Startup Victoria off to a great start!
It’s been six months since Startup Victoria was launched to the fanfare of a $100,000 government grant, matching corporate sponsorships and generous individual donations. I decided to take a step back from my tech startup to focus on building the startup ecosystem in Victoria and I haven’t regretted it for a second.
Melbourne is full of exciting startups, great startup success stories and as importantly, immensely talented individuals who are happy to share their stories and experiences with each other. It is inspiring to be part of and I truly hope we can spread the word that a healthy tech ecosystem is vital to the future successes of startups in Victoria.
It’s exciting times to be involved with tech startups. Firstly, it has never been cheaper and easier to launch a startup and secondly, corporates are all realizing that technology has already or will at some point disrupt their industry. This is the space to be for people with high curiosity and a will to change things!
Much has been achieved in these first six months already and it’s high time I try to synthesise what it is Startup Victoria is all about. Our vision is to see more successful tech startups in Melbourne and the way we believe we can achieve this, is to embark on a mission that would see More Founders and Better Founders in the years to come.
We are a non-profit organisation and are therefore not here to sell you anything. Instead we aim to provide education, inspiration and opportunities for networking in the tech startup space and essentially becoming the central hub for all things related to tech startups in Victoria.
We run the monthly meetup Lean Startup Melbourne, which is the biggest tech meetup group in Victoria with over 4,500 members (http://www.meetup.com/Lean-Startup-Melbourne/). We regularly have a full house with 400+ attendees where we host interesting people and serve free beer/wine and pizza (what’s not to like about that?).
Two weeks ago, we hosted Steve Blank (@sgblank) for a fireside chat in front of a full house. To those who haven’t seen Steve live, you missed out big time! Steve is the grandfather of the Lean Startup Methodology which is a core part of the startup manual globally and he was incredible entertaining and inspirational to listen to.
On 1 December 2014, we are hosting Dave McClure (@davemcclure) from 500 Startups. This will be our first paid event, $40, but free for Startup Victoria members. In addition, all members will be invited to a 1.5 hours VIP drinks/mingling session with Dave prior to the main event. So if you are not a member sign up here: https://startupvictoria.com.au/memberships
On 9 December, we are hosting a one day tech conference (http://aboveallhuman.co) with a very impressive lineup of overseas (and local) speakers such as (@justinkan — @triketora — @ml ) and as an Australian first, we will have Y Combinator on stage doing live Office Hours. I am very pleased to see that the 500 tickets are almost sold out even a month out from the conference.
The meetups and conference is aimed mainly at the More Founders segment of the Startup Victoria mission. We want to see more people have a go at tech startups and seeing/meeting people who have done it is often a great way to get started yourself.
My own shift from corporate to startup land was very much driven by meeting tech startup people and hearing their crazy stories of building disruptive tech that would shift industries and learn how they somehow weren’t fazed by the high odds of failing. Those are inspiring stories and they need to be told — they need a place to be told.
For the other aspect of the Startup Victoria mission — the Better Founders — we have created a new initiative called Better Founder Groups where we have launched a few pilot groups with 10 founders in each that go out for a monthly dinner. Meeting like-minded tech founders is a great way to share and discuss many of the obstacles that most tech startups go through in their life cycles.
I truly believe that networking is critical to success in a startup — let’s face it; no one makes a successful global startup on their own. One thing I’ve come to realize about startup land, is that networking means something different to what it does in parts of the corporate world. In big poorly run corporates there is often an element of ‘gaming the system’ (which is described well in a recent blog by Paul Graham http://www.paulgraham.com/before.html). You may succeed by sucking up to the right person, pretending to be busy etc. but in a startup all that stops. There is no boss to trick because all you have is users — either you give them something they want or you don’t and you prosper only to the extent you do.
Networking in startup land is not about finding your next job but, as a founder, it is firstly about sharing experiences and trying to pick up ideas and new angles that you may be able to apply to your startup. Secondly, it’s about getting inspiration — founders often travel a lonely path trying to find their way against the odds and getting together with other founders increases the chances of success in your startup.
Building a healthy startup ecosystem is incredibly important in that light and this will be the prime objective of Startup Victoria in the years to come. As we do that, we will be leaning on evidence from around the world, which suggest that successful startup communities are built around the adage that “you gotta give before you get….”
So I encourage you, my fellow explorers, do come join us!
Lars Lindstrom — CEO, Startup Victoria
