If you’re looking to hack your startup journey without burning through a fortune, you’re in the right place. Bootstrapping isn’t about scrimping on quality–it’s a tactical way to validate your ideas, gain traction and eventually secure the kind of funding that can propel you to the next level. Christie Whitehill, founder of Tech Ready Women… Read more »
Within six months, I bootstrapped my startup to 1.4 million users. Two years later, our software is used by 16 million people worldwide Venture capitalists scoffed when I said I was self-funding (bootstrapping) my new artificial intelligence startup. Other industry veterans I spoke with said competing without a fair whack of VC dollars was a… Read more »
This week on Startup 360 with Kayla Medica and Startup Daily editor Simon Thomsen, they discuss exit strategies in the wake of KKR buying a $95 million slice of Employment Hero in a secondary market sale by OG investor Seek. With IPOs on the go slow, how do employees cash in on the success they… Read more »
A booking and event management platform beloved by local councils has raised $5 million in its first external round after seven years of bootstrapping. The raise for Attekus was led by Five V Venture Capital, with support from Queensland government-backed QIC Ventures. Attekus was founded in 2017 by Tom Muller and Andrew Cutler, who worked… Read more »
While venture capital funding is a benchmark of success that receives a greater share of attention than the daily business of startup life, building with bootstrapping is front-of-mind for many founders, often out of necessity. So Unfunded, a new podcast by tech writer Joan Westenberg is bound to be essential listening for many keen to… Read more »
Sydney fintech Data Zoo has raised $35 million (US$22.7m) taking on external capital for the first time. The funding came from Ashok Jacob’s Sydney investment firm, Ellerston Capital, via its JAADE fund, which has also backed startups Mable, Camms, and Phocas. The deal values the business at more than $100 million. Data Zoo’s software provides… Read more »
Australia’s startup world glorifies venture capital as the holy grail—the insider’s ticket to fast scaling and billion-dollar valuations. FOMO sets in when headlines splash record-breaking funding rounds, fuelling a culture that views VC backing as the singular metric for success. As an ecosystem, we fixate on spinning the VC roulette wheel. Even founders who don’t… Read more »
Mentorloop is no longer your typical startup. For starters, it’s been operating profitably for more than two years after pivoting the business away from a growth-at-all-costs strategy in response to 2020’s initial pandemic-led funding freeze. Now its cofounders argue that other founders should look to the “thriving middle” with their business and consider steering towards… Read more »
Should you, or should you not take investor money? There are two schools of thought, and both have merit; it just depends on what you want and how quickly you want to achieve it. For example, if you are a 21-year-old tech grad building a software company out of your garage, and you want to… Read more »
Given the current economic conditions, it’s gotten a lot harder for startups to raise the kind of funding rounds that were once the norm a few years ago. Either by choice or because they haven’t been able to close a round, this has led many startups to consider whether the VC path is actually the… Read more »
Few startups have the luxury of big budgets in their early days. This five-step plan will help take that shoestring budget the extra mile. “A big business starts small,” as Richard Branson once said. If you have a great idea and no money, you are walking a well-worn path. Sadly, many fail – not through… Read more »
2020 has been a big year for the start-up industry in Australia. The Australian Bureau of Statistics reported more than 340,000 new business entries in Australia between 2019-20, and KPMG reported startup investment rising despite COVID. Generally, companies take two different routes when kicking off a new business – seeking external investment or bootstrapping. I… Read more »
Brisbane software startup Octopus Deploy is close becoming a $1 billion company after its first funding round, taking a US$172.5 million (A$222m) from New York venture capital firm Insight Partners. The enterprise software business, which counts Microsoft, NASA, Xero and Disney among its 25,000 customers, has bootstrapped for a decade before taking on Insight with… Read more »
Smart Energy co-founders Beau Savage, Elliot Hayes & Jasper Boyschau When we started our solar company Smart Energy three years ago we had just enough money to sign a lease on a warehouse in Byron Bay and buy one pallet of solar panels. We needed every penny we could get so we saved money… Read more »
Adelaide’s reputation as a startup hotspot took a massive leap last month when the release of the StartupBlink Startup Ecosystem Rankings 2019 report revealed the South Australian capital had cracked to top 150 global cities for startups, rising from 227 on the list to 143. Australia overall jumped six places from 11 to 5th. It’s… Read more »
The Queensland government has startup grants worth up to $200,000 up for grabs 
Eye Thy with my AI: Australian Radio Network digitises diversity with an artificially generated Asian female presenter 
Square Peg-backed cleaning products startup Zero Co is shutting down 
12 startup festivals and events you need to know about this year 
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