LUNA

Thanks for joining us at the SXSW Sydney Founders Bar yesterday 🎉 It was great to see so many passionate founders, industry leaders, and innovators in the same space together, following the excitement of the final SXSW Sydney Pitch Competition, the room was buzzing! A big congratulations to DermR Health for being crowned the grand finalist! Thank you to our event partners Shadowboxer, FB Ventures, and Salient. Everyone who joined us had a great time celebrating the best of the startup ecosystem. Whether you were there to expand your network or simply enjoy the celebration, we’re grateful for your contribution to making the event such a success. Here’s to the thriving startup community. We'll see you next time! 👋

Heading to the SXSW Sydney Pitch Competition this afternoon? We have you covered! Join us straight after for the Founders Bar held in the Grand Foyer outside the Cockle Bay Room 2. This event is proudly presented by LUNA, Shadowboxer, FB Ventures, and Salient, to bring together startup founders, industry leaders, and innovators. It's the perfect opportunity to unlock new connections, get around likeminded individuals, and build relationships. Whether you're looking to expand your network, spark your next big idea, or celebrate the incredible Pitch Participants join us for a few drinks to cap off jam packed Thursday. 🗓 When: 17 October, 5:00 - 6:30 pm 📍 Where: Grand Foyer outside Cockle Bay Room 2, SXSW Sydney, ICC Details in the comments below - also check the SXSW app for details. See you soon 🎉

💡What does SXSW and the Startup Board Course have in common? 👉They're both educational, inspiring, and fun; 🤝 Filled with great humans; and 🚀 Impactful beyond their time. As a testament to this, we've just added another great interview to the Startup Board Course portal: our Board Course Director, Ashleigh Camm, interviewed the awesome Jason Atkins from Cake on the skills that Jason believes are critical for founders and management teams to have, to bring on investors in the early stages, including: 📈 Financial Modelling, and understanding your numbers, and how it can help to build trust with your investors; and, 🌫️ Risk Management, and the benefits of being upfront with these, and sharing how you're going to mitigate and prioritise them. Plus, they also talked about Strategy, and how Jason and Cake thinks about this, in terms of its creation, documentation, and sharing with stakeholders, including the benefits of having your strategy deck always ready-to-go to support capital raising. Check out the mini excerpt below, and find the full interview in the Startup Board Course. 🚀Are you joining us for our next cohort, kicking off on 6 November? Link in comments to find out more and apply. https://lnkd.in/gbSJYEhn #SXSWonLinkedIn #SXSWSydney

The SXSW Sydney startup ecosystem showed up in force for our panel: "It takes a Village. The companies behind Australia’s success stories". Big thanks to our panellists from LUNA, Tractor Ventures, Shadowboxer, Stone & Chalk, and Cake who all shared golden insights for startups and critical stages of growth. A full house, great energy and a few good laughs too! 🙌 A few key takeaways from the conversation: 🧠 Jodie Imam: Communities are so important especially for founders to manage mental health and isolation. We also need systemic change for investment into female founders, to ensure women remain at the forefront and become key decision makers.   🤔 Jason Atkins: Getting equity right is key, particularly when doing multiple rounds. There is no denying that getting around the right people is paramount to your success, because you have the same drivers and key interests. 🤝 Stephen Graham: The right path to product market fit is crucial to early traction and success. Also having networks of advisors and consultants allow you to make the right decisions at the right time. 📣 Christopher Kirk: Sometimes your startup is actually solving a different problem than you think it is upon inception. Community is so important in connecting individuals who can help a founder rethink the journey they're on, unlock new connections and growth you never thought possible. 🎯 Ronen Heine: Having the right community and service providers around you can identify barriers and blocks. It’s vital to set up your documentation correctly. Adding some 'colour' - with the right balance of experts on your cap table has been a key driver of many startup successes. A huge thank you to everyone who joined us. As a collective "we" all bring so much value and impact to the community everyday. Also thanks to our suppliers - Fabbrica, Heaps Normal, BrewDog, and Framer Drinks for keeping us well fed and hydrated! 🎉 In Sydney for the rest of the week? Don’t miss the Founders Bar at SXSW Sydney on Thursday, 17 October. This event will kick off right after the Pitch Competition, bringing together founders, industry leaders, and innovators. More details in the comments below 👇 🚜 🏳️🌈 Olivia Doherty Emma Park Bianca Contrabona Maddi Scheuren Puneet Bhambhani Dean Katz Owen Brayden Adil Khan Callum Davidson Lucinda Browne Brinley Meagher Ben Harrison Alex Gray

Join us next week at the SXSW Sydney Founders Bar, an exclusive event presented by industry-leading partners LUNA, Shadowboxer, FB Ventures, and Salient. Taking place right after the SXSW Sydney Pitch Competition, this high-energy event brings together startup founders, industry leaders, and innovators. It’s a chance to engage in meaningful conversations, unlock new opportunities, and build invaluable relationships. Whether you're looking to expand your network, discover your next big idea, or celebrate the incredible Startup Pitch Participants, this event is designed to create new connections and celebrate the best of the best in the ecosystem. 🗓 When: 17 October, 5:00 - 6:30 pm 📍 Where: SXSW Sydney, ICC 🔗 Event Details: https://lnkd.in/gPQaMhfd We can't wait to see you there! 🎉

🌟 It Takes A Village: The Companies Behind Australia’s Startup Success Stories 🌟 We’re excited to bring together the companies that have been part of some of Australia’s most exciting startup journeys for an insightful panel discussion! Leaders from Tractor Ventures, Shadowboxer, Stone & Chalk, Cake, and LUNA will share their invaluable experiences and explore the pivotal roles they’ve played in guiding startups through critical phases of growth and scaling. This is a unique opportunity to hear directly from the companies that are shaping Australia's thriving startup landscape. Discover the strategies and partnerships that have turned bold ideas into successful businesses! 🗓 When: 15 October, 5:00 - 7:30 pm
 📍 Where: The Commons George Street 🔗 RSVP: https://lu.ma/xoixrjg9 After the panel, enjoy an evening of networking featuring delicious bites from Fabbrica. Connect directly with founders, industry leaders, and investors in a relaxed setting, creating opportunities for meaningful exchanges and future collaborations. MEET OUR PANELLISTS Jodie Imam, Co-founder & CEO @ Tractor Ventures
 Stephen Graham, Co-founder & General Manager @ Shadowboxer
 Jason Atkins, Co-founder & President @ Cake 
 Christopher Kirk, CEO @ Stone & Chalk
 Ronen Heine, Founder & CEO @ LUNA Don’t miss this chance to engage with the leaders shaping the future of Australia’s startup ecosystem! Secure your ticket now: https://lu.ma/xoixrjg9

🤝 What skills do you need around your board table? In the latest Inside the Boardroom, we continue to explore the best startup board advice from around the world based on startup investment and commercialisation stages. This week we’re focused on the growth period of Series A - C: where you’ve found product-market fit and the focus is on scaling, to capture or grow market share. As a founder CEO, to understand who you need on your board to best support you and your startup turned scaleup, you first need to understand your own skills and experience, and the skills and experience of your existing management team and board, and how this complements your current and future direction. In Part 3 out this week, we go through just this: ✍️What skills you need on your board as you scale 🤝 How to use and manage your board effectively in the growth stages What is more, we're just 5 weeks away from the start of last Startup Board Course cohort of the year, and this could be you! It was all smiles as we finished up our closing session of our Aug-24 cohort, thank you to everyone who joined us for what was another great 5 weeks together: Zoë Milgrom Simon Betschel Rebecca W. Claire Bull Jarrad Skeen 🍇Margot Kilgour Nathaniel Ramm Morgan M. Rebecca Rozencwajg Stephen Graham Ashleigh Camm 🚀 Find out more about the Startup Board Course and sign up to Inside the Boardroom here: https://lnkd.in/duv2D8Zc

📈 Your board should be adding value to you ... but just how should a board be supporting early-stage startups? In Inside the Boardroom this week we continue to bring together the best advice on startup boards from across the ecosystem. From Part 1 last week on the foundations, Part 2 focuses on the time between starting and pre-Series A. We go through: 🤝 How the board should be operating and supporting a startup before Series A ✍️ How to cover the basics and start developing your governance muscle to set yourself up for success Access the article at the link below, and for all of this, live and personal, apply to join the next Startup Board Course cohort to receive your special invitation to our next Alumni Dinner in Melbourne on 10 October 2024. Our special guest for the evening will be Mark Wells, a growth-stage tech chair, director, advisor, and investor, and who we can't wait to chat with. Join us for what is sure to be a highly insightful and inspiring evening. Find out more here: https://lnkd.in/duv2D8Zc Ashleigh Camm Dean Katz Lucinda Browne Luke Gensler Shannon Joseph Daniel Ross Ronen Heine

Tax return season is upon us and you have until 31 October to submit your documents. Did you know this can be extended until May 2025 if you appoint a tax agent? Whether you’re looking for support with personal, trust, or company returns (or all three), our team of trusted tax agents are here to help. Book a meeting with one of our experts directly to get started: https://lnkd.in/gpVVC52G

🔥Exploring founder mode for your startup board Have you caught the founder mode phenomenon of the last few weeks?🔥 Founder mode is starting, scaling and driving your company in your essence and creativity as a founder, which means staying connected and bringing your own unique way to the different stages that your company will naturally grow through, and which will demand that you learn different skills along the way. No matter what you think about 'founder mode' or 'manager mode', to be in founder mode, or simply to progress to CEO, you'll have to learn enough to be able to take your own approach and discern who or what is helpful to you and your startup, and who or what won't be. And that's where our Startup Board Course can be so helpful - it gives you the need-to-knows of the board so that you can progress to CEO and director with confidence, and build and manage your startup board for success. What is more, we're exploring founder mode for startup boards and bringing together the best startup board advice from around the world, starting with Part 1: Before you even begin - find it here: https://lnkd.in/gbtErfhj Stay tuned for Parts 2 - 4 over the comings weeks, and sign up to Inside the Boardroom in the comments to get it straight to your inbox 🚀