The Advisory Board with Megan Flamer & Alan Jones

Nick Gonios is leading a venture, Circulist to build a tomorrow where products are made to be used rather than thrown away. For this episode, he joins Alan and Megan on how to reduce your business's carbon footprint. He is a seasoned technology executive and entrepreneur with 30 years’ experience across software technology ventures & early-stage tech investments.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

How do you find a community either online or in real life when you are starting something new or have moved to a new city? Sabrina Zeng is the Head of Ecosystems Fishburners, Australia's largest technology startup co-working space and she gives you some excellent tips on how to find like minded people.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Explore the challenges startups face when working with large companies, including lengthy sales cycles and procurement processes. Learn about efficient communication with investors, identifying internal advocates, and building relationships based on trust. Discover strategies for managing business cycles, delivering value, and positioning startups as trustworthy solution providers in the B2B enterprise sector.

The big question how do you get customers to pay for your service? Phil Hayes St Clair is serial entrepreneur who focuses on the science and art of selling. Dear Advisory Board, We’re a team of 3 with an education platform and we’ve been pretty good with our growth in our first year. I now think that maybe we just got lucky with our early sales, because while we are all making twice as many calls and doing loads of demos, we are just not converting sales. Add to that we are struggling to service the customers we have because we are so desperately chasing new business.How do we build and maintain a sales pipeline, and probably most importantly, how the eff do we convert people to paying customers? We’ve abolished our free offerings but even if all our current customers re-sign with us, we’re going to be in trouble by the end of the year unless we start signing deals. Help?! FROM: Always Be Closing See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

How do you part ways with a business partner and how old is too old to begin a start-up? 'My co-founder and I have built several companies together, but in the past year, it has become apparent we aren’t working well together on our latest venture. We’re short with each other, we’re frustrated and not seeing eye to eye. The worst part is we’re fighting often in front of the staff, and tensions in the office are high. We’ve floated the idea of working separately, but I think it’s better for us to go our own ways, at least for this project. How do I have this conversation with my co-founder? Right now he just feels like a massive asshole, but I know deep down he’s a good guy. How can we break up well? FROM: Breaking up is hard to do See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

How can you get your start-up onto an accelerator program? That and some advice on how to turn your digtial interests into a job. 'Dear Advisory Board, My founders and I have been applying for accelerator programs all over Australia and we have never gotten in – and we’ve applied to all of them! We have continued growth, we are a solid team, and we’ve been going for a couple of years! We’ve finally been asked to join a bootcamp, and we desperately want to perform well so we can take our business to the next level and get into the main accelerator – How can we put our best foot forward and make sure we don’t miss out again? FROM: Always the Bridesmaids'See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Tips for pitching your startup idea effectively, including the importance of storytelling and simplicity in presentations. Explore the evolution of personal branding in the tech industry, mastering the art of pitching for different audiences, and the significance of authentic enthusiasm in connecting with your audience.

If you are building something online, then surely coding is essential? That's not necessarily true, according to Lana Weal, founder of Market Mindfully See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode, Megan and Alan discuss the challenges of hiring and championing women in the male-dominated start-up world. They address the struggles of diversity efforts, eliminating biases in job ads, and empowering women in startup culture. The chapter also explores transforming weaknesses into strengths, challenging misconceptions, and championing women in startups with success stories of tech companies like Canva and Atlassian.

Tim Brewer is Co-Founder and CEO of Functionly and for the opening episode of the podcast, he helps answer the following letter. 'Dear Advisory Board, We just finished our first accelerator program! We’re still pretty early stage but we got some great feedback from our Demo Day pitch and several new customers from that launch alone. The product people are asking for is still a year or so away: we are just two founders, and we are going to need to build like crazy to grab our market. We have some money to support us, and Im still working on the side to pay rent, but we need to fundraise and fast to make this dream a reality. How fast can we raise capital?' FROM: Feel The Need For Speed.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.