Twista - This Week In Startups Australia

Australia has produced three tech unicorns: Atlassian, Freelancer and Campaign Monitor. TWISTA talks to Chris Strode, founder and CPO of Invoice2Go, well on its way to being Australia's fourth unicorn! After we talk to Chris, Sydney Seed Fund founder Benjamin Chong joins us for a discussion of the kinds of qualities the very earliest startups need to survive and thrive. It's another huge series opening, so join TWISTA on a unicorn hunt!

TWISTA's final episode of Series 2 opens in conversation with Peter Bradd, Fishburners co-founder, and the new CEO of StartupAUS, with a mandate to build bridges between politicans and the tech community. Then we talk to Alex Haggerty, founder of Taggd, which has launched one of the most unusual - and unusually lucrative - startups in recent memory, connecting Instagram to ecommerce to close more sales. Finally, we'll review and reflect upon the highs and lows of Series 2. Moving foward and looking back on this episode of TWISTA!

Failure is part of the life-cycle for almost every tech startup. Yet it's the one thing most entrepreneurs will never discuss. TWISTA shines light on this darkest of subjects in conversation with Nikki Durkin, who fought the good fight with startup 99dresses, but eventually ran out of money. Then Jesse Black talks about the journey from winning a Startup Weekend to drawing the final curtain on a product that even he didn't want to use. Finally, Melbourne Matt Allen interviews a notorious serial entrepreneur - by the name of Mark Pesce - about what it felt like to liquidate his own startup. We fearlessly confront the entrepreneur's darkest hour in this episode of TWISTA.

On our latest news special, TWISTA is joined by Dean Dorrell, Principal and Founder of Carthona Capital, and ZDNet's Josh Taylor. We start off speaking with SparkeHelmore's Daniel Atkin, who's developed a set of open-source legal documents startups can use to assist them in preparing the paperwork for seed funding. Then we're off into a discussion of changes to immigration law (and how it will transform VC in Australia), Ingogo's crowdinvesting raise with VentureCrowd, and why every telco has to have an incubator. All the news important to startups, on this episode of TWISTA.

At every stage of its existence the startup faces challenges relating to growth. Vinomofo co-founders Justin Dry and Andre Eikmeier talk to TWISTA about the sacrifices involved in growing one of the country's most successful online retailers, then Blrt founder Anurag Chakradhar talks about what it's like to have a product that's so hot, he's worried he can't grow fast enough. Finally, TWISTA reconnects with GoFar co-founders Danny Adams and Ian Davidson, who just finished a successful $200K Kickstarter campaign, and have grown from a 2-person shop to (at times) nearly 20. Mo growth, mo problems, on this episode of TWISTA.

The universe next door - or as it styles itself, New Zealand - has a thriving startup ecosystem. TWISTA talks to Chris Twiss, who runs the Seed Ventures arm of the New Zealand Venture Investment Fund. Then, Nick Sherwing and Jonah Merchant of BizDojo talk about creating a co-working space that helps startups in Auckland and Wellington thrive. Finally, we visit the offices and factory floor of Auckland's hottest hardware startup, StretchSense. What's it like to be the first employee at a startup growing like mad? We ask Antoni Harbuz and Shin Jeong Park. All of that and more in this episode of This Week in Startups Australia - and New Zealand!

The tech industry is a very imperfect reflection of the world it builds products for. How can mostly-white, mostly-middle-class, mostly-men build great products for cultures they've never experienced? We see lots of young girls interested in coding become discouraged and quit the field by the time they go to university. Where are the women founders and women investors? Paul Wallbank joins TWISTA to discuss a recent article he's written detailing some of these persistent problems. Then we have a long chat with Scale Investors CEO Laura Mckenzie, who is building a strong network of female angel investors and female tech founders into something completely unique - and uniquely potent - in Australia.

TWISTA is from our break to get some schoolin'. First up, MyEdApp co-founder Rowan Kunz tells TWISTA about the importance of listening to teachers before you design a product for the education market. Then, legal eagle Kurt Falkenstein talks us through the right - and wrong - ways to incorporate and organize your Australian startup. So put your learnin' cap on, and tune in!

Legendary entrepreneur and investor Pete Cooper and Fairfax tech editor Ben Grubb sit down with TWISTA to discuss the news of importance to Australian startups, including positive changes to the Employee Share Scheme; BugCrowd's $6M raise; politics, politicans, metadata collection and startups; why so many fintech accelerators in Australia? and the business of Apple Watch.

James Moody, CEO of TuShare, tells TWISTA how he discovered another startup - Sendle - within his startup TuShare. (And why on earth would anyone run two startups simultaneously?) Later, Murray Hurps joins TWISTA to talk politics - which MPs are perceived as being the most friendly to startups? Next, we go around the world to peek at East Africa's hottest startup, Kopo Kopo. Finally, Murray and Mark review the big winners of Launch 2015 -- what do they tell us about the startups we'll be seeing out of Australia?

Scott Handsaker wants to make sure Melbourne isn't left behind by Sydney as a center of excellence for technology entrepreneurs. Scott talks to TWISTA about what it takes to provide an environment that allows founders the best possible chance for success. Then TWISTA asks Chris Guzowski why it's so hard to buy Bitcoins - and why ATMs might make that process a lot easier.

CONNECTED LABOUR SPECIAL - TWISTA speaks with OneShift founder and CEO Gen George, who's building a huge Australian tech startups by disrupting an old-fashioned labour market. Gen is an amazing 24 year-old entrepreneur and every startup entrepreneur needs to listen to what she has to say about building a business. Then TWISTA goes to Melbourne to interview Trang Du, founder and CEO of Two Square Pegs, a 'matchmaker' for talent with the businesses who need that talent. Connected labour is the future of work, and it's all in this episode of TWISTA.

MASSIVE SERIES 2 PREMIERE - Canva founder and Australian legend Cameron Adams joins TWISTA to talk about making products design-centered and customer-focused, then AirTree VC partner Craig Blair gives us the unvarnished (and disturbing) truth about why, after reviewing over 200 business plans, AirTree VC has found it impossible to invest in more than a handful. Every Australian entrepreneur needs to hear what Craig says.

TWISTA had planned to return in February - until we heard about Startup Muster (online at startupmuster.com), the largest-ever snapshot of the startup ecosystem in Australia. Over 400 respondents reveal in detail the who, where, when and why of Australian tech startups. Survey compiler Murray Hurps joins us for a deep dive into the data - some of it quite unexpected. What are we doing right? What can we do better? Find out on this special episode!

It's the holiday season, when fashion retailers earn most of their profits, so Jess Wilson, a very bright 23 year-old with a background in fashion tells TWISTA how she's created a global fashion retailer with a mobile app - and has customers in 86 countries! Later, TWISTA sits down with Blackbird Ventures MD Rick Baker. We explore the VC process, and ask Rick what sorts of investments he finds most exciting.

In this special episode, TWISTA is joined by legendary incubator pioneer Phil Morle, and serial-entrepreneur-now-journalist Paul Wallbank in a wide-ranging discussion about the big news stories affecting startups in Australia. In the first segment, attorney Raena Lea-Shannon joins us to discuss changes to employee stock option plans recently announced by the government, and what that will mean for Australian startups' ability to recruit great talent.

Ned Moorfield has built taxi disruption app GoCatch into a $20M business, and recently locked down $5M in investment - he'll tell TWISTA how to get investment without pitching to a VC, and how GoCatch grew its business by lingering around airport parking lots. After that, Ronald Tucker of BitTrade Australia blows some minds with interesting statistics about the growth of Bitcoin as a currency for remittances.

Ian Davidson and Danny Adams of GoFar tell TWISTA how their hardware plug-in to the OBD (Onboard Diagnostics Port) will save Australian drivers a combined $400 million in fuel, each and every year. Then we talk design and obsession with Frosh Media's Dain Hedgepeth. His Skater App, is the first that truly recreates the skateboarding experience within a mobile game.

TWISTA speaks with legendary entrepreneur and angel investor Ian Gardiner (VIOCORP, Innovation Bay) about the state of the startup scene in Australia, then AirTasker founder and CEO Tim Fung talks about how his firm is revolutionizing the labour market.