some time. You just have to look at the resources Google is putting into mobile technologies to know that there is going to be lots of money to be made through smartphone applications.

A business needs to make money

Some people are creating cool apps, but not building businesses. That, my friends, is a problem. An app is not a business if it is not making any money.

We all have the dream—the dream created by those delicious headlines that inform us of how “Sally Mac built an app, and CNN just bought it for a bazillion dollars.”

This is the entrepreneur’s version of the lotto; everyone has a fair chance, but only a few are ever going to get the out-of-this-world offers.

Those offers will only come if you have built a proper business. One that addresses a need, fixes a problem, and makes your customers’ life easier or more fun. Your business should also be well run, is cost effective with proper plans and innovation in place. Any company that is considering to acquire your business will always look at your balance sheet.

All of those things come from a lot of trial and error, huge workloads and sacrifices from you. More importantly, it needs time. Rome wasn’t built in a day.

The app business is just like any other business. It may be the current trend now, but it still needs to be built on strong fundamentals. Rovio, the creator of household name ‘Angry Birds’, only hit it big in 2009 – 6 years after the company was founded.

Set out to build a business, not an app. You may not monetise things immediately, but you need to at least have a plan in place to do so. Trust me, I learnt that lesson the hard way.

What do you think?

Start-Up Events: Web Direction South Conference introduces the all-new Startup Track.

Mat Beeche — Mon, 17 Sep 2012 00:42:23 +0000

October 16-19

This annual conference has been growing larger and larger over the past three years, and, with the addition of their new Startup Track featuring some of the best social and tech minds in the Australian Landscape, I am predicting that Web Directions South is going to have its largest event in Australia ever.

Here is the line up of speakers on topics around the Startup Scene for the conference:

Derek Powazek will present on The Personal Side of Starting Up.
Asher Moses will be interviewing Mike Cannon Brookes & Leni Mayo.
Rebekah Campbell and Ben Duncan will have a discussion on seeking funding versus bootstrapping your startup.
Alan Duncan, Shane Weddell, Russell Ivanovic & Cameron Craig will present on different business models.
Avis Mulhall will talk on Passion and purpose.
Kate Kendall from the Fetch will lead a panel discussion with Chris Lloyd, Mick Liubinskas, Peter Bradd & Leni Mayo talking about the Aussie Startup Scene.
There will be a presentation on The Incubator Experience.
Kim Heras, Anson Parker and Marcus Schappi will all present on So, you’ve got an idea.

Overall the speaker line up is pretty awesome, and it looks like it will shape up to be one of the premier annual events for startups on the Sydney Startup scene as we continue to grow stronger as a community.

Tell me other states, cities and towns—anybody organising big expo type events for Startups over your way? I really want to hear about them!

Start-Up Events: Women’s Edition

Mat Beeche — Mon, 03 Sep 2012 02:07:43 +0000

I quite often get women asking me where they should go to meet and hang out with other female startups, especially those in the tech space as there still seems to be (at least in Australia) a majority of males attracted to tech type events.

Sometimes a strong network of women, for women is what is sought after and needed, so I have put together a list of different organisations for the ladies to check out who is doing what so they can search out the organisation which may be holding the best events for them to attend.

Business Chicks

Business Chicks is one of the premium organisations that holds events for women in Australia. With a calibre of speakers such as Sir Richard Branson, Olivia Newton John and Ita Buttrose, it is no wonder that they command such a large (and growing) membership.

www.businesschicks.com.au

Women as Entrepreneurs

A startup themselves, WE is taking the country by storm with their core focus being women in business for themselves. They hold events all around the country and always have great guest speakers from the startup space—women who have been there and done it themselves.

www.womenasentrepreneurs.com.au

League of Extraordinary Women

The League started over a coffee in Melbourne between four of Australia’s up and coming businesswomen. The League has a growing audience of young female entrepreneurs and holds many different events and meetups up and down the east coast, from breakfasts to screenings in cinemas, to Q and As with politicians and celebrities. These ladies offer something for everyone on their startup journey.

http://www.leagueofextraordinarywomen.com.au/

Naked Women’s Business

If you are looking for events that teach Women how to market and sell products to other women, than the Naked Women’s Business seminars might be for you. The setting is a bit more intimate, and they have a no BS approach to their sessions and workshops.

www.facebook.com/naykedwomensbusiness

Any other awesome events you have been attending, ladies? Let us know!

Aussie Start-Up Events: 12.08.12

Mat Beeche — Mon, 13 Aug 2012 01:39:00 +0000

It’s been a whirlwind couple of weeks on the Aussie startup scene. Over 1,700 young entrepreneurs attended the Unconvention in Melbourne to meet, network and hear from some of Australia’s top business minds such as Ruslan Kogan and Dorry Kordahi.

And keeping with the young theme, startup One Can Grow, which aims to educate high school students about how to monetise their passions, finished their 8 week pilot program. The organisation held a Dragon’s Den event at ATP Innovations, where students from three schools in Sydney pitched their business ideas to a panel of investors from Australia. As an audience member, I have to say I was left speechless at the brains, ideas and just general business acumen of this bunch of 15/16 year olds. I have a feeling a lot of us will be working for them in the not-too-distant future.

In this week’s post I have decided to focus on “regular events” that happen around the startup scene. And there are hundreds in all different sectors everyday, so while I will be naming a few, please feel free to comment below and share other startup events that you want to let everyone know about!

Brisbane

Startup Brisbane [Various, Next event Tuesday 28^th August]
Where: River City Labs, Level 2, 282 Wickham Street, Fortitude Valley
They describe themselves as: A combined Silicon Beach Brisbane / Startup Brisbane event that will give startups a chance to hear from the key players in the local startup scene who will outline their offering to startups and explain what part of the ecosystem they play in.
to book: http://www.meetup.com/startupbrisbane/

Sydney
Silicon Beach Drinks [Every Friday]
Where: Fideli’s bar, Grace Hotel 77 York St, Sydney
They Describe themselves as: A group of people who have worked hard all week and want a chance to wind down with some like-minded company. This is an extremely popular event in Sydney, and Melbourne also has the same event. Quite often on the Sydney scene, when interviewing startups for my business, I find that many co-founders have actually met at these events or fleshed out their idea because of conversations they have had with other entrepreneurs. It’s a great place to bounce ideas off over a nice, cold beer.

Melbourne
Melbourne Pitch Club [Various events, various days]
Where: Members get locations of events http://www.meetup.com/pitchclub/
They describe themselves as: This event is organised by Peter Christo, who, among many things in the entrepreneur space, is a mentor and lecturer on Entrepreneurship at RMIT University. There is a charge of $55 to join this group, but that gets you free access to all events and allows you to really refine your pitching skills and gain feedback off some very savvy startup people.

Adelaide
The Startup Club [Various events, various days]
Where: Join the Facebook Group to find out: https://www.facebook.com/thestartupclub
They describe themselves as: A community group of 800+ highly motivated entrepreneurs, technologists, internet marketing consultants and future-thinking professionals. We meet face-to-face once a month to discuss online marketing, small business strategy, creative marketing and general success over dinner and a beer.

Because I operate mainly from the east coast of Australia, if you are one of my West Coast startup brothers or sisters, give me a shout out below and let me know what’s going down in P-Town! We want to let everyone know what you are doing!

What’s On: The Aussie Startup Scene

Mat Beeche — Wed, 01 Aug 2012 05:29:29 +0000

In these bi-weekly articles for MYOB we will be taking a look at the startup space and some of the events taking place around Australia. One of the things we all need to be aware of when it comes to the startup space though, is the MASSIVE amount of formal and informal events taking place almost daily, so each fortnight I will highlight a select few that I think are standouts at the time. However some of the places that all entrepreneurs should be looking at for event information for the startup space are:

Meetup.com
Thefetch.com
Shoestring.com.au
Linkedin.com

Here are some of the upcoming events that are a MUST in the next few weeks.

Melbourne

The Young Entrepreneurs Unconvention
Saturday 4th August from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. at Melbourne Exhibition Centre
Tickets are FREE at www.the-entourage.com.au
The Unconvention is Australia’s largest and most prestigious event for entrepreneurs under 40. Having been run since 2010 The Unconvention has sold out every time it’s occurred. This is your opportunity to rub shoulders with Australia’s best entrepreneurs, while networking with over 500 high-growth business owners. This is also happening in Sydney as well first week of September.

Silicon Beach Drinks
Thursday 2^nd August from 6.00pm at Royal Melbourne Hotel, 629 Bourke Street
Attendance is FREE
Silicon Beach is an informal networking group for anyone interested in the interwebs, technology and the start up space. Events usually occur weekly with around 50-100 people attending each event.

Sydney

The League of Extraordinary Women Breakfast Series

Tuesday 14^th August at Bedlam Bar, Glebe Point Road.
Tickets available at http://leaguebreakfastseriessydney-eorg.eventbrite.com/
They have an amazing guest speaker lined up – Sarah Riegelhuth – who is the Co-Founder of The League and Director of Wealth Enhancers who have offices in Sydney and in Melbourne. This event will be run every six weeks, and its focus is successful female entrepreneurs and business owners. This is a place where they can share stories and journeys.

Sydney Tech Entrepreneurs

Thursday 9^th August from 8.30pm at Fishburners, Level 1, 608 Harris Street
Register here http://www.meetup.com/open-coffee-sydney/
Sydney Tech Startup Meetup (formerly known as Open Coffee Sydney) is based on a similar, successful idea introduced in London, and is about creating a regular, informal meeting place for people involved in, or who want to be involved in, the tech startup industry.

Brisbane

Brisbane Co-Founders Forum
Tuesday 31^st July from 6.30pm
Price is $30.00 per person, and you must be registered to find out location details. http://www.meetup.com/Brisbane-Co-Founders-Forum/events/71615322/
Are you a business founder with a great idea, but need some technical help to develop it further? Co-Founder Speed Dating is designed to introduce you to potential co-founders to fill in those gaps. You don’t even need to have an existing project to participate! After all, it is just as handy to know the right people when an opportunity does arise.

Code Smash
Sunday 5^th August from 10.00am at the Gold Coast Tech Space
Register here http://www.meetup.com/codeSmash/
Any and all developers and programming enthusiasts are welcome to come along to socialise and work with other like-minded people. Developers work together to build a project either pre-defined or of their choice, and will have the opportunity to present their completed (or semi-completed!) project at the end.