Deep tech startups are addressing some of society’s biggest problems and creating the jobs of tomorrow but they’ve been neglected in the government’s love affair with co-working spaces, according to Petra Andrén, the CEO of Sydney-based super incubator Cicada Innovations. Ahead of her appearance at the Global Mobile Internet Conference in Sydney, earlier this month, […]
China’s booming economy and rapidly growing middle-class present a wealth of opportunities for Australian businesses, particularly those companies able to tap into the rising demand for high quality goods and services. But many local SMEs with international expansion goals have discovered it’s not as simple as heading overseas and establishing operations. In a culture such […]
The first year of a new business is critical, with repeated evidence that around one third of businesses fail during this phase. However, equipped with the right knowledge and education, you can get off to a strong start. Whilst the focal point for the early months should ideally be on rapid income generation, new business […]
Due to Australia’s relatively small population and the country’s remoteness from global markets, some businesses will need to expand overseas in order to reach their growth potential. Of course, there are numerous factors businesses must consider before venturing abroad, not least of all laws governing intellectual property (IP) including patents. Indeed, overseas expansion plans can […]
In today’s ever increasing online world, domain names have become one of the most important business assets for sales to consumers, contact with and promotion of businesses; however, many businesses do not turn their mind to the protection of their domain names, leaving themselves exposed to cyber-squatters or tactical competitors and loss of potential business […]
As I started building my new cybersecurity company, through staff hires and client and vendor engagement, there was one question I was asked repeatedly: “Carlo, how will you start from nothing, with no customers, no revenue, and convince customers to trust you?” The concept seemed a complete mystery to every single person I spoke with. To […]
When a person is struck with – and wants to commercialise – a new idea, its constructive for them to first conduct an internet search to see if anyone else has made or done something similar. After all, any discussion of whether there is commercial value in protecting an invention requires some assessment of whether the invention is new […]
Great ideas often come from startups and small to medium enterprises (SMEs), but the difficult question is what to do next, and at what stage should intellectual property (IP) protection be considered? It’s important to devise an IP strategy of what to protect and when, and costs can be a factor. Luckily, not all […]
On recent business trips to Silicon Valley, we’ve met with a number of investors, lawyers and other advisers who are active in the start-up community. These meetings have yielded some very interesting lessons for Australian start-ups, particularly those seeking to expand into the US market or take on US investors. Here are the key highlights: 1. […]
I’ve been a business mentor for a while now and yet it never ceases to amaze me how often company’s either ignore or underrate their database. From my own experience, I’m acutely aware of just how important it is for a company to maintain accurate and up-to-date intel on the people in their network. In my opinion, your company’s database […]
