The Entrepreneurs’ Programme provides business support and advice to help businesses commercialise novel products, processes and services, as well as improve their productivity and competitiveness. The Programme connects businesses to a national network of more than 100 experienced Advisers and Facilitators.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/piaturcinov
BlueMount Capital is a capital markets group with a global network of highly skilled professionals covering every continent, but primarily operating in the Asia/Pacific
BlueMounts services extend to;
• Equity and Debt Capital Raisings
• Stock exchange listings (Asia Emphasis)
• Mergers, Acquisitions and Divestments
• Management Buy Outs and Buy Ins
• Cross Border International Transactions
• Strategic Partnerships and Joint Ventures
• Capital Raisings
• Private Equity Funding
• Public Flotation's IPO and RTO
• Active Author - Informative Articles
https://au.linkedin.com/in/saliba-sassine-195a7615
She is committed passionately to the innovation principle that “tomorrow starts today”, and has been a vocal and active advocate for the imperative to provide the best advice and assistance possible to enable innovation and business start-up success. Sheryl works as a Commercialisation Adviser to Accelerating Commercialisation , a Federal Government initiative, which assists innovative new businesses in their transition from idea to commercial venture. She is imminently qualified to do so, having started a number technology based businesses or her own, each of which resulted in a trade sale or IPO. Sheryl is also vigorously committed to the representation of women in enterprise and government. She served on the Board of AWISE (Australian Women in IT, Science and Engineering), she has served on the committee of Women in Technology, WA (WITWA) since 2006, and is a Board Member of SpringBoard Enterprise Australia. Sheryl is also a Director of StartupWA.
Greg Riebe is a senior executive with over 30 years of experience in commerce across a variety of industries including investment management, high technology-based businesses, professional services, mining, retail, insurance and financial services.
Greg is a CEO of his own Investment Management business focused on emerging technology-based businesses incorporating investment identification, deal structuring, capitalisation, business development, and exit management.
Greenwich & Co is a new and dynamic full service accounting firm which offers a full suite of business solutions including Audit, Tax, Business Services, Insolvency, Business Consulting and Financial Planning.
https://au.linkedin.com/in/nick-hollens-54606b23
Annette is a Skills Adviser for the Industry Skills Fund and can provide high quality skills advice to help your business meet its growth strategy through diversifying into new, emerging domestic or export markets; adopting new technologies; or making structural adjustments to your business due to changing market conditions. The fund provides training grants for businesses who need to upskill owners and/or staff to achieve their growth potential.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/annette-onuoha-8533123b?trk=nav_responsive_tab_profile
Impact Seed are capacity builders focused on growing impact investment in conversation with founders of impact businesses, CSR and private wealth, and demonstrating why the ‘business for good’ model works in bridging investment and philanthropy.
https://au.linkedin.com/in/svenstenvers
Capital Introduction; Deal Structuring; Relevant experince in all aspects of deal negotiations and closing. Specialties: Financial Services; Resources; Healthcare
https://sg.linkedin.com/in/phillip-carlton-78264831
Equal parts digital strategist, digital creative and technologist, Ben has a stellar skillset honed from having long lived at the place where technology and creativity intersect. At M&C Saatchi, Ben heads innovation across the 10 businesses that comprise the Group, in addition he leads social, mobile and content across the agency.
Surfer, strategist, economist and struggling vege gardener. I have recently launched Far Lane. We partner with communities, organisations and agencies who wish to be brave, bold and prepared in a rapidly changing world. We help build the relationships, structures and systems that they require for their projects to succeed.
https://au.linkedin.com/in/jason-mcfarlane-a2043021
Grew up in Sydney, Canberra, and the Blue Mountains.
Worked on early stage tech companies in Sydney and then headed to the USA in 2012.
Graduate of Y Combinator Summer 2013.
Co-founder of Meta. Helped build a holographic computer, raise $23M Series A and build the foundation for the $50M Series B. Helped hire 70 great people, including many world #1s.
Passionate about world changing technology and helping founders with a big vision.
Currently coaching 30 early stage companies with muru-D
https://au.linkedin.com/in/bensandcastle
Self described Modern day MacGyver.
Entrepreneur, inventor and innovator with many years of experience in business, technology development and manufacturing in a wide variety of industries, with an amazing ability to rapidly turn ideas into reality. Previously the co-founder of Ollo Wearables, and Ella both being alumni of TechStars Accelerator in the USA.
https://au.linkedin.com/in/kennethmacken
Dr Michelle Deaker is the founder, Managing Director and CEO of OneVentures, a leading Australian venture capital firm with$170M in funds under management. OneVentures invests in technology companies that serve or disrupt large high growth global markets.
Michelle has extensive experience in the development of high growth technology companies, a strong background in Australian R&D and expertise in international business expansion. She is a former successful entrepreneur, angel investor and business owner with over 18 years experience in information technology, enterprise businesses targeting finance, retail, media, security and education. She has served on the Boards of listed and unlisted companies across media and information technologies in Australia and North America.
The Company Michelle founded in 1999, E Com Industries (www.giftvouchers.com), became the leading prepaid card and electronic voucher provider in Australia, servicing over 100 major retail brands including Coles Myer and Woolworths, managing $700m in Australian retail liability and eventually expanding operations into the UK, South Africa and New Zealand. E Com was acquired by UK publicly listed company, Retail Decisions, in 2005. Prior to E Com, Michelle was Managing Director of Networks Beyond 2000.
As well as OneVentures portfolio companies, Michelle serves on the Board of Seven West Media (ASX SWM) (Channel 7, Yahoo7, Pacific Magazines and West Australian News), and is a previous Director of NICTA, Australia’s National ICT Centre of Excellence (now Data61). She is also a current mentor to the University of Sydney’s Incubate Program, past member of the AVCAL Venture Capital working group Heads Over Heels and the NSW Government’s Taskforce for the Digital Economy. Michelle is also a current Member of Chief Executive Women and the Australian Institute of Company Directors.
https://au.linkedin.com/in/dr-michelle-deaker-593b54
Co-Founder OzAPP Awards, Co-Founder MaiTai Global, Co-Founder Extreme Tech Challenge and Venture Capitalist Charles River Ventures.
Bill Tai is a leading venture capitalist and sponsored athlete in kiteboarding. He has funded more than a dozen startups that grew to become public companies, serving on the Board of Directors of 7 publicly listed companies that emerged from his portfolio. He is currently Chairman of Maxthon Inc and Treasure Data.
Bill is an active Angel Investor having personally funded companies such as Tweetdeck / Twitter, Tango.me, Treasure Data, Miselu, and VideoEgg (SayMedia). He is a partner of several funds at Charles River Ventures where he represents CRV on the board of Glyde, Maxthon and Scribd. Prior to establishing CRV’s Silicon Valley office, Bill co-founded IPInfusion as Executive Chairman, Founded iAsiaWorks as Chairman and CEO, and founded Tradebeam as President.
As an Olympic Ambassador for the International Kiteboarding Association, Bill was part of the campaign that earned kiteboarding a spot in the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. Along with pro kiteboarderSusi Mai, Bill also established the “MaiTai“, a high profile annual networking event on Maui bringing together industry leading tech startup founders with pro kiters from around the world.
With an MBA from Harvard Graduate School of Business, a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Illinois, Bill has also been named Adjunct Professor of Innovation at Curtin University in Australia.
Bill has embraced Australia’s progressive start up industry (as well as some of the world’s best kiteboarding conditions) having funded companies here such as Bubble Gum interactive, Posse.com, Pygg.co, and Shoes of Prey.
http://www.maitaiglobal.org/
In 2006, Larry Lopez moved from Silicon Valley to Perth, bringing with him his wisdom of technology investment, global venture capital, entrepreneurship and financing for start-up companies.
For eighteen years, Larry held senior and executive positions at Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), playing a key role in the growth of the SVB Financial Group from a community bank to a global financial leader. In his role at SVB he sponsored the Bank’s investment in numerous European, Israeli and Australian venture capital funds. Over the years, Larry worked with hundreds of offshore companies launching products in Silicon Valley, and served on boards in Stockholm, London and Australia.
Once arriving in Australia, Larry co-founded RedDog Capital Partners, an institutional advisor providing exclusive Australian representation to a publicly traded US financial institution. He is now a partner at Perth based Australian Venture Consultants, a solution driven strategic consulting practice focused on creating successful and commercial outcomes for innovative projects, companies and institutions.
https://au.linkedin.com/in/larry-lopez-1583343
Simon Cant is a Co-Founder and Managing Director Reinventure Group. Simon has spent his career working on innovation, both through venture and corporate innovation.
As an innovation specialist at CANTT Associates and before that ?WhatIf! Innovation, with a focus on disruptive innovation, he advised clients such Tennis Australia, UBS, NAB, Suncorp, AMP, Fairfax, News Limited and APN News & Media and Transport for NSW. Prior to that he worked with entrepreneurs, in both commercial startups, at TiNSHED Angel Group and social ventures at Social Ventures Australia.
https://au.linkedin.com/in/simoncant
Marc van Hoof started in the Internet industry at the age of 15, where he went straight from high school to his part-time job: developing virtual hosting systems for a local ISP. Back in the days of dial-up modems, when Netscape Navigator ruled the world, and all websites were grey, Marc worked with Silicon Graphics and Ascend Communications to help build a cutting edge internet provider network.
In 1998, Marc van Hoof was one of two network architects that built and operated the first Internet Data Center in Australia. Outsourced co-location hosting was a new concept to the Australian shores, and customers of all sizes and complexities sought advice on how to best design their online environment.
During the late 90’s and early 2000’s, Marc was involved in online media distribution, pioneering some of the most prominent webcasts in the country. Working extensively on events ranging from concerts with world famous musicians, to major shareholder announcements for the largest companies in Australia, to major fashion label launches, he was well known for developing massively scalable strategies for delivering live video content to tens of thousands of viewers.
In 2001, Marc met Bill Tai and joined his data center design team at iAsiaWorks, building Data Center facilities and a pan-Asia transit network throughout Hong Kong, Korea, Taiwan and Australia.
Joining Cisco in 2005 as a Product Manager, Marc was responsible for looking after the product and market strategy for the Enterprise Routing portfolio in the Asia Pacific Region. He has had extensive experience introducing new solutions and technologies to enterprises throughout Australia, New Zealand, Asia, and the USA.
Marc currently lives in Melbourne and San Francisco and is an advisor to several startup companies, whilst also continuing his role in the Cisco Cloud Networking team looking at SDN, service automation and efficiency.
Marc van Hoof is an avid kiteboarder and snowboarder, is addicted to adventure sports, and a regular at MaiTai kite events all over the world. Since 2013 he has been on the Advisory Committee of the OzAPP awards, and the organizer of the MaiTai Australia event in Perth.
In 1999 Brendan founded ShopFree.com which expanded to 7 countries and over 1 million members. In 2004, Brendan relocated to San Francisco to further ShopFree’s push into the USA market. As a mentor and consultant Brendan has worked with VinoMofo, Shop A Docket, SportsBet, the Australian Radio Network and rock band INXS.
As the current Sydney Director of Startup Grind in Sydney, Brendan hosts monthly events for startups with guest speakers.
Brendan is also currently is Director of Community Development for SoftLayer, which was recently acquired by IBM. Brendan is currently a mentor at Muru¬D, Vocus Upstart, Lakeba, NRMA Jumpstart, Incubate and SlingShot.
https://au.linkedin.com/in/brendanyell
Founder and Managing Partner of Adventure Capital, amongst Australia’s leading early-stage technology venture capital investment firms whose portfolio contains World, Asia and Australian leading companies. He is the architect of the supercharged ecosystem surrounding Adventure Capital which provides global pathways to upstart Aussie entrepreneurs and the includes angel network Aurelius Digital, the iconic York Butter Factory curated co-working facility, the Omega Society, and not for profit Startup Australia which delivers Startup Weekend and other signature events across Australia.
Experienced Executive and Entrepreneur with deep experience in creating, leading and guiding companies through periods of rapid growth and significant transformation leveraging technological and organisational change and has operated across both advanced and emerging economies particularly Australia, Asia, Middle East and North America. Previously Stuart was an Officer in the Air Force and founded a multi-award winning consulting business which delivered high-stakes and complex capability solutions to the Defence and Intelligence sector. He is a founding investor and board director of revolutionary technology companies Axiflux and 121cast, a founder of Equiem, and is Chairman of Peazie Social Media Group.
Stuart holds a Bachelor of Aerospace Engineering, Master of Management and Engineering Science (UNSW), Executive MBA (MGSM), and graduated from both the distinguished Australian Defence Force Academy and Stanford Executive Program.
https://au.linkedin.com/in/stuac
Emma is the CEO and Co-Founder of Full Profile, a provider of software solutions that bring transparency, efficiency, and trust to agri-commodity supply chain management. Emma has had a diverse career as a lawyer, agribusiness executive, business coach and entrepreneur. She is also a grain grower and is passionate about the power of agtech.
https://au.linkedin.com/in/emmamweston
Pred Dragila is the Managing Director and Co-Founder of Australian based online payment services company, Fat Zebra.
He co-founded Fat Zebra in 2011 with the idea to simplify the process of accepting credit card payments online for retailers, service providers and everyday businesses in a simple, reliable, affordable and secure environment.
Today, Fat Zebra is Australia’s fastest growing online payments company developing unique payment solutions for banks, payment gateways and merchants.
Pred has revolutionised the online payments market changing the way banks, service providers and merchants connect and transact online. He has developed online transaction solutions for some of Australia’s most recognizable and loved brands including National Australia Bank, Wesfarmers, Starbucks, Staples and WWF.
In his spare time, Pred loves to stay active. Whether he’s engaging in a grueling gym session or outdoors kite surfing, stand up paddle boarding or on the motorbike, Pred enjoys pushing his body to the limits.
https://au.linkedin.com/in/pred-dragila-581b7b17
Tim Denning is a thought leader in the personal development, entrepreneur and startup fields. He is most well known for his blogging on Addicted2Success.com where his articles are some of the most shared on the site. Each week he interviews successful people in the fields of tech, personal development, entertainment, sport, and business, and then shares their stories in his articles.
Outside of blogging Tim works for a large organisation helping fast moving technology companies come to Australia as well as helping Australian tech companies go to the world.
Tim uses social media to be able to leave a lasting legacy to generations of entrepreneurs and everyday people who are trying to succeed in life but don’t really have the tools required. He believes that we are wired for failure, and unless we proactively program our minds for success, then we will live an unfulfilled life.
The good news is that it doesn’t have to be this way. For anyone to achieve massive success all they have to do is commit to grow continually each and every day and to live life to the fullest. This starts with understanding where you are today and then making a decision to stop the way you’re currently living and make changes.
If you would like to learn some of the principles involved in being a successful person as well as the art of entrepreneurship, then hit the subscribe button below, and you can continue to follow Tim’s journey.
https://au.linkedin.com/in/timcdenning
•Tim Wise is a successful Entrepreneur and Businessman who has a passion and skill for helping business people get healthy, energised, focused and productive. Tim is a highly acclaimed speaker and coach, his broad range of business and life experiences benefits his clients in a profound and deep way.
•He was the founder of Listen Clothing, The Tap Doctor (Australia’s largest plumbing franchise) and Wasabi Energy ( a public company listed on the Australian Stock Exchange) and valued in excess of $50M.
•Tim is the Author of “The Power of Ultimate Perception” and “Love is Wise.” His focus is on creating success from the inside out starting with health and wellbeing.
•Tim sits on several company boards.
•He is the founder of Wisepeak International which was formed in 2003 with the aim of helping his clients integrate wealth and wisdom so they can succeed in their inner and outer worlds.
•He now works for a number of high profile companies and motivated executives.
https://au.linkedin.com/in/businessstorytelling
Rick Baker is a founder of Blackbird Ventures, a new venture capital firm in Australia. Blackbird invests in world class Internet and software companies forming in Australia. It has been built around a group of Australia’s most successful tech founders, combined with close ties to Silicon Valley.
Prior to Blackbird, Rick was responsible for MLC’s venture capital portfolio with investments and commitments of over half a billion dollars. At MLC, Rick built a portfolio of venture fund investments alongside a group of the most successful venture capital funds in Silicon Valley and globally. Rick also invested directly into tech companies, both from Australia and the US.
Prior to MLC, Rick co-founded two successful software companies. The first, IDC Global, is a leading provider of software for the real estate industry. The second, Right Party Connect, produces notification systems for financial institutions. Right Party Connect was sold to UK based company Adeptra in 2007 and is now Adeptra Australia.
Rick is a passionate supporter of Australian technology companies. He is on the board of Shoes of Prey, an advisor to Posse, Canva and Wooboard, investor in Bugglegum Interactive and Pygg, and on the Advisory Council of Pollenizer.
https://au.linkedin.com/in/rcsbaker
George is a blockchain and cryptocurrency consultant and advisor to global financial institutions and startups. He recently co-authored a seminal report on blockchain architecture with KPMG: https://assets.kpmg.com/content/dam/kpmg/pdf/2016/06/kpmg-blockchain-consensus-mechanism.pdf George is Entrepreneur in Residence for Blockchain at Tyro Fintech Hub and Startupbootcamp. He also writes a blog on blockchain technology and use cases at sammantics.com. George also co-founded BTC.sx, now magnr, a bitcoin trading platform in 2013. He is also a former Wall Street Senior Portfolio Manager and Market Strategist as well as a technical analyst. George holds the Chartered Market Technician (CMT) designation.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/georgesamman
Robbie’s varied career has taken him from farming in WA’s south west, riding bucking horses in the country’s north, mining, brewing and into the Australian Defence Force.
This combination of practical life skills has enabled him to see unique practical solutions to technical problems.
Successfully building and launching applications in expense management, marine safety and research and utility management Robbie’s companies are set to ride the next wave of Big Data by creating essential hardware to collect, collate and analyse data.
Companies are established in Australia, New Zealand and soon to be located in Singapore.
As an active participant in backing early stage ventures and mentoring start-ups in the health sector, Robbie’s passion still lies with Agriculture.
As a UAV pilot he has been at the forefront of dealing with grain growers in the state of WA and sees this as a developing sector to keep involved in.
Robbie is aso passionate about innovation that matters and looks for projects that have a greater social outcome.
2016 will see new developments and alliances between countries that can drive innovation in agricultural areas emerging from conflict with two of the JKP companies playing a leading role.
https://au.linkedin.com/in/robbie-adams-b268a934
Ian is a technology entrepreneur working to grow the technology startup ecosystem in Australia and New Zealand as part of Amazon Web Services.
He also founded and runs Innovation Bay, a networking and angel investment group for technology startups.
Previously Ian was the CEO and founder of Viocorp, a software company supplying a video publishing platform for corporates and government.
In 2009 Ian won the NSW Pearcey award for Technology Entrepreneur of the Year.
Ian has an Engineering degree from the University of Oxford where he also won two rowing blues in the Oxford-Cambridge Boat Race.
When he has time he is also a competitive cyclist, an avid computer gamer, husband and father of two boys (not in that order).
https://au.linkedin.com/in/rabbieburns
Rohan has been the Director of IP Commercialisation at Curtin University since 2008. Prior to Curtin, he spent 8 years as the Chief Operating Officer at Biosignal, a publicly listed biotech company, where he was responsible for business development, project management and general operations.
He has over nineteen years of experience in commercialisation of new technologies including being integrally involved in the establishment of number of technology based companies. He has played a lead role in negotiation and completion of numerous technology based agreements and partnerships with companies in Australia and internationally.
Prior to his role with Biosignal, Rohan worked for 10 years in commercialisation of technology out of UNSW as a Business Development Manager at Unisearch Ltd. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree, an MBA from the AGSM and is graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. Rohan is a currently a Director of i-Cetana Pty Ltd, Scanalyse Pty Ltd, Deepvision Pty Ltd, HiSeis Pty Ltd and Virtual Observer Pty Ltd.
https://au.linkedin.com/in/rohan-mcdougall-07341017
I worked in the nascent Australian start-up world in a number of senior sales, marketing and business development roles until appointed CEO of AirWORKS Media in 2003.
From ground zero I recruited a high performing team, established strong agency and client relationships, and significantly increased revenue year on year to successfully position the company for acquisition.
Originally from Sydney, I moved to Los Angeles with EYEcorp as the Vice President of Business Development, Partner Relations and Operations. I was responsible for identifying opportunities for growth and acquisition, developing strategic and operational plans, and managing key partner relationships with Westfield, Simon and Macerich.
In 2010 I founded Ausemerge and have worked with over 80 high growth technology enabled companies to accelerate their entry into the US, providing access to in-market expertise and an established network of Australian and US entrepreneurs, investors, advisors and potential customers.
I then joined KPMG in September 2016 as Head of High growth Ventures. The role is responsible for leading the firms interactions with key stakeholders in the start-up community – including early stage, high growth entrepreneurial businesses, incubators, accelerators, angel investors and VC’s – helping to define and develop our capabilities in servicing this unique and exciting market.
https://au.linkedin.com/in/amanda-price-7239b324
Pia Turcinov
The Entrepreneurs’ Programme provides business support and advice to help businesses commercialise novel products, processes and services, as well as improve their productivity and competitiveness. The Programme connects businesses to a national network of more than 100 experienced Advisers and Facilitators.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/piaturcinov
Dr Saliba Sassine
BlueMount Capital is a capital markets group with a global network of highly skilled professionals covering every continent, but primarily operating in the Asia/Pacific
BlueMounts services extend to;
• Equity and Debt Capital Raisings
• Stock exchange listings (Asia Emphasis)
• Mergers, Acquisitions and Divestments
• Management Buy Outs and Buy Ins
• Cross Border International Transactions
• Strategic Partnerships and Joint Ventures
• Capital Raisings
• Private Equity Funding
• Public Flotation's IPO and RTO
• Active Author - Informative Articles
https://au.linkedin.com/in/saliba-sassine-195a7615
Sheryl Frame
She is committed passionately to the innovation principle that “tomorrow starts today”, and has been a vocal and active advocate for the imperative to provide the best advice and assistance possible to enable innovation and business start-up success. Sheryl works as a Commercialisation Adviser to Accelerating Commercialisation , a Federal Government initiative, which assists innovative new businesses in their transition from idea to commercial venture. She is imminently qualified to do so, having started a number technology based businesses or her own, each of which resulted in a trade sale or IPO. Sheryl is also vigorously committed to the representation of women in enterprise and government. She served on the Board of AWISE (Australian Women in IT, Science and Engineering), she has served on the committee of Women in Technology, WA (WITWA) since 2006, and is a Board Member of SpringBoard Enterprise Australia. Sheryl is also a Director of StartupWA.
Greg Riebe
Greg Riebe is a senior executive with over 30 years of experience in commerce across a variety of industries including investment management, high technology-based businesses, professional services, mining, retail, insurance and financial services.
Greg is a CEO of his own Investment Management business focused on emerging technology-based businesses incorporating investment identification, deal structuring, capitalisation, business development, and exit management.
Nick Hollens
Greenwich & Co is a new and dynamic full service accounting firm which offers a full suite of business solutions including Audit, Tax, Business Services, Insolvency, Business Consulting and Financial Planning.
https://au.linkedin.com/in/nick-hollens-54606b23
Annette Onuoha
Annette is a Skills Adviser for the Industry Skills Fund and can provide high quality skills advice to help your business meet its growth strategy through diversifying into new, emerging domestic or export markets; adopting new technologies; or making structural adjustments to your business due to changing market conditions. The fund provides training grants for businesses who need to upskill owners and/or staff to achieve their growth potential.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/annette-onuoha-8533123b?trk=nav_responsive_tab_profile
Sven Stenvers
Impact Seed are capacity builders focused on growing impact investment in conversation with founders of impact businesses, CSR and private wealth, and demonstrating why the ‘business for good’ model works in bridging investment and philanthropy.
https://au.linkedin.com/in/svenstenvers
Phillip Carlton
Capital Introduction; Deal Structuring; Relevant experince in all aspects of deal negotiations and closing. Specialties: Financial Services; Resources; Healthcare
https://sg.linkedin.com/in/phillip-carlton-78264831
Ben Cooper
Equal parts digital strategist, digital creative and technologist, Ben has a stellar skillset honed from having long lived at the place where technology and creativity intersect. At M&C Saatchi, Ben heads innovation across the 10 businesses that comprise the Group, in addition he leads social, mobile and content across the agency.
Jason McFarlane
Surfer, strategist, economist and struggling vege gardener. I have recently launched Far Lane. We partner with communities, organisations and agencies who wish to be brave, bold and prepared in a rapidly changing world. We help build the relationships, structures and systems that they require for their projects to succeed.
https://au.linkedin.com/in/jason-mcfarlane-a2043021
Ben Sand
Grew up in Sydney, Canberra, and the Blue Mountains.
Worked on early stage tech companies in Sydney and then headed to the USA in 2012.
Graduate of Y Combinator Summer 2013.
Co-founder of Meta. Helped build a holographic computer, raise $23M Series A and build the foundation for the $50M Series B. Helped hire 70 great people, including many world #1s.
Passionate about world changing technology and helping founders with a big vision.
Currently coaching 30 early stage companies with muru-D
https://au.linkedin.com/in/bensandcastle
Ken Macken
Self described Modern day MacGyver.
Entrepreneur, inventor and innovator with many years of experience in business, technology development and manufacturing in a wide variety of industries, with an amazing ability to rapidly turn ideas into reality. Previously the co-founder of Ollo Wearables, and Ella both being alumni of TechStars Accelerator in the USA.
https://au.linkedin.com/in/kennethmacken
Michelle Deaker
Dr Michelle Deaker is the founder, Managing Director and CEO of OneVentures, a leading Australian venture capital firm with$170M in funds under management. OneVentures invests in technology companies that serve or disrupt large high growth global markets.
Michelle has extensive experience in the development of high growth technology companies, a strong background in Australian R&D and expertise in international business expansion. She is a former successful entrepreneur, angel investor and business owner with over 18 years experience in information technology, enterprise businesses targeting finance, retail, media, security and education. She has served on the Boards of listed and unlisted companies across media and information technologies in Australia and North America.
The Company Michelle founded in 1999, E Com Industries (www.giftvouchers.com), became the leading prepaid card and electronic voucher provider in Australia, servicing over 100 major retail brands including Coles Myer and Woolworths, managing $700m in Australian retail liability and eventually expanding operations into the UK, South Africa and New Zealand. E Com was acquired by UK publicly listed company, Retail Decisions, in 2005. Prior to E Com, Michelle was Managing Director of Networks Beyond 2000.
As well as OneVentures portfolio companies, Michelle serves on the Board of Seven West Media (ASX SWM) (Channel 7, Yahoo7, Pacific Magazines and West Australian News), and is a previous Director of NICTA, Australia’s National ICT Centre of Excellence (now Data61). She is also a current mentor to the University of Sydney’s Incubate Program, past member of the AVCAL Venture Capital working group Heads Over Heels and the NSW Government’s Taskforce for the Digital Economy. Michelle is also a current Member of Chief Executive Women and the Australian Institute of Company Directors.
https://au.linkedin.com/in/dr-michelle-deaker-593b54
Bill Tai
Co-Founder OzAPP Awards, Co-Founder MaiTai Global, Co-Founder Extreme Tech Challenge and Venture Capitalist Charles River Ventures.
Bill Tai is a leading venture capitalist and sponsored athlete in kiteboarding. He has funded more than a dozen startups that grew to become public companies, serving on the Board of Directors of 7 publicly listed companies that emerged from his portfolio. He is currently Chairman of Maxthon Inc and Treasure Data.
Bill is an active Angel Investor having personally funded companies such as Tweetdeck / Twitter, Tango.me, Treasure Data, Miselu, and VideoEgg (SayMedia). He is a partner of several funds at Charles River Ventures where he represents CRV on the board of Glyde, Maxthon and Scribd. Prior to establishing CRV’s Silicon Valley office, Bill co-founded IPInfusion as Executive Chairman, Founded iAsiaWorks as Chairman and CEO, and founded Tradebeam as President.
As an Olympic Ambassador for the International Kiteboarding Association, Bill was part of the campaign that earned kiteboarding a spot in the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. Along with pro kiteboarderSusi Mai, Bill also established the “MaiTai“, a high profile annual networking event on Maui bringing together industry leading tech startup founders with pro kiters from around the world.
With an MBA from Harvard Graduate School of Business, a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Illinois, Bill has also been named Adjunct Professor of Innovation at Curtin University in Australia.
Bill has embraced Australia’s progressive start up industry (as well as some of the world’s best kiteboarding conditions) having funded companies here such as Bubble Gum interactive, Posse.com, Pygg.co, and Shoes of Prey.
http://www.maitaiglobal.org/
Larry Lopez
In 2006, Larry Lopez moved from Silicon Valley to Perth, bringing with him his wisdom of technology investment, global venture capital, entrepreneurship and financing for start-up companies.
For eighteen years, Larry held senior and executive positions at Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), playing a key role in the growth of the SVB Financial Group from a community bank to a global financial leader. In his role at SVB he sponsored the Bank’s investment in numerous European, Israeli and Australian venture capital funds. Over the years, Larry worked with hundreds of offshore companies launching products in Silicon Valley, and served on boards in Stockholm, London and Australia.
Once arriving in Australia, Larry co-founded RedDog Capital Partners, an institutional advisor providing exclusive Australian representation to a publicly traded US financial institution. He is now a partner at Perth based Australian Venture Consultants, a solution driven strategic consulting practice focused on creating successful and commercial outcomes for innovative projects, companies and institutions.
https://au.linkedin.com/in/larry-lopez-1583343
Simon Cant
Simon Cant is a Co-Founder and Managing Director Reinventure Group. Simon has spent his career working on innovation, both through venture and corporate innovation.
As an innovation specialist at CANTT Associates and before that ?WhatIf! Innovation, with a focus on disruptive innovation, he advised clients such Tennis Australia, UBS, NAB, Suncorp, AMP, Fairfax, News Limited and APN News & Media and Transport for NSW. Prior to that he worked with entrepreneurs, in both commercial startups, at TiNSHED Angel Group and social ventures at Social Ventures Australia.
https://au.linkedin.com/in/simoncant
Marc van Hoof
Marc van Hoof started in the Internet industry at the age of 15, where he went straight from high school to his part-time job: developing virtual hosting systems for a local ISP. Back in the days of dial-up modems, when Netscape Navigator ruled the world, and all websites were grey, Marc worked with Silicon Graphics and Ascend Communications to help build a cutting edge internet provider network.
In 1998, Marc van Hoof was one of two network architects that built and operated the first Internet Data Center in Australia. Outsourced co-location hosting was a new concept to the Australian shores, and customers of all sizes and complexities sought advice on how to best design their online environment.
During the late 90’s and early 2000’s, Marc was involved in online media distribution, pioneering some of the most prominent webcasts in the country. Working extensively on events ranging from concerts with world famous musicians, to major shareholder announcements for the largest companies in Australia, to major fashion label launches, he was well known for developing massively scalable strategies for delivering live video content to tens of thousands of viewers.
In 2001, Marc met Bill Tai and joined his data center design team at iAsiaWorks, building Data Center facilities and a pan-Asia transit network throughout Hong Kong, Korea, Taiwan and Australia.
Joining Cisco in 2005 as a Product Manager, Marc was responsible for looking after the product and market strategy for the Enterprise Routing portfolio in the Asia Pacific Region. He has had extensive experience introducing new solutions and technologies to enterprises throughout Australia, New Zealand, Asia, and the USA.
Marc currently lives in Melbourne and San Francisco and is an advisor to several startup companies, whilst also continuing his role in the Cisco Cloud Networking team looking at SDN, service automation and efficiency.
Marc van Hoof is an avid kiteboarder and snowboarder, is addicted to adventure sports, and a regular at MaiTai kite events all over the world. Since 2013 he has been on the Advisory Committee of the OzAPP awards, and the organizer of the MaiTai Australia event in Perth.
Brendan Yell
In 1999 Brendan founded ShopFree.com which expanded to 7 countries and over 1 million members. In 2004, Brendan relocated to San Francisco to further ShopFree’s push into the USA market. As a mentor and consultant Brendan has worked with VinoMofo, Shop A Docket, SportsBet, the Australian Radio Network and rock band INXS.
As the current Sydney Director of Startup Grind in Sydney, Brendan hosts monthly events for startups with guest speakers.
Brendan is also currently is Director of Community Development for SoftLayer, which was recently acquired by IBM. Brendan is currently a mentor at Muru¬D, Vocus Upstart, Lakeba, NRMA Jumpstart, Incubate and SlingShot.
https://au.linkedin.com/in/brendanyell
Stuart Richardson
Founder and Managing Partner of Adventure Capital, amongst Australia’s leading early-stage technology venture capital investment firms whose portfolio contains World, Asia and Australian leading companies. He is the architect of the supercharged ecosystem surrounding Adventure Capital which provides global pathways to upstart Aussie entrepreneurs and the includes angel network Aurelius Digital, the iconic York Butter Factory curated co-working facility, the Omega Society, and not for profit Startup Australia which delivers Startup Weekend and other signature events across Australia.
Experienced Executive and Entrepreneur with deep experience in creating, leading and guiding companies through periods of rapid growth and significant transformation leveraging technological and organisational change and has operated across both advanced and emerging economies particularly Australia, Asia, Middle East and North America. Previously Stuart was an Officer in the Air Force and founded a multi-award winning consulting business which delivered high-stakes and complex capability solutions to the Defence and Intelligence sector. He is a founding investor and board director of revolutionary technology companies Axiflux and 121cast, a founder of Equiem, and is Chairman of Peazie Social Media Group.
Stuart holds a Bachelor of Aerospace Engineering, Master of Management and Engineering Science (UNSW), Executive MBA (MGSM), and graduated from both the distinguished Australian Defence Force Academy and Stanford Executive Program.
https://au.linkedin.com/in/stuac
Emma Weston
Emma is the CEO and Co-Founder of Full Profile, a provider of software solutions that bring transparency, efficiency, and trust to agri-commodity supply chain management. Emma has had a diverse career as a lawyer, agribusiness executive, business coach and entrepreneur. She is also a grain grower and is passionate about the power of agtech.
https://au.linkedin.com/in/emmamweston
Pred Dragila
Pred Dragila is the Managing Director and Co-Founder of Australian based online payment services company, Fat Zebra.
He co-founded Fat Zebra in 2011 with the idea to simplify the process of accepting credit card payments online for retailers, service providers and everyday businesses in a simple, reliable, affordable and secure environment.
Today, Fat Zebra is Australia’s fastest growing online payments company developing unique payment solutions for banks, payment gateways and merchants.
Pred has revolutionised the online payments market changing the way banks, service providers and merchants connect and transact online. He has developed online transaction solutions for some of Australia’s most recognizable and loved brands including National Australia Bank, Wesfarmers, Starbucks, Staples and WWF.
In his spare time, Pred loves to stay active. Whether he’s engaging in a grueling gym session or outdoors kite surfing, stand up paddle boarding or on the motorbike, Pred enjoys pushing his body to the limits.
https://au.linkedin.com/in/pred-dragila-581b7b17
Tim Denning
Tim Denning is a thought leader in the personal development, entrepreneur and startup fields. He is most well known for his blogging on Addicted2Success.com where his articles are some of the most shared on the site. Each week he interviews successful people in the fields of tech, personal development, entertainment, sport, and business, and then shares their stories in his articles.
Outside of blogging Tim works for a large organisation helping fast moving technology companies come to Australia as well as helping Australian tech companies go to the world.
Tim uses social media to be able to leave a lasting legacy to generations of entrepreneurs and everyday people who are trying to succeed in life but don’t really have the tools required. He believes that we are wired for failure, and unless we proactively program our minds for success, then we will live an unfulfilled life.
The good news is that it doesn’t have to be this way. For anyone to achieve massive success all they have to do is commit to grow continually each and every day and to live life to the fullest. This starts with understanding where you are today and then making a decision to stop the way you’re currently living and make changes.
If you would like to learn some of the principles involved in being a successful person as well as the art of entrepreneurship, then hit the subscribe button below, and you can continue to follow Tim’s journey.
https://au.linkedin.com/in/timcdenning
Tim Wise
•Tim Wise is a successful Entrepreneur and Businessman who has a passion and skill for helping business people get healthy, energised, focused and productive. Tim is a highly acclaimed speaker and coach, his broad range of business and life experiences benefits his clients in a profound and deep way.
•He was the founder of Listen Clothing, The Tap Doctor (Australia’s largest plumbing franchise) and Wasabi Energy ( a public company listed on the Australian Stock Exchange) and valued in excess of $50M.
•Tim is the Author of “The Power of Ultimate Perception” and “Love is Wise.” His focus is on creating success from the inside out starting with health and wellbeing.
•Tim sits on several company boards.
•He is the founder of Wisepeak International which was formed in 2003 with the aim of helping his clients integrate wealth and wisdom so they can succeed in their inner and outer worlds.
•He now works for a number of high profile companies and motivated executives.
https://au.linkedin.com/in/businessstorytelling
Rick Baker
Rick Baker is a founder of Blackbird Ventures, a new venture capital firm in Australia. Blackbird invests in world class Internet and software companies forming in Australia. It has been built around a group of Australia’s most successful tech founders, combined with close ties to Silicon Valley.
Prior to Blackbird, Rick was responsible for MLC’s venture capital portfolio with investments and commitments of over half a billion dollars. At MLC, Rick built a portfolio of venture fund investments alongside a group of the most successful venture capital funds in Silicon Valley and globally. Rick also invested directly into tech companies, both from Australia and the US.
Prior to MLC, Rick co-founded two successful software companies. The first, IDC Global, is a leading provider of software for the real estate industry. The second, Right Party Connect, produces notification systems for financial institutions. Right Party Connect was sold to UK based company Adeptra in 2007 and is now Adeptra Australia.
Rick is a passionate supporter of Australian technology companies. He is on the board of Shoes of Prey, an advisor to Posse, Canva and Wooboard, investor in Bugglegum Interactive and Pygg, and on the Advisory Council of Pollenizer.
https://au.linkedin.com/in/rcsbaker
George Samman
George is a blockchain and cryptocurrency consultant and advisor to global financial institutions and startups. He recently co-authored a seminal report on blockchain architecture with KPMG: https://assets.kpmg.com/content/dam/kpmg/pdf/2016/06/kpmg-blockchain-consensus-mechanism.pdf George is Entrepreneur in Residence for Blockchain at Tyro Fintech Hub and Startupbootcamp. He also writes a blog on blockchain technology and use cases at sammantics.com. George also co-founded BTC.sx, now magnr, a bitcoin trading platform in 2013. He is also a former Wall Street Senior Portfolio Manager and Market Strategist as well as a technical analyst. George holds the Chartered Market Technician (CMT) designation.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/georgesamman
Robbie Adams
Robbie’s varied career has taken him from farming in WA’s south west, riding bucking horses in the country’s north, mining, brewing and into the Australian Defence Force.
This combination of practical life skills has enabled him to see unique practical solutions to technical problems.
Successfully building and launching applications in expense management, marine safety and research and utility management Robbie’s companies are set to ride the next wave of Big Data by creating essential hardware to collect, collate and analyse data.
Companies are established in Australia, New Zealand and soon to be located in Singapore.
As an active participant in backing early stage ventures and mentoring start-ups in the health sector, Robbie’s passion still lies with Agriculture.
As a UAV pilot he has been at the forefront of dealing with grain growers in the state of WA and sees this as a developing sector to keep involved in.
Robbie is aso passionate about innovation that matters and looks for projects that have a greater social outcome.
2016 will see new developments and alliances between countries that can drive innovation in agricultural areas emerging from conflict with two of the JKP companies playing a leading role.
https://au.linkedin.com/in/robbie-adams-b268a934
Ian Gardiner
Ian is a technology entrepreneur working to grow the technology startup ecosystem in Australia and New Zealand as part of Amazon Web Services.
He also founded and runs Innovation Bay, a networking and angel investment group for technology startups.
Previously Ian was the CEO and founder of Viocorp, a software company supplying a video publishing platform for corporates and government.
In 2009 Ian won the NSW Pearcey award for Technology Entrepreneur of the Year.
Ian has an Engineering degree from the University of Oxford where he also won two rowing blues in the Oxford-Cambridge Boat Race.
When he has time he is also a competitive cyclist, an avid computer gamer, husband and father of two boys (not in that order).
https://au.linkedin.com/in/rabbieburns
Rohan McDougall
Rohan has been the Director of IP Commercialisation at Curtin University since 2008. Prior to Curtin, he spent 8 years as the Chief Operating Officer at Biosignal, a publicly listed biotech company, where he was responsible for business development, project management and general operations.
He has over nineteen years of experience in commercialisation of new technologies including being integrally involved in the establishment of number of technology based companies. He has played a lead role in negotiation and completion of numerous technology based agreements and partnerships with companies in Australia and internationally.
Prior to his role with Biosignal, Rohan worked for 10 years in commercialisation of technology out of UNSW as a Business Development Manager at Unisearch Ltd. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree, an MBA from the AGSM and is graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. Rohan is a currently a Director of i-Cetana Pty Ltd, Scanalyse Pty Ltd, Deepvision Pty Ltd, HiSeis Pty Ltd and Virtual Observer Pty Ltd.
https://au.linkedin.com/in/rohan-mcdougall-07341017
Amanda Price
I worked in the nascent Australian start-up world in a number of senior sales, marketing and business development roles until appointed CEO of AirWORKS Media in 2003.
From ground zero I recruited a high performing team, established strong agency and client relationships, and significantly increased revenue year on year to successfully position the company for acquisition.
Originally from Sydney, I moved to Los Angeles with EYEcorp as the Vice President of Business Development, Partner Relations and Operations. I was responsible for identifying opportunities for growth and acquisition, developing strategic and operational plans, and managing key partner relationships with Westfield, Simon and Macerich.
In 2010 I founded Ausemerge and have worked with over 80 high growth technology enabled companies to accelerate their entry into the US, providing access to in-market expertise and an established network of Australian and US entrepreneurs, investors, advisors and potential customers.
I then joined KPMG in September 2016 as Head of High growth Ventures. The role is responsible for leading the firms interactions with key stakeholders in the start-up community – including early stage, high growth entrepreneurial businesses, incubators, accelerators, angel investors and VC’s – helping to define and develop our capabilities in servicing this unique and exciting market.
https://au.linkedin.com/in/amanda-price-7239b324
Tom Dawkins
Stephen Carroll
Stephen is an R&D Tax adviser with 17 years experience of working across industries, technologies and with organisations ranging from Startups to Global Corporations. Stephen has worked extensively with innovators and provided mentor and innovation support for many growing innovation companies and investors.
http://rsm.com.au/
Mark Reid
I am the principal of local electrical and communications engineering consultancy firm working within the areas of infrastructure/distribution and the built environment, with a passion for renewable energy and technology enhancement.
http://www.peakcpl.com.au/
Jacques Rousset
https://au.linkedin.com/pub/jacques-rousset/37/37/184?trk=cws-ppw-member-0-0
Andrew Outhwaite
Social innovator, hands-on entrepreneur, facilitator and investor with foundational qualifications in science, sustainability, leadership and facilitation. Work has spanned influencing government policy to ground-up creation of successful social ventures in regional areas. Co-founder of Pollinators Inc, Director of StartupWA, recipient of 2016 WA Regional Leadership and Innovation Award. Professional experience includes co-founding and growing Pollinators Inc, developing region-scale innovation and sustainability strategies, fundraising and project development, designing and facilitating venture accelerator programs, curating sustainability festivals, and research and development of new tools and approaches to corporate sustainability.
http://www.andrewouthwaite.com/
Antony Ceravolo
Sine is a workforce management platform founded 18 months ago in Adelaide and is growing fast globally. Sine makes it really easy to “check-in” visitors, contractors, staff or anyone arriving at physical location, using their smart phone, an iPad or the web. Sine has been rolled out to over 550 cities around the world and is used at locations such as schools, sports stadia, offices, industrial, medical, retail and commercial premises. Sine’s mission is to make the process of registration paperless and fast, site attendance safer for contractors and staff and the visitor book a remnant of the past. https://sine.co/about
Antony has founded various technology and media business over the last 15 years in Europe and Australia and loves building great teams. He was fortunate to co-found of LOVEFiLM.com, the video of demand platform, which was sold to Amazon Inc. in 2008 for over $500 million. Antony has recently returned from London where he was responsible for the establishment of other high growth media businesses such as ECN the digital media office network and has scaled businesses across Europe. Antony lives in Adelaide where Sine HQ is located and is excited about growing a global business from Australia.
https://au.linkedin.com/in/antonyceravolo
