Creating Synergy Podcast #52 – George Freney, Founding Partner of 11point2 on Entrepreneurial Mindset and Accelerating Worthwhile Ideas
George Freney is an experienced entrepreneur who is passionate and curious about how rapidly accelerating technology, combined with changing human behaviour, creates challenges and opportunities for people, businesses and governments.
George is fascinated with the idea lifecycle and the best way to generate worthwhile ideas, quickly assess if they are worth testing and validating if they are worth launching.
George has been involved with many technology-centric businesses as an investor, advisor, founder, director and executive.
In 2007 he helped found conTgo a market-leading mobile travel technology platform that was sold in 2013.
In 2012, he co-founded booodl to solve a complex problem for physical retail businesses. George led the company from initial idea through 5 rounds of fundraising, securing strategic customers and partnerships, multiple strategies and product pivots and the decision to stop pursuing the mission.
George is now a founding partner of 11point2, a boutique advisory and technology lab focused on helping people, businesses and government validate worthwhile ideas and co-founder and executive director of Space Machines Company, an Australian Space Transport and Logistics provider and a member of the Flinders University Governing Council Audit & Risk Committee.
George has previously held board positions with the South Australian Government Entrepreneurship Advisory Board and was a director of the RAA and member of the Investment Committee.
George holds an Honours Degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Adelaide, completed a Post Graduate Diploma in Applied Finance and Investment and is a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.
In this episode, George and Daniel touch on his journey to where he finds himself today from studying Chemical Engineering to unpacking his experiences through his Entrepreneurial exploits, to what does the start-up mindset look like and its importance in uncovering and validating ideas.
Georges core philosophy is "those that are able, are obligated to do" and his belief that "uncovering ideas that are worthwhile is an art".
We also spend we spent a lot of time talking about the start-up world and the decision that all entrepreneurs fear: The idea of closing down or not pursuing a business.
George shared with us the thought process he went through and how he came to make the tough decision of liquidating and what was to "fail the right way" and all the lessons he took away from this experience.
Books mentioned in this podcast:
- Can't Hurt Me - Master Your Mind and Defy the Odds - By David Goggins
- Range - How Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World - By David Epstein
- Extreme Ownership - By: Jocko Willink, Leif Babin
- Doom - The Politics of Catastrophe By Niall Ferguson
Where to find George Freney.
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