The repository of all things resulting from my past, present and future
Dr Sharmin (Tinni) Choudhury is currently an entrepreneur and consultant CTO. Formerly, she was a researcher on topics include data management, knowledge management, ontology-based technology, smart wearable research and visual analytics.
"Never underestimate the power of chance!" That's the message I wanted students to take away when they read the article I wrote about my journey for the Industry Mentoring Network in STEM. The chance to write the article followed on from the invitation I received to speak at the IMNIS breakfast event last month. I enjoyed writing the article. I hope the IMNIS members enjoyed reading it too!
Collider Accelerator Demo Day at The Triffid
Yester, I was able to attend the Collider Accelerator Demo Day 2018. With registration opening at 2:30 PM and the pitches starting at 3:15 PM, it was a nice change from the usual nightly affairs. I left straight after the pitches because I wasn't in the right head space for networking afterwards. But I had a lot of fun and got to exercise my critical evaluation skills by ranking the pitches by asking, "Who would I invest with?". So let's start with a few start-ups I would definitely invest with, were a venture capitalist or angel investor.
The strongest pitches on the night were new software-as-service platforms that seemed to address a clear gap in the market. In this category was Brandollo - they offer marketing advice and training to small business owners, who are shut out of the expert marketing advise due to pricing.
Also in this category were Prysim - a gig management platform and Tribefire that's catering to the online gaming and eSports industry. As a gamer, I am especially interested in Tribefire, and I think they are an early mover in competitive eSports, which may well be the next Formula 1! The Tribefire team also seem on the ball and to understand how the gaming community works. So I would very interested to see how far they go.
I guess I'll put Tixel in the saas category as well, although they are more a marketplace. But they facilitate the resell of eTickets. Due to the nature of eTickets, often just a picture or a PDF, fraud is rampant and disappointment even more so! Tixel validates before selling and blocks out users from reselling the same ticket multiple times. So based on the pitch, I would be onboard!
The platform startup I wasn't convinced by, still, is Lana. I heard their pitch for the first time during the Impact Boom Elevate+ event. I thought they might have issues then, I am more convinced than ever that they need to look at their start-up carefully. You see, the Impact Boom event was a celebration and there were no questions allowed. But this demo day was a pitch for investment. So there was a panel of expert asking questions, raising issues following the pitch. They pointed out that Lana might be trying to do too much. I think they should drop the sharing/renting aspect of their platform. I think there is a big market for high quality, designer maternity wear. While I am sure mothers will appreciate a secondary market within the Lana platform through which they could resell their clothes, I thinking the renting side is too much work for too little gain.
The other two platform startups I was not convinced by were Neon, who are trying to harness the power of VR to help you plan your wedding, and Birdee, who I would describe as constructing artificial memory for salespeople. Both are good ideas on paper but Neon needs to think outside the box to grow because their onboarding process does not seem scalable. As for Birdee, its cool on paper but I think they will find better uses for their technology in social services and healthcare industries.
Speaking of healthcare industries, apparently, we have already entered the era of companion robots! Exaptec doesn't make robots but take off the shelf programmable robots, and program them for use in aged-care, healthcare and I can also see them branch out in education. They are a startup I would like to know more about, and I am keen to see how they progress with their concept.
So this brings me to the last startup that I liked but wouldn't invest in because I am not sure if they have a future. BOP Industries is trying to make holographic projection technology, and they are doing well so far. But I don't know if they have a plan for when the novelty factor of their displays wears out. Because at the end of the day, marketing is the content, not the medium. Are they doing cool things with the content? I wasn't apparent during the pitch or based on the displays that were set up.
Lastly, you have Can't Sleep App, which is another entry in the very crowded but ever expanding wellness genre of products and services. Given the crowded marketplace, I wouldn't invest in the startup, mostly because I am not sure the CEO realises that he has to turn himself into a wellness guru to sell the app/music service.
Regardless of what I think, my hearty congratulations to all of the graduates from the Collider 2018 accelerator program. I look forward to seeing what you do next. Well done and keep going. I look forward to hearing about your startups in the future.
The Collider 2018 Entrepreneurs
I posted a long article on my experience with Antonia Saint NY on Medium. It recaps and builds on the story that I have chronicled here. Check it out and let me know what you think!
Brisbane Powerhouse
Elevate+ Social Enterprise Celebration, Networking & Pitch Night took place at the Brisbane Powerhouse last Thursday and I was there to cheer on Chatfor10!
I cannot claim to know much about social enterprises. It's only recently that I learnt of organisations that are for-profit but with a social mandate attached to its activities. I have done a bit of research on the topic since, but Thursday night was an experience you couldn't get just from reading literature. I was surprised at the variety of startups on display.
Roughly, the startups defined their social mandate in four ways, 1) education and empowerment, 2) sustainability: promoting the circular economy concept through their business model, 3) fair trade: where they buy and sell with profit sharing across the supply chain in mind, and finally, 4) "Buy One Give One" concept. That said, on Thursday night there were also two medical startups that didn't fall into any of the above models.
The two projects, My Med Health from UpRize and Hemia Optics were just out to do some good. I mean, I could add "medical care" to my social mandates list but even on the night, if felt that My Med Health and Hemia Optics was a bit different from the other pitches.
Google Cardboard + Welcome 360
It goes without saying that Chatfor10 falls under the category of education and empowerment. But the one that interested me the most was Welcome 360. I am very interested in harnessing the power of VR and AR for education. Welcome 360 isn't VR as such, but it is VR adjacent, using 360 educational films to welcome new migrants, refugees and asylum seeker. While I was watching the pitch, I couldn't help but think how to enrich the 360 experience. Also, I think there is potential in the "welcome" concept to embed geocached information in the real world that users can access as they interact with their environment.
Urban Bliss
The other social enterprises in this space included Bertonni who sell ceramic wear made by homeless individuals. Enrich'd Creative who train and hire women from a culturally diverse background, including new immigrants, refugees and asylum seekers, to host fun events for kids. There was also Urban Bliss who offer "sound off" yoga for school kids. I think itis a good idea and I loved their headphones!
For me, the most exciting sustainability startup on display in the sustainability category was Brisbane Tool Library. Because I am someone with boxes of unused tools and I understand that you buy the hammer but what you need is the hole in the wall. So I think the idea of a having a tool library from where you can borrow tools as you need them is genius.
The other sustainability social enterprises on display Thursday night were Lana and Five Mile Radius. Lana is a maternity wear company that allows you to rent or purchase fashioned maternity wear that's sustainably produced. While Five Mile Radius is a design studio that builds with building material found in the local environment. I appreciate the motivation behind both. But Lana especially I think is going to face a lot of challenges. People have tried clothes sharing before without much success. However, perhaps, the niche of maternity wear will win the day for them.
Technically Lana also falls under fair trade. But the main social enterprise I would classify as focusing on fair trade on Thursday was Yaku Latin Goods. Yaku brought chocolates to the event, that is all they needed to do to gain my goodwill!
The last three social enterprises presented where what is usually called "buy one give one" type enterprises. First, there was Mammojo who sell activewear for breastfeeding mothers. If you buy one of their "lactivewear", you help them supply special kits to women in places where they are at risk due to the absence of simple items like gloves, gauge and soap.
The Unknown Project
Social Good Outpost offers free or discounted design services to community organisations that cannot otherwise afford the professional designers. Basically, the full priced commercial clients subsidise the discounts or free service offered to the community organisations. It's a good way for all professionals to give back to the community.
Lastly, there was the Unknown project. They well-donated books wrapped in a brown paper with clues to the book's story written on it. The idea is that you are buying a blind date with a book. The Unknown project donates their proceeds to supply school resources to The Romero Centre. It's certainly a worthy endeavour but it was more akin to a traditional charity than the other startups on display.
So yes, I had a good time on Thursday and got to hear some great pitches. I am looking forward to contacting some of them and tapping them up as potential speakers for Devstart. Let's see how it all goes!
Source: Antonia Saint NY Kickstarter
Fuck Up Night is a thing and the next one in Brisbane will be held on the 22nd of May. I hadn't heard of Fuck Up Night before this weekend. But I am happy to know something like this exists. Because if you only hear about the success, not only do you get a skewed view of the world. You also don't get the whole picture. Not to mention miss out on important lessons. Unfortunately, Antonia Saint New York, a product design Kickstarter I backed, might be a startup heading towards a spot future Fuck Up Night.
I wrote about these shoes before, when I measured my foot using their app. I complained at the time that the app was somewhat difficult to use. But I thought they got the sizing about right because my final show size was 8.5. However, now that the shoes have arrived, I can categorically say that they are the worst fitted shoes I have ever worn and I have worn some pretty ill-fitted but pretty shoes!
I have multiple problems with the shoes. The biggest being that it's extremely tight around the toe box. The shoes also don't hug my feet as they should. It's too wide around the middle and thus leaves the gap. There is also a slight issue with the heel area but compared to the toe box, its nothing!
Now here's the problem. I am not the only person who is having huge issues with the fit. Their Kickstarter comment section is full of women complaining about the fit. I don't know if this was an app issue or I simply got shipped the wrong pair. I mean, it's not like my names on the shoes. Whatever it is, I have to return them because my shoes are bad enough that I can't even wear them while just sitting still.
Antonia Saint NY has already had to waive their "return within 30 days" policy and moved the request for return labels from email to a Google Survey. But as a customer, this is all very worrying.
Because while the shoes are expansive, they price isn't all that high when you take into account the fact that these are supposed to be custom made shoes, manufactured in Brooklyn. I.e. the labour costs are likely to be fairly high. So forget long term success, I am not even sure if the company is going to be able to exchange all the ill fitted shoes! It's worrying but that is the risk of Kickstarter. All that said, I am hopeful that I will get a better fitted pair of shoes eventually. Also that the company will go on. Because comfy shoes are important!
