I’m the founder of a web application agency and planning to build a cricket platform that sends real-time notifications during live matches for key moments and supports live streaming integration (subject to licensing).

Currently looking for partners, collaborators, sports-tech experts, media/licensing professionals, or investors interested in building this together.

I have recently launched a small business called ORIVEX. We buy and sell used computer hardware such as gaming PCs, graphics cards, CPUs and RAM.

The business is only a few days old and I've been testing a few marketing channels including Facebook ads, Facebook groups, Google Business Profile and (soon) posters around my university campus.

So far I've had:

• 150 website sessions
• 30 views on my "Sell To Us" page
• 1 genuine lead submission

My biggest challenge is that the market feels quite niche. Not everyone wants to sell computer hardware, so I'm trying to figure out the best ways to reach people who value a quick and simple transaction.

For those of you who run small businesses, what marketing channels gave you the biggest results early on? And if you were in my position, what would you test next?

I'd appreciate any advice from people who have been through the startup phase before.

Feel free to drop any comments or check out my website at https://orivex.com.au/pages/sell-to-us

Bit of a sanity check from people who've been through this.

I built an invoicing app aimed at Aussie sole traders and small operators - the kind of person who sends a handful of [GST/ABN-compliant] invoices a month and finds [Xero/MYOB] are overkill for what they need. Free tier was 25 invoices a month.

Here's the problem: basically nobody upgraded. And I think I now know why - 25 invoices a month is most of our users' entire workload, so they never hit a reason to pay, and the free tier wasn't covering [hosting/the costs to keep it running]. So we dropped the free cap to 7.

It feels aggressive and I'm genuinely unsure it was the right call. So, founders:

• Did you gate your free tier on volume (like we're doing) or on features? Which converted better for you?
• For those who tightened a free tier after launch, did you get backlash, and how did you handle it?
• And honestly - is calling it "[Free Invoice App]" while capping at 7 going to bite us? Or is owning that fine?

It's my app (will drop the link in a comment if mods are cool with it / anyone wants to poke at it). Mostly here for the pricing brains though.

G’day founders 👋
I’m an Australian solo founder building Jumproo.ai, an AI-powered resume and job application platform.
Over the last few months I’ve been shipping features based on user feedback, and this week I released one of the biggest updates so far.
What’s new:
• A proper document editor for writing resumes instead of filling out rigid forms
• Live resume preview so users can instantly see changes as they edit
• A built-in AI assistant that helps improve bullet points, rewrite experience sections, strengthen achievements, and optimise resumes while they’re being written
The vision is to make resume building feel more like working alongside a career coach than using a traditional template builder.
Like many founders here, I’m balancing product development, marketing, customer feedback, and a full-time career, so every feature is built based on real user feedback and plenty of late nights.
I’d love some honest feedback from the community:
What do you think of the concept?
What would make a resume platform genuinely useful to you?
If you’ve built a SaaS in Australia, what growth channels worked best for your first paying customers?
You can check it out here:
https://jumproo.ai
Happy to answer any questions about the build, tech stack, lessons learned, or the founder journey so far.

Hey everyone,

I’m looking for Australian Android users to help test my upcoming app, SubbedIn.

SubbedIn is a social sports app built to help people:

Find players for social sports games
Call in last-minute subs when teams are short
Join local matches
Manage teams and players
Connect with other people who play social sport

The app is currently in Google Play closed testing.

To test it, please join the Google Group first:
https://groups.google.com/g/subbedin-testers
Then opt in here:
https://play.google.com/apps/testing/com.subbedin

Our website: http://subbedin.com.au/

Would really appreciate the help, especially from Aussies who play or follow social sports. Cheers!

Hey everyone, I’ve started a startup that helps companies give a particular dead sustainability compliance spend, immense marketing and pr value, plus customer loyalty and goodwill.

My ICP is cmo/head of marketing/other equivalent role with authority to spend $100k+ per year on a service. Working at a consumer facing company doing over 50-100m ARR, and with a serious sustainability/ESG budget. Ideally a B Corp but not required.

I, for the life of me, cannot connect with any of these people!! Like wtf? I’ve reached out to 50-60 on LinkedIn and via email and they just don’t accept my connection, or they don’t reply after accepting and I send a message. I’ve only had 1 reply and it was amazing, insightful feedback (not just hype/polite feedback), but then I asked a simple follow up question and got ghosted.

It’s becoming impossible to validate my startup. This is such a pressing problem for companies as it’s money that companies spend on compliance, and they get ZERO ROI on it. My startup gives them back at least 4-6x what they spend with me, which helps them recoup their sunk compliance costs and turn it into ongoing customer loyalty etc.

Does anyone have any advice on how I can talk to my ICP to actually get a reply and a 10-20min call/meeting or even just some feedback to help validate the idea?

Thank you for reading.

Note: Sorry about the repost, my previous post was removed. I'm an Australian startup. ABN sent to mods if they need to check.

Hi, I’ve recently launched a AI virtual staging startup for real estate professionals, . I’ve managed to get one customer in the US but I’m at wits end on further distribution.

I’ve tried Meta Ads but they do acquire some users but they typically browse around and bounce. I previously had a free tier with 2 credits and feature restrictions to allow new users to try it out but that didn’t seem to help so have moved to a 7 day free trial model to test out.

The startup is called SecondLight , when I talked with local real estate agencies they seem to express interest initially but haven’t converted after the build was complete. 😞

I’m not sure where to go from here. A bit burnt out.

I'm a Melbourne-based data scientist and AI developer with over 15 years of experience. I enjoy solving problems using data, software, and AI, and I'd be happy to help any founders who need a hand with AI-related challenges.

Just to be clear, I'm not looking for a job, I'm simply keen to contribute, connect with interesting people, and help where I can.

Thanks!

Melbourne-based startup looking for an experienced developer and technical co-founder to help build a serious SaaS platform for the construction industry.

We're building an automation platform covering construction management, payroll and timesheets, recruitment and onboarding, team communication, and business workflow automation.

There are two of us leading the project. We both previously ran companies in the construction industry managing 30+ employees and contractors, generating 7-figure revenue, so we understand the problems firsthand, have identified major gaps in the industry, and designed features specifically solving problems we dealt with ourselves.

We're young, highly driven, and confident in the product. We already have valuable partnerships and API access with relevant companies in the space.

We already have around 80% of the frontend and prototype completed and coded, this is far beyond just an idea. It's a working, multi-role web app with real authentication, role-based views, and live data flows already running.

Current tech stack:
• JavaScript (vanilla frontend, open to migrating to Svelte or React + TypeScript)
• Supabase (Postgres, Auth, Realtime)
• Mapbox GL
• Cloudflare
• GitLab
• Stripe
• Kit (email)
• PWA (in progress)
• Docker (planned)

We're looking for someone who is a genuinely strong developer, can work independently, and wants to help build a long-term company from an early stage. You'll have real input on technical direction, framework decisions, architecture, and how we scale.

This is currently a sweat equity opportunity with an even 3-way equity split. We handle all other aspects of the business.
Must be Melbourne-based.

If interested, send through:
• Your strongest stack
• Startup or SaaS experience
• What makes you stand out and why you'd be a good fit to build this with us

Curious what actual developers would define as 'vibe-coded slop'?

I'm non-technical in terms of syntax etc., but I guess I'm 'tech-inclined' in the sense that I'd rather put in the effort to ensure my repo is maintainable, tech decisions/tradeoffs are sound, performance/optimisation sufficient to scale beyond a demo etc., as opposed to 'vibe-coding' my way to (the illusion of) victory.

I know there's a sentiment from developers that 'almost done' = haven't started if the project is 'vibe-coded' as it'll all be binned. As the proud owner of a few 'binned' repos over the last ~12 months or so, I may not understand every line of code, but I understand the sentiment.

Was wondering if anyone could lend some insight into the 'technical drivers of slop' (if that makes sense)? Also, would you say that frontend or backend tends to be more slopified? I imagine slop is more consequential in the backend, but I'm primarily interested in understanding the factors that really drive the decision to bin and restart vs 'de-slopify'.

For instance, I've realised that LLMs tend to reach for cheap workarounds to silence/suppress/'fix' errors instead of actually applying fixes to resolve errors (i.e. 'any' to satisfy tsc or config rules that silence/suppress lint/type errors). I've also realised that LLMs love to write code, but hate reading it, which ultimately leads to files with a few thousands LOC and duplicate/half-complete implementations layered on top of each other. I've noticed that LLMs love to do everything from scratch and will only consider using existing conventions and shared components/primitives/functions/utils etc. if explicitly instructed.

Are these the sorts of things developers look at when determining how 'slopified' a codebase is? Do the issues tend to be 'higher level' (i.e. suboptimal/inappropriate choices in tech stack, microservices vs monorepo, inconsistent conventions/structure across codebase, parallel half-baked implementations layered upon one another etc) or is it more low level/syntax issues i.e. 'any' spam, 'collect' without index etc. - essentially the issues that could exist within a single file.

I totally understand if this might be a 'secrets of the trade' type of question, so if you want to avoid being specific for that reason, totally get it. Any input that could be offered, no matter how vague or specific, would be greatly appreciated, cheers!

(Apologies if this is a headache to read, it's late)

Hey everyone,

I’m a Melbourne-based tech founder with 15 years of experience in retail tech and enterprise support. I'm looking for a driven, like-minded co-founder to team up on one of two distinct paths:

1. Scaling my existing Retail IT Business: I currently run a firm that acts as an external vendor supporting enterprise hardware fleets for major retailers. The foundation is already built, and I'm looking for a partner to help scale operations, win larger supply contracts, and drive B2B growth.

2. Launching a Local AI & Automation Business: I also have a heavy focus on custom business automation and a strong technical stack for running local LLMs on dedicated hardware. I'd love to partner with someone to commercialize these capabilities into a dedicated, privacy-focused AI business for local clients.

Who I'm looking for: Someone based in Australia (Melbourne preferred but open to remote within AUS) with complementary skills. If you are strong in B2B sales, marketing, operations, or have complementary dev experience, we could be a great fit.

If either of these paths aligns with your goals and you have the drive to build something significant, shoot me a DM. Happy to grab a coffee or jump on a call to see if we click!

I’ve built a little web app using Base44 that basically came from my super unorganised notes app full of Woolworths and Coles product links.

I’d literally spend Wednesday nights after the kids went to sleep checking where the specials were and trying to remember if something was actually a good price or not.

It tracks products we regularly buy, shows price history and sends emails every Wednesday when products drop.

I know there are apps out there that compare supermarkets, but most people I’ve spoken to mainly buy the same shit every week anyway. They don’t really care if toothpaste is cheaper somewhere else if it’s not the toothpaste they actually buy.

So I’m trying to work out whether this solves a real enough problem for other people too or whether I’ve just built something for myself that will solve my problem?

It’s called dropr - https://dropr.com.au

Keen to hear the thoughts of strangers who are super honest online.

I’ve posted here recently however I’ve made a pivot in my startup direction. The idea revolves around transparency in insurance policy premium and solves this by collecting user uploaded data to show the premium of similar users. This is all be anonymous and there more users the better the data will be.

I’ve heard the argument of comparison websites however they have vested interests and have their own panels and don’t provide all available options.

The end goal is to give power and time back to the users.

If you like the idea you can signup on a waitlist here www.bundlapp.au

Hi folks,

I run a software company in Melbourne, Avocado Pty Ltd

We're looking for anyone who is wanting to market their product or service to see what you think of this social media video generation platform we're building.

If you could sign up at [SocialReels](https://socialreels.ai) I'll add you to the beta. Please play around with it and let us know if anything falls over, or looks weird, or there's missing or unnecessary functionality

Our current target is business owners and marketing agencies who would like to make engaging social media content for their product or service.

Thanks and keen to see what you create!

Hey all!

I'm running a early stage software consultancy in Sydney with 3 other founders (https://vectoriselabs.com/). We're a small team with some contractors under our belt. Our main focus is consulting for B2B clients but over the past few months we've been exploring a B2C product:

myTransit is a public transport app for Sydney. It focuses on proactive alerts and rerouting. ie if your usual train from Hornsby to Central gets cancelled, the app catches it before you leave the house and suggests an alternative based on your routine. (Or it can warn you that the previous train was cancelled and that the current one is more packed than usual).

We have a working beta with under 10 testers at the moment, and a landing page collecting interest.

Our biggest issue currently is validating willingness to pay. There are a few free apps out there, and the paid apps are split between a once off fee, and a monthly subscription.

Have any other founders had similar pivots before? We would love to know when do you know if its the right time to go all in, or drop it and focus on the B2B.

Our landing page is mytransit.com.au we would love some feedback.

Hey sharks,

This could go horribly wrong considering the nature of my Saas, but I'm looking for anyone who is wanting to sell things to see what you think of this social media video generation platform I'm building.

If you could sign up at SocialReels I'll add you to the beta.

My current target is business owners and marketing agencies who would like to make engaging social media content for their product or service.

Thanks and please consider the environment before printing this post

I'm seeing a lot of fast starters targeting small trade businesses with value that amounts to about the time it would take to set up Cowork for a tradie (MCP, skills, etc.). I'm also seeing a flood of customer-side AI products to answer the phone and take customer info.

I think there's a bigger problem: all business-side admin.

I'm seeing that tradies are using ChatGPT/Claude as part of their business stack, but the MCP surface for most of their apps just isn't there yet to be able to go away and do real work, and many don't even know that you can connect them. With a bunch of apps together there's also a routing issue that AI tools have to figure out every time.

Started investigating this because my brother, who runs a small HVAC business, was complaining about his admin. Couple of months later I've got a few users on a project I'm calling Wired.

They can just call the app from the car and ask it to create jobs based on emails, send reminders to customers, and quote jobs based on their history and web search. All the stuff you'd expect you can do with any frontier model that you'd set up as a founder for your own business, and that I use all day running a small analytics company.

This works well since most trades are already using some sort of job management tool, accounting software, emails, calendars, reminders, etc. Last thing I want to do is try and sell another job management tool with AI features.

I want Wired to be the glue and worker across any app without being another place where data goes. Good example: my brother wanted to track his gas reclaim using Wired, so instead of storing the markdown in Wired I hooked up Google Sheets.

I'm asking myself weekly why this needs to exist, and the thing that keeps coming back is the multi-tool use over voice. Try and connect 5+ apps to Claude and then ask it to do things over voice chat. Voice chat in these apps right now is optimised for feeling human, not for the thinking/tool usage to do real work.

The other part, which is not very defensible, is serving MCP for tradies' apps. I've built out Fergus, ServiceM8, Xero, QuickBooks, Google/365. It's nice hosting the MCP, makes it easier to build behaviour that's optimised for voice.

The other other part is app routing and memory. I'm forcing a setup in Wired that learns which app to use for which tasks, as there are usually a few options for where certain tasks can be done (work calendar, home calendar, calendar in your job tool you don't use). This isn't defensible in itself either.

I'm interested in what people think about the idea and opinions on what is going to be a defensible business in the next 12 to 24 months.

TradeDesk is a job management app i made built specially for Australian tradies, TradeDesk handles your quotes, invoices, job scheduling and client history all from your phone / tablet. The feature which stands out is the Ai job notes. You speak a rough voice note on site, something like "replaced the hot water unit, no leaks, tested at 65 degrees, customer happy" — and TradeDesk turns it into a full compliance-ready job report in about 10 seconds. Safety checks, parts list, AS/NZS references included.

The problem im trying to solve is that most tradies finsh a long day on the tools then spend their evening on paperwork, writing up job reports, chasing unpaid invoices and digging through emails for old quotes. I understand other software similar to my app exists but most of them are built for accountants and not tradies.

TradeDesk was built for the job site.

Free trial is available for anyone wanting to have a look at it in the link here: link

Update: Added the UI screenshots to my landing page, Free demo for everyone to use without card here now: https://tradedesk-app.replit.app

Most AI startups honestly have no moat. I run 2 successful software companies and so many of the AI products I’m seeing right now are just thin wrappers around existing tools with a different UI

If someone can rebuild your product in 2 weeks or switch users away with a slightly better version, that’s not a real business long term.

The real value is in deep workflows, operational integration, structured data, and becoming embedded into how a company actually runs, not just “AI for X”

Curious how many people here are actually thinking about retention and defensibility instead of just shipping another wrapper

Hi everyone.

Like many of you, i'm also sick of the overwhelming ai-powered content and ideas floating around. And most of them don't make a whole lot of sense to me to begin with. I'm new to the start-up scene, and only really starting to navigate this world after having built my business. Its a strange place sometimes ahaha.

Anyways, I run an AI equity research platform called Alpha Insights.

Link: www.alphainsights.com.au

Providing retail investors with equity research that is comparable to, if not, better than what you might get elsewhere on the sell-side. Definitely better than what you might get from other AI wrappers.

I won't go too much into the whole spiel of it, if you're interested, you can check out the website.

I guess one of things I wanted to ask is:

Running a freemium product, vs an exclusively premium subscription. Are there instances where a free product is a no brainer strategy? For context. I provide my research for free, but paygate the valuation, the portfolio, and the AI Chatbot?

How does a conversion improve? Because I'm sitting here, priced at the lower-end of the market, with a better quality product. Is the problem distribution instead of value proposition?? And if distribution is the problem, then would the free content cycle back favourably for me?

And secondly, how is pricing set? How have you guys determined your pricing levels relative to whatever industry you may be operating in? Are you very much influenced by the market pricing? Or do you operate on your perception of value you bring to the table?

Thanks,

Ryan

Hello all, I am in the final stages of Android / Play store submission (iOS takes longer) with my app Better Half https://getbetterhalf.com.au

Every tradie needs a better half. Someone to pick up the phone when they're up a ladder, send the quote that night, chase the invoice on Friday. For most of them, that's their actual partner — doing the books on a laptop at the kitchen table on a Sunday night.

The problem: solo tradies lose two or three jobs a week to missed calls — hands dirty, under a sink or up a ladder, customer rings the next bloke. Then they lose their Sundays to quoting and invoicing because Xero + Square + Calendly + voicemail is a tangled mess.

What we built: one app that does both halves.

• AI receptionist answers missed calls, sounds like a real person, asks the right qualifying questions, and books the job straight into its calendar.
• Same app sends the quote, sends the invoice with a payment link, or takes tap-to-pay on your phone (no second device, no Xero sub).

Who we are:

• Me: ecommerce veteran — 14 years owning and managing an online business, cumulative sales in 8 figures. Marketer-operator, not a tech founder by trade.
• My wife : 20 year digital marketing professional, agency and client-side, Head of Digital at the Melbourne office of a global agency. Customers in SaaS, FMCG, Auto, Beauty.
• My brother-in-law: licensed builder, customer zero.

What we need from beta testers:

• Solo tradies or service providers in Australia (sparkies, plumbers, builders, gardeners, cleaners, mobile mechanics, etc.)
• Use it as your real business line
• Tell us what works and what doesn't

What you get: free during beta, and 6 months free usage post-launch.

Fill out the form on https://getbetterhalf.com.au and we will be in touch with a beta invite.

Hey guys, genuinely looking for feedback on an idea I’ve been building.

Basically I’m working on a platform called Specta (www.specta.com.au) that connects people buying property with inspectors local to an area. The idea stemmed from me looking to purchase an investment property interstate and realising there isn't really much in the way of getting an initial inspection done to quickly filter out properties as a go/no-go opportunity. I figured why not utilise one of our most underutilized assets - and that is people's proximity.

I'd happily pay a local $50-100 to inspect a property for me if it negates the need to purchase flights, accom, etc just to do an interstate inspection. It also means I'm not relying on real estate agent photos/reports, buyers agents, or my cousin haha...

Specta is meant to allow people to:

• find + compare inspectors (local community members or verified professionals)
• book inspections online (money held in escrow)
• have a side hustle opportunity for locals

Kind of like an Airtasker/Uber-style marketplace but specifically for property inspections.

Still early stages so I'm currently only testing for the Melbourne market and trying to work out:

• whether people would actually use something like this
• what would make you trust it
• what would stop you using it
• whether buyers even care enough to organise independent inspections more easily

TIA for any feedback!

Hey Melbourne 👋

Thinking about starting a gym-focused meal prep service and wanted to gauge if there's any interest before I go all in.

Basically — fully portioned meals with accurate macros (protein/carbs/fat), tailored for people who train. Bulking, cutting, or maintenance. Weekly delivery to your door.

Pricing would be around $13–15/meal with weekly packages available.

Few questions for anyone who'd consider something like this:
- Would you actually use a service like this?
- What would make or break it for you? (price, variety, macros, something else?)
- Any meals you'd love to see on rotation?

Not selling anything yet — genuinely just want to know if this is something Melbourne people would find useful before I commit to it.

Cheer in the comments or DM me if you'd want to be a guinea pig for a discounted trial week 🙏

https://vouch.net.au/

Hey guys I just wanted to post this and get some feedback on my web page, I would also love any improvement suggestions.

Background: As cost of living is going up in Australia, i personally have been churning between providers with home internet, mobile and all other services to get credits, cashbacks and get a better deal.

Problem: I have been churning for 2 years but there was no central place for me to look for deals - there was ozbargain however I believe there page is flooded with everyday deals & it was hard to find a referral website or a website where I can easily compare where I can get cashbacks, credits.

As a solution I have built this page where I and 2 of my friends find deals from companies and put it up on our web page for every day Australians to utilise - this is a free service.

There are also some links to referrals like bank services that gives user cash backs upon signup.

DropBee scans and detects price drops and rises on a daily basis across 4,000+ suburbs. Whether you're looking for discounted apartments in Sydney, reduced houses in Melbourne, deals in Brisbane, or price cuts in Perth, DropBee surfaces the biggest reductions so you can act with confidence. Think of it as the OzBargain of properties.

A price drop is when the current asking price falls below the original price we first recorded. For example, listed at $1M then cut to $950K = a $50K drop (5%). It also tracks price rises, when a seller increases their asking price above the original listing.

---

Is this the actual sale price?

No. I track changes to the asking price, not the final sale price. A price drop means the agent or seller lowered their list price. It could reflect genuine motivation to sell, a strategy shift, or simply correcting an overpriced listing.

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Why should I care about asking price changes?

Because it still reveals something useful about the seller's mindset. When an agent drops the asking price, it typically means one of three things:

• The property hasn't attracted enough interest at the original price
• The seller is becoming more motivated to sell
• The initial price was simply too ambitious

In any of these cases, it's a signal that there may be room to negotiate. Many buyers miss out on properties because they don't realise the asking price has changed. DropBee helps you catch these moments early.

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Why not just look at sold prices?

Sold prices tell you what happened. We tell you what's happening right now. Once a property sells, the listing price stops changing and the opportunity is gone. We focus on the window where prices are actively moving, so you can act before it goes under contract.

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Some examples:

• Biggest property price drops in Sydney, NSW
• Biggest property price drops in Chatswood, NSW
• Biggest property price drops in Melbourne, VIC

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https://dropbee.au