Nano Community Tech: Recent Episodes
Sandeep Johal
Creating a community for tech startups in Australia to share how their technology is changing our lives for the better.
I had to opportunity to sit with Gabe Marzano, a cybersecurity specialists, to explore cybersecurity, its broad types and motivation behind the perpetrators.
Gabe began her journey in professional football with Perth Glory, Brisbane Roar and Melbourne Victory. She then became the first female to qualify as an Army Work Diver in the Australian Defence Force. Subsequently, she moved to cybersecurity in various leadership roles. She co-hosts the Dark Mode podcast which explores how technology improves our lives.
Key discussion points:
- Keep cybersecurity simple
- 3 main motivation behind hacking:
- Monetary gain
- Espionage
- Idealogical (psychological, neurological and ego)
- Black hat hackers continue to cause chaos
- Bastion Treptel - convicted criminal from a young age who became a black hat hacker but came to the ‘good side’ to consult on cybersecurity
- Ethics and values are constantly to the front to discern
- Biometrics will continue to lead the way to strengthening future of security
Connect with Gabe Marzano: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gabemarzano
Listen to Gabe’s podcast, Dark Mode: https://open.spotify.com/show/00E2Xf4RpYUa7bb4x8OhpI?si=rgVsqRJuQlWht00CMmZlow
In this episode Nga Nguyen, Founder of Portalstack, talks about the ways to enhance client experience for small or single-person service providers. He details:
- His background in serial entrepreneurship was the main driver behind Portalstack solving support solutions for small advisory services
- Portalstack as a client management and communication platform target service based businesses minimising manual processes
- How everyone needs to think about client friction from creative professionals to finance services.
- Eliminates manual processes so business service providers can focus on delivering the core business and access to data
- The trend these days is not about being ‘loyal’ to a company for entire careers but more about pursuing interests in multiple services
- Making informed decisions about service providers’ credibility potentially with competitive pricing
- End to end client engagement lifecycles make or break businesses especially start-ups
Great to see a Rugby Union team inspire the culture technology solution, Storyflik, in measuring culture in real-time - a real game changer. \Hish discusses all this and…
- Storyflik allows the systematic method to share stories to inspire
- Science behind story telling shows that it contributes to high performance
- Real time culture measurement and analytics
- Natural Language processing allows insights from the company website
- Bad culture could be in pockets within the the organisation
- Ultimately Storyflik is about creating engagement to inspire
- Organic understanding the unwritten policies and cultural aspects
- Useful when dealing with Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A)
- How we take our best stories and publish them?
- Storyflik started during the pandemic during a Melbourne Rebels Union rugby team session to bring different cultures together
- Real time data flow is a key strength
- Stories are shared because people want to and because they have to.
- Encouraging impactful stories
- Hish started his interest in technology from his background in technology consulting especially with digital transformation and change
- Experimentation, data and psychology drive Hish to improve Storyflik’s service offering
- Characteristics of trust and how this is being measure on lexical data sets
- People who get spoken about or who write the stories - these are interesting culture data points
- Gratitude in story telling improves relationships, culture and well-being
- The question remains: how can stories improve performance.
- Future direction of Storyflik: Find the brain chemistry of high performance and align that to storytelling
- In the future, we could be 3D printing our lunch while having a meeting in a drone in the middle of beautiful Yarra Valley
- Leverage the science behind storytelling to address the challenges of the future of work
- Organisations are studying appreciations and love languages to understand how people are appreciated
Joe remarked that his kids use technology less than him - yes I was surprised too.
In the first episode of 2022 of Tech Talk with Mates, Joe Drasin (Senior Director, University of Maryland, USA), discusses the impact of technology on different generations, work, his kids and more. Since technology is everywhere, does it reduce in novelty?
We also talked about:
- Joe’s love for technology started which started a long time ago
- Brought in 2022 New Year in Virtual Reality by connecting to the New York Times Square ball drop (in the comfort of home)
- Remembering the days when phone calls were exciting and text based chats were immersive
- Musing the use of Person Digital Assistants (PDA).
- Early adoption of technology is like the ‘design’ phase of a project
- Being on the ‘cutting edge’ is not as important any more as life demands (e.g. family, work etc) are prioritised
- Joe has noticed his kids are transitioning to the new ‘technology’ driven world faster than he ever did - but why?
- Change is speeding ahead and Joe feels like he has to constantly ‘catch up’
- Our generation is in that transition phase with one foot in traditional ways of doing things and the other in technological realm
- The Metaverse is not new and has been explored and implemented for decades
- Excited to see where VR heads with diverse uses in the future
- Imagines a future where dinner can be shared without being in the same place
- Joe’s kids, despite having technology all around them, still crave to meet their friends in person
- The debate of meeting online or in person continues to address full immersion of all the senses (e.g. smell etc.)
- Kids don’t have the same attachment to technology and have been observed to have the same novel attachment
- Ubiquitous technology is the future where we won’t need to think about the gadgets
- Older social media sites (e.g. Facebook) are of less interest to the newer generation
And much more.
Connect with Joe on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jdrasin
Connect with Sandeep: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sjohal
In this episode, Katy shares her vision of ending food waste systematically. She is already on the way there…
- Yume was founded in 2016 and is fast becoming a critical food rescue organisation
- Eye opening when farmers from overseas couldn’t get the high quality of food Australia wastes/throws away
- We can’t unsee and unhear the cries of the international farmers.
- Food rescue organisations (collectively) only save 2% of the total food wasted. There’s a long way to go!
- Katy wants to see food waste completely eradicated
- Proactive visibility was key to good response and effective food rescue - from suppliers, operators, and buyers
- Gaining access to and trust of the food industry continues to be a challenge
- FMCG is not prioritising wasted food as it si not seen as a favourable product by the industry
- Two-sided market places is a complex place
- Yume’s operational progression is dependant on an iterative process of collaborative development from both a process and technology perspective
- Yume focuses on the buyers’ journey
- Buyers journey unveiled a number of insights about the difficulty of interacting (technologically) with Yume.
- The openness to this feedback allowed Yume to improve
- Katy is not the ‘special sauce’ of Yume, it is the community
- Katy believes in ‘doing a lot of listening’, being ‘ready to be wrong’, and ‘don’t give up’
- Yume came to the market early and had the growing pains before they had a ‘seat at the table’
- Vision: once you plug into the Yume, no food will ever go to waste
Nature & Wellness of a Startup CEO
- We are all part of nature - we can build cities and buildings but we are never bigger than nature
- We need to plug into ourselves before the world
- Where the focus is the energy follows!
- Katy has to make important decisions and take ownership of their success or failure
- Katy advises everyone to reflect on how they being valued and if you don’t feel valued, move on.
Best way to get in touch with Yume’s website: www.Yumefood.com.au
I speak to a long time friend, Jess Hartono, who is the co-founder of an online lead generation company. She speaks about creating human-to-human relationships online, particularly over LinkedIn. Myths were debunked while Jess challenged the traditional ways of thinking about online sales.
We also discussed:
The impact of covid
Impact of solving one problem - relationship based selling
In the past, networking methods were used.
How to sell globally?
LinkedIn professional network - typically companies use it as a resume on steroids
How does an individual show up in a digital space where social selling happens in a professional space
How to optimise engagement in a professional social media
How selling is different in other social media e.g. Instagram
How to build relationship and be more ‘human’ in an online environment.
Trends are showing that an individual has to be their authentic self on professional social media
Value of personalised content to build your personal brand
Win the heart before asking for the hand
Most who engage don’t necessarily comment and ‘like’ the content
Connection made when we talk to our values and those who can relate
Production quality does not always need to be high, it needs to be authentic
Global competition for attention
Initial invest in technology (production quality)
Internal communication etiquette to run a remote global team
To leverage LinkedIn’s secret, relationships need to nurtured , you need to ‘date’ and ‘court’ before the sale.
There is always research in new technology like AI in recruitment and prospecting however, technology is not always the silver bullet
LinkedIn is in its infancy and will most likely travel the path of Facebook and Instagram monetisation
With over 18 years B2B, sales experience and having started her first marketing agency in Sydney in 2012, Jess Hartono aims marketing efforts towards an ROI! As a Bali-based 5-foot pocket rocket, Jess has coached hundreds of businesses and helped clients close
Today’s guest is Ian Carson, a remarkable entrepreneur who co-founded SecondBite, a food rescue organisation which partners with big supermarkets, such as Coles, to reduce food waste.
Food rescue has only been around for around 10 years -making it a very new industry.
Community kitchens across Aus cook hundreds of meals everyday to reduce hunger. SecondBite helps with brining food to places like these. Ian shares the humble beginnings of SecondBite and how far its come. He stressed on the power of technology and the good will of volunteers to reduce food wastage in the future.
If you would like to partner or volunteer with SecondBite be sure to check out our show notes for contact details
Interview with Ian Carson on 15 Oct 2021:
- Humble beginnings when Ian saw food wasted at a business function
- Ian and his wife’s view was to make things right by connecting those who had food waste and those who needed food
- Ian mentions the following people who helped in the early days:
- Simon Harley: Co-owner, Becco, Melbourne; offered to make soup
- John Pino: Owner, Piano’s Fine Produce, Prahran, VIC
- Ian started by transporting rescued food in his van which exponentially grew in popularity
- Recruited Katie Barfield (who is now Founder & CEO of Yume Food Australia) to create Community Connect
- Community Connect has significantly reduced the logistics overhead and increased efficiency
- Operations are built on societal support with emphasis on how communities help one another
- If all the food waste was eliminated, we’d end world hunger and significantly reduce climate change
- Coles chose SecondBite in 2011 as their food rescue partner
- Every Coles supermarket across Australia is connected to a community organisation where food rescue is performed
- In the cities, there are vans on the ground that take wasted food to warehouses for distribution
- Community kitchens across the country need food as they each cook hundreds of meals every day
- Future investment in better technology will help reduce waste and improve logistics. This could be realised by partnering with the right technology provider.
- Ian’s lessons:
- Individuals can make a difference
- Just start! Don’t delay just because you want everything to be planned
- Get an advisory group around you to test your ideas.
- If you’d like to partner or volunteer, here is SecondBite’s contact information:
- SecondBite website: SecondBite – Ending Waste. Ending Hunger.
- Volunteer: Volunteer with us – SecondBite
- Connect with Ian Carson: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ian-carson-am-323578
Author and Founder of Success on Purpose, Melonie Taylor, created a personal development practice which uses technology (online calls, social media) to create a connected environment. Her clients return for the personal connection which is primarily delivered online these days (due to the pandemic). Melonie believes we all share connections and the perceived ‘space’ between someone on a screen isn’t really there. She shares stories and past experiences to highlight this point.
In this episode we talked about:
- How it all started for Melonie as a high achiever - a lot of boxes were ticked but not enjoying life
- Starts with how to be kind to yourself
- We can change our mind and more importantly, our brain
- Meta physics and quantum physics shows there isn’t any ‘space’ between people. We’re highly interconnected
- The experiment about sending love and intention to someone who is far away
- Overcoming technology phobia which gradually changed Melonie engagement methods
- Instead of saying she can’t do something, she says she ‘hasn’t learnt yet’
- She wants people to walk away from an interaction feeling loved
- Let’s get people out of their heads and away from the need to be perfect
- Look for the gift to transform situations
- Power of consistency to break a habit
- Melonie explains how ‘coachable’ she is
About Success on Purpose
Their mission is to positively influence High Achievers to Live Purposely from the Heart. To be the true Inspirational Leaders they are destined to be, so their influence creates transformational change that positively impacts the world. Success on Purpose does this through their Practitioners, Mentoring, Masterminds, live workshops, networking events and other exclusive success resources.
Find out more here: https://www.successonpurpose.net.au/
About Melonie Taylor
As a Palliative Care Nurse for 20 years and through her own experience of burnout, anxiety and depression, Melonie learned that there was another way to do and be in life. Formally a high achiever who was driven by “I’m not good enough”, extremely hard on self and with no self love had a break through in a break down. “ I am a high achiever in self hatred, what if I was a high achiever in self love?.” This began a journey of being mentored and self development over 10 years to learn how to achieve in self love. Learning the tools and strategies to navigate life, thoughts, feelings and emotions so they work for you rather than against you. As a Success Mentor, author and keynote speaker, Melonie support’s high achievers to learn how to achieve in self love now rather than having to learn the lessons through pain and suffering.
Connect with Melonie here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/melonietaylor
Get insights on the technology use in the era of the pandemic from a highly experienced Management Consultant, Roger Burlton. In this episode, Roger and I discuss:
- Roger’s home office set up
- Having more business than expected
- Establishing professional relationships in video conferences
- How bad his frequency flier points are
- Small investments to improve web conferencing experiences
- Build trust with new clients online
- Value of co-creation with technology and good facilitation
- The casual - ness of online client interaction - we are a bit more of the same.
- Socialising and fitness during lockdown by way of a running app, Strava.
- Keeping in touch with a global family with kids who grow up way too fast.
- ‘Wrong end’ of the European Cup 2021
- Value of personal space in WhatsApp group chat
- Having meetings about ‘nothing’
Roger is the president of Process Renewal Consulting Group Inc. He is also co-founder of BPTrends Associates; the services firm of the world-leading BPTrends.com knowledge portal. He started the pioneering Process Renewal Group (PRG) in 1993 and was at the forefront of process-centric ways of running businesses. He is regarded globally as a thought leader and dynamic practitioner who brings reason, clarity, and practicality to complex business architecture and business change. Roger's insights can be found in his acclaimed book: Business Process Management: Profiting from Process, the Business Process Manifesto, the Handbook on Business Process Management and numerous other publications including his articles featured on BPTrends.com. Roger chairs several of the largest and most influential Business Architecture and BPM conferences in the world and is a sought after speaker dealing with the tough issues of business change in a thought provoking and entertaining manner. A seasoned practitioner, Roger has conducted over 200 in depth consulting engagements with companies around the world and offers a pragmatic approach to helping clients to help themselves through supporting their strategy, architecture and transformation efforts. Roger is also a lecturer for senior year programs at the University of Toronto - Industrial Engineering faculty.
In this episode, I speak to Supported Travel eXperiences co-founders Yann Charavel and Andrew Hagar about the amazing work they do in providing people with disabilities with wonderful travel experiences. We discussed:
- Challenges brought about by COVID-19 travel restrictions which make simple things like flight bookings taking a lot more effort
- Technology allowing them to manage travel needs and reduce the unexpected
- Importance of contact through the traveller’s experience
- Overcoming the fear of travel especially the intimidation of travel right after COVID-19 restrictions ease
- Impact of rich travel data on improving the experience and reducing uncertainty in accessible tourism
- Future of AI and machine learning to identify experience scenarios and cross check them against the travellers’ requirements automatically
- Importance of medical support in the near future of travel
Note: CRM: Customer Relationship Management system; NDIS: National Disability Insurance Scheme (in Australia)
Supported Travel eXperiences specialises in designing unique and highly individualised travel experiences that suit the needs and requirements of people with disabilities and their families. Find out more: https://supportedtravelx.com.au/ or call on 1300 200 789
Yann is a co-founder of Supported Travel eXperiences with significant consulting experience in advising, transforming and growing small and large organisations combined with a passion for making our world more inclusive and accessible.
Andrew is a co-founder of Supported Travel eXperiences with a professional career spanning over two decades in executive, consulting and advisory roles. Andrew has over 15 years experience in the travel sector and is passionate about customer experience design and improving outcomes for people with disabilities.
In this episode, I speak to Patrick about the technology and thinking behind a sustainable reusable cup service for city-going coffee drinkers, called Cercle.
We cover:
- Why we need to move to reusable coffee cups
- Driving sustainable behaviour change through convenience
- How the Cercle customer loop works
- Technology that underpins the system and the future opportunities
- How city-going coffee drinkers, cafes and building managers can get involved
About Patrick:
Patrick is the founder and CEO of Cercle, a start-up focused on making it easier for people to use reusable cups at work. What started out as a passion project turned into a company with a proof of concept running in Sydney. Patrick is an advocate for the circular economy and how we can create more sustainable systems to minimise our environmental impact starting with the humble coffee cup. When not thinking about cups or drinking coffee, Patrick can be found in and around Sydney, surfing, wrangling big data and lounging with his two whippets.
Get in touch with Patrick or Cercle via email , LinkedIn, Facebook, or Instagram.
In the ‘fireside chat’, my mate, Jamie Murrell, and I explore our inner geek. We cover:
- IPads, touch screens
- Keeping in touch with family on socials
- Tech we use at home and at work
- More IPads
- Screen protectors :)
- Software updates
- Walking dogs and surfing
- Annoying notifications
- Smart watches
- Psychology of responding to messages
- Burpees
- Favourite tech we won’t leave home without
About Jamie:
Jamie is a self confessed gadget and technology addict who manages to combine his passion for technology with his work by helping organisations improve what they do with the tools and technology that they have. Jamie has a young family that fully embrace technology (whether they like it or not) and is constantly trying to find tech solutions for the older generation by experimenting with his family both in Australia and the UK. Jamie is a change evangelists and sees technology as the gateway to managing the ever increasing pace of change while staying connected in the ‘real world’.
Enjoy!
Referred to as the Uber for waste, Recyclesmart uses technology to make recycling convenient. So convenient that you don’t have to leave your home (or be at home) to do your part for the environment.
In this episode, Marco Prayer (CTO, Recyclesmart) gives us a look inside the ‘machine’ that runs a seamless recycling business.
Marco Prayer has earned his deep expertise while working as Mobile Lead at Deloitte Consulting’s Digital practice and has more than 10 years of experience in digital technology. Proficient at designing and developing native iOS & Android mobile applications, web based systems and applications. Marco has built and shipped a number of mobile applications in the consumer and enterprise markets, which include apps like Airtasker, Freelancer.com, Virgin Money Australia, Amaysim Australia, ServiceNSW and CBUS Super. Marco was previously a professional athlete and a musician.
Recyclesmart solves the biggest issue of our generation by targeting four categories of waste that don’t go in Council bins: soft plastics, clothes, e-waste, and problem waste. Tune in for more.
Wearable computing is being used all over the world to transform frontline work and during this episode of Nano Community Tech we unpack how and why.
Cameron Stevens, Solutions Engineer with RealWear, discusses how RealWear's head-mounted technology is increasing knowledge transfer and enhancing the safety and productivity of first-line work. We speak about the evolution of the technology from the mid-2000 era GO-PRO through to purpose-built wearable computing for the front-line worker. We explore use cases ranging from medical support during the COVID-19 pandemic in Wuhan China, through to the future integration with mapping technologies and digital twins. The rise of wearable technology and accelerated adoption has opened up new ways of working and Cameron discusses the amazing opportunities emerging in this space.
Cameron has an illustrious career as a chartered safety professional and works at the cutting edge of digital transformation as a Solutions Engineer with RealWear Inc deploying wearable computing for enterprise. Cameron is also the founder of the Pocketknife Group comprising a digital concierge service supporting organizations navigate their digital transformation and the Safety Innovation Academy; a coaching service for future-focused safety professionals to improve their digital literacy and explore the intersection where safety & emerging technologies meet. When not immersed in technology, Cameron enjoys studying the natural world and preserving biodiversity with his daughter.
You can engage Cameron via LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/cameronmstevens/ for intros & RealWear enquiries or via hello@safetyinnovation.com.au for speaking, coaching and consulting services.
An excerpt from the RealWear website on their head-mounted technology:
HMT-1 is the world’s first hands-free Android tablet class wearable computer for industrial workers. Use it in wet, dusty, hot, dangerous and loud industrial environments. A fully rugged head-mounted device, it optionally snaps into safety helmets or attaches to bump caps and can be used with safety glasses or corrective eyewear. The high-resolution micro display sits just below your line of sight and views like a 7” tablet. It’s an industrial dashboard: there when you need it and out of your way when you don’t. The HMT-1 works with powerful software applications from our solution partners in four core categories, each optimized for completely hands-free voice control. That means no scrolling, swiping, or tapping – just simple voice commands. Use it for remote mentor video calling, document navigation, guided workflow, mobile forms and industrial IoT data visualization.
Vijay Paul and Nish Krishnananthan, co-founders of Vantari VR, discuss surgery in VR, powered by AI for optimal training realism. Vantari VR helps doctors, students and nurses eliminate medical error by practicing procedures in Virtual Reality. Vijay has spent over 10 years in emergency medicine and trauma. Nish has equally spent a decade in medicine and surgery while authoring an international Urology textbook.
The future of marketing will leverage deep technology while navigating privacy challenges. I speak to Craig Bailey (Founder & Technical Director, XEN) to get an experienced marketer’s view. XEN works with sales and marketing teams in B2B technology companies to deliver strategy, implement marketing technology and drive business growth through digital marketing and lead generation campaigns.
I chat with Daniel Jacob Rayner, CEO and Co-founder of Virtual Inspections, about the relevance of virtual property tours in speeding up decisions.
Virtual Inspections helps real estate agents remove common property fears and objections by providing virtual tours, the closest thing to walking through a property.
Check out virtual tours here: http://www.virtualinspections.com.au/virtual-gallery/
In this episode I speak to Mervin Chiang, a Corporate Technology Executive turned Pokémon Professor and owner of Brokenvase Games. His business is a Pokémon cards specialty game shop and cafe. He plans to use modern Intelligent Automation technologies to facilitate community building and bonding between parents and their children through the love of Pokémon.
In the first episode of Nano Community Tech, Sandeep explores the changing world of job recruitment with the introduction of AI offered by a startup called bindr. Bindr is a suite of AI Recruitment software and innovative Recruitment Process Outsourcing services. Our conversation with Jeremy Chaves, co-owner bindr, explores how he’s used technology to improve how Recruiters find the right candidates.