Small Business Grants 2023

Small business grants are funding programs that provide businesses and startups with much-needed capital to help build, accelerate growth, commercialize and expand their products in local markets and overseas. Here are some of the best regional and federal government grants available now and all through 2023: Entrepreneur's Programme The Entrepreneur's Programme is part of the Federal Government National Innovation and Science Agenda. The program is available all year round and comprises access to unique services including guidance from experts to help you progress through your goals, financial support and a podcast for entrepreneurs. Funding of up to $1 million is…

How to Best Protect your Idea

You are in the early stages of a startup idea and want to protect it. You might think about an innovative solution to a problem or a gap in the market that others haven’t noticed. Fortunately, it is becoming less frequent but we still get asked to sign an NDA to simply listen to an idea. Our standard answer is 'Sorry, we don't do that at our first meeting'. This post is not about popular non-disclosure agreements as a mechanism to ensure that the person or organisation who gains access to sensitive information doesn’t disclose it to a third party.…

Small Business Grants for Women 2021

Looking for business grants in 2021?  If you are an entrepreneur or small business owner, cash flow and access to capital (including grants) are always a challenge. For women in business the road is even harder,  'swimming upstream' against gender bias and lack of support. A 2017 StartupAUS Crossroads report found that only 4% of startups have an all-female founding team and as few as 15% have at least one female founder. Yet organisations with gender-balanced leadership show better financial performance, access the widest talent and skill pool available to them, and are more responsive to clients and broader stakeholders.…

Grants for Australian Businesses and Startups

Australian businesses are doing it tough, with the repercussions of the lingering Covid-19 and a number of government subsidies soon coming to an end. For them cashflow is king and is in short supply. For startups and small business looking to commercialise their ideas or execute a growth strategy, business investment is also in short supply making government grants particularly attractive. Here are some of the top Australian business grants and programmes to look out for in 2021: Accelerating Commercialisation This grant is for Australian SMEs, entrepreneurs, researchers, inventors and startups who wish to get their novel product, process or…
Entrepreneur

Online Community for Startups – QiHub

The Queensland Government together with Advance Queensland have recently announced QiHub, a free to join online community for startups to help foster innovation in Queensland. The $755 million government initiative brings together the rapidly growing Queensland startup ecosystem by providing a dedicated platform for entrepreneurs to connect remotely during Covid-19.  QiHub - the Queensland Innovation Hub, is the first of its kind entrepreneur-led community in Queensland. The platform offers a digital space to discover, meet, connect, share and collaborate with other entrepreneurs in the state. The idea was conceived by the Advance Queensland innovation team alongside the Office of the…

Pre-Accelerator Program for Startups

Refine, develop, validate and grow your startup idea by joining a pre-accelerator program. QUT Entrepreneurship is offering anyone with a new business idea or an existing venture to join their online pre-accelerator program QUT Entrepreneurship Next Level. This free online program combines educational video content with weekly mentoring and group work in order to prepare you to pitch at a Demo Day. When: 21 April to 21 May 2020 Where: Online Cost: Free Masterclass Schedule Every Tuesday and Thursday from 6pm to 7pm AEST. Validation: How to validate your idea. Problem Deep Dive: Understanding the problem you are solving, identify…

How Coronavirus is impacting the Mobile Economy – Webinar

How coronavirus is impacting the mobile app economy in the APAC region? A rapid spread of the coronavirus aka COVID-19 in the last couple of weeks has seen an increased in consumers’ demand for mobile apps, as governments around the world introduce radical measures to stop its spread, including social distancing, work from home and lockdown policies. Now we are seeing how these measures are bringing changes to the way consumers interact and consume mobile technology. "Starting from Asia, coronavirus has gripped the world, work and life has been dramatically altered in every country and region. China's city lockdowns began…

Startup events in 2020

If you are lucky to live in one of the most entrepreneurial states in Australia, lead by Queensland Chief Entrepreneur Leanne Kemp, founder & CEO of the blockchain startup Everledger, then you may want to check out some of the awesome startup events coming up in 2020: QODE Pitch Black: As part of the Queensland's Innovation Festival you will have 3 minutes to pitch your idea to some of the most influential people in the investment and entrepreneurship community. When: 24-25 March 2020, Brisbane. Apply here. Gold Coast Startup Weekend: From idea to business in 54 hours. When: 21-23 February 2020,…

Mentoring for Growth Day: Free Program for Queensland Businesses

The Mentoring for Growth (M4G) program is a free initiative managed in partnership between the Queensland Government and the private sector to assist small businesses in rapid growth or with high growth potential achieve their commercial capability by surrounding them with experienced business mentors. Who are the mentors? How can they help my business? The program aims to match you with an experienced business mentor who can best help with the specific challenges or opportunities facing your business. For this reason, the M4G online application takes approx. 15-20 minutes to complete and mentors are then drawn from a Queensland-wide pool of…

Using App Gamification to Increase User Retention

  We recently received an enquiry asking if we had any gamification app related experience. I was impressed; it is not often we get asked about app gamification right off the bat. Instead, it generally comes out while brainstorming with a client their app UX design and discuss different strategies we could use to increase user engagement. However, for a reason I cannot explain, it occurred to me that perhaps this person referred to 'gamification' as a game app and hoping to find a mobile app developer. And with that, I felt compelled to write about gamification strategies in apps…