Before starting work on Posse.com I spent ten years managing rock bands. Most of the artists I represented were successful in Australia, but the big dream was to crack America. And the best place to launch a band is the…
I recently joined the board of a Bondi charity that runs the local homeless shelter and women’s refuge. They’ve faced a few challenges recently. A bunch of people left, some troublemakers tried to hijack the organisation, money vanished, and it…
I’ve run a start-up for a couple of years now and ran my own music company for eight years before that. Anyone who followed our progress would know I’ve made a few hiring mistakes in my time: we had a…
I remember being on a summer holiday at age nine just after Christmas, and hearing adults talk about their new year’s resolutions. I liked the idea that you could set a challenge for yourself for a whole year. You couldn’t…
I’m writing today from the plane travelling between San Francisco and New York. I’m in the US for 6 days and it’s the third time I’ve been here in five months. Last time I was out, I had some great…
Yes, I promised that this week, I’d share tips on raising capital in Silicon Valley. But I’ve postponed that post. This blog is to firm up in real time the lessons I’m learning, which could help other entrepreneurs facing similar…
I’m writing this week from the University Cafe in downtown Palo Alto. It became famous in ‘The Facebook Effect’ book as the team’s regular hangout when they moved to Palo Alto. It’s an unremarkable cafe, often packed with people like…
Sometime or another, every startup needs to engage suppliers. Lawyers, accountants, PR companies, design agencies, consultants – everyone needs them. I have to admit that I’ve found selecting and managing supply partners to be a real challenge over the years….
I’ve talked a lot in this blog about the mistakes I’ve made over the past couple of years, what I’ve learnt, and the ways I apply all this to how I run the company now. I don’t regret any of…
Last weekend, I spoke at the National Student Leadership Forum in Canberra about entrepreneurship. Ambitious uni students, nominated to attend by their local MPs, packed the auditorium. During Q&A at the end, one of them asked, ‘What are the core…
