World of Drones and Robotics Congress 2023, New Zealand Edition

Outset Ventures is a proud supporter of the World of Drones and Robotics Congress (WoDaRC) New Zealand Edition, taking place in Auckland from May 22nd to 24th, 2023.

For the past 7 years the Asia-Pacific’s leading drones and robotics congress has been successfully held in Brisbane, Australia. In May 2023 a special New Zealand and Pacific edition of the internationally renowned and award-winning World of Drones and Robotics Congress – WoDaRC – is coming to Auckland.
The first 100 registrants of the conference will have the opportunity to attend the Welcome Reception held at the Outset Ventures on the evening of the 22nd May.

So get in fast and register now!
🎟 https://lnkd.in/eD4hV5YD

ESOPs Unlocked: An AMA-style Panel Event with Team Outset

Join us for an informative Ask me anything -style Panel event to discuss the how, what and why of Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOPs). The Outset Ventures team Mat Rowe, Angus Blair and Michael Bignell are all set to answer your questions on this popular employee benefit structure.

Whether you are an employer considering implementing an ESOP, or an employee curious about the benefits and drawbacks, this event provides a great opportunity for you to learn more and get your questions answered by the experts. Our panellists, who bring a wealth of experience in the investment and entrepreneurship fields, will provide valuable insights on how ESOPs can benefit a company and its employees.

To make the most of this time, we ask that you please submit your questions you have regarding ESOPs in advance here.

Showcase by Outset Ventures

In association with the Auckland Climate Festival happening this October, We are excited to bring you our first showcase onsite with presentations from three of our emerging and transformative deep technology start-ups in residence.

The Showcase will take you through their journey with each company sharing their vision and purpose towards creating the change they wish to see in the world. Come along to hear about the inspirational stories behind these start-ups, to celebrate their initiative, commitment and journey so far towards taking risks to solve some of our greatest global challenges.

Presentations by:

Freddy Gonzalez (CE / Co-Founder) and Danilo Perez (CTO / Co-Founder): Vertus Energy

Tim Hawkey: Co-Founder and CEO at EnergyBank

James Obern: VP Commercial at Avertana

You don’t want to miss this!

Hybrid Workshop Series

Patent Searching for Early Stage Deep-Tech Startups

Join us for our first hybrid event with Outset’s resident IP Advisor and Jedi Knight Tim Stirrup who will be leading a two-episode workshop in the Jedi Council meeting room (Boardroom, Level 3) at Outset.

The workshops will be a combination of interactive seminar (~30mins) and guided learning using open-source patent search databases (~30mins), plus Q&A.

There is no prior knowledge required. Fundamentals of the patent system will be outlined.

Learning objectives

After completing this course, attendees will:

Understand what patents are and how to access information about them
Appreciate the benefits of reviewing patents for technical concept research
Understand when to carry out a search, which type of search is appropriate and when to contact an IP professional
Prepare a search strategy which efficiently captures the patents relevant to an area of research
Complete a search using open-source patent databases and evaluate the search results.
Analyse patent data to gain insights into competitor strategy and technology trends

Session 1

Intro to patents and key criteria for grant (novelty, inventive step and written description)
Review of different search types and reasons for patent searching
Directed learning doing patent searching using online open-source databases
Round-up including when to speak to a patent attorney, risks and limitations of searching.

Session 2 + 1hr informal mentoring session

Explanation of
- patent novelty,
- the issues with public disclosure, and
- structure of patent specifications and how to read them
directed learning using online open-source databases – advanced search strategies and patent analytics for particular companies or areas of technology
Post-session informal mentoring – Up to 1-hour post-session informal mentoring session to answer any questions arising from the workshops.

Please note; In-person attendance is capped at max 25 people, so get in fast! Please only register for in-person attendance if you are able to attend.

Venture Essentials Workshop Series

Finding Talent for Deep Tech Startups

On April 14th, Outset Ventures hosted its subsequent workshop in the ‘Venture Essentials workshop Series’ called Finding Talent for early stage Deep-Tech Startups.

This dynamic workshop series brings together industry experts and experienced founders to give you a thorough breakdown of essential topics related to science and engineering ventures.

The workshop was co-presented by Nicola Dunn, Stephanie Gray (Senior Client Partners at Human Kind) and Dr. Ollie Crush (Chief Scientific Officer at Mint Innovation).

This extensive 90-minute virtual workshop was specifically designed for the needs of early-stage science/engineering start-ups and entrepreneurs and covered the topics below.

Useful methods and frameworks to develop a talent finding strategy for young companies.
Insights and experiences around finding key talent
Current challenges with talent finding and skills shortage
The Importance of an employee Value Proposition and Talent Retention

About the Presenters

Dr. Ollie Crush

Co-founder and CSO of Mint Innovation, a cleantech company founded at Outset in 2016. Mint grew to 10 employees before graduating from Outset in 2019, and now numbers 32 across NZ, Australia, and the UK. Ollie has been heavily involved in all aspects of recruitment, onboarding, and employee retention, and like any scientist, he’s tinkered with different approaches throughout the growth of the company. Ollie will share his experiences on what works and doesn’t work in the NZ start-up context.

Stephanie Gray

Stephanie has extensive leadership experience, having led and grown high-performing teams in financial and government environments across New Zealand and Australia. She brings this experience, insights, and knowledge into the leadership programmes she runs for her clients and through Humankind’s public leadership programme. She enjoys partnering with clients to create employee experiences that matter whilst also supporting them in achieving their business outcomes. She brings generalist HR skills and experience in culture, diversity and inclusion, HR strategy, and service design.

Nicola Dunn

Nicola’s passion for people and her interest in what makes them tick started long before her career in HR. Her background is in people leadership and coaching at a senior level, across mid to large private entities. With a firm belief that everyone comes to work to do their best. Nicola loves navigating how to create environments where people can truly thrive, with great employee experience leading to great business outcomes. Nicola has led complex change programmes, union engagements, culture development and has a breadth of senior generalist experience in the employee experience space.

Stay tuned for more workshops in the Venture Essentials series in 2022!