Following Australian Startups and Tech Trends

We have now started covering interviews with CEO’s, Media Personalities, Philanthropists, VC’s, Entrepreneurs to understand more about innovation, tech trends and emerging business models. As part of the series we have published these interviews. Shane Moore , Founder, ApartmentReviews Scott Middleton , Co-Founder, infome Keith Ahren , Co-Founder, mogeneration Daniel Nitsche , Founder, Shadow Gap Anton Sher , Co-Founder, Front Foot Karl De ABrew , Co-Founder, Debenu Dr. Keith Ayott e, Co-Founder, Windlab Systems Malcom Allen , Founder, Glynx Aulay Macaulay , Founder, JutRosters Graham Dawson , Founder, OZWeather Graeme Speak , CEO, Founder, GoPC Susie Hambleton , Entrepreneur, Owner Kahuna Bay Meg Tsiamis , Entrepreneur, Owner dLook, Obits Sreenivas Ghatty , Entrepreneur, Tree Oils India Rick Anstey - A VC Perspective, iQFunds Paul Budde , State of Telecom in Australia, Budde Comm Ross Hill , Entrepreneur, HatchThat Nick McNaughton , A VC View, Blue Cove Ventures Che Metcalfe , Entr...

Today we showcase the story of an exciting venture, from Melbourne & Sydney, Australia, Front Foot - Media Solutions for mobile phones and the internet, co-founded by Anton Sher, Ben Astill, and Richard Lennox. In a recent email-based interview with Anton, he gave insights into how he is managing and juggling. This is what he has to say in his interview with us: • How long it took before it was up and running Front Foot started in April 2006 and we launched our first mobile site in January 2007. Since then we have built several mobile sites, including the Winner and Runner-Up at AIMIA's 2009 industry Awards for EA and Sky Racing respectively. • Stage of Venture Three years on and our portfolio is growing. We now have a mobile ad server, billing and alert systems, and video platforms, and are integrated into Australian carriers. Currently, Front Foot is looking at several export opportunities. • Which Market Segment Front Foot provides mobile solutions for all market seg...

Today we showcase the story of an entrepreneur, Aulay Macaulay, from GoldCoast, Australia, founder of JustRosters - a web application for Staff Rostering. In a candid interview with us, he gave insights into how he is managing and juggling. This is what he has to say in his interview with us: • How long it took to launch It took 3 of us 6weeks from brainstorming to launch @ about 25 hours per week each. That is around 450 man-hours all up. • Stage of Venture Launched on the 3rd March 2009. • Which Market Segment Industries that employ a high number of part-time staff (Hospitality and Retail) Industries that employ shift workers. (Health, Emergency Services, and Manufacturing) Industries that have staff working at multiple locations (Building and Construction) Industries that sub-contract on an irregular basis (Government and Contractors) • Customers Business owners/managers. Whoever is in charge of rostering for the businesses identified above? • Targeted Age Group All ages. • Users U...

Today we showcase an exciting and successful venture co-founded by David Jones in 2005, ThreatMETRIX - Security for eCommerce Applications. In a recent email-based interview with David, he gave insights into his venture and how he is progressing with it. This is what he has to say: • Please tell us about your venture/company? We created ThreatMetrix to deliver a new layer of security protection specifically for the explosive growth of eCommerce transactions. With the growth of over 20% pa of online credit card transactions and web 2.0 applications now monetizing, the fraudsters have taken advantage of their anonymity on the internet to steal credit cards, fraudulently purchase products and launder money. ThreatMetrix delivers intelligence to eCommerce sites to detect both good customers and fraudsters using stolen identities. • Who are the people behind this and how it started? The founders and core team previously built security products for SurfControl (now WebSENSE) - we saw the u...

Today we showcase an exciting and successful venture founded by, Tim Moreillon from, Geelong, Australia, NetDefence . In a recent email-based interview with Tim, he gave insights into his venture and how he is progressing with it. This is what he has to say: • Please tell us about yourself, your background and interests? Out of school, I worked in the car industry for 8 years, doing everything from sales to IT to administration to compliance to management. I felt like a change after this and decided to focus my attention on the Information technology field. My interests include music, cars, photography and of course, technology! • Please tell us about your venture/company? NetDefence helps businesses protect themselves from technology threats. We go out to the market and find the best-of-breed solutions for our clients and ensure they and their staff can use the Internet and be shielded from malicious threats, scams and fraud. We also help businesses meet their compliance needs. As le...

The Pearcey award is a NSW State award, aimed at encouraging and rewarding fresh and innovative talent in the IT profession. It is awarded to an individual early in their career who has demonstrated innovative and pioneering achievement and contribution to research and development. The Award will be held on Thursday 11th September 2008 during an afternoon/evening Pearcey Foundation function at the Westin Hotel, Martin Place, Sydney. The award is named after Dr.Trevor Pearcey, who in 1948 built Australia's first and the world's fourth digital computer, CSIRAC, in Sydney. It is the oldest surviving computer in the world. The Pearcey Foundation's objective is to reinforce the recognition, knowledge and appreciation of outstanding individuals and their contributions to the development and growth of Australia's ICT professionals, research and industry. The NSW Pearcey committee is encouraging fresh and innovative talent in the ICT profession to step forward and gain recogni...

Today we showcase an exciting and successful venture founded by, Alex in 2006 from Melbourne, Australia, Mostyle ! - comes from “Mobile” + “Lifestyle” - a telco-independent mobile ecosystem that not only provides the tools to build a mobile site but offers the distribution, community and multiple enablers for the monetising of mobile content through advertising or micropayments. In a recent email-based interview with Alex, he gave insights into his venture and how he is progressing with it. This is what he has to say: • Please tell us about yourself, your background and interests? I have a Computer Science degree from RMIT University and am nearly done with a Master of Entrepreneurship and Innovation from Swinburne University. Over the past 10 years, I’ve been working in different areas of mobile gaming and entertainment, dealing with content, portals, industry building and development. My range of professional experiences has mainly been with Nokia (Mobile Entertainment Platform)...

Today we showcase an exciting and successful venture co-founded in 2000 by Ex-MD, Mal Jago, who now has a digital consultancy business Earworm Consulting, from Sydney, Australia, Coastal Watch - provides accurate surf reports for beaches around Australia and live streaming vision. In a recent email based interview with Mal, he gave insights into this venture. This is what he has to say: • Please tell us about yourself, your background and interests? Spent 15 years as a Foreign exchange Dealer before a sea change in 2000 into Coastalwatch • Please tell us about your venture/company? Surfcams at beaches to provide surf reports and conditions to surfers/boating/ Surf Life Savings • Who are the people behind this and how it started? Chris Lane- Surfer and IT guru wanting to avoid getting up at UNi and wasting his time getting to the beach and find no waves. • How long it took before it was up and running? 1-2 years established 1998. • What services it provides for consumers or customers?...

Today we showcase an exciting and interesting startup from Sydney, Australia, Sticky Tickets - an online ticketing and event registration web portal. It is co-founded by Matt Freedman, J ay Gaibisso and Dany Gruosso. I further explored Sticky Tickets and how Matt is progressing in a candid interview with him. This is what he has to say: • Please tell us about yourself, your background and interests? I’m Matt Freedman and I’m the CEO of Sticky Tickets , an online ticketing and event registration web portal. We are based in Sydney, Australia and our site currently services all of Australia. I am also the Chairman of eMarketing business Redback Solutions which I founded in 1999. • Who are the people behind this and how it started? The business was co-founded by myself and Sydney entrepreneurs Jay Gaibisso and Dany Gruosso. Jay hired the IMAX during the FIFA World Cup in 2006 to watch Australia v Brazil but couldn’t find a simple-to-use, self-service online system to...

In our ongoing coverage of interviews , with CEO's, Media Personalities, Philanthropists, and VCs, to gauge the innovation and startup landscape in Australia, today we showcase our interview with Freelance Journalist and public Speaker, Mr Brad Howarth , who writes on Australia’s startup industry, digital marketing, dangers of climate change and other relevant topics in this domain. We did this interview to get a holistic view from the Journalism side of the Innovation and startup landscape in Australia. Let us explore what Brad has to say about the state of affairs in this domain in Australia. This is what he has to say: • Please tell us about yourself, your background and interests? I’ve been a journalist for 13 years now, having completed a degree at RMIT in Melbourne back in 1994. I’ve worked for a wide range of publications, starting with technology trade titles such as ComputerWorld and Australian Reseller News, then moving to spend two years on the technology section of The ...

Today we showcase the story of another successful entrepreneur, Martin Dougiamas, Founder, Lead Developer and Managing Director of Moodle Pty Ltd Moodle is an open-source course management system (also called a learning management system). It's a completely Free web application that educators can install and use to manage all their online learning. The business model is based on services around the free software. It has 2 portals/sites, the open source community is at Moodle.org the business side is at Moodle.com Let us explore what Martin has to say about his venture Moodle and his thoughts on IT, Education and Innovation coming out of Australia. This is what he has to say: • Please tell us about yourself, your background and interests? I'm 38, live in Perth with my young family. Until I was 12 I lived in central Australia, learning via School of the Air (in those days we used shortwave radio). This probably had some influence on what I do now. • Who are the people behind ...