Mihailo a.k.a “Michael Christmas” Bozic, CEO & Founder of Envited joined us for this episode of Weird Growth. Envited helps you create events for any social media in under 2 minutes. What we like most about Envited so far is it is so lightweight and easy to use. Mihailo shares the non-scalable tactics he used to grow his meme page “Just Jedi Things” and now Envited which launched across the globe this week. Mihailo & Jordan Saddik raised a Seed Round with Galileo Ventures and now looking for their next round of funding to keep up with growth.

Only 2% of teens use Facebook. Therefore, Facebook Events cannot be a sustainable solution to social media events in the future. What will that platform look like? Envited is on the journey to find out.

Talk to customers. Super simple. Don’t overcomplicate it. If you have their phone number just call them. It’s so important as a founder to be close to your users. You need to know what users are frustrated with and what they love.

(00:00) - Introduction

(00:47) - Meet Michael Christmas

(02:09) - The business Mihailo would start today

(04:11) - How Envited built a prototype at TechStars startup weekend

(05:32) - Growing a meme page – Just Jedi Things

(07:30) - Why memes grow so fast

(07:51) - A brief history of memes

(08:23) - Harambe’s death was a turning point for memes & culture

(10:31) - What running a meme page taught Mihailo Bozic about growth?

(13:50) - Find early customers who will use your product when its crap

(14:26) - Building in public

(16:33) - What’s the biggest challenge for Envited right now?

(19:19) – Raising 350K Seed over Zoom

(23:14) – How Envited found their first team members

(28:22) – Creativity is the most underrated skill to hire for

(29:20) – What’s next for Envited?

(30:07) – Mihailo’s one big piece of advice for founders

(31:04) – The one thing Mihailo can’t live without – Dual Monitors

- Envited - https://www.envited.io/

- Galileo Ventures - https://galileo.ventures/

- Earlywork - https://www.earlywork.co/

- Startmate - https://www.startmate.com/

- MSI Monitors - https://www.msi.com/Monitor/Optix-MAG274QRF-QD

- Envited Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/envited.io/

Steve Grace, CEO & Founder of Nudge Group joined us for this episode of Weird Growth. Since 2019, they’ve experienced some rapid growth. Nudge is now a global recruitment business for startups. Steve also has his own show “Give it a Nudge” and a high traffic content site for business owners, “Balance the grind”. Steve and his team know what it takes to build content, community and a talent network for the Startup Ecosystem. Steve shares top advice for Founders at all stages and how to come up with an attractive offering for the modern workforce.

Problem

Nudge Group help fast growing start-ups and scale-ups find talent, offering a bespoke and flexible pricing model to suit the needs of the company.

One big piece of advice for Founders

Everyone needs to slow down a bit. There’s too much growth for growth’s sake. Don’t grow at all costs. I’d like to see more purposeful growth from Founders.

Bullets:

(00:00) - Introduction

(01:26) - What is Nudge?

(03:14) - The business Steve would start today

(04:06) - Scaling a service business vs a product business

(06:17) - The Problem Nudge is solving

(11:20) - How Nudge reached its first customers

(13:08) - How content marketing helped Nudge

(18:35) - Nudge’s key tactic to building an audience

(19:31) - Be everywhere, be a part of the community.

(24:17) - What Steve calls “The Karma circle”

(27:01) - A massive push towards gamification

(28:35) - Finding the right people for a start-up

(30:25) - What founders can do to reach the best people

(37:00) - What is next in the future?

(39:19) - Steve’s One big piece of advice

(41:48) - The difference between start-up and scale-up

(42:38) - Apple watches & Soda Stream

Show & tell:

- Nudge Group – https://thenudgegroup.com/

Carl shares his top 5 no-code tools on this episode of Weird Growth. No-code development is a type of development that allows non-programmers and programmers to create software using a graphical user interface, instead of writing code. We covered DeFi, Accelerators, his startup journey and The Xrossing, an Indi-film he co-produced and released. Stick around to the backend of this episode to learn more about the powerful prototypes you can create with no-code and even what you can make with a shovel.

Problem

One big piece of advice for Founders

Have the right attitude to be curious and to learn. Don't expect to be perfect. The success founders incrementally improve. You'll find success if you stick at it long enough. 

Bullets:

(00:00) - Introduction

Show & tell:

Happy Birthday to Earlywork who turned 1 this week. Earlywork is a community of young people working for and interested in the Startup space. It all started with three co-founders out of UNSW – Marina Wu, Dan Brockwell and Jono Herman. Now, they've grown their community to 2,500+ young people and raised 700K Seed Investment in just a year. Their mission is to give young people access to a network of like-minded professionals and startup gigs so that they progress in their careers and build the local ecosystem. In this episode of Weird Growth, Marina covers how community building is the only real moat left when it comes to your Marketing Strategy. Marina says, “you can copy other tactics and software, but you can't copy your audience.” When you build an authentic community from day one, it acts as great customer research tool, and it allows you to co-create a product with your community. We get into the ‘nitty gritty’ of community building in this episode while chatting about memes, hacker houses, and colourful lights for your room. Join us as we go back to the beginning of Earlywork and how it came to be a pillar for young people in the Australian Startup community.

Problem

The world of work is still set up to funnel talent into old school jobs. University degrees aren’t teaching the required skills and the classroom/lecture format can encourage habits of passive learning that generally need to be unlearned to be a successful founder or operator. And where is your network? If you take the “safe” option of a grad program you’ve got a built-in group of friends (with the occasional frenemy) but jumping into the new world can mean having to form your own community from scratch. It’s clear that we need a new interface between talent and work.

One big piece of advice for Founders

Start now. The biggest risk is in your career is inaction. It’s not having a go at your crazy idea that you can’t shake from your mind. The worst that can happen if it fails is that you just go back to your previous job. Do it now before it's too late.

Bullets

(0:00) – Introduction

(2:15) – The business Marina would start today

(5:45) – The core problem Earlywork is solving

(7:33) – How Earlywork reached their first community members

(10:40) – Community as a modern-day growth channel

(12:55) – The increasing importance of community in a remote-first world

(15:18) – How Earlywork scaled beyond first community members

(18:08) – The main types of gigs available through Earlywork: ’The careers of tomorrow’

(19:17) – Marina's advice for Startups looking to hire employees in today’s job market

(22:50) - How to use Community as a growth channel and defensive moat

(25:30) – Earlywork’s pre-seed investment from Square Peg Capital

(29:28) – What's next for Earlywork

(31:30) – Earlywork’s launch house

(33:11) – Marina's one big piece of advice

(35:08) – Marina's favourite tool

Show & tell:

- www.earlywork.co

- www.lifx.com/products/lifx-color-a19

Before he was 17, Kai had already left high school to work in startups, marketing and product. He’s got some wicked skills and he chooses to use them for good. Find out how Kai has built products and grown audiences around them, including a story of a global Product Hunt launch. Learn more about how he does it on this episode of Weird Growth.

Company

My Funnel

https://www.myfunnel.com.au/

Problem

To understand what marketing channels, work for your business

Customers

Startup Founders

One big piece of advice

Understand why you are working on the idea. Whether you are just starting, or scaling go back to basics personally and for that business. Play to your strengths. There are only so many things we can do as individuals to help. Lean into them.

Bullets

(0:00) – Introduction

(2:05) – How Kai describes working at Ammo

(3:37) – What sweaty startup would Kai start today

(6:40) – Where the My Funnel idea came from

(13:43) – Developing the My Funnel MVP

(18:20) – How we got My Funnel ready for scale

(23:05) – Testing with first customers

(25:55) – The key moments he shared with the audience before launch

(30:34) – How we launched My Funnel on Product Hunt

(37:44) – What’s Perth-for-Perth?

(42:18) – The Ted Talk when he was 14 years old

(47:20) – Kai’s lifehack for under $200

(48:47) – Use Luma to create an online space for your community

Show & Tell

Clearbit – https://clearbit.com/

Leofoto Tripod – https://www.leofoto.com.au/

Luma – https://lu.ma/home

Add Kai on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/kailovel/

Zipline are hiring - https://zipline.io/

As an engineer, Derick loves to tinker. Not so long ago he found an opportunity to improve workplace safety all over the world with robots. Roborigger uses a wireless load controlling system which uses gyroscopic and inertial forces to accurately rotate and orient crane loads.

Company

Reducing the cost and improving the safety and efficiency of lifting operations.

https://www.roborigger.com.au/

Problem

Antiquated lifting methods on construction sites

Customers

Building companies

One big piece of advice

Work with a customer as early as you can to develop your product. Early customer feedback is critical to understand priority product features.

Bullets

(0:00) – Introduction

(3:42) – The business Derick would start if he were starting again today: Green energy

(5:05) – The beauty of engineering: Solving difficult problems

(7:08) – The origins of Roborigger

(12:45) – Developing a proof of concept with partners

(16:10) – Finding first customers through existing relationships

(19:45) – Scaling up from a proof of concept to full logistics automation tool

(24:21) – Challenges with adoption of Roborigger on construction sites

(27:55) – Roborigger’s investment from Blackbird

(34:38) – Why Roborigger chose to build their product in Perth

(36:04) – What’s on the horizon for Roborigger

(41:23) – Derick’s advice to founders looking to grow

(45:46) – The billionaire space race: Space Barons

(49:21) – The world’s first fully autonomous crane

Show & Tell

- https://earth.google.com/web/

- https://www.amazon.com.au/Space-Barons-Bezos-Colonize-Cosmos/dp/1610398297

For Halloween we celebrated with a live episode in the Perth CBD with Tim Brewer (CEO) of Functionly. Functionly was founded in 2018 with Co-Founder, Damian Bramanis and consists of a global team who have worked with companies including Dropbox, Teamline, Auth0, Yammer and HealthEngine. In 2020, the team won a $598K Accelerating Commercialisation grant from the federal government and this year (2021) secured a $3.6m seed round. Functionly's mission, to disrupt the organisational design industry and bring simple to use software for all companies.

Intelligent organisational design

Problem

Helping leaders solve their people gaps, cracks, and overlaps

Customers

Organisations with 25+ people

One big piece of advice

Know why you’re doing what you’re doing. If you know why, you’ll do it for long enough, and if you do it long enough and listen to your customers hard enough, you’ll eventually work out how to succeed.

Bullets

0:00 – Introduction

3:32 – The business Tim would start if he were starting again today: Working with kind and ‘athletic’ people

6:09 – How Tim found his way into the world of technology

8:14 – The Functionly story

10:21 – Tim’s key learnings from working in the United States for Dropbox

12:57 – The three factors that led to Dropbox’s rapid growth

16:10 - The big problem Functionly is solving: Helping leaders fix their gaps, cracks, and overlaps

19:55 – The origin of Functionly

22:41 – How Functionly reached first customers

26:29 – Functionly’s perfect partner company

29:08 – How Functionly scaled their brand after early customer conversations with people like Ty Hayes at Growth Generators

35:03 – Functionly’s interesting SaaStr experience and what’s on the horizon

39:30 – Tim’s advice for founders looking to grow: Know why you’re doing what you’re doing

41:55 – Tim’s favourite product right now: Hubspot

Show & Tell

https://www.hubspot.com/

https://www.functionly.com/free

From a tech meetup to cofounding one of Perth's fastest growing development houses. Alex and John from Ninja Software have built a great company over the last 5 years. On this episode of Weird Growth we chatted about Synthetic Biology, Agile Software Development vs Fixed Fee, proof of concept apps and building a passionate dev team. They also run Tech Society a great podcast we've linked below in the show notes go and check it out.

Company

Entrepreneurial software development

https://www.ninjasoftware.com.au/

Problem

Opaque software development pricing and workflow

Customers

Start-ups, Government bodies, and businesses

Bullets

(0:00) – Introduction

(3:09) – How Alex & John met: The benefit of expanding your network

(4:50) – The business Alex & John would start today if they were starting again: Synthetic Biology

(8:28) – The genesis of Ninja Software and ideal customer: Domain experts with a clear understanding of their solution

(13:33) – How Ninja assists customers with the commercialisation of products: Sharing the upside

(16:16) – Ninja’s software development process: Ideation, full design prototype (Adobe XD), and the benefit of fixed fee versus agile software development

(20:32) – What Alex & John wishes clients knew before they came for software development and why off-the-shelf or no-code solutions (Airtable, Bubble, Zapier) aren’t always scalable beyond a proof-of-concept

(24:21) – How Ninja establishes trust and builds their brand in the Western Australian tech community: Tech Society, The Game Changer Awards, Internships

(27:52) – What Ninja looks for in hires: Proof of capability, curiosity, and a desire to learn

(30:44) – Advice Alex & John would give to university students looking to get into the software development industry: Start building and follow your passion through goal-based learning

(33:40) – The importance of allocating resources to work on the business, not in the business

(35:03) – How Ninja identifies new product opportunities by asking what the future looks like

(36:25) – What the future holds for Ninja: Becoming Perth’s Atlassian

(38:35) – All companies will be technology companies in the future and Perth’s need to embrace technological innovation

(43:36) – How Ninja built an internal tool to improve employee wellbeing and provide a forum for honest feedback

Show & Tell

The Snoo - Smart sleeper for babies

Cian gave us a great recap on how he started his business Quantum Contract Solutions and how he scaled through great business metrics. Cian's approach to sales is a great blueprint for service businesses and B2B. If you love sales, you'll love this episode of Weird Growth. More links in the show notes.

Company

Contractual superpowers for construction subcontractors

https://quantumcontractsolutions.com/

Problem

Information asymmetry and unequal risk-sharing in the construction industry

Customers

General Manager or CEO of a construction sub-contractor

Big pieces of advice

Revel in keeping your overheads low–think of this as the ‘cool’ standard.

Stop spending money on things like logos or website design that don’t really matter. Spend money on a business coach who has ‘been-there-done-that’ and can help you avoid all the mistakes you can make.

Spend enough such that it feels like too much and too expensive. When you have this feeling, it will drive you to do the work to get better.

Bullets

(0:00) – Introduction

(2:07) – The business Cian would start if he were starting again today

(4:14) – A cultural comparison between Australia and Ireland

(7:00) – The genesis of Quantum Group: Solving information asymmetry in the construction industry

(13:26) – Cian’s first step to starting Quantum Group: Jumping in with two feet and activating the panic mode of no income

(15:20) – How a string of unsuccessful side hustles set-up Cian up for future success: Learning by doing

(17:40) – How Quantum Group connects with customers: Video brochures, Workshops, LinkedIn, and The 1-page marketing plan

(25:36) - How Quantum manages customer relationships (CRM) with Pipedrive and Google Sheets

(30:43) – Quantum Group’s dream customer: General Manager or CEO of a construction sub-contractor

(31:44) – The importance of thinking time and why Quantum chose Texas for International expansion: The Road Less Stupid and The Ultimate Blueprint by Keith Cunningham

(34:42) – The beauty of a business coach: Allan Dib

(37:40) – What the future holds for Quantum Group

(43:33) – How Quantum Group manages the need to grow with keeping overheads low

Show & Tell

The Ultimate Blueprint for an Insanely Successful Business

The Road Less Stupid: Advice from the Chairman of the Board

Google Sheets

We hosted our subscribers for a live episode at terraceloft studio in East Perth with two amazing founders Nick Hudson and Elizabeth Knight. Listen to these two founders share the ups and downs of startup life and how showing up and having a purpose driven venture has been the key to their success. Purposeful helps young people find direction in their lives after school. Elizabeth wants to help people graduates find confidence in their careers in a complex world. She's now participating in Plus Eight's Accelerator program to grow and get The Lost Button to market. Check out The Lost Button in the show notes.

Nick founded mental health charity event The Push-Up Challenge after a life changing experience and his own challenges with mental health. Here more about what drives him and all the great work his team has done in the mental health space. The Push-Up Challenge raised around $9 million this year. To date over 241 million push ups have been done as part of the event.

Companies

Purposeful: Helping students find direction in their life after school

https://www.purposeful.org.au/and https://www.thelostbutton.org/

Push-Up Challenge: Helping people push for better mental health

https://www.thepushupchallenge.com.au/

One big piece of advice

Elizabeth: Just keep showing up. You become successful by showing up every day despite the mistakes that you’re making. The number one rule of being in business is staying in business.

Nick: Fail hard and fail early. Make mistakes, learn from them, and move on quickly.

Bullets

(0:00) – Introduction

(3:54) – The companies Nick and Elizabeth would start if they weren’t already founders

(5:16) – Nick and Cam’s Start-up weekend experience building Textie and going viral

(10:25) – How Elizabeth is tackling the purpose problem and creating her own purposeful career through entrepreneurship

(15:54) – How the push-up challenge has captured imaginations, and the important pivot Nick took to make the business what it is today

(22:35) – Elizabeth’s experience with the Plus Eight Accelerator and building The Lost Button

(29:44) – How the Push-up challenges leverages user-generated content and social sharing to give people a license to have fun

(32:37) – Nick’s unexpected major life event that served as a catalyst for the Push-up Challenge and the incredible growth of the company over the last five years

(39:48) – What the future holds for Elizabeth: Creating a scalable, sustainable, and purposeful business

(42:47) – The advice Nick and Elizabeth would give to first-time founders

(51:38) – How Nick & Elizabeth take care of their own mental health while leading companies

Show & Tell

https://www.airtable.com/- Multifunctional platform with endless business solutions

https://www.notion.so/ - All-in-one workspace

https://super.so/ - Build simple websites with nothing but Notion

https://www.atlassian.com/software/jira- Software development tool used by agile teams