(This is a copy of a post I recently wrote on LinkedIN). I read Stuart McKeown’s post ‘Why Being an Australian Startup Sucks’ with interest. Especially in light of the recent failure of 99dresses and the in-depth exposé of the roller coaster Nicki Durkin went through. On the face of it Stuart’s article indicates that Read more about Start-ups, Investment and Education in Australia: we need to do better[…]
Matt Cutts from Google explains in the video below exactly why you need a website for your business… It’s pretty simple really, if you don’t have a website and depend upon having entries in Yellow Pages and the like, then literally the only people who are going to find you are: People who have already Read more about Don’t be invisible online[…]
For those of you exploring the inner workings of couchbase and trying to bend it to your will. I have just finished an upstart script that should make your life easier. The current couchbase comes with just an old init.d script which does the job, but does not make it that easy to tie success Read more about couchbase-server upstart script[…]
KPCB have just released their latest internet trends report, see here . For us it comes as no surprise that: Smart phone usage to access the Internet is still on the increase; Tablet usage is exploding (faster than uptake on PC’s ever!); Majority (97%) of mobile OS’es are either iOS, Android or Windows mobile; Video Read more about latest Internet Trends Report 2014[…]
2 weeks ago, on a Sunday night, the Galston High School suffered a terrible fire that completely gutted the library. All books, awards, history and computers went up in an intense fire. So hot everything got completely destroyed, even metal awards and shelving… The biggest problem they face, apart from replacing the lost books, is Read more about Galston High School Library Fire – Second Hand Laptops wanted![…]
I read Phil’s post stating that you don’t need a technical co-founder with some interest. Yes, at the very very start of a business, given the range of free to air tools out there, it’s right you don’t need a technical co-founder to do some quick iterations to get to your first cut of a product Read more about Do you need a technical co-founder? – well, it depends…[…]
This new flaw, called the Covert Redirect flaw, was first reported by a Singaporea PhD student in mathematics from Nanyang Technological University. The Covert Redirect flaw is not so easily patched as heartbleed… What is the Covert Redirect flaw? The flaw allows hackers to modify the process of logging into a site, silently redirecting people to dangerous websites Read more about New security flaw in OAuth and OpenID found[…]
According to this article in Time a truly massive security flaw has been discovered in Internet Explorer on XP. In fact it is so serious that a national security alert has been issued! The way the flaw works sounds similar to that with the HeartBleed bug – in that a hacker can access resources that Read more about Internet Explorer Security Flaw[…]
Below is our selection of news and events in the Australian start-up community for the week so far. A little bit light with this week being wedged between Easter and Anzac Day. TechCrunch calls out Australia’s venture capital issues, but get a key fact wrong It appears that TechCrunch got in hot water by overstating Read more about Start-up News Roundup – 24th April[…]
Below is our roundup of startup news in Australia for the week. Guy Kawasaki Aims to Democratize Design Through Aussie Startup Canva Quite a biggie this, Guy Kawasaki has joined the startup Canva, based in Sydney, as their Chief Evangelist according to this article in xconomy. Unfortunately he won’t be based in Sydney, but it Read more about Start-up News Roundup – 17th April[…]
Cybercriminals and Internet fraudsters are singling out e-commerce sites and blogs of small businesses for their unscrupulous attacks. Nevertheless, as a business website owner, you can enact some simple precautions to thwart the evil designs of these unwanted intruders. The “Fort Disco” Botnet’s Brute-Force Tactic Both small business networks, as well as, their websites are Read more about Common Security Mistakes That Business Website Owners Make & How to Avoid Them[…]
In a world first, Australian bank invests in peer-to-peer lending startup This article in Startup Smart covers the Westpac’s Reinventure Group recently announced a $5 million investment in Sydney-based peer-to-peer lender SocietyOne. Australian VC calls on others to “write cheques” to encourage female entrepreneurs In this article in Smart Company, Adrian Stone challenges investors to Read more about Start-up News Roundup – 10th April[…]
The speed of your business website matters. Quick-loading websites perform better on every front: higher search ranking, superior user experience, and better user engagement. Most importantly, fast-loading websites deliver higher conversions and higher revenue. Slow Websites Hinder Mobile Traffic If you’re targeting mobile traffic and income (who isn’t), your website speed becomes even more critical. Read more about The Importance of Website Loading Speed & Top 3 Factors That Limit Website Speed[…]
This is a collection of news for the week so far, published every Thursday morning. If you have any news you would like to see here, use our contact form. Local start-up taps into Google ad campaign Tapit signs a deal with Google to promote Google Play in this article in the Australian. Discretionary grant Read more about Start-up News Roundup – 3rd April[…]
I was surfing around the Internet, as one does, and I came across the following thought provoking video from TED… Its called ‘How to get your ideas to spread’ by Seth Godin. Given the earlier videos by Simon Sinek, and the date of the Seth Godin video (2003); it appears that the ‘job’ in trying Read more about Market to the early adopters and not the mass market[…]
We have just made available a free plug-in for WordPress that takes care of setting up Google Analytics and any of the options you may have turned on, like: User demographics tracking Enhanced Link Attribution Usually to turn these on requires editing the Google Analytics JavaScript directly, which can be a bit of a fiddle Read more about Google Analytics Control Plus WordPress Plugin[…]
Four ways to boost Australian innovation An interesting article in Australian Mining of all places that covers some techniques on how to get funding for innovative ideas. When your first idea is over: Sidekicker on the pressures of pivoting When to pivot (change strategic direction), the age old question. In this article by Rose Powell Read more about Start-up News Roundup – 27th March[…]
Thought I’d share this tail of woe one of our clients just experienced… We have just done a complete redesign of their website and fixed several technical problems in the site, as well as making it fully responsive. We DO NOT host them (although we will be soon, with a few others in tow), we Read more about A Clients Hosting Providers Upgrade Nightmare (or not how to do it)…[…]
The primary motive of a business website is to generate revenue. Only a mobile-friendly website can guarantee this. Consider these facts: According to the data compiled by the Mobile Marketing Association of Asia, of the nearly 7 billion people worldwide, over 5 billion people own a cell phone, whereas just about 4 billion own a Read more about Top 10 Reasons Your Business Website Should be Mobile-Friendly[…]
Equity crowd-funding for start-ups just a tweak away According to an article in the Australian Financial Review, we could be a hairs bredth away from equity crowd-funding in Australia (for those who can’t get past the pay-wall of print media doom see here instead for a similar article). Don’t kill your startup by heading to Read more about Start-up News Roundup – 20th March[…]