Insights on Social Enterprise from Canada: An Impact-Led Breakfast Forum

On Monday morning, I had scrambled eggs for the first time in a long time! Why was I having special food? Because I accepted the invitation from Social Traders, QSEC and Impact Boom spend time in conversation with David LePage!

David LePage is a serial social entrepreneur. He’s currently the co-founder, Director and Managing Partner of Buy Social Canada. But he is also the designer, and was the initial Executive Director of Community Impact Real Estate (CIRE). He is a founding partner of the Social Enterprise Institute (SEI). David is also a Principal with Accelerating Social Impact (ASI), one of Canada’s first ever hybrid social enterprise corporations. So he has a wealth of experience on which he can draw to share some great insights.

The key insight from David’s key note were the six things he believed social enterprise needs to thrive. These are:

1. Business acumen

2. Social value finance

3. Access to markets

4. Measurement of impact

5. Networks of social entrepreneurs and supporters

6. Supportive public policy

I think he is spot on with his assessment because the world is about systems. You need to put the right systems in place for social enterprise to thrive. The panel that followed the keynote echoed the sentiment.

In addition to David LePage, the panel consisted of Social Traders’s David Brookes, Food Connect and QSEC’s Emma-Kate Rose, and English Family Foundation’s Belinda Morrissey. The conversation was moderated by Impact Boom’s very own Tom Allen.

The presence of Tom should be a clue that I was not the only person from Impact Boom Cohort of 2019 at the breakfast. So we had a bit of a reunion!

Careers & Mental Health Conversations Podcast: Anthony Kuhlmann

Anthony Kuhlmann is well known in the Brisbane ecosystem as an expert in sales. I talked about him before, when I attended his lunchtime workshop. So I was keen to hear what he had to say in the podcast. It was an interesting listen with some great takeaways! The ones that stayed with me after 24 hours were,

1. Don’t try to be everything to everybody: which is a lesson that was also hammered home during the MIT Bootcamp. But I think a lot of people misunderstand what the lesson is because the idea isn’t to niche yourself so that you can’t grow beyond a certain market segment. But to conquer one market at a time while slowly but surely developing an identity and reputation. People forget that Amazon started with just books and CDs.

2. Don’t try to attend everything/be everywhere: I think this is very important. Because even in Brisbane, you can easily fill your calendar with events. Not only is there something on almost every night but often multiple competing events. If you try to attend everything and be everywhere, you’ll burn out and achieve little. So I think it is good advice to be a bit more strategic with your time and networking energy.

3. Also, find a tribe of people who can support you: was a very good take away from the podcast!

So yes, I encourage people interested in business in-general to have a listen to the podcast!

OQCE Events: Leanne Live! & Write Well

Last week I was signed-up to attend two events hosted by the Queensland Chief Entrepreneur’s office. The first was Leanne Live! Investment and Capital Raising hosted by Leanne Kemp, and the second was Write Well. I made Write Well but I ended up following along with Investment and Capital Raising event on Facebook Live. The video from the event is still available, which is great because I can see myself revisiting the video from time to time.

The panel for the Investment and Capital Raising consisted of,

Kris Trevilyan- Angel Investor

Marcus Simpson - Head of Global Private Capital, QIC

Lisa Siganto - Board Director, QUT Blue Box

Stewart Glynn - Partner, Transition Level Investments

I have attended a few panels were investors give their perspective. The common theme is always, 1) do your research, 2) don’t ask for money in the first interaction, 3) cultivate a relationship because the best ideas won’t get funded if the investor has no confidence in the people trying to take the idea and make hay out of it. But it was great to get a Queensland-centric view of the investment landscape. Also, I am glad to here that there is a shift in the investment landscape, with an increasing emphasis on profit with a purpose businesses such as Abide!

I am not seeking investment at the moment. But I will sooner rather then later and so now is the time to up my knowledge of the process. Which is also why Write Well was a great talk to attend. I missed a good chunk of it on account of running late and having to leave early. But I didn’t miss the tips sections, and that’s the most important part!

Megan Avard, CEO and Founder of SurePact gave some great tips with the best one being to actually contact the organisers of the grant or award and talk to them about what they want to see in the application. That way, you know for sure you are answering the questions as asked, and not what you think they are asking.

The other useful tips was around who to talk about in the team section, including mentioning your advisory board to increase confidence in your ability to execute the project for which you are applying for grant money. Also, there were some great tips around targeting your efforts. So all around, a great talk. I learnt a lot. I am looking forward to finding an opportunity to applying the tips, and seeing how I go.

Collider Accelerator Demo Day 2019

Last Thursday was demo day for the Collider Accelerator’s 2019 cohort! As I mentioned previously, I was present at Collider Bootcamp with Josari. But sadly, Josari did not make the cut. However, what that meant that I got to see the startups graduating from Collider, just before they started their journey. It was interesting to see how far they had come.

I think the two startups that came the further from when I saw them at Bootcamp was Shotstack and Trusted Voice.

Shotstack during Bootcamp showed off the technology, but I personally couldn’t see an application. But turns out, there is a great demand for automated video creation en-mass. It was build in response to market demand, but that wasn’t made clear at Bootcamp. But on demo day, it was clear that there was a business model around that product. It wasn’t a solution looking for a problem. There was a problem that Shotstack was addressing because there is a need to create short videos en-mass. I get it now!

Similar to Shotstack, I didn’t know what The Trusted Voice, back then called Master Your Video, was trying to do. I got that the founder, String Nguyen, was an amazing social media influencer but I wasn’t sure what she wanted me to buy from her. But now I get it. The Trusted Voice a coaching program that promises to teach me how I can increase my influence and share my content. String has come a long way from Bootcamp!

AirSyne’s pitch improved a lot! They also found a target market in sports. AirSyne is the location-based messaging app that puts augmented reality (AR) messages in the air. I tried it out during the event. It’s pretty cool, but it is a “critical mass” issue. So I think they have targeted the right beachhead market with sporting events. I also see many other applications for AirSyne, but also a lot of pitfalls. Let’s face, someone will leave an ASCII dick as a message sooner or later!

The other startups also polished their pitches, and I am sure developed a lot in the background. But being more mature startups when they went into Collider, they didn’t go as dramatic a transformation as Shotstack, AirSyne and The Trusted Voice.

I mean, Anti Ordinary, who make beanies as strong as a helmet, and Cardly, who make customised cards with mimicked handwriting, are more scaleups then startups. So it makes sense that Anti Ordinary did not change a lot during the three months of the Collider accelerator. I don’t know what Cardly was before Collider because I don’t have any memory of them in the Bootcamp. I think they skipped the Bootcamp. But it’s clear from the pitch they are a mature startup.

Colour Space, an art rental service and Whatpods, training for podcast hosts, had a proper identity at the Bootcamp, and I think they just developed more during the accelerator. I think Whatpods used their time in the accelerator to create their training modules. Changes with Colour Space was not apparent from the pitch at demo day compared to Bootcamp.

Analytics.Lol was the sole representative of the gaming industry. Analytics.Lol is an analytics software for competitive gaming with the beachhead being League of Legends. I know enough about e-Sports to realize they have a high ceiling and potential for great success as the industry grows. But even the best ideas don’t turn into successful businesses.

Lastly but not least was the startup that actually went first, Umelore! Back in the Bootcamp, I knew Umelore was a sure bet to get into Collider. Umelore is an online marketplace that is connecting Indigenous artists with those looking to source authentic Indigenous artwork, ethically. It’s a brilliant idea from a brilliant Indigenous female founder, Alisha Jayne. I wish her all the luck!

JOSARI at IPIEC GLOBAL 2019

It’s only the second week of July, but it feels like I have lived a month and a half since the start of July. But it’s been good, and one of the great things that have happened recently was that Josari was one of seven finalists for the IPIEC GLOBAL 2019 pitch competition.

Paul did a great job of presenting. Even though we weren’t the among the two finalists who will get to go on to China, this was great exposure and an excellent networking opportunity. The winners were ClearSKY Genomics and Sticky Cell. Both are healthcare startups tackling important issues are the patient outcome. So there is no shame to losing to them. I missed the Sticky Cell pitch, along with that of Puml, because I was a bit late to arrive. But I did get to hear ClearSKY Genomics pitch and realised this was my second encounter with them. ClearSKY Genomics was at the Launch Festival!

I walked in while Watch Your Talk was pitching, and yes, I was careful coming in, but I think I might have messed up Hallie Wang from ACIC’s social media captures! Watch Your Talk also presented at Startcon last year, and they were one of the semi-finalists. At the time I wrote, “The pitch was good, but I am very sceptical of the idea. The startup wants to build an app that monitors speech to detect signs of depression. The founder assured the audience the app was based on sound science. But I would need to see the research behind it to be convinced.” They seem to have the app now and are doing closed beta testing. Being a five-minute pitch, as opposed to the two-minute Startcon pitch, they could share more details. So I was more convinced about the technology but not the business model. But let’s see how they develop!

The second pitch I got to hear was for Brekkie from iNovoTech. It’s a breakfast machine for the elderly, and other mobility challenged individuals. During the pitch I kept thinking “vaporware” during the presentation. I mean, during the questions from the judges it became clear that they don’t have a working machine. They have a 3D printed something, but I wasn’t sure what. But they are confident they can build a machine after raising some money. I think they need to work on their pitch and be more clear about where they are in the development process. Because right now, there is an element of smoke and mirrors in their pitch that doesn’t sit right with me.

Next up was Josari. So I got to see my name up on the big screen! It’s nice to consistently see myself as part of teams of Abide, Josari and included in my clients’ websites as part of their team. Given that this time last year, I was mostly an observer. Seeing my name up there as part of teams certainly makes me feel like I have come along with Start with Tinni!

Next was ClearSky Genomics, who are trying to build an interface that makes gene sequencing information easy to understand. Therefore, make it a regular part of the diagnostic process. I like the idea, and I hope it takes off! Given that IPIEC Global was all about pitching to China, it made sense that ClearSky was chosen was one of the two finalists. ClearSky Genomics is undoubtedly a solid technology that can make a huge difference if it can be appropriately commercialised.

Finally, we come to my favourite pitch, part from Josari of course, Perkii Probiotics! Why was Perkii my favourite? They gave us drinks! It’s always nice to have a startup, although Perkii is very much a scale-up, that can put a product in your hand. The drink was very nice, and I will be buying more. I don’t know if I believe the health claims of probiotics. Still, I am trying to reduce my Coca Cola consumption. So if drinking more Perkii means I drink less Coca Cola, that alone will lead to an improvement in my health regardless of whether probiotics actually do anything.

The final thing I wanted to mention was that UQ was very heavily represented at the event. Puml is in HYPE UQ SPIN Global Sportstech Accelerator. The research backing Perkii came through UQ. ClearSky Genomics is also affiliated with UQ. Sticky Cells too seems to have come out of research done at UQ. So that was an interesting observation. Overall, solid pitches and a great event!