Interview with Tres West
Tres West on Lean Startup, Chasing Investment and how the Startup Ecosystem Operates.
This episode features one of the good guys of the Australian Startup scene: Tres West. Tres has lived and breathed Startups for the last 2 years and has some great insights to share.
You can contact Tres at:
Show Notes:
02:00 Can you talk to us about your time in Europe as an IT professional?
02:45 Where did you grow up?
03:12 Were you Entrepreneurial as a Teenager?
04:15 Is the NEIS program still around?
04:30 Who should consider applying for the NEIS program?
05:15 What did you get out of the NEIS program?
07:05 What is an accelerator?
08:15 Do you recommend an accelerator for Entrepreneurs or a Business course?
11:00 How do you define ‘Startup’?
12:12 What do you think of MBA’s?
13:15 Why is Lean Startup Methodology so important?
17:15 What phrases do you hear from budding entrepreneurs to indicate to you whether their venture will be successful or not?
20:35 How do we stop people building products that nobody wants?
22:50 How should an entrepreneur approach potential customers?
29:10 What questions should you ask during customer discovery?
31:40 What are the 3 major drivers for concept validation?
42:05 Are entrepreneurs born or built?
43:35 Are leaders born or built?
47:00 What keeps you optimistic?
55:45 The difference between Angel Investments and Venture Capital.
56:20 How to approach investors and what not to do.
60:00 Why are there so many gatekeepers in the Startup Ecosystem?
62:50 What challenges do investors have?
65:30 The difference between sophisticated and unsophisticated money.
Episode Links:
Bond University Business Accelerator
Lean Customer Development Book
People Mentioned:
