2024 kicks off with a bang ??

Our monthly newsletter of tips, tools and tech you should know about is curated for our clients and community of business owners.

Welcome to the first Two Pennies’ Worth of 2024! We’ve started the year at break-neck speed, onboarding two exciting new clients, growing the Project Alfred team, getting frustrated at the Australian government’s proposed changes to sophisticated investors, reading about Atlassian’s WFH 1000 days progress and exploring new startup blogs.

Things that should be on your radar this month???

??Disappointing suggested changes by the Australian government to the ‘sophisticated investor’ qualification, significantly reducing the angel investor pool. Read our thoughts below.

?? As the pandemic hit, most businesses were forced into working from home. Afterwards, companies began offering hybrid…but Atlassian bucked that trend. They’ve released their 1000+ day report on being a distributed workforce.?

??A total of $94.5 million was raised this month by four Aussie startups from mining tech, cybersecurity, wellness, food waste, and biotech sectors.

?? Curious about starting your own podcast? Check out the top 10 lessons learned from one founder celebrating his 100th episode.?

??Want a list of Australia’s top startup blogs? We haven’t checked them ALL, but we regularly read a bunch from this list.

The highs ????and lows ?? of small business life

?? The past month has been incredible for us, as we have successfully onboarded two large clients to assist them in streamlining their finances. As our workload continues to increase, we are looking forward to expanding our team and ensuring that we can provide our clients with the high-quality service they have come to expect from us. Although this is not our first recruitment, revisiting this article and refreshing our knowledge is always helpful.

??Earlier this month, we received news regarding the Australian government's plan to increase the qualifying criteria for 'sophisticated investors'. According to the proposed changes, investors must have assets worth $4.5 million or more and earn a minimum income of $450,000 annually. This move would eliminate nearly 300,000 potential investors from the Australian startup industry. It is concerning as it significantly reduces the number of angel investors now considered 'unsophisticated' by the Australian government.

Our fave tech this month

??? Kahoot:? Looking for a fun and interactive way to conduct meetings your team will enjoy? With its custom quizzes and polls, you can keep things engaging and get real-time responses from your team using their phones.

?? Reclaim.ai: This clever schedule manager helps you design perfectly balanced work weeks with enough time for work, play, and everything in between. It’s free on Google Calendar.?

??Gamma: Spending too much time mucking around formatting docs and decks? Enter Gamma, an app that looks after formatting so you can focus on content.

Productivity hack ????

We recently came across 12ft.io, where you can enjoy uninterrupted browsing and stay focused on your work without being constantly bombarded with pop-ups, banners, and ads. This tool is a game-changer for anyone who values their time and productivity. Say goodbye to the annoying distractions and hello to a more efficient and enjoyable browsing experience.

That's just our two pennies' worth.

– Liam and Amy, co-founders of Project Alfred

(changing the way people think about accounting)

Many of the comments in this newsletter are general in nature and are for information purposes. The material, including any data from third party providers, has not been prepared by taking into account your business needs, your current situation or personal needs. Accordingly, before acting on it, you should consider its appropriateness to your circumstances.