Last night we had Brendan McKeegan speak at The Hive in Melbourne (rumor has it we’re starting in Brisbane later this month too..) Brendan is the CEO of EMUE – they make a new type of credit card that has this cool authentication thing built in. The best description of the thing is this youtube video. 

It was a really fun night with heaps of interesting people to chat with. We were back at the Order of Melbourne again – we actually had our very first event back in January 2008 on the rooftop there but last night we were on the second floor with capacity for the 150+ people that came.  

Here are a few notes that Nick Foster shared in his review:

• You have to be able to turn technology in to product.
• Don’t go to any trade shows unless you are carried there by a large player.
• Tell people about the problem you are solving.
• Don’t perfect the technology – launch and develop through feedback.
• Ensure you have disciplined due diligence and documentation – really makes you look professional and together.
• Forecast your financials – use Excel – you don’t need to pay an accountant.
• Employee few people – he said one person can do all the ‘CXX’ roles. The downside is your believability suffers with customers (especially large). You can counter this with high quality people.
• Remove any passengers – especially people you are paying – this is something which comes with experience.
• If you have to decide between intellectual property (IP) and the business choose the business!

If you haven’t joined us for an event yet you really should sign up and get along sometime – and if you missed last month as well you can see my notes and the podcast with Peter Williams from Deloitte.

By Ross Hill - March 11th, 2009 at 10:00pm with 1,056 views - brendan mckeegan deloitte digital emue nick foster order of melbourne peter williams the hive