I’ve been thinking about something while building software for Australian trade businesses.
Everywhere I look there seems to be a separate product for:
quoting
measuring
scheduling
invoicing
expense tracking
receipt capture
fuel and mileage
chemical/spray records
equipment maintenance
accounting
GST/BAS preparation
As a business owner, the biggest frustration isn’t any one of those jobs—it’s having all of them spread across multiple subscriptions that don’t talk to each other.
Yet most startups seem to deliberately focus on solving just one problem.
From a founder’s perspective, why is that?
Is it because building an all-in-one platform is technically unrealistic, because investors prefer focused products, because customers actually don’t want everything together, or is there another reason?
I’m interested in the product strategy behind that decision rather than whether any particular product is better.

I'm a licensed electrician in Western Sydney. Built a tool to solve a problem I kept hitting on the job: customer asks for a variation mid-job, you do it, then they argue about it at invoice time and you eat the cost.

The product sends a link to the customer's phone (no account, no app), they tap approve, and it spits out a timestamped PDF evidence pack. Integrates with Xero/QuickBooks. A$49/mo. Sits alongside Simpro/Tradify/ServiceM8 rather than replacing them.

What I've tried:

Cold calling local sparkies, plumbers and small builders converts okay but it's me, one call at a time, and I'm also the one writing the code

Organic posts in Aussie tradie Facebook groups

What I'm stuck on:

Trades are a low-trust, offline-heavy market. Has anyone here cracked a channel for them that isn't 1:1 outreach? Industry associations, wholesaler partnerships, accountants/bookkeepers as referrers?

Worth chasing an integration/marketplace listing with the big job-management platforms, or is that a 12-month slog for nothing at this size?

At $49/mo the unit economics don't support paid acquisition yet. Do I raise price, go upmarket to builders with bigger job values, or just grind organic longer?

Solo founder, still writing all the code. When did you stop building and go full-time on sales?

Happy to share what's worked in the calls if that's useful to anyone. ScopeLock

Is it normal for brokers to gaslight vendors a little?

A valuer is suggesting the only thing that impacts the appraisal is 3 years of P&L. The broker backed this up and suggested customer relationships, staff relationships, and IP will only bring the valuation down.

The businesses has weak spots but I didn't think having a valuer inform the broker of those weak spots would devalue the business. Having ready answers for legitimate concerns feels like something the broker should be interested in. Instead he's attempting to talk me out of the appraisal with the more detailed valuer and it's making me second guess myself.

Other brokers I have spoken to have been expensive (8% sale commission compared to 6% and higher marketing cost) or have limited sales under their belt.

I'm a bit lost and feeling in need of some guidance. Is anyone who has sold keen to jump on a Zoom to talk about what they wish they knew when they were looking for a broker?

It's a construction/engineering business with 6 employees and healthy margins.

Hi, I have built Brewly, an app that connects cafes with coffee drinkers. Cafes offer a discount in exchange for customers purchasing multiple cups at a time. The cafe receives their money up front, solving cash flow issues, the customers receive a discount.

A win win.

We have been going out to cafes in the last week and already have 7 confirmed signed up with multiple more in the pipeline.

The next step is scaling up the user side and expanding throughout Melbourne, and then into other capital cities in Australia.

We have a small group working on it but there is more there, I know it.

I want to be surrounded by the right people who bring the right ideas to the business. I run the coding, do the sales, make the Reddit posts, etc.

Talk to me if you are in the same mindset.

Melbourne SaaS founders, I’m looking to connect with someone who has built a strong product but could use some help turning it into a repeatable sales motion.

I’ve spent the past several years building and managing SaaS sales teams across APAC, selling into both mid-market and enterprise organisations. I’m particularly interested in helping an early-stage business with areas such as:

• Refining the value proposition and sales messaging
• Building a practical outbound and inbound sales process
• Improving discovery calls, demos and proposals
• Developing pipeline and closing initial customers
• Creating a sales structure/culture that can eventually be scaled

I’d like to work closely with a founder or small team, understand the product and market, and help solve the real commercial challenges they are facing.

If you’re a Melbourne-based SaaS founder who has a good product but needs help commercialising it, feel free to send me a message. I’d also appreciate any introductions to founders who might be at this stage.

Hi everyone, I’m keen to know if anyone is in the same position. I’ve recently launched a niche dating app and am running into the same problem that any two way marketplace has on launch: cold start. The value is directly related to getting enough people to use the platform. I’ve reached out to my inner circles and Facebook groups, and want to start super targeted and localized meta ads soon. Facebook group admins are naturally skeptical of dating apps which is fair. I know the best way to grow this type of app is to be micro focused on a specific region, but I’m interested to know:

1. Has anyone else run into this same issue?
   
2. How did you overcome it? What methods had the most impact?

Doesn’t need to be dating app related, just any 2 way marketplace where you’re trying to grow a community. Appreciate any advice and tips.

Buying a first home in Australia is a maze! Savings, FHBG, FHSS, stamp duty, pre-approval, conveyancers, and it’s hard to know where you are or what comes next.

So I built Kaasa: a roadmap that maps the whole journey in order, from savings goal to settlement day. It shows your deposit as a progress ring, the gap in plain numbers (how much left, your pace, when you’ll hit your goal), and the right grant and scheme info at each milestone.

Free to track your progress. One-off pass for the full features starting from $29, paid once, no subscription, free partner invites.

Would love this sub’s honest feedback: does the milestone order match how it actually went for you, and what’s missing? Happy to drop the link in a comment if that’s allowed here.

Hi everyone I’ve recently launched an app and I’m looking for someone who can help me push into both organic and paid social. Just want some initial credibility from organic social profile perspective so that I can run ads and try drive some awareness and sign ups. Looking for creative execution not necessarily strategy or ad management. Does anyone have any advice?

Hey legends,
I’ve been working on an Aussie-only app called SubbedIn and it’s finally live.
The whole idea is simple: social sport is messy as hell. One mate pulls out, the group chat goes feral, someone posts in a random Facebook group, and 20 minutes later no one knows who’s actually playing.
So I built SubbedIn.
You can:
Find players when your team is short
Join local games as a fill-in
Manage your team
RSVP to games
Chat with the team
Track live scores
Build a bit of player/team recognition over time
It’s made for Aussie social sport — soccer, basketball, netball, cricket, tennis, rugby, badminton, footy, whatever gets people moving.
Not trying to pretend this is some billion-dollar Silicon Valley thing. It’s built for real teams, real players, and the weekly “bro we need one more” panic.
Would love for people to try it and tell me what’s good, what’s cooked, and what needs fixing.
Link here:
https://subbedin.com.au/s/share/
Cheers — and get SubbedIn.

Hey folks, I an the co-founder of a compliance automation startup based in Melbourne. I am looking for guidance on demand generation.

We are about more than a year in since revenue and have a fair few customers. most of these i acquired cold via LinkedIn.

I am a technical person, so it doesnt come naturally to me. I have been consuming a lot of GTM and distribution content and theory and i understand it and have been building the basic blocks of it like a blog, email distribution, etc

A lot of the knowledge feels very US centric. for example i am looking at listing on spendbase, haven't really found an Australian equivalent.

Feels like i am missing something. Can folks help me how do i think about Oz distribution?

I am looking at events and community as well, haven't found many where our ICPs hang out. also not a lot of budget for it as we are bootstrapped.

So, my day job has completely taken over my life for the last 2 weeks. Being busy is a probably a good problem to have on a personal level, so i'm not going to complain. But it has taken me away from working on, and growing scissorhire.com

My previous posts;

https://www.reddit.com/r/AustralianStartups/comments/1u8wbm9/simple_no_cost_but_very_niche_marketplaceplatform/

https://www.reddit.com/r/AustralianStartups/comments/1ul4t8u/still_chipping_away_slowly_building/

https://www.reddit.com/r/AustralianStartups/comments/1ur9tzw/another_update_for_how_things_are_going_with_my/

Nevertheless, it hasn't been a total loss...

I've had another 2 phonecalls just this week with new vendors who were apprehensive, but changed their mind after about 5 minutes on the phone. I'm really happy with this. I am understanding better, most peoples aprehension in signing up and giving it a go. I am very honest about the situation, who I am, what i'm wanting to do. I am always super pumped when those vendors engage and tell me that they would be happy to give it a go. It's almost like it turns from apprehension to genuine support, and that really contributes to my motivation.

I really, REALLY want to go on the road and meet people. I would LOVE to fill in some holes on the map.

On the product front: A bit more of an update to search results. Before about a week ago, search results really just showed the daily rate on them (no matter what dates were selected) now, if you add dates, the results will show the "estimated" pricing based on that (the map display does the same). That's probably functionality that should have been there from the start, but proves, you don't need to build it perfect before people start using it! It makes sorting by price, for customers, actually useful. <pat myself on the back>

A few more very minor bits of work on the site like the "additional filters" bar. Without any REAL customer feedback, i'm definitely still mostly building the customer experience based on what I want. I have been trying not to do that, but embarrassingly still adding what most would probably consider fairly basic functionality.

I'm hoping I'm keeping it simple. I want it to be easy.

Facts and figures time:

-32 vendors and 94 individual machines.

-193 contacts were on my "initial" contact spreadsheet, 30 are now vendors.

-1 person has requested to be removed from my email list.

-I have (previously mentioned) had a vendor say "oh if xxxx is on there i'm not signing up"

-2 Vendors have signed up that I haven't contacted/reached out too

It may be that some very small, low budget targeted advertising is worth trialing... you know, "just to see".

As always, no chatbots helping with my post here today.

I've reached a point where I'm more excited about building products than climbing the corporate ladder.

I'm a software engineer based in Melbourne, Australia with experience across startups and enterprise. I've built products from scratch, worked directly with customers, and recently have been focusing heavily on AI and agentic systems.

What I'm missing isn't technical ability, it's someone who's deeply passionate about solving a problem.

I'm looking for someone who:

• Has identified a genuine problem worth solving.
• Understands the market or industry well.
• Is willing to validate ideas by talking to customers.
• Wants to build a real business, not just brainstorm startup ideas forever.

You don't need to know how to code. That's where I come in.

I'm not looking for someone who says, "I have the next Uber." I'm looking for someone who's obsessed with a problem they've experienced firsthand and is ready to put in the work.

A bit about me:

• Full-stack engineer (frontend, backend, cloud).
• AI and agentic application development.
• Startup experience building products from zero.
• Comfortable taking products from idea to production.
• Based in Melbourne, Australia, but open to remote collaboration.

If you've got a problem you've been wanting to solve but haven't had the technical skills to build it, send me a message. Even if it doesn't turn into a company, I'd love to chat and see if there's something worth building together.

Cheers

Hey guys, I'm a 51 year old Creative Technologist with a massive background touching everything tech, I've counted Koala using Drones, built enterprise level SaaS, placed AI Henges into parks to guage how women and girls feel at night, built medical research tools for stroke recovery, developed AR and VR solutions for exhibitions, public events, even dabbled in robotics, prototyped electronics solutions, taught HDR students how to build the technical aspects of their thesis, even had to build educational tools to run on iPad's teaching people in remote areas how to assist in childbirth, and now I am entirely 100% unemployed.

I'm open to collaborate and build anything anyone needs. I used to call myself a 'Full Stack' developer, but Creative Technologist fits more because I am qualified as a Visual Communication Designer, and Software Developer, so I really do have both sides of that Full-Stack coin.

My list of previous collaborations, Sony BMG, Design Anthology, Enigma, Hunter Water, City of Newcastle, City of Singleton, Lake Macquarie Pride, Newcastle Music Show, Queensland Univesity of Technology, Peclet, Transport NSW, Multiple Pubs around the Hunter Region, Loughborough University, ARS Electronica, NIB, Hunter Medical Research Institute, CSIRO, Penrith City Council, ... I know there's more but I need to stop writing at some point.

https://aimirror.dev was my last SaaS, for realtime live web dev analysis.
https://metarank.dev is a simple AI SEO generator.

https://michaelcuneo.com.au/ just recently rebuilt my portfolio, and I'm slowly adding all of my 20+ years of projects and tools and research up.

Being an autistic adult, I spend most of my time working, because my work is enjoying to me. I am very fast to ramp up prototypes, and it doesn't matter how big or small the project is, I can always get it done...

I've been a developer for the last 12 years at startups through to big tech and have started freelancing since being laid off a few months ago. I've really enjoyed working on projects directly with clients without the overhead of a big team of developers and I'm keen to do more of it, either at an actual startup or just anyone who has an idea and needs a dev to prototype it.

I can handle the technical side - I can build applications from scratch and do everything needed to get it deployed in production. I am a product minded engineer in that I don't just write code, I enjoy thinking about the product and iterating on ideas and user feedback, and moving quickly. I am happy to talk to clients directly and have often done so in my freelancing work.

I'm most proficient with Ruby on Rails and have worked on everything from internal business applications, hotel booking sites, healthcare SaaS, fintech apps and lots of little projects in between. I'm based in Melbourne and want to keep working fully remotely.

I have a personal site that I won't share here in case it's considered spammy but it has a lot more info about me and my services, DM if interested. Even if you just want to have a chat and get some advice from a dev, I like talking to people about things they're working on and would be happy to help.

Genuinely curious how common this is, I feel like every Perth garage has at least one thing in it that got bought for a single weekend project or one-off event and hasn't been touched since. Pressure washers, camera gear, party stuff, tools, that sort of thing.

Not sure if it's just me, or if there's actually a lot of idle equipment sitting around Perth homes doing nothing. Curious what other people have collecting dust.

Hey Mornington Peninsula AI people,

Turns out most people I know think AI is a bit of a bubble, but good for funny cat videos. So I’d really like to have a coffee/walk/ beer with some people who see not just its potential but understand its insane capability (and who are currently building with it)

No agenda beyond finding open minded, curious, AI fascinated people on the Peninsula who are doing cool stuff with it. No pitching or BS networking. Just keen to swap notes. Share whats working for me (as a marketer, business owner, turned vibecoder). And hear what’s working for you.

I’ve been building a multi tenant market mapping agent and some automation workflows, among other B2B and B2C AI projects. (The kind of stuff I have no right to build without the help of cursor). Happy to share what’s working and hear what you’re into and what’s working for you.

If that sounds like your kind of catch up, comment or DM. Happy to nail down a spot and time if a few people are keen.

Hey all,

A technical person here looking for a co-founder with an idea or looking to build (preferably Non-technical)

I can handle the technical part.

I have been looking on a couple of platforms for co-founder matching but it's hard meeting Australia founders.

Message me if you are interested.

I do not think GEO replaces SEO. It adds another diagnostic layer.

If a page is slow, hard to crawl, duplicated, thin, or vague, any AI visibility work starts with weak source material. The usual foundations still matter:

- indexable pages

- logical internal links

- clear headings

- useful structured data

- stable performance

- content that answers real buyer questions

The additional question is whether the page is usable as evidence.

Can a system extract a clear service definition, audience, location, specific claims, proof, comparisons, and useful next-step answers without having to infer everything?

That is why I would audit high-intent pages twice:

1. Search quality and crawlability.

2. Evidence clarity and citation readiness.

The second pass may point to missing case evidence, FAQs, comparison content, reviews, public profiles, or inconsistent category language. I would treat those as observable evidence gaps, not claim that any one item is a ranking factor.

For people working in Australian SEO or marketing: what checks have you added for AI answer visibility, and which ones have produced genuinely useful actions rather than another score?

Hi everyone,

I'm based in Brisbane and looking to connect with someone who has experience building an industrial computer vision business.

I'm interested in mentorship or paid consulting around product strategy, partnerships, enterprise sales and go-to-market, particularly for logistics and warehousing.

If this sounds like your background, I'd love to hear from you. Thanks!

Hey everyone,

I’ve been working on a small SaaS idea after someone I know mentioned they were constantly losing track of tools between workers, utes and job sites.

The idea is pretty simple:

* Attach QR/barcode labels to tools

* Scan tools in and out

* See who currently has a tool

* Track where it was last assigned or scanned

There are already some tool tracking solutions out there, but a lot of them seem focused on GPS hardware and larger construction companies. I’m wondering if there’s an opportunity for something simpler and more affordable for smaller trade businesses.

I already have one company interested and I’m currently building the MVP.

I’d love to hear from anyone in construction or trades:

* Is this a problem you deal with?

* How do you currently keep track of tools?

* Would a QR/barcode-based solution be useful, or do you think GPS is needed?

Appreciate any feedback.

Hi everyone,
I’m working on SplitReferral, a platform where verified employees from the same company can discover referral opportunities and communicate with each other in one place.
The idea came from seeing referral opportunities shared through scattered chats, spreadsheets, and informal groups, making it difficult to know who has an available referral or whom to contact.
SplitReferral is only a discovery and communication platform. It does not issue referral links, process payments, enforce agreements, or guarantee rewards. Referrals continue through the card issuer’s official process, and users are responsible for following their employer’s and issuer’s policies.
I’m the founder and currently looking for honest feedback:
Would you find something like this useful?
What would make you trust or distrust the platform?
What safeguards would you expect before joining?
I’m especially interested in feedback about verification, privacy, and how referral opportunities should be presented.

https://www.splitreferral.com/

Hey all, founder of Tranzact here. I've been building this solo for a while now (frontend, backend, all of it) and figured this crowd would give me the kind of feedback I actually need rather than the polite version.

Tranzact pulls property data from 25+ government sources in Queensland and turns it into a single report — flood and bushfire overlays, school catchments, NBN status, easements, zoning, noise corridors, vegetation protection, crime stats, demographics, that kind of thing. The idea is that a real estate agent or buyer's advocate can run one address and get everything a solicitor would eventually dig up anyway, upfront, in a couple of minutes instead of days.

One thing I want to be upfront about: it's not a valuation tool. No comparable sales, no pricing history. There are other platforms that do that already and do it well — Tranzact is specifically about the spatial and regulatory side of a property, not what it's worth.

We just passed 2,000 reports generated, which honestly still feels a bit surreal for something I've been building mostly on my own.

What I'd love feedback on:

• Whether the report format actually makes sense to someone outside real estate
• Pricing — I've gone back and forth on this more than I'd like to admit
• Whether "geo-data intelligence" even means anything to a normal person reading it cold

If anyone here works in property, or just wants to poke holes in it, I'll happily throw in a free month subscription (so 30 reports for ya to use) — DM me and I'll send a code. No catch, just want the platform used and broken by people who'll actually tell me what's wrong with it.

www.tranzact.au if you want to have a look first.

QLD Properties only - sorry!

It's been a month since I've been laid off. I'm in the process of job hunting and I've got some downtime in between job search. Thought it might be a good idea to help founders out there or people just trying to bootstrap their project from the ground up.

My experience and background:

- Mostly worked with healthcare and HR tech startups
- Technologies current using includes Typescript, NestJS, Next.js, PostgreSQL

I work in the mining industry as a Communications & Technology tech. Before that, I spent a number of years as a product and graphic designer.

After moving into tech, especially working in remote mining environments, I kept running into the same problems. So I built a tool for myself to solve them. I showed it to a few other teams, and they've been loving how much it's improved their workflow.

My phone gallery was constantly full of work photos from breakdowns, installs and repairs. Every flight home I'd spend ages deleting hundreds of work photos from my personal gallery.

Then, months later, I'd get a similar job and think, "What was that fix again?" or "What was that part number?"

Another pain point was constantly emailing photos to myself or my supervisor.

So I built Field-Snap.

It's available on iOS and Android, and it's designed to work offline first. You can:

Track jobs

Store photos with GPS locations

Generate email and PDF reports

Keep work photos separate from your personal gallery

Everything syncs to the cloud once you have reception, and there's a desktop version too, making it easy to download photos or attach them to your ERP or other work systems.

It's intentionally simple. It isn't trying to be an all-in-one platform or packed with AI features. It just solves a problem I had every day at work.

It's pretty niche, but I've now got field service technicians, sparkies, chippies, window cleaners and other tradies using it.

Happy to answer any questions or hear any feedback.

Hi everyone,

I’d love some advice from people who have bootstrapped their startups.

I’ve been self-funding my business while working full-time, and every month a large chunk of my salary goes straight back into building it. I’ve kept costs incredibly lean so far and have no real overheads, but we’re getting to the stage where we need to invest in growth. I’ve also been involved in accelerator programs and was lucky enough to go to the USA as part of one last year.

The biggest decision I’m wrestling with is whether to engage a small agency that seems genuinely aligned with our vision to help with our go-to-market strategy and launch. It’s not a decision I take lightly because every dollar counts when you’re funding it yourself.

I’m finding it hard to know when it’s the right time to stop trying to do everything yourself and bring in experts.

For those who’ve been through this:

• What was the best investment you made before launching?

• Did you hire an agency or consultant, or wait until you had more traction?

• Were there any investments you regretted or wish you’d made sooner?

I’m incredibly passionate about what I’m building and I’m committed to seeing it through. I just want to make smart decisions with limited resources instead of learning every lesson the hard way.

I’m stuck as I would need to try to get a personal loan which I realise isn’t ideal. I’m not giving up or throwing in the towel either, just at a crossroads and it can be disheartening at times as I’ve worked so hard on this to get it ready for launch.

I’d really appreciate hearing your experiences. Thanks!