Silicon Beach Australia Google Group

New Office Furniture - Buy Bankrupt or New?

2009-11-25T10:02:31Z

IPscape is becoming very grown up and moving to our own 20 person
office. Has anyone any experience/advice on whether you buy new
furniture or spend time on graysonline for bankrupt furniture?

Notice: Syd SB Basketball - 7th Dec 09

2009-11-24T06:54:12Z

G'day folks,

Sydneysiders, there'll be a basketball session on the 7th of Dec at
the Pyrmont courts (87-97 Harris St, Pyrmont).
For more details and to RSVP (so we have an idea of numbers) check out
the SB group: [link]

Silicon Beach Drinks + Bartap + Microsoft's "Blog Queen" Betsy Aoki

2009-11-23T02:54:30Z

Hi Silicon Beachers,

Upcoming Silicon Beach drinks this friday are not to be missed. Betsy
Aoki is taking time out of her holiday in Australia to hang out with
Silicon Beach crowd and Microsoft is sponsoring the drinks :)

Bio: Perhaps best known in Australia as Microsoft's "Blog Queen,"
Betsy Aoki launched Microsoft’s corporate blogging efforts but she’s

Finding the Sweet Spot

2009-11-21T18:56:41Z

Hello,

Some of you may have encountered Dave Pollard already - a passionate,
intense Canuk blogger who thinks way too much. I've just polished off
his book and I thinks it's fantastic. Let me know your thoughts (N.B.
I am not on commission for this).

[link]

Steve Blank Video on Justin.tv

2009-11-20T22:07:43Z

The Steve Blank session is now archived and online: [link]. It starts about 10 mins into the first segment, and there are the 6 segments in total.

The Lean Startup community (they call it a Circle) has a Google Group too. It is a pretty high quality list, reminds me a lot of Silicon Beach, but is focused on entrepreneurial approach and lessons instead of geography. An example of the sort of awesomeness that's coming through on the list: [link]

Hot Desking

2009-11-19T21:36:14Z

We have five desks, IP phones with VoIP, network
connections and Internet. Stunning boardroom that can be used as
well...
Prime location - walking distance to St Leonards train station.

$110/week each. Can provide further discounted rates if you need more
than
one....

Contact Maria Padisetti @ (02) 8197 9400 or Mob: 0425 235 307.

Lean Startup Meeting tomorrow morning (streamed live)

2009-11-19T02:21:14Z

There's been a few references on the list to "Lean Startups", a concept promoted by Eric Ries, which he in turn credits in large part to Steve Blank, a serial entrepreneur and author of "The Four Steps to the Epiphany".

Steve is presenting at a meeting tomorrow night in San Fancisco, and they're going to broadcast it live on Justin.TV.

Connecting with the London Startup Community?

2009-11-18T21:44:55Z

Hi Guys

Can anyone recommend ways to connect into the startup community in London?

Any events or groups or networks?

Thanks for any advice you can offer.

Nick

Scrum & Lean Leadership SIG Event on 26th November - Melbourne, Australia

2009-11-18T11:14:30Z

Topic 1:

Milestone Retrospectives

While small retrospectives are simple to run, milestone retrospectives
need more planning both to discover information and create action
plans, etc. This interactive session will demonstrate some of the
activities used to run a milestone retrospective.
This session has been well received by agile groups in Melbourne and

Re: Is Australia a viable market?

2009-11-18T06:09:52Z

Hi Patrick,

Thanks very much for sharing. You've listed some great points that I
have to consider. How is the consumption of technology for that 20M
people? Are people willing to spend some money for technology that
will help them? Has technology become primary needs here? Some country
has large population, but the market can not afford or not willing to

Non Competes

2009-11-18T04:02:23Z

Hi All,

Need to pick your brains here. What is you view on non-competes. Not so
much on their ethics but in terms of practicality. ie if you HAVE to sign
one, what is the maximum youd limit it to and how would you negotiate this?

Few scenarios I am thinking are:

1. Have been in the one industry for years so "any" period is extremely

Australian Entrepreneurs Live on Sydney Radio at 5pm TODAY

2009-11-18T03:45:04Z

For anyone interested, there will be a couple Austrlian Entrepreneurs
speaking on Eastside Radio at 5pm today. [link]

They will be discussing their experience in the US and how it relates
to the startup-scene in Australia. There will also be some discussion
of global entrepreneurship week events.

Austrade briefings on Korean ICT opportunities

2009-11-18T01:56:46Z

Austrade are conducting a series of briefings on ICT opportunities in
Korea featuring presentations from Austrade's Seoul-based ICT
Specialist and Australian ICT companies with experience in the Korean
market.

The sessions are free. Details and registration are available at
[link]

Fwd: Common traits of A-Players

2009-11-17T22:19:31Z

Hi Guys

Thought you might be interested in this from a Auren Hoffman, a serial
entrepreneur in the US.

If you want more detailed tips on hiring A graders and understanding why B/C
graders cost you money, Dymocks has a book called Top Grading, it will help
you to understand most of your hiring screwups in the past and help avoid

Optus Application Store

2009-11-17T03:19:33Z

Just read in the news that Optus had launched their own application
store.

Does submit my application to the Optus Application Store?

Screen Business – Global Trends, Innovation and Opportunities.

2009-11-17T02:58:31Z

SCREEN BUSINESS – GLOBAL TRENDS, INNOVATION AND OPPORTUNITIES
How to keep up with digital change in the film and television
industries in Australia
A special event by world-renowned creative industry expert John
Howkins brought to you by the Creative Industries Innovation Centre,
in partnership with the Australian Film, Television and Radio School.

suggestions for good office phone guy?

2009-11-17T02:25:52Z

Hi I need to install/ configure a PBX phone system in my office. Only
5 handsets, so really don't want to pay a bucket load for the work.

Any suggestions out there for people to use?

Office is in Rushcutters Bay in Sydney.

thanks,

Mike
BuildingIQ

Startup BarCamp this Sat

2009-11-16T02:29:42Z

Hey Everyone,
David Soul and I have organized a Startup-themed Barcamp for this
Saturday at the ATP. We've organized some great speakers such as:
Mike Cannon-Brookes - Atlassian
Mick Liubinskas - Pollenizer
Brian Menzies - Vast Solar
Bart Jellema - Tjoos
Kate Carruthers
and you!
In true BarCamp style, attendance = participation so, bring ideas to share.

Was: New business models to protect inventiveness

2009-11-15T13:43:00Z

Hi,

Here is a general question I would like to ask after reading the
discussion on "protecting inventiveness":

How is it possible for a small business to protect their ideas? Under
a small business I mean a really small one: two guys in a garage or
so.

I wish I was wrong but I think that this is not possible. A small

silicon beach drinks sydney

2009-11-13T03:24:50Z

I'll be there if anyone is unsure if anyone else will be there.
I've just recently returned from the Plone conference in Budapest and
the python conference in NZ so anyone who feels like discussing that
Christchurch can get 150 enthusiastic geeks doing cool things with
python to give up their weekend and how embarrassing no one in AU has

Melbourne drinks 27th Nov 6pm Transport Hotel

2009-11-13T01:37:46Z

I love watching the buzz on this list around the Sydney Friday night
drinks. Being in Melbourne, I've often thought it would be great to
have a similar thing happening here. Last week I attended a Google
Technology Users Group meeting in Melbourne and had a great time
talking with a bunch of passionate developers. I would also like to

Microsoft is the most inventive company in the world!

2009-11-11T23:50:00Z

[link]
They just patented the "sudo"!!
cheers
Sri

Global Entrepreneurship Week Calendar (Next Week)

2009-11-11T11:47:07Z

Hey Guys,
I spent a little time tonight parsing the events calendar on the site
home page and imported it into google calendar here:
[link]
You can also import it from the ical source here:
[link]

Introducing Andrew Bucknell

2009-11-11T04:23:59Z

I have been lurking on silicon beach for a little while and figure its
time I introduced myself. I am a software developer based in
Melbourne. I have been writing software professionally for 15 years.
Additionally, I have been working on PhD relating to personalization
and the semantic web from which I graduated last year. My interest in

New Canberra technology / startups / software business meetup.com group created

2009-11-10T05:55:52Z

Hi,

Ive just created a new meetup.com group for people in Canberra
interested in technology / startups / software business.

[link]

If you're in Canberra and interested in meeting up to have a chat
about the online state-of-play and the future please sign up.

Vesting - any impact on raising angel? Know any good startup lawyer in Sydney? Thanks

2009-11-09T01:51:50Z

Hi All,
I have questions with regards to legal issues.
Few things:
- We are now in a stage to register a company.
- Between founders, we have agreed on share of each party.
- At some point in future, we are looking to raise an angel round.
- To protect everyone, we would like to do it in 4 years vesting with 1 year cliff. We have agreed on this informally between founders in earlier days.

Introductions

2009-11-08T21:39:10Z

Prompted by Geoff, here's my brief intro.
I'm a German living in Sydney for more than 10 years [1].
Previously, I was a research scientist at the CSIRO ICT Centre in Multimedia.
In 2006, Chris Gilbey, John Ferlito and I started Vquence [2], a video
technology startup in Sydney. We now have a social video metrics

New business models to protect inventiveness

2009-11-08T20:15:54Z

Dear Silicon Beach

Reading the LifeGuard paper: [link]
& considering what can we do to help, we thought that we would seek
suggestions from Silicon Beach for ways to improve start up access to
legal and patent attorney services.

Our belief is that there are other obstacles that prevent starts up

Courting an Acquiring company - any tips?

2009-11-08T11:48:28Z

Hi
It seems there are plenty of books on how to start a startup, how to
bag the elephant, how to succeed at sales etc etc
I have never seen any information on best processes for courting
potential acquiring companies and or the techniques best used to lure
in and close an acquisition on each the different profiles of

Is Australia a viable market?

2009-11-08T09:49:34Z

Hi all,
Based on your experience, how is the market condition in Australia? Is
Australia a viable market for technology startup company? With only 20
millions people in Australia, how is the technology acceptance here
compared to countries in North Americe or Europe?
Thank you very much sharing.

This Week in Startups

2009-11-06T02:28:14Z

Hey guys,
I've been checking out Jason Calacanis's new video show called "This Week in
Startups". It's one of the best around and is definitely worth watching.
He has a brilliant section called "Ask Jason" where startups can call in and
ask for his suggestions about their business. For those of you who don't

company background checking

2009-11-05T21:19:15Z

Hi,
What are the public resources available to look at the background and 'character' of a potential partner company?
I'm not really sure what I'm asking for here but I'd like to see things like previous litigation proceedings...current legal proceedings against the company and/or its directors. Does anyone know of any other types of public information I could look at that perhaps isn't in the google index?

Youtube embeds: what impact on page impressions

2009-11-05T07:31:16Z

Does anyone have any statistics or case studies showing the impact of
embedding Youtube videos into a site, in terms of increased page
impressions?

Thanks,

Andrew.

Best way to transfer $AU to $USD

2009-11-04T16:07:28Z

Hi all

My business needs to transfer a large slab of $AU to $USD - has anyone
looked into the way to do this and get the best exchange rate? I have
heard it's best to do the conversion in Australia...

Phil

Seeking Sales & Alliance Manager

2009-11-04T01:38:40Z

The age old challenge! Seeking a good sales & alliance manager with a
track record of results and energy to manage explosive sales growth.
Must be Sydney based. I'm loathed to brief a search firm but can do if
necessary. Any advice, thoughts welcome.

Looking for second hand office furniture/ equipment for fitout

2009-11-03T09:39:16Z

Does anyone know of anyone with desks/ chairs/ conference tables or
fax/printer/phone equipment for sale ? fitting out the office...
Am browsing Gray's Online and eBay as well.
Thanks.
Mike

Source of University interns?

2009-11-03T01:28:26Z

Does anyone know how I can contact either course heads or
entrepreneurship clubs at UNSW/ Sydney Uni/ UTS to try to recruit some
student interns?

thanks

Mike
BuildingIQ
mi...@buildingIQ.com
+61 407 016 323

Entrepreneurs - The Real "Peace Prize" Winners

2009-11-03T01:03:40Z

A refreshing article from our guy, Chris Brown at the Australian School of
Entrepreneurship, Swinburne.
[link]
An interesting read
cheers
Sri

Web retail in a box?

2009-11-02T23:37:25Z

Hi Silicon Beachers,
Can anyone recommend a 'out of the box' system/methodology/accountant for
the accounting side of setting up a simple web retail business (sole trader,
etc)? Low cost/low admin start, etc.
Thanks,
Michael

Do you use Outsourced Bookkeeping / Accounts?

2009-11-01T21:00:20Z

Hi Guys

We are looking to find a provider (preferably in sydney) that can
manage Bookkeeping, BAS, PAYG, Accounts Receivable, Account Payable
and basic level financial controller type activities.

Outsourcing this non-core part of our business seems like a no
brainer, do you agree?

Does anyone have any success stories with providers they can recommend

Fwd: Why django is a perfect choice for startup

2009-11-01T14:47:38Z

I might argue a few points and clean up some of the english, but a
decent article to read.
Comparative frameworks are also RoR, CakePHP, Kohana - I would also
recommend looking into Drupal (and sometimes WordPress)
---------- Forwarded message ----------
To: sydney-django-users-group@goog legroups.com

SB Basketball (Syd)

2009-10-30T03:22:59Z

Hi all!

It's the time of the year to resume the SBSyd basketball games! :D

We used to have these at the Pyrmont courts every second Tuesday,
6-8pm.
I'm wondering if Tuesdays are still good, or if we should move it to
another day. Please head over to [link] and cast
your vote.

Silicon Beach Twitter list

2009-10-29T10:57:34Z

Hi all

I've created an SB Twitter list ([link]
beach - sorry, new to it, didn't realise they add my nick to the list
url :-/) Thought it'd be a quick way for Sbeachers to find one another
on Twitter.

Have gone through the introductions thread and searched for and added

Security Challenges with Applications Software in Asia

2009-10-29T05:45:39Z

Hi Folkes,

I am following an opportunity in Asia at present and am keen to gain
any useful experience that may be out there in maintaining security of
our stack. What is the best way to prevent an army of developers from
pirating my solution, or at least to slow them down.

Kind Regards

Alex

Introductions

2009-10-29T01:48:04Z

Hi Folkes,

Just found this group thanks to a friend of mine.

My name is Alex but you can call me Big Al! Mybackground stems to 20
years in the IT sector in the UK and Australia. My area of expertise
has been largely based around Enterprise wide Resource Planning in the
Wholesale Distribution and Logistics Management markets. for my sins I

Pearcey Foundation “Young Guns” debate and NSW awards

2009-10-28T06:26:58Z

The NSW Pearcey Committee is holiding a debate at the NSW Parliament
on the evening of 12th November to discuss how we can create a better
climate for technology entrepreneurial leadership in NSW.

Following the debate the annual NSW Pearcey award for entrepreneurial
leadership will be presented (see [link] for details of

Nomination of Elias Bizannes for the 2009 Pearcey Awards

2009-10-27T20:44:03Z

Hi all,

Phil Evans has done a great job of putting together a nomination
package the 2009 Pearcey Awards.

A couple of us have added our names as supporters. If you'd like to
help Elias's nomination please reply to Phil or myself today.

Thanks
Brian

Pre-briefing for Govhack Melbourne

2009-10-26T05:50:41Z

Hey guys,

I just wanted to forward the invite for this Thursday in Melbourne,
and also make sure you're aware of Govhack Canberra (govhack.org) - it
would be awesome to be able to talk with you about what's possible and
what sort of data you want to be able to play with. This is an
opportunity to talk direct with the people who are in a position to

any open source license expert?

2009-10-24T19:12:44Z

Hi,
I am looking for some advice on the risks involved with the different
types of licenses
e.g. GPL 2/3, LGPL, MIT, BSD
Any expert on the list for a quick consultation?
Thank you,
Rex Chung
CEO and Founder
Ankoder - Video Encoding On Demand
[link]
------------------------------ --------

Startup School

2009-10-23T06:27:56Z

I've just added it to the calendar, but I thought a few people might be
interested in the Startup School streaming feed.
[link]
More details:
[link]
*Where:* Wheeler Auditorium<[link]>,
UC Berkeley.