Being the wanted entrepreneur Colin is, a last minute important trip see’s him out of the state over the current event date, 18th of April. But never fear, you’ll still get to benefit from his wisdom. We’ve moved the event to the following Tuesday, 23rd of April.

Apologies for the hassle. Hopefully this is ok with those that have already rsvp’d. If not, please just let me know tim@startuptasmania.com

We’re all really looking forward to Colin’s presentation on the importance of assumptions made when testing a new concept/idea. For more info and to reserve your spot and set your startup sails visit: http://www.meetup.com/StartupTasmania/events/110453872/

There will also be opportunity before and after the presentation to network with other like minded people.

Much like a story, a business is a journey with a start, characters, turning points, ups and downs and hopefully if you have it right, a convincing plot.

The 22 rules of storytelling, according to Pixar are quite compelling.  Can they be applied to a business context to produce insights?

See below what experienced startup and marketing specialists, Polly McGee, Oliver George and Tim Polmear think. Would love to hear any personal insights/experiences you’ve had in business that relate to these rules in the comments box.

#1: You admire a character for trying more than for their successes.

Oliver – Standing for something matters. It’s something people can engage with and it gives your business focus. It can help you stake out a unique selling proposition and differentiates you from the crowd. (Also, see this article on Smashing Magazine about The Personality Layer).

Polly – Your business is more than your product or service. It in itself has to have a compelling narrative. That makes us love a brand, and want to follow and be part of the story. As customers we are all the audience and potential actors in the evolution of the product and the business.

#2: You gotta keep in mind what’s interesting to you as an audience, not what’s fun to do as a writer. They can be v. different.

 Oliver – This is a big challenge for people with a new business idea. Doing what’s fun or rather than doing something of value to your market requires discipline, it requires you to get out of the building and talk to customers.

Polly – While you might live some of the narrative, ultimately the customers/audience will be the ones who adopt it, or find they want something more their style. Ask them to write their own adventure and you can achieve a minimum viable product and also ensure future buy in.

#3: Trying for theme is important, but you won’t see what the story is actually about til you’re at the end of it. Now rewrite.

Oliver – This could be used to argue for finding the core value proposition before trying to define what your business should look like and operate.

 Tim – It’s not uncommon to hear of entrepreneurs who thought they knew the best direction but needed to pivot along the way to adjust to market response.

#4: Once upon a time there was ___. Every day, ___. One day ___. Because of that, ___. Because of that, ___. Until finally ___.

 Polly – The narrative of your business is important, as storytelling is a fundamental way to connect with humans, we all want to know what happens next.

 Oliver – Storytelling is a good technique for helping customers understand a problem. One effective marketing technique for engaging with customers is to start by describing a problem and then telling them you can solve it.

 #5: Simplify. Focus. Combine characters. Hop over detours. You’ll feel like you’re losing valuable stuff but it sets you free.

 Polly – Every idea in business needs a rewrite, perhaps lots. Endless possibilities and endless idea combinations mean the need to be ruthless and unemotional with moving on to the next thing without hanging on too long.

 Oliver – Don’t hold on to preconceived conceptions of how things will play out when you’re exploring a new business idea. The right solution comes out of research and market testing, not initial concept you had at 3am.

#6: What is your character good at, comfortable with? Throw the polar opposite at them. Challenge them. How do they deal?

Polly – This is the beginning of the pivot, when you have the capacity to take your character anywhere, then you begin to look for all kinds of angles.

Tim – You’ll need to step out of your own personal comfort zone and challenge yourself if you really want to achieve incredible results within business.

#7: Come up with your ending before you figure out your middle. Seriously. Endings are hard, get yours working up front.

Oliver – Have you worked out how you add value in a unique and compelling way? That’s the ending you’re looking for. Without that you can’t build the business which delivers it. 

Polly – You don’t have to get to the end in the way you thought you would, but you do need to know what the general direction is and who survives in the final reel.

 Tim – Think about goal setting, it’s important to have measurable goals and focus.

#8: Finish your story, let go even if it’s not perfect. In an ideal world you have both, but move on. Do better next time.

Oliver – Don’t skip on due diligence but with that caveat perhaps the lesson here is that you’ve got to be in it to win it. In the case of business you should be expecting to evolve and adapt as your learn more from customers and the market changes. Also, no plan survives contact with the enemy so how can your plan be perfect?

Polly – Failure is the scaffolding of success, m’kay.

Tim – At some point you need to let go of a business/idea/product/brand if it’s failing or distracting you from your focus. Move on and learn from it.

#9: When you’re stuck, make a list of what WOULDN’T happen next. Lots of times the material to get you unstuck will show up.

Oliver – Seems like a good lateral thinking technique. What won’t you do? What won’t your customers do?

Tim – Some of the best stories ever told have unexpected disruptive twists. The most effective marketing campaigns in business often work the same.  Escape the competitive herd by being different. Shock your audience with disruptive marketing.

#10: Pull apart the stories you like. What you like in them is a part of you; you’ve got to recognize it before you can use it. 

Polly – Look for the success others have created and adopt the parts that work, formulas work in films and stories for a reason, we resonate with them.

Oliver – Learning from other businesses is a great idea. I’ve enjoyed the process of trying to reverse engineer the business and marketing plans of businesses when exploring new markets. The bits you like might be your business plan.

#11: Putting it on paper lets you start fixing it. If it stays in your head, a perfect idea, you’ll never share it with anyone.

Oliver – This is a big one. You’ve got to look at things critically. You’ve got to focus in on one specific value proposition. It’s more fun to imagine that you’ll have a variety of revenue streams and services but that takes time and effort. At the start you need something clear and communicable. How’s your elevator pitch looking? Could you communicate your offering in a 60 second explainer video?

Polly – Collaborate, communicate, corroborate and wear hammer pants. If you don’t open yourself up to sharing the idea and the chance of ridicule, you’ll never know if you are about to release a hit record.

Tim – You’ll never get anywhere in business without taking risks – take the leap. 

#12: Discount the 1st thing that comes to mind. And the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th – get the obvious out of the way. Surprise yourself.

 Oliver – The obvious has been done.  Go looking for something which others might be missing.

Tim – In the early days, careful not to get caught up in all the features your product ‘needs’. Stay focused on delivering the minimal viable product and prove it works.

#13: Give your characters opinions. Passive/malleable might seem likable to you as you write, but it’s poison to the audience.

Oliver – Same goes for business.  Daring to have an opinion and staking a claim lets customers know your personality and what you’re passionate about.  I would pick a business with a clear passion over a generic vendor any day.

Polly – This is niche, and it works because it is very clear who’s team it’s on.

#14: Why must you tell THIS story? What’s the belief burning within you that your story feeds off of? That’s the heart of it.

Polly – If you don’t rank it higher than sliced bread, why should anyone else. Show us the hero of your business story and why it matters. This is an essential element of the value proposition.

Oliver – Make sure you’re passionate about THIS.

#15: If you were your character, in this situation, how would you feel? Honesty lends credibility to unbelievable situations.

Oliver – If you are doing something novel then customers will be skeptical.  You’ve got to build credibility and honest empathy and understanding of your customers situation and challenges will help.

Tim – Don’t be naive and ignore assumptions that might have a significant impact on your product/service offering. Put yourself in the consumers shoes, take a fresh look at your business and be honest with yourself.

#16: What are the stakes? Give us reason to root for the character. What happens if they don’t succeed? Stack the odds against.

Oliver – Is your brand and vision something people will root for?  Social media loves brands who stand for something which excites customers.

#17: No work is ever wasted. If it’s not working, let go and move on – it’ll come back around to be useful later.

Oliver – You’re learning every day. Mistakes teach. Sometimes the timing just isn’t right. Don’t get stuck on one idea until you’ve proven it’s the right now.

Polly – Timing is everything. Some bits you can control, most you can’t. Work lean so when the timing isn’t with you, you can move to the next part. Some bit of the curve will be with you at some point and you can ride it on in.

#18: You have to know yourself: the difference between doing your best & fussing. Story is testing, not refining.

Oliver – This is spot on. Ideas don’t get better in a vacuum. Get out there and get feedback!

Polly – Know what you are good at. Don’t try and be the sales guy if you can’t close a door. Get back to coding and let your cool extrovert buddy earn some commission.

#19: Coincidences to get characters into trouble are great; coincidences to get them out of it are cheating.

Polly – Lets imagine coincidence is collaboration, so who are you likely to look for on the ice planet or in the crowded New York subway that is going to get you to the next action part of your plot – ie route to market or scale up.

Oliver – How likely was it that Kirk would run into the original Spock primitive ice planet? Total rookie mistake. Annoyed the hell out of me.

#20: Exercise: take the building blocks of a movie you dislike. How d’you rearrange them into what you DO like?

Tim – People think the only way to create a successful startup is to think of a brand new innovative idea. Wrong. Rearrange the existing, add features, kill products, fine tune, provide what the market wants and you might just be onto the next big thing. Facebook didn’t invent social media, they tweaked existing offerings and destroyed them.

Oliver – It’s easy to find fault but how would you do things differently?

#21: You gotta identify with your situation/characters, can’t just write ‘cool’. What would make YOU act that way?

Oliver – Back to empathy. Clients need to empathise with you and your brand.

Polly – You are solving their problem, you are the solution, that makes you the good guy, not the self interested douchwallah.

#22: What’s the essence of your story? Most economical telling of it? If you know that, you can build out from there.

Oliver – Can you boil your idea down to one solid concept?

Polly – It’s the pitch baby. One shot to communicate to your peeps what your value proposition is. Make every word alive and necessary.

Whether you’re shooting hoops with Mark Cuban or scraping the barrel for a breakthrough, make sure you book your spot asap!

Take it from me as a personal recommendation – I’ve heard this inspirational knowledge bank speak startup gospel countless times and am always left thirsty for more.

Event Topic
When developing an idea, startup founders rely on a series of assumptions they’ve learnt from the world they live in. Despite the emergence of assumption testing methodologies like the ‘Lean Startup’ approach, entrepreneurs can fall into the trap of relying too heavily upon untested assumptions about issues that will likely have a major impact on their success. Colin will provide you with a simple sense making framework any entrepreneur can use when contemplating any type of venture.

About the Speaker
Dr Colin Jones coordinates the Entrepreneurship program at the University of Tasmania and has extensive experience starting up and operating a range of service related businesses, with varying levels of success and failure. He has been recognised nationally and internationally for his research, teaching and learning achievements. He has published more than 60 peer-reviewed journal and conference papers and recently published his first book titled ‘Teaching Entrepreneurship to Undergraduates’. Dr Jones’s current research is focused on small firm survival, specifically looking at the interaction between independent firms and franchised firms. Dr Jones recently addressed the United Nations multi-year meeting on enterprise development policies and capacity building in science, technology and innovation. He has previously served on the International Committee of the Small Enterprise Association of Australia and New Zealand (SEAANZ) and regularly acts as a consultant to government and private organisations seeking to creatively solve problems and exploit emergent opportunities.

Event Details:
Catering: Finger foods and drinks provided
Location: The Typewriter Factory Loft (Level 3, 17-19 Castray Esplanade, Battery Point)
Date: Thursday, 18th of April
Time: 5:30pm for 6pm start (until around 7:30pm)
Ticket: $20 for Startup Tas members, $30 for non members (please pay appropriate amount via PayPal on meetup.com)

About the Author: Tim Polmear is a member of Startup Tasmania. He’s a lover of entrepreneurial web-based startups, branding and digital marketing.  tim@startuptasmania.com

Have numbers in front of you but not quite sure how to make sense of them? Can you afford to take that next step with your start-up? Looking at growth options this year? Want to learn how to use your numbers to make better decisions for your start-up?

Aaron Wallace and Emma Petroulas from Nudge Accounting in NSW will be visiting The Typewriter Factory to talk about using numbers to make better business decisions. They will discuss the key accounting metrics startups and small businesses should be focussing on, what they mean and how they can be used to increase business performance and pitch for funding.

This event is free to attend and open to the public, *and* The Typewriter Factory will even supply food and drinks! It starts at 5:30pm, so arrive a bit before that, and should be done by 6:30pm.

The Presenters

Emma Petroulas is the Client Happiness Director at Nudge, online accountants for small business. She sits on the Youth-Board of SME Australia, is a regular contributor for Shoe String StartUps and Dynamic Business Magazine, and also lectures in Small Business at the University of Technology, Sydney.

Aaron Wallace is the Online Operations Director of Nudge and lectures in International Accounting at the University of Technology, Sydney. He worked at KPMG and loves bringing big business ideas to growing start-ups and small businesses.

Nudge are online accountants for small business. Nudge helps start-ups and small businesses Australia wide use their numbers to make better business decisions. Their monthly packages include Xero or MYOB, monthly bookkeeping, monthly performance summaries plus your quarterly BAS’s, business tax return and financial statements. Everything that a growing start-up or small business needs. For further information, see nudgeaccounting.com.au/

Cost: FREE, food and drinks will be provided. Book your place through Eventbrite now.

LearnXpress (previously known as Adult Ed) are running a Business Startup Class on Monday 18th of March from 9.30am to 12.30pm.

Tuition will be provided by a small business specialist and CPA Sustainability Business Advisor.

The course will cover:

• Business planning
• Sourcing finance & cashflow budgeting
• Entity type & registrations
• Getting started (premises, licences, memberships, staff, stock, etc)

So if you’re looking to escape your routine 9-5 and make that idea a reality, take the first step and check out the LearnXpress website for more information.

A big thank you to Susanne Schantz and Matthew Van Rooijen for coming along and teaching us through creative examples just how effective video and animation can be compared with the old school communication methods.

They demonstrated some interesting and differing styles that explainer video professionals are using in what’s clearly a trendy and growing industry.

It was great to see so many fresh faces keen to connect with other like minded entrepreneurial types in a casual b2b (beer 2 beer) environment.

Stay posted for more similar events soon that will help you explore your passion for business startups!

Startup Tas will now host guest speakers, Susanne Schantz and Matthew van Rooijen from Small Island Studio, at our next ‘Shots’ meet up next Thursday the 7th of March at Preachers instead of this Thursday at The Typewriter Factory.

Come, network with startup entrepreneurs, have a tasty beverage and get a free insight into how video and animation can be very effective marketing tools to convert consumers. What a night!

The video pitch experts will show you some clips, explain what works, what doesn’t as well as give you an idea into production costs and more. Bring along any questions you have, I’m sure they’ll be happy to help.

So what are you waiting for, rsvp today at meetup.com/StartupTasmania, get amongst the Tassie startup scene and be inspired to get off your butt and create the next big thing!

Pozible is fast becoming a household name and Australian version of highly successful US crowd funding startup, Kickstarter. And it’s no surprise. As of January 2013, Pozible had helped entrepreneurs collectively raise over $8 million.

With its unique, user-friendly platform, it’s allowing everyone from aspiring filmmakers to artists, scientists and tech geeks to get an injection of cash from the local community. The theory is simple; if the audience likes your idea, they contribute money towards its execution.

As many aspiring entrepreneurs begin, James Rakich saw a problem and wanted to fix it. He was sick managing his daily routines by entering data into countless drop-down menus and text fields so he built Elephant: A web application that consolidates all the important parts of a ‘Getting Things Done’ system including note-taking, calendars, next actions, and projects. The application cleverly converts your notes into useful information, keeping everything organised and easy to find.

After initial alpha testing with an offline prototype, James was satisfied that Elephant was ready for expansion into a full online service that required further development and funding.

James says “It’s early days but I’m hoping the community gets on board and embraces a new technology to make their life easier.”

You can check out the Pozible campaign at pozible.com/elephantneverforgets or Elephant website at elephantneverforgets.com.au

About the Author: Tim Polmear is the event manager for Startup Tasmania. He is interested in everything about entrepreneurial web-based Startups. Feel free to drop Tim a line at tim@startuptasmania.com (Opinions expressed in this post are not necessarily the opinions of Startup Tasmania.)

Thanks again to Robin for a much needed education into the importance of IP protection and commercialisation.

Before and after Robin’s talk, plenty of new connections were made and hands shook while Startup Tas members (and non members) networked over a drink, delicious sushi and my personal favourite, Thai pineapple stacks, in The Typewriter Factory’s very atmospheric co-working loft. It was great to see so many new faces hungry for startups in Tasmania bounce projects and ideas off one another.

If you missed out, get excited because we have another speaker event lined up for later this month! (details to come).

Our next networking meetup is breakfast at Jam Jar in Battery Point on the 21st of Feb from 7:45am. Hope to see you all there!

How to apply, get in and then crush it in a venture accelerator
Yesterday, I happened to be in Melbourne at the same time Lean Startup held their “How to apply, get in and then crush it in a venture accelerator” Meetup event where over 200 attendees got together to listen to a panel of startup entrepreneurs share their experience on getting into a Startup accelerator and the journey involved.

It was also interesting to hear from other start-ups, including what worked and what didn’t work for them. There was good energy in the room with lots of burning questions from determined entrepreneurs. And when you start hearing from the entrepreneurs about their failures and experiences, you can be sure it is not just entrepreneurs in Tasmania doing it tough.

As Angel Cube, a Melbourne-based accelerator, and the entrepreneurs talked about the details involving the ins and outs of working with a Startup Accelerator, it got me wondering whether it’s time for Tasmania to have its own Startup accelerator.

We know Tasmania had 2 incubators, Springboard and In-tellinc, which both typically mentored larger ventures, but now that Springboard has started winding down, perhaps there will be an opportunity for an accelerator program to fill the gap.

Looking at the current Tasmanian landscape, surely it is time for investors to bring Tasmania the seed stage investment it sorely needs by setting up it’s first accelerator and seed capital fund.

Don’t think it’s possible? Well, maybe for starters we should have a look at some of the Australian accelerators that were present at the event:

• Startmate (@startmate), a Sydney based accelerator that runs a 5 month program focused on internet startups chasing large markets with technical founders. Typical terms are $50,000 investment for a 7.5% equity (includes two demo days, one in Sydney and one in Silicon Valley, trip included). Mentors of note include founders of Atlassian, Hitwise and Spreets, and partners at Southern Cross Ventures.
• Angel Cube (@angelcubemelb), a Melbourne based accelerator that runs a 3 month intensive program. Typical terms are $20,000 investment for 10% equity. Includes a demo day to investors. Mentors of note include founders of 99Designs/Sitepoint, Stateless Systems and Crowdmass.

These accelerator programs are not looking for amazing ideas or people with tons of experience. They are looking for determined and smart founders who are quick to execute and has the drive and determination to succeed.

Such founders may or may not have a proven idea. But they do need to be able to demonstrate their ability to quickly test an idea in order to be able to find out if it will stick, if there will be any traction, and if it is scalable with a potential to go global.

These accelerators want to find founders who are not afraid to make mistakes and, more importantly, they want to see them learn from mistakes, quickly.
But there’s a catch, which arguably may or may not be a bad thing. The catch is you need to be physically present in the city where the accelerator is based, or have the intention to move there during the program. And this is the reason why perhaps Tasmania should have a Startup Accelerator of its own.

So really, the issue isn’t funding or lack of talent. The real problem could stem from the sheer amount of work involved with creating an accelerator, or the lack of experience in the community. But, with regards to the latter, if we don’t start to make the first steps, how are we ever going to gain any experience?

Sourcing Mentors

How about mentors? Which is what these accelerators are really all about. For a Tasmanian Startup Accelerator to be successful, it will likely need to be able to harness its ability to help startups reach outside Tasmania and Australia.

In a limited market, going regional or global quickly and decisively is an essential part of proving ideas and gaining traction, hence the historical focus on outsourcing companies.

For optimised mentorship, the Tasmanian accelerator will need to have a “rolodex” of mentors and be able to source them from within Tasmania while continuously looking to connect with an international network of mentors.

The accelerator will also need to connect with grassroots techies, startups as well as small business communities to leverage the diaspora and tap into local entrepreneurs with potential Silicon Valley or global expertise.

The Tasmanian startup sector has been somewhat quiet, but momentum is building slowly, especially as innovative startups like AsdeqLabs demonstrate their ability to sell a visionary enterprise-level product to the world while operating in Tasmania.

When a startup accelerator exists in Tasmania, it will be interesting to see what kind of entrepreneurs apply to the first Tasmanian Startup Accelerator class. I would expect to see ideas in e-commerce, travel, and perhaps even more enterprise solutions in the midst of applicants.

So what do you think? Do you think it’s time for Tasmania to have its very own Startup Accelerator?

Please share your thoughts in the comment section below. Constructive feedback and discussions will be greatly appreciated.

About the Author: Byron Teu is one of the co-founders of Startup Tasmania. He is a serial entrepreneur, an occasional investor, and he is addicted to building Startups. Byron is on Twitter! You can follow him via @byronteu