Speed dating for start-ups fights GFC2.0

As the world's recovering economy threatens to be devoured whole by the second coming of the global financial crisis, Australia could have a secret weapon: an event dubbed "speed dating for start-ups".

PushStart Mentor Live! takes place tomorrow night in the Sydney offices of cloud infrastructure start-up Ninefold, which will host 150 one-on-one sessions between experienced entrepreneurs and budding tech start-up founders.

PushStart was founded in March by Kim Heras, Roger Kermode and John Haining, who described the PushStart premise as providing advice to help start-ups to overcome their initial hurdles, a critical point in their life cycle.

The PushStart mentor stable has almost 100 Aussie entrepreneurs that have successfully launched local and global businesses.

Heras said that as start-ups succeed, the economy benefits.

"If we can create an environment where these tech entrepreneurs are able to keep as much of their business in Australia as possible, the end result will be a surge in exports and jobs as these 21st century businesses grow," he said.

The sessions at the events will be a 15-minute discussion of strategies and techniques for start-ups to overcome immediate hurdles and identify new levels of growth for a business. The service is targeted at web and mobile start-ups that have matured beyond the idea stage.

Entrepreneur Michael Overell attended the first PushStart event several months ago, and has since launched his start-up RecruitLoop.com.au, a system to modernise the recruitment process.

He said that the feedback from the first event was invaluable, and was incorporated into the product's final design.

"RecruitLoop took some great advice from the first event," he said. "We've progressed so much since then, but our goal to reinvent recruitment for all businesses is an ambitious one, so we're looking forward to reconnecting.

"There was never a doubt we'd sign up for the next event."

PushStart also offers an online service to introduce mentors and start-ups, dubbed MentorConnect.

But the organisation isn't the only one aiding start-ups. Heras praised the increased level of activity in the local start-up scene.

"PushStart is not alone in trying to helping local tech start-ups," he said. "Already there's a growing ecosystem of like-minded organisations and people all with the same goal, which is already starting to create a noticeable change in the local start-up industry."