E109 - Colette Grgic, AWS

Open the Pod Bay Doors

Colette Grgic is no stranger to startups. She is the Head of Startup Ecosystem in Australia & New Zealand for Amazon Web Services. In this role, Colette is responsible for the growth of the startup ecosystem at AWS and leads an excellent team who support startups with commercial and technical advice. She also serves as a Director of Heads Over Heels. Prior to her role at AWS, Colette was Chief Innovation Officer at BlueChilli. Colette also founded her own travel tech startup, Arribaa, and managed Autogenie, an internal startup for ASX-listed Smartgroup.

In this chat with Ian, Colette shares...

• What is was like growing up in South Africa and Canada
• How she developed a passion for innovation and startups
• The story of founding her startup Arribaa ("the Airbnb of experiences")
• The highs and lows of her 6-year journey with BlueChilli
• Her favourite parts of her role at AWS
• Where the magic happens between corporates and startups
• How the AWS Activate program can help startups scale

Quickfire Recommendations

Book: The Alchemist

Podcast: Masters of Scale

News source: AFR

Favorite tech CEO: Silvia Pfeiffer of Coviu

App: PictureThis (plant identification app)

Ted talk topic: How do you change people's minds about the environment?

If you're looking to scale your startup, apply to the AWS Activate program to receive AWS credits, AWS support plan credits and training to help grow your business: https://aws.amazon.com/activate/

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Innovation Bay is holding AI and health tech-focused pitch events this May for Horizon, our community of experienced angel investors. If you are the founder of an AI or health tech startup looking to network with angels who can offer advice, connections and capital, apply to pitch here: https://bit.ly/PitchHorizonMay

Women-led startups in Victoria, apply to connect with Horizon: https://bit.ly/VictorianFemaleFounders

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