Lord Mayor's Social Enterprise Business Forum

I joined many of my cohort mates from the Impact Boom Elevate+ last Wednesday at the Lord Mayor's Social Enterprise Business Forum. I have heard about these, but this was the first one I attended. It was perfect timing too because my new business cards as the CTO of Abide had just arrived! So my co-founder, Andy and I, used the event as a massive opportunity to pitch Abide so that we get inputs and have the opportunity to explore collaborations.

The forum was also a learning opportunity boasting the speakers Alex Hannant, Co-Director, Yunus Social Business Centre, Griffith University who spoke about the "Ingredients for success and failure - 10 things I've learnt about social enterprise". It was a great talk that highlighted the realities facing social enterprises. I especially liked the tip about "letting zombies dies". He was saying that as social entrepreneurs, we are often driven by passion and belief. So we might often keep ventures going that are in realities zombies. I think this is a good tip for everyone who are passionate about what they do. It's not just about business but also jobs, creative endeavours etc., etc.

The second speaker was Emma-Kate Rose, General Manager, Food Connect, who spoke about "Running a business with heart and purpose: why social enterprises are on the rise". But unfortunately, I was not able to stay for that talk. Overall, I had a good time, and I am going to see if I can't make more of these forums!

Pitching Abide.Space at River City Labs Friday Open House Drinks and Pitches

With the Elevate+ Social Enterprise Pitch Night getting closer, it’s on the 6th of June, I decided to drum up support for Abide and the Elevate+ Pitch Night by pitching at the River City Labs Friday Open House Drinks and Pitches! The tickets are on sale now, for the Elevate+ pitch night so Brisbane folks, get your today!

I also spent the day working at River City Labs with JOSARI. We are getting very close to launching the iOS app. So watch this space for more information. But for now, enjoy the video of my pitch, the beginning is missing but you still get the gist of it! To here the full 3 minutes pitch, come see Abide at The Triffid!

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!

February In Review: What have I been doing!

February might be the shortest month of the year, but February 2019 felt like a whole year to me! My life is noticeably different then it was on February 1st, and I don’t just mean because of the passage of time! So what’s been happening?

MIT Bootcamp

I am sure people are sick of hearing me talk about it. But the week I spent at the camp was an intense experience. I certainly feel like I packed a few months worth of learning into a long, 18+ hour week. I am glad I took the opportunity offered to me. It was a blast!

I am now slowly but surely trying to revive Virgo 19 using the 24 steps. I am in the middle of generating 108 ideas. I am in no hurry, and that’s good because I want to do this right!

Abide Gets Into Impact Boom Elevate+

As soon as the MIT Bootcamp ended, I got the opportunity to apply what I learnt in the context of Abide and the Impact Boom Elevate+ social enterprise accelerator. Our paired mentor for the program, Tobias Speck of PWC, is a more on the lean startup side but that’s okay. We are not a methodology purist, and we know we have to show results within a short period. So we will use whatever methodology we need to get our startup going. But my co-founder and CEO, Andy Smith, is finding the Disciplined Entrepreneurship as insightful as I do!

JOSARI Gearing-up to apply to Collider

I will write a post explaining JOSARI, it’s a video based micro-consulting platform, and my involvement with them soon! But for now, I am excited to be working with them to apply for the Collider accelerator. Watch this space for updates!

Not continuing with Your Happy Place

Not everything that happened in February was positive through addition. I have posted about Your Happy Place a couple of times before, the first post being in November. My contract with them was to get an MVP of the people, personality and places concept out in a usable format. I was successful in achieving this goal: Your Happy Place the app, is available for download from Google Play Store. However, Your Happy Place is not the right fit for me going forward. But the concept remains as viable and interesting as ever. I hope to see Your Happy Place be a resounding success as it goes on. However, from my point of view, I think this is positive through subtraction for both myself and Your Happy Place.

Hospitals, hospitals and more Hospitals!

To finish off this update on a more personal note. I physically crashed badly after returning from the MIT Bootcamp. I later found out this is because my blood iron had dropped to dangerous levels again. I am getting an iron infusion this coming Sunday, and my doctor thinks after the infusion I should be able to relax for the next six months.

In addition to my health woes, my poor niece also suffered. She came down to Brisbane from Townsville for what was supposed to be a week-long vacation. However, she ended up staying for two weeks, with the last week hospitalised from a mysterious virus. She got out less than 24 hours ago, but she has mended enough to be back to her happy self. So I am glad we are leaving the medical drama behind in February and starting March on a fresh note all around!

Abide part of Impact Boom Elevate+ cohort for 2019!

The last time I spoke about the inter-generational cooperation platform I am working on with my co-founder and CEO, Andy Smith, our startup was still called Koostoo. But the name didn’t play well with audiences. So we have renamed the startup Abide, we even have a website now!

Abide took a big and important step this year by being accepted into the Impact Boom Elevate+ social enterprise accelerator. Elevate+ is funded by the Brisbane City Council, and we were selected from a competitive field of startups draws from across Brisbane City.

Brisbane City Council is the largest local government in Australia because way back when, we merged a lot of small town councils into one super council. We do this a lot in Queensland.

So while a city like Sydney is bigger then Brisbane, they don’t have one big city council that covers the entire city. What that means is that Brisbane City Council can do a lot more then the other city councils. So they have a economic development unit that supports initiative like Elevate+.

Andy, Tom and I, at the Impact Boom Elevate+ cohort 2019 welcome event

The Elevate+ cohort for 2019 was announced last Tuesday, the 5th of February, and even though I was in the middle of the MIT Bootcamp, I was able to take some time to make an appearance at the Brisbane Social Enterprise Drinks & Networking, meet Tom Allen, the CEO of Impact Boom, in person. Before rushing off to the MIT Bootcamp networking event. It was a very busy night.

Getting accepted into Elevate+ was very important for Andy and me because we are both working on sweat equity for now. So it would be very easy for us to let Abide slip by the wayside. But now we have a target to work towards because the graduating cohort of Elevate+ gets to pitch in front of the Lord Mayor, and other at The Triffid on the 6th of June. Along the way, we have a set time during the week where we get to take time and work on the startup.

The first session took place the Tuesday just past, the 12th of February, at the Queensland College of Art, Griffith University, South Bank Campus. The first module that goes with the session is also now available online to complete. I am looking forward to using this opportunity to develop Abide further, making something of an idea that enjoyed strong support from QUT, which has to date put in $3,000 in seed funding, and the community at large!