Danelle and Steve talk with Zach Nielsen, co-founder and CEO of Ascend Health Group, which includes Ascend Health services, software company Bruno Health, and hardware operation Obdo. Established in 2017, the group provides care services in the national disability and health sectors. A physiotherapist by training, Zach and his team operate in Western Australia and Queensland, and have plans to launch into other states over the next few years. “I was already building Ascend in my last year of uni...
Sep 07, 2022•26 min
Steve and Brodie talk with Matt Hart, co-founder of Perth-founded smart wearables tech company Soter Analytics, who is passionate about reducing injuries at work. Scaling the business to more than 50 staff over the past five years, the company is now headquartered in London, with a development team in Estonia and an office in Perth. Their most recent funding round was more than A$16M. The boy from Armadale has done well, and does not hold back on his views about developing a startup in Perth. “…...
Aug 24, 2022•36 min
Steve and Brodie talk with Julie Adams, co-founder of Chemo@Home, who with her business partner Lorna Cook has scaled up the home-based infusion service to more than 100 staff over the past 9 years. Both Julie and Lorna mortgaged their houses to fund the business, which quadrupled in size during Covid. 1,400 doctors across the country use the service, and more and more patients can have their chemotherapy and other care therapies in their own home. “I asked him what it was like for him, and he s...
Aug 10, 2022•24 min
Danelle and Brodie talk with Dr Paola Magni, forensic scientist and senior lecturer at Murdoch University. Originally from Turin, Italy, a centre of criminology, award-winning researcher Dr Magni has pioneered crime scene investigations (CSI) using virtual reality (VR), with her CSI VR project in Western Australia. “So we decided to sit down and storyboard the story, exactly like you do for a movie, and we imagined what kind of crime, what kind of people involved, what kind of weapon for the mur...
Jul 27, 2022•30 min
Danelle and Brodie talk with Jon Gregory, founder and CEO of Vitruvian, a global personal fitness device and platform operating from its head offices in West Perth. A decade ago, the former investment trader realised that while the algorithms he was using were very fast and efficient, weight-training seemed to be about “pushing weights”. In 2019, he took some investment from a local angel investor, matched it with his own funding, and has since raised millions of dollars, and sells his machines ...
Jul 13, 2022•32 min
Brodie and Steve talk with Nicole Gazey and Rebecca Loftus, co-founders of IDEA (Innovation Design Entrepreneurship Academy), a brand new ‘alternative school’ for young innovators, entrepreneurs and creatives. Having graduated from last year’s Plus Eight tech accelerator program, IDEA raised some funds from BetterLabs Ventures and launched the academy earlier this year, with their first cohort currently going through their programs at the FLUX co-working space in the city. “The need for change i...
Jun 29, 2022•31 min
Brodie and Steve talk with Professor Peter Klinken AC, the Chief Scientist of Western Australia, about his role as a government advisor and cheerleader for researchers, innovators and startups. He’s been in the role for 8 years, and has just signed up for another three years. He talks about the startup sector, which had been almost ignored when he first came into the job, but now seems to be flourishing, and could be about to take off. “I have to dips my lid to the entire (startup) sector, as I’...
Jun 15, 2022•41 min
Brodie and Steve talk with David Pettit, cofounder and Group CEO of PictureWealth, a fast-growing fintech company that has successfully digitised financial services, which it sells to its tens of thousands of clients. Originally from Queenstown in New Zealand, David landed in Perth, worked in financial services and saw a gap in the market to set up PictureWealth in 2018. Since then, the company has bought up various financial advisor companies and raised many tens of millions of dollars of capit...
Jun 01, 2022•33 min
Steve and Brodie talk with Angie Keeler, cofounder and CEO of Zella DC, a next-generation data centre provider disrupting traditional server rooms. Originally from South Africa, together with husband Clint, Angie and her team have developed a mobile data centre - about the size of a fridge - that can be placed in harsh environments such as remote mine sites and pretty much anywhere. “Definitely it's all about really getting your name out there and talking to people, and networking, and getting t...
May 18, 2022•27 min
Danelle and Steve talk with Mihailo Bozic, founder of Envited, an events platform that does not need Facebook, and works across all social media platforms. Only 2% of teens use Facebook, so this cohort needs another means to set up and share events. He started working on the concept last year while still at university, recently raised a $350,000 pre-seed round to employ some staff, and is about to launch the service. “When I was raising money for Envited, I spoke to over 70 investors, and only o...
May 03, 2022•24 min
Danelle and Steve talk with James Flanagan, co-founder of newly launched HoverIT (‘Hover It’) which is looking to provide a single platform for small businesses to reach and sell to their customers directly. Originally from the west of Ireland, the former oil and gas worker and commercial diver launched the service in Fremantle earlier this year with his Uncle Luke as co-founder. “Definitely the best people I’ve met have been at events, some that I was not even going to go to, and then I left an...
Apr 20, 2022•27 min
Danelle and Brodie talk with Annie Brox, the founder of Origo Farm, an agtech business that recently won both a Boosting Female Founding grant (one of only 3 in WA) as well as an Accelerating Commercialisation grant in 2019, for her farm-based IoT platform and devices business. From growing up in a farming family in Norway, to working in telecoms, she arrived in Western Australia to found Origo, that works with farmers to improve connectivity as well as providing IoT hardware devices and a platf...
Apr 05, 2022•31 min
Startup West is back for series 4 and 2022, with two of our new co-hosts Danelle Cross and Brodie McCulloch. In this episode, they talk with Louise Matson, founder of Louise M - a corporate shoe brand for women. Working in the aviation industry for more than twenty years, Louise always felt there should be a better, more comfortable yet stylish shoe, that women could wear all day. She created Loiuse M brand, with quality shoes made in Italy, and has recently quit flying to concentrate on the bus...
Mar 23, 2022•25 min
For the final episode of the 3rd season of Startup West and 2021: a founders' panel recorded in front of a live audience at Little Creatures in Fremantle as part of this year's Freo Startup Fest. Charlie Gunningham (Startup News) chats with Julian Ilich (founder and CEO of Tiller Rides), Mel Bainbridge, (co-founder of The Pack Australia) and Glen McIvor (founder and CEO of Solv). The session was titled ‘The launch, the raise and the exit’ as each founder had had a significant launch, raise or ex...
Dec 22, 2021•27 min
Danelle is back, and together with Charlie, we hear from Katie Liew, founder of The Underground Collaborative, a not-for-profit organisation providing employment and housing solutions to break the cycles of homelessness. Loving English at school, but choosing Science and Maths subjects, Katie started out as an accountant for ten years working for various mining companies before embarking on a big overseas trip that opened up a new world view. Returning to Perth, she set up her social enterprise,...
Dec 08, 2021•33 min
Charlie talks with the co-founder and CEO of Agworld, Doug Fitch. The 11-year old agtech business was sold to Vancouver-headquartered Semios earlier this year for more than A$100 million. With his two co-founders, Doug pioneered data-driven farm management, working with agronomists and growing the business to more than 16,000 farms in Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Canada and the US. Growing up in Perth, he always wanted to be a farmer, and got there via a stint being a mechanic then work...
Nov 24, 2021•37 min
Charlie talks with the co-founders of mining tech startup MiPlan, Louise and Rob Daw. The couple met in a former software business, and decided to set out on their own to solve a problem they saw in the resources industry. Seven years in, they had built it up to a scale that they were acquired by major mining software conglomerate Hexagon Mining, where Rob is now CTO. They both share their journey, through the startup phase, winning clients, fund-raising and hiring staff through to exit. "He has...
Nov 10, 2021•34 min
Charlie talks with the co-founder and former CEO of iiNet, Michael Malone. A maths graduate with an early interest in the emerging internet, Michael calculated he needed to sign up 200 clients at $25 a month to allow himself access to the Net in 1993. Working out of his parent's garage in Padbury, he built up one of the largest ISPs in the country with over $1B in sales over the next 20 years, taking on industry giants and even Hollywood studios. One of WA's true tech success stories, Michael is...
Oct 27, 2021•40 min
Danelle and Charlie talk with Cullum (Ash) Ashton, founder of BuilderzWA, and also Proptech Hub, the first and only home for WA proptechs in Perth. Ash has had a variety of jobs, from running pizza shops to organising town competitions, a stint in the army and then into selling new homes. He's the embodiment of the entrepreneur, always hustling, always creating, putting his infectious enthusiasm into all he does. “… So I put a sign out the front that’s said ‘Toilet this way’ so I’d have the peop...
Oct 13, 2021•35 min
Charlie and Danelle talk with Elizabeth Knight, founder of edtech startup Purposeful. A top student at school, Elizabeth had no idea what she wanted to do as a career, or how to start thinking about it. She realised many people of school age had similar problems, so started Purposeful - straight out of uni - to encourage young people to 'find their place' in the world. "More than half of young Australians – and it’s way higher now – have no idea of what they want to do. One of their biggest prob...
Sep 29, 2021•33 min
Charlie and Danelle talk with Dan Jovevski, founder and CEO of fintech WeMoney. Dan has already had one fintech journey, from founder to exit with SwitchMyLoan, and he's back for more. Not a great success at school, Dan remembers a conversation with his grandfather that turned his life around and opened his eyes to what was possible. Many years later, his second startup, launched during Covid last year, raised $2M and is changing the way millennials and others learn about money, from each other....
Sep 08, 2021•37 min
Danelle and Charlie talk with Natalie Marinho, founder of Voyant AR and Neon Thursday, and Chair of Immerse Australia. Natalie shares stories from her fascinating career in the creative, corporate and IT industries, all over the world, before she became immersed (if you forgive the pun) in mixed reality. "Take a step back frequently, and acknowledge the success you’ve had, because if it was easy, then everyone would be doing it, or it would have already been done.” ~ Natalie Marinho. For more: h...
Aug 25, 2021•31 min
Charlie and Danelle talk with Jason Waller, CEO of ASX-listed smart home tech company for elderly care, InteliCare. Jason has already taken one ASX company (Spookfish) through to exit as CEO. Last year, he took InteliCare through a successful listing, and is building up the business nationally. "I describe it as crossing a river using stepping stones. It’s never going to be a bridge. You have to go across stepping stones, and choose each one, and you might find yourself stranded and have to come...
Aug 11, 2021•37 min
Danelle and Charlie talk with Daisy Ashworth, founder of Mortgage Mates, a housing platform supporting individuals to co-own property together. Originally from the UK, Daisy has worked in social housing programs for many years, and has developed her startup in WA to help younger people get into property. “… Understand that overnight successes usually take 10 years of overnight success. So, go into it being realistic, and that this might take a long time to come to fruition, but actually that’s O...
Jul 28, 2021•35 min
Charlie talks with Erin Bell, founder and MD of Camp Connect. After a decade working in HR and health and safety on various mine sites, Erin realised she was seeing the same issues time and time again with FIFO workers. The sector has a relatively poor record for employee engagement, staff turnover, mental health issues and suicide. To solve this, she developed Camp Connect, an app that provides all the needs to staff on site. She's now on the cusp of commercialisation, with her first paying min...
Jul 14, 2021•33 min
Charlie and Danelle talk with Nick Saunders, who is CEO of not one but two startups, Opaxe and Grow Impact. As you will hear, Nick has had an incredible career, from Perth, via London, Europe and South America and back to Perth. Along the way he has run startups and accelerators in London, Bulgaria and Chile. He has been back in Perth for a few years now, and is leading two startups, and has some great insights to share. Listen to the very end, for a bonus story in which Nick had to do a pre-AFL...
Jun 23, 2021•42 min
Danelle and Charlie talk with the inspirational and incredibly talented Dr Zara Torre, founder of The Difference. Zara has degrees in law, dentistry, political science and public health, and wanted to create an easy way for people to give to charity while making online purchases. “I feel very privileged to have had this life. When I was young, we used to go back to India, and I had a few seminal experiences where I witnessed police brutality, I witnessed a lot of poverty, and I thought – how is ...
Jun 09, 2021•31 min
Charlie and Danelle talk with Clinton Schroeder, co-founder and CEO of Tokn, an intelligent enterprise software platform (IPaaS). An award-winning startup, growing to ten staff over five years with clients in Australia and New Zealand, Tokn allows enterprise software to be used on any device. “… I think WA is a very innovative place. And I think we’ve always had to be, being isolated on the west of Australia, right back through the ages. Great innovations come from here. But the market is small....
May 26, 2021•34 min
Charlie Gunningham tells his story to the Tech Society podcast's Alex Dunmow and John Nguyen. Thanks to them for this cross-over episode, recorded earlier this year. Charlie has had 20+ years experience in the WA startup scene, from founder through to exit himself with aussiehome.com, then reiwa.com, CEO of Business News, working for a federal government fund, doing deals, as angel investor, as mentor, adviser and writer. He took over Startup News in 2018, launching the Startup West podcast the ...
May 18, 2021•34 min
In this episode, Charlie talks with Steve Elias and Gavin Stacey from accounting group RSM. Steve and Gavin each have more than a decade's experience working with hundreds of local startups: on their R&D tax claims, grant applications, ESIC, planning, advisory and fund-raising. They share their insights on what it takes to make a successful startup. “When I first started in R&D tax 15 years ago, you wouldn’t believe it, but not a lot of companies knew about the program, despite the fact ...
Apr 28, 2021•34 min
