TWISTA - This Week in Startups Australia

TWISTA series sponsors Braintree Payments gave TWISTA a brief to do a series of special episodes focusing on payments - perhaps the most-rapidly-changing area of fintech. We took that as an opportunityt to speak with two of our favourite Stone and Chalk startups. TWISTA begins with John Bush and Walta Kazzi of Easyshare, who are transforming personal payments, the sharing economy - and making lives heaps easier for anyone living in a share house. Then we speak with Spriggy founder Mario Hasanakos. Spriggy's debit card helps kids from age 8 and up to learn how to master money - establishing patterns that will serve them through their entire lives. Payments hit home on this special episode of TWISTA!

Andrea Myles, founder of the China Australia Millennial Project (CAMP) joins TWISTA to tell us all about the program that's working hard to create a 'megafauna unicorn' - a beast with the beating hearts of Mark Zuckerberg and Jack Ma! Then Slingshot CEO Karen Lawson tells TWISTA all about what's needed to bring innovation and startup-style thinking into Australia's stodgy and risk-adverse boardrooms, a necessary first step to creating a sustainable culture of innovation across the nation.

Emma Weston joins TWISTA to talk about her startup Full Profile -- in a real-world use for the blockchain, Full Profile have crafted a payments solution that removes counterparty risk from farmers' grain sales. It's an early look at the colliding worlds of agtech and fintech. Then City of Sydney Strategy Advisor Charnelle Mondy pays another visit to TWISTA to talk about the now-released Action Plan for Tech Startups - is it a template for Australia's other capital cities? Rural and metropolitan on this episode of TWISTA.

Deb Noller has been doing tech startups for over 20 years, and her latest - Switch Automation - is one of Australia's IoT success stories. Deb is one of those '20 year overnight successes' and she joins TWISTA to share what she's learned along the way to building a successful international startup. The we're joined by Jane Huxley, who took a job at Microsoft Australia in 1989, supporting DOS 5.1! What was it like being the only woman in tech support? Jane's years at Microsoft lead to her current role as Managing Director of Pandora (Music) Australia, bringing another American tech success to Australia? Years of experience and wisdom on this episode of TWISTA!

Just before Sydney startup legend Mick Liubinskas headed off - to spearhead muru-D's efforts in Silicon Valley - TWISTA sat down with him for a whole-show interview. From the early days of the startup scene here in Sydney, the founding of Pollenizer and hitting it big with Spreets, to his work today with muru-D, Mick has been here from the beginning, and he's sharing what he's learned on his journey in this episode of TWISTA.

With the Federal election right around the corner, will it matter to startups if there's a change in government? TWISTA talks with Carthona Capital's Dean Dorrell and journalist Claire Connelly and searches for answers. Also: what's up with Tech Sydney, the US venture capital implosion, and do we really need another peak body?

When Telstra decided to start its own tech accelerator, they lured Annie Parker from Telefonica to get it up and running - since then, it's gone from strength to strength, and Annie sits down with TWISTA to tell us what it takes to make an accelerator a success. Then TWISTA explores the radically changed landscape of social TV viewing with Andrew Julian and Darcy Laycock of Melbourne's Gyde. Their app points the way to a future where we always have too much good stuff to watch.

The federal government recently changed the laws to make employee share schemes - stock options - much easier for Australian startups to provide to their employees. TWISTA was lucky enough to get an hour with Peter Dunne and Toby Eggleston - who provided much of the advice to the government about the right way to implement the new scheme. They know how to make share options work for startups - from tax, to capitalisation, to building employee loyalty. Later, CultureAmp CFO Damian Williams joins TWISTA to explain how their own ESOP covered employees both in Australia and in the USA. There's a lot to learn about ESOPs - and a more than bit of nuance - so this episode is a great place to start.

Two years ago, Facebook's purchase of Oculus breathed life back into virtual reality - and with the Rift's release this week, we're dedicating an entire show to the new worlds of VR. We begin with VR expert Michela Ledgwidge, who gives TWISTA a tour of the new business landscape of VR. Then TWISTA speaks to 8i founder and CEO Linc Gaskin, who's created a new VR technology that records people with incredible fidelity - in three dimensions! Finally, we take a relaxing break from all this excitement with the founders of NowVR. It's virtually real, on this episode of TWISTA!

Our latest news special starts off with Nick Holmes-a-Court's rant about the poor state of the Australian tech ecosystem - is he right? Investor Phil Morle and journalist Paul Wallbank join TWISTA to discuss that and issues as wide ranging as #ideasboom, the interstate war of Innovation Ministers, the collapse in startup valuations, and will the LAUNCH Festival come to Sydney? All the news TWISTA can fit into 40 minutes!