My highlights for 2013: Plugging into the start-up scene
As we begin a new year filled with the promise of more adventure, I'm reflecting on the top 3 highlights that I had last year:
1. Raising capital for my startup from angel investors
I count raising capital as the biggest highlight because as a first-time founder, this is where I experienced the deepest personal learning and growth. I hadn't really been exposed to the tech-startup world, as prior to BreezedocsI was running traditional, service-based, lifestyle businesses. Raising capital for me was therefore a whole new experience. One day, I'll write the entire story of the first 2 years of our start-up (hopefully it's not a post-mortem), but in short, Adrian, Nicholas and Abe bought us a ticket to the game after more than 6 months of running around meeting investors.
It is true what they say though, the first $50,000 is the hardest, and I'm just thankful that we never gave up. (We had another funding event right at the end of the year, which will become public soon so I'll write about it then).
2. Establishing Investors' Organisation and hosting star Silicon Valley VC investor, Jonathan Teo in Melbourne
This was one of the most exciting events to happen to the entire Australian start-up scene in 2013.
Along with my lead investor, Adrian Stone, as well as my IP advisor, Brian Goldberg, I established Investors' Organisation, a private network of high net worth individuals. The goal was to mix experienced technology investors with the more traditional investors to hopefully bring more capital into the early stage investing scene. We are the first and only organisation of our kind in Australia. Adrian became Chairman, Brian became President, and I just felt lucky to be involved.
We held 3 very successful events with the highlight being the week long visit by the now former managing director of General Catalyst Partners, Jonathan Teo, who personally led investments in Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat, along with many others.
I had the honour of interviewing Jonathan in front of a full house of investors at PriceWaterhouseCoopers which you can watch below, and was his entourage for a week.
3. My trips to the Valley in April & October
These trips were a real eye opener for me in terms of the pace of activity and the way folks network and do business. I've mentioned before that you could get 5 introductions just from one person, and there seems to be a mentality that we're all in the same game together. Never before have I been in an environment where someone who could rightly be called your competitor actually facilitates introductions for you as well!
I built lots of new relationships, both personal and professional, and the biggest lesson I learned here was that most companies are not going as well as the press makes them out to be. One guy I met in particular had just raised a multi-million dollar investment from VCs and, according to the press, had just launched his company barely 2 months before that. The reality was that he had been hacking away on his startup for years in his dorm-room, he had simply only incorporated 2 months ago. He wasn't arrogant about it though, which is a good thing, he was just "playing the start-up game".
I'm hoping 2014 will be filled with just as much excitement as we start to gear up with Breezedocs. I'm the first to admit that I've still got a long way to go, but at least I'm giving it a bloody red hot crack!
Happy New Year (from the Gold Coast)

















