Written by Irina Belsky

For some, becoming an entrepreneur is like learning a new language. It’s foreign territory and help is a must.

This is where The Frank Team roll up their sleeves and get to work, providing entrepreneurs with advice and practical skills to help them along the way. The entrepreneur focused education and training company began as a startup ten years ago and like any startup it was born from a need.

“While we were at university someone gave us a brief to do an event and when we started we realised that we had no skills to put an event together,” says Natasha Munasinghe, director of The Frank Team, “That was a bit of a light bulb moment when we realised that when it came to practical skills and life skills, there really wasn’t much training.”

The desire to help others avoid the same pitfalls motivated Natasha and co-founder Jessica Schebesta to continue growing The Frank Team. It is now a fully fledged company with partnerships in the government, public and private sectors.

Natasha spoke to us about her involvement with The Frank Team and about the opportunities offered by the organisation.

Co-Founder Background

While Natasha graduated with a law degree, she realised early on that practicing law wasn’t something she actively wanted to pursue. ”So I tried everything from stakeholder engagement, to marketing, to fundraising. They were all really good jobs but I guess they just weren’t hitting the spot.”

The solution? “In the middle of the GFC I quit my job, put on a backpack and traveled around India, Dubai and Sri Lanka for a couple of months. I guess I just wanted to see what the world was like and have a bit of time to figure out what my next steps were.”

As of 2010 her next step was to take over ownership of The Frank Team from Schebesta who had been running the business. “I’ve always thought of the Frank Team as having the potential to do much more than we were already doing” Natasha explains.

The Frank Team

The potential of The Frank Team lies in its innovative approach to education. A combination of online video tutorials, events and practical skill workshops signals a shift from the traditional classroom method of learning. “We focus on three areas: entrepreneurship, graduate training and staff training for companies” explains Natasha.

1. Entrepreneurship

As well as teaching business and personal skills through online courses and face to face workshops The Frank Team is also involved in entrepreneur community building initiatives such as the Global Entrepreneurship Week and The Young Entrepreneurs Meetup.

“I guess the main aim is to raise the profile and awareness of entrepreneurship in Australia and to create entrepreneurship as a viable career path for people, not just something people try for a few years then give up and go to work.”

As part of their mission to support entrepreneurship in Australia The Frank Team will also be running The 2012 Sydney City Young Entrepreneurs Mentoring Program with the support of the Department of Trade & Investment.

2. Graduate Training

The Frank Team also collaborates with universities to enable graduates to get high quality jobs through skills delivery and mentoring. ”There are a lot of universities now reaching out to the community and wanting to do things differently because the whole field of education is really changing very quickly so universities need to know how to change their business models because if they don’t, they risk losing a lot of students.”

3. Staff Training

Natasha says that one of the reasons companies reach out for training services is to motivate and stimulate their staff, who desire to be more challenged. “We work with companies to get their staff productive, to get them engaged, to teach them about the latest technology trends or social trends.”

Challenges

Growth and people management are on top of the list when it comes to running The Frank Team. “We are really expanding what we do and working with different client bases and really getting the system together to accommodate that has been tough.” And when it comes to staff  ”you have to pick the people who are super committed, really proactive and don’t need to be micromanaged…when you find them you hold on to them because they are gold.”

Founder Advice

Find the right team: While a lot of entrepreneur hopefuls focus on finding the time and money to start their own venture, Natasha says that “the first thing you should do is get a good team together, give it a go and then you can start looking for the cash and the investors.”

Be realistic and take calculated risks: Planning ahead plays a crucial role and can set you up for success instead of failure. “Make sure you aren’t just jumping in without knowing what’s going to happen. Plan (financially) for at least for six months or a year ahead and then decide.”

Get support: Doing it on your own is always tough, so get help. “It’s very daunting when you have an idea and no understanding of how to make it happen. When you have a bit of a pathway and a support system that you create, it makes that journey a lot easier.”

Signing off

While there are many online learning platforms out there, The Frank Team stands out with its entrepreneurial focus and the powerful collaborations it has formed with universities, departments, associations and companies.

“We really want people to know that entrepreneurship is something that can enable people to live very fulfilled lives,” concludes Natasha.

Written by Irina Belsky

While no man is an island, entrepreneurs often find themselves working alone. Separated by a deviant way of thinking, non-standard working hours and a stubborn refusal to integrate into the mainstream, they need an alternative to the corporate workspace.

This is where co-working spaces come in. They provide entrepreneurs, freelancers, sole traders and other free agents with a collaborative work environment where they can dictate their own rules and benefit from the knowledge of other people.

Investon is the new addition to Sydney’s co-working scene. Founded by Paul Page and Steve Grant from 724.com.au, the self serviced office will open its doors this Friday.

IPitch spoke to Paul Page about Investon and the role it intends to play in facilitating business development.

Reasons for creating Investon

According to Page, a major goal of the office is to build a thriving hub where people can exchange skills and ideas, instead of passively sharing a physical working space. “We want to help entrepreneurial people to collaborate, work together and to share ideas” he explains.

In addition to creating Investon the founders also run 724.com.au - a cloud computing services company. They plan to use the same technology to allow entrepreneurs working at Investon to harness the power of cloud computing for their businesses. “We want to insure that the office has seamless cloud computing so that they can operate whether it’s in the office or at home or overseas.”

Facilities and Packages

Investon is located smack in the center of the CBD (70 Pitt Street, level 9) where it takes up the entire floor. While location is one of the selling points of Investon, the founders emphasize that the space contains all the necessary business services including “conference rooms, boardrooms, photocopy, fax and VOIP telephone service facilities” amongst others.

“There are three options when getting a space,” explains Page, “you can have a hot desk where you simply come in on the day, you can have a dedicated work station in an open environment or you can have your own office with however many employees you want.”

As far as costs go:

• A hot desk will cost you $150/week, a dedicated workstation will cost $210/week while a dedicated office will set you back $450/week.

• An additional $70/week will provide you with a business services kit, which includes VOIP telephone services, unlimited internet, telephone calls and photocopying.

• Services such as board room rental, telephone reception services as well as printing and photocopying outside of the business kit package will incur extra costs.

• An example of an Investon package: a dedicated work station plus business services kit plus light reception services will cost a total of $290/week.

Ideal Investon tenants

What does Page envision the tenants of Investon to be? In his words the chosen people will come “from diverse areas - IT, social media, human resources, people who are involved in public speaking. One overriding objective is to have people who work well together collaboratively.”

Page mentions that while there will be a focus on technology, Investon will want to attract a range of people from other disciplines who can contribute their various skill sets to build a collaborative atmosphere in the office.

Applying for tenancy with Investon

Applying to be a tenant is “principally a meet and greet” affair. Interested individuals can make an appointment to come in and see the premises as early as this week. Page says that it’s important for tenants to be comfortable with the location, the environment and the pricing, so viewing the space is vital. “If it’s a good fit we go ahead. If for whatever reason it is not, then we refer them to other places that are maybe more suitable.”

Signing off

Investon will be a good choice for growth stage businesses that find centrality an important factor or businesses which have already secured an initial round of funding, allowing them to cover the associated costs.

Concept and seed stage startups may find the costs slightly more difficult to bear, especially if they have little need for extra business or reception services.

If you would like to set up a meeting with the founders or visit Investon please call (02) 9043 5984 or email sales@investon.com.au

Written by Irina Belsky

Wyngle is waging a war on the traditional group buying sites with its new concept of ratio shopping. The startup has devised a way to let shoppers purchase goods for a mere dollar without taking away profits from retailers.

IPitch chatted to Wyngle founder Sebastian Langton about what Wyngle can offer to businesses and shoppers.

The offering

“The easiest way to describe Wyngle is it’s products, goods and services at the same price you’ll find anywhere else in the market but with the unique opportunity to potentially purchase them for a dollar.” says founder Sebastian Langton.

Each product on the Wyngle website has an attached ratio such as ‘1 in 3 for $1′.  This ratio dictates your chances of purchasing the product for one dollar. If the ratio is 1 in 3 you have a 1 in 3 chances of buying your item for $1. If lady luck’s not on your side you simply commit yourself to paying the regular retail price.

“So if you’re going to buy the product it makes sense to buy it from us because where else can you get the change to get it for next to nothing? Just the other day we sold an ipad for a dollar which I believe is probably as cheap as anybody ever paid for an ipad” comments Langton.

Concept

Wyngle emerged from Langton’s desire to introduce innovation to the world of online retail. “I was working for a company called Catch, selling vertical advertising space and the consensus was that 99 % of all e-commerce platforms were axing their price primarily to get one up on their competitors” says Sebastian. After recognising that sales through discounting were depriving businesses of value, he set out to develop an alternative model in 2009.

The next six months were spent creating the initial concept of ratio shopping and trying to reconcile it with Australian gaming laws. This was made especially difficult because of the innovative nature of Wyngle as well as the tightly controlled nature of the government legislations. “Ultimately we’re not a gambling site”, clarifies Langton, “It’s also very difficult to class us as a trade promotions but that’s what NSW has deemed us as.”

Langton bootstrapped Wyngle until early 2011 when the startup secured their first round of seed funding from an investor. At present the Wyngle team has expanded to include an operations director Damian Cantelo, an outsourced development team and even Sebastian’s dad.

Benefit to businesses

Langton is adamant that Wyngle is the way to save retailers from destroying themselves through unsustainable discounting practices. “No business is going to survive selling something that should be worth $100 for $20″ he states adamantly.

Businesses benefit by selling their products at retail price while the loss of $1 sales is offset by a negotiated margin. In Langton’s words “if we were to do a ratio of 1 in 3 it usually means we’ve negotiated a 40 or 50 per cent discount on those products because we’re buying them in bulk”.

This allows Wyngle to advertise the product at market price and to pass this discount to the customer in the form of ratio shopping. As for Wyngle’s profits, the startup plans to make money by clipping the ticket of every full price sale that goes through the site.

Marketing and PR

In addition to employing SEO and SEM strategies and Google analytics Wyngle has also used the services of a PR company to sow initial exposure in mainstream media.

Other publicity such as an interview with Sky News was secured thanks to Wyngle’s existing contacts and relationships, such as the connections formed during the innovation bay investment pitch.

Founder Reflections

Coming from a property management background, Sebastian has had very little knowledge of the startup world and saw bootstrapping as the only option at the time of Wyngle’s inception.

“I struggled on to self fund which probably was a mistake. I wish I’d done a little bit more research or gotten in touch with more organisations to work out the other potential options of developing the idea.”

Despite the lack of any entrepreneurial background and challenges of the process, Langton has persevered with the concept he believes in “wholeheartedly”. He views Wyngle as the way to save retailers while retaining value for shoppers.

“Either we  have to make a stand and  change the way we sell and the way consumers perceive what they’re buying or we’re all going to end in a lot of trouble” he concludes.

Future Goals

Wyngle is planning world domination in the year to come, with a possibility of expanding to the international market. Langton reveals that “we’re doing capital raising at the moment and with this being secured we’ll be looking to go to the US and UK in the next three to six months.”

The startup will also focus on strengthening its brand by getting more media exposure and forming relationships with suppliers. “We can offer them something completely different that doesn’t mean they have to sell out their brand and destroy their market position.”

Written by Irina Belsky

It’s that resolution making time again and everyone can benefit from this seemingly tedious activity, even such unconventional people as entrepreneurs.

So here is a list of tips to make your 2012 even more unconventional, productive and educational.

1. If you’re involved in a tech startup and know nothing about coding - learn. It’s easier than you think. It’s all well and good if you have a technical co-founder but even then, knowing some basics about coding will give you a better understanding of the process. If you know more, you can contribute more and, hey, you might be able to come up with some nifty functionalities based on your new found insights.

2. If you haven’t already done it, just do it. Whether it’s hiring or firing someone, whether its bootstrapping, begging for more funding or re-designing your entire website from scratch because it needs to be done, just do it. Startups are a high risk scene and that means risk is part of the deal so don’t be afraid of it.

3. Learn what you need, where you can and don’t pay for it. Yes, the phrase “minimising costs” is one we are all familiar with and it applies to everything, including getting the right knowledge. If you can’t find the right knowledge/skills/advice online, do a short course at a community college or at TAFE. These are the more cost efficient ways to learn the things you need.

4. Connect to the startup community. There are two types of entrepreneurs - those who work in isolation and operate on a ‘need-to’ basis and those who tap into the broader community, that’s bursting with relevant information. The upside of this latter approach is that knowledge is much more accessible when it is provided to you directly by other people. Once you are linked to the broader entrepreneurial network in your area you can seek out the right knowledge more efficiently. After all, you’ll be connected to like minded people and events aimed at helping startups.

5. Trust yourself. If you know you need help to create your business, admit it. Don’t waste months or years of your life trying to start a business that has no potential or can’t be effectively monetized. Join an incubator program or participate in a startup camp. A startup camp will help you ask the right questions to distinguish between a good and a bad business idea. An incubator program will give you structured advice and a set of steps to follow to develop your business.

6. Don’t enter into an incubator/accelerator program if you know you can do it on your own.  To enter such a program you will need to give up your equity (usually between 6-8%) and if there is no strong justification to do so, why do it?

7. Read startup media. Not only is it filled with useful advice, it’s a great way to stay on top of what is happening both locally and internationally. By reading the latest news and developments you can find out about new government grants, co-working spaces or overseas schemes for startups.

8. Pitching is important. So go to pitching events like the Peter Farrell Cup and Innovation Bay and see what makes a pitch amazing. If you have no time to hop from event to event, youtube TechStars and watch the pitches online. Then bring it all back to your own pitch and think about ways to make it better.

9. Build your brand from day one after figuring out your product market fit. Set up social media channels for your business and learn how to speak to the media. Remember if no one knows about your business you won’t get customers. If no one likes or identifies with your brand, you won’t retain customers.

10. Prioritize your ‘must-dos’ over your ’should-dos’ every day. You may have a thousand tasks to complete when you’re starting a business but they don’t all have to be done in one day. A big part of time management is focus. Choosing to do the things that need to be done immediately and forgetting completely about the things that can wait. Otherwise you’ll eventually go crazy.

11. Exercise and eat well. At the risk of sounding like a hippie I will say that the body and mind are one. So the way you treat one will definitely impact the other. Don’t gorge on junk food when you know you have a document to go through, a phone call to make, a contract to draw up or a meeting to go to. Preferably exercise before doing any of the above. If something has gone wrong and you’re so stressed you’re on the brink of being carted off to a mental ward, take the day off and do a mighty session at the gym. Seriously.

12. Never assume anything. Assumptions lead to miscommunication. And you do not want any miscommunication in the early stages of your business, especially when it comes to dealing with current and perspective customers.

Signing Off

Above all else, do what makes you happy. Think about what worked for you last year and what didn’t and build your new year around that knowledge.

Are there any resolutions you would like to add the list? We’d love to hear what your plans are for improving your entrepreneurial self this year.

Written By Irina Belsky

You’d be surprised how many startups are clueless about talking to the media. Especially when media coverage can lead a startup from obscurity into the light of day. That’s why Media Relations 101 for Startups (MR 101) was a much needed event for the startup community. The focus of the event was to provide entrepreneurs with enough media knowledge to get press coverage of their startup. MR 101, which was organised by Pushstart and hosted by Ninefold, included a panel of industry professionals who spoke about practical ways to get media coverage for startups.

If you are interested in learning more about talking to the media, please read the article below for a complete summary of the content.

Topics

• Contacting the media
• Getting the media to want your story
• Building relationships with representatives of media
• Making your business website media friendly

Speakers

Corrie McLeod: Director of Espresso Communications and a PR professional with experience in the IT industry.

Jeanne-Vida Douglas: BRW journalist and editor with ten years experience reporting in the IT industry.

Mahesh Sharma: Freelance journalist reporting on startups, IT and entrepreneurship.

Content

Reasons for PR

Sales- the more exposure your business has, the more people will know about it. More people equals more customers.

Talent - convincing a highly skilled person to work for an early stage business can be hard. Media exposure can help you build a reputation, so you don’t have to work as hard to find the right person to join your team.

Other business ends - PR doesn’t just work on a B2C level, it can also help you secure partnerships with other businesses by making it easier to approach them. Media exposure is the natural way to build reputation with customers and other businesses.

Key Media Messages

1. Who are you? -why would the journalist want their audience to read about you?
2. What do you do? -why is that of interest to the audience of the publication you’re pitching to?
3. Who do you do this for? - make your offering relevant to the readers of the publication. Who are your users and why would they prefer your service?
4. How are you different? - the selling point. What makes you stand out?

Always think about the journalist and their audience when you answer these questions. And always ask yourself, “what would make a good story?” For example personal experiences make good stories. Have your users advocate the business by sharing their positive experiences. If you don’t have any users yet, ask someone you know to be an advocate.

Media Toolkit

Media Release: when writing the media release, write the most newsworthy information first, include quotes from the founders that support your newsworthy angle, keep your sentences short and simple and write in the voice of your target publication.

Boilerplate - a boiler plate is the information about your business. It is usually found at the bottom of the media release and includes the facts that journalists want to know: When the business was founded, the number of customers,  business vision and achievements.

Executive photography - photographs of your team can make your story more appealing to the journalist and more appealing to the reader. Make them good. For extra brownie points be creative. It will capture attention, if nothing else.

Product images - high quality images that show your products in the best light.

Resource gallery - on your website include press releases that mark all worthy milestones such as the first customer, the first investor, the 100th customer, new functionalities, new team members coming on board. Why? A journalist will have more information to work with.

Media Strategy

Build relationships with media bloggers, influencers and journalists- leave comments on their blogs and articles, offer advice, engage with them.

Use twitter to connect with journalists- they often use twitter to find sources for their  stories. If the journalist is not interested when you first pitch your story, keep in touch with them and continue to let them know about your business’s developments in case something comes up later on.

Pitch a story for a specific section of a publication instead of targeting the entire publication. This will show you are familiar with the publication and have thought about the target audience.

Think of whats relevant to the biggest audience - journalists write about things that are relevant to the majority of their target audience.

DO NOT send out press releases to the publications you don’t read.

DO NOT send out press releases to journalists whose articles you haven’t read.

DO NOT send out press releases to journalists you haven’t spoken to.

Executive Profiling

Have ONE spokesperson - a personality becomes linked to the brand, so keep it consistent.

If you are the spokesperson, write down numbers and important details before interviews and remember them so you don’t get misquoted.

Create a blog that gives a human face to your business: record your experiences and share your business’s progress with your readers.

Signing off

Learning about the media is often on the bottom of entrepreneurs’ priority list, which is understandable, given how much they have on their plate. While you don’t have to be a media relations expert, knowing the basics of talking to the media is important. Media coverage can be a great marketing tool which can help your business build its brand and its reputation.

You can find the Prezie presentation of the event here.

Written by Irina Belsky

What can Santa give your tech startup this Christmas? A new accelerator program, obviously.

Pushstart has picked the festive season to launch a three month accelerator program for early stage tech startups.

We chatted to Pushstart co-founder Kim Heras about the program.

Program overview:

Ten successful startups will receive $20 000 funding to propel the development of their business ideas, collaborate with mentors and pitch their ideas to investors during a series of demo days at the end of the program. In return Pushstart will take 8% common equity in each startup.

According to Kim one of the goals of the program is to “take the learning from those successful people and take them back to early stage startups”.

While startups will be building and testing their businesses throughout the entire three month program “the balance of it will shift slightly according to which part of the actual process you’re in.”

During the first month mentors and startups will take each other on test drive to decide who works best together. At the same time each startup will concentrate on building and adjusting their business concept to find the most profitable execution. The second month will involve “pushing on really hard with customer development and technical development”  while the final month will factor in the pitching process.

Pushstart has also thrown in some entertainment value into the mix. In addition to networking with mentors,  entrepreneurs will kick back during weekly informal meals and speeches by guest speakers.

“The idea is for it to be an intensive program but at the same time to provide a variety of interesting events.”

The program will culminate with a series of investor days to allow founder teams to pitch in front of local and international investors.

Mentors:

Startups will have access to executive and investor mentors as well as early stage entrepreneurs who have already experienced a degree of success.

The decision to include early stage entrepreneur mentors came after Pushstart consulted “hundreds” of startups who had expressed “that they got the most value out of the people who were just ahead of them in this startup process.”

As a result of this feedback, the accelerator’s mentor group will consist of both established mentors as well as “people who are on their way to being successful”, for example designcrowd founder Alex Lynch.

Location:

While the location hasn’t been decided yet, Kim is adamant that it has to be central and well suited to startups. “One way or another it will be around the sydney CBD. The question is figuring out the best place for startups to be.”

Investor Days:

The investor days are scheduled to run in June, and while details won’t be known until late Kim has already began speaking with potential investors.

“The point is not to just have a room full of people but a room full of investors” he explains.  “We’ve got plans to have demo days in different locations to get these startups in front of as many investors as possible.”

Post Program:

Although the program finishes after three months, there is nothing that prevents mentors and startups from continuing to collaborate.

“The reality is that we’re seeing mentors helping startups to grow with no financial incentive” Kim concludes, “as a program were committed to helping these startups for as long as possible.”

Signing Off

It’s great to see the startup community in Australia growing to provide entrepreneurs with more opportunities. Like any worthwhile occupation entrepreneurship needs to be supported and encouraged, if we are to benefit from what it can create.

Written by Irina Belsky

There’s nothing more frustrating than having an amazing idea and no way to bring it to life. This is the predicament many non technical entrepreneurs face after the first high of inspiration fades away. The truth is, many entrepreneurs don’t have the technical skills to build the website, app or functionalities to turn their idea into a business. In the tech startup space, a tech co-founder is really like the engine of a car - a crucial necessity.

So how do entrepreneurs with little money or resources find the right technical co-founder?

Who is the right co-founder?

Non negotiables

Dedication and Trust: The right co-founder has to believe in your idea. Enough to want to work on it. Not enough to want to take it away from you. In other words they have to trust you. They have to know that you can take the idea and make it into a successful business and that no one else (including them) can do it better.

Co-founder ‘chemistry’: You should get along with your co-founder. During the early startup stage you can’t afford to bicker over small things or tip toe around each other, especially if you have other work commitments. Most startups require a lot of collaborative work and you should always keep that in mind when you’re deciding whether somebody is the right match for you and your idea.

Negotiables

Skill shortage: The world of web design and development is like a labyrinth, especially if your knowledge of coding is limited/non-existent. So even when you’ve found somebody who ticks all the boxes in terms of personality, they may not have the right technical skills to build what you want. This where the non negotiables become important. If you’re hitting it off and the person’s truly excited about your idea, they may be willing to learn the necessary skills in order to bring it to life. Unlike you, they’re coming from a tech background and learning a little extra coding shouldn’t be as excruciatingly painful as starting from scratch. Alternatively they may know someone who can fill in the knowledge gap or even recommend someone more suited to the job.

Commitment: Not everyone you meet will be willing to throw away their full time work and dive into entrepreneurship.  People with technical skills are in high demand, so many of them will already be working on something or for someone else. You don’t necessarily need someone to commit all of their time to your idea. As long as they are trustworthy and can dedicate a set amount of time each week to do what needs to be done, you can compromise (unless your situation means you have a very strict deadline).

The Ins and Outs of the Co-Founder Hunt

There are a number of ways you can track down a tech co-founder. In many ways, it’s like match making in the twenty first century. You begin by looking at your immediate networks- school friends, work friends, friends of friends and random acquaintances. If that doesn’t work, you get proactive.

1. Networking

Networking is the most obvious answer to the problem of finding a technical co-founder. By attending industry and entrepreneur specific events you can meet like-minded people and casually pitch your idea to anyone who might be interested.

A typical event goes something like this: some “casual” networking and snack nibbling is followed by talks from guest speakers, followed by more casual networking and alcohol consumption. It is at this point that you should do most of your networking. Why? Because by this point everyone would have had time to ease into the networking mood, making it easier to start a conversation.

Keep in mind that you have to approach people proactively and hand out your business cards like pamphlets on the street.

A few useful meetups:

• Silicon beach

• UNSW CIE organised events

• Sydney Tech Startup Meetup

• Brainstorming Beach

2. Crowd Sourcing

If you’re in need of a tech co-founder ASAP, you can always ask for one. Without giving away too much of your idea, post an ad online. For all you know there are tech founders out there looking for an idea to work on, and if you present yours in the most appealing way, chances are they’ll come to you.

Here is an example of an ad for a tech founder that might be useful.

Be open to using traditional and non-traditional channels to advertise:

• Gumtree
• Craigslist
• Twitter
• Linkedin

3. Participate in Startup weekends

A great way to meet co-founders is to participate in a startup camp. The people you’ll meet there are entrepreneurs or entrepreneur hopefuls and they tend to come from all walks of life, including the tech industry. One of the most recent startup camps was Launch48 in Sydney, which brought together participants who wanted to create and launch an online business.What better setting for co-founder match making?

4. Join Co-working spaces

If you have a trickle of steady income you may want to consider hiring out a co-working space. While this is not as straightforward as approaching someone directly, you’ll be surrounded by like minded people, doing something different. Co-working spaces such as Green Lane Digital, VibeWire and casual working events like Jelly! (just to name a few) house creative and entrepreneurial people who can help you with your search and act as your mentors.

5. Sign Up to Organisations Supporting Entrepreneurship

People are your best resource, so what’s better than joining organisations where you can tap into that resource? Organisations such as TiE Global will give you access to events, conferences, mentoring and focused networking opportunities. Most importantly they’ll make you part of a whole community of like minded people. Many of them will be technologically gifted and, yes, some will be looking for a great idea, just like yours.

Organisations supporting entrepreneurship:

• Advance
• Founder Institute
• Tie
• Atlassian
• Ninefold

Signing Off

Having an idea alone is not enough. You need the skills and knowledge to put it into action. If that requires bringing on a technical co-founder, then you owe it to your idea to find the right person.

If you don’t already know somebody or don’t have enough funding to hire a professional, the key is expanding your network. Get out and get involved in the entrepreneurial space, attend events, conferences and do whatever it takes to find your co-founder. But most importantly, remember to have fun doing it.  After all, what’s the point of being an entrepreneur if you don’t enjoy challenges?

On a more serious note, Green Lane Digital has some empty offices and a couple of workstations which we would love to fill with worthy occupants such as startups, entrepreneurs, or related service providers.

With iPitch, 2 Angel investors, a SEO specialist, other startups working out of the same office, as well as string of useful startup contacts popping in and out, this is the perfect place to build your startup.
Oh, and did I mention the table tennis table?

Startup Friendly Terms:

• Price negotiable on multiple desks

• Month to month Lease

• One month bond

• One month notice needed to leave

The Pitch:

• Professional work environment and dynamic culture; work with like minded individuals

• Opportunity to share office space with other entrepreneurs and digital space experts

• Access to boardroom for your official meetings

• Easily located in North Sydney

Package includes:

• Internet

• Own private office (see example pictures, right) or workstation

• Desk and Chair

To enquire, contact us here

Sydney based startup RecruitLoop aims to provide businesses with a new recruitment solution.

The online recruitment platform lets small and medium businesses hire recruiters based on their experience and charge them by the hour, instead of a commission based rate.

The service, which operates out of Fishburners, launched three months ago and was founded by Garry Visontay, Denis Zubkov and Michael Overell.

iPitch spoke to co-founder Michael Overell about what sets RecruitLoop apart and his role in the startup’s development.

RecruitLoop Features

This alternative to traditional recruitment agencies is set to cut recruitment costs and simplify the process by giving businesses more control.

“We’re offering a new type of recruitment support” says Michael about RecruitLoop. “The big difference is when [businesses] engage a recruiter with RecruitLoop they pay only for the hours the recruiter works rather than a commission.”

Another forward thinking element of RecruitLoop is the concept of recorded video interviews. Michael says that the functionality is “new in the Australian context.”

The functionality allows shortlisted candidates to record a video interview using the questions provided to them by recruiters. “The questions are actually blind so we try to stimulate a live interview as much as possible.” explains Michael.

Here is what the process looks like:

1. The recruiter develops an interview questionnaire and sends it to the candidate.
2. The candidate receives a link to the interview via an email.
3. Clicking on the link allows the RecruitLoop application to plug into the candidate’s webcam and bring up interview questions one by one.
4. The candidate then records each answer within the time limit allocated.

The video interview is another way to filter out unsuitable candidates without spending time on face to face interviews.

“Its been an ongoing process of improvement so we’re constantly developing and innovating and improving the platform.” comments Michael.

Co-Founder Background

It is the innovative nature of entrepreneurship that drew Michael to opportunities in the startup scene before he joined RecruitLoop. “I like the idea of disrupting and shaking up traditional industries and business models. I have always wanted to be involved in the experience of turning the ideas into functioning businesses.”

Prior to joining to RecruitLoop, Michael spent three years as as consultant at McKinsey & Company.

His involvement with RecruitLoop began when a mutual contact that introduced him to established entrepreneur Gary Visontey, who had come up with the idea of RecruitLoop after many frustrations of trying to find the right staff using traditional recruitment processes.

“He [Gary] had an idea which became RecruitLoop and he was looking to partner up. At the time I was in a career in management consulting and I was looking for other opportunities particularly in the startup space. So the friend who knew both of us thought we should talk…”

Not having been actively involved in the startup area prior to his work with RecruitLoop Michael admits that he “didn’t know what to expect.” He recalls being told that being an entrepreneur means “the highs are higher and the lows are lower”. After experiencing the process for himself he emphasises that despite the roller coaster effect, being involved in a startup is “infinitely more rewarding”.

Now, a year later, Michael finds it hard to describe his multifaceted CEO role at RecruitLoop.

“I do everything, including taking out the trash, basically whatever needs to be done. One day will include anything from sales to business development to customer support and administration to financing, investment or product development.”

The hard work will continue in the next year as RecruitLoop plans to expand its market share in Australia. “We want to establish ourselves as a really serious alternative for almost any business so that means we have a big job ahead of us.”

Corporate or Startup?

iPitch asked Michael his advice about making the transition from full time employee to entrepreneur.

“Just go for it. If it’s a decision between pursuing a startup or something new or sticking to a safe corporate role, I would encourage anyone with the right mindset to at least give it a try.”

While a major concern for many people on the brink of this decision is money, Michael suggests taking on part time work or “consulting or contracting in specific periods” as an alternative to diving head first into full time startup mode.

For those aspiring to be a part of the startup space, another way to do so is to join an existing startup or a funded early stage company. “Not everyone has to do it as a founder or a first time startup. You’re still learning a lot and having a great startup experience.”

As a final piece of advice Michael highlights the importance of networking with like minded people.

“One thing I didn’t appreciate before I really jumped in was the power of the network and the startup community that’s emerging in Sydney. I think it provides a great opportunity for people to join a startup, so the earlier they can tap into it and get involved in the community, the better.”

Signing Off

There is more than one path to entrepreneurship, so no matter what your current situation is, there is a way to get involved in the startup space. As Michael’s experiences and the success of RecruitLoop show, all you need is the right mindset, a great idea and great people to help you along the way.

Written by Irina Belsky

Background

IRL Gaming is a tech start-up focused on building engaging location based, social games for mobile and web enabled devices. It is part of the first wave of tech start-ups funded by Startmate seed fund which launched in Sydney early this year.

The first location based game to come out of IRL Gaming is called Zombie Hood, which is fusion of Mafia Wars and Foursquare. The location based battle game allows players to scavenge venues for loot, fight zombies and form teams with other players to help them reclaim their neighbourhood.

iPitch caught up with Henry Cho, one of the four founders of IRL Gaming, to hear about the progress the startup has made from its inception twelve months ago to where it is now.

The idea

Henry says that it was foursquare fatigue that lead the four founders to begin working on their idea. “Basically we were all foursquare users and we were getting pretty bored with that. We didn’t really feel that it was going anywhere.”As a result they decided to use the concept of foursquare to provide users with a more interactive and engaging experience.

Startmate

The founders went through Startmate program while they were sketching out their idea. Henry comments that traveling to the Silicon Valley as part of the program provided them with the most opportunity. “When you go to the Valley there’s a whole different world there, there is a lot of investment going on.” he says. The trip gave the team exposure to “a lot of interested people” and allowed them to pitch their idea to angel investors in the area as well as to startup accelerator 500 startups .

Early challenges

Like many startups, keeping the momentum of the project going amongst other work commitments was difficult, but Henry comments adamantly, “You just have to deal with it, you just have to decide that you want to keep going”.

Looking back at their Silicon Valley experience he reflects “when we went to the Valley the first time we didn’t really have any traction. It was our first proof of concept and I think people were a bit hesitant at that stage”.

During the time, IRL Gaming was in its pre-beta stage and there was no traction to demonstrate to the investors; however the startup is in a very different position now.

Current stage

The first game to come out of IRL Gaming is Zombie Hood - a location based game that allows players to fight zombies in their neighbourhood. The founders have been working on improving the game and are about to release a new version.

“We just passed the 10 000 user mark and we’re just about to release the new release, so we’ll expect a much higher retention of users and much higher rate of recommendation based growth” the co-founder explains.

Business model

The business model used by IRL Gaming has also undergone a transformation. There are in fact several revenue streams which include internet purchases, promotions and digitalisation.

Internet purchases: Players are able to purchase items to allow them to continue playing the game. “You can purchase additional weapons and additional stamina”, says Henry. “The research we did on gaming showed that the whole gaming market is moving now, so this is one way to avoid piracy and you can still convert players to paying customers.”

Promotions through virtual branded goods: In addition to internet purchases users will be able to buy virtual goods associated with a brand, such as branded energy drinks.

Digitalisation: Users will be able to buy real goods like drinks, scan them into the game and use them.  “We’ve taken the concept of branded goods further and said that not only can you place a branded good into the game, you can take a real good and put it into the game for a benefit.”

At the moment the game is “getting a steady revenue from internet purchases” while the promotions won’t be rolled out until  there is a bigger user base.

Marketing

The marketing strategy of the startup depends on finding the right product market fit, according to Henry. “At this stage we’re really in the product market fit stage. That means making sure that the users that we do have are using the game the way we want them to use it. When we know we’ve got the right thing, then we can pour fuel on the fire in terms of marketing and advertising spend.”

User experience

In order to make sure users are using the game in the right way, the founders have been analysing the way people interact with it. Henry’s background is rooted in user experience and he explains that the effectiveness of the process relies on “being able to research people’s needs and intentions and interpret them”.

The founders look at “how long people use it for, what actions they are doing in the game, what actions they take before buying something” to establish gaming patterns and habits. Alternatively they also look for problematic areas to make functionalities more clear. “We keep going around that loop.”

Goals

The founders aim to get the next release out before Christmas and to bump up their user base to 50 000 users by their next trip to the Silicon Valley in March of next year. Now that the game has user traction the entrepreneurs plan to pitch it to investors in the US again. “So the idea is to launch and refine and keep on doing that pattern” concludes Henry.

Entrepreneur Learnings

The pitch

The startup’s pitch in the US received an overwhelmingly positive feedback from 500 startups and we asked Henry to explain how it was structured.

Henry: “We did the pitch using prezi motion and graphics presentation tool. We also had all four of us on stage presenting, so it was quite dynamic, quite theatrical and pretty quickly paced. We really took them on our journey and the basis of our pitch was to show everyone that we have pace and momentum and to get them caught up in the idea.

If you’d like to see the pitch you can find the video here.

Advice for entrepreneurs

“You’ve really got to believe in your idea and assemble a team that really believes in it because you’re going to go through tough times and your team is crucial.  And you’ll hear a lot of the mentors say that what helps investors pick is looking at the idea, the size of the market and the team, how well do they get on”.

Signing off

IRL Gaming has come a long way, proving that passion and people are what drives your idea forward.

We will certainly be watching out for future developments with anticipation.