Judging UQIES Weekend of Startups

It’s been sometimes since I was back at UQ for any reason. So it was nice to be back this Sunday to be a Judge for the University of Queensland Innovation and Entrepreneurship Society (UQIES) weekend of startup.

This year’s theme was “Future of Work”, and it was interesting to see the mix of startups that were pitched. There were a lot of pitches solving “now” problems like an AI marking startup. However, I think it is obvious to all that assessments need to change drastically going forward since people are already using ChatGPT to cheat.

Unfortunately, a good portion of the solutions were technology being thrown at very human problems that can’t meaningfully be solved with tech. I hate to say this as an engineer, but the simple fact is that no amount of employee retention tech will work if you can’t or are unwilling to fire the nepo-baby toxic manager.

There were also a few startups pitched towards trying to solve the lingering isolation issues from COVID, including two pitched towards getting remote co-workers to socialise more. However, the issue is that the ideas rest on the premise that we want to be friends with our co-workers. Most people don’t, and those who do are unlikely to wait for company-mandated togetherness to socialise. I am not saying remote work isolation isn’t a real issue. It’s not an issue you can solve with minigames during lunch breaks.

Winners: Teach Wise, Photo Credit: Aryan Rustagi

The three winners addressed the theme of the Future of Work well. Two of the winners focused on pitching technologies that automate need-to-be-done but annoying tasks. One proposed a robotic sander for bespoke furniture. I think the startup was called Joynery or something like that, and they were planning to use computer vision and machine learning to allow for the robots to sand non-standard parts. The other, and the winner, Teach Wise, proposed using generative AI to help teachers create lesson plans. Teaching has become more of a transient field, and it is likely to undergo massive changes in the coming years, so anything that can reduce drudgery is a welcomed service.

The third place, Joynery was second, went to Attention Cube (I think that was the name), which attempts to solve the sticky problem of how to focus! It was an issue I tried to tackle with my team during the MIT Bootcamp, and it’s not something that will ever be truly solved because paying attention is hard! Attention Cube is probably not a longterm business, but it’s a great project that can net the founders a fair bit of money. So yes, I hope the students do pursue the venture!

Aryan Rustagi took all the UQIES event day photos.

Finally, I was one of the mentors for the Catalysr accelerator for high-performing migrant and refugee entrepreneurs - aka Migrapreneurs again this year. I could not attend all the sessions, but I hope I added value to the two sessions I did attend. The expression of interest for their 2024 program is open now. So interested migrapreneurs should apply today!

UQ Innovation Panel: Back by UQIES invite to be a panellist!

I was back in UQ on Wednesday to be one of four panellists for UQIES Innovation panel. It was fun, especially since I got to stir the pot a bit!

Also, I hadn’t met my fellow panellists before, at least so far as I could recall, and so it was always nice to meet new and interesting people. The other panellists were:

1. Pauline Fetaui, the current General Manager of River City Labs

2. Indi Tansey, the chief officer of people, product and planet

3. Amelia St Bake, the Digital Strategist of St Baker Energy Innovation Fund

Below are the questions that were emailed to me before the event. I think we got through most of them with some variations and some additions from the audience. I am sure you can see where they gave me the opportunity to say some very controversial things!

1. Your background and the journey you guys have taken to get to where you are now?

2. What does innovation mean to you and why is it such a critical component of your life?

3. Touching on successful entrepreneurs for a second do you believe there is a pattern of behaviour they all exhibit that makes them successful? And if so, what are they?

4. Is consulting or experiences in other “traditional career paths” a requirement in the start-up world or is that a misconception or does that consulting experience add extra value?

5. What opportunities are available for business students in the fields of start-ups & technology, bearing in mind a lot of us have little to no technical knowledge?

6. All of you have amazing experiences and projects you’ve worked on. Thinking back to one of those many journeys or projects you’ve worked on or built, firstly what was/is it and what’s something you wish you knew at the start?

7. What valuable gem of a resource has helped you in the past and that you’d recommend to students?

A good time was had by me, and hopefully by the audience. I had some great conversations with the students over the cheese platter. I have also seen a few people connect with me on LinkedIn. Finally, having nothing in particular to promote, apart from Kyco and The Great Australian Rip-off, I decided to finally go ahead with that podcast I have been thinking of launching for some time now. Episode 1, out now!

SEVENTEENx Brisbane '21

I have signed up to attend a few events in November and already I missed one but this time last week, I did manage to attend SEVENTEENx at QUT’s Room Three Sixty.

I didn’t know what this event was about, all I knew was that Tom Allen was speaking at it and since it’s been some time since I got to hear Tom speak, I thought, why not! The event featured four speakers who talked about how they are incorporating and addressing the UN’s Global Goals into their business. It was a great event with inspirational speeches and really made me want to get back into the social impact space.

The featured speakers were Danielle Duell from People with Purpose, Tom Allen from Impact Boom, Larissa Rose from GG Enviro, Billie Murphy from Solar Buddy and Dan Allen from Trade Mutts. I also ran into my Impact Boom Elevate+ cohort mate Sameer Punde or EcoWeeders.

It was a great way to spend a humpday evening. I am glad I made the effort to attend and I look forward to attending the rest of my November events!

Mentoring UQIES, Weekend of Startups!

Yesterday, I stopped off at the Advanced Engineering Building to provide what value I could to the teams taking part in the UQIES’s Weekend of Startups!

The schedule was running a bit late but that worked out for me as I got the opportunity to listen to the founder of Cool Beans Underwear, which aims to boost male fertility. I had read that male fertility was dropping and yes, that does mean opportunity for innovation. So it was good to see an Aussie startup working in this space.

I spoke to almost all teams and there were some interesting ideas in the mix. The one that stood out to be me was a team trying to improve substance abuse education through games. I think they had a compelling issue to address and their proposed solution can certainly work.

Another team was tackling sleep issues in university students, this team also featured Felix - whose team PEAM were the winner of the KMW Transform Law challenge. Felix was also one of the UQIES organisers and the one I liaised with around my mentorship. So it was great to get to chat with him a bit more.

The teams should be wrapping up and preparing for final pitches as this blog goes live. Good luck to all the teams and they are all winners for having had a go at entrepreneurship, even if for just a weekend. May the best team win!

Finally, I was thanked for my time with Rum from Milton Distillery, which made me feel like a pirate! Of course, I don’t drink. So it’s going to become Kyco’s office rum next week. I hope the Kyco crew will like it!

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Back to UQ: Judging the #TransformLaw KWM Prize!

On Tuesday I had the pleasure to be on the judging panel for the #TransformLaw KWM Prize! The event featured six teams made up of UQ students who scored the best in the written portion of the competition.

The 2-4 person teams needed at least one Law student and one non-law students and were looking at the role of technology in addressing the a law and justice issue. Of the six teams that pitched, three pitched an issue and solution that was a bit “generic” in the sense I could see these startups feature in any startup event. These three teams were addressing what I would consider “sticky” problems because the underlying issue lies with human psychology and behaviour. That’s not to say their ideas couldn’t work, just that the go-to-market case would be more difficult.

The other three teams did address problems that required insider knowledge of the justice system. Two of the teams overlapped in that they were trying to improve access to legal access by improving the intake and assessment process of the not-for-profit legal sector.

The clear winner was Team PEAM addressed issues around mediation where the emotions of one or more parties can hinder the mediation process. It was clear that they had done a lot of research into the problem. They also had customers ready to take up their product. They had run trials with their prototype and while their solution will probably need a few more iterations to perfect, what they had accomplished in eight weeks was truly impressive.

They won by a huge margin and apparently, were a bit of a Cinderella story as they barely made it into the final pitch based on their performance in the written portion of the competition. I am glad they did make the cut and won on the night. I can see them being successful with this idea if they stick with it and get the right guidance, connections and mentoring along the way.

Anyway, it was a fun event and I am glad to have been invited. This was my first role as a judge and I got a gift of a Tirtyl starter pack to go with my evening of pitches!

I am back at UQ this weekend as a mentor for the weekend of startups. So watch this space for more on that!