Bad Blood

I finished listening to the Audiable version of Bad Blood, and it was stunning! I cannot believe that this company did not raise red flags left, right and centre. The truth, of course, was that it had. But because of NDAs, information silos, FOMO among executives and the inner circle culture of super wealthy, Silicon Valley etc., the flags weren’t picked up. More than that, all you have to do is look at the two public whistle-blowers to know why the scam went on for so long!

The whistle-blowers were young, and one of them was Tyler Shultz. Yeah, Elizabeth Holmes and Theranos still managed to make his life a hellish nightmare in the short run, but he’s was still Tyler Shultz, and he was going to land on his feet long term. The same wouldn’t have been true of the Indian employees on skilled migration visas.

I think Theranos is a cautionary tale that goes beyond entrepreneurial culture. Be optimistic but don’t be blind to reality. Also, we need to stop worshipping the dropouts. I mean, yes, Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg dropped out, when they dropped out they 1) had their respective business ideas, 2) had the necessary skills or could teach themselves the skills they needed to make Microsoft and Facebook a success.

Steve Jobs spent a lot of time auditing classes after he couldn’t continue with the university. I understand it was a money issue in his case. Also, Steve Jobs had Steve Wozniak as his partner and Wozniak was a brilliant engineer. Finally, Google’s Larry Page and Sergey Brin dropped out of PhD programs!

You can’t teach yourself medical science. Elizabeth Holmes also didn’t have a Steve Wozniak character by her side. Besides which, what she wanted to do needed scientific and technological breakthrough to become a reality. I read a few comments that suggested that Holmes’s fixation on the bells and whistles. Stuff like the font on the website or the look and feel of the Edison Machine was her channelling her boundless energy into tasks that she could do because she didn’t have the technical know-how to work in the lab.

She wasn’t a Steve Jobs, but she might have been an Elon Musk if, like him, she stayed in school and got a technical education. The saddest part is that many still believe Elizabeth Holmes was unfairly treated. They think she did nothing wrong. She’s blindly defended by many women, but her defenders are wrong! She hurt people.

I am not going to speculate whether she set out with good intentions and then went down the wrong path. That’s not important. What is important is how she went about doing business was not a good way to achieve anything. She hurt patients, she hurt her employees, including Ian Gibbons who committed suicide. Indeed, Ian Gibbons’s story made me the saddest because he stayed with Theranos because his work defined his life. So he couldn’t walk away, even when he was suffering, because, without his work, he felt he was nothing.

I have no doubt that sooner or later, people will forget about Theranos. People are already forgetting the GFC and many people do not know about Enron or understand the Dot com clash. Theranos was not as big as GFC or Dot com clash, nor was it an Enron. But I think entrepreneurs and businesses owners of all shapes and sizes have a lot to learn from this saga.

Blink

I finished this book in March, but life kept me busy, and I didn’t have a chance to sit down and reflect on it. I enjoyed the book very much. It certainly helped me understand why some of the people around me work the way they do. I especially liked how the book took the time to highlight the negative side of snap judgements, but also advocated for deciding on the spot when appropriate. The big message for entrepreneurs from the book, I think, is the caution around market research, customer profiling or even getting feedback. Because the book makes it very clear how hard it can be to get people to explain why they think the things they do.

There are also lessons to be gleaned from the book when judging pitches or business concepts. Blink can help with bullshit detection because if you stop to think, a charismatic person can convince you to go against your instincts. In fact, the book I am listing to currently through Audible is Bad Blood. I cannot help thinking that a lot of Bad Blood happened because people simply refused to listen to their instincts. But that’s for the next post!

End of Little Tokyo Two

I am going to keep this short because by now, the background and story of Little Tokyo Two going into voluntary liquidation has become widely known and covered. I am, of course, affected because I joined Little Tokyo Two back in January. Admittedly, I was less interested in the co-working side and more interested in the incubation services, introduction to relevant parties and support with growing my business. It was why I choose Little Tokyo Two over Fishburners and River City Labs.

Jock did get me four leads for customers. But unfortunately, I wasn’t able to convert any of them into sales. The most use I ended-up making of my membership with Little Tokyo Two was through the use of their three boardrooms for meetings. But I was beginning to make plans with Little Tokyo Two support staff to put together a workshop, plus looking to get on relevant podcasts when the news hit. I am disappointed but not surprised because, in hindsight, the writing was on the wall.

So what’s been happening? My membership was transferred to Brisbane Marketing, who are a branch of the Brisbane City Council. The Council has assured me that my membership will continue for the time being as normal. Fishburners has stepped up to provide community support services. Also, Office Hub has contacted me trying to sign me with their service to help with my move away from Little Tokyo Two.

Honestly, I am happy to go with the flow for the time being. I am still using the meeting rooms. So I’ll keep my membership going for now. My initial contract was until the end of June. So let’s see if I get to the end of my contract or if I bail out by May!

Startup World Cup: Australian Regional Finals

Yesterday, I got to attend the Startup World Cup and enjoy pitches from the ten startups from around Australia! The ten participants where: Hip Money, Build Sort, Tide Foundation, Monarc Global, Gizmo 3D printers, My Med Kit, Mind Hive, Sensa Web, Start at 60 and Diabetes Neuromathix. All the pitches were of a high quality, which is expected from an event of this nature. Not all of them were generating revenue yet, but I can see all of them going on to have successful businesses. But there could be only one winner and the winner was Start at 60!

I was joined at the event by many of my cohort mates from Impact Boom Elevate+ as this was an opportunity for us to check out the Triffid ahead of our own pitch event on the 6th of June. I did try to network a bit, but it was nice to be able to retreat to a group of familiar faces and discuss the event. We all pretty much guessed that Start at 60 was going to win!

Start at 60, and Monarc Global had the strongest pitches in the set because they were live and making revenue. I gathered Hip Money, Build Sort, and My Med Kit are also live and making money. But their pitches weren’t as thorough as Start at 60 or Monarc Global. Gizmo 3D Printers are also live and making great progress, but they weren’t as exciting as Start at 60 or Monarc Global.

Sensa Web and Diabetes Neuromathix are great technologies that have proven their science, but they had not yet proven their business model. Sensa Web especially seemed to rely on the assumption that organisations care enough about their employees to pay for the expanse of the Sensa Web, which is far more efficient but also far more expansive than the current system. I am not sure how good of an idea it is to assume that most organisations care about the meat sacks. Steve Baxter, who was one of the judges, did point this out as well.

The only pitch that I was left completely unconvinced by was the Tide Foundation which wants to spread the Tide protocol. They want to safeguard our privacy and turn our personal data into an asset that the individual can monetise. So instead of Facebook making money of us, we make money of us. Great idea on paper, but I didn’t believe the pitch. Maybe if I looked more into the Tide protocol, I would get it. But from the pitch alone, I have more questions than answers.

Overall, it was a great event, and I am kind of keen to see if I can chase down the stream from the other regional competitions. I am especially curious about the Startup World Cup regional competition that took place in Bangladesh. I have heard that Dhaka is becoming a bit of hub of startup activity. So it would be nice if I could chase down the pitches! But certainly, I’ll try to tune into the watch parties for the rest of the regional finals and the grand finale in San Francisco, USA!

Brisbane Social Enterprise Tour 2019

On Tuesday the 12th of March I had the pleasure of going on the Brisbane Social Enterprise Tour. A lot has happened since then, including the passing of my beloved grandfather, and as a result, this is the first opportunity I had to sit down and write about it.

Our tour started in Nundah. Actually, the bus started in South Bank. I was supposed to get there by 8:00 AM, but I found myself stuck in traffic in an Uber on Milton road at 7:50 AM. So, I made an “executive decision” and decided to beat the bus to our first stop which was the Nundah Community Enterprises Co-op (NCEC) plus our cohort mate, Vessel Nundah. I ended up waiting with Marion for the bus, which was super late. So I could have to meet the bus if I kept heading towards South Bank!

Me & Marion Glover of Vessel Nundah

It was interesting hearing about the story of NCEC and how they grew from a landscaping service to a cafe, with a community centre etc. It was also funny because they took a bit of a dig on Sarina Russo. I am currently completing my NEIS requirements with Sarina Russo. So it was kind of amusing to see her name crop up so unexpectedly. But I can understand why an organisation like NCEC would have a not so positive view of Sarina Russo. But of course, they both perform vital service with the community.

Nundah Community Enterprises Co-op (NCEC)

We had morning tea at the NCEC cafe, and after that, we headed to the workshop of Bertonni. I have talked about Bertonni a lot. They are a bit of success story out of last years Impact Boom Cohort. I love the work they do in Bertonni. I am thinking of getting one of their vases for myself later in the year. Maybe once they release a coloured vase like the red vase I saw in the workshop!

After Bertonni, we returned to South Bank to check out the Brisbane Tool Library. The tool library is also an alumnus of Impact Boom. I am glad they are doing well because I am all for the circular economy. After the tool library, we had lunch at Food Connect. Food Connect is one of Brisbane’s oldest social enterprises. But the food itself was catered by The Black Card. It was delicious, and I am a bit annoyed my photo of the feast didn’t come through. I really need a new phone!

Our last stop for the day was Logan’s Substation 33 who are e-waste recycling facility that also has an innovation wing. Innov8 Logan has supported such exciting projects as Powerwell, who were the Australian winners of the Pitch at the Palace competition. I was impressed with the whole ethos of Substation 33, including the fact that they get young people and people returning to the workforce job ready and then help them find jobs. It's a great social enterprise.

In terms of Abide, I got to pitch in the bus to the government, social enterprise supporters and others who joined us on the tour. I connected with a few people. Let’s hope they can help us move Abide forward!