Interview with Tres West

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:

[email protected]

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:

ilab Accelerator

Bond University Business Accelerator

NEIS Scheme

The 4 Hour Work Week

Business Model Canvas

Value Proposition Canvas

Lean Startup Methodology

Lean Customer Development Book

Entrepreneurial Effectuation

Merakium

People Mentioned:

Tim Draper

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