Mixed bag

February 4, 2012 Leave a Comment

I’ve been meaning to write a few updates and announcements over the past few weeks but things have been a bit hectic. So, for the sake of getting it done – I’m doing a mixed bag post now.

The Fetch London

First up, The Fetch officially launched in London. That’s right – we’re now covering what’s on in the digital, business and creative communities in the UK, and oh my, there is so much! It’s been fun ‘armchair eventing’ and perusing all the amazing things to do, especially with unique offerings like de Botton’s The School of Life. I’m pleased to be working with fellow pom/Oz-heritage mashup Chloe Nicholls on this. Check it out if you’re a resident or in town visiting –>

Dumbo Feather

Secondly, I’ve started collaborating and working with Dumbo Feather magazine. The name leaves everything to the imagination, but in a nutshell it’s a publication and community around extraordinary ideas and the extraordinary people behind them. Originally started by Kate Bezar, Dumbo has now been ‘passed on’ to the great team at Small Giants – a company founded in 2007 that focuses on and supports social enterprises. The beautiful thing about the magazine’s content is that it’s largely long-form interviews, something I find incredibly refreshing online. To get a taste, delve into some recent interviews with Chris Anderson (curator of TED) and Brené Brown (a grounded academic and vulnerability thought-leader). I’m sinking my teeth into their digital offering and online community, and will be experimenting with everything from Kindle Singles (check out Alain de Botton’s here) to video stories and Instagram campaigns. Follow along at @dumbofeather and /dumbofeather.

Here’s a pic of the latest mag’s cover:

Tripping 2012

I’m off again to San Francisco next week and London in April. Part of the San Francisco trip will be to immerse myself in the Valley’s culture and get some feedback from investors and industry peers about The Fetch. I’m currently refining the core offering but really need to have these conversations to take it to the next level. Part of the trip is to also get to some rather cool conferences:

If you happen to be at any of the above or would like me to cover any specific elements –  say hi or ping me on Twitter/email and I’ll do my best with updates. Content will be published here and on Dumbo Feather.

Startup World

The inspiring Hermione Way of Newspepper and The Next Web has initiated a global startup competition called Startup World. Much like competing on American Idol, the competition will be held in 36 cities world-wide, with the regional winners flying to Silicon Valley to battle it out in front of a panel of judges to be crowned the world’s best startup. I’m an advisor along with some other peeps, so check it out and shoot any questions through. There’ll be more updates re: Australian dates soon.

“Whilst there’s certainly advantages to building startups in Silicon Valley due to the sheer amount of entrepreneurs, venture capital and access to talent, startups and entrepreneurship is a global story.”

Tumblr

Not really much to report here but I’m totally three years to late to Tumblr and absolutely loving it. I’m unsurprisingly katekendall.tumblr.com.

Press

And before I bore you to tears, there’s been a few media features I haven’t mentioned here yet. For completeness on this mixed-bag update, here they are:

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Enjoy the rest of your weekend and keep on fighting the good fight!

KK

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Attention Australian startup founders

February 3, 2012 9 Comments

Someone was recently chatting to me about the lack of awareness of Australian startups by VCs (even local ones), with poor national press coverage doing us no favours. I agree with this to a large extent and as result have been posting more about our startups here and also over on The Fetch Blog. However, I also think Australian startups need to stand up and own the fact that they’re Australian. I think we can often be obsessed with trying to appear global and appeal to certain markets, like the US, rather than pushing our own story and roots. What I’ve witnessed in other startup communities around the globe is that they have a real pride and bond around origin – particularly their city. New York is perhaps the best example of this – and likely a result of the ever-present dominance from the West Coast. ‘Internet Made in NYC‘, which lists all the NYC-based startups is one of the most useful startup resources to have. It’s visited by job seekers, journos and investors alike.

You can read more about the list in the FAQ at the bottom but the following will give you an idea about the structure.

“What do these companies have in common?

  1. They are mostly coded in nyc
  2. They have 10K+ people use or visit their site monthly
  3. They display “Made in NYC” as prominently as its copyright — and it links to this page (http://nytm.org/made). [Optionally, (a) spell out “New York City” and/or (b) precede with an adverb/verb]“

No denying where Skillshare is based

In Australia, I believe a crucial step in evolving our ecosystem is bonding cross-city and providing transparency around who’s here. We should create our own version of ‘Made in NYC’ as ‘Made in Oz’, and pop links in footers everywhere! It’s good to see leaders like 99designs have kicked things off.

99designs is "Proudly Australia" (although only on the .com.au domain)

Perhaps we could even add some green and gold into the mix… ;)

So cheesy it's back in fashion

And one for good measure – 6wunderkinder wearing the badge:

A proud Berlin-based startup 6 Wunderkinder (check out Wunderlist & Wunderkit)

Thoughts, commentary, discussion?

Have a good weekend.

Cheers,

KK

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Community management workshop take two

January 15, 2012 2 Comments

In celebration of the annual Community Manager Appreciation Day coming up on 23 January and after a pretty amazing sell-out 30-person event last November, I’m going to be running another workshop to discuss current happenings in community management. I’m off to San Francisco on the 9 February again so am hoping Tuesday 7 February date suits people!

I really enjoyed the discussion we had on the night so thanks to those who came to the first workshop and yes, an email will be coming your way shortly with some follow-up material! It was also great to get a feel of the level and background of the audience. Most of the people in the room were senior full-time social media and community managers working across a mix of government, non-profit, retail, academia, enterprise, startups and small biz. Nadia from ElliotOwl did a write-up of the event, which you can check out here. There’s also some lovely feedback below, which might help convince you to come hang with me at the next event. :)

The workshop’s agenda can be viewed here and will cover both strategical big-picture stuff and detail-oriented tools and tips. I also include some of the research I did in my master’s thesis so there’s deep insights, stats and charts involved too.

To RSVP and book your ticket, please head over to Eventbrite: http://communitymanagementworkshop2.eventbrite.com

Thanks and hope you can make it!

Kate

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Five more Australian startups to watch

December 27, 2011 3 Comments

Following on from the first post titled ‘Five Australian startups to watch‘, I’ve now researched some more startups that’ve piqued my interest coming into the New Year. Part of this series is to highlight great stuff happening in our community and to bring awareness through link love to those innovating and creating in Oz. As per my last write-up, I’d like to stress this list is independent – I’ve only met two founders below and pick startups based on a loose-’watchability’ criteria. So without ado…

1. Kaggle

You know you’re off to a good start when a company has a CrunchBase profile! Here’s Kaggle’s. Last month, the now-SF-based startup raised $11 million in Series A from Index And Khosla Ventures – a promising and hefty amount for an Australian startup. Founded in 2010, this site hosts competitions to find analytical/statistical and predictive modelling solutions. Not dissimilar in concept from the multiplying logo-contest sites, Kaggle rewards big data scientists with thousands of dollars in exchange for the IP they provide on the challenges. Unless you’re a PhD from a quantitive field or in need of access to the collective Kaggle community brain, it’s unlikely you’ll ever use or take notice of this startup on a consumer level. Brands like Nasa and Microsoft will and do though.

Founder(s): @antgoldbloom
Funding: Series A of $11M

2. Pygg

Pygg is a recently-launched app based out of Pollenizer in Sydney that allows you to pay someone in a fun and social way. It’s quite simple – after you’ve registered with Pygg and integrated with PayPal, you can pay another user via Twitter and email. The service currently charges $2.50 (inc. GST) when you fill up your account, which is just a little more than the PayPal fees – it’ll be interesting to see how the business model evolves over time.

Founder(s): @pollenizer
Funding: Though Pollenizer’s fund

3. Open Shed

Following in the collaborative consumption style mainstreamed by the likes of Airbnb, Open Shed is a peer-to-peer marketplace allowing people to rent stuff off each other. The wheels were set in motion a year ago today after one of the founders saw #collcons leader Rachel Botsman give a talk at TEDxSydney and referenced such sites in the US and UK. Seeing the opportunity for a local equivalent, Open Shed launched a few months ago and has since won $10K from Nokia’s In Hindsight competition. It’ll be interesting to see how the concept goes since we’ve seen rental sites before in Oz through Rentoid and one of Angel Cube Melb’s startups has moved from renting to tasks.

Founder(s): @_lisafox & Duncan Stewart
Funding: Bootstrapped

4. SneakingDuck

Recently launched by the founders of Shoes of Prey, Sneaking Duck follows a similar online retail trajectory – this time as a glasses and eyewear version. I know what you’re thinking, who buys glasses without trying them on first and making sure the prescription’s right?! Well, the ex-Googler team have successfully done it before with hard-to-fit shoes and seem to have most things covered in their FAQs. These guys also know how to bootstrap, check out this informative post on funding as well as some of the other golden tidbits on their blog. Oh, and as the popularity of non (plano) lenses is proving, you don’t even need imperfect vision to get a pair!

Founder(s): @mikeee, @jodiefox, @mmmichaelfox & @ausmark
Funding: Self-funded/bootstrapped

5. Barkles

When I was in Berlin this year, I met up with the Ashton- and Madonna-backed app Amen, which touts itself as the best and worst of everything. So when I first saw the Melbourne-based Barkles, I thought it might be similar in the way that a user posts something other users agree or disagree with. However Barkles is predominantly web-based and allows for lengthier discussion on each statement. While some of the more accessible ’dogfights’ like ‘Is Glee shit?’ or ‘Is Christmas a horrific, commercialized excuse of a celebration?‘ get your attention, in-depth and highly-engaged debate could make this site a long-term player. Add a bit of Quora’s tone to it and you’ll have something really powerful in this space.

Founder(s): @diesellaws & @jaydwhiting
Funding: Bootstrapped

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Working on something you’d like to share? Email me.

Cheers,

KK

P.S. Please feel free to rejuice this post when people are back at their desks mid-January.

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Sydney’s startup ecosystem visualised

December 19, 2011 3 Comments

I’ve recently started posting about what’s going on in Australia’s startup community, both here and on The Fetch blog. This involves regular featuring of startups that are piquing my interest and also some curatorial pieces on the coworking spaces and as of today, a list on the incubators and accelerators across the country.

There’s been a promising response and while I need to add a few more in, I’ve just received an amazing map of Sydney’s startup scene thanks to Sebastien Eckersley-Maslin (founder of BlueChilli). I love me some public-transport-esque #mapporn… check it out below and/or click to enlarge. Nice work guys! Would love to see one created in other cities.

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Melbourne’s Top 100

December 8, 2011 11 Comments

Be sure to grab a copy or peek of The Age’s (melbourne) magazine tomorrow as the annual Top 100 list for 2011 is out and a panel of judges deemed me worthy for inclusion!

The Top 100 (which is apparently not ordered but for the record, I’m number 66) is a compilation of Melbourne’s most influential, inspirational, provocative and creative people for 2011. This year includes everyone from shadow ministers, philanthropists and authors, to basketballers, retailers and architects. I’m in there for creating The Fetch and Socialmelb, and it’s feels all warm and fuzzy to see my dedication and work in the digital communities recognised. I’d obviously like to thank everyone who’s been involved with either endeavour this year and beyond as I couldn’t do it without you. It’s such a pleasure to know and be around amazing people, and I’m truly grateful for the support and company. This coverage will be a nice opportunity to drive awareness about what’s happening in our industries and also a great driver for making what we offer better. It somehow makes every late night or weekend spent plugging away at my MacBook organising stuff worth it and I’m now wondering what I could do if I freed up my workload to focus more.

I’m particularly excited about where my new venture Cloud Peeps could go with helping people connect and find work/projects (beyond community management).

So, stay tuned, thanks again and here’s to 2012.

KK

P.S. If you’re new here, and interested in what’s happening in Melbourne’s digital, business and creative communities (events, jobs, local profiles, spaces and more), please subscribe at http://thefetch.org and follow us on @thefetchmelb.

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10 global women with gusto

November 27, 2011 12 Comments

Over the years, I’ve had to increasingly deal with the position of a somewhat budding public profile. This mainly started with some time editing Marketingmag.com.au and more recently with general digital commentary to a growing Twitter audience. I’m mainly stating this not to bang on about myself (#yawn) but because I’ve found it quite an interesting journey – especially as a woman. I feel as I’ve refined my beliefs, developed my voice and put myself out there, the more people either switch on or off. I’ve been pondering whether I should continue to express myself more and my opinions, or say less. I looked around me and noticed most people were in the non-polarising camp. I then thought about women that regularly reach me who have a strong fearless character. I therefore present you with a list (in no particular order) of passionate women (with a digital media slant) who really say something.

Penelope Trunk
Twitter: @penelopetrunk
Role: Founder of Brazen Careerist and blogger
Based: Some barn in the US
Why? The queen of unhindered commentary, I’ve been following Penelope’s posts for a while now and have become completely adjusted to her talking about work woes, Asperger’s Syndrome, miscarriages in the office, libido and relationships plus more. She’s not afraid to leave any topic untouched and sums it up with: “Most blogs suck because people write what they think others want to read instead of what they themselves want to read.”

Rachel Hills
Twitter: @rachelhills
Role: Freelance journalist, feminist blogger and upcoming author
Based: London via Sydney
Why? I instantly resonated with Rachel when I first started reading her work. She takes a balanced and modern approach to gender issues with a pop culture slant. She’s young, relevant, intelligent and Australian – a must-follow. I hope to enjoy another London-based high tea with her soon!

Cindy Gallop
Twitter: @cindygallop
Role: TEDster, entrepreneur, ex-adland
Based: New York
Why? Cindy’s Twitter bio really says it all: “I like to blow shit up. I am the Michael Bay of business.” She’s the ultimate free spirit and role model for women’s change and advancement. She created MakeLoveNotPorn (launched at TED2009) and IfWeRanTheWorld. She’s also excellent at curating the best women-related news and articles in her social channels.

Laurel Papworth
Twitter: @silkcharm
Role: Social media and communities consultant
Based: Sydney
Why? Laurel has been working in the social media space before it was the social media space, and as a result has quite the profile. I really admire Laurel, mostly for her resilience and stamina. There’s been a few times now when I’ve randomly checked Twitter and noticed an onslaught of negativity addressed at her and she still just gets on with it.

Meg Pickard
Twitter: @megpickard
Role: Digital Engagement for Guardian News & Media and creative geek
Based: London
Why? I heard Meg talk at the Media09 Conference in Sydney and was hooked. Her work seemed like an absolute dream job at a time when I was at the intersection of digital, publishing and communities. I recommend reading Meg’s personal and professional blogs as I love the style, tone, content and photography, and I’m sure it’s subconsciously influenced my own.

Kara Swisher
Twitter: @karaswisher
Role: Founder and co-executive editor at AllThingsDigital
Based: SFBA
Why? This one probably doesn’t need much elaboration… Kara’s incredibly influential as one of the tech community’s most experienced and heralded reporters, plus she’s a gay female in a straight male dominated industry. Respect.

Angie Chang & Shaherose Charania
Twitter: @women2
Role: Cofounders of female-founder focused organisation, Women2
Based: SFBA
Why? Continuing on with the tech theme, this duo pretty much created the only female network I’ve ever found useful and relevant. Each doing cool stuff in their own right, they continually give back with their work on Women2 and it’s great to see them be recognised by FastCompany, among others, as two of the biggest women players in tech. And yes, I know this breaks my list numbering!

Jolie O’Dell
Twitter: @jolieodell
Role: Writer at VentureBeat
Based: SFBA
Why? Having worked as a tech journalist for ReadWriteWeb, Mashable and now VentureBeat, Jolie’s had a stellar career. Plus she’s also studying computer science, which means extra cred! However, what stands out for me is her candid and reflective nature in her personal blog posts. Here she discusses everything from productivity and alcoholism to journeys into C#. She’s also brilliant on camera.

Rachel Botsman
Twitter: @rachelbotsman
Role: Co-author of Collaborative Consumption: What’s Mine Is Yours
Based: Sydney
Why? I saw Rachel speak at TEDxSydney 2010 and was inspired by her every word. She’s written a book, nurtured a movement, joined the Collab Fund, regularly unearths upcoming social businesses and has a beautiful new son. I really respect how she balances male and female leadership qualities with ease and blends thinking with doing.

Hermione Way
Twitter: @hermioneway
Role: Video Director for TNW, Founder Newspepper and Techfluff.TV
Based: SFBA
Why? A self-described “Natural born enthusiast for life”, I met Hermoine through the lovely Chloe Nicholls and instantly found her carefree attitude addictive. She’s social, speaks her mind and an entrepreneur in her own right.

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So, who do you admire for voice and strength? I’d love to read about more women in our everyday networks, so feel free to replicate, post and share.

Thanks,

KK

P.S. While on the topic of women’s evolution, you might like my post from last year titled: ‘Lifehacks for women‘.

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Welcome to Brisbane’s fetch

November 23, 2011 Leave a Comment

Another post to briefly announce we’ve launched The Fetch in Brisbane. For those not aware what the fetch is The Fetch, I’ll recount some details…

It’s basically a what’s on guide to your city’s business, digital and creative communities. It goes out fortnightly (or ‘biweekly’ for those in the US) and curates all the meetups, events, industry news, must-read links, local profiles, coworking spaces and more happening in town. We’re already covering Melbourne and Sydney, and I’m very happy to be working with Lani Pauli for Brisbane and Queensland surrounds. If you’re from the area, be sure to check it out. I’d really appreciate your feedback and submissions as well – always looking to create a more useful product slash publication.

We don’t really focus on web delivery (email, social and mobile is where it’s at for us to start) so follow along on Facebook, Twitter and subscribe if you live or are visiting beautiful Queensland. Cheers!

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Transience

November 23, 2011 5 Comments

There is nothing permanent except change. ~ Heraclitus

I’ve been meaning to write a post about location independence for a while now… mainly discussing how I’ve been combining work with travel in the last two years and how a PO Box is now my official residence in Australia after recently selling a lot of my stuff. However, I’m going to focus on transience and impermanence, rather than the resulting actions.

You see, I’ve been pondering about how my life has been evolving and the role of the digital world in facilitating this change. I’ve noticed my outer world isn’t as simple or straightforward as it once was – I don’t have a well documented formula to replicate (hello 9-5) and I can’t look around me for guidance. After all, I only know a handful of people able to freely choose their current location, especially at short notice. In a way, it feels those of us experimenting with these shifts are pioneers – prototyping plausible existences in public forums for what’s hopefully the benefit of others. And don’t get me wrong, I understand this position is a rarity and somewhat idealistic in approach – I certainly won’t crave this lifestyle if and when I’m a mother!

Firstly, I believe transience is coming about due to changes in our work, which are largely a result of advances in technology. As soon as flexibility and freedom from a physical world arrive, we are given the opportunity to decide on location for ourselves. I first got a taste for this flexibility when I started connecting with web developers – specifically the Ruby on Rails community. Here, these well-paid, mostly-male, mid-20′s programmers were deciding when and where they wanted to work. They seemingly had no problem travelling all over the world for some boutique conference or camp to enjoy some in-person time and global learning. While I wasn’t about to run away, clock up activity on my GitHub account and learn a cucumber isn’t just a vegetable – I was wondering how I could hack my life to make something similar work for me.

Working in a progressive area and on the web, I was fortunate to mash up a situation that’s allowed me to increase my awareness of the globe by seeing more of it. Working with companies that get it (especially travel-related) and creating something yourself has helped me to sustain my activities. Through these endeavours, I’ve journeyed through North America, Europe, Asia and Australasia in the past 12 months. I’m writing this post from a peaceful and tropical Port Douglas in Far North Queensland, before heading back to Melbourne via a Brisbane Fetch-launching stopover. I doubt I’d have seen as much as I have without having to quit everything to take time out for purely travelling.

One of the things I love about transience is it allows me to change and be agile in my existence. I feel like I’ve been growing so much as an individual in recent times, that having the freedom to take opportunities as they come or just be has allowed me to live more authentically in time and space. One of the things I don’t love so much is the impact of transience on relationships. I’m a fierce loyalist to my friends and circle, and it saddens me when I have to let go of a relationship. In my ideal world, we could all nurture each other and give attention to every connection. However when you’re on the go, the cherished face-to-face interaction dwindles and people soon forget about those not close by. In our often status-update-focused worlds, it’s now easy to have ambient awareness without ever having to ask a “How are you?”.

Above all, transience is about having no fear about what the future may hold. I understand what I am subject to now can change and change quickly, and what I thought were anchors and stability, gone. We’re all a target of this and even a 15-year commitment to one company doesn’t offer much security in the current economy. It seems I’m able to still arrive at the place I wanted to be though – with thanks to a vision and a rough plan. My energy and motivation levels flourish without having to fight an alternate path too.

The next steps for me involve embodying inner impermanence as a lifelong concept while returning to longer stints with my outer location. Thank you for listening and here’s to upcoming adventures and explorative living!

Kate

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Community management workshop

November 1, 2011 Leave a Comment

EDIT: I’m running another workshop on Tuesday 7 February!

I’ve got a backlog of posts to come including a new Startups to Watch list, some thoughts on location transience and more info on my new project but for now, I wanted to share a workshop happening later this month.

After a whirlwind few years of managing social media communities in the publishing (or ‘audiences’ as the industry can’t stop referring to it) and travel arenas, I’m keen to share my learnings. Especially since the title seems to be popping up a lot of late. I particularly want to discuss the findings from my Grand Tour this year and what’s happening in the innovation and startup clusters of major cities from a community standpoint. The workshop will run for three hours and will cover changes in social media and online communities in recent times and what leading brands, especially in the startup and small business arenas (such as Airbnb and Instagram), are doing well. The full info is included below. Check it out.

In a collaborative setting, you’ll discuss:
  • What community managers are tasked with day-to-day
  • What role do community managers play in marketing and broader business goals
  • What skillsets do community managers need to have and develop
  • How to manage the blurring lines between personal and professional
  • How community management is moving beyond the days of forum moderation
  • Techniques for switching off (a rarity for CMs!)
  • Short- and long-term community engagement
  • The importance of vision, agility and getting things done
  • The role of offline in growing online
  • A case study about growing a community from scratch
  • Who are the community managers in Australia
  • Resources and networks for community managers
  • Who is hiring in Australia
  • Opportunities for consulting- and freelance-based work
  • What are renumeration expectations in client-side and agency settings

Who should attend:

  • Professional community managers and social media peeps looking to further their knowledge and awareness
  • Individuals interested in working in community management and social media
  • Individuals keen on building the local community management community (double c’ whammy!)
  • Entrepreneurs keen on exploring how to build community around their brand or product
  • Learning geeks who couldn’t think of anything more fun to do on a Monday night

This event will first run face-to-face in Melbourne’s CBD (venue TBC) with the chance to take it to Sydney in early 2012.

The attendee fee basically covers the cost of the venue and putting the content together. I was thinking we could get dinner or drinks afterwards if people aren’t too tired!

Sound interesting/applicable? Book over at Eventbrite!

http://communitymanagementworkshop.eventbrite.com

Thanks and hope you can make it!

Kate

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