In this episode, Charlie talks with Amanda Walker, the founder and CEO of short-term accommodation and holiday rental site, WA HomeStay. When an overseas-owned accommodation site was taken over and the deal worsened for homeowners, Amanda decided to start her own. She's learnt a lot over the past two years and shares freely her advice for budding startup founders. “… Because I’m juggling my family life, as well as the startup business, so I am very deliberate with the events that I go to. I get ...
Apr 14, 2021•31 min
In this episode, Danelle and Charlie talk with the always-smiling Chris Evans, founder/CEO of Quipmo, the surf, bike and snow peer-to-peer rental marketplace ("equipment for the moment"). Chris has been running the business on his own for four years, and late last year secured an investor, and has recently hired some staff, and is looking to grow and scale. "A marketplace is a phenomenally challenging business. Notwithstanding, that is also a blessing and a curse. If you can make it work, then a...
Mar 31, 2021•29 min
Welcome to 2021 and Series 3 of the Startup West podcast, where we talk with startup founders and others working in and with West Australian startups. In this episode, we talk with Dr Sue Bahn, founder and CEO of Tap into Safety, which has provided online training courses across several industries since 2014. "If you think you’ve got a good idea, first of all, have a go. No question. Secondly, you need to do your research and see that you are actually solving a problem that the market will pay f...
Mar 17, 2021•29 min
Welcome to a special episode of Startup West: a panel recorded in front of a live audience at Little Creatures in Fremantle as part of this year's Freo Startup Fest. Charlie Gunningham chats with Matt James (CTO of Virtual Gaming Worlds), Renae Bunster, (founder of Bunsters) and Dan Jovevski (founder and CEO of WeMoney). We titled the session - Building a scalable business in WA... what pandemic?! The panellists notched up notable achievements in 2020: • two raised $2M each; • one had a baby; • ...
Dec 17, 2020•30 min
Winner of 2019 Women in Technology Awards, and 2020 Rise Startup of the Year Awards, CEO and founder of Complete Home Filtration Suzanne Dodds talks with Charlie and Danelle. Originally from Northern Ireland, Suzanne has run businesses in Australia, South Korea and Spain, has an MBA, 3 kids and a husband. Her water filtration company was launched in 2018, and recently closed a $2.4M Series A round to advance its growth around the country. Revenues are already approaching $1M/month. “After Power ...
Dec 09, 2020•36 min
Danelle and Charlie talk with Kate Kirwin, Founder and Lead Organiser of She Codes, a 5-year old organisation that has taught more than 4,500 women to code. “There’s no shortage of women… and it really frustrates me when people tell me all the time ‘Oh, there’s just no women in tech because women don’t want to do it, or they’re not out there. They are! They just need the support to be able to get there.” ~ Kate Kirwin. Amen. Kate and her team are doing wonderful work. For more: https://shecodes....
Nov 25, 2020•34 min
Kali and Charlie talk with Michael Palmer, co-founder and director of the vehicle adtech platform, Ads on Wheels. After several years selling cars, Michael had an idea to turn the advertising market upside down, support local businesses and provide income back to drivers. Now two years into operations, the business has recently graduated from Perth's Plus Eight Tech accelerator, with big plans. "By 2023, we want to try and get $3M back into the community, because we’re one of – if not the only –...
Nov 11, 2020•25 min
Charlie and Kali talk with Lorena Sumich, co-founder and CEO of the fitness coach marketplace, KIXXFIT. Not every startup co-founder needs degrees in commerce and law, and years in management consulting, but it helps! Lorena tells the story of what led to the creation of KIXXFIT, and how it has been going since launch. “... I always say, when you go to those dark places, you need to bring a backpack, bring a torch, a notebook and some snacks! Because you’re going to be down there for a while, an...
Oct 28, 2020•30 min
Kali and Charlie talk with Marc Berryman, founder and CEO of Rhinohide, a protective side covering for 4WDs going off road: "the phone cover for your car." Marc built his own business in London before returning home to Perth to launch Rhinohide. From a deal on Shark Tank to a successful equity crowd-funding raise, Marc has ridden through the difficulties of manufacturing and selling an innovative product in WA. “It’s almost like an education to some of the shareholders that we are not an ASX lis...
Oct 14, 2020•30 min
Kali and Charlie talk with Dr Vanessa Rauland, founder and CEO of ClimateClever, and cofounder and CTO Alexander Karan. Their tech allows schools, homes and soon businesses to calculate and manage their carbon footprint. Things are taking off, especially since featuring on ABC TV's 'Fight for Planet A' recently. Listen through to the end, as there's a bonus chat after the closing credits about a fund raise completed during Covid. “... I think they had a call out for homes to participate in it, a...
Sep 30, 2020•36 min
Kali and Charlie talk with Lucy Cooke, founder and CEO of visual logistics software platform SpaceDraft, recent Startup of the Year winner at the 2020 WA Incite Awards. Hear Lucy's incredible story: from child actor to Hollywood studio film sets and back to Perth, to launch a new way of assisting creatives explain their projects, collaborate with others showing them in space and time. “ 'You’re a female founder of a tech company and you’re not technical. You need to have every i dotted and t cro...
Sep 16, 2020•30 min
Danelle and Charlie talk with Olivia Humphrey, founder of on-demand streaming video platform for public libraries and universities Kanopy. One of the most successful tech startups to come out of Perth, Olivia set up the business in 2006, moving to the States in 2013. The business was recently acquired by a US-based private equity firm. She is now back in Perth with her family, having exited her CEO role last year. She remains a small shareholder of the business, and its biggest fan. “It was a de...
Sep 02, 2020•34 min
Danelle and Charlie talk with Jeremy Hurst and Daniel McCullen, co-Founders of the space sharing site SpacetoCo. From an idea in a pub to Shark Tank TV show to councils and communities Australia wide, we hear about the challenges and successes of commercialising a sharing economy business, and how they've dealt with the COVID pandemic. “You can find spaces that are around you that might actually have better amenity, might be cheaper and might have stuff that the other space you normally go to do...
Aug 19, 2020•34 min
Recorded remotely, Kali and Charlie talk with Ben Cole, co-Founder and managing director of ASX-listed agtech business Wide Open Agriculture. Based in Williams, about 160 kms south west of Perth, Wide Open Agriculture (ASX:WOA) has developed a regenerative food and ag platform for farmers to reach consumers directly via their 'Dirty Clean Food' brand. “We are hosting a dance between conscious consumers and regenerative farmers, believing that only by bringing them together and getting them to da...
Aug 05, 2020•34 min
Recorded down at Riff studios, Danelle and Charlie talk with Dr Josephine Muir, co-Founder and CEO of medtech business Noisy Guts. Noisy Guts are developing an acoustic belt that non-invasively and accurately diagnoses and monitors common gut disorders. From an idea Nobel Laureate Prof Barry Marshall jotted down on a serviette at an Innovator of the Year function, the team is about to enter clinical trials. "Is it tough? Yeah, of course it's tough. However, there are a lot of people in Perth tha...
Jul 22, 2020•30 min
Back in Riff studios, we talk with the co-Founder and Director of blockchain agtech business Latitude28 James Williamson. Established in 2017, James, his brother Rhys and team are working to advance the uptake, trust in and high regard for authentic, quality Australian produce to consumers in China. They even have their own TV Studio set up in their offices to make promotional videos on Aussie beef and the like. For more: https://www.latitude28produce.com/ Startup West is recorded in beautiful P...
Jul 08, 2020•28 min
A cross over episode from TechSociety.fm, with the people behind Startup News: Patrick Green, Marcus Holmes and Charlie Gunningham. Started at the end of 2013, just as the first co-working spaces, tech accelerators and funding groups were appearing, Startup News showcases the exciting early stage tech sector in Perth and around Western Australia. Founder Patrick Green, Marcus Holmes (who’s now based in Berlin) and Charlie Gunningham talk about the origins of Startup News, the state of the startu...
Jun 24, 2020•34 min
We talk with the inspirational Claire Orange from DiGii Social. Finalist in Incite Awards 2020 Startup of the Year, and double winner of its virtual Pitchfest, the former speech pathologist and counsellor is passionate about helping children navigate their digital lives, reducing incidents of body shaming, cyber bullying and youth suicides. For more: https://digiisocial.com/ Twitter: @DiGiiSocial Lady Startup Podcast from Mia Freeman: https://omny.fm/shows/lady-startup Startup West is produced b...
Jun 10, 2020•24 min
We talk with Razali Mohamad and Ryan Mickler, co-founders of Alerte Digital Health. Winner of Incite Awards 2019 Startup of the Year, Alerte uses artificial intelligence to solve healthcare problems for medical professionals. For more: https://www.alertedh.com/ Twitter: @AlerteDH Startup West is produced by Startup News and is made possible thanks to generous support from the New Industries Fund, Spacecubed and Curtin University.
May 27, 2020•27 min
Kali Norman talks with Jesse Emia, founder and CEO of KeepSpace. The former sports manager tells us about the idea for his 3PL (third party logistics) business, a few earlier failed businesses and pivots, and the huge ecommerce race going on right now in Australia and around the world. For more: www.keepspace.com.au/ Startup West is produced by Startup News and is made possible thanks to generous support from the New Industries Fund, Wrays, BDO, Spacecubed and Curtin University.
May 13, 2020•26 min
Danelle Cross and Natalie Milne talk with Brian Innes, founder and CEO of Plico Energy. The avowed purpose of the business is to 'make energy green again', or MEGA (!), by allowing households to take control of own solar power use, protect themselves from blackouts as well as having access to a 'virtual power plant' (VPP). For more: https://www.plicoenergy.com.au/ Startup West is produced by Startup News and is made possible thanks to generous support from the New Industries Fund, Wrays, BDO, Sp...
Apr 02, 2020•29 min
Welcome to 2020 and the Series Two of Startup West! Hear from two of our new co-hosts, Danelle Cross and Natalie Milne, as they talk with Lacey Filipich, founder of Maker Kids Club and author of the soon to be published 'Money School'. How did a former engineer come to build a business teaching school kids about money, and then write a book? Loads of lessons here, notably in IP and finding good mentors. For more: https://makerkids.club/ Startup West is produced by Startup News and is made possib...
Feb 18, 2020•28 min
In this 30th and final episode for Series One and 2019, we talk with recent winner of WA Innovator of the Year Andrew Guzzomi from UWA, and Chair of the Evaluation Panel Mark Pullen. Andrew and his research team have developed the Weed Chipper, his second win since winning for the Seed Flamer in 2016. Video of the Weed Chipper: https://youtu.be/-1nI6Gh9khI Videos of all winners of WA IOTY: https://www.newindustries.wa.gov.au/ioty_2019 Startup West is produced by Startup News and is made possible...
Nov 20, 2019•26 min
We talk with Nate Sturcke, founder of Skills of the Modern Age (SOMA). Nate's been extremely active in the West Australian startup scene for many years, working in Innovation for RAC WA, running Startup Weekends and F***Up Nights, being a Director of Founder Institute, mentoring on Plus Eight accelerator, writing for Business News... for this he was duly awarded Startup News' Startup Community Person of the Year in 2018. Set up in 2017, SOMA looks to train current employees and companies in the ...
Sep 25, 2019•21 min
We talk with Ruth Hatherley, founder and CEO of Moneycatcha, the fintech that has launched solutions to improve the home loan approvals (homechain) and regulations processes (regchain). After 22 years in banking, Ruth set up the company using blockchain as part of the tech solution. For more: https://mcatcha.com/ Interviewers: Charlie Gunningham & Beth Caniglia. ‘Startup West’ podcast is produced by Startup News, recorded at Riff’s brand-new podcasting studio in beautiful, downtown Perth, We...
Sep 11, 2019•27 min
We speak with one of Perth’s most high profile startup investors, Derek Gerrard. He currently has nine or ten roles including Entrepreneur in Residence at both the RAC WA and Spacecubed's Plus Eight accelerator, as well as Manager of BetterLabs Ventures. He’s also been a successful startup entrepreneur himself with Greensense and was recently awarded 'Achiever of the Year' at WAITTA Incite Awards. For more: https://www.betterlabsventures.com.au/ Interviewers: Charlie Gunningham & Beth Canigl...
Aug 21, 2019•31 min
We talk with Rob Nathan, founder and MD of Australian Tenders, Upstart Tech Accelerator, Upstart Investments and serial angel investor (22 startups and counting). Recently recognised as WAITTA Entrepreneur of the Year, Rob talks about his engineering background, why he has been involved in startups over the past decade and what the sector needs now. For more: https://www.australiantenders.com.au Interviewers: Charlie Gunningham & Beth Caniglia Startup West is recorded in beautiful downtown P...
Aug 08, 2019•31 min
How former tennis pro Andrew Walker went from banking and engineering to setting up his own logistics tech Spatula, turning this into marketing tech before being bought out by Irish company WeBringg, now called VROMO. For more: https://www.vromo.io/ Interviewers: Charlie Gunningham & Beth Caniglia Startup West is recorded in beautiful downtown Perth, Western Australia at the Riff studios, and brought to you by Startup News, Wrays, BDO, Spacecubed and Curtin University.
Jul 24, 2019•36 min
How Tyler Spooner and Brenda Lai went from 'Tinder for Restaurants' (Feedmee) to recipes to home delivery (Unocart) to customer insights (Uno Insights). For more: https://unocart.com and https://www.unocart.tech Interviewers: Charlie Gunningham & Beth Caniglia Startup West is recorded in beautiful downtown Perth, Western Australia at the Riff studios, and brought to you by Startup News, Wrays, BDO, Spacecubed and Curtin University.
Jul 03, 2019•22 min
Live on stage at the launch of the WiTWA (Women in Technology WA) [+] 2019 Awards, we talk about the startup journey and the value of awards with Louise Daw, cofounder of mining tech company MiPlan - which is now part of Hexagon Mining - Dr Sofie De Meyer CEO of agtech startup MALDIID and Beth Caniglia, Global Marketing Manager at VROC AI.
Jun 25, 2019•40 min
