New Horizons

It’s always hard to know when to move on. Whether it’s on a business deal, a side project or a relationship – to choose the right time to shift your focus onto new things is really hard.

I’ve spent a good couple of weeks over the Christmas break reviewing most things in my life and working out what I want to do in the coming years. I don’t like to plan too far out, but I’ll be finishing up with uni at the end of the year so I need to start figuring out what I want to do next.

Some things I’m still mulling over in my mind but I have made a few decisions that I think will set me up for some of my bigger life goals. One of these is to nail uni this year so I can graduate and keep my employment options open, another is to learn more about product management and finally to reduce my involvement in projects which remove focus from the startups I’m involved with.

It’s this last point that is the most important and one of the main reasons I’ve decided to resign from the Hive. I’ve had an amazing time running the Hive with James, Ross, Sandra and Anna over the last couple of years, it’s been really rewarding for me both personally and professionally. To see the entrepreneurial community grow in Melbourne to having 250 people at our last event, to be there at the start of the Hive in Brisbane and Sydney.

The Hive still has a lot of great potential and I look forward to seeing where everyone involved takes it. For me I’ve achieved what I set out to do and I’ve decided it’s time to move on to the next challenge.

I plan to stay a part of the community though I might take a couple of months worth of events off in the short term. I also hope to be a part of a couple of more tech-focused events throughout the year. Watch this space.

I’m moving on, looking towards new horizons.

Ned

Awesome Melbourne Tech Startups

There are a lot of really great things happening in the Australian startup scene and particularly in Melbourne. I thought I’d create a list of some of the more interesting, young and web-based startups. Some are bigger than others but it’s sometimes hard to know where to draw the line.

99Designs – Crowd-sourced design.

Aconex – Project management software for the construction industry

Adioso – Airfare search engine

AgileBench – Agile project management

Assess’d – Competency based recruitment testing

Corkboard – Email based file sharing

Creately – Online diagramming and design

BaseEstate – Real estate search engine

BinaryPlex – Twitter analytics and data mining. See Tribalytic

Docoloco – Local business reviews.

DPhoto – Simple online photo sharing and backup.

Edublogs – Blogging platform for students and teachers.

Event Arc – Automated ticketing and online registration for events

Intelimail – Email marketing

I Vote For Art – Online art community and marketplace

JebHunt - Job application manager

Jodoro – Collaborative modelling tool.

Merspi – Social learning tool for VCE students

MyTVR – Online television recording/viewing

Nodecity – Non-profit wireless networks

Orgnition – Non-profit organisation management.

QMCODES – Mobile marketing

Red Bubble - Online art community and marketplace

Rentoid – Rental industry aggregator

Retail Me Not – Discount store aggregator

Service Central – Australias #1 online services marketplace.

SimpleSponsorship – Sponsorship management

Skitch – Screenshot and collaboration tool

Smart Energy Groups – Energy awareness communities.

Stateless Systems – makers of RetailMeNot, BugMeNot etc

StoreCrowd – Discount store aggregator

Suburb View – Real Estate search tool

Tribalytic – Twitter analytics to filter the noise and focus on the topics.

XHTMLised – PSD to XHTML service

Yabble – Local business reviews

These are just some of the awesome startups coming out of Melbourne. I’m sure there are plenty more on their way and some that I’ve missed.

Who else should I add?

Ned

UPDATE: 8/04/2010 Added DPhoto, Smart Energy Groups and EventArc