MAP 20 August Community Update
Get the latest updates from MAP as our 2020 cohort continues their five-month journey at Australia’s leading University Startup Accelerator.
Accelerator Program Update
Time is flying by and we are only 2 months away from Demo Day!
This month was all about “Startup Growth & Scale” as the teams started thinking about customer and team growth, and pricing for scale.
Brand, Marketing & Growth Hacking
We were super excited to welcome our alumni Mike Halligan, CEO & Co-Founder, Scratch (MAP19), to talk about how building an authentic brand has helped his startup find growth. Whilst Gerald Fisher, Managing Director, Rumblr, motivated the teams to be ambitious in their goal setting in order to run successful marketing campaigns.
Kjetil Hansen, CEO & Founder, Deliciou (MAP16), shared some great tips on how to use the powerful Facebook Ad Manager to test and iterate in order to run highly-effective and measurable advertising campaigns.
Chris Joannou, Head of the Talent Institute, and Jimmy Zhong, Founder, Syncio (MAP18) teamed up to explain how growth hacking can fuel startup growth.
Team Growth
What is growth without team growth? Right!
This month, our Chief EIR, Jeremy Kraybill, presented his highly-rated talk on hiring. Jeremy, who has hired 100s of candidates, read 1000s of resumes, and developed a special acumen for ‘hiring tech talents’ shared “cheaper hires are more expensive in the long run than hiring an expert with the right skills right off the bat”.
Getting your Pricing Right
Many founders find this challenging and our teams had the opportunity to learn from our pricing expert and mentor, Jon Manning, Founder & Chief Expert, PricingProphets.com on common mistakes that businesses make on pricing and some techniques applicable for the startups.
Founder Wellness
This month we heard from our alumni James Lolicato, CEO & Co-Founder, PrideCup (MAP18), delivering an insightful session on boundary setting when working from home - the importance of switching off.
The cohort also enjoyed the first of our mindfulness meditation sessions which kicked off with Prof. Kalvinder Shields, Founder, Calm in the City, and Prof. Peter Corke who explained how taking a couple of minutes at the beginning of a meeting for silence changes the outcome of the meeting and is a useful way to set intentions and goals.
August Special Events
At MAP, we focus on ‘learning from people who have been there and done that’. It was inspiring to hear from our alumni Ivan Lim, CEO & Co-Founder, Brosa (MAP14) about his entrepreneurial journey in building one of the fastest-growing startups in Australia.
This session was followed soon after by a candid fireside chat with Jessica Ellerm, Co-Founder & CEO, Zuper Superannuation, on navigating a successful exit for her company.
Velocity Program Update
We are delighted to share that MAP is growing!
We have recently secured $222k in funding over 2 years from LaunchVic, to expand our early-stage, part-time pre-accelerator program Velocity. Learn more about the grant here.
The funding will allow us to support 100 more founders, across Victoria with our offline and online version of the programs that will be run twice a year.
We have also welcome 21 teams to our MAP20 Velocity Cohort
MAP Alumni Updates
News
Allume Energy (MAP17) has won the prestigious Clean Energy Council Innovation Award for 2020.
Allume’s SolShare beat ‘hundreds’ of other entrants to reach the final alongside 5B’s rapid deploy solar system and Western Power’s stand-alone power systems. Allume’s CEO, Cameron Knox said
We are thrilled to be recognised with such a prestigious award. We are so proud of what we have been able to achieve, and very excited about the future of the SolShare and Allume. It is fantastic to have the Clean Energy Council’s support in our vision to unlock rooftop solar for those missing out.
Marita Cheng, Founder of Aubot (MAP13), received an incredible profile this month from Greg Callaghan in Good Weekend. The expansive piece covers Martia’s journey from childhood to Young Australian of the Year and beyond. Put a cup of tea on and enjoy this long read.
Hiring
Nothing makes us happier than seeing our Alumni companies growing. Check out the exciting opportunities available this month, and be sure to apply or share with talented friends.
We are especially excited to see our Mobble, from our current MAP20 cohort already expanding their team
- Mobble (MAP20) is looking for a talented and passionate ‘Farmer’ Success Manager to join their team.
- Acusensus (MAP18) Acusensus are on the lookout for software and devops engineers.
- BindiMaps (MAP19) Bindi Maps are on the lookout for a Marketing Manager to come along on their journey to make Australia (and soon the world) accessible and easy to navigate.
- Umps Health (MAP17) Umps are looking for an expert in electronics engineering, product development, and manufacture to join them as Head of Hardware Engineering. The Umps Smart Home has become critical for people throughout COVID-19, and in preparation for a large roll out next year, they are redeveloping their hardware platform with more functionality and scalability.
Cohort Updates
Recovawear
In fantastic news just released, Recovawear has won two prestigious Good Design Award Gold Accolade’s in the Social Impact and Product Design Medical and Scientific Categories.
In addition, Recovawear is pleased to announce their expansion to the American marketplace! They are taking expressions of interest for investment.
If you are an investor interested in learning more about Recovawear please contact Penny here
Insight Infrastructure Solution
Insight Infrastructure is focusing on their hardware and data deliverable solution and looking for industry partners to collaborate.
They’re also hiring a Robotics engineer, please contact Adam to discuss further.
DiaperRecycle
Diaperrecycle has spent the month focusing on their pilot plant with the arrival of new machinery. This has meant temporarily dismantling their pilot plant in order to make space for some amazing new pieces of equipment, which will assist to increase production.
DiaperRecycle are also looking for investors to help them get to a commercial-stage. If you are interested, please contact them via the form on their website here
Team Timbuktu
Team Timbuktu has been clocking in an incredible month to month growth rate (50% and up).
They are currently looking for connections with those experienced in fashion, retail and retention in Direct to Consumer/Customer. If you think you can help please contact Rhianna here
EIR Updates
This year we are thrilled to welcome 10 Entrepreneurs-In-Residence (EIRs) who are working closely with the MAP20 Cohort. Learn about them here.
Adam Jahnke: CEO & Co-Founder, Umps Health
Adam’s background is in the commercialisation of technology to improve public health. One of his earliest roles was at Cochlear China, where he developed partnerships with enterprise and government stakeholders to make cochlear implantation accessible to disadvantaged and remote communities. Prior to founding Umps Health, he worked at Ericsson, where he led the development of digital transformation projects to improve the liveability of cities in Australia and South East Asia.
Adam founded Umps Health to support his grandpa to live safely and independently at home. After reviewing existing solutions, he found that technology, on the whole, hadn’t been designed to work for his grandpa. The first person to use Umps Health’s technology was his grandpa, who he calls Umps. That’s where the name Umps Health comes from.
Mish Mannering: Co-Founder, Raine Scooters
Michelle is a highly motivated, curious and compassionate leader with a keen interest in driving entrepreneurial culture and pioneering Melbourne’s esports industry.
Michelle has founded several tech companies and, as a result, sits at the forefront of this city’s science, tech, esports and startup scenes. Every day Michelle creates awesome experiences and engages with the vibrant GitHub developer community. Michelle has run many hackathons and is an accomplished MC, speaker, and facilitator. You will often catch Michelle at an event or speaking on stage!
In Michelle’s ‘spare’ time she is a streamer, journalist, and is always working on something exciting. Right now, Michelle is working on the next epic venture — Raine Scooters. Michelle and her team have designed and created an electric scooter to put the fun in your daily commute ⚡🛴
What inspires you?
“I’m inspired by other people. I get inspired by making others happy, or as we like to call it; ‘surprise and delight’. Whether it’s giving a talk and inspiring others, profiling people and showing off the cool things they’re working on, or celebrating the wins. I’m a team player, so I get really excited when those around me are excited. My motivation and inspiration comes from a drive to provide that excitement.”
Have a powerful and insightful month!
The MAP Team