The Tiniest Mentor
I'm very lucky to love what I do, so I like to roll up my sleeves and help out where I can. It turns out I spend a third of my weekends on hackathons, demo days, pitch events and social enterprise projects! Here are some of my favourites from the last year.
THE AWESOME FOUNDATION | Trustee OF SYDNEY CHAPTER
The Awesome Foundation is a global community advancing the interest of awesome in the universe, $1000 at a time. We just celebrated $2,000,00 in global grants and it looks like we are on our way to $3,000,000! As the Dean of the Sydney chapter, I wrangle the troops, negotiate partnerships, make sure operations run smoothly, organise events and pretty much keep the fun going. Sometimes I bring brownies.
Mentor Peru | Youth MENTOR
Mentor Peru is a social enterprise that matches young talented Peruvians with mentors around the world. It's a joy and an honour to be asked to be part of the pilot program with the COAR school in rural Peru. Get in touch with them if you'd like to help out, too - it's a wonderful initiative.
THE FOUNDERS INSTITUTE | MENTOR
The Founder Institute is the world’s premier startup launch program for talented entrepreneurs. I was invited to be a mentor in 2016. I'm excited to meet the next batch of entrepreneurs!
POLICYHACK
I often describe Policy Hack as the hardest day of my professional life. I even have a full column on it (see I Write). But it truly opened my eyes to the challenges of government and hopefully gave way to more innovative experiments from #AusPol. I hope we get to do it again!
#SheCodes | Blue Chilli
Nicole Hazell joined Blue Chilli in August of 2016 as their newly appointed Head of Diversity. Her first point of action was a gathering call for #SheCodes, an afternoon coding code camp for women in business. Although I wish the event had been a teeny bit more hands-on, the initiative was a great success. It debunked many myths around the barriers of coding for an everyday person. Nicole is already busting through barriers in the ecosystem - and this little Hot Bitch in Charge is ready to back her up!
Blue Sky Workshops with NSW Small BUsiness COmmissioner
Gavin Heaton, known as @ServantofChaos on Twitter, and Chief Disrupter Anna-Marie Elias ran a through provoking series of workshops for the NSW Small Business Commissioner under the name "Blue SKy." The workshops invited government employees and small business owners to join in on the creative powers of the lean startup. The day centred around creative problem solving and adopting customer-first perspectives for government. I lead a few teams through the exercises and learned a lot about the differences between small business and the startup world. It was a steep learning curve for everybody.
Lady Problems, ANgelHack | MENTOR
An international event addressing problems faced by women in technology and start-up companies has wrapped up in Sydney.The event, called the 'Lady Problems hackathon', was looking at issues stopping women from getting into start-ups, and creating ideas to help women succeed.
The Hult Prize
The Hult Prize Foundation is a start-up accelerator for budding young social entrepreneurs emerging from the world’s universities. Named as one of the top five ideas changing the world by President Bill Clinton and TIME Magazine, the annual competition for the Hult Prize aims to create and launch the most compelling social business ideas—start-up enterprises that tackle grave issues faced by billions of people. Winners receive USD1 Million in seed capital, as well as mentorship and advice from the international business community. Australia sent 2 teams from UNSW and I was part of the panel tasked with prepping them for the global pitch. It was daunting but very rewarding. Hearing these social enterprise ideas was the closest I'll ever come to having a crystal ball.
Project Pitch | Startup Mentor
The following is placeholder text known as UTS Project Pitch is a lean entrepreneurship weekend. The aim of the weekend is to build UTS Community start-ups into world leading disruptors and innovators. I have been a lean startup mentor and facilitator 2 years running and I'm hoping to join them for many more to come. Project Pitch is a great opportunity to meet upcoming startup talent and to get to know other mentors you might have not come across before.
MQU Innovation Panel
Many universities are jumping on the "innovation" bandwagon, but few actually stop to think about the repercussions this relocation of resources will have in the existing ecosystem or how any new initiatives will impact their existing offering. Luckily, Macquarie University knew better! The discussion was lead by the Deputy Vice-Chancellor Corporate Engagement and Advancement and included experts, innovation specialists and entrepreneurs. I was invited to share my experience as an international student coming into the startup world after completing my studies. My panel challenged the idea of creating more concentric circles around innovation and proposed a more collaborative approach. I'm excited to see what happens!
HackFood
HackFood is a weekend long business building competition and start-up boot camp that connects Australia’s brightest and most passionate entrepreneurs, foodies, chefs and developers with one goal in mind: to disrupt the Australian food industry. Being a mentor at this hackathon meant fulfilling two loves: foods and friends. I got to meet amazing people, including getting to know Liz Kaelin - the most badass lady in the good industry.
SheStarts | startup Advisor
SheStarts is a competitive startup program for ambitious female entrepreneurs with big ideas for high-impact businesses. Ten founders will be accepted into the program, where our team of startup experts and mentors will take them through a step-by-step process to establish their business in rapid time and learn how to be a successful CEO. During the 6-month program, the founders can choose to work from our incubator spaces in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, providing a unique environment for collaboration and the opportunity to learn from peers and experienced entrepreneurs in residence.
NASA SPACE APPS HACKATHON
Space travel is the perfect metaphor for the lean startup - they are both methods of disciplined exploration lead by curiosity. Being a mentor for this hackathon was truly a dream come true. And to add icing to the cake, Steven joined as a participant and his team won 3rd place! I went home with my very own Han Solo. Can't wait for next year.
TECHSydney
TechSydney's sole purpose is to turn Sydney into one of the Top Ten Innovative Cities in the world. Currently we sit at 16, having fallen from 12th last year. I am a big supporter of TechSydney's purpose and I'm curious to see how we can all contribute to organise a more diverse, representative and creative ecosystem in Sydney. It's going to be a fun ride...
FASHHACK
FashHack is the brainchild of Victoria Lai, a true force of nature. Victoria has merged her passion for learning, technology and fashion into a series of events centred around the future of fashion. This one is very close to my heart.
Remarkable | Telstra Foundation
Remarkable is a social enterprise funded by the Telstra Foundation. Their mission is to harness technology to build social and economic inclusion. Their central programs look to initiate innovation, accelerate inclusive startups and instigate change. As a lean startup expert, I was asked to join a series of discovery, branding and design workshops to help shape the direction of what was to become Remarkable. It is amazing to see how far it has come since then!
Klick Connect | Speaker
Klick Connect is an award-winning creative brand and PR firm founded by the most fabulous being in the industry - Kim McKay. Kim has built a thriving business around creativity, data analysis and inspiration. It's truly a dream. A few times a year they get their clients together to showcase new trends, findings and insights in an event known as Klick Connect. Kim was kind enough to ask me to join them on the Sydney leg as their lean startup speaker. I had a hoot talking about hiring for innovation and building startup teams. It was surreal to be sharing the stage with Matt Griggs, former trainer to Mick Fanning. Pretty impressive!
TECHFUGEES | Mentor (2015) & Judge (2016 , 2017)
TechFugees is a global grassroots initiative that was brought to Australia by the dynamo Annie Parker and Nicole Williamson. We all traveled to Liverpool and heard real stories of new immigrants in Australia, learned from their experiences and then went to work. We built tech solutions to make the arrival in Australia less traumatic for familiar fleeing hardship. It has been by far the most rewarding and emotional hackathon I have ever been to.
ASES at Macquarie University
The Asia-Pacific Student Entrepreneurship Society (ASES) holds a yearly pitching competition with $10,000 up for grabs! As a proud Macquarian, I was beyond excited to be asked to judge this year's entries alongside Justus Hammer, fellow Pollenizer bee and coFounder of Spreets. I wish there had a been a similar initiative when I was in school. I'm so happy there is one now!
PIivot: Made in Ultimo Workshops
Piivot is Sydney’s new digital creative knowledge hub - a collaboration between UTS, the NSW Government, the Commonwealth Bank, Microsoft, ARUP, and Fishburners. Working with local industries, Piivot will grow and support startups in Sydney, with Ultimo in particular becoming a globally competitive hub of digital creativity. As an influencer in the innovation ecosystem, I was asked to join a series of workshops to identify and define the best use for the precinct, as well as the core offering for PIivot. It's an ongoing process but I'm happy to see the fruits finally being harvested.
9 OTHERS
You know how sometimes it's easier to talk to strangers about your problems than it is your friends and family? 9Others helps you do just that, over dinner! Established in London in 2011, 9others is a network of over 3,500 entrepreneurs in 38 cities around the world. I was asked to join this year by Tom Bass, Sydney host and Founder of Flirtey. 9Others anchors around the principle of ideas sharing and diversity of views - right up my alley! It's a confronting proposition to go to dinner with strangers - but it's well worth it!
Job Futures Panel | COACT
JobFutures, now COACT, put together an inspiring conference called "The Powers of Many" to ignite ideas and action to help solve social problems. We were tackling big challenges, so the discussion has fierce and tough at times. I shared the panel with James Mabbot - head of the innovation team at KPMG - and Avis Mulhall - close friend and founder of ThinkActChange. The panel was moderated by Jan Owen, founder of Young Australians and the School of Social Entrepreneurship. I could not have asked for better - or more humbling- company.
FUTURE OF TEAMS Talk with Cerebral Palsy Alliance
Cerebral Palsy Alliance is a non-profit that provides services to thousands of people with a disability and their families. As part of their Emerging Leaders Program, they hold talks from different areas of industry. I was a guest speaker for the Future of Teams Talk held at their Allambie Headquarters. It's hard to explain how inspiring it was to be in the room, sharing stories with leaders who change other peoples' lives everyday. It was one of the highlights of the year.