10th October, 2018
Founders from around Asia-Pacific are getting ready for the region’s first Startup Grind entrepreneurs’ conference. Here’s a little of what you can expect this 6-7 December.
Built on a reputation of educating, connecting and inspiring founders worldwide, Startup Grind will host its first Asia-Pacific conference in Melbourne this year.
While it began just eight years ago, Startup Grind has since hosted more than 2500 events across 400 countries, but the new ‘APAC Conference’ will be a regional first.
Notable speakers already booked include Canva Chief Evangelist Guy Kawasaki, Redbubble Founder Martin Hosking and Airwallex Co-founder and COO Lucy Liu. The full list of speakers on Startup Grind’s website will continue to be updated in the lead up to the event.
Startup Grind Founder Derek Andersen said that Melbourne was chosen as the site of the conference ahead of 50 other cities in the region.
“It just shows you how much we love Melbourne, a city that is full of innovation and that made us welcome from Day One,” said Anderson. “And that’s why we chose it as the destination for our APAC Conference.”
Attended by entrepreneurs, investors and established businesses considering their own startup, the conference supports a packed schedule of notable presenters and networking events.
Organiser Chris Joannou said that attendees can expect a “massive two-day event” that will include interviews with the world’s biggest founders, CEOs, innovators and pioneers.
“We’re planning a lineup of best-in-class content covering everything from starting to scaling, from diversity to community engagement, and just about everything in between,” said Joannou.
“This event will put Melbourne on the map as an innovative destination.”
Co-founder and CEO of Weploy – a tech startup aimed at offering an on-demand staffing platform – Tony Wu recently told The Pulse he’s considered himself part of the Startup Grind community for years and the arrival of the APAC Conference has given him an opportunity to partner with the brand.
“When we first started, I sold my car so there’d be some funds in the bank,” said Wu. “Every day as I rode to work and in between meetings, I would listen to the Startup Grind podcast to learn and stay motivated.”
“When I first got to speaking to the organisers about becoming a partner in something as monumental as this, it was an absolute no brainer.”
And while the partnership has Wu pretty pumped, he’s even more enthusiastic about the speaker line up.
“The speakers currently listed are very diverse, providing insight from a range of business styles, which is great from a founder perspective.
“I’m personally really excited about Martin Hosking’s talk, as what he has been able to create at Redbubble is truly amazing.”
Sarah Holloway, Co-founder at Matcha Maiden and Matcha Mylkbar has been a longstanding member of the Startup Grind community and has also signed on as a speaker at this year’s conference alongside Co-founder Nic Davidson.
“Startup life can be so isolating when you’re in the trenches working on getting your dreams off the ground, so these events are a wonderful way to meet new people who are going through the same journey,” said Holloway.
“You can bounce ideas around and even find partners or collaborators whose businesses align with your own.
“You never leave without a head full of fresh ideas and perspectives.”
And what can we expect from their presentation? Davison says they intend to be candid about the difficult parts of being a founder and the lessons learned in overcoming them.
“We often forget and gloss over the harder parts of the journey and of course, the successes are what’s inspiring but the struggles are what makes the story relatable,” he said.
“Sarah actually just started a podcast, Seize the Yay, to look deeper below the surface and investigate what really makes us ‘yay’ so that’ll be a big part of a presentation too.”
Tickets for Startup Grind APAC Conference presented by MYOB are already available, so get in quick before they sell out.