Happy New Year!

I am sure I am committing a faux pas by waiting until January 7th before making a New Year post, but 2019 did not end well for me and this is the first chance I have had to sit down and post an update.

Let’s start with what happened last year. My grandparents passed away. First, my grandfather passed away on Monday, March 18th. Then my grandmother on Monday, November 18th. On the same day as my grandmother, I also lost one of my aunts. My late father had five sisters. Three are now gone. Finally, my great aunt passed away on December 11th. I left for Bangladesh after learning about my grandmother’s death. But I was distracted from early November when it became clear grandma wasn’t doing well. I was away for most of December and came back to meet up with my first cousin once removed, who is the granddaughter of my great aunt who passed. So I ended the year and decade hosting my cousin. But she’s returned home, and my immediate family are all now back in Brisbane. So it’s time to get back to work.

I start 2020 still the CTO of Josari, Birnam Wood, Abide and Kyco. Although at the moment, only Josari needs my active attention. I have also taken on collaborations with Sharka Bosakova, and that’s one of my active projects in January. Finally, I am also doing a project with a cloud backup company. So a lot of things to keep me busy. Especially since I also have plans to undertake some sales and marketing for Start with Tinni. To that end, I commissioned some new logos for the Start with Tinni. I mean, it’s been a year. So it is time to move away from the Squarespace stock logos. So check out my new logos and watch this space for updates relating to all my ventures and my continued journey with Start with Tinni!

The NEIS Program

On Saturday I made a small post to celebrate the 1st Anniversary of Start with Tinni. One of the things I mentioned in that post was that Start with Tinni was part of the NEIS scheme during its first year. It was a good experience.

The NEIS grant amounted a little over $10k, most of which I used to upgrade equipment, insurance, necessary saas service, pay for travel to Launch Festival, costs beyond tuition I had in associated with the MIT Bootcamp. Finally, the out of pocket expenses I had for Impact Boom Elevate+ accelerator. So, in essence, I used the grant to expand my network and build my knowledge.

I am incredibly grateful that I am in a position where I could spend the grant like this. I know that for many, the grant goes towards more essentials things as they wait to generate revenue

I also received training and mentorship through the NEIS program. The training happened in a group setting, so if you believe that the value of accelerator programs is mainly in the cohort, I am glad to have made the acquaintance of such a great bunch of people.

As for the training, I started my six-week in-person workshop-based training in July of 2018. But I didn’t officially launch my business until the 1st of November. I needed the extra time to implement everything I learnt properly. The workshop training also led to a formal qualification in the form of Certificate IV in New Small Business.

I went through the Sarina Russo Group, and so received my certificate through their institute. I thought I had a good grasp of business basics, but there were holes in my knowledge that the training helped to fill. Also, it was nice to have time and space to stop and think about the business.

Finally, I was assigned an official mentor through NEIS and Sarina Russo, and that was extremely helpful. Because sometimes, you need a mentor who has been there, done that and can help guide you. Mine was Sandra Gartner, and I am very grateful to her for her year-long mentorship and support.

1st Anniversary of Start with Tinni

Last year, 2nd of November was a Friday, so I took the opportunity to formally announce the launch of Start with Tinni at the RCL Pitch Night. My pitch got me one connection at least and launched and eventful year of Start with Tinni!

It’s been a packed year,

1. Start with Tinni completed the NEIS program

2. I completed the MIT Bootcamp

3. I finished Impact Boom Elevate+ with Abide

4. I attended the Launch Festival on the back of Abide

5. I got to participate in the QUT CEA Collider Bootcamp Day with Josari

6. I successfully project managed the launch of the Josari MVP, also the Abide MVP, and the first Your Happy Place MVP

7. Finally, I helped Birnam Wood navigate a crucial phase in their existence

But it’s also been a year of lows; my grandfather was still alive on the 2nd of November 2018. I am not celebrating much today because my grandmother is very sick. I might lose her before the year ends. Still, I am grateful for everybody who has been on the journey with me. Here’s to year 2 of Start with Tinni!

SheEO Australia Simulcast, If the Shoe Fits, Big Ideas Competition & Small Business Expo

Last week ended in a flurry of activities! I started Thursday early with the SheEO Australia Simulcast, where I got to listen to how SheEO has progressed in Australia since I attended the launch event last year. It was an inspirational way to start the morning, where I also put myself forward by asking for people to contact me if they need my services as a consultant CTO.

During the morning I found out about the “If the Shoe Fits”, a pop-up shop from The World’s Biggest Garage Sale. I ended up buying two shoes, both of which turned out to be Shoes of Prey shoes! I was thinking that they had unusual looks. But I didn’t realise that they were unusual because they were custom made! Shoes of Prey was a very successful startup that died trying to scale-up. As a startup enthusiast, I am glad I got a chance to get a hold of a pair of this part of Australian startup history.

Thursday ended with my regular meeting with Josari at the QUT Foundry, which is when I discovered that the Foundry was hosting the Big Ideas competition. I stuck around for two pitches. I wish I could have heard all of them but I had to get going. But the two ideas I got to hear were pretty cool. One was a robot that can be a companion to stressed university students. The other was about a shampoo bar with minimum packaging that can be sold by the homeless. I think both ideas are worth exploring further.

Finally, on Friday I checked out the Small Business Expo. I heard mixed reviews for the expo. So I wanted to check it out at least once. There was a good mix of businesses there, including some MLM traps! I didn’t have a game plan for promoting myself to the people there. But I was happy to take the scene in and hang out with Anne-Marie Walton of Kids Wantu, and Paul Buckwell of Josari. I’ll have a better game plan the next time I visit. But for now, I am glad to be enjoying my weekend. Also, Happy Diwali for those celebrating!

Breakfast with the QCE & Brisbane Innovate

Wednesday was a very busy day for me. I started the day having breakfast with my Impact Boom Elevate+ cohort mates. We were hosted by Leanne Kemp, the Queensland Chief Entrepreneur, and Craig O'Kane, the Director of the Queensland Chief Entrepreneur office. It was a great experience, I got an update on where everybody is, picked-up tips from the Leanne and Craig. The food was great too!

After the “Founders Breakfast”, almost all of us, plus Leanne, hoped on a maxi-taxi and crossed the river to attend the Brisbane Innovate 2019. Brisbane Marketing organised the half-day event to bringing together businesses and residents to collaboratively solve city-wide challenges.

This year, the summit focused on will focus on 1) Amplifying small business growth; 2) Innovating for effective, sustainable construction; and 3) Engaging out of town students.

I was in the Amplifying small business stream. There was a lot of ideas generated. Being an idea-vampire, I took pictures of all the idea boards. I also put my name down on a few boards that I was interested in and let’s see if there is enough interest to take those ideas further.

Finally, being a Wednesday, I was able to buy lunch from the Brisbane City Markets, which was great fuel ahead of my last meeting for the day. Wednesday was a good day!