When we look at startups, we are often surprised at how SMALL they are. One, two and three person teams seem to be able to generate significant output in very short periods of time. Even when we look at our more successful startups – operations like Canva or Atlassian...
I have always known that “build it and they will come” is worse than wishful thinking. I knew it when I built my first, hand-crafted HTML website. I knew it when I started my Servant of Chaos marketing blog. And I knew it when I started my own companies, worked for...
At the recent mentor evening at Telstra’s Muru-D accelerator, we were shocked to realise that we have been working with the Muru-D startups for over two years. Time has flown. Businesses have launched and friendships have been formed. It is a timely reminder that a...
We have always relied on trust networks for recommendations. As a child, I can still recall my Nan talking about new products to her neighbours over a cup of tea. She would talk about the results – the way that a new washing powder makes “whites whiter”. Or how an air...
Once you know what to look for, you see them everywhere. Groups huddled together cooing and fawning around the helpless little thing in the centre of the crowd. There are grown women and men speaking in strange tongues, encouraging, calling for attention. Taking...
The new building housing Australia’s first Digital Transformation Office at UTS is astounding. The clean lines. Efficiency of movement. It looks and it FEELS like the 21st Century has arrived and that we are living it. There is a murmur of conversation everywhere you...
The last week of October was always going to be frantic. Not only was this scheduled as the launch of Australia’s first ever Startup Week, Sydney conference series, it was bookended on Monday by the Telstra Digital Summit and on Thursday/Friday by SydStart –...
My original vision for the Disruptor’s Handbook was that it would be a practical guide to digital disruption. The plan was to create useful, relevant and directed guides that would help you – the innovator, the startup entrepreneur, the change agent or intrapreneur –...
Looking down from above, the scene is one of organised chaos. Small groups huddle here, there and everywhere. What looks like a fleet of messengers, shuttle between the groups, up levels, through spaces, delivering the latest information, advice, vital sustenance....
I keep a keen eye on commentary about business disruption, and I’m concerned that a lot of hyperbole is seeping in to the analysis about what constitutes disruptive innovation, what the impact of disruption may be to companies and employees, and what can be done...
