Sydney, Australia. Home to the Sydney Harbour Bridge and Opera House, the Sydney Swans, the world-renowned Bondi Beach, and now the first ever Startup Grind Chapter in Australia. You might be excused into thinking that all the excitement and innovation that occurs in the world of technology only happens in Silicon Valley and that a local tech community in Sydney even exists. Successful technology companies such as Atlassian, 99 Dresses, BigCommerce, Startmate, Shoes of Prey, Roamz, all call Sydney home.
A couple of months ago I attended a Startup Grind event in Silicon Valley and was blown away that a community event could attract some 250 like-minded people all wanting to connect and help each other change the world in their own unique way. After a series of back-and-forths due to delayed flights and busy diaries we were finally able to sit down with Derek over breakfast and explain that amazing things were happening down under, and that a community event such as Startup Grind would be welcome.
Fast forward two months and Startup Grind Sydney is set to host its first speaker, Jonathan Barouch, founder and CEO of Roamz, a location-based app that works to provide you interesting and relevant recommendations by pulling in the social feeds of friends and key influencers nearby. Think serendipity, and think of all those times you missed certain events or things to do by simply being at the wrong place at the wrong time. Jonathan is no stranger to the entrepreneurial world having a started his first internet business 'Fast Flowers' back in 1999 at the ripe age of 17. He since sold the business in 2010, and in true entrepreneurial form began another venture.
Today Roamz HQ, is entirely based out of a cleverly converted restaurant/bar in Sydney's Surry Hills. Surry Hills is Sydney's version of the SOMA neighbourhood in San Francisco, full of hipsters and 20 and 30-something year-olds trying to change the world in fashion, art, design, music and now technology.
Startup Grind Sydney is different to the conventional "tech meetups" already running in the city in that we want to provide entrepreneurs, enthusiasts and dreamers an environment where you can hear from high-pedigree speakers ranging from successful entrepreneurs, venture capital investors, and local ministers hoping to connect, inspire and educate the next big entrepreneur. The format is simple, chat for an hour, take questions from the audience, and network, network, network.
Startup Grind Sydney hosts Jonathan Barouch, founder and CEO of Roamz, Tuesday 18th September from 6pm at the Vodafone HQ offices in North Sydney:
Join us on Facebook and on Meetup and get your limited tickets here.
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About the author:
Arj Selvam
In 2009 Arj created his own eponymous fashion brand and presented his collection at the Australian Fashion Week in 2011. Currently Arj is developing a social-commerce platform set to disrupt the way fashion is broadcast and sold online.
Arj is currently a strategy Analyst at Vodafone Australia and previously worked at Rio Tinto and BP. Arj graduated with honours degrees in B. Eng (Mechanical) and B. Com (Corporate Finance, Investment Finance) from The University of Western Australia in 2008.