S10E17 News Special and SPARK Festival

Has 2022 gone to plan? We ask Galileo Ventures co-founder James Alexander and Tech Central Executive Director Annie Parker for their reflections and insights. Then SPARK Festival director Maxine Sherrin shares the high points of an incredible program for anyone interested in startups.

TWISTA S10E17 News Special and SPARK Festival

Big thanks to our sponsors:

OurCrowd – Bringing you companies with the greatest growth potential – https://ourcrowd.com/australia
UserTesting – Put yourself in your customer’s shoes – https://usertesting.com/twista
Zendesk – Build lasting customer experiences from the ground up – https://zendesk.com/twista

S10E05 Election News Special

With just 10 days until the Federal Election, TWISTA consults VCs Andrea Gardiner (CEO, Jelix Ventures) and Dean Dorrell (Partner, Carthona Capital) on the election sweeteners for startups – and the policy needs of a nation that fancies itself an innovation leader. Plus: Fast fails and Canva gets repriced. Before you cast your ballot, have a listen!

TWISTA S10E05 Election News Special

Dean and Andrea both nominated two WORLDCHANGING Australian startups…

PathZero is a startup that helps businesses do accurate accounting of their carbon emissions.

Quantum Brilliance is working on a room-temperature quantum computing device.

Big thanks to our series 10 TWISTA Sponsors:

Zendesk – Build lasting customer experiences from the ground up – https://zendesk.com/twista
OurCrowd – Bringing you companies with the greatest growth potential – https://ourcrowd.com/twista
UserTesting – Put yourself in your customer’s shoes – https://usertesting.com/twista

Episode S09E06 VOW’s George Peppou

George Peppou knew nothing about biotech when he co-founded VOW; he’s now well on his way to vat-growing meats that could feed billions around the world. Is biotech fundamentally different – and how has VOW used the best bits of tech startups to accelerate their growth?

TWISTA S09E06 VOW’s George Peppou

Big Thanks to our sponsors:

Odoo – The office stack that scales with your startup – https://odoo.com/twista
UserTesting – Find out how your users really use your products – https://usertesting.com/twista
Squarespace – Web hosting for everyone made easy – https://squarespace.com/twista

Episode S09E05 Tractor Venture’s Matt Allen

Matt Allen found a gap in the startup funding model. Now he’s driving Tractor Ventures through it, providing unsecured loans to startups with accelerating revenues. Are loans a better deal than selling shares? This episode is a must for every startup raising capital.

EXPLICIT CONTENT WARNING – Matt gets a bit sweary (in a good way)

TWISTA S09E05 Tractor Venture’s Matt Allen

Big thanks to our sponsors:

Squarespace – Web hosting for everyone made easy – https://squarespace.com/twista
Odoo – The office stack that scales with your startup – https://odoo.com/twista
UserTesting – Find out how your users really use your products – https://usertesting.com/twista

Episode S09E02 News Special

TWISTA welcomes back SheEO Country Lead Julie Trell and Main Sequence GP Mike Nicholls to explore the post-pandemic landscape for startups, emerging funding models – and what their experience has taught them are the key elements for a successful startup.

TWISTA S09E02 News Special

Big thanks to our sponsors:
Squarespace – Web hosting for everyone made easy – https://squarespace.com/twista
Odoo – The office stack that scales with your startup – https://odoo.com/twista
UserTesting – Find out how your users really use your products – https://usertesting.com/twista

A big shout out to HerShee, who joined us for this podcast!

Episode S07E17 News Special

We’re joined by Jelix VenturesAndrea Gardiner and Spark Festival’s Maxine Sherrin, discussing ESVCLP fails, global talent visas, what happens when the government declares your product a strategic asset, SPARK Festival – and Atlassian’s $50,000,000,000 valuation!

TWISTA S07E17 News Special

Big thanks to our sponsors:

UTS Startups – driving the next generation of entrepreneurs – more at https://startups.uts.edu.au

Pitney Bowes SendPro+, for all your shipping needs – https://www.pitneybowes.com/au/twista

Episode S06E04 – Great to Good with Rachael Lonergan and Andrea Gardiner

TWISTA talks to Rachael Lonergan, who turned the lessons learned from a breast cancer diagnosis into startup CanDoApp – but can her idea for good also be profitable?

Rachael Lonergan CEO of CanDoApp

Then we speak with Jelix VC CEO Andrea Gardiner about shifting the model of how a VC fund works – by opening the doors to a new range of investors who gain a bit of guidance as they take their first steps into angel investing.

Andrea Gardiner CEO and founder of Jelix VC

We’ve got a great startup ecosystem in Australia – but can we take it from great to good?

Thanks to TWISTA sponsors MYOB and UTS for making our show possible!

Episode S06E02 – Going Nova with Main Sequence Ventures

Australia has an incredible tradition of innovation – typified by the CSIRO, which gave us WiFi, plastic banknotes, one of the best modern lifestyle diets, and much more besides. The CSIRO is an engine for the nation’s science – but too often science misses the opportunity to commercialise its innovations for the benefits of the innovators – and the nation. 

The new Main Sequence VC fund – backed by CSIRO and the Australian Federal Government – looks to change that by identifying the scientists with the ‘spark’ that would make them great entrepreneurs.  TWISTA sits down with Main Sequence general partner Mike Nicholls for a tour through Australia’s “deep tech” investment landscape – and how it could well lead to a new generation of fundamental breakthroughs!

In a new segment profiling all of Australia’s many incubators and accelerators, we speak to SBE Australia’s Sue Hogan about their E3 program for entrepreneurs.

To learn more about SBE Australia or their E3 program, click here.