Crikey bosses launch entrepreneurial website StartupSmart as first in series of niche launches
The owners of Crikey have launched StartupSmart, a new website targeting would-be business entrepreneurs, in what it says will be the first of several specialist launches.
The site is edited by former B&T Melbourne correspondent Oliver Milman, while its publisher is Amanda Gome, founder of business site Smart Company.
Among those listed as “mentors” to StartupSmart are former NineMSN boss Tony Faure and Naked Communications managing partner Adam Ferrier.
The company behind StartupSmart is Private Media, run by former SMH editor Eric Beecher and Gome, who launched Smart Company three years ago.
The new site will be accompanied by a daily email. Although it has several existing competitors for a share of the lucrative business advertising market targeting small and medium sized companies, its closest direct competitor would be Australian Anthill which switched to an online-only model just over a year ago.
Beecher said: “While Australians are great dreamers, very few companies ever get over $2 million revenue or employ more than 20 staff. And what usually stops these companies getting larger are mistakes made at the beginning.”
Gome added: “We identified a huge gap in the market to provide news and information to people thinking of starting up and during the first few years of running their venture. At that time you can feel very alone and make many mistakes that impact on the business later on. We aim to provide that community with deep, intelligent news and information that is written in a lively, accessible way to help them start smart.”
And the company has signalled that it is also to target other market niches. Gome said: “Part of our strategy for growth is to identify opportunities in highly specialised market segments and to quickly roll out high quality, online editorial products that appeal to well-educated, high income individuals.”
“We now have a business model that works. We can quickly build a community with which advertisers want to engage.”
Foundation advertisers for StartupSmart include ANZ Bank, Servecorp and OfficeWorks.
Tim Burrowes founded Mumbrella in 2008. He worked on Mumbrella until 2021. At various points he was editor, content director and editor-at-large.
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Adam Ferrier
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ANZ Bank
Australian Anthill
Crikey
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Oliver Milman
Private Media
Tony Faure
Hey Tim, what about dynamicbusiness.com.au? Surely they count as a competitor? Give them a plug! (Sure, I used to work for them)
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Hi Patrick,
I probably expressed myself clumsily – Dynamic Business has a print component, as do a few others in the sector.
What i was getting at is that as far as I know Australian Anthill is the main competitor with roughly the same business model as StartupSmart
Cheers,
Tim – Mumbrella
I love the inspiration, but why do these sites have to be so goddamn ugly?
Mumbrella, Anthill, StartupSmart – Surely an extra 5-10k at their birth could have created something a little less painful to the eye.
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The Business Builders website is also one of the biggest. On the Yahoo platform and linked to Seven’s small business show which traditionally airs between football seasons over summer.
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ipitch.com.au has been floating around for nearly a year now. similiar thing i think…
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Great content but have to agree with Ned’s comment re the design and layout …room for improvement.
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