This blog post is my live blog of the ANZ Innovyz Demo Day.

What is demo day? See http://www.innovyzstart.com/what-is-demo-day-jana-matthews-explains

I thought all the companies did a great job! To read how it all happened, see below!

ANZ Innovyz Demo Day

12:50pm – About to START!

1:05pm – START! – Dr Jana Mathews is kicking off the event. She starts of with a legal disclaimer for the investors here today.  If you’d like to read a little more on Dr Jana Mathews, I blogged one of her presentations to the Adelaide University MBA School, here.

1:11pm – Jana is talking about how every company has a weekly review on Thursdays, and how the accelerator makes them accountable for what they said they would do in the prior week.  The accelerator is looking for people willing to work on a business idea all day, every day.  Significant effort and commitment is required to be ready for Demo Day.

1:12pm – From Week 3, waves of mentors come in to spend a whole week with the startups.

1:13pm – A reference to Innovyz in a day program that is on next week (24th of April). Sounds great! Read more about it here.

1:16pm – The winter intake for Innovyz is open currently. $20,000 in funding plus access to a $20,000 unsecured loan from ANZ. Applications close 14th of June, 2013.

1:17pm – Hon. Tom Kenyon, Minister of Manufacturing, Innovation and Trade for Small Business is now speaking on the Government support of the Innovyz program.

“Economies don’t grow without people willing take risks”

- Hon. Tom Kenyon

1:18pm – Spotted on the way in today to ANZ Innovyz Demo Day:

1:20pm – Nick Reade from ANZ – General Manager of Small Business Banking AUS & General Manager of Corporate & Commercial Banking S.A speaking now on ANZ’s involvement in startup activity around the country.

1:25pm – Nick Reade “we understand startups”. He goes on to ask the audience - Why is ANZ doing this? “We believe it is the key to sustainable economic growth in Australia”.

1:27pm – Jana returns to the stage and is now introducing Glen Smith – Founder and Managing Director at After the Words, one of the Mentors in the Innovyz program.

1:28pm – Glen Smith is introducing FitUsIn, a wotif or lastminute for gym access. FitUsIn has been generating a fair amount of media interest. It was chosen as one of the 225 ground breaking web technologies where the top 6 were invited to pitch in New York last month. FitUsIn came 2nd! Amazing effort.

1:30pm – FitUsIn takes the stage! Enthusiastic start.

1:32pm – Vanessa Picker – FitUsIn is targeting a 3 billion dollar industry, in Australia, but also a much larger market in America.

1:34pm – Some facts supporting the FitUsIn proposition – Gyms have more than 50% unused capacity! 15.4 million people looking to work out whilst on a trip.

1:35pm – Marketing Strategy – signed 110 gyms in less than three months. Targeting Gyms, Consumers, Channel Partners.

1:38pm – FitUsIn has strong plans to expand into New York City. Pitch finishes, very positive response from the investor audience. Well done FitUsIn.

1:40pm – Jana introducing Dave McLauchlan – Founder and CEO of Buddy Platform.

1:41pm – Dave is doing the introduction for Bluedot – location based services and payment

1:42pm – Bluedot takes the stage. Filip Eldic. He says – Mobile phones are great, but why can’t they do more, such as handle payments for carparks, or toll roads, automatically?

1:42pm – Bluedot allows businesses to precisely identify a location anywhere in the world, and take instant payment when entering that zone. Market opportunity in Australia $3billion.

1:45pm – Filip says that no new infrastructure investment is required for Bluedot to detect location and take payment. My experience with phone GPS’s is they aren’t up to this task. So I wonder how this is possible.

1:46pm – Appster have approached Bluedot with an offer to invest. Sounds like strong industry support.

1:47pm – Bluedot are after $450k to continue their journey. Good pitch, huge opportunity if they can beat others to it, and do it well.

1:48pm – Jana introducing Travis Kemp, Leadership and Talent Director at Lee Hecht Harrison DBM.

1:50pm – Travis is introducing UniCoach, on campus online productivity training to undergraduates to help them achieve academic success. He says that about a quarter of all uni students don’t finish their journey.

1:51pm – Anita from UniCoach takes the stage. She says that UniCoach is amongst other things, a bullet proof productivity system.

1:53pm – UniCoach has an interesting model, Franchise based and utilising UniCoaches to help students on their journey.

1:54pm – System benefits Students, Parents, Universities, Employers and the Government.

1:56pm – UniCoach will expand via a global franchise model.

1:57pm – UniCoach are after an initial funding of $60,000 to help set up the first team of UniCoaches, with fund raising rounds after that to support their expansion.  Another strong pitch. I wasn’t so excited about this one, but I think that says more about me, than UniCoach.

1:58pm – Jana introducing Martin Haese, Found and MD of Retail IQ, Founded & MD of Youthworks Group.  Martin takes the stage to introduce Memtell. Very compelling speaker.

2:01pm – Jonothan Birkett takes the stake. Memtell enables you to tell the story to your photograph. Too many memories are lost or forgotten. Introducing themselves to the world through aged care industries. Have been approached by Bupa.

2:04pm – Freemium pricing model, with Free, Premium and Enterprise accounts.

2:05pm – Predicting a return on investment of 127% in one year (? need to clarify – not sure if I heard that right!).

2:06pm – Interesting the first one to mention an exit strategy – acquisition by google as a possible goal..

2:07pm – Memtell is after $300,000 from investors here today. The combined problem of who’s looking after our memories and capturing our stories is emotionally compelling. Easy to get drawn into what they are trying to solve.  Yet another good pitch.

2:08pm – Jana introducing Emmanuel Foundas – Chief Representative, Oceania & SE Asia at Condusiv, Managing Director of Theta Group.

2:10pm – Emmanuel is introducing Kicktone. A platform that helps independent bands sell their music and merchandise directly to their fans. Savvas from Kicktone takes the stage.

2:11pm – Savvas talking back through his background in music. Telling a real story. Independent bands are competing in an unfair market. He seems very comfortable, and real.

2:12pm – Kicktone pitch very well done, lots of information and compelling. Listening more than blogging – sorry…

2:17pm – Very entertaining pitch by Savvas. He ends with “My name is Savvas – rock on!”. Kicktone’s presentation captured my attention the most so far, making live blogging very difficult.  Afterwards though, I was wondering how their solution differentiates itself from others out there.

2:19pm – A brief break before the next group of pitches..

2:45pm – And we are back! Jana speaking again, introducing Phillip Vafiadis, Chairman of ANZ Innovyz Start.

2:47pm – Phillip takes the stage and is talking about the history of Adelaide and innovation. The Innovyz program has over 50 mentors now, with more wanting join every day.

2:50pm – On Innovyz – In less than twelve months they have helped twenty companies. In another six months that will 30 companies.

2:53pm – Australian investors invest ten times less than their American counterparts in innovation.

2:54pm – Phillip calls out to the crowd to get involved in the startup community.

2:55pm – Philip says we’ve helped 20 companies, but we’re just getting started.

2:56pm – Jana now introducing Erma Ranieri, Chief Executive (Public Sector Renewal Program) and Deputy Chief Executive, Strategy, People and Culture (DMITRE).

2:57pm – Erma on stage. Looking to build links between people and industry. If we are asking business to be innovative, it is also then important for the government to be innovative and support their efforts.

3:00pm – Erma talks about the Government Unleashed efforts. Supporting business to be innovative. She mentions the importance of mentoring the department’s own people on how innovation works, so that they are better positioned to help industry.

3:01pm – Jana now introducing Houssam Abiad, Adelaide City Councillor, CEO of Digimob, Executive Director of By Felici Pty Ltd. It is interesting to hear is background in founding companies, and great that someone like that has become part of Adelaide City Council.

3:03pm – Houssam takes the stage. Adelaide the city of entrepreneurs? Fact or Fiction? Do we have what it takes? Could Adelaide be the startup capital of Australia? Everyone is listening.

3:05pm – Entrepreneurship is organic. All we need to do is water and fertilise the soil around entrepreneurship. Communities, governments and industries need to work hand in hand.

3:06pm – Houssam is talking about the benefits of entrepreneurship on the economy.

Houssam says that the recent motion to name Adelaide as the city of entrepreneurs isn’t about saying we are there, it is about saying where we want to go.

3:09pm – Houssam says that Adelaide will not be able to compete in manufacturing.

3:10pm – Adelaide has a great work life balance, the 5th most liveable city in the world, the perfect ground for a low cost startup. It has an ideal test marketplace.

3:11pm – Houssam makes a possible reference to Holden and the government assistance. He says startups are our future, and this is where the money should be spent. Not in industries with dying competitive advantage.

3:12pm – That was a great speech by Houssam. Very compelling, the audience was hanging on every word. Applause all around.

3:13pm – Jana back again to introduce Phillip Vafiadis (again), to talk about Toward the Stars, but also to mention how lucky we are to have Jana here in Adelaide, helping to build our city of entrepreneurs. I couldn’t agree more!

3:13pm – Towards the Stars – a market place and community that provides resources and gifts to inspire girls to be Strong, Smart and Daring.

3:16pm – Ines, CEO of Toward the Stars takes the stage. She mentions how less girls are studying maths and sciences, and how we precondition girls to be sugar and spice and all things nice. About how we teach girls from a young age that their value is in their looks. Is that what we want to be teaching girls? She mentions how there has been increasing levels of eating disorders in girls over the last 20 years. Ines believes that we precondition girls to not succeed. Ines is telling her pitch using simple, but relevant cartoon graphics. Its surprisingly effective. I’ll add in a photo of one shortly.

3:20pm – What is Toward the Stars? A market place for items that positively support girls around the world, etsy-like. All pitches so far have had a market size type slide. On Ines’ she understates the size of the market opportunity, to only 12 million people. She then adds “but guess what, everybody knows a girl”.

3:23pm – Another great pitch. I think she’ll make it work!

3:24pm – Jana introducing Simran Gambhir, Director Actio Consulting, Former CTO News Interactive and FlyBuys.

3:25pm – Simran on the stage. He is introducing Singa, something he strongly believes in. At the end of the Innovyz program he will be joining Singa as a Director. Singa is a platform that enables people to connect through real-time singing on the internet. The Singa app has had million downloads in China in 7 days. That’s validation.

3:27pm – Yang takes the stage, speaking Chinese. Then a long pause. In this moment, I wonder, do we need a translator? I don’t think I’m alone. Then he bursts into English. That got our attention, neat.

3:27pm- Singa – A musical platform enabling people to become more connected through singing.

3:28pm – Yang shows us what the app looks like. Plays a ridiculously cute audio of a girl singing twinkle twinkle little star. Improvements in network speeds will help their product to do more. To make people go “WOW”.

3:30pm – End of june they will be releasing verison 2, which will enable two people to sing, at the same time.

3:31pm – Revenue streams – selling songs inside the app. Gamify the singing experience, virtual gifts can be bought. Talking to hardware manufacturers to produce musical singing packs – microphones, docking stations etc.

3:31pm – Yang is now talking about their three year roadmap, to work with mainstream social media platforms.

3:32pm – We believe having real time is real fun. Yang asks himself so how big is this market? O M G he says, prompting a chuckle from the audience.  I think Singa could become a ridiculous hit. Well done guys & good luck.

3:36pm – Jana now introducing Dr Craig Mudge, Managing Partner, Pacific Challenge. Jana says she was astonished to find Craig living here in South Australia given how famous he is in America.

3:38pm – Dr Craig Mudge takes the stage, to introduce metriXcare, a health care analytics company that enables companies to reduce their costs while also improving quality. He talks about the courage of young engineers to achieve great things. He also takes time to thank ANZ for doing something that banks do not normally do, in supporting innovation. On metriXCare, he says this company has a marketing pull and a technology push, and investors like that. The technology push is analytics and big data.

3:43pm – Dr Chris Farmer takes the stage to pitch metriXCare. He says that the world health organisation puts the chance of harm in a hospital of one in ten. In Australia that figure is one in sixteen. At Dr Chris’s private hospital, its one in a hundred. Remind me to get any treatments at his hospital, where-ever that is.

3:46pm – Are our hospitals safe? Steve Govis, the CEO, joins Chris on stage to answer.

“How could you tell if a hospital is safe. What data would you need?”

3:47pm – How do you measure quality in a hospital? How do you link this to cost? The goal is to manage costs at the same time as improving quality.

3:48pm – Their previous company was called Edgebox, which achieved strong success.

3:49pm – They have selected 20 hospitals to start, but believe their total addressable market is 966 hospitals, in Australia. This is a global problem though. Targeting 24m revenue in 5 years.

3:50pm – Like all pitches today, they have taken time to talk about the quality of their team.

3:51pm – “Saving Costs, Saving Lives”. This team looks really, really solid. I don’t think they will have trouble raising their target of $500k.  I would invest in this one.

3:53pm – Jana is now introducing Dr Moira Smith, Tech Entrepreneur & CEO BEng (Hons), PhD, MIET, MRAeS.

3:54pm – Dr Moira is introducing DataMunch, via a recorded video. Making sense of big data is what DataMuch is about. Putting big data in reach of everybody.

3:56pm – Claire Richardson, CEO of DataMuch takes the stage. If you read this Claire, thanks for helping me get started on my MBA journey.

3:57pm – Claire talks about using data to help a solar company target its marketing.

3:58pm – “Match external data with your organisation’s”.

3:58pm – Pricing model of DataMuch, and then some revenue predictions – Year 5 of $40.3 million. This is just for the Australian market. 2.1 Million small to medium sized businesses in Australia. DataMuch believe they can have 9000 of these as customers in five years.

4:01pm – Key value prop – Matching internal data sets with internal ones, and then making this accessible to users.

4:01pm – Mention of DataMunch’s competitive advantage, which includes exclusive datasets.

4:02pm – The team introduction. A key part of any startup pitch.

4:03pm – Targeting Series A funding in 18 months in the USA. Requiring $475,000.

4:04pm – “Making data easy”. Another good pitch, but it was clear they are much earlier in their life than the others pitched today. I think investing here would come down to the quality of their big-data team.

4:04pm – Jana back again, I think we have only one more pitch to go. Jana introduces Teri Whiting, Managing Director of Giant4, who will introduce Agent Anything.

4:06pm – Teri says AA have harnessed human capital. married that with edge technology, and to your front door, solve your problems. This is a simple concept, executed well. Teri points out that this team has managed to pull this together across continents, a testament to their seriousness & ability. AgentAnything has been targeting New York City for the last two years, one of the toughest markets in the world.

4:11pm – Harry Schiff takes the stage. A very polished pitch. Great information slides.

4:14pm – An interesting point was how cheap it was for AA to obtain signups in Adelaide. He also talks about the power of building a marketplace, which is what AgentAnything is doing.

4:17pm – It’s amazing that AgentAnything have come to Adelaide, to test and scale their concept here.

4:19pm – Harry nailed that pitch, and I think he knew it. Well done. Best pitch of the day.

4:20pm – That’s the end of the ANZ Innovyz Demo Day, Jana’s now doing the wrap. A great afternoon, thank you to ANZ and Innovyz for making this happen, here, in Adelaide.

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When I originally read the five available books in George R.R Martin’s ‘Song of Ice and Fire’ I found myself thinking about the leadership and life lessons that could be extracted from the series. Quotes like ‘Kill the boy’ haunted some of my more boy-like decisions, and Ygritte’s ‘You know nothing Jon Snow’ played through my head whenever I took issue with a management decision.  I would reflect on the possibility that many more factors were at play than I could see, and that I still had some distance to travel in my journey to be a more effective person (and leader).

So here is my list of seven leadership lessons from Game of Thrones, expanded from my original list of 4:

1. Winter is Coming

If you’re prepared for winter, you’ll know how much margin you have to give and still remain viable.  Winter may come to only one of your products or services, or it may come to all. Today’s cash cow may be tomorrow’s dog. Broaden your focus, consider your customer’s problems, and look for opportunities to innovate and disrupt.  If you’re not doing it, someone else will.

2. The man who passes the sentence should swing the sword

Thankfully, in business we’re not taking lives, but you are likely to cast judgement: who to hire, fire, or reprimand. If you can’t look them in the eye and deliver the news you probably shouldn’t be in charge.

3. Kill the boy and let the man be born

The boy-within hides from the difficult, tough-to-make decisions, delaying and hiding instead of solving and leading. Perhaps if you delay long enough, that tough decision will just go away, or maybe someone else will make it for you.

A great leader will recognise when their inner child is controlling their decisions

So next time you are faced with a tough decision that you’re delaying, think of Jon Snow and man (or woman) up.

4. “You know nothing Jon Snow”

Reminding yourself that you don’t know anything is not only a path to humility, it’s also a great strategy to reduce risk in your decision-making.

Extending this idea a little further; in the workplace there will be moments when management will do something that does not make sense. But did you have all the facts?

You can also apply this to those below you who have disappointed. Why did they do it that way? As a leader it is too easy to assume your staff know what you know. They don’t.

5. A mind needs books as a sword needs a whetstone, if it is to keep its edge

If there is one quote from the series that describes my focus over the last few years it’s this one. I learnt the hard way as an undergrad at University that smarts only gets you so far. You can’t expect to keep turning up to exams and getting great marks whilst missing every lecture. The same goes with business. You need to keep levelling up, keep sharpening. Failure to do so is rust on your effectiveness.

[thankyou to noobtoboss.com for suggesting this quote]

6. A Lannister always pays his debts

In the series, this quote is most often used as a threat.  In the business world it should be used as a signal of authenticity. As Ryan, an MBA student and all-round great guy, commented:

“a leader must follow through on his commitments…. It helps build strong relations and broadens the leaders influence across the organisation”

People need to know that you expect quality from them, and that you will recognise and appreciate such efforts. They also need to understand that you will not turn a blind eye to poor performance.

It is important to note that this should not mean the support of cronyism or the politics of office favour.

7. The lone wolf dies but the pack survives

If you constantly try to go it alone, you make success all the more difficult. Whether an intrepreneur or entrepreneur – you will need people to listen to your vision, who then join forces to help you to achieve it. In any new venture or idea, there is too much for you to do alone. To get traction you will need help. So stop thinking your idea’s are so precious and bring others in to help make them real.

This quote can also be used in reference to delegation. If you’re the only one fighting the battles, working over time and shielding your team from all the stress, you won’t last long. Let the wolfpack in on your troubles and you’ll be more relaxed and get more done.

So that’s my 7 Leadership Lessons from Game of Thrones. Let Season 3 begin!

Comments? Thoughts? Hit me up below!

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Recently I read about a 3D printed dress, a 3D printed skull implant, and even a 3D printed house. I figured it was about time I went to find out what all the fuss was about.

3D Printers at Innovation Lab Adelaide

3D Printer At Adelaide City Councils Innovation Lab

The Adelaide City Council’s Innovation Lab has two 3D Printers set up for the public come in and view. They also run hour and a half maker sessions where you get to familiarise  yourself with the technology, possibly build yourself a 3d model, and then print it all with the help of knowledgable enthusiast volunteers (very early adopters!).

Another view of the 3d printer setup at Adelaide’s Innovation lab

In the above photo you can see the MakerBot Replicator, and then the little red printer in the background is the Up Plus unit from China.

So what can you print on a 3d Printer? Here’s a sample of some of the objects printed by other visitors:

Some objects printed by the 3D Printers.

One of the cooler things about 3D printed objects is that they can produce things that previously required complex manufacturing and then assembly, all in one hit, no assembly required. An example of this is objects with gears, or links of chain.

So what’s the quality like?

Well, it’s still early days. In some instances the quality is very impressive, and in others it is a little lacking. Objects often require a few attempts to get right. In the image below, you an see a print that worked next to a print that didn’t.

Not all prints work first time

To use 3D Printers you don’t have to have 3d modelling experience (CAD or similar) but it would help. Objects can be downloaded from websites for free (or a low fee).

How long did it take to print something? It’s probably no surprise that it’s a slow process. Objects can take well over an hour to print, but I reminded myself of how slow old school printers were, with their 9 pin dot matrix print head. It will improve and despite the small problems, I left the demonstration of 3D Printers wanting one in my home.

Once the technology matures, it will change our lives. I think it’s great that the Adelaide City Council is supporting innovation in this way, and hope people get around it.

If you live in Adelaide, why not register for a free Maker Session at the Innovation Lab at 18 Hutt St, or visit during one of their drop-in sessions.  You can register here.

It’s more than worth your time.

3d Printers and The Innovation Lab are located in the Hutt St Library

As always hit me up with comments below!

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Terminology from the startup world is finding its way into the language of Business. Managers are latching onto the key words such as pivot, disrupt and the idea of the minimum viable product.

Unfortunately, few managers fully understand what each means to the startup world. The idea of the minimum viable product is widely misunderstood. It’s pretty easy to get most of its meaning, but unfortunately the point gets missed.

About the Minimum Viable Product, Eric Ries in his book ‘The Lean Startup‘, says:

“instead of spending years perfecting our technology, we build a minimum viable product, an early product that is terrible, full of bugs and crash-your-computer-yes-really stability problems. Then we ship it to customers before it is ready”

It is this type of definition that managers read about in HBR articles and similar media. So the modern-day manager thinks “Eric’s saying what I’ve suspected all along – my developers are taking too long to ship, we need to deliver less – no more than the absolute minimum viable product”.

Which is OK, but the manager that ends their learning there, is missing a huge point of MVP.

Why does Eric Ries endorse the shipping buggy, incomplete software?

You make MVP’s to learn more about your customer and the problems they have. You make MVP’s to test your hypothesis, your convictions, assumptions and value propositions. You make MVP’s to learn.

The Minimum Viable Product should be thought of as ‘What is the minimum thing we can build to test our assumptions and learn more”.

It’s not about releasing a half done product, just because it’s all the rage at the moment.

It’s not necessarily even about a product.

When you think Minimum Viable Product – think experiment

If you’re not approaching it from this perspective, you’re missing most of the point. So the next time someone endorses the Minimum Viable Product approach, ask yourself, what are we learning?

Thoughts, comments? Hit me up below?

The post Minimum Viable Product – You’re getting it (partially) wrong appeared first on MBANights.

This is the second in a series of posts from Adelaide University’s MBA Entrepreneurship Intensive program.  Professor Becky Ruber has kindly allowed me to sit in on the guest speakers arranged for students in her course.

On Friday the 1st of March, the guest speaker was Mal Chia from NoQ:

Mal Chia – Digital Marketing Manager@ NoQ (noq.com.au)

Mal Chia is working as the Digital Marketing Manager at the Adelaide startup NoQ.  He has a Masters in Commerce (Marketing) from Adelaide University and is one of South Australia’s most respected digital marketers. Prior to working at NoQ, amongst other things, he was the head of Digital and Social Media at Adelaide University.  Mal’s presentation to MBA students on Social Media Marketing was insightful and had many hints and tips for the Entrepreneurship students.

Social Media – Not just fad

Mal opened up the talk with some interesting facts that helped to put social media in the right context – a medium that can’t be ignored:

“Facebook has 11 million unique active users in Australia – about half the population” – Mal Chia

That’s an amazing statistic. From a marketing perspective it means that half of Australia could be reached via Facebook. Unreal. Yet how many businesses have a Facebook presence? Too few.

Mal went on to say that Australia has 30 million mobile phone subscribers (over subscribed?!) and that we have the 2nd highest rate of smartphone penetration in the world.  Our high take-up rate is an opportunity for savvy businesses to exploit, and this reminded me of a quote by Zuckerberg, that if Facebook was invented today, it would be an App (instead of a website).  People are expecting to do much more with their phones than ever before, and Australia is one of the countries leading that charge.

The end of traditional mediums?

The Internet and the rise and rise of social media has fundamentally changed the way companies can communicate and engage with the outside world. As Mal put it-

“Traditional broadcast is on life support”

It’s a strong statement, but Mal backs it up with a brief history lesson. Traditionally, the ability to broadcast to the masses was held under tight control by people with a lot of money. If you wanted to start your own TV station, or run your own printing press or radio station, you couldn’t do it, it was too hard, too expensive. In Australia we had the situation of “very few, servicing very many”. Mal’s point is that social media has disrupted the monopoly of reach to the masses – now anyone can be a publisher and reach many.

“We are all publishers”

- Mal Chia

An interesting point raised by Mal was the idea that social media is nothing new – that it is the oldest form of communication in the world:

“Chatting to your neighbour over the back fence for example, is primitive social media”

It’s just that the magnitude of reach has changed, amplified.

We all have the ability to speak and communicate with a wide audience, and can do so very cheaply because of social media and the internet.

Because of this, you no longer need to pay to get access to someone else’s audience.  Businesses should be taking advantage of this.

With minimal cost, you can seek out and :

Build your own audience

Mal says that you can use a variety of techniques to find your audience and market directly to them. It can be as simple as using google. A more advanced technique was to identify key influencers in your target audience (people with the most number of connections to audience), and then try to get their attention. However, social media marketing has a different twist to regular marketing – social media is all about what your audience wants to hear, not what you want to tell them.  If you get it wrong, they’ll turn away.

Mal Chia on Blogging

Mal suggests that bloggers should ask themselves things like:

• What’s in this blog for the customer?
• What do they want to hear about?
• What are they interested in?
• How you can provide value to them?

Mal’s thoughts mirror what was taught by Cullen Habel in the Adelaide University – Executive Education Unit’s “Sweet Tweets” short course. Successful bloggers need to provide value to their readers, and to do this, effort must be made to understand the blog’s audience, and their needs.

Internet is Increasingly VISUAL

One of Mal Chia’s final points was how the Internet is becoming increasingly visual and that you can no longer rely on text to be effective on its own. Include more photos inline with text, and explore newer ways to present information in pictures or with video.

“Youtube is the second most used search engine in the world”

Mal wrapped up the talk by saying – you need to think how you could create a community around what you are doing. How can you give them something to remember you by?

“What sort of content can tell a great story about what your business is? ….What your story is?”  - Mal Chia

The talk covered everything above in more detail, and a few areas I haven’t mentioned. It was great talk that has me thinking about how I operate MBANights, and how I could do it better.  More importantly it gave me an insight into what is required to have a successful  social media campaign.

Thanks again to Mal Chia from NoQ, Professor Becky Ruber from Adelaide Uni’s MBA Entrepreneurship class, and also to Damian Scanlon, Director of Adelaide University’s MBA Program.

Thoughts on how to be successful at social media? Comments? Hit me up below!

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Reading is one of the ways you can level-up

By level-up, I mean, improve yourself, to be and contribute more. Think and grow.

Are you reading something currently? There are so many books that finding the right one to start reading can be hard. So if you’re currently without a read, don’t worry here’s my reading list. I’m sure you’ll find something worth your time.

The MBA Reading List

1. The Startup Owners Manual – Steve Blank and Bob Dorf

The Startup Owner’s Manual: The Step-By-Step Guide for Building a Great Company

In the startup world, Ries’ Lean Startup book (see below) gets all the attention. But it falls a little short at providing real, practical advise on how to do the things in a lean startup way. This book is completely different. If you think of the old workshop manuals for your car, this is the startup equivalent of that. Like a car mechanics manual, it is not really meant to be read start to end, rather. jump straight to what you are working on. I absolutely recommend it.

2. Steve Jobs – Walter Isaacson

Steve Jobs
This book is simply, one of the best books I have ever read. And that is despite its flaws. Read it. A great insight into Steve, Silicon Valley and business generally. Even if you’re not in the Apple camp, get it.

3. The Lean Startup – Eric Ries

The Lean Startup: How Today’s Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses
If you haven’t yet read this book, you should. It’s not so much great in its content, more great because of the lens it gives you to view (re-view) the business world around you. It’s almost a religious movement in the States. More of a MBA book than the Startup Owners Manual – challenges the way you think about innovation. I like practical assistance though, which is why this is at position 3.

4. Like A Virgin – Richard Branson

Like a Virgin: Secrets They Won’t Teach You at Business School
Virgin market this one as one-book-business-school, the Branson way. It’s pretty good, and easy to read, much like a series of blog posts actually. He covers a really wide range of topics, and is an interesting insight on the man, and the brand, that is Virgin. If you are studying or wanting to reflect on Managing Contemporary Organisations (MCO) theory, he’s a good example of championing employee engagement and creativity.

5. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People – Stephen Covey

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
Globally a huge hit since its release in 1989, this book is about authentic leadership. Achieving what you want by focusing inward first. The book shows its age, but it is one of those books that all MBA students & graduates should read. Leaders from generations above you will quote Covey, so it’s useful to have done a little homework on him.

6. What would Google Do? – Jeff Jarvis

What Would Google Do?: Reverse-Engineering the Fastest Growing Company in the History of the World
Thinking about the world in terms of data is one of the many ways google is different. Whilst this book is a few years old now (at least, in Silicon years) I have found it interesting as it helps give you another lens to look at the world, and perhaps see opportunity in areas you might have overlooked before.

7. Business Stripped Bare – Richard Branson

Business Stripped Bare: Adventures of a Global Entrepreneur
Branson’s books are generally easy reads, and this one is no exception. Unfortunately some of the things mentioned in this book, are the same as I’ve read in his other books which feels a bit like the author cheating. Anyway, still a great read.

8. Thinking Hats - Edward De Bono

Six Thinking Hats
I picked this one up in anticipation of a few business flights, and it’s been surprisingly good. How do you legitimise an emotional response to a situation? Or maybe an intuitive thought that a business approach is wrong? The traditional approach to decision making pays little heed to these valuable responses, and the De Bono method is an attempt to correct that, amongst other things.

9. Enders Game – Orson Scott Card*

Ender’s Game (Ender, Book 1)
I know, this one is not a business book. But it is a great read, and there is a movie coming out soon so I wanted to freshen up on it. One of my most favourite books of all time. A simple, yet complex scifi that is easy to digest yet very compelling. If you haven’t read it. READ IT!

What’s next on my list?

Well, i’ve probably got too many on my list at the moment, but when a few drop off, these two will be next:

The 4 Hour Work Week – Tim Ferriss

The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich (Expanded and Updated)

How to win friends and influence people – Dale Carnegie

How To Win Friends and Influence People

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UniBreakfast with Assistant Governor of RBA

Adelaide University has arranged for Dr Guy Debelle of the Reserve Bank of Australia to speak at an exclusive breakfast seminar, part of their UniBreakfast series of events. Dr Guy Debelle works as the Assistant Governor (Financial Markets) at the RBA bank, so it will be very interesting to hear what he has to say. You can read more on him here.

The headline for the event is :

“Hear about the effect of the exchange rate on the economy, what the RBA does each day in the money and fx markets and how this flows through to borrowing rates and mortgage rates.”

I’m told there are over 120 pre-registered attendees, and representatives from the media will also be present. Sounds great!

If you would like to be kept up to date, from 7:30am (Adelaide time) I will be providing live updates throughout the seminar, via this blog post. So check back or refresh your browsers to receive the latest version.

Also, you can contact me during the event via email andy@forbessa.com, or by posting comments on this page.

Event Start

7:30 – It’s always nice to attend an event at the wine centre. Here’s the room where the seminar will be held. People are having coffee and tea in the room behind, ahead of Guy taking the stage.

8:01 – Seminar is starting. Damian Scanlon, the Director of Adelaide University’s MBA Program is doing the introduction. He makes an interesting point that the people making the decisions often do so with the paradigms of their youth.

8:05 – Guy has taken the stage.

8:10 – He’s talking about how the Financial Markets section of the RBA bank achieves the cash rate set by the RBA when it announces an interest rate change.

8:11 – RBA has complete control in the supply of money between the Banks, and this determines the cash rate. The RBA does this in response to demand and supply. The RBA Bank is the only supplier.

8:12 – The Government also works with the RBA. For example when you pay your taxes the money comes into the government’s bank account at the RBA bank.

8:13 – The daily money market that the RBA uses to control the cash rate is only about a billion dollars in size.

8:15 – Dr Debelle makes the point that the cash deposit rate at banks, are higher than they used to be, because the GFC resulted in a refocus on sources of money that are deemed more secure.

8:20 – A snap of Dr Debelle talking. There are a number of professional photographers here, but you’ll have to suffice with my grainy iPhone5 shot!

8:21 – The talk has moved on to the RBA’s role in the fx market.

8:24 – He says that the RBA bank runs 24 hour trading, with the help of international offices such as New York.

8:26 – When does the RBA intervene to correct the Australian dollar or inject liquidity into the market? The last example was during the GFC (2008/09, 3.8billion in reserves). Guy says that in this case the RBA was happy to deprecate the dollar, however they were most concerned with the rate of the deprecation. If no one is trading then the RBA gets involved to keep the market moving.

8:27 – Interestingly, Dr Debelle states that during this uncertainty the RBA actually made money, to the benefit of the tax payers. They bought AUD low, and sold it high. No one else was willing to take that risk.

8:30 – The RBA bank thinks that the Australian dollar is valued on the high side.

8:30 – Why ? The primary reason being higher is basically the weak state of other countries economies. He’s talking about how the QE programs across the globe results in capital outflows from those countries. In the case of America, this depreciates the USD, and drives the AUD higher.

8:31 – A small amount of capital outflow from the US’s perspective can be very large for a country such as Australia.

8:33 – This can leave countries receiving these inflows with a difficult choice. One response is to lower the interest rate locally. But then, this creates asset bubbles such as housing booms. There are a number of countries having this problem now.

8:35 – In Australia the RBA bank has also taken the option of lowing interest rates. He maintains that we still have capacity to lower rates should the need arise, such as in response to the high AUD exchange rate.

8:36 – However, the recent easing cycle has not successfully lowered the AUD, which is the normally expected outcome.

8:37 – We are currently enjoying one of the lowest mortgage rates we have had in the past 40 years.

8:39 – Dr Guy Debelle winds up his talk by making a brief point that it will be interesting to see how Japan’s attempts to lower the yen will play out, relative to Australia.

8:40 – Question time

Q: The Aussie is higher, what level would you intervene?

A: It would depend on the context. Guy states that it’s a common misconception that the RBA has limited power to influence the rising dollar. He says that, if the currency is rising there it is easy for the RBA bank to intervene. It is harder to do so when the currency is falling. This is because they only have 36 billion dollars in foreign currency to fight with.

Q: An interesting question from the audience, asking whether the system is too complex to successfully intervene in, creating booms and busts. Perhaps then, we’d all be better off if the RBA just went to the beach instead? Has anyone tried this?

A: Guy responds by saying that the GFC was largely caused by unfettered markets. So a lack of intervention can contribute to these kinds of severe effects. The RBA does what it is doing because of things like the Great Depression. The social costs of going through another depression like that is extreme and should be avoided.

Q: A question about the Swiss monetary policy. What are the costs of this?

A: They had interest rates at zero, high inflation. They have a large amount in foreign exchange, to cap the rise in their currency. It may work out without problem.

Q: What situation would prompt the RBA to intervene or cap the Aussie dollar?

A: Dr Debelle says that they are not in that position. There is scope to offset rises using regular conventional policy. Unlike the Swiss bank, where the interest rates were zero, we still have room to move.

Q: Why don’t we hold more Chinese currency?

A: The simple reason is that up until very recently, the Chinese didn’t let you.

Q: Should the Euro break up? What needs to happen to maintain the Euro as a viable currency?

A: Breaking a currency up is very difficult. Incredibly difficult to actually try to break it up. Whether the politics makes sense or not, the logistics would be very difficult. He says that it is important to remember the Euro is not just a economic beast, it is also a political beast. So even if it makes sense, it has this political glue to keep it together.

Q: Is there a capacity to forgive debt?

A: Greece has already had some debt write-downs. So that can happen.

Q: What are the impacts of the uncertainty in Europe here?

A: Well, the effects in Europe aren’t too significant here. Obviously, the markets panic when there is uncertainty, so if that could be avoided that would be good. But from an Australian perspective, the impacts aren’t significant.

8:58 – The seminar has just finished. People including me are now on their way back to work. Great event, very informative and it was interest to see Guy’s response to the trickier questions about when and how the RBA bank would intervene, if it would.

Thanks, and any questions or comments hit me up below!

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Tomorrow morning I will be live blogging the UniBreakfast with Assistant Governor of RBA event from the National Wine Centre in Adelaide, from 7:30am.

For more details on the event please see https://blogs.adelaide.edu.au/mba/2013/01/31/26-february-2013-unibreakfast-with-assistant-governor-of-rba/ for more details on the event.

If you are going and see me there, please come up and say hi! Otherwise, check back later and see how my first live blogging attempt worked out!

Thanks

Andy

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Firstly, on Dr Jana Mathews. She is an expert in her field of entrepreneurial leadership and business growth. She has a doctorate from Harvard, is co-author of several books (such Lessons from the Edge and Building the Awesome Organization). From Colorado, she has recently been spending significant time in Adelaide as the Managing Director of ANZ Innovyz START program – a 13 week startup accelerator modelled after the US TechStars.

She had been invited to talk to MBA students as part of the Entrepreneurship intensive subject. Luckily for me (and for a few others) the talk was opened up to MBA students and alumni.

So what did Jana have to say?

She opened the talk with a light joke, a brief intro and then went into the theory of who entrepreneurs are, what they need, and what needs to be done in Adelaide to help them.

On entrepreneurs, she said that they ” try do do things they do not have the resources for”. I’ve heard this definition before, and like it. It is reassuring. Wait..what? Reassuring? Well. getting things done, whether entrepreneur or an intrapreneur, is hard. You’re working above and beyond what is normal to bring an idea to life, often with no concrete proof it’s even worth it. Of course you won’t have the resources to achieve your vision. It’s meant to be hard – you should expect it and be ok with it. You won’t have the resources because what you’re doing is not business-as-usual. The definition Jana used is reassuring because this difficulty explicitly stated.  All the other intreprenuers and entreprenuers will be in the same boat. You won’t have the resources you want. All you can do is hustle and try to be as ”relentlessly resourceful” as possible. Find ways to get more done with less. Anyway, that’s a bit of an aside…

Jana spoke about entrepreneurs needing ideas, and not just their own- some theirs, some from others in a big cross-pollination of creative thought and technology. If Adelaide is to have a thriving startup ecosystem it needs to support this via many events, meetups, organisations and clubs. All working together to create opportunities to share ideas and meet like-minded people. They also need to be easy to find, learn about, and kept up to date with.

On the cross-sharing of ideas, I think too many people think entrepreneur’s require a ‘light bulb moment’. Maybe if you wait long enough you’ll have a light bulb moment, but a better approach is to get out there. Throw ideas around. See more of the world’s problems and opportunities. Have creative moments with other creatively-restless people. Start the dream by taking steps towards it. Don’t sit around waiting for an “A-HA!” moment.

Jana also spoke about the differences between an accelerator, and an incubator. If you think on the words it’s somewhat obvious, an accelerator ”accelerates” the company, where as an incubator is like waiting for a business model to hatch. The differences mean accelerated startups have less capacity to pivot.  On the positive, they’ll get funding and be a real company much quicker (and could always pivot afterwards).

Jana’s thoughts on the ecosystem required to support entrepreneurs was interesting and insightful.  She presented a map of the “Adelaide Entrepreneurial Ecosystem” which was awesome – I’d never seen it laid out. So many players in the ecosystem, yet so few have strong public profiles. Some I have heard of, some I haven’t, and I’m not sure how many are actively working with each other either. One of Jana’s goals is to strengthen Adelaide’s Startup ecosystem. This can only be good for South Australia – hopefully people rally behind her and help.

The growth curve was another area she spoke about. It was interesting hearing how the founder’s role and required skill sets changed throughout the curve.

Finally, Jana spoke about what ANZ Innovyz offers and gave us a summary of the companies that are currently in the program- The Unicoach, Kicktone, Yesoft, FitUsIn, Mobility Unlimited, Datamunch, Edgebox, Memtell, TowardTheStars, and Agent Anything.

What’s going on there sounds awesome, it would be an incredible experience and I wish the people doing it the best of luck. I won’t go into more detail about the 3 month program but if you’re interested all the details are on their website - http://www.innovyzstart.com/

I can’t wait to see the final round of investor pitches at the Adelaide Town hall on the 18th of April.  Oh, and if you do check out the ANZ Innovyz website, don’t miss their Week 1 highlights of the Summer 2013 program.

Thanks again to Dr Jana Matthews for her Saturday talk on Entrepreneurship the Adelaide Startup Ecosystem and ANZ Innovyz, to Professor Becky Ruber from MBA Entrepreneurship for allowing me to sit in on her class, and to Neil Saunders (Adelaide MBA – Marketing) for letting me know about the opportunity.

Thoughts? Comments!? Hit me up below!

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Managerial Finance Strategies to Add Value

The following strategies to add to the net present value (NPR) of a company by altering the cash flow for the better.

Add Value by Maximising Existing Assets

With an existing asset you can:

Increase revenue by either higher sales numbers (make & sell more), or by raising your prices (charge more). The other side of the coin is the decreasing the expenses incurred when using the asset. Find ways to use less resources through greater operational efficiency and seek lower the prices of raw materials and asset support services through tighter procurement.

Add Value by Introducing New Assets

This is where an organisation makes an asset purchase that adds net present value (NPR) to the organisation. A new asset purchase can increase NPR by greater production capacity, or enabling higher quality to support higher price, or by allowing  a new product line.  New machinery can add value by being more efficient or reliable.

Add Value by Managing Assets more effectively

Another way to add value to spend more time on making sure asset management is optimum. Is the replacement cycle of your assets the most effective? Is delaying replacement to save money really adding value, or is it actually costing more in the long run? Deciding whether or not to replace an asset or maintain the existing one is an asset management question that requires net present value calculations.

Add Value by Manipulating Cash Flow Timing

You can add value by obtaining your money earlier and paying your bills later:

Add Value by Collecting Your Money Earlier

You can add value by obtaining your money earlier. Issue invoices as sooner, shorten the payment options and be firmer with chasing up your debtors. Can the bad debtors be managed in a way that returns a higher percentage of what is owed?

Add Value by Deferring Payments to Creditors

If you can defer payments to creditors without penalty, then doing so will add value to the organisation. The longer you hold the money the more time you have to earn interest on it.

To illustrate the point, if you collect your money at purchase, and have 90 day terms with the supplier you can earn three months interest on that money before having to pay for the goods you sold.

Large companies that do this could be considered like a bank, as they holding other peoples money. Apple and the Australian supermarket chain Coles are two examples of companies that are very successful at ‘being a bank’.

Add Value by Reducing Days the Product is in Inventory

Lets consider the example above in more detail – where you sell a product, receive payment for it immediately, yet have 90 days to pay the supplier. How long did the product stay on the shelf before being sold? Each day of inventory time will take a day from your possible 90 day period of earning interest. How much stock are you carrying, both on the shelf, and in the warehouse? Reducing your days stock will create value.

Add Value by Deferring Maintenance

When money is tight you can defer preventative maintenance in favour of better short term cash flow. This strategy comes with many risks to the ongoing returns of your assets, so should only be done with great care, or, out of desperation!

Add Value by Reducing the Cost of Capital

Most simply, if you can reduce the interest rate on any of your debt facilities it will have an immediate value-adding effect. Finding cheaper, more effective sources of capital is therefore a key component of managerial finance.

Wrap

So that’s some Managerial Finance Strategies to Add Value. It’s not rocket science, but like many management theories and models, standing back and viewing your company with a simple model can be surprisingly effective.

Thoughts? Comments? Hit me up below!

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