Two Weeks in Little Tokyo Two!

As part of my business development strategy for Start with Tinni, I wanted to get membership of a co-working space. I thought it would be an excellent way to have space away from my home where I could focus better and meet clients. I also wanted the opportunity to offer my services to the community of the co-working space and get some clients that way. I took a tour of all the major players, but in the end, I felt that Little Tokyo Two offered just a bit more for a comparable price.

I look their Starting Stage Plan, which includes monthly business workshops, advisory services, frameworks and accountability. I think I can benefit a lot from something more structured, and in the end, that’s what sealed the deal!

Technically, my membership started 1st of January, but since the staff wasn’t back until the 7th, I waited until then to pick up my key card. I used the space for the first time on the 10th catch-up with Nigel, on Your Happy Place business. I had my first meeting with Jock Fairweather, the founder of Little Tokyo Two, on Monday. I’ll be back there next week, and I hope to work at least 2-3 from The Capital!

Personality and Place: Your Happy Place App

We know that our environment has a significant impact on our mood. But how aware are you of how the place you are in effects your mood? Also, are we designing for all personality types or only a subset who tend to be over-represented on urban planning boards? There are the questions Dr Nigel Cartlidge of Griffith University explores in his research. We teamed up back in July to turn his research into an app that’s usable and downloadable by all, which is where the Your Happy Place App comes in to play.

Currently available on Expo.io as a working demonstration of the concept. Nigel will be presenting the app and the broader plan for it at The International Urban Design Conference taking place right now in Sydney.

The idea has a two-sided market. One side of the market is everyone interested in emotional and wellness tracking and analysis. Ideally, users will use the app every day to record their emotions, taking into account the place they are in, and the app will provide feedback to them. The other side of the market is the urban design and planning community, who could use the data to better design and build urban spaces.

The ideas are still developing, and it’s all currently bootstrapped by Nigel, and his wife, Janet. I am on board as CTO and chief developer. Hopefully, we can drum up enough interest to start raising some seed funding. The website for the business side of things is Personality and Place. I cannot be at the conference, but I am sure Nigel is doing very well!

Start with Tinni

November 1st, 2018 is the official start date of my newest business venture: Start with Tinni! Through this business I will formally work with startup and small businesses to develop and evolve the technology side of their enterprise. It’s similar to what I frequently get asked to do by various startups around Brisbane. I can just do it more formally with proper infrastructure behind me. I am excited to launch and look forward to adding positively to the Brisbane entrepreneurial ecosystem. So let me end this post with my elevator pitch:

“Our data-driven, technology-enabled world can be tough to navigate for small businesses and startups. Especially with startups, there might be a technological component that the founders are not equipped to handle. I am here to help both established businesses and startups navigate the technological landscape of today.”

— - Why Start with Tinni!

Consultant CTO to Koostoo

Since about 1st of August, I have held the position of chief technology officer (CTO) in Koostoo! Koostoo is an early stage startup focused on enabling intergenerational cooperation through co-living.

Now given it’s an early stage startup, I could have called myself anything. But in my experience, titles like “Techno Wizards of the land of Coffee” lose their humour pretty quickly. So plain old CTO will have to do. Our goal with Koostoo is to build a platform that connects students in need of low-cost housing with seniors who have a spare room, and who could benefit from a bit of extra support. We also aim to build a community with our platform.

We have had some success in the three months we have been up and running. You can read more about Koostoo, and our successes to date, in my article on Medium!

The unexpected trip to Startcon's Brisbane Regional Final for Pitch for $1 Million

I am making up for being dead to the world during most of August and September! Although Startcon’s Pitch for $1 Million wasn’t on my to go list. Until, Little Tokyo Two gave me a chance to get free tickets on Thursday night, for the Friday event. When life gives you these opportunities, it’s foolish not to take them. So I took it and was treated to a great day of interesting pitches, insightful talk and delicious food!

Normally, I do a detailed analysis of the pitches, but with 27 pitches at a duration of 2 minutes plus 3 minutes of questions, it’s simply too many to cover. So let’s start with the winner: Conpago!

As I am working as a consultant CTO for two QUT Foundry based startups dealing with aged care, I had heard Conpago mentioned a few times. But this was the first time I heard them pitch. It was a very well done pitch. They got across clearly the pain point they were addressing, the benefits they were bringing, and they finished with seconds to spare! Two minutes is not a long time, and some of the other pitches failed to get across clearly the why and what of their existence. Conpago on the other hand, had a clear story, that they communicated well. I felt my speech points going up just listening to them!

Second place went to Monarc Global, who want to be Uber of private air travel. As far as the pitch went, there were better presenters then Monarc, but they certainly had the sexiest business idea. Also, while they struggled to fit everything into the two minutes, they still got across their why and what. It was also very clear that the business had some real traction. So while I think they need to practice more before the finals, I think they have a solid shot at winning the $1 million prize!

Becon Health took out third place. I missed the initial pitch for Becon Health and Parent TV. But luckily, both were selected to be the six semifinalists. So I got to hear Becon’s pitch, and Parent TV’s too of course. It was a good pitch, and I know they why and what of their existence. Becon Health is also something that I am surprised doesn’t exist already. But I suppose, like Monarc, Becon Health needed the economy in a certain place to be viable. We do live in a gig economy, a sharing economy and an on-demand economy. So it makes sense for the market to be ripe for Becon Health.

As I mentioned, the initial 27 pitches were paired down to six semi-finalists. These six founders pitched again, and from there ranks the three winners were chosen. Parent TV was one of them. They are an online content factory that provides tailored educational content for parents. It’s a good business idea that was pitched with clarity.

Kids Wantu was another semi-finalist. Way back in February 2017, I wrote about attending a Meetup on how to market apps. The post isn’t very detailed, and the meet-up no longer exists. But the in the post I did mention that one of the meet-up members had presented her app. That member was Anne-Marie Walton, and at the time, she was just getting ready to launch Kids Wantu to the general public. It was amazing to see how far Kids Wantu had come in the almost two years since the Meetup. Kids Wantu didn’t place this time, but I think the app is set for big things to come!

The sixth finalist was WatchYourTalk and I was a bit surprised they got in. 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.

I personally wouldn’t have chosen UPTEK in the place of WatchYourTalk. The founder was wearing the air bands while pitching. The product also seemed ready for Kickstarter. I certainly would back the product should it ever come on Kickstarter. That’s not to say that there was more evidence in the pitch that UPTEK AirBands had more solid science behind it then WatchYourTalk. I think that a band that helps you build more muscles by restricting airflow in short bursts is more likely then an app that detects if you are at risk of suicide based on your speech pattern.

From the other pitches, the ones that didn’t make it out of their group, there was World's Biggest Garage Sale whose full pitch I got to hear at Creative 3. I also got to see the 2-minute version of Space Y’s pitch from last Tuesday’s iLab event.

Finally, I wanted to take note of Amber, the only crypto-startup to pitch. The founder of Amber, Aleksandar Svetski, is on the opposite side of the Bitcoin vs Bitcoin Cash debate to my good friend Brendan Lee. They even debated each other recently! If you are wondering what the hell I am talking about, let me refer you to the video of the debate.

Overall, it was a good day. I did learn a few things from the invited speakers. Maybe I’ll do another post to delve a bit more into what I learnt. I am glad I went. Thank you again to Little Tokyo Two for the tickets!