Co-working in Australia

Co-working in Australia

With Australia’s inaugural co-working conference set to take place in early March, it’s safe to say that the advent of co-working has truly established itself in the culture and psyche of Australian start-ups.

Like many things start-up, co-working spaces trace their lineage to San Francisco where, in 2005, Brad Neuberg opened CitizenSpace, arguably the world’s first co-working space. In less than a decade since, over 700 co-working spaces have sprung up around the United States and several hundred more have opened their doors across Europe.

At home in Australia, we have the highest number of co-working spaces in the world (per capita), with well in excess of 50 spaces having been established. Most spaces are relatively new and are responsible for driving an astonishing 555% growth rate in Australian co-working in the past two years.

Nowhere is this more evident than in the hustle and bustle of Sydney’s inner suburbs and the cafe engulfed laneways and converted warehouses of Melbourne. Together, they account for two thirds of Australia’s spaces which have established themselves as not only productive and collaborative co-working spaces, but as a home to many existing and emerging success stories, a host to weekly (and sometimes daily) entrepreneur meet-ups and talks by prominent speakers from within the business community as well as a place to knock back some drinks and build social networks in the evening.

However, it is not only start-ups who are benefiting from co-working. The BRW’s Fiona Smith ran an article on Zendesk’s Australian operations (Two worlds collide – sharing space with an alien, November 2012) whose office handed free space to the Dry July charity. General manager Michael Hansen was quoted as saying that “they (DryJuly) are great people to be around (and) they don’t just do things for profit, they do it because it is right. It is nice to be associated with people like that and I hope some of it will rub off on us as well.”

Law firms as well have been said to be playing host to all sorts of creative types in an effort to change their environment for the better, inspire and develop a different perspective for their workforce, while also gaining social karma by helping out the little guys.

The idea of businesses giving away and/or leasing out spare office space is a concept that Australia’s HotDesk is looking to tap into. The website, which is currently seeking feedback and interest via its landing page (www.hot-desk.com.au) is all about connecting SMEs and large enterprise with spare office space to start-ups and entrepreneurs who need casual space, be it for days, weeks or months – think airbnb for office space.

The business hopes to not only be a platform to help start-ups find cheap, casual and professional facilities, while increasing working capital for the advertiser, but it envisages delivering many of the benefits that come with co-working while also providing the opportunity to partner with larger businesses and gain an appreciation for and build relationships in the top end of town.

Right on time, the Coworking Conference Australia, held on March 1 and 2 in Melbourne, is set to bring together Australia’s co-working community in a celebration of all that co-working has offered and has yet to offer.

The conference will cover topics such as the history of co-working, global trends and statistics, lessons learned and the future of co-working. In typical co-working space style, there will be loads of opportunities for engagement,  collaboration and networking.

Hosting a plethora of speakers from start-ups and established businesses across Australia, Europe and the United States, this is a milestone event, celebrating the rapid growth of the Australian startup ecosystem, and is not to be missed by those with an appreciation for working smarter, not harder.

Coworking conference Australia 2013

Presented by: DeskWanted, Hub Melbourne and Inspire9

When & Where: Friday March 1 @ Hub Melbourne & Saturday March 2 @ Inspire9

WWW – http://coworkingconference.com.au

Tickets – http://coworkingconferenceaustralia.eventbrite.com/

Australian co-working spaces – http://blog.thefetch.com/coworking-in-australia  

Add me on Google

Zendesk’s Mikkel Svane is coming to Australia…

Denmark has many great exports. My personal favourites would have to be Manchester United goalkeeping legend Peter Schmeichel, rockabilly-metal band Volbeat, Carlsberg and the country’s multi-platform customer support and service desk management solution. Of course, I’m talking about Zendesk.

Founded in 2007 by Mikkel Svane with the help of enlisted developer Alex Ahassipour and designer Morten Primdahl, it took only two years before the company received funding in the States which opened the door to a massive expansion which now has the company’s 250 employees occupying offices in not only Denmark, but the United States, United Kingdom and Australia.

Zendesk’s Australian office opened in September 2011 and has gone on to sign up over 1,500 local companies, in addition to the 23,000 companies worldwide that entrust Zendesk with their customers.

These include big names such as Vodafone, 20^th Century Fox, L’Oreal, Tumblr, Groupon, Yammer and locally names such as REA, the NSW Government and most recently Cotton On.

The company essentially provides customer support software-as-a-service (SaaS) for customers and customer service teams as well as analytics for managers. Think self-service support, online help requests, ticketing systems, collaborative service tools and customer satisfaction performance metrics, delivered on multiple platforms.

The chief of local operations, Michael Hansen, was quoted in Computerworld recently, reflecting an ambitious growth strategy. “We’re going to double everything here in Australia, double the customers, double the development centre, double our revenue.”

Melbourne entrepreneurs and start-up hopefuls will have the opportunity to hear the Zendesk story, get inspired and ask questions of founder and CEO Mikkel Svane, when he takes part in a fireside chat at Startup Grind in March.

The Grind’s Chris Joannou agrees. “It is very impressive to see someone of the calibre of Mikkel Svane talking at Startup Grind in Melbourne but it is not surprising. I think the best entrepreneurs out there have an inherent need to give back. In this case we are fortunate to be on the receiving end. It will be an amazing story.”

Event details

What: Startup Grind Melbourne fireside chat with Mikkel Svane (followed by networking drinks)

When: Thursday 14 March, 2013 @ 6pm

Cost: $20 (pizza, beer and soft-drinks provided)

Tickets: startupgrindzendesk.eventbrite.com

 

Privacy Act reforms and YOU

So you store customer data in an offshore location and the host then sells this information to marketers. An obvious privacy breach. No drama, your contractual clauses will relieve you of any liability, right? Maybe not. You could soon be up for a $1.1m fine.

It’s all part of the Government’s long awaited Privacy Act reforms which passed through the Senate in November. The changes are the result of the Australian Law Reform Commission (ALRC,) which made 295 recommendations, more than half of which were implemented as part of the first stage of reforms (there will be two stages).

The bad news for start-ups is that every individual and company that deals with personal information, defined as ‘information that identifies or could identify a person’, has to consider how they currently collect, transfer and store such information and whether or not any changes need to be made to comply.

The good news for start-ups is that the amendments won’t become effective until March 2014.

Nonetheless you should start now to make sure you are ready for the changes and don’t face any unforeseen setbacks in a couple of years’ time.

Still not convinced? In June of last year it was discovered that Telstra had unwittingly breached both telecommunications and privacy laws by leaving 734,000 customer records accessible on the internet for eight months.  However, the Australian Privacy Commissioner (APC), now the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC), was helpless to impose any penalties and the telecommunications behemoth escaped with a mere slap on the wrist.

The APC will now have the power to impose up to $1.1m penalties for companies and up to $220,000 for individuals for such breaches.

Yep, time to make those changes.

So, what are the key changes and how do they affect startups?

Direct marketing – People will have the power and the right to know how direct marketers got a hold of their information and to opt out of further direct marketing and additional disclosure of their personal information. Is your database tracking this information?

Cross border disclosure – As touched on earlier, Australian companies may be held liable for the mishandling of personal information sent offshore. This would obviously have an impact on relationship management with third party services such as cloud providers and startups should tread carefully and discuss their exposure with a lawyer to make sure they gain sufficient protection to absolve them of any liability in the event of a breach.

Unsolicited information – The Act now extends to unsolicited information and requires that information not collected in line with the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs) must be destroyed

Disclosure statements – Additional information will need to be included in privacy collection statements and privacy policies such as complaint procedures

While this first release of amendments may give startups something to think about, a second release of changes is expected to go even further and require further housekeeping.

The release is anticipated to remove the small business exemption (defined as businesses with annual turnover of less than $3m), require that serious data breaches are made public, introduce a statutory path of action for serious privacy breaches and a national harmonization of privacy laws.

What your business should do?

• Review your exposure to privacy risk and make sure you have an effective control framework, to mitigate any exposure to potential privacy breaches
• Review and update privacy policies, disclosure statements and other materials in line with the amendments
• Review and where required amend third party contracts to account for foreign data breaches
• Update databases so that new disclosure requirements around direct marketing can be met
• Review the collection, transfer and storage of personal information for any gaps or control deficiencies
• Increase awareness of company and employee/contractor privacy obligations through training and other means of communication
• Keep an eye out for additional changes and guidance being developed

For more information go to www.oaic.gov.au

@steveglaveski

The Grind comes to Melbourne

The Grind comes to Melbourne

Startup Grind, thommunty of founders, entrepreneurs and ‘wantrapraneurs’, was established in February 2010 in Silicon Valley, by Derek Andersen of RedCommand and TechCrunch fame. The Grind has since expanded rapidly and now has 36 chapters ranging from places such as LA, New York and London to Budapest, Guangzhou, Tel Aviv and most recently, Melbourne.

Shoestring caught up with the Melbourne chapter Director Chris Joannou (not to be mistaken with the bass player from rockers Silverchair), a serial entrepreneur in his own right with interests in everything from Tech to Tequila.

Chris tells us that Startup Grind is essentially “a fireside chat series where each country plays host to the best in local tech talent, presenting the amazing stories of founders of the best startup companies around the world”.

The Melbourne chapter recently hosted their Christmas party where Adioso’s Tom Howard gave a talk on the company’s struggles. With so many co-working spaces, startup events and networking functions, Chris maintains that what sets Startup Grind apart is that there is something special in hearing how companies like Adioso, Xero (online accounting software) and Zwift (online restaurant ordering solutions) started, raised capital, and overcame the hurdles that we all seem to face as entrepreneurs.

Melbournian entrepreneurs can look forward to seeing the best Melbourne has to offer being brought to the stage in 2013. The chapter will also continue to promote Australian talent to the global community using the Startup grind network. A network, Chris tells us, that is committed to improving and harnessing a network of entrepreneurs that are proud to be part of the ‘Grind’.

And with so many existing and emerging challenges facing entrepreneurs, particularly in this sunburnt land of ours, the Grind offers startups yet another avenue for a leg up. Chris is not alone in thinking that the big challenge facing startups in Australia is local funding.

“It is a problem when the most successful Australian Startups all become exports. In terms of challenges for 2013 I would say international competition, particularly from India and China.  I think this again comes down to funding. If you had your chance to invest in a startup that was starting to see traction in Australia or China, which would you invest in when you consider scalability?” says Chris.

Indeed funding was the key issue singled out in Deloitte’s Silicon Beach report, particularly at the scaling stage where American startups raise 100 times more capital than their Australian peers.

In addition, Chris reflects on his own personal lessons learned when assessing challenges that face entrepreneurs. Like many, Chris has previously been guilty of building businesses based on an idea rather than business merit and says that taking the time to find a clever way to validate your idea before investing time and money is the way to go.

“There are a number of people out there that are not thinking about a legitimate business model, aiming for a million users and selling advertising is something that does not work. Investors want to see paying customers and need you to clearly articulate how you will make money from the offset.”

No doubt having access to the Melbourne and worldwide Grind community will offer budding entrepreneurs the opportunity to develop the right contacts and acquire the knowledge and tools to be able to more effectively validate ideas and generate business models without burning time or money.

On Melbourne, which was recently ranked 18^th in the world by Startup Genome, Chris agrees that the city is on the right track. “Co-working spaces, accelerator programs, and networking events are the perfect foundation for any eco-system and the increase in university based startup initiatives that started to take place in 2012 are another indication that we are on the right track.”

He also believes that service businesses, designed to make your life easier, will lead the way in 2013. Think personal assistants, doctor’s appointments, grocery shopping and getting a taxi.

“I would also look at smart companies that are starting to think about the next wave of applications in the augmented reality space, particularly with the impact of Google’s Project Glass. Starting to think about how your startup will look and operate in this space is essential for 2013.”

Startup Grind has chapters in both Melbourne and Sydney. To find out more about coming events head to StartupGrind.com

Chris Joannou also runs the Melbourne Internet Business Group and Startup Lab Australia, contributes to Tech Cocktail and operates DreamPushers, a digital lifestyle magazine which will this year be used as a vehicle for three major Kickstarter projects and will also launch its online store.

Start-ups left behind in the Asian Century

Start-ups left behind in the Asian Century

Innovation. It was the undisputed battle cry of the year. Looking back, the Asian Century whitepaper was one of the biggest talking points of the year.

Big business and start-ups alike have become overly liberal with their use of the term and encourage relentless innovation and disruptive thinking every chance they get.

However, big business is fraught with bureaucratic structures and established procedures, while the large accounting and legal services firms are shackled by the chains of their core product offering.

It is the lean start-up that has the most room to move and treads the most fertile ground, primed for not only innovative thinking but also for action. Action to turn this thinking into something more than a few multi-coloured marker squiggles on workshop paper or self-serving ideas captured on company web-pages that resemble something from one of the many DIY Geocities sites of the 90s.

The Asian Century whitepaper was supposed to be the Australian Labor Party’s landmark answer to the emerging economies of Asia, particularly that of China, Japan, India, South Korea and Indonesia. It was to be our roadmap and response to the fact that within only a few years, Asia will be both the world’s largest producer and consumer of goods and services.

Yet this whitepaper, like many a corporate boardroom spiel, company-wide email and end of year junket, indiscriminately played the innovation card. In fact, ‘innovation’ was littered throughout the report no less than 90 times. So what does this mean for Australia’s innovative thinkers, creative types and fledgling start-up scene? Sadly, not much.

This 320 page document included an entire four, count them, four paragraphs dedicated to ‘supporting financing for innovation’. And while these four paragraphs touch on some existing initiatives such as the Commercialisation Australia (CA) grants and the Clean Technology program, there’s little by way of forward thinking or new incentives to support what Deloitte Private partner Josh Tanchell refers to as Australia’s greatest natural resource, entrepreneurs.

These fluffy paragraphs would not be out of place in the plush teddy section at Toys R’ Us, right there next to Tickle Me Elmo, or maybe one of the Care Bears, I haven’t quite decided.

The CA grants, while a commendable initiative, are a dollar for dollar incentive, and therein lies the reason why uptake of the grants is so low. Deloitte’s recent Silicon Beach report found that only 21% of Aussie start-ups accessing grants were doing so through CA. Getting a start-up off the ground is difficult stuff and having to front 50% of your start-up costs is no easy feat, particularly if taking the gamble and committing to projects on a full time basis on a stomach full of Maggi noodles, without a steady stream of income.

The fact is that while a full-time job can help fund your start-up, it can also hinder its progress and in a fast moving climate where first to market often wins, the inability to focus all of your creative juices on a single project can hinder progress, sacrifice results and ultimately discourage having a crack.

It’s hard to imagine having a red hot go while working 40 hours a week. This does not even take into account the often overlooked late nights, weekends, domestic duties and other social and family commitments. Yes, it is difficult to see any other reason why uptake of the CA grants is so low other than the fact that it is a dollar for dollar initiative.

Lean start-ups today are finding it easier to get out in the real world and test their ideas through enabling technology platforms such as crowd-funding, crowd-sourcing and a slick application of bootstrapping. But when it comes time to scale, Australia is skating far behind the United States and with all things remaining constant, nothing other than a Steven Bradbury-esque slip up on the part of our Monday night football loving peers will see us closing the gap.

Deloitte found that in the US, comparable companies raise 4.8 times more capital than Australian companies in early stage investments raise and an astronomical 100 times more capital when ready to scale. Scratch that previous comment about Steven Bradbury, at least he was in the final race, we’re struggling to bust out of the heats at this rate.

To add further insult to injury, the red tape island we call home stings those who open their wallets to start-ups with capital gains tax, makes selling company equity notoriously difficult and often restricts bidding for government contracts to ASX 100 listed companies.

Australia must do a lot more to incentivise investment in start-up companies and consider additional tax breaks and the lowering of red tape, particularly with respect to employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs).

The lack of foresight shown by the whitepaper is quite disappointing considering wealth of start-up activity in Australia. We have a wealth of co-working spaces including Hub Melbourne and Sydney, Sydney’s Fishburners and the nation-wide Jelly spaces to name but a few as well as programs and funding platforms such as Pushstart and the fast growing AppVillage through to Starfish and Blue Chilli.

While these platforms are helping to provide some relief, they could do with a hand from the policy makers.

The Global Entrepreneurship Monitor this year found that more than 10.5% of Australians are engaged in some sort of entrepreneurial activity and one would not be wrong in assuming this number to be much higher under different conditions.

Having said all of this, we aren’t short on start-up success stories when you consider Jetts Fitness, BigCommerce, Shoes of Prey, UberGlobal and enterprise software poster child Atlassian, but this success is in spite of the funding climate. A more robust funding climate would inspire new heights of innovation, rather than just get the conversation started, generate economic growth and place us in poll position, not only geographically, but strategically, to take advantage of the Asian revolution.

Gillard’s whitepaper is to start-ups what Charles Darwin’s Theory Of Evolution is to the faithful and the underlying message is one which tells aspiring entrepreneurs, in no uncertain terms, that if they want to access the capital required to give their ideas wings, then they should knock down a can of Red Bull and start packing their bags…and take their money spinning and job creating disruptive thinking with them.

@SteveGlaveski is an IT Risk professional, aspiring entrepreneur, start-up writer, fitness and rock n’ roll enthusiast.

Add me on Google