MAP20 September 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
It’s been another stellar month in the MAP program as the MAP20 Cohort creep closer and closer toward Demo Day (and the easing of restrictions!).
This month was all about Impact & Investment as the teams went introspective about their social impact, company culture and impact leadership approach.
All About Impact
Kicking off this month, was a fantastic session with Andrea De Almedia, B Lab Australia and New Zealand & Founder and Strategic Advisor, on authenticity in leadership and culture building. Simon Smallchua, Founder & COO of Harvey, helped the founders understand how to tell their social impact story. And once again, Professor Kalvinder Shields of Calm in the City led a beautiful meditation session, helping founders take care of themselves so that they can take care of others.
The founders also took the opportunity to engage with impact investors Alex Oppes & Tim Pullen from Social Ventures Australia, Laura Scott from Save the Children and Adam Milgrom & Charlie MacDonald from Giant Leap Fund as well as investors Maxine Lee from Skalata Ventures and Paul Naphtali from Rampersand during Investor Drop In appointments.
Pitching & Investment
Show me the money! Our founders learned about the art and science of pitching to investors with Michael Batko, CEO Startmate and Advisor Blackbird Ventures, and refined their storytelling with Peter Browne, Pitch Coach & Communications Expert of Intangible Communication.
They spent time refining their financial modelling with wealth management specialist Matt Fish, CEO & Co-Founder, FirstStep (MAP17). They also had a Venture 101 session with our resident Silicon Valley Mentor, Mark B Johnson, Advisor, Board Member & Executive Coach, getting into the details and preparation required for fundraising.
September Special Events
This month we had a stellar Fireside Chat with Alan Jones, startup founder coach and tech startup angel investor. As an early investor in Australian tech startup venture funds Pollenizer, Startmate and Blackbird Ventures, Alan shared the importance of putting your ideas and products out there rather than being in ‘stealth mode’, a useful tip to help our founders avoid imposter syndrome.
We also held a virtual R U OK? Day morning tea and speed networking session, co-hosted by one of our Velocity20 Founders, Kaley Chu who shared how 100 lunches with strangers changed her life from a shy immigrant girl to a successful ‘People Connector’. Kaley shared how she was able to grow her confidence and transform her life through the simple act of having lunch with a stranger. We also heard from Melbourne Edge Co-Founder and well-being mentor Valerie Judge on how to stay mentally healthy. You can read about Kaley and 100 lunches here.
Velocity Program Update
We are now almost halfway through the Velocity20 Program and our founders have spent time focussing on the basics including identifying their goals, who their customers are (and how to reach them), and refining their MVPs.
The founders have made stellar progress having refined their business model canvases, identified 671 hypotheses to test, and conducted over 80 customer validation interviews. They have also participated in over 76 mentor engagements to help them on their journey.
If you think this is impressive, you can learn more about the MAP20 Velocity Cohort here.
The MAP Jobs Board
MAP is thrilled to announce that after supporting more than 150 startups (who have created more than 1400 jobs) we are releasing the MAP Jobs Board
This new initiative has been made possible by partnering with the MAP alumni-led venture, Startup Galaxy. Startup Galaxy is a directory of startups, investors, accelerators, and startup jobs. They are the platform behind the MAP Jobs Board and are a one-stop-shop for your Australian startup research needs. If you run a startup, be sure to head over and update your profile.
MAP Alumni Updates
Smileyscope has won the Good Design Award for 2020 in the Product Medical and Scientific Category. You can read about it here
Congratulations to Allume Energy who have been shortlisted for SolarPower Europe’s Solar & Storage Start-Up award!
Reflive are expanding into the UK with the North Riding FA, allowing Referee Managers, Assessors and Referees to have access to their technology to provide real time performance and wellbeing feedback.
Acusensus (and their Indian partner Ador) have been awarded a contract with the Tamil Nadu Road Development Corporation for the model safety corridor on the East Coast road (linking Chennai to Mahabalipuram) marking another opportunity to work with local authorities in an international jurisdiction.
Umps is looking for a Hardware Engineer to join their team as they prepare to launch the next-generation of the Umps hardware platform.
You can check out more information on the LinkedIn job posting here.
Relectrify has been chosen to participate in the Energy Spin Business Growth Program Fall 2020 — representing the only Australian startup to be selected!
Nura has received recognition from Uprise as a Sleep Safe company for the company wide adoption and completion of the improving sleep challenge after participating in Sleep Awareness Week 2020.
Cohort Updates
Recovawear
Recovawear has been announced as a recipient of the Good Design Award for both social impact (gold) & Medical and Scientific categories.
If you are an investor interested in learning more about Recovawear please contact Penny here
Insight Infrastructure Solution
Insight Infrastructure had a great month, having been admitted into a Singapore maritime accelerator and acquiring a new project with Port of Melbourne.
Insight Infrastructure are looking for investment funding and are also hiring a Mechatronics engineer. Please contact Adam to discuss further.
Mobble
Mobble is growing rapidly, signing on hundreds of farmers this year.
They are currently looking for a talented Golang Developer to join their Melbourne based start-up. If you are interested, please contact Jock.
Strong Room
Strong Room are excited to be looking for a Frontend Developer to join their growing team. If you are interested, please apply here.
Exergenics
Exergenics is keeping it in the family, having doubled in size, with Iain’s twin brother Tim joining the team as Co-Founder & COO!
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
Jeremy Kraybill: Chief Entrepreneur-In-Residence and Co-Founder, Dashcord
Jeremy (or as we know him, “JK”) has worked in high-tech startups for over 25 years in Australia and the United States as both an early-stage executive and founder. He is a software developer by trade but has played roles across several industries and all areas of business, with a focus on B2B software development and service delivery. He also served as General Manager of CARad, an eBay subsidiary that managed $1b in annual vehicle sales.
JK has been heavily involved with MAP since year one, initially as a mentor, and more recently as our Chief Entrepreneur in Residence. From MAP, he runs Dashcord, a SaaS company that provides events and marketing communications software for Salesforce.com customers.
In the COVID era, Dashcord has seen significant adoption across governments in Australia at the state and federal level for COVID-related communication.
Since the lockdown, JK has taken on a number of hobby projects like couchmoney.tv (a movie recommender), couchmoneytrivia.tv (a “name that film” trivia game), and a number of creative AI projects.
What inspires you?
“I’m inspired by people doing what they want to do, regardless of what everybody else is doing. The thing I love about MAP is this is a place where the goal really is to help people achieve what they want to do without a preconceived notion of what success has to look like for any one person or startup.”
What’s the most exciting thing happening in tech right now?
“OpenAI is about to open up their ‘GPT-3’ AI to the world and the applications it’s getting integrated to are already pretty exciting. The next generation of AI tools is going to be the start of a massive shift. On a slightly longer timescale, I’m pretty excited about the future of brain-computer interfaces, there’s a lot happening beyond Neuralink which has a good chance of replacing mouse and keyboard.”
Phoebe Gardner: CEO & Co-Founder of Beyond Ag
Phoebe is CEO & Co-founder of Beyond Ag — a company that uses insects to transform food waste into insect protein and organic fertiliser.
Companies are paying to dump their food waste into landfills. Beyond Ag accepts food waste for half that price, then feeds it to black soldier fly larvae and produces high-quality insect protein and organic fertiliser. Global population growth and changing diets mean food production must double by 2050, but unsustainable practices already can’t scale to meet demand. Beyond Ag’s insect protein is a natural source of protein. Every tonne offsets 50 tonnes of CO2e emissions, equivalent to planting over 800 trees. Their organic fertiliser has double the plant nutrients and twenty times more microbial content than compost, making it easier to spread and better for crops.
Phoebe was awarded the Emerging Leader in Agriculture award by the Royal Agricultural Society of Victoria in 2019.
What inspires you?
“I’m inspired by climate action taking place around the world.”