Tech Diwali - Our first Immersion & Appreciation Event

What a buzz Tech Diwali was. It was everything and more we hoped and dreamed it to be and the most fitting way to launch?Niceto and the Startup Palette Show featuring superstars of the startup ecosystem.

The event last night was every bit of a South Asian wedding (sans lots of dancing), merged with a startup event, we had henna, fabulous food and most importantly people in an array of colourful festive wear.

Thank you to?Susan Moylan-Coombs?for doing the acknowledgment of country.

Jodi McKay?for being dressed in a fabulous saree and for being the ever-so-graceful cultural advocate.

A huge thank you to?Irfan Malik (MAICD)?who couldn't be there but has been a pillar of support from day 1.

Tushar Menon?for his brilliant keynote on what it takes to create a successful business. What you and your brother have done is nothing short of amazing. Thank you for being generous with your time and sharing your journey.

My key takeaways

• Connect with your customers, they are the focus, everything else is secondary.
• Use data from day one.

Thank you to our panellists who were candid in sharing their stories and experiences. It's not easy getting up in a room full of people and talking honestly about your experiences without sugarcoating it. More importantly, they each have a goal of driving real impact and change within the ecosystem, that's what I'm really excited about.

Naby Mariyam?- You are an incredible woman. You are already creating a pathway that's making it easier for the ecosystem to thrive for women like you and me. Not just in Australia, but in the world and that's something so special that no amount of monetary benefit can justify it.

Samadhi Pelenda?- You are amazing! Investors are often labelled as sharks, to see someone like you who is so genuine, thoughtful and considerate inside and out is incredible. Also credit to your team for hiring you and creating an inclusive organisation. It's so special to have an investor that underrepresented people can relate to, you are undoubtedly going to break down those barriers that have existed all these years.

Mohit Midha?- Your success proceeds you. I love the mission you are on with Hoogly and how passionate you are about helping people's mental health. It's such an important topic of conversation and you have created a platform that enables easy check-ins. Can't wait to watch you on your journey to another successful exit, but more importantly see you help people address and keep track of their own mental health.

To the amazing?Niceto?team?Sri?and?Shilpa?thank you! I have been the face of NiceTo for a while as you both have other things you are working on. But without our shared passion for helping underrepresented people in Startups & Tech succeed, we wouldn't be going above and beyond. It takes time and dedication to do a startup but to invest your heart and soul as you have done, that's truly special. I'm so grateful to work with a fabulous women like you. It's time to shine!

We want the work we do to really drive change in the ecosystem. To do this we want to work closely with Investors, Government, Media, Big Tech and Supporters who are already doing fabulous work in this space.

Our first priority is to create a report that shows the numbers for diversity in the ecosystem. We are looking at representation for all underrepresented groups. For us to do this properly we need to have empirical data to measure our efforts.

Secondly, we want to continue our efforts in building the community and bringing together our collective strength. We will do this by:

• Running immersion and appreciation events, which will be focussed on different underrepresented groups each time.
• Running programs to help support underrepresented founders or programs for allies about their part in the ecosystem
• Launching the Startup Palette podcast which features Superstars of the Startup ecosystem. We hope this breaks down some barriers and that people can find relatable stories and pathways to success.

What does the future hold? A lot! We're positive and bullish that we can create a more inclusive and equitable ecosystem.

Thank you to?Canva?AWS Startups?Australia India Business Council Ltd?Import Export TV?Hoogly?for helping make our first event which was just a dream into reality.

In particular Lou Hunt Lauren Capelin Lawrence Christoffelsz Varun V.

Thank you to the friends like family in the ecosystem who stayed back to help clean Benjemen Elengovan Suk Narayanan Jack Shi Raaj Rayat, CFA , it might seem so small and insignificant to you, but it means a lot to us. So thank you!

Please get in touch if there's any way we can support you or if you would like to partner/sponsor or join our community. It's inclusive and it's open to allies as well as people who feel underrepresented in the Startup & Tech ecosystem.