r/AustralianStartups

Hey everyone 👋

I’m currently working on an Asset Management System built on the Microsoft 365 platform, and the plan is to release it as open source in less than 2 weeks.

The goal is to create something practical and easy to deploy for organizations already using M365/SharePoint/Power Platform.

Right now I’m looking for:
Pilot testers

Feature requests / ideas

Feedback from IT admins or M365 users

Suggestions on what would make it genuinely useful

Would love to hear what features you would expect in an asset management solution 👀

If anyone is interested in testing or contributing ideas, feel free to comment or DM me.

I’ve found that as I get older I have more insurance policies to keep on top of.

Looking for some feedback on an app that tracks your insurances easily. Idea is you’ll just forward an email to the app to store and display an overview. The app will notify on when is best to look for alternative quotes before the next renewal to make sure you don’t overpay.

Landing page is here www.bundlapp.au

Sounds simple currently so after any feedback

Hi,

I'm an experienced dev in my early 50s.

I have worked on software systems that many Australians have used on the internet.

I'd like to talk to potential co-founders about creating a sustainable long-term business rather than a rocket-rise startup.

I've built an entire product using LLM based coding techniques, where I work as an architect and delegate work to agents then review it for quality on return. Some parts of it I hand write. The productivity boost is real but you have to know what you're doing (i.e. it's not vibe coding).

Having proven to myself I can write a product this way, I'd like to choose the right one - aimed at an identified market segment, with access to appropriate domain expertise and with the aim to generate significant income in the long term for a small group of employees (perhaps even under 10).

I can go into more details in conversations but I recognise that I would need someone who could:

* potentially, be a domain expert

* be confident with sales, marketing and customer based strategies

* etc..

Cheers.

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

I spent two decades in IT, the last stretch as Head of Engineering at a startup. Good team, interesting problems, all of it. Then I walked away to build Avataari, an AI platform that helps people preserve their life stories and wisdom as interactive legacies their families can talk to.

That was about a year ago. Here is what I did not expect.

**The identity shift is the hardest part.**

• When you have a title, people know how to place you. "Head of Engineering" is a clean answer to "what do you do?" "I'm building my own AI startup" gets a much slower nod. Especially in Melbourne, where the startup ecosystem is real but still not the default story people tell about their careers.
• The first three months I kept second-guessing whether this was the right move. Not because the product was struggling. The absence of external validation is just disorienting when you've had it for twenty years.

**Building solo changes how you think about everything.**

• Every decision sits with you. Pricing, architecture, positioning, customer conversations, support. There is no committee and no one to approve your direction. This is genuinely liberating and genuinely terrifying at the same time. Some weeks I move faster than any team I've led. Other weeks I talk myself in circles for three days about a button label.

**The Australian market is a validation challenge, not a growth engine.**

• Australia has sophisticated, thoughtful early adopters. But the category I'm in, personal AI and family legacy, is more emotionally resonant in North American and South Asian markets right now. I am building for global from day one, which means learning how to sell remotely into markets I don't live in.

**What's actually working:**

• The product is live at avataari.ai. Text and voice conversations with your AI avatar, guided story capture, family sharing, privacy controls. Free to start.
• The thing that surprised me most is the emotional weight of this product. People cry recording their first story. I did not design for that. It happened anyway.

Happy to answer questions about the transition from engineering leadership to founder, building in the AI space from Australia, or anything else. This community has been a good sounding board and I want to give back.

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://preview.redd.it/q1x3kj22yk1h1.png?width=1872&format=png&auto=webp&s=f0ff6f732e0160ce12e38a79c0e3661474a61a6c

Hi All

It has been a month now , since goodsuburb.com went live, i can see some good impressions, but relatively less few clicks, is it going in a expected rate or needs more improvement.

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.

Me and my co-founder are two students in Sydney building a rave group finding app. Core problem we're solving : a lot of people want to go to raves, festivals and club nights but their friends bail, they're new to the city, or they just don't have a crew yet. They end up either going alone and feeling isolated or not going at all.

We're positioning it as event-first social matching : you select an event you're attending, then get matched with other people going to the same event. You can find rave friends, a crew, or a rave bae depending on what you're looking for. Think less Tinder, more 'never go alone.'

We just launched a waitlist and have been doing manual matching experiments before building anything. Closest competitor is Radiate which exists but has minimal Australian traction and weak event-specific matching.

Brutally honest feedback welcome. What's most likely to kill this? What are we missing? Has anyone tried building something similar?

Hi everyone,

I am currently building a startup called Essetly (www.essetly.com).

In simple terms, it is a platform to help people organise all the important life stuff in one place, things like insurance, wills, property documents, passwords, emergency contacts, financial accounts and other essential information, so families aren’t left scrambling during already stressful situations.

I personally first felt this pain during COVID when I was stuck here and my family was overseas. Then I experienced it again here when a friend passed away and his young wife was left alone with a child, trying to figure everything out while grieving.

That’s what pushed me to start building this as part of my MBA journey, and now I am at the stage where I am looking for early testers, honest feedback and general market validation.

Would genuinely love to hear your thoughts, criticism or concerns, and whether this is something you think people would actually use. If you are in Adelaide, happy to catch up over a coffee as well and hear your perspective properly.

https://www.essetly.com/

Hey everyone,

For the past 8 months I’ve been building a finance tracking web app - Finward Finance - and I’m looking for a small group of beta testers. I've been both in IT and Admin (financial) all my life and wanted to make something small, yet useful for people who run small businesses, especially here in Australia. Think Xero, MYOB, just less... and easier. No bank integration, just CSV data.

The app is designed for:

- freelancers

- sole traders

- small business owners

- anyone wanting simple finance tracking without bloated accounting software

Current features include:

• income & expense tracking

• custom categories

• reporting

• vehicle/logbook tracking

• cloud sync across devices (mobile, tablet and desktop supported)

• Android app (still in development)

The app is privacy-focused:

- secure Google authentication

- data stored securely via Firebase/Google Cloud

I’m looking for honest feedback on:

- usability

- bugs

- feature ideas

- reports

- onboarding experience

As a thank you, early beta testers will receive free lifetime premium access.

If anyone is interested please just DM me so I can have your details and provide full access.

Would genuinely appreciate the feedback — I’ve been building this independently and I’m trying to make something actually useful instead of overly complicated accounting software.

Thanks!

Hey everyone,

I’m currently building an Australian-based startup in the insurance space and am looking for the right Australia-based marketing/growth-focused co-founder to help scale the business and take on the growth side whilst I continue focusing heavily on product development and expansion.

The platform is already live, operational, and starting to gain genuine traction organically through word of mouth. What initially started as a B2C-focused business is now evolving into something significantly larger, with a major B2B opportunity i’ve identified through firsthand industry experience and existing industry connections.

There is a gap and I am already seeing validation from both consumers and people within the industry.

About me:
- 5+ years experience within the insurance industry
- deep understanding of claims, operations and industry pain points
- strong product and operational focus
- currently self-funding and actively building the business

What I’m looking for:
- Australia-based co-founder only
- strong marketing/growth background
- experience with startups, SaaS, paid ads, SEO, partnerships, growth strategy or scaling brands
- someone ambitious who genuinely wants to build something long-term

I’m not necessarily looking for someone with insurance experience - I’m looking for someone who understands growth, execution and how to build momentum around an early-stage business with real potential.

The foundations are already there:
- live platform
- active users
- backend infrastructure
- roadmap toward B2B tools/products
- clear market opportunity

Still early stage, but that’s also what makes this exciting.

If this sounds like something you’d be interested getting in on and a team player, feel free to DM me - also open to other proposals if you feel this is the opportunity for you.

I’m a founder based in Sydney, and I’m keen to show you all what I’ve been working on: Dollars4Data.net. ( After feedback and looking for co-founder, portal is live)

The Problem: Most of us are sitting on CRMs that look like a dog’s breakfast. Duplicate leads, messy formatting, and PII (Personally Identifiable Information) just floating around. Usually, we’re forced to use offshore tools that don't give a toss about the Australian Privacy Act or our local APPs.

The Solution: I’ve built a "sovereign" data portal. It’s 100% Aussie-hosted, meaning your data stays on home soil, which is a massive win for your compliance audits and peace of mind.

What’s under the hood:

• Free Data Health Report: Upload your CSV or Excel file (HubSpot, Salesforce, Xplan, etc.) and we’ll show you exactly where the "junk" is before you pay a cent.
• AI Scrubbing: Our engine standardises, de-duplicates, and cleans your records so they’re actually useful.
• Monetisation: Got datasets you aren't using? You can de-identify them and list them on our marketplace to earn some AUD back.

Why give us a squiz?

• Compliance-First: Built with OAIC 13 APPs and ASIC regs in mind.
• No Lock-ins: It’s a simple credit-based system. No monthly subs that bleed you dry if you aren't using it.
• Founder Search: I’m also on the hunt for a co-founder with a heavy focus on Legal/Compliance. If you’re a pro with OAIC/ASIC and want to build a "Trust Architecture" moat, let’s grab a coffee.

I’d love some honest feedback from the community. Is a 100% Aussie-hosted solution something you actually care about, or are you happy sending your data overseas?

Cheers!