This has been an incredible experience and journey for all of us. This is the first time in Australia that a carnival showcasing profiles of new business ventures from different domains was covered online. In a world that is becoming flat day by day, as explained by Thomas Friedman, we will see more and more new ways of doing traditional things. Our local VCs on contact couldn’t understand what we were doing, just showed the state of affairs to our VCs.Today we are happy to announce the winners of this carnival. We have already published the feedback and how Judges have marked the participants. If you have missed that please read it here, as it will describe how we have marked all the participants. We have declared our first prize and now updated the page with 2nd and 3rd prizes. We do acknowledge that in comparison to the first prize 2nd and 3 prize winners don’t get much value. But this was our first event and we tried our level best (it was an understatement) to get as many sponsors as we could, but just couldn’t. Probably next time, we will have more offerings.
We would again like to thank, all the participants, Judges and sponsors, without their effort, we couldn’t have succeeded in doing this. From the Judge's panel, we have a message for all of you. This is what Ross Dawson has to say:
It was very encouraging to see many exciting new market entrants as well as more established firms in the carnival. The depth and breadth of entrepreneurial talent in Australia is rapidly growing, and taking advantage of the massive opportunities emerging in the online space. Hats off to the drive and initiative of the entrepreneurs behind the very impressive array of entries.This is what Justin Davies has to say :
Lots of innovative ideas presented this year. Good to see innovation alive and well in the tech space in Australia. However there were lots of ideas that were minor twists on existing ideas, and as a result need to get enormous traction quickly or face annilation. Other ideas were unique - but not particularly compelling. Ask if there is a niche in the market and a market in the niche. Entrepreneurs need to focus on creating unique sustainable value, and continually ask the questions, "why is this different, why is this compelling, how do I make it more so?".
Now, the moment of truth has come. Our winners in ranking order are:
| Rank No. | Participants | Marks (1-10) |
 | Scouta | 8.42 |
 | GoodBarry | 8.33 |
 | Suburb View | 7.61 |
| 4 | OurWishingWell | 7.50 |
| 4 | 88 Miles | 7.50 |
| 5 | Vquence | 7.17 |
| 6 | Tiinker | 7.00 |
| 6 | SmartPath | 7.00 |
| 7 | Me2Mobile | 6.92 |
| 8 | 3eep | 6.42 |
| 9 | GlobalSurfari | 6.17 |
| 10 | Plugger | 6.13 |
| 11 | InvoicePlace | 6.08 |
| 11 | TheFame Experiment | 6.08 |
| 12 | SwapAce.com | 6.00 |
| 13 | Buzka | 5.83 |
| 14 | Adimade | 5.67 |
| 15 | Rave About It | 4.83 |
| 16 | Evaluator | 4.42 |
| 17 | Uvouch | 3.75 |
| 17 | WhatYah | 3.75 |
| 18 | ZaaBiz | 3.58 |
| 19 | Community Enabler | 3.13 |
| 20 | GreenAirFares | 3.00 |
| 21 | Confer | 2.67 |
| 22 | Plutext | 2.50 |
| 23 | Australia forum | 2.38 |
| 24 | ITQSM | 1.75 |
This portal will keep covering startups in Australia. As we forward, we will be expanding our coverage, esp in core IT/Telecom sectors, some really good stories to tell. We are also going to prepare a report on various aspects of startups covered here, to highlight what we are doing well and what needs to be improved upon. So keep watching this space as more will come and this is just the beginning.
All the best to all of you.
PS: If you have suggestions/feedback please post your comments here or in the comments section of feedback post.
Comments
Great effort! Maybe you can have the startups in the list linked to their website.
Cheers :)
I have linked all the participants on the feedback for particpants page and I have maintined the list of participants with their profile coverage here
http://startups.sharmavishal.com/2008/02/welcome-participants.html http://startups.sharmavishal.com/2008/03/feedback-for-participants.html
Anyway i will update it here as well
Suburb View got third? lame. lucky it got a mention IMO.
*sigh*
I hope this helps why yr site is not covered.
Actually, StreetAdvisor is an Aussie startup. I first heard about it on Channel 9 or Channel 7 - one of those aca/todaytonight shows. I've been keeping tabs on them ever since (i work at a VC firm). Their audience IS australia. Just because they attract an international audience shouldn't negate them from the comp.
http://blog.streetadvisor.com/streetadvisor/press_releases/index.html
... and check out what realestate.com.au (another aussie company) have to say about them in this post(http://blogs.realestate.com.au/newsandviews/2007/10/helping_you_find_the_right_pro.html) ...
speaking of other startups, here's another that slipped under the radar -> http://www.docoloco.com/
They are another aussie startup i believe, based in melbourne .. i think. I know i use them ... and if i'm in australia .. that should have made them applicable?
I understand things slip under the radar, but it's a bummer these two have .... especially when they compare to some of the other companies that got a mention! :(
Despite those two companies getting missed out, the fact that someone is finally putting aussie companies under the international spotlight is a huge benefit to the aussie community. Cheers :)