Stone & Chalk and AustCyber have merged. 

“In making our two organisations one, we are combining the greatest concentration of cybersecurity expertise in the country with the most developed technology commercialisation infrastructure that Australia has ever built.” - Alex Scandurra, CEO, Stone and Chalk.  

Founded in 2015, Stone & Chalk is a not-for-profit organisation with a proven track record in developing successful growth and support frameworks for emerging tech sectors. As part of this mission, we continually look to expand and grow our capability beyond fintech to all emerging technologies. 

To boost Australian domestic industrial capability in critical and emerging technologies, we have merged with cybersecurity peak body, AustCyber. AustCyber’s mission is to support the development of a vibrant and globally competitive Australian cybersecurity sector and in doing so, enhance Australia’s future economic growth in a digitally-enabled global economy. 

Together, we will provide a powerful voice to better shape the policy and regulatory landscape for critical and emerging tech products and services. Startups and scale-ups will gain greater access to domestic and international customers, capital, talent and expertise. This integration will also create highly-skilled jobs for Australians and provide a highly attractive means to retain economic benefit as emerging tech industries continue to grow. 

Our founders will receive vital support and expertise from AustCyber to ensure they are cyber resilient as they continue to scale. Likewise, this integration will strengthen our reach to support cybersecurity founders, providing them access to our full suite of commercialisation support services. These include investment support, customer and talent acquisition, corporate partnerships, ecosystem support, and curated mentorship from commercial leaders. Together, emerging tech startups will gain access to an even stronger Impact Network™ and resource base. 

The Hon. Stuart Ayres MP, Minister for Jobs, Investment, Tourism and Western Sydney with Alex Scandurra CEO of Stone & Chalk and Michelle Price CEO of AustCyber announcing the merger. 

“In a world where the security of our entire economy is increasingly contingent on the strength of our domestic industrial technology capability, the integration of Stone & Chalk and AustCyber will enable our joint organisation to pursue a resilient and prosperous future not just for founders, enterprise, and governments, but for all of Australia,” says Alex Scandurra, CEO, Stone & Chalk. 

“The COVID-19 pandemic has made it clear that Australia can no longer depend so heavily on imported technology and have critical dependencies in supply chains. I am inspired and humbled to have the privilege of supporting the rapid growth of Australia’s cyber and emerging tech companies, and with them the development of Australian industrial capability in strategically significant areas of emerging technology for our country,” 

AustCyber will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Stone & Chalk, retaining its standalone brand, staffing structure and National Network of Cyber Security Innovation Nodes. It will also continue to operate as one of the Australian Government’s Industry Growth Centres.  

“Digital trust is more important than it has ever been for all organisations across our country,” AustCyber’s CEO Michelle Price said. 

“In this environment, it has never been more urgent to provide commercialisation pathways for Australia’s cybersecurity founders, and build a cyber-resilient Australian industrial capability to support our nation to prosper in the years to come.” 

“It is in our nation’s interests to be investing in scalable, flexible and sophisticated ways and means to nurture and propel forward emerging tech industries. AustCyber has demonstrated its ability to do this for cybersecurity and it is critical we apply similar approaches to other areas of emerging tech, that also embeds cyber resilience, for national and economic security benefit as well as to help shape the impacts these technologies are having and will continue to have on all Australians.”

“I have long respected the capabilities of Stone & Chalk and know that joining forces will provide our existing ecosystems with the tools they need to evolve, develop and thrive. It will also support those areas of the economy developing strategically important technologies whose industries are still forming and the understanding of economic and societal impact still taking shape.” 

Learn more: www.shapingthefuturetogether.com.au

The future, it’s here. Are you ready? Get up to speed on flying cars and autonomous vehicles of the future. Or rather the present, with the second edition of our ‘The Future Is Here’ series. In the host seat, driving the show is the Executive Director of Australia and New Zealand Driverless Vehicle Initiative, Rita Excell. Accompanying her on the autonomous journey is Greg Giraud - MD of EasyMile in Australia and New Zealand, Zac Kennedy - Head of Regulatory Affairs at Swoop Aero and Rocky Scopelliti – Renowned Futurologist. Together they discussed their work, the current state of the autonomous vehicle industry and exchanged opinions on the kind of technological advancements we can expect to see in the next ten to fifteen years.

Rocky Scopelliti opened the discussion with thought-provoking insights from his book – Australia 2030 Where The Bloody Hell Are We? He recommends we look at the next ten years through a programmatic lens. He’s calling the 2020’s the programmatic decade.

Why? Because everything will be programmed and optimised through data. More and more ways to track and analyse data will become available. For example, new connected devices mean ever-growing amounts of data to analyse. AI will help us analyse that data, give us new ways to optimise, and new ideas to implement. Connect this with 5G networks, task-specific software, AR and VR, and before you know it, new life-enhancing possibilities pop up everywhere. New technological ecosystems will lead to exponential optimisations, increasing societies efficiency like never before. 

Take self-driving cars; they can use AI to navigate the streets whilst 5G networks help them access the flow of traffic, allowing all vehicles to work as one to reduce congestion throughout the entire city. “Think about the collective power of these technologies” stated Rocky Scopelliti. 

After Rocky set the stage, Greg Giraud shared his latest work proving the future is here - Renmark South Australia; the location of EasyMile’s autonomous, electric bus trial. The trial is progressing well and has just entered phase two. The goal is to “create a blueprint for autonomous public transportation in regional areas”. Greg brought our attention to the challenges regional areas face in the public transport space and how autonomous electric shuttles offer a solution. If you’re in Renmark, Greg invites you to jump on and experience the ride for yourself. He says once people give it a go, they quickly become advocates. 

Zac Kennedy took us up into the skies, with his work for Swoop Aero. They’re tackling the tyranny of distance and geography to save lives; providing on-demand healthcare with aeromedical logistics. In Africa, Zac’s team is opening the largest two-way aeromedical logistics network the world has ever seen. Unfortunately, Australian regulations make drone delivery a bit more complicated. However, Swoop Aero is working with the regulatory bodies to shape the laws.

Greg, Zac, Rocky and Rita’s insightful work on autonomous vehicles has inspired us to think about new possibilities emerging technological ecosystems could open up. So much potential. We can’t wait to see the differences their cutting-edge technologies will make in peoples’ lives, all around the world.

Transport yourself into the details and watch the whole presentation here. 

Join our mailing list to stay ahead of the game with Stone & Chalk’s industry-leading events.

What if you could live in a world where things talk to, listen to and observe all of us? Imagine your biometric data is being compiled in real-time, while devices talk about it at speeds beyond human comprehension. That world is today. 


Our new event series “The Future Is Here" kicked off with the renowned Futurist and Author, Rocky Scopelliti. He took us on a journey centered around projections about the decade ahead in groundbreaking research he’s made with 700 Australian executives. Scopelliti published the full insight in the book “Australia 2030, where the bloody hell are we”. 

The study seeks to understand how Australian professionals feel about physical, biological, digital and environmental predictions. Looking at some of the advancements, it’s predicted nanobots will enter our body by the end of the decade and virtual reality will become an actuality. Wearable technology will be everywhere and 3D manufacturing will radically alter the economy. 

Our world will become immersive and decentralized through quantum computing, Blockchain, IoT, 3D printing, robotics and mobile networks. Deployments of the next generation 5G networks will deliver an unheralded speed of global connectivity at an ultra-low-cost.

Scopelliti’s research shows that, for example, 68% of Australian professionals expect development in the biological world with new treatments for illnesses. 74% of them support the statement that technological and scientific advancements have improved our social, cultural and economic future.

The keynote was followed by an expert panel which helped bring insight into the rollout plans for 5G across Australia, dived into the concept of hyper-connectivity and explained why Adelaide is Australia’s most connected city. We welcomed Matthew Schultz, President of Australian Smart Communities Association, Sandra Vallance, CEO at Sabrenet, Dave Gerner, Innovation Manager at City of Adelaide, Faheem Tabassum, Senior Manager at 5G & Cloud Edge at Optus. They were joined by Rocky Scopelliti, with Chris Kirk, General Manager of Stone & Chalk Adelaide, moderating the discussion.

Matthew Schultz points out that we are at a very early stage of 5G in terms of the rollout. What’s coming in the near future is the development of high-beam spectrum, which the industry people call the millimetre-wave. It will enable low latency connections and handle a massive amount of them all at once. “It’s going to take 3 to 5, maybe even 7 years to roll that full capability of 5G across all parts of Australia”, emphasized Schultz urging towards building the infrastructure to make us competitive in the world.

Pointing out how it’s faster for a consumer, Faheem Tabassum says what 5G means to enterprises is different from what it means to the manufacturing sector. “That is the beauty of it underpinned by high speed, low latency and ultra-reliability, offering advanced capability and a diverse array of use cases.”

In terms of connectivity in Australia, Sandra Vallance is on the forefront: “We have a fibre-optic network that goes for about 400 km around Adelaide and we were able to cost-effectively utilize the network we had to roll out the big city innovation. The very inexpensive gigabit speed has made an enormous difference to businesses.” Adding up to that Dave Gerner pointed out that Adelaide is a well laid out city which has given an opportunity to test and trial, such as sensory technology and measuring heat in real-time. 

Everyone on the panel agrees that when it comes to smart cities it’s all about the opportunities that benefit the community. “Private and public sectors need to collaborate in order to unlock the value created by hyper-connectivity.” At the same time, they warned about data privacy and cybersecurity which needs to be addressed as an organization, an individual and a nation.

This webinar is the first in our new event series “The Future Is Here". 

You can watch the full discussion on our YouTube channel here.

Join Stone & Chalk’s mailing list to stay up-to-date with this and more here.

A Hyper-connected World  5G and Smart Cities

We made it through the year. An impressive achievement. Well done! But what now? Where do we go from here after such a taxing time? It all starts with our Wellbeing Series hosted by Anne Moore - work futurist, CEO, and resident founder at Stone & Chalk. We also welcome Alessandra Edwards, Performance and Wellbeing Expert. Alessandra boosts the performance of top CEOs by improving their mindset and biohacking their skills to reach new peaks. Her insightful and practical tips will help you gain a fresh perspective.

Alessandra opened the call by reminding us that ‘high performance’ goes beyond the workplace. High performance is the ability to optimise our whole selves, sustainably. That includes optimising our emotional self, mental self, physical self, professional self and social self. This balance empowers us with the energy we need to renew - an important message for many of us. We often prioritise certain parts of our lives over others, and our performance suffers. 

The first step to refreshing your perspective for the new year is understanding where you are at, right now. Alessandra guided listeners through an insightful exercise, and we discovered where our energy and motivation is at now and where we want to be. 

Why is that important? Alessandra tells us that “over the last five to ten years, we have accumulated high-level evidence that our thoughts and beliefs have a huge impact on the physical process that shapes our brain. In other words, regularly thinking certain thoughts changes the connections between brain cells. They activate certain pathways and links that did not exist before.”

Therefore our brains are malleable, and we have the power to mould our mindset. So, if we take note of our current mindset, and how we react in stressful situations, we can learn to increase our performance and wellbeing in those situations. Alessandra gave several mindset examples she has come across in her work, and how to shift each mindset to improve performance.

After covering longer-term mindset shifting exercises, Alessandra moved onto evidence-based tips and tricks you can implement in the moment - right when you’re hit with the stressful situation. The following steps send signals to your nervous system to calm down.

Tip One – Scrunch up your face muscles and then relax them.

Tip Two – Splash cold water on your face.

Tip Three – Exhale twice as long as you inhale to offload carbon dioxide.

Tip Four – Press the palms of your hands against your eyes.

Tip Five – Supplement your diet with L-Theanine

Alessandra's presentation has reframed our understanding of high performance. She's reminded us that it doesn't necessarily mean more hours behind the desk. To reach our peak, we need to address our whole being, our wellbeing. That means taking care of our emotional, mental, physical, professional and social selves.

Are you ready to perform at your peak? Watch the complete presentation here.

Stay up to date with Stone & Chalk’s industry-leading events and join our mailing list.

DNA-based Performance Expert Helps S&C Tackle Uncertainty With Confidence

“With VR, what happens when we become saturated with this tech? Do we become desensitized by this type of media… once mainstream adoption happens, what happens then?” - Anton Andreacchio

Following from our earlier events, we were delighted to hear about XR from renowned futurist Rocky Scopiletti, and entrepreneurs Anton Andreacchio from Jumpgate, and Ingo Lau from Micology. 

Rocky proposed a ‘data-first’ perspective as the key to unlocking potential in the XR space. In his research, he found that data was the common denominator across the top five emerging technologies, which would result in increasing recognition of data as an asset. 

He also highlighted the multiplicative effect of technology. Combinations of new technologies, he noted, lead to new ways of experiencing or fulfilling processes; combining 5G technology and the Internet of Things (IoT), will allow for greater connectivity. As the digital world becomes more decentralised, immersive and distributed, the physical world becomes increasingly interconnected. 

Anton also discussed the wide range of use cases of extended reality across various industries, focusing on the human intersection with technology and the value brought by these interactions. He stated that working on projects across a broad range of industries has allowed his company to be sustainable amidst the hype cycles often associated with new and emerging technologies.

some applications of extended reality technology include:

A virtual stroke protocol training program 

Coaching in the Australian Football League (AFL) space

The contemporary art space, an area that he is most excited about, particularly around the concept of ‘XR as canvas.’  

Rather than starting with technology, he explained that his approach is to consider human interactions with technology as a starting point. 

Ingo touched on the limitations of solving problems in a two-dimensional medium, stating that interactions in a three-dimensional medium allows for the easier solution of real-world problems. Visualising models in 3D, for example, allows for the perception of depth, which greatly aids work in the civil engineering space.

Ingo also described how the uptake of new technologies by companies, especially those working in government, needs to be driven by the sector itself. This is because companies often use older technologies and require assistance - more prototypes and proofs of concepts -  to assist stakeholders in identifying how new technologies can assist them. 

Anton and Ingo were in agreement that mining is a sector that has already embraced XR technology and that greater uptake of XR will occur in the next five to ten years. A downside to working in the space is that the pressures of scalability and finance can drive conversations that don’t leave room for understanding ethical aspects of technology. 

Both agreed that the human element of XR is of the utmost importance, that XR is about helping people communicate with one another, and that there are roles for humans to play in dealing with complex problems and data.   

We were delighted to welcome Philip Shelper, CEO, and Stacey Lyons, Loyalty Director of Loyalty & Reward Co to the Stone & Chalk Event Lab, to discuss the rapidly evolving world of loyalty programs.

Since its inception in 2013, Loyalty & Reward Co has established itself as Australia’s leading loyalty consultancy agency, using a data-driven approach to provide clients with comprehensive insights into the many different aspects of loyalty. They have worked with several global brands, including McDonalds, Optus, and P&G.  

Philip and Stacey were joined by a distinguished panel of industry guest speakers: Fran Ereira, Country Head (ANZ) of Klarna, Travis Tyler, Chief Product and Marketing Officer of 86 400, and Gary Cobain, CEO of PokitPal.

Philip began by discussing the (surprisingly) long history of loyalty programs - dating back to workers in Ancient Egypt who were able to exchange surplus food tokens for more luxurious items. The modern concept was born in 1850s New York City, when B.T. Babbitt, “The Godfather of loyalty programs” as Philip calls him, offered customers rewards in return for collecting cut-outs from the packaging of his soap products.     

He emphasises the opportunity loyalty programs present for companies in developing deeper emotional bonds with customers, likely leading to increased retention levels, especially among customers who have an isolated negative experience. This is known as commitment theory.

The panellists discussed the emerging ‘megatrends’ of the industry, drawing on their own experiences to highlight the necessary dynamics of running a successful loyalty program.

AI-infused platforms are increasingly adept at learning individuals’ behaviours, enabling brands to send increasingly hyper-targeted and tailored messages, offers and rewards to their customers.

As Stacey explains, trailblazers such as Amazon, Netflix and Spotify have set high customer expectations for data-driven personalised services and communications. .“If it isn’t being used to deliver more meaningful experiences, customers will take their business elsewhere”.

Fran agrees, stating that a key differentiator between Klarna and their ‘buy now pay later’ competitors, is their ability to deliver relevant content and rewards to their customers. Klarna obtains key insights into individuals’ trends, likes and dislikes, by capturing data every time a customer transacts, whether it be an in-store purchase or via the digital cart.   

With consumers ever-more interested in finding ways to make their money go further, loyalty and payments are set to become increasingly intertwined.

Payment companies, such as PokitPal, are developing card-linking platforms where members can link their credit/debit cards directly with loyalty programs, so they automatically earn points and rewards when transacting at a participating merchant. 

Payments are the real touchpoint for consumers and retailers. Gary explains, banks are finally starting to utilise the huge sets of data available to them to improve the personalisation of their propositions for customers.

86 400, Australia’s first smartbank, aims to drive advocacy and growth by going beyond a normal bank’s offerings, explains Travis. Their latest feature, Energy Switch, compares electricity plans by scanning over 200 data points from retailers and enables the customer to switch to a cheaper provider in minutes. 

The recent development of white label solutions has seen several companies, including McDonalds and Boostjuice, develop bespoke digital games for their specific audience. The games generally reward their members with prizes and special offers. Philip believes this space has an “enormous future”.

The panellists agree that innovative, data-driven loyalty programs present a huge opportunity for businesses, across industries, and should be a key component of their marketing strategies moving forward. Customer expectations are rising, and businesses need to keep up. 

We recently spoke with Kribb (formerly Communley) Co-Founder Akshat Sondhi about his personal journey, and his experience as a Stone & Chalk resident. This is his story.

Akshat, or ‘Aki’, traded Auckland for the Gold Coast in 2010. Without a local social network or knowledge of the area, he ended up in a flat share with a friend of a friend. The next 10 months were memorable, but not in the ways he had hoped – stuffing towels under your bedroom door to block cigarette smoke isn’t the most relaxing way to unwind after all.

It soon became apparent Aki wasn’t alone. As he explains, most people you meet can speak in depth about negative co-living experiences. “It’s almost a rite of passage”. After all, you can only fully discover people’s habits and idiosyncrasies by living with them. 

In a nutshell: a curated co-living service that uses advanced personality analysis (informed by AI and ML) to match customers with compatible housemates in beautifully furnished shared homes. Essentially it connects customers with better people to live with and better places to live in.

Kribb also hosts regular events and outings for its residents, bringing together like-minded individuals and helping create a strong sense of community.

Curating a positive and balanced working culture is crucial for any company. One of S&C’s core values is: ‘Be Cheerleaders For Each Other’ – backing each other for success in a supportive working environment. This aligns closely with Kribb’s own mission to bring people together and to foster a sense of community via its events.

As Aki put it: “The S&C environment is one which promotes energy, hustle, and has a level of infectiousness that rubs off on you. The people are genuinely nice, likeminded and promote a positive working atmosphere”.

S&C supports residents in various ways – from sharing industry tips and tricks to introducing Founders to our Innovation Partners.  

A recent hands-on example is the conversion of a Sydney event space into an apartment for the launch of Kribb’s rebrand on 15 December.

Kribb's rebrand launch event at Stone & Chalk Sydney event space. 

Building a business comes with all sorts of challenges, however, according to Aki, the most important issue is attracting and retaining talent.

Obviously, the project itself is the main draw, but the S&C culture and engaging working environment – with its ample break-out spaces, refreshments on tap (literally), and ping pong table – are certainly selling points.

As Aki explains, his team is free to work flexibly between the office and home, but most of the time they choose to come in. 

Despite the impact of coronavirus, prospective customers have continued to sign up to Kribb’s platform throughout 2020. That is testament to the quality of the product, and confirmation of the opportunity for domestic growth: “Our audience always needs a roof over their heads, and they want a sense of community”.

Also, within the next 12-18 months (COVID permitting), Kribb plans to expand into the US. As Aki puts it: “The Australian market is where we were born, where we have learned. When we are safely able to, we will look at starting in New York, with an established playbook”.

This playbook has been years in the making, and Aki is confident it will translate well to the US market – especially in densely populated cities where co-living is a common phenomenon.

Interested in becoming a Stone & Chalk resident? Take our eligibility test to see if we’re right for you and your startup. 

Looking to hold an event in one of our spaces? Find out more about our event spaces. 

Meet Stone & Chalk Resident: Akshat Sondhi Co-Founder of Kribb 

The 2020 winners of the fourth Finnies Awards were announced on October 28. The Finnies, hosted by FinTech Australia, celebrates the achievements of startups and individuals who have made a major contribution driving innovation within financial services.

For the second consecutive year, Stone & Chalk were proud sponsors of the event, this time for the Excellence in Fintech Support Services award. 

No fewer than 13 Stone & Chalk residents and alumni featured as finalists across the 19 categories, with Brighte, Meeco, Joust and LoanDolphin, Birchal, and Frankie Financial all claiming awards. 

The outstanding contributions of this years’ nominees is even more remarkable considering the unprecedented economic turmoil and market uncertainty caused by the coronavirus pandemic. 

FinTech Australia CEO Rebecca Schot-Guppy was full of praise for the finalists, stating: “Despite the toll COVID-19 has had on our industry, the calibre of entries this year was outstanding.”

Excellence in Industry Collaborations & Partnerships 

It was a trophy-laden evening for Brighte, receiving two awards in the People, Culture and Talent category. The Sydney-based startup won Best Workplace Diversity, with Founder and CEO Katherine McConnell (a Stone & Chalk alumni) also collecting Female FinTech Leader of the Year. An award fitting for a leader who openly credits her team for the company’s rapid ascent – in her own words: “a dream without a team is just a dream”. 

Brighte’s digital platform provides businesses and individuals with affordable payment solutions for solar, batteries and home improvements, providing easy access to their marketplace of accredited vendors.

Meeco, pioneers of the rapidly emerging personal data economy, collected the award for Excellence in Industry Collaborations & Partnerships in recognition of their enterprise with major banks in Belgium, including KBC. 

Meeco’s mission is to provide absolute control to the ‘digital citizen’ over how their personal data is used by people and organisations. In 2019, they worked with KBC on the ‘Digital Safe powered by Meeco’ initiative, enabling the bank’s customers to securely capture, store and share personal data and documents. 

Deal of the Year was awarded to current Stone & Chalk residents Joust following their merger with LoanDolphin in May. The two mortgage providers have combined in a bid to become Australia’s leading home loan auction platform. 

Their reverse auction model connects borrowers with lenders and brokers who bid for the customer by offering the most competitive home loan rates. 

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Australia’s leading crowdfunding platform Birchal took home the award for Excellence in Crowdfunding. 

The investment startup has led from the front since the commencement of Australia’s crowdsourced funding in 2018, raising $1.789 million in their first year. This rocketed to $18.2 million in 2019, with their 2020 figures expected to rise further still.

Melbourne-based startup Frankie Financial received this years’ Excellence in RegTech award. ‘RegTech’ is the coined term for the use of technology in the management of regulatory processes within the financial industry. 

Frankie’s platform provides an API integration hub that enables banks and fintechs to manage KYB, KYC, AML and fraud more easily, via a single intuitive dashboard.  

Congratulations to all those who entered this years’ Finnies, and to our residents and alumni finalists who continue to epitomise the innovative thinking and creative startup spark that is driving the Australian fintech industry forward. 

Special mention to Stone & Chalk’s other finalists

Excellence in Establishing Market Presence: Global

Excellence in Industry Collaborations & Partnerships

Excellence in Blockchain/Distributed Ledger and Digital Currencies/Wallets/Exchanges

Winners announced for the 2020 Finnies Awards

Congratulations to Stone & Chalk residents and alumni: Brighte, Meeco, Joust and LoanDolphin, Birchal, and Frankie Financial.

It’s the end of Scams Awareness Week 2020 (Australia) when we sit down with Shendon Ewans, CEO & Co-Founder of Gobbill - a bill payment automation system with a fraud detection component. With increases in scams around Australia during Covid, the timing of this interview couldn’t be better.

Scammers have been thriving with the increase in people being online, receiving government payouts, and reorienting a new standard of living. They’ve taken advantage of people’s vulnerability and sense of urgency, averaging losses of about $6,000 per hit (Source: ACCC, August 2020).

In fact, Australians lost more than $12 million from more than 18,500 cyber scams in the month of July 2020 alone. Phishing scams are up by 44 per cent, and identity theft by 55 per cent compared to the same time last year (Source: ACCC Scamwatch, August 2020). 

Disturbingly, scammers have positioned themselves as fake PPE suppliers, sending fake invoices to medical practices. Due to the urgency of requiring access to these supplies, many practices were paying these fake bills without properly checking them.

Unfortunately, most of these losses are unrecoverable and untraceable. 

For Shendon and Gobbill, “the key here is to look after the people that are vulnerable.”

A few years before Gobbill started in 2015, Shendon’s retired father was scammed. “He’s not tech-savvy” and unfortunately, he clicked on an invoice attachment that had been sent to him in an ambiguous email. The link downloaded malware onto his computer, which secretly monitored his keystrokes over a period of time. 

A month later, his bank account was emptied, his phone got ported, and credit card accounts were being opened up in his name. In addition to that, his pension was going into an account that his bank had frozen, meaning he couldn’t access his money. 

This left Shendon’s father feeling embarrassed and ashamed - a common sentiment amongst older people who get duped. “We want to normalise this feeling by emphasising that anyone can fall for scams.”

As a result of his father’s experience, Gobbill emerged, with the aim of preventing others from falling victim to cyber attacks. It’s free for households to sign up, and small businesses are charged a minimal subscription fee. 

Gobbill is also dedicated to helping people with disabilities, and is a registered NDIS provider.

The platform works by automatically paying your bills for you, and it can be synchronised with accounting systems, such as Xero - enabling you to continue to live a busy life without having to worry about missing any payment deadlines. 

The best part about Gobbill is that it screens every invoice to safeguard people and businesses from fraud. It forensically extracts data from emails and invoices, and compares it to the information of legitimate suppliers, ABNs and accounts as listed in official registers. 

Australian invoices can be paid when you choose, and via any payment method including bank account and credit/debit card. The user is always in control, and in the case of small businesses; data can be exported to help with audit and compliance requirements.

In the case of the medical practices that fell victim to scammers; Gobbill would have been able to screen out the fake PPE suppliers and invoices amidst the chaos.

Whilst these fraud figures are concerning, Shendon is enthusiastic in Gobbill’s ability to protect society’s most vulnerable, and leaves us with the following piece of advice: “Protect your cyber-selves by putting good cyber habits in place - it may save you one day.”

How Gobbill’s fraud detection component can help prevent your business from being scammed during COVID

In the third of a series of events by the Proptech Association of Australia and sponsored by Stone & Chalk, we welcomed back Kylie Davis to moderate this expert Proptech panel. 

Joining the conversation were Peter Matthews, CEO & Co-Founder of Realtair and the Auction Now platform, David Stewart, Owner of Market Buy, and Peter Gibbons, Managing Director at Openn Negotiation.

Looking at the digitisation of the sales and negotiation processes of residential real estate, our panellists explained how this enables more transparent, streamlined and data-rich experiences for buyers, sellers and agents. Additionally, they shared insights on the potential for digitisation of overseas property markets.

The discussion begins with a reference back to the first Proptech event of this series, in which Chris Rolls stated that real estate auction technology was not scalable or exportable. Nevertheless, Covid has enabled this type of technology to thrive more than ever, both nationally and internationally.

In Australia’s capital cities, “30% of real estate transactions happen via auction” says Matthews. This large figure isn’t surprising, as auctions have traditionally offered a transparent negotiation-transaction process with clear rules of engagement. 

Auction Now is Matthews’ virtual auction platform, which removes auction barriers to expose properties to a wider pool of potential buyers in real time. Pre-Covid, each auction only had 1-2 registered bidders, but as the pandemic intensified, these numbers increased. “We’ve done 6,000 auctions in the last 6 months (as of August 2020).” In fact, people started watching auctions after they had happened, “almost like watching a sport or Netflix,” laughs Matthews.

Therefore, virtual auctions have succeeded because they enable greater accessibility to those who live rurally, and better transparency for pricing expectations and transactions. From a compliance perspective, digitisation has also allowed agencies to centralise important paperwork.

Gibbons’ platform, Openn Negotiation, sought to bring greater transparency to private treaty sales. Managed by real estate agents, it helps buyers and sellers find the true market price for a property, through an online bidding platform. “Buyers have proof that they’re still in the market by seeing what other potential buyers are offering.”

Thus, this promotes equality in the market between buyers who want to buy property, and those who have the luxury of bidding higher amounts to secure a property. It’s “transparency that creates efficient markets,” explains Gibbons - a factor that has limited the real estate industry for many years. 

Stewart recounts the time he listed a friend’s property on eBay. It sold, but he realised he knew nothing more about the buyer than their username. On top of that, the 9 out of 10 other potential buyers were surprised they hadn’t won the bid because they weren’t aware of other competitors. 

This was what led Stewart to create Market Buy, an online communication software for private property sales. Operating on transparency, it enables agents to set the parameters of how a sale runs, allowing them to do their job “faster, simpler, quicker, and with more credibility.” 

Smaller, independent agents were the first to adopt Market Buy, because bigger networks were quick to bounce the idea initially. However, over the last 12 months and particularly due to Covid, “we’ve attracted more attention.” In March 2020, the software expanded into the US, completing various sales in New York, Minnesota and Texas. “We sold a property for $US2.4 million in Manhattan during Covid.” 

When it comes to scalability in the industry, the panellists agree that a one-size-fits-all approach should not be applied. Stewart explains that scalability is only possible if Proptech tools are adjusted for each individual real estate market. For example, Market Buy has a dedicated Australian and US version of the software, which was specifically developed through the way the tool is used in each region. 

Whilst physical auctions will still continue to exist, the gradual transition to digitisation is promising for the real estate industry and its agents. Ultimately, the aim is to make the agent’s role easier, and the customer’s journey more efficient through better access and engagement to sales.

How digital sales platforms make buying property better

We were delighted to welcome Julie Garland McLennan, Boardroom Expert, to speak about governance for companies. Having served on 18 boards across three continents, Julie has helped boards and directors to lead successful organisations for over 22 years. 

Julie has written and facilitated director education for leading governance institutions, including the Australian Institute of Company Directors, The Governance Institute of Australia, and The National Association of Corporate Directors (USA). She is also the author of six books for directors and is publisher of The Director’s Dilemma newsletter.

In this webinar, Julie outlined standard governance concepts to position yourself, your board and your company for success. These concepts have been categorised into five different steps.

The first step is to get access to directors with specific skills that are relevant at each stage of your company’s growth. “Never assume everyone knows how to be a director,” Julie warns.

An ideal director will have experience on the board of a similar stage company in the same sector, industry or technology. For example, during your company’s growth period, you’d have directors who have been on the board of a startup. 

Other characteristics of an ideal director include: the ability to solve one of the problems your company faces; the ability to build trust with customers, investors, or regulators; the ability to understand your capital structures and sources; an understanding of the role of the board and directors.

The second step is to manage the tension between shareholder representation and director contribution. “Startups regularly conflate this difference, which is a really bad mistake.”  

Shareholders buy shares in your company because they have insight into your promised plan, which they expect will bring them returns. “They want regular information to ensure that is indeed what is happening.”

On the other hand, directors are liable for what the company does - they act on the best interests of the company and represent the shareholders. Additionally, they reserve the right to any company information they reasonably need in order to make the board’s decisions.

However, in the scenario where a director is also a shareholder, they must keep their own interests separate from the best interests of the company, as this can have legal implications.

Step three is to develop appropriate advisory boards, panels, and governance to meet the company’s needs. Julie encourages implementing other governance structures to compliment your board, outlining that “corporate governance standards are guidelines, rather than a prescription.”

For example, a shareholder council will be established if your shareholders want even more representation or detailed information. This structure enables shareholders to interact in-depth with management, without making board decisions.

Advisory boards are appropriate when you require more technical advice, rather than careful monitoring of performance - which is typical in a shareholder-dominated board. Advisory boards are still liable for what the company does.

Finally, a panel of advisors is useful if you prefer approaching each individual director for their particular skills. This differs from a board, where directors come together to contribute their skills and insights to the decisions being made.

The fourth step is to prepare for listing and the ‘ASX Standard’ governance. Julie recommends preparing for your IPO (Initial Public Offering) one year in advance, to ensure your company is ready financially. 

She also encourages drafting your prospectus early and doing adequate research to choose the right market and the right time to go to market. Making incorrect decisions risks positioning your company as an unattractive investment. 

In terms of the ASX, it encourages the majority of directors to be independent because they don’t have any significant shareholding that could influence their judgement. It’s common for your company to have more non-independent directors before it becomes listed.

The final step is to set expectations regarding director tenure, remuneration, and behaviours. Ensure you outline these from the onset, particularly about director tenure. This will enable directors to outline their career goals and motivations for wanting to join your company’s board. In turn, you can align these with your company’s interests, and inform the director when you expect to move them on and off your board. 

Positioning your Board Advisors for Success

Nick Frandsen is one half of the Kiwi duo who helped propel Afterpay - one of the biggest tech success stories of the decade - into the $14 billion venture it is today. Nick is the Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Dovetail, a product development agency with a proven track record for turning ideas into commercially-successful digital products used by millions of people.

We chatted with Nick about what led him to start Dovetail, and how Afterpay partnered with Dovetail to build the fastest-growing public company in Australian history. He also gave us some valuable strategies for growth for early-stage startups. This conversation was moderated by Cheryl Mack, Stone & Chalk’s National Head of Community, 

Nick was an entrepreneur from an early age, starting his first tech company in his final year of an Economics and Computer Science degree. “You learn something from being thrown in the trenches of a startup,” says Nick. After building his first company successfully, Nick and his other co-founder eventually sold it and started thinking about the next big thing that would occupy them: Dovetail. 

Dovetail’s main claim to fame is the product development it has done for Afterpay, which has helped Afterpay grow into a global payments leader. The partnership began after Nick chatted with one of the founding employees of Afterpay, who also happened to be someone he had studied at uni with. 

As a result, Afterpay outsourced Dovetail’s services because they wanted partners who were talented in the technical realm (Afterpay’s founders are not technical). As a result, Dovetail launched a world-class mobile product in a short timeframe, enabling Afterpay to enter the market quickly. Astoundingly, within 48 hours of its soft launch, the Afterpay mobile app was ranked no. 1 on the Australian Apple AppStore!

As Afterpay continued to rapidly gain traction, Dovetail redesigned its website so that it could handle the increased volume of traffic, enabling Afterpay to scale even further. Afterpay is now even a shopping destination in itself!

The web and mobile products that Dovetail designs, builds and maintains for Afterpay now serve over 7 million customers every month in four international markets. “It’s been a really fun journey,” says Nick.

According to Nick, the reason for Afterpay’s rapid growth is that it acquired its customers through indirect marketing. Afterpay would interact with large merchants, which in turn meant that they indirectly interacted with that merchant’s customers.

The reason Afterpay was able to successfully penetrate international markets was its strong value proposition: interest-free payments for the customer, paid to the merchant through four installments. It’s a versatile value proposition that works at all levels of scale, explains Nick. Furthermore, Afterpay solidified its credibility by creating a recognisable logo from day one that remained consistent throughout its growth. 

 Nick’s advice for early-stage startups

Find good advisors with relevant industry experience to your type of business (and preferably in your location). Advisors will help you avoid some early mistakes, and they may even be able to connect you to other types of advisors later down the track.

Start selling your product early on if you can, especially if you are growing quickly. This will enable you to validate yourself and receive honest feedback from paying customers. 

Hire good people who align with your business, especially in the early days. These will be the people who will form the basis of your company’s culture. 

Don’t underestimate sales and marketing, and make sure you’re doing it early. You want to be able to sell and market your product well from the beginning so that you can give your business all chances of success!

 In case you missed it, Afterpay’s CEO Anthony Eisen is on the Board of Directors at Stone & Chalk. 

Lessons learned from helping build Australia's fastest-growing tech company

In June 2020, the Australian Government announced it was allocating $1.35 billion dollars of funding over the next 10 years to enhance Australia’s cyber security defences. This comes in the wake of recent numerous cyber attacks on Australian governments, political organisations and businesses.

Our leading cyber experts helped bring insight into the new reality of cyberwarfare in Australia, how startups can help, and how businesses can protect themselves against these sophisticated attacks. We welcomed Michelle Price, CEO at AustCyber, Hai Tran, CEO at Australian Cyber Collaboration Centre (A3C), and Dr Vaughan Shanks, Co-Founder and CEO at Cydarm Technologies, with Chris Kirk, General Manager of Stone & Chalk Adelaide, moderating the discussion. 

Historically, Australia has been safe during warfare due to our isolation from other countries, but in cyber terms, this distance is breached. Being a rich country with an abundance of resources and intellectual property, Australia is the perfect target for a cyber attack. Hai labels attacks on Australia as ‘two-fold:’ firstly, there is financial gain, and secondly, it’s a show of force.

This new cyberwarfare reality is the Cold War 2.0, says Vaughan. ‘It’s one of the tools available for statecraft in a scenario where no one wants to start a shooting war.’ But this ‘new reality’ is exaggerated by the Australian media, says Michelle, who reiterates that these kinds of cyber attacks have been going on for years. Instead of alarming ourselves, we should treat this new reality as a reminder that we need to tidy up our cyber defences. 

We are all targets of cyber attacks because we form part of someone’s supply chain, explains Hai. Enemies always like to attack the weakest link because they’re the ones that aren’t generally prepared for a war. Think about the last time you received a phishing email with a clickable link from a reputable organisation you are involved in. 

Cyber attribution - where you know who the malicious actor is in an attack - can be useful in some scenarios because it can act as a type of reconnaissance, explains Vaughan. It enables you to anticipate what will happen next and where you need to focus your attention. 

However, Michelle emphasises that attributing attacks is not a one-size-fits-all approach because cyber is contextual. This is why Australian small business owners may be directly targeted more than government or big businesses. Therefore, it’s vital that all levels of business have cyber security measures in place, because ‘it’s small actions that can have big impacts,’ says Vaughan.

The main problem in cyber is scaling security down. Government agencies and banks have very structured, complex and expensive cyber control measures. This presents the opportunity for Australian startups to take all of that and scale it down for a small business that is operating on a restricted budget. 

In the meantime, Hai suggests small business owners start implementing an affordable cyber plan that ‘prepares their business as if it’s going to be attacked tomorrow.’ They can do this by:

Buying cyber insurance (cheaper than other forms of insurance!)

Enabling authentication, especially MFA (multi-factor authentication)

WHAT'S HAPPENING?

News, Events and Space Hire

Stone & Chalk and AustCyber have merged.

Autonomous Vehicles

A Hyper-connected World 5G and Smart Cities

DNA-based Performance Expert Helps S&C Tackle Uncertainty With Confidence

Extended Reality

The Future of Loyalty

Meet Stone & Chalk Resident: Akshat Sondhi Co-Founder of Kribb

Winners announced for the 2020 Finnies Awards

How Gobbill’s fraud detection component can help prevent your business from being scammed during COVID

How digital sales platforms make buying property better

Positioning your Board Advisors for Success

Lessons learned from helping build Australia's fastest-growing tech company

Cyberwarfare Series #1 Coming to Terms with Australia’s Cyberthreat

The Disruptors of Property Management

Stone & Chalk Launch Capital Raising Guide for Startups

PropTech and Post-Covid Recovery

Lessons on AI and the Future of Work

The Minister for FinTech discusses the COVID-19 recovery for startups and scaleups with Stone & Chalk

Stone & Chalk Residents Gobbill and Airpay FinTech embed bill payments in Chinese media App

Stone & Chalk waives membership fees

SECURE
YOUR
SPACE

EVENT LISTINGS

Tour of Stone & Chalk Startup Hub and Lot Fourteen

International Women's Day Breakfast Adelaide

Stone & Chalk's International Women's Day Melbourne Breakfast

Stone & Chalk's International Women's Day Sydney Breakfast

WHAT'S HAPPENING?

News, Events and Space Hire

Stone & Chalk and AustCyber have merged.

Autonomous Vehicles

A Hyper-connected World 5G and Smart Cities

DNA-based Performance Expert Helps S&C Tackle Uncertainty With Confidence

Extended Reality

The Future of Loyalty

Meet Stone & Chalk Resident: Akshat Sondhi Co-Founder of Kribb

Winners announced for the 2020 Finnies Awards

How Gobbill’s fraud detection component can help prevent your business from being scammed during COVID

How digital sales platforms make buying property better

Positioning your Board Advisors for Success

Lessons learned from helping build Australia's fastest-growing tech company

Cyberwarfare Series #1 Coming to Terms with Australia’s Cyberthreat

The Disruptors of Property Management

Stone & Chalk Launch Capital Raising Guide for Startups

PropTech and Post-Covid Recovery

Lessons on AI and the Future of Work

The Minister for FinTech discusses the COVID-19 recovery for startups and scaleups with Stone & Chalk

Stone & Chalk Residents Gobbill and Airpay FinTech embed bill payments in Chinese media App

Stone & Chalk waives membership fees

SECUREYOURSPACE

EVENT LISTINGS

Tour of Stone & Chalk Startup Hub and Lot Fourteen

International Women's Day Breakfast Adelaide

Stone & Chalk's International Women's Day Melbourne Breakfast

Stone & Chalk's International Women's Day Sydney Breakfast

SECURE
YOUR
SPACE