The Bootstrap - Building Startups from Scratch

In this episode Scotty is joined by Summer Howarth - director of Eventful Learnings Co - to discuss what is involved in maintaining a founder led business and how Summer's experience, interest and expertise in learning design and education strategies have made Eventful Learnings a perfect match to lead. About Summer Howarth: Linkedin: https://au.linkedin.com/in/summerhowarth Website: https://eventfullearning.co/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/eventful_learning_co/ --------------------- The Product Bus. It was developed by Scotty Allen and Declan Magee. Our producer is Sammy Perryman with assistance from Portia McEwan. Visit our website at https://thebootstrap.tech/ and check our YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/@TheBootstrapPodcast You can find out more about Scotty Allen at LinkedIn and The Product Bus at https://theproductbus.com/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week on Founder Friday Scotty is joined by founder of Filament Analytics Tom Maitland. Filament is an automated data warehouse that unifies business data, making it easy to analyse with natural language. Tom speaks on the value of being a second time founder in knowing what to prioritise in the early stages of building. As well as talking about the new learnings arising from publicly building Filament by sharing progress on social platforms such as Linkedin to gain direct feedback from piers. Founder Friday is about works still in progress. Learning from success stories is important, but learning from founders still in the thick of getting to market is just as useful - and sometimes much more realistic. About Tom Maitland: Linkedin: https://au.linkedin.com/in/tommaitland Filament: https://filamentanalytics.com ---------------------------------- The Bootstrap is a production of Hieland Road for The Product Bus. It was developed by Scotty Allen and Declan Magee. Our producer is Sammy Perryman with assistance from Portia McEwan. Visit our website at https://thebootstrap.tech/ and check our YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/@TheBootstrapPodcast You can find out more about Scotty Allen at LinkedIn and The Product Bus at https://theproductbus.com/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this Industry Episode Scotty talks to Scott Glew - co-founder of Fastvue and also the network Morning Startup - based in Western Australia. Exploring Scott's journey in bootstrapping Fastvue to great success, in what continues to be a lean and effective operation, and how Scott has used the lessons of this success to guide other local founders in the space through Morning Startup. Speaking on the value of being involved in such startup networks, being open to the feedback they can provide, and diving into some of the common takeaways any listener at the start of their founder journey should keep in mind. About Scott Glew: Linkedin: https://au.linkedin.com/in/scottglew Morning Startup: https://www.morningstartup.com Fastvue: https://www.fastvue.co ---------------------------------- The Bootstrap is a production of Hieland Road for The Product Bus. It was developed by Scotty Allen and Declan Magee. Our producer is Sammy Perryman with assistance from Portia McEwan. Visit our website at https://thebootstrap.tech/ and check our YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/@TheBootstrapPodcast You can find out more about Scotty Allen at LinkedIn and The Product Bus at https://theproductbus.com/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This Founder Friday Scotty is joined by Jesse Gordon, founder of Study Pulse, to talk about the early journey bootstrapping journey in ed tech; including all the learnings and reflections involved in the process. Jesse is a software engineer and entrepreneur who specialises in bridging the gap between technical architecture and profitable product design. He is the founder of StudyPulse, a bootstrapped AI education platform that he scaled to serve students at over 400 schools, fixing the broken feedback loop for exam prep. Founder Friday is about works still in progress. Learning from success stories is important, but learning from founders still in the thick of getting to market is just as useful - and sometimes much more realistic. About Jesse Gordon: Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jesse-gordon-ib/ Website: https://studypulse.au ---------------------------------- The Bootstrap is a production of Hieland Road for The Product Bus. It was developed by Scotty Allen and Declan Magee. Our producer is Sammy Perryman with assistance from Portia McEwan. Visit our website at https://thebootstrap.tech/ and check our YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/@TheBootstrapPodcast You can find out more about Scotty Allen at LinkedIn and The Product Bus at https://theproductbus.com/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Community means a lot of things to a lot of different people in the startup ecosystem. But someone who has been doing something or several really interesting things in that space is our guest today, Amber Main. She is an ecosystem builder. She's the founder and CEO of Sparks. And in this episode talks all things ecosystem, collaboration, and how we actually turn community into something meaningful for startups. About Amber Main: https://au.linkedin.com/in/amber-main-💎💎-a99a3ab0 ---------------------------------- The Bootstrap is a production of Hieland Road for The Product Bus. It was developed by Scotty Allen and Declan Magee. Our producer is Sammy Perryman with assistance from Portia McEwan. Visit our website at https://thebootstrap.tech/ and check our YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/@TheBootstrapPodcast You can find out more about Scotty Allen at LinkedIn and The Product Bus at https://theproductbus.com/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this Founder Friday Scotty is joined by Nathan MacPhee, founder of Invest Inya Farmer (IIF) to discuss how bootstrapping proved effective for IIF in the early idea validation stage. Find out more at: iif.today Founder Friday is about works still in progress. Learning from success stories is important, but learning from founders still in the thick of getting to market is just as useful - and sometimes much more realistic. ---------------------------------- The Bootstrap is a production of Hieland Road for The Product Bus. It was developed by Scotty Allen and Declan Magee. Our producer is Sammy Perryman with assistance from Portia McEwan. Visit our website at https://thebootstrap.tech/ and check our YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/@TheBootstrapPodcast You can find out more about Scotty Allen at LinkedIn and The Product Bus at https://theproductbus.com/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

If you've been around the startup space for more than a hot second, you certainly have heard the terms low code and no code. Today we have someone that is going to help us understand what they mean, how they might be best used in the startup space, and where maybe they're best left untouched. Dave McManus is the founder and director of Lightning Ventures. He is a well-known Bubble enthusiast and works with a number of programs, as well as his own work, in helping people in the low and no-code space. About Dave McManus: Linkedin: https://au.linkedin.com/in/davemcmanus-lightning-products Website: https://www.lightningventures.com.au/ ----------------------------------- The Bootstrap is a production of Hieland Road for The Product Bus. It was developed by Scotty Allen and Declan Magee. Our producer is Sammy Perryman with assistance from Portia McEwan. Visit our website at https://thebootstrap.tech/ and check our YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/@TheBootstrapPodcast You can find out more about Scotty Allen at LinkedIn and The Product Bus at https://theproductbus.com/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

If you are building a digital product and you want other people to use it, then there is probably a cybersecurity element that has to be considered at some point. When is too soon to be focusing on that? When is it too late? And how is AI impacting that? To help attempt to answer these questions Scotty is joined by Billy Hosking, founder of Kavira IT. About Billy Hosking: Linkedin: https://au.linkedin.com/in/billy-hosking Website: https://kavira.com.au ---------------------------------- The Bootstrap is a production of Hieland Road for The Product Bus. It was developed by Scotty Allen and Declan Magee. Our producer is Sammy Perryman with assistance from Portia McEwan. Visit our website at https://thebootstrap.tech/ and check our YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/@TheBootstrapPodcast You can find out more about Scotty Allen at LinkedIn and The Product Bus at https://theproductbus.com/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this week of Founder Friday Scotty is joined by Chris Rickard, founder and CEO of Userdoc. Exploring how his background and experience, particularly in agencies, led to the creation of Userdoc and what advice he can give to founders with a similar background. Founder Friday is about works still in progress. Learning from success stories is important, but learning from founders still in the thick of getting to market is just as useful - and sometimes much more realistic. About Chris Rickard: Linkedin: https://au.linkedin.com/in/chrickard Website: userdoc.fyi ---------------------------------- The Bootstrap is a production of Hieland Road for The Product Bus. It was developed by Scotty Allen and Declan Magee. Our producer is Sammy Perryman with assistance from Portia McEwan. Visit our website at https://thebootstrap.tech/ and check our YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/@TheBootstrapPodcast You can find out more about Scotty Allen at LinkedIn and The Product Bus at https://theproductbus.com/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week on Founder Friday we are replaying a conversation with start up mentor and coach Matt Ainsworth, originally published in October of 2023, Matt and Scotty discuss effective strategies for idea validation and how this can help inform a start up's product market fit; a valuable conversation to re-explore for first time and early stage founders about to embark on validating their idea. Founder Friday is about works still in progress. Learning from success stories is important, but learning from founders still in the thick of getting to market is just as useful - and sometimes much more realistic. Find out more about Matt and Startup Founder Mindset at  https://sfmindset.com -------------------------------- The Bootstrap is a production of Hieland Road for The Product Bus. It was developed by Scotty Allen and Declan Magee. Our producer is Sammy Perryman with assistance from Portia McEwan. Visit our website at https://thebootstrap.tech/ and check our YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/@TheBootstrapPodcast You can find out more about Scotty Allen at LinkedIn and The Product Bus at https://theproductbus.com/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Are we sick of talking about AI yet? We're going to have to continue to talk about it for some time to come, it's becoming ubiquitous in our everyday life. On other levels, particularly when it comes to business and business strategy, we've really only cracked the surface of what it means and how we're going to have to deal with it. Gavin Reddrop joins us to work through what AI really means for growth. Gavin works with business leaders across Australia who want clarity and real AI implementation strategy. About Gavin Reddrop: Linkedin: https://linkedin.com/in/gavinreddrop Website: https://gavinreddrop.com -------------------------- The Bootstrap is a production of Hieland Road for The Product Bus. It was developed by Scotty Allen and Declan Magee. Our producer is Sammy Perryman with assistance from Portia McEwan. Visit our website at https://thebootstrap.tech/ and check our YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/@TheBootstrapPodcast You can find out more about Scotty Allen at LinkedIn and The Product Bus at https://theproductbus.com/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Founder Friday is about works still in progress. Learning from success stories is important, but learning from founders still in the thick of getting to market is just as useful - and sometimes much more realistic. In this Founder Friday Scotty is joined by Dr Paul Browning, managing director of Vivedus. As former school principal for over 25 years, his passions are leadership, organisational culture and creativity. He is also the author of “Compelling Leadership: The importance of trust and how to get it” and  “Principled: 10 leadership practices for building trust.” Vivedus is a learning Activation Model for education. In collaboration with the University of Melbourne, Vivedus provides schools with an AI-powered, SaaS-based framework integrating pedagogy, assessment tools, and teaching strategies. It aims to empower educators to teach and assess creative intelligence while giving school leaders real-time insights into teaching quality. About Paul Browning: Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pauldbrowning/ Website: https://www.vivedus.com/ ----------------------- The Bootstrap is a production of Hieland Road for The Product Bus. It was developed by Scotty Allen and Declan Magee. Our producer is Sammy Perryman with assistance from Portia McEwan. Visit our website at https://thebootstrap.tech/ and check our YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/@TheBootstrapPodcast You can find out more about Scotty Allen at LinkedIn and The Product Bus at https://theproductbus.com/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As AI transforms the kind of tech we’re using and job we’re doing, are any of the “old” product and sales playbooks still relevant when it comes to B2B Software as a Service? And if not, what should we be doing instead? In this episode we’re joined by Craig Brown, CEO and Co-Founder of Everest Engineering to talk about the changes to our standard ways of working we’re seeing as a result of AI, what may change in the future, and which core principles of validation and testing are still relevant - for now, at least. Linkedin: https://au.linkedin.com/in/craigwbrown Website: https://www.everest.engineering/ ------------------- The Bootstrap is a production of Hieland Road for The Product Bus. It was developed by Scotty Allen and Declan Magee. Our producer is Sammy Perryman with assistance from Portia McEwan. Visit our website at https://thebootstrap.tech/ and check our YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/@TheBootstrapPodcast You can find out more about Scotty Allen at LinkedIn and The Product Bus at https://theproductbus.com/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In our latest Founder Friday episode we're chatting to Sean Duffy, CEO and Founder of Stackle - an EdTech tool that is gaining momentum in the High Ed Space. Sean shares the journey and learnings to date with some strong insights on developing a sales process, market positioning, and managing long sales cycles. Learn more about Stackle at https://stacklehq.com/ and Sean Duffy at https://www.linkedin.com/in/seanjduffy/ ---------- The Bootstrap is a production of Hieland Road for The Product Bus. It was developed by Scotty Allen and Declan Magee. Our producer is Sammy Perryman with assistance from Portia McEwan. Visit our website at https://thebootstrap.tech/ and check our YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/@TheBootstrapPodcast You can find out more about Scotty Allen at LinkedIn and The Product Bus at https://theproductbus.com/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It's a Scotty solo episode! Occasionally we'll be including an episode that is a (hot or not) take from our host Scotty Allen, and in this first edition he's going to reveal the Top Three Startup Pitches that need to go away for good! These three pitches are frequent fliers, and the reason they need to go away is because they simply don't work from a commercial model perspective. Scotty talks through each idea, how it's often presented, why it usually won't work (there are always exceptions!) and what you might try instead. We'd love your feedback on this episode - email Scotty direct at [email protected] with your thoughts! ---------- The Bootstrap is a production of Hieland Road for The Product Bus. It was developed by Scotty Allen and Declan Magee. Our producer is Sammy Perryman with assistance from Portia McEwan. Visit our website at https://thebootstrap.tech/ and check our YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/@TheBootstrapPodcast You can find out more about Scotty Allen at LinkedIn and The Product Bus at https://theproductbus.com/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this Founder Friday we are joined by Pip Stocks, founder of The Startup Muse. With two decades building, advising, and investing in customer-led businesses, Pip has founded twp ventures in Brandhook and Hearsay. Now building a new platform called The Startup Muse - using AI to bridge the gap between female founder ideas and real life businesses. Founder Friday is about works still in progress. Learning from success stories is important, but learning from founders still in the thick of getting to market is just as useful - and sometimes much more realistic. About Pip Stocks: Linkedin: https://au.linkedin.com/in/pipstocks Website: https://thestartupmuse.com/ The Startup Muse Book is on Amazon ---------------------- The Bootstrap is a production of Hieland Road for The Product Bus. It was developed by Scotty Allen and Declan Magee. Our producer is Sammy Perryman with assistance from Portia McEwan. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

With a CV that includes Google and Facebook, you might think Luke Marshall would be an unlikely person to be passionate about helping startups with sales and scaling, but he’s made it his mission to bring his experience and smarts to helping early founders navigate this tricky space.  In this episode, we share the experiences of working with early stage startups and founders, and run through a list of things we’d love them to understand, do, or not do.  Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marshwah/ Website: https://www.lukemarshall.net/ ------------------------- The Bootstrap is a production of Hieland Road for The Product Bus. It was developed by Scotty Allen and Declan Magee. Our producer is Sammy Perryman with assistance from Portia McEwan. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this Founder Friday Scotty is joined by Tabish Bidiwale to discuss early learnings as founder of Fission, a tool aiming to help developers everywhere plan better and build something they actually want. Founder Friday is about works still in progress. Learning from success stories is important, but learning from founders still in the thick of getting to market is just as useful - and sometimes much more realistic. About Tabish Bidiwale: Linkedin: https://au.linkedin.com/in/tabishbidiwale Website: https://fissionai.io/   and https://openspec.dev/ ------------------ The Bootstrap is a production of Hieland Road for The Product Bus. It was developed by Scotty Allen and Declan Magee. Our producer is Sammy Perryman with assistance from Portia McEwan. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Funding is a focus of so much conversation in the startup space, and yet so many ventures fail because founders don’t understand how to match their ideas to a commercial model that can indicate the right approach to funding.  In this episode we’re joined by Liz Van Zyl, a highly experienced entrepreneur and founder who has recently joined Tractor Ventures as their Head of Partnerships. We discuss the challenges and misunderstandings around funding for early startups, and Liz introduces the idea of a “Funding Stack” as a way for founders to build a more effective funding strategy.  Linkedin: https://au.linkedin.com/in/liz-van-zyl Website: https://www.tractorventures.com/ ------------------ The Bootstrap is a production of Hieland Road for The Product Bus. It was developed by Scotty Allen and Declan Magee. Our producer is Sammy Perryman with assistance from Portia McEwan. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Founder Friday is about works still in progress. Learning from success stories is important, but learning from founders still in the thick of getting to market is just as useful – and sometimes much more realistic. In this Founder Friday episode we’re talking to Nate Spiteri, the CEO & Co-Founder of Shopfront - a SaaS tool to help charities and resellers list products faster and in bulk across their own channels or marketplaces like eBay, Depop & Grailed. They were the 2025 winners of the eBay Circular Fashion Fund. About Nate Spiteri: Linkedin: https://au.linkedin.com/in/nathanspiteri Website: https://shopfront.app/ -------------------------------- The Bootstrap is a production of Hieland Road for The Product Bus. It was developed by Scotty Allen and Declan Magee. Our producer is Sammy Perryman with assistance from Portia McEwan. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The rise of AI is set to reshape the way agencies work, creating both challenges and opportunities for how they deliver value. In this episode, we’ll explore what agencies need to do to adapt, stay relevant, and thrive in an AI-driven future. Guiding us through the conversation is Martin Anderson, CEO of Ionata Digital, his own agency he has established and scaled over the last 25 years About Martin Anderson: Linkedin: https://au.linkedin.com/in/martincanderson Website: https://ionata.com.au/ --------------------------- The Bootstrap is a production of Hieland Road for The Product Bus. It was developed by Scotty Allen and Declan Magee. Our producer is Sammy Perryman with assistance from Portia McEwan. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this Founder Friday, we’re joined by Chris Asher, Founder and CEO of Oink Digital to talk about how to hone creativity into productivity. Founder Friday is about works still in progress. Learning from success stories is important, but learning from founders still in the thick of getting to market is just as useful - and sometimes much more realistic. Linkedin: https://au.linkedin.com/in/chris-asher-3b476b26 Website: https://www.oinkdigital.com.au/ ------------------------ The Bootstrap is a production of Hieland Road for The Product Bus. It was developed by Scotty Allen and Declan Magee. Our producer is Sammy Perryman with assistance from Portia McEwan. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Access to capital is one of the biggest challenges facing early-stage founders, and while most think immediately of VC or angel investment, grants offer a compelling non-dilutive alternative. Despite $100 billion in grant funding available to Australian businesses and organisations each year, many founders don't know where to start or assume the process is too complex. Is it really as difficult as it seems? What should early founders know about grants, and when should they be thinking about applying for them,? Our guest today is Janine Owen, founder of Grant'd, Australia's first AI-powered, all-in-one grants platform. Janine has over 18 years of experience helping organisations raise more than $100+ million. She previously ran a successful grants agency before creating Grant'd to make grant-seeking more accessible for founders and businesses. About Janine Owen: Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/janine-owen-21348b78 Website: http://grantd.com.au/ ---------------------------- The Bootstrap is a production of Hieland Road for The Product Bus. It was developed by Scotty Allen and Declan Magee. Our producer is Sammy Perryman with assistance from Portia McEwan. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this Founder Friday episode, we’re talking to Dominic Lindsay, founder of Nexobot. Founder Friday is about works still in progress. Learning from success stories is important, but learning from founders still in the thick of getting to market is just as useful – and sometimes much more realistic. With a rich background in e-commerce logistics and innovative facility design from his time at Australia Post, Dominic's extensive experience provides the foundation for Nexobot's mission to revolutionize warehouse robotics and order fulfilment. About Dominic Lindsay: Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/dominiclindsay Website: https://nexobot.com.au/ ------------------------------- The Bootstrap is a production of Hieland Road for The Product Bus. It was developed by Scotty Allen and Declan Magee. Our producer is Sammy Perryman with assistance from Portia McEwan. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Failure isn't the opposite of success - it's the stepping stone to it. Every entrepreneur faces the inevitable question: when do you push through, and when do you pivot? How do you read the subtle signals the market sends about whether to accelerate or pull the plug? In this episode, Benjemen Elengovan, Founder and CEO of MyGigsters, shares his entrepreneurial journey through both triumph and setback. He shares hard-won insights on transforming failures into fuel, making those crucial go/no-go decisions, and knowing when it's time to gracefully exit one venture to birth the next. From his early startup wins and losses to the lessons now powering MyGigsters, Benjemen reveals how every "failure" became a building block for something bigger. This is about turning your scars into wisdom - and your wisdom into your next breakthrough. About Benjemin Elengovan: Linkedin: https://au.linkedin.com/in/benjemenelengovan Website: https://www.mygigsters.com.au/ ---------------------- The Bootstrap is a production of Hieland Road for The Product Bus. It was developed by Scotty Allen and Declan Magee. Our producer is Sammy Perryman with assistance from Portia McEwan. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.