Sten Pittet

Mark "Z" Zmarzly 🦄 substack brings all the startups to his yard. And the startups are like, it's better than yours. And Mark's like "Damn right it's better than yours ... I can teach you, but I have to charge." Good thing he's got access to plenty Amazon Web Services (AWS) credits. See you in Melbourne at Intersekt next Wednesday and the AWS Financial Services Symposium in Sydney on Thursday. #AWSStartups #CloudInnovation #StartupEcosystem #AWSActivate #ScalableSolutions #TechForStartups #CloudForStartups #AWSGrowth #BuildOnAWS #StartupSuccess #AWSPartners #CloudFirst #FounderSupport #StartupJourney #TechInnovation #AWSCloud #ScaleWithAWS #StartupResources #AWSFunding #EntrepreneurSupport #AWSStartupsAccelerator

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Great result by the Kiwi SaaS community In 2023 New Zealand’s Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) sector earned $3.6b in revenue. It has been growing revenue by a 15 percent compound annual growth rate (CAGR) since 2016, and at this rate it is on track to earn $9.7b by 2030.  By 2030 the report estimates that SaaS export-led added value will be growing faster and contributing more nominal GDP ($4.5b) than New Zealand’s top three primary sector industries (horticulture, dairy product manufacturing and meat product manufacturing).  Since 2016 SaaS exports have been growing at an inflation adjusted rate of 8.7 percent.  This is two and a half times higher than the inflation adjusted CAGR of 3.4 percent that New Zealand’s overall export economy has recorded in the past two decades.  Bruce Jarvis, Head of kiwiSaaS, says that the SaaS sector remains an ‘invisible giant.’  “How much the SaaS sector contributes to our economic wealth today, and could do in the future, is only just becoming visible,” says Jarvis. 

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Do you work with Startups or Scaleups? When our Founders, Startup / Scaleup Leaders, or Startup Employees join Aussie Founders Club's free membership on Frontcover, they then unlock exclusive offers for products and services. On the list, we currently have offers from companies like: Rapha: 6 months FREE on their recruitment system Heatseeker: A 30% disount on their subscription which gives you access to tools for generating value propositions, conducting live competitor audits, and running in-market experiments Mayfly Ventures: A free 45 minute Product Strategy Session HubSpot: Discounted access to Hubspot for Startups which opens you up to MANY MANY offers for startups BetaTrends: A 25% discount on their analytics subscription Granton: A free 30 minute consult to discuss eligible grants for your startup ScoreApp: 50% off your first month (I love Scoreapp) Informly: 10% off your Idea Validation report (I've used this - their reports are incredible) Also offers from my own businesses: Kairos: Offering exclusive AFC rates for your first hire placed through Kairos Mployd: Discounts on services for startup employees looking for work I've got many more in the works but if this sounds like something you and your business wants to get across, getting you in front of your target market and supporting them with an exclusive offer - you can! Fill out our EOI form and we will be in touch - link here: https://lnkd.in/gWqN32cb

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What are the most impactful problems we can tackle with AI in Australia? When you put 30 industry experts in a room to brainstorm on this, you know the results will be inimitable. And this is what we did the for pre-session of the SXSW Sydney hackathon workshop Build Club ran. Across topics like climate and health in AI, AI workforce and better living, here's what our experts and SXSW attendees landed on 👇 1. AI impact tool for homeowners - app that measures climate costs for household activities. 2. AI impact tool for developers - environmental footprint of AI projects 3. Real time compliance checker - Grammarly for email scanning in regulated industries 4. Compliance chatbot - internal chatbot for staff to use for regulatory requirements 5. GenAI tool and model directory for enterprise - help determine best tools to use for risk, governance, effectiveness and cost for AI projects ... and many more Are there any #s you would like built? Comment below and we would love to hear - and might even add it into our hackathon prize mix! Excited to see what our hackers are capable of building for these on Friday ✨. --- A massive thank you to Tim Morris (founder of Agentsy) for moderating the session, Eloise Leaver and National AI Centre for your support, Clinton Lui and our experts: Teresa Tung - senior managing director at Accenture Scott Henderson - head of growth at Relevance AI Amy McLennan - medical anthropologist Angela Shi - founder Empathetic AI Jordan Wilson-Otto - principal at Grattan Alberto Chierici, Ph.D. - AI specialist and ethic expert A/Prof Rick Macourt - associate dean first Nations Strategy Caroline Pegram #startups #ai #hackathon

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The Connecter 's Vision for Inclusive DeFi Supported by Leading VCs 🎉 We're thrilled to announce a monumental milestone in our journey towards financial inclusion! 🚀 The Connecter is now proudly backed by two of the most esteemed venture capital firms: Startupbootcamp Fintech and Hatcher+ 🌟 This pivotal backing is not just an endorsement but a testament to our vision and potential to reshape the fintech landscape. Startupbootcamp, a premier accelerator with a staggering $5.6 billion portfolio valuation, handpicked The Connecter from over 1.8k applicants for their sustainable fintech program. 🏆 This recognition underscores our commitment to revolutionizing decentralized finance (DeFi) and democratizing wealth access. Additionally, Hatcher+, hailing from Singapore, joined our funding round, bringing along their H2 Fund's AI-powered portfolio expertise. 🤖 Their focus on generating robust returns aligns perfectly with our mission to offer genuine utility and real-world assets within a B2B2C framework. The Connecter's approach is unique and user-centric, designed to bridge the gap between Web 2 fintech ease and Web 3 backend sophistication. 🌐 With support for over 130 payment options and an impressive 80% transaction success rate, we're setting new standards in global accessibility and affordability. This backing by leading VCs amplifies our momentum and strengthens our resolve to empower billions with full asset ownership, stability, security, and global reach. 🌍 Together, we're not just offering a DeFi solution but pioneering a movement towards a more inclusive and empowered financial future. 🌱 Join us as we continue to innovate and redefine finance for everyone, everywhere! 🙌 #DeFi #decentralizedfinance #finance #fintech #crypto #cryptocurrency #bitcoin #ethereum #AI #web3 #cryptowallet #cryptomarket #bitcoinetf

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A common mistake is to think that "Product market fit" is when your clients are happy since the product fits them. No... "product market fit" is a different thing. #ctos #startupideas #startup #sydney #cto #technology #techleaders #cofounders #cofounder #australia #startups #startupbusinesses #vc #vcfunding #StartupIdeas #BusinessGrowth #Collaboration #Entrepreneurship #SuccessTips #helsinki #telaviv #uae #startupnation

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Venture-backed founders sign up for a binary outcome: Go Big or Go Home. Which is why it is so puzzling to see so many of these founders pivot away from growth to "sustainable" low-growth profitability, according to Tim Doyle, founder of Eucalyptus. Low-growth, sub-scale venture-backed companies have no future -- even if they are able to turn a small profit. Don't waste your life force building a zombie company! -- It was heaps of fun getting some of Tim's hot takes in today's BONUS episode of The Startup Podcast, with me and Chris Saad.

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Taylor Worth GETS IT! 💎 Sure, Siri & Alexa haven't been the most useful tools, BUT... what they have done is make us comfortable chatting with AI. Buyers are expecting different 'engagement modes.' Conversational Discovery AI is one way that Sales and Marketing leaders will engage with a greater amount of their TAM, developing authentic user-generated intent triggers, and using the insights to tailor a personalized approach.

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I got to chat with the incredible Annie Liao 🇦🇺 on BuildClub 🤩 Hands down one of the most impressive community builders out there. Annie shares her journey from data scientist to VC to founder, building a global community for top AI learners and builders on the latest Galileo Ventures pod EP. Annie dives into: 💰 How she raised $1.75m pre-seed in just one week 🌎 Building a global community with reps across 20+ countries, from outside SF 🤖 Her insights on AI adoption in US vs AU markets 📣 The vision behind the new BuildClub platform Don't miss this conversation! Links in comments 👇

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Interesting to see that our thinking with rppl.app is gaining traction from many levels.

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You're the CEO or the head of a department. You know what needs to happen, and you even have a vision for how to make it work. But the challenge is finding the right technology to execute it. That’s the real superpower of Tadabase. 🚀 We’ve seen incredible results when the person closest to the work is given the tools to bring their ideas to life. But what’s even more valuable? When the CEO has a #2 who’s a bit more technical—not quite a developer—but able to implement those visions while the CEO stays focused on the bigger picture. CEOs inevitably get busy, and having someone who can turn strategy into action is a game changer.

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It’s day 1 of Avo’s launch week and we’re introducing 🙅 Guardrails 🙅 Now you can codify your data standards and stop being a human spellchecker. Nobody wants data teams to be human spellcheckers; they don’t want it, leadership doesn’t want it, the teams that rely on them don’t want it. With this launch I’d like to extend my personal condolences your way, for all the time you’ve already spent of your life manually reviewing people’s analytics suggestions <3 Last week we shared the recipe for data mesh for event data quality. But we don’t only want to give you a recipe, we want to give you the tools—so you don’t have to build them. Major kudos to the power product team behind this (Klara Arnalds, Bragi Bergþórsson, Björn Jóhannsson, Svala Hjörleifsdóttir) for your hard work and creativity to get this live, and major kudos to so many of our incredible design partners for working closely with us to get this gem right <3 Let’s end the days of data review bottlenecks. Here’s your first step 👇 What do you think? Did we nail it? What should we do with this next?

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💻Service-as-a-Software (SaaS) is the next AI breakthrough Move over traditional Software-as-a-Service—the new SaaS is here, where AI itself *is* the service. A game changer. I recently caught up with Varsha Ramesh Walsh, co-founder at Offstream (YC S24), who schooled me on this. Their platform is revolutionizing carbon project compliance. By automating the tedious regulatory layers, they free up developers to focus on what they do best—building biochar, direct air capture, and more. What are some other climatetech areas ripe for this new AI-driven SaaS revolution? Let’s discuss! #AI #SaaS #ClimateTech #M1C #CarbonTech

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🚀 Blockchain: Yesterday’s Buzzword or Tomorrow’s Comeback? 🐦 Last year, I had the pleasure of meeting George Tomeski, co-founder and CEO of Helfie, an Aussie startup that is revolutionising health screening. Their mission is inspiring, and their tech has the potential to save lives. What I found fascinating later was that Helfie is leveraging blockchain design patterns in their platform—a reminder of how this technology continues to find practical, often understated, applications. For my less tech-savvy friends, here’s a quick refresher on key blockchain design patterns: 🔹 Distributed Ledger: Decentralised record-keeping that eliminates the need for a central authority (like a bank), allowing everyone to see and verify the same records. 🔹 Consensus Mechanisms: Methods like Proof of Work or Proof of Stake ensure agreement across the network without a single point of control. 🔹 Immutable Records: Digital records that, once added, cannot be altered or deleted, ensuring permanence and tamper-proof histories. 🔹 Smart Contracts: Self-executing agreements that trigger automatically when conditions are met, removing the need for intermediaries. Reflecting on my chat with George, what struck me was that blockchain never came up—despite our fairly geeky conversation. This got me wondering: Has the blockchain buzz finally subsided? Being a certified data geek, I dove into my Crunchbase account to see how many new startups still reference blockchain in their company description. What I found confirmed my hunch: since Satoshi Nakamoto’s 2008 whitepaper introducing blockchain, there have been two clear peaks in its hype cycle, but as of the end of 2024, very few startups explicitly highlight blockchain as part of their pitch. 🔍 My take? Blockchain, as a set of design patterns, might now be akin to Donald Knuth’s renowned The Art of Computer Programming volumes — a foundational resource trusted by architects but no longer in the spotlight. Today’s marketing buzzwords have shifted to AI, LLMs, and other emerging technologies. 🤔 What do you think? Has blockchain moved into the background as a foundational enabler, or might we still see a triple peak?

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Really well illustrated diagram on Growth Loops - an essential part of product led growth. Your key takeaways: -Reduce friction to getting to an Aha moment -Make it easy to share and add others to your product in a free/viewer mode -Make it easy to pay -Make sure your product gets more valuable the more people use it What are your thoughts? #product #design #plg #quantana

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How Dovetail grew to a $970M (Australian) valuation in 5 years—and created a new SaaS category: I chatted with 4 members of their team, and 4 UXR leaders, to learn the details. 1. Product-led growth, design-led company Dovetail's business model is decidedly product-led growth. The company relies on the product, and inherently viral features like research reports, to acquire, convert, monetize, and retain users. But design-led is its culture. CEO and co-founder Benjamin Humphrey has been in the details of the design since its beginning. And the product "feels" like it as a result. 2. Creating a hub for a neglected persona Rewind to 2016. While engineers had JIRA, Designers had Sketch, PMs had Google Docs, and analysts had Tableau, User Researchers had... nothing? Their workflow was a mess of hopping between different software. Ben had lived it as a product designer at Atlassian. There was a plethora of software focused on how to build, but there was almost nothing about what to build. So, after proving out the idea with an MVP, he recruited his Atlassian Engineer friend, Bradley Ayers, to join him. 3. Mastering the PLG motion Dovetail excels in all layers of PLG: → Acquisition: they don't use any outbound sales, focusing on product acquisition → Core problem communication: the home page emphasizes improving how you make product decisions → Reduced friction: its onboarding is focused on a standard walkthrough, but it is 10 steps → Activation: Dovetail has an intuitive product, examples, and templates to take you from setup to habit → Retention: as a system of record, the product gets stickier as more (qualitative) data is put in it → Monetization: the free plan has unlimited functionality, but only 1 project → Expansion: it has a natural growth of free users, who eventually become editors 4. Creating powerful, reinforcing growth loops Dovetail 2 two core loops: • More paid seats helps them build a better product, which helps UXRs succeed, which drives more UXRs and paid seats                                 • UXRs succeed, driving collaborators to join, which go from free to paid seats As well as 2 ancillary loops: • The more paid seats, the more it can invest in inbound sales • The more free seats, the more expansion products like Channels (to analyze customer support data) it can build 5. Building towards a category of one While there are competitors in the research insights space, Dovetail is building out its own category. It's not quite transcription. It's not quite a hub for research. It's that and more. This has helped it create its own, new category in SaaS. As Benjamin, still the CEO, told me: "We're building a system of record for all insights... It's a friggin' long, 20-year journey. You need to be a little nuts to have that level of ambition. "

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Hey everyone, I wanted to bring your attention to Rocketboots (ASX:ROC), an exciting Australian-run company that could be the next big thing. They experienced a 14% jump yesterday and have strong growth prospects. Unlike the Roaring Kitty craze with GME, where most stocks are serviced by black market trading and positions already bought and distributed to retail investors, investing in Rocketboots gives you the chance to make a real impact. Rocketboots is using cutting-edge technology to enable self-checkout theft detection, and unlike many competitors, their software actually works. With the rise in retail theft, this presents a huge opportunity. Plus, rocket boots are actually needed when you're heading to the moon!

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Join us at the Product Aotearoa Conference this year where I'll be running a workshop with Colab Cohorts on product prioritisation! 😍 The main topics we will cover: ⚡️The importance of focus in today's fast moving markets ⚡️Leveraging data and customer insights for decision making ⚡️Balancing customer needs with measurable business impact ⚡️Navigating short term wins and long term strategies We will do this through sharing real world stories, practical examples and exercises so you can apply the frameworks straight away. Grab your tickets below👇🏼Can't wait to see you all there! #PAconference #productmanagement #datadriven

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I've spent the last couple of days setting up a new deployment pipeline for our Rails projects. I was looking forward to the first possible opportunity to give Kamal a shot, and I'm not disappointed at all. On the front cover, Kamal looks like something that can be set up in 15 minutes, so what took so long? - Setting up the docker registry and deployment pipeline through Github - Patching gaps in my Docker knowledge - Piecing together random articles from the internet to make non-standard configuration work - Struggling with silly issues sometimes takes hours to solve, resulting in a massive facepalm moment. After almost 20 years of working in web software development, there are only a few consistent things that happen to me repeatedly. I experienced two of them again last week. 1. Half of my time on this setup was down to two issues that resulted in a massive sigh of disbelief and a shameful moment of not seeing or knowing the obvious (or not so obvious) fundamentals. I couldn't connect to the database because I didn't realise you can't have underscores in the Postgres hostname. So after 4h (or more) of going in circles, reading and trying different configs, I realised that changing a '_' to a '-' in a single line of code gets me where I should be. Learning sometimes happens at very unexpected times, and sometimes, you learn things other than the ones you are trying to solve. I also wonder how long it will take to forget the hostname underscore/hyphen thing. Another two to three hours delay was caused by the wrong nesting of certain settings in my Kamal/Traefik configuration, which proves that sometimes you can't see the obvious when you look at a single file for two days straight. 2. The other more positive thing was Kamal itself. Once again, Rails gave us a tool that is just a pure pleasure to use. It is very powerful but simple at the same time. What's even better is that, along with their recent Hotwire, it can be used outside the Rails environments. Knowing what Kamal's been built for and how I managed to customise it for far less complex purposes, it could easily cover at least 80% of the internet's deployment needs. Give Kamal a shot - I've not had so much fun with application deployment since the early days of Capistrano.

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