Startup West

Danelle is back, and together with Charlie, we hear from Katie Liew, founder of The Underground Collaborative, a not-for-profit organisation providing employment and housing solutions to break the cycles of homelessness. Loving English at school, but choosing Science and Maths subjects, Katie started out as an accountant for ten years working for various mining companies before embarking on a big...

Charlie talks with the co-founder and CEO of Agworld, Doug Fitch. The 11-year old agtech business was sold to Vancouver-headquartered Semios earlier this year for more than A$100 million. With his two co-founders, Doug pioneered data-driven farm management, working with agronomists and growing the business to more than 16,000 farms in Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Canada and the US. Growin...

Charlie talks with the co-founders of mining tech startup MiPlan, Louise and Rob Daw. The couple met in a former software business, and decided to set out on their own to solve a problem they saw in the resources industry. Seven years in, they had built it up to a scale that they were acquired by major mining software conglomerate Hexagon Mining, where Rob is now CTO. They both share their journey...

Charlie talks with the co-founder and former CEO of iiNet, Michael Malone. A maths graduate with an early interest in the emerging internet, Michael calculated he needed to sign up 200 clients at $25 a month to allow himself access to the Net in 1993. Working out of his parent's garage in Padbury, he built up one of the largest ISPs in the country with over $1B in sales over the next 20 years, tak...

Danelle and Charlie talk with Cullum (Ash) Ashton, founder of BuilderzWA, and also Proptech Hub, the first and only home for WA proptechs in Perth. Ash has had a variety of jobs, from running pizza shops to organising town competitions, a stint in the army and then into selling new homes. He's the embodiment of the entrepreneur, always hustling, always creating, putting his infectious enthusiasm i...

Charlie and Danelle talk with Elizabeth Knight, founder of edtech startup Purposeful. A top student at school, Elizabeth had no idea what she wanted to do as a career, or how to start thinking about it. She realised many people of school age had similar problems, so started Purposeful - straight out of uni - to encourage young people to 'find their place' in the world. "More than half of young Aus...

Charlie and Danelle talk with Dan Jovevski, founder and CEO of fintech WeMoney. Dan has already had one fintech journey, from founder to exit with SwitchMyLoan, and he's back for more. Not a great success at school, Dan remembers a conversation with his grandfather that turned his life around and opened his eyes to what was possible. Many years later, his second startup, launched during Covid last...

Danelle and Charlie talk with Natalie Marinho, founder of Voyant AR and Neon Thursday, and Chair of Immerse Australia. Natalie shares stories from her fascinating career in the creative, corporate and IT industries, all over the world, before she became immersed (if you forgive the pun) in mixed reality. "Take a step back frequently, and acknowledge the success you’ve had, because if it was easy,...

Charlie and Danelle talk with Jason Waller, CEO of ASX-listed smart home tech company for elderly care, InteliCare. Jason has already taken one ASX company (Spookfish) through to exit as CEO. Last year, he took InteliCare through a successful listing, and is building up the business nationally. "I describe it as crossing a river using stepping stones. It’s never going to be a bridge. You have to g...

Danelle and Charlie talk with Daisy Ashworth, founder of Mortgage Mates, a housing platform supporting individuals to co-own property together. Originally from the UK, Daisy has worked in social housing programs for many years, and has developed her startup in WA to help younger people get into property. “… Understand that overnight successes usually take 10 years of overnight success. So, go into...

Charlie talks with Erin Bell, founder and MD of Camp Connect. After a decade working in HR and health and safety on various mine sites, Erin realised she was seeing the same issues time and time again with FIFO workers. The sector has a relatively poor record for employee engagement, staff turnover, mental health issues and suicide. To solve this, she developed Camp Connect, an app that provides a...

Charlie and Danelle talk with Nick Saunders, who is CEO of not one but two startups, Opaxe and Grow Impact. As you will hear, Nick has had an incredible career, from Perth, via London, Europe and South America and back to Perth. Along the way he has run startups and accelerators in London, Bulgaria and Chile. He has been back in Perth for a few years now, and is leading two startups, and has some...

Danelle and Charlie talk with the inspirational and incredibly talented Dr Zara Torre, founder of The Difference. Zara has degrees in law, dentistry, political science and public health, and wanted to create an easy way for people to give to charity while making online purchases. “I feel very privileged to have had this life. When I was young, we used to go back to India, and I had a few seminal e...

Charlie and Danelle talk with Clinton Schroeder, co-founder and CEO of Tokn, an intelligent enterprise software platform (IPaaS). An award-winning startup, growing to ten staff over five years with clients in Australia and New Zealand, Tokn allows enterprise software to be used on any device. “… I think WA is a very innovative place. And I think we’ve always had to be, being isolated on the west o...

Charlie Gunningham tells his story to the Tech Society podcast's Alex Dunmow and John Nguyen. Thanks to them for this cross-over episode, recorded earlier this year. Charlie has had 20+ years experience in the WA startup scene, from founder through to exit himself with aussiehome.com, then reiwa.com, CEO of Business News, working for a federal government fund, doing deals, as angel investor, as me...

In this episode, Charlie talks with Steve Elias and Gavin Stacey from accounting group RSM. Steve and Gavin each have more than a decade's experience working with hundreds of local startups: on their R&D tax claims, grant applications, ESIC, planning, advisory and fund-raising. They share their insights on what it takes to make a successful startup. “When I first started in R&D tax 15 years ago, y...

In this episode, Charlie talks with Amanda Walker, the founder and CEO of short-term accommodation and holiday rental site, WA HomeStay. When an overseas-owned accommodation site was taken over and the deal worsened for homeowners, Amanda decided to start her own. She's learnt a lot over the past two years and shares freely her advice for budding startup founders. “… Because I’m juggling my family...

In this episode, Danelle and Charlie talk with the always-smiling Chris Evans, founder/CEO of Quipmo, the surf, bike and snow peer-to-peer rental marketplace ("equipment for the moment"). Chris has been running the business on his own for four years, and late last year secured an investor, and has recently hired some staff, and is looking to grow and scale. "A marketplace is a phenomenally challen...

Welcome to 2021 and Series 3 of the Startup West podcast, where we talk with startup founders and others working in and with West Australian startups. In this episode, we talk with Dr Sue Bahn, founder and CEO of Tap into Safety, which has provided online training courses across several industries since 2014. "If you think you’ve got a good idea, first of all, have a go. No question. Secondly, you...

Welcome to a special episode of Startup West: a panel recorded in front of a live audience at Little Creatures in Fremantle as part of this year's Freo Startup Fest. Charlie Gunningham chats with Matt James (CTO of Virtual Gaming Worlds), Renae Bunster, (founder of Bunsters) and Dan Jovevski (founder and CEO of WeMoney). We titled the session - Building a scalable business in WA... what pandemic?!...

Winner of 2019 Women in Technology Awards, and 2020 Rise Startup of the Year Awards, CEO and founder of Complete Home Filtration Suzanne Dodds talks with Charlie and Danelle. Originally from Northern Ireland, Suzanne has run businesses in Australia, South Korea and Spain, has an MBA, 3 kids and a husband. Her water filtration company was launched in 2018, and recently closed a $2.4M Series A round...

Danelle and Charlie talk with Kate Kirwin, Founder and Lead Organiser of She Codes, a 5-year old organisation that has taught more than 4,500 women to code. “There’s no shortage of women… and it really frustrates me when people tell me all the time ‘Oh, there’s just no women in tech because women don’t want to do it, or they’re not out there. They are! They just need the support to be able to get...

Kali and Charlie talk with Michael Palmer, co-founder and director of the vehicle adtech platform, Ads on Wheels. After several years selling cars, Michael had an idea to turn the advertising market upside down, support local businesses and provide income back to drivers. Now two years into operations, the business has recently graduated from Perth's Plus Eight Tech accelerator, with big plans. "B...

Charlie and Kali talk with Lorena Sumich, co-founder and CEO of the fitness coach marketplace, KIXXFIT. Not every startup co-founder needs degrees in commerce and law, and years in management consulting, but it helps! Lorena tells the story of what led to the creation of KIXXFIT, and how it has been going since launch. “... I always say, when you go to those dark places, you need to bring a backpa...

Kali and Charlie talk with Marc Berryman, founder and CEO of Rhinohide, a protective side covering for 4WDs going off road: "the phone cover for your car." Marc built his own business in London before returning home to Perth to launch Rhinohide. From a deal on Shark Tank to a successful equity crowd-funding raise, Marc has ridden through the difficulties of manufacturing and selling an innovative...