Why WA might just have Australia’s Best Startup Festival
WTF is more than a tech festival—it's an experience that blends Australia's vibrant natural landscapes with genuine experiences. This is largely thanks to the thoughtful curation and space that the Founders (Paula Taylor, Bill Tai, Dr Rohan McDougall and Larry Lopez), and the now organisers driven by the Curtin University Team, Danelle Cross, Sarah Kahle, Anna Lee and Kali Norman.
A $500,000 injection of WA State Government Funding has been put to good use to spice up the venues, curate focused events and support international delegations that drive connections not just locally but across the country. Further investment was announced later in the week to match Venture Capital. Funding went to 7 funds to help bolster local investment.
I started losing count of the events by Wednesday. Channelling my inner Hype Man, we got the job done.
Day 1 – West Tech Women, First Nations House, Perth Biodesign Innovation Showcase
West Tech Women
This year’s theme for West Tech Women was Courage. It doesn’t get much more courageous than what we heard from the opening keynote with Elaine Stead, a powerhouse personality in Australian Venture Capital. Some of you might already know her story – bullying and harassment from the press, having to leave her fund, hair falling out. She’s been through everything we don’t want women to go through from the jerks of the world, yet she continues to show up. It was pleasure to witness her captivate the room with words of vulnerability, courage and wisdom. “Pick the fights that matter to you” was a big takeaway for me. Would highly recommend giving her a follow on medium to get an insight into Elaine’s world.
First Nation’s House
This event was so inspiring, warm, thoughtful and revealed massive potential. With so much activity in the First Nations Ecosystem having a dedicated event makes total sense. Many of the panels, speakers and hosts throughout the day showcased the brilliant activity and growth in First Nation’s business and talent. I was blown away by the impact that Michael Wear and “The Saltwater Cowboys” from Tidal Moon have had on their local economy with the Sea Cucumber, how Shannon McGuire and Kirrikin are taking on fashion and the impressive resume from Director, Jack Steele. Jack also gave us the word of the day - Yindyamarra, a Wiradjuri term meaning "going forward with respect". When it comes to innovation and change this word has really stuck with me. You need to add these guys to your LinkedIn network. Ones to watch all of them.
Perth Biodesign Showcase
On Monday night we got to hear from the people driving change in healthcare in WA. Biodesign a globally recognised, Stanford innovation program for health innovation has a local chapter – Perth Biodesign. Their Flagship Program is a 7-month onramp to innovate in the health and biomedical sphere.
On display were solutions to monitor breastfeeding, devices to combat airborne infections in hospitals and new technology to help monitor chronic heart conditions. Companies from the Perth Biodesign portfolio have raised over $40m. This year they ticked over 500 graduates through their programs that cover entrepreneurs, PhDs, researchers, and operators in health startups. This generation of entrepreneurs and medical innovators not only have an impact through the companies they create but also through the talent that flows into our healthcare system.
Day 2 – West Tech Coast and West Tech Standup Comedy
Coast
Where else can you kite-surf with fellow innovators in the morning, delve into renewable energy breakthroughs by lunch, and celebrate ground-breaking ideas over locally distilled gin in the evening? It’s not just about tech; it’s about connection, respect, and the shared journey of building a better future. Coast did feature some amazing speakers – Bill Tai, Daphne de Jong, Darryl Lyons to name a few but the one thing everyone loves about coast is the beautiful setting on Port Beach to have some real conversations. This year organisers were clever to create zones for activity, learning, networking and connection.
Comedy
Having a dedicated Standup Comedy night hints at SXSW and the potential direction the West Tech Fest team are looking to potentially take in the long term. Brought together by Charlie Gunningham, Chair of Startup WA this event was designed to poke fun at all the humorous elements of running a tech company. Safe to say the comedians didn’t stick to the script for the most part and we probably learnt more about threesomes than startups but a great event to burrito the day and wrap it up.
Day 3 – Morning Startup, Freo Startup Fest and U.S. Department of Commerce
Morning Startup is WA’s largest tech meetup group with over 7,000 members. What I love about Morning Startup is the consistency and this year it was great to see it featured as a satellite event for West Tech Fest. Who better to kick off the discussion in the morning than one of the brightest in community building Kate Kirwin who gave us a talk on measuring impact? The second session put various onramps into the WA Startup Community on display including – Bloom, CERI, Curtin University, ECU, Spacecubed and Venture UWA. You can watch them back here thanks to Perth Video and the WA New Industries Fund.
Freo Startup Fest
With a bit of food and drink thanks to Otherside Brewery we kept the energy for the week going in Fremantle or Freo as it known by the locals. Freo Startup Fest is the grassroots event for Founders. Rob Nathan and the team always put on a great show. Every year the pitch frenzy is always a highlight for me. You get rapid introductions to people often in a humorous way in 30-seconds. After getting a reputation for Pitching Freo Startup Fest now hosts a Golden Ticket to London Tech Week thanks to the UK Government. This year Dr Emily Zhen from Materia took out the prize with her organ and tissue transplant device. So far, the company has developed a first proto-type and are well on their way to changing an industry that still uses eskys.
U.S. Department of Commerce
As someone who identifies as U.S. curious, I really enjoyed the panel and sundowner with this crew. Sebastian Gray, Founder & CEO at Everclime gave us some great ideas around partnership strategy and entering the US market strategically. The representatives from the Nevada Governor's Office of Economic Development Amanda Flocchini & Melanie Sheldon said “treat every state and region differently” and U.S. Consul General, Siriana Nair has been enthusiastic and pivotal to creating connections all week was an excellent host. Excited to see who from the room will be taking the leap in 2025 or at least a few exploratory trips around events like SXSW Austin and CES.
Day 4 – West Tech Main
Grace Brown captivated the audiences with Abi her companion robot. Abi is already working in aged care centres in Australia. To see empathetic application of AI to create value for those who would typically find themselves in a lonely place. With the mass advancements in AI this year no surprises that is dominated discussion and panels, but the organisers of Main did a great job hosting the various applications around different contexts.
Another highlight for me was the longevity panel. The core question they addressed was, we are living longer, but are we living better? Preventative wise I thought it was interesting to evaluate how much health data does the average user want? When does start to become invasive? How about just feeling good in your body?
With Bill Tai and Monique Woodard on the panel we also got the ability to explore the differences between the Australian and U.S. system and to no surprise we are in the lucky country when it comes to that. Eli was a company mentioned on the panel that caught my attention. They are building a company around continuous hormone monitoring.
That brings me to the end of the safe for LinkedIn edition. Hope you enjoyed the read and I’ll catch you Hype Man readers on the road or at WTF next year.
