Startup & Entrepreneurship

Are entrepreneurs born or made? Nine-year-old Caine Monroy spent his summer vacation building his own arcade in his dad's second-hand auto-parts store in the middle of a junkyard. With no budget, in perhaps the world’s least-likely location for a fun park, and with nothing but cardboard boxes and oodles of perseverance, Caine’s dream cardboard arcade became a reality – but sadly, no one came to play. This is his story.

A Brisbane coffee mogul has beaten Starbucks at its own game. Launching into India, before the U.S. behemoth, Di Bella Coffee has had an overwhelming response from a nation of tea drinkers.

Australians can now enjoy cheap and cheerful international shipping thanks to new local startup making big waves, Ship 2 Anywhere. Even bigger things are in the works, with plans to help Australian businesses set up US direct fulfilment services.

By boiling the kettle to make a cup of coffee, you are changing the universe. How? Pauli's Exclusion Principle means that a change in energy levels in one part of universe, means the rest of the universe must adapt and move to accommodate the change. Energy levels aren't just for the drumming circles in Byron Bay. And yes, this has a lot to do with entrepreneurship.

Before giving my two cents worth, I often utter: "I'm happy to be proven wrong". And, I genuinely mean it. So, with this TED video, I found the need to reassess my opinion of the ukulele. I've also found ukulele is a really weird word to type.

True entrepreneurs are focused, resourceful, passionate, and driven to succeed. They're pioneers discovering new lands, mapping the way forward, comfortable fighting on the frontline.

How’s business? If you had a dollar for every time someone asked you that you wouldn't have to work, right small business owner?

Ignition Labs, Australia's first clean technology accelerator is looking for cool ideas. Using the model that has proven so successful for Y Combinator, Ignition Labs will help guide five clean technology companies into commercial viability. Have you got an idea that needs ignition?

Parliamentary Secretary for Industry and Innovation Mark Dreyfus, is a massive fan of new laws passed last month, designed to strengthen Australia’s intellectual property system. It's always exciting when there's a chance of less red tape getting in the way of running your business.

Large companies spend big bucks on making their organisations look uber-sophisticated and polished. This video, on the other hand, took three minutes and 12 seconds to film and maybe a little less to edit. (Maybe.) It's a very 'lean' debut for a much needed addition to the Queensland startup ecosystem. And that's exactly how it should be.

Serial Aussie entrepreneur Chris Sharkey, alongside his equally intrepid brothers Michael and Peter, has launched yet another internet start-up, Bislr (pronounced Biz-ler).

A “micro” is any business that turns over less than $250K a year, so the business I sold this week most definitely falls into that category! Instagram, it was not. So, in celebration of the HUGE gap between the sale price of my business and how much Instagram's Kevin Systrom made last week, here are three things I learnt from selling my micro-business.

The 13-week program is run by PushStart, the tech startup community group, and will conclude in June. Its first intake of entrepreneurs includes everything from enterprise social media support tools, social life planning apps, blogs for new parents and, a site to help surfers swap their boards.

You have come up with a cracker of an idea. It’s not just slightly different. It’s unique and out of the box. You can see a new market emerging and you're ahead of the pack. It should be easy to get the dollars rolling in — right? Think again.

Pebble began its Kickstarter campaign on April 11. The target investment was $100,000. Within 28 hours, more than $1 million had been raised. Four days later, the tally has just clocked over $2.7 million. Could Pebble become the coolest thing since the iPhone?

Well, why wouldn't they? There's nothing wrong with being an introvert. There has been recent research about mavericks, or extroverts, being more likely to be entrepreneurs. Yet, the introverted entrepreneur is not as rare as you might think.

What’s your “maverick” quotient? We're not talking about Tom Cruise in Top Gun. We mean, whether or not you can “recognise” a maverick — a creative, independent thinker who can be brilliant but troublesome and can keep firms aggressive and competitive. See if you fit the Maverickism Scale.

Australian software start-up company PlayUp offers sports and media personalities the opportunity to monetise their social networks, by linking them to premium “pay-per-play” content that already interweaves sport and social interactivity. The PlayUp app is now in the top five downloaded apps in 80 countries and number one in 30 countries.

Many Australian businesses are on the selling block due to the glut in the pending retirements of baby boomer business owners. Quite simply, they need to sell to retire. Yet, according to the September Quarter 2011 BizExchange Index, the number of businesses for sale rose by over 350%. Meanwhile, their prices halved. More creative ways of selling a business need to be considered.

Way back in the mid-1970s, when dinosaurs still roamed Melbourne’s outer suburbs, Steve Wozniak said to his HP boss something along the lines of ‘I’ve had this great idea: personal computers in every home.’ HP boss, in turn, said words to the effect of ‘Pfff. If that ever catches on I’ll eat my highly-flammable, synthetic safari suit.’