Sherin Breuer Joins StartupWA as Support Officer

In December 2020, StartupWA announced a series of new initiatives and $160,000 in support from the WA State Government. 

To enable StartupWA to deliver these initiatives and grow the startup ecosystem in Western Australia, it has appointed Sherin Breuer into the newly created role of Support Officer. This new role has been made possible through the WA Government New Industries Fund – Unsolicited Bids Program.

Sherin has a long history of working in the startup world; having previously been involved with startups in Berlin, London, Singapore, and most recently, Perth. She brings a strong operations skillset to StartupWA and will play a pivotal role in the organisation delivering a series of summits over the next two years.

Sherin says she is delighted to be joining StartupWA on its mission to help Western Australia to be recognised as a global hub for entrepreneurial and technology talent.

StartupWA Chair, Tom Goerke, commented, “StartupWA is excited to appoint Sherin Breuer as our Support Officer funded by the WA State Government. Sherin brings a wealth of startup experience and will provide a great resource for the startup community here in WA. Look out for Sherin as she will be hanging out in the WA co-working spaces.”

If you do see Sherin at one of the co-working spaces, be sure to say hello and have a coffee with her.

StartupWA announces new initiatives and $160,000 support from WA State Government

Western Australia’s peak startup advocacy body, StartupWA, has released its 2021 strategy and announced $160,000 in support from the WA State Government through their New Industries Fund.

From Minister for Innovation and ICT Dave Kelly’s media release:

“Working closely with StartupWA, the McGowan Government will provide $160,000 over two years to facilitate a series of summits aimed at showcasing local talent and start-ups as well as helping them access the opportunities they need to grow their business in Western Australia.

 The summits will be targeted at new opportunities for local early-stage businesses and start-ups, with a particular focus on female-led, Aboriginal and regional businesses.”

StartupWA Board chair, Tom Goerke said the support will enable StartupWA to strengthen the startup sector which is an important driver of new jobs and economic growth in Western Australia.

 “We are excited to have the support of the WA State Government through the New Industries Fund to deliver a programme of initiatives to strengthen and grow the startups and ventures that make up the startup and small-business ecosystem.”

 “This is a positive step forward for Western Australia and one that we hope will see support for WA’s startup sector go from strength to strength,” Mr Goerke said.

 “We see this support from the WA State Government as a positive step in the relationship with StartupWA and the startup ecosystem."

Launched in 2017, the New Industries Fund has supported new and emerging businesses across Western Australia.

Other State Governments, such as Victoria with their LaunchVic programme and South Australia with their Go2Gov SA programme are unlocking economic value through working with startups.

 About StartupWA

 StartupWA is a not-for-profit representative organisation that was established in 2015 to advance the startup industry in Western Australia

“We want Western Australia to be recognised as a global hub for entrepreneurial and technology talent, where the value that startups bring to the economy is widely embraced.”

The StartupWA Board of Directors for 2021 is:

●      Tom Goerke (Chair)

●      Rafael Kimberley-Bowen (Secretary)

●      Dr Kate Brooks (Treasurer)

●      Chloe Constantinides

●      Les Delaforce

●      Cam Sinclair

●      Kay Solanski

●      Jason Balchand

All Board Directors and our new Advisory Board are volunteers, giving their time to support this mission of helping grow opportunities for Western Australia.

 The StartupWA 2021 strategic objectives are:

●      Deliver the StartupWA 2021 Summit Series (three world cafe workshops to measure the pulse of the startup community in Perth and the regions)

●      Continue the rollout of the StartupWA membership model.

●      Increase StartupWA engagement in regional and remote WA. 

●      Expand Industry and Government engagement in startups

●      Secure long term funding partnerships.

StartupWA Update - August 2017

First up, what a fantastic startup community we have here in WA. This past month we've seen some inspiring successes for local ventures, diverse events and been even more impressed by the commitment and competence of the volunteers and professionals keeping the ecosystem growing.

However, while WA startups and the ecosystem continue to grow, it has been a challenging period for having an impact on government advocacy. Our State government’s commitment to supportive policy, programs and talent attraction and retention seems patchy, and definitely lagging behind other States.

One of StartupWA’s roles is to work with partners across the ecosystem to influence government, and we need to try some different approaches to be more effective. Together we can be stronger and smarter in creating the local conditions that can enable the global success, for the ventures of tomorrow. Below are a few ways you can help - a survey about representation, opportunity to input policy recommendations, and help us find a new coordinator!

What we’ve been up to:

Influencing policy through meetings with government ministers and civil servants to increase understanding of the needs, problems and opportunities for improvement. We’ve met with:

• Deputy Director General and senior staff at the new Department of Jobs, Tourism, Science and Innovation adding detail to our Top Ten policy recommendations

• Minister Alanah McTiernan, Dave Kelly’s senior policy adviser and Diane Evers MLC

• City of Perth and City of Joondalup who have been strong supporters, Chamber of Commerce of WA and others

Facilitating connections between founders, investors and supporters through events:

• Australia Post’s Pitchfest in Bunbury highlighting startup ventures coming from our regions, and representing WA in a nation-wide competition

• WA Youth Innovation Summit helping to create a supporting environment for young entrepreneurs and innovators in WA

• Our ‘whole ecosystem’ event, bringing together key ecosystem members and supporters to discuss and workshop the future of the ecosystem

Advancing the ecosystem through collaboration with partners:

• Collaborating with StartupMuster to improve reporting of WA startup data

• Working more closely with StartupPerth, #PerthStartup, Techboard, StartupAus, MorningStartup and others to align our activities and be more effective

• Finalising new funding partnerships (official announcements soon!) that will give us the time and resources to move forward

How you can help:

• Membership survey: We’re updating how we represent the community. Please complete this short survey to help inform a new approach to implement in September

• Find a coordinator: We’re hiring. Read and share the post and job description if you know someone who will be an exceptional StartupWA coordinator

• Policy definition: We need your input into our priorities for advocacy - especially adding detail and case studies. If you have an issue or challenge we can help with, or just want to see what our current position is, please view the policy overview here, and check out the draft policy collaboration space on Trello to contribute

What’s coming up:

• Advocacy: This coming month is important for advocacy and State Budget will be announced. The State could better spend existing budgets to grow startups, jobs and the economy. Please add your voice, and pitch in with case studies as requested

• Events: We’ll meet on 13th September to consider and finalise any changes to representation via membership. Our next event on Thursday 14th September, AGM mid-November, and final 2017 event on Tuesday 5th December at West Tech Fest

• Engagement: WA startups are really going from strength to strength, with some big announcements this month by ventures, great exposure through awards and some key players in the ecosystem. Follow us on Twitter to see some highlights

We’re looking forward to keeping you updated as we move forward and if you have any questions or feedback on the above, please get in touch.

P.S. Don’t forget to complete this short survey

StartupWA Coordinator recruitment

StartupWA are hiring!

Read on (read ALL of it) for how to apply.

StartupWA is a dynamic and influential organisation formed to advance the technology startup industry for WA. Our mission is to: Create the local conditions, enabling global success, for the ventures of tomorrow. Our values are: Trusted. Driven. Open. You can read more about StartupWA on our website: www.startupwa.org

Now, the sector and organisation are growing in their significance, scope and impact. This growth has created the need for a coordinator role to ensure we meet the expectations of our members, partners and stakeholders. This is initially offered as a contract role focused on communication, events and engagement. Depending on the success of our approach, the scope of the role may grow.

Suitability
 

This role with StartupWA will suit someone who is:

• Available 1-2 days a week, with flexibility to host after-hours events,

• Effective and efficient as an independent worker and project manager,

• Exceptional communicator, collaborator and comfortable with total transparency,

• Excited about the learning and development opportunities within the sector,

• Competent with a cloud-based software and social media platforms,

• Focused on gettings things done, while mindful of the mission and political context.

Role

There are four focus areas requiring coordination - advocacy, engagement, reporting and events. In each area there will be partners involved, necessitating clear and effective communication in service of effective collaboration and great outcomes.

Download the role description for further details: http://bit.ly/StartupWArole

To apply:

Step 1 — Read the role description, and this whole blog post.

Step 2 — Share an image on Twitter that evidences your engagement with the StartupWA community. The tweet must mention @StartupWA, hashtagging #StartupWA and include a link to your LinkedIn profile. The LinkedIn profile should have enough relevant information for a basic assessment against the criteria. We will provide the opportunity for more detailed information in Step 2.

Any candidate doing anything other than completing Step 1 (e.g. emailing a resume) will be ignored.

Rules:

1. Selection criteria are outlined in the role description,

2. The image must be recent (3 months) and may include:

   1. Evidence of being at a coworking space, startup networking event or training session,

   2. Screenshot of contributing to a relevant discussion (startups in WA) on a social platform (Twitter, Slack etc),

   3. Something else that evidences real engagement etc.

3. This must be completed before 8am WST on Monday 21st August. We may assess and shortlist some candidates prior to this deadline.

Step 3 — Instructions for further steps will be provided to those short-listed based on the information provided in Step 2.

Those shortlisted (after additional steps) will be requested to participate in

• A webconference interview,

• Completing short, paid tasks that test competencies relevant to the role.

The successful person should be ready to start work in the week of 28th August.