7th December, 2018
On Thursday 6 December, entrepreneurs from all over the world descended on Melbourne’s Convention and Exhibition Centre for the first day of Startup Grind APAC Conference. The following is just a taste of the world-class knowledge being shared.
Shared via a series of brief but stimulating presentations, Startup Grind’s world-class speakers spoke openly about the challenges of creating and scaling a startup in today’s business environment.
Some of the common themes include the need for founders to seek help at every possible moment. Another thing to keep in mind: tech businesses still live or die based on the quality of the people working for them.
But there were many other gems for attendees along the way. We’ve curated a selection below.
“You need an ability to step outside yourself – to be introspective and have self-awareness – because you need to maintain objectivity in the changing landscape of building a startup.” – Elaine Stead, Investment Director, Bluesky Venture Capital.
READ: Elaine Stead on the path back after losing business confidence
“Look to solve a big problem, but don’t get fixated on the end solution.” – Tim Reed, CEO, MYOB.
“There are only two kinds of entrepreneurs: one is scared and the other is lying. If you’re not scared you’re stupid or a psychopath. You wanna appear like this big dog on the porch – fearless? … You and I know that’s total bullshit.” – Guy Kawasaki, Chief Evangelist, Canva.
“What we see is that, in a lot of companies, people are buried by inbound work and communications and I like to say you either control your work or the work controls you.” – Andrew Filev, CEO and Founder, Wrike.
“It’s a great quality as a founder to say: ‘This is not where my strengths lie’. You need to be able to put your ego aside.” – Ruud Hendricks, Co-founder, Startup Bootcamp.
“Sales fixes everything. You can talk about all the strategic partnerships, all the potential, all the patent-pending, curve-jumping, paradigm-shifting technology you have … all of that is meaningless. Sales fixes everything.” – Guy Kawasaki, Chief Evangelist, Canva.
READ: Guy Kawasaki on the 10 mistakes entrepreneurs make
“Your relationship with a VC lasts longer than most marriages,” – Elaine Stead, Investment Director, Bluesky Venture Capital.
Enjoyed these quotes and want to get some insight into what happened on Day Two? Read on for more.