Who: Rhonda White from Terry White Chemists

RSVP:  brisbane@thehive.org.au or on the Facebook Event.
Cost:   FREE!

The Hive Brisbane meets Jason Titman from 4SME & The Chalk Hotel

Jason Titman has a proven track record of being a consistent deliverer of results in whatever he takes on.  Jason’s multi-dimensional skill set has seen him working and partnering with some very wealthy entrepreneurial operators, international corporations, progressive SME’s and online ventures.

Commentators describe Jason as very focused, with multiple levels of depth.  He has the ability to consistently ‘think outside the square’, while at the same time following through with his ideas in a practical manner to ensure that optimising the bottom line is always his main focus.  ROI is what drives Jason’s business achievements.

He has also demonstrated the unusual ability to adapt from being an entrepreneurial and transformational leader for start ups and organisations undergoing major change to being a structured leader for mature businesses needing a strong consistent leader.  Jason has demonstrated his strategic thinking skills and operational capabilities across multiple industries.  Currently his main focus is in the SME market and online businesses and he is most interested in working with businesses that are moving into the online space.

Jason is both a direct investor in a number of online ventures and undertakes some specialised consultancies in this space.

www.4sme.com.au
http://au.linkedin.com/in/jasontitman

* Register Free at http://www.thehive.org.au/ & Become a Fan of The Hive Brisbane on Facebook *

See you there!

Mike Boyd, Nick McIntosh & Walter Haas
The Hive Brisbane Team

If you’re on Twitter make sure you follow @TheHive & tweet using the #HiveBris hashtag.

RSVP:  brisbane@thehive.org.au or on the Facebook Event.
Cost:   FREE!

The Hive Brisbane meets Farhad Meher-Homji from Brightlabs

Farhad is the Co-Founder and currently a Director of Brightlabs, a multi-award winning web development & online solutions provider.

Way back in 2002, when Farhad was in his early 20′s, he started the company (then called imagin8) with a 2 person team. From these small beginnings he’s grown the business into a market leader, with offices in Melbourne and Brisbane servicing a number of large clients.

Brightlabs has been ranked in the Top 10 International agencies at the Interactive Media Awards held in the US and has also been listed in the SmartCompany Smart 50 and BRW Fast 100.

Farhad will share his story of how he’s grown the business and the share some of the ups (and downs) that he’s experienced along the way. But he’s not just another “business guy”, Farhad is passionate about entrepreneurship and is always on the lookout for a great opportunity. He keeps a careful eye on the Silicon Valley scene and loves the creativity that comes when people have a good idea and want to get it out there.

* Register Free at http://www.thehive.org.au/ & Become a Fan of The Hive Brisbane on Facebook *

See you there!

Mike Boyd, Nick McIntosh & Walter Haas
The Hive Brisbane Team

If you’re on Twitter make sure you follow @TheHive & tweet using the #HiveBris hashtag.

RSVP:  brisbane@thehive.org.au or on the Facebook Event.
Cost: FREE!

Ben Johnston from Josephmark, WeAreHunted.com, Breeder & Gilimbaa.

Ben is best known as co-founder and managing director of Josephmark, a Brisbane-based, brand and digital development agency. Since its establishment in 2004, the business has developed into one of Brisbane’s leading creative agencies. Josephmark’s team are known for their creativity and innovation, pushing boundaries with both client, and in-house projects.

Outside of Josephmark, Ben’s entrepreneurial spirit has led him to co-found a number of companies attracting international acclaim. These include indigenous, creative agency Gilimbaa that, in the three years since its launch, has built up a client list including Qantas, NAB, BBC, Federal Government and the United Nations.

Ben is also co-founder of Native Digital – a digital innovation agency working with, and alongside some of Australia’s leading companies. In partnership with Wotnews, Native Digital launched online, music chart, We Are Hunted, to world-wide acclaim. This site has attracted millions of users and a slew of accolades, including Next Web Awards for Best New Startup and Best Web Startup, Australian Interactive Media Industry Association Award for Best Entertainment Site, and the People’s Vote for the Best of Innovation Island Award at Tech23.

In 2010, Ben co-founded motion design studio, Breeder, who, since launch, have been realising their vision to create unique work, for both local and international brands.

Key to all these endeavors has been Ben’s ability to create brands that people want to be part of, and genuinely care about, whether they’re a client, employee, friend or partner.

www.josephmark.com.au
www.studiobreeder.com
www.gilimbaa.com
www.wearehunted.com

* Register Free at http://www.thehive.org.au/ & Become a Fan of The Hive Brisbane on Facebook *

See you there!

Mike Boyd, Nick McIntosh & Walter Haas
The Hive Brisbane Team

If you’re on Twitter make sure you follow @TheHive & tweet using the #HiveBris hashtag.

Who: Ben Johnston from Josephmark Michael Kasprowicz
When: NEW TIME! 6:00 for 6.30pm Start, Tuesday March 29th 2011
Where: Greystone Bar, 7/166 Grey Street South Bank, BRISBANE (Google Maps link)

RSVP:  brisbane@thehive.org.au or on the Facebook Event.
Cost: FREE!

*Last Minute Speaker Change Due to Ill Health*

Ben sends his apologies as he’s in bed battling with a head cold. We hope to reschedule him to speak again at The Hive in late May. Sorry for any inconvenience.

A huge thanks has to go to Michael Kasprowicz for stepping up at late notice to speak at The Hive tonight. He has some great stories to share that stretch well beyond the realms of Test Cricket.
———–
Michael Kasprowicz is one of Australia’s most enduring and popular professional sportsmen. He established a high profile, extensive and meaningful network of relationships through his 19 year First-Class cricket career.

During arguably the strongest period of cricket in Australia’s history, Michael represented his country for 10 years predominantly in India and the sub-continent. Regarded in Australia as the ‘sub-continent specialist’, Michael is now becoming a specialist in the facilitation of valuable relationships between Indian and Australian business organisations.

Living in Brisbane, the capital of Queensland, Michael’s relationships form an evolved network spanning the industries of finance, higher education, government, mining and resources.

Since 2007, Michael has been the ‘Goodwill Ambassador’ for the University of Queensland assisting the university successfully to increase the profile and create strategic relationships with Indian Higher education institutions. He is currently working with several major organizations in achieving effective and valuable Indian-Australian business relationships.

Michael has formed many of these relationships as an active member of the Australian Indian Business Council (AIBC). He also maintains productive media relationships in India with commentary roles for exclusive cricket broadcasters Nimbus and IMG during last season’s highly visibly Indian Premier League. He is again returning for to India in 2011 for IPL4 further enhancing his high profile in India and providing the opportunity to strengthen worthy business ties in the country.

Michael is currently studying an MBA (Master of Business Administration) at the University of Queensland applying himself to the latest relevant theory and business models for a rapidly changing, global economy. Michael is also the current President of the Australian Cricketers Association and maintains strong relationship with Cricket Australia in the governance of the game of cricket.

Richard Slatter from We Are Hunted

Richard Slatter is Co-Founder and GM of We Are Hunted – the online music chart for the Digital Generation.

Launched in April 09 the site tracks the 99 most popular songs online each day across blogs, social networks, forums and download networks – accessing musical trends that traditional charts cannot.

The We Are Hunted tech also powers news search engine and aggregator Wotnews and is licensed to Macquarie Edge, US publisher Condé Nast, MySpace, Vodafone Hutchison Australia and The Australian.

Richard has 15 years experience working across web, IT and advertising starting out in 1995 as a designer for a game developer in Vancouver backed by Electronic Arts and working through the dotCom years as GM of Brisbane-based web agency, f5. Prior to his current role, he was a senior manager at Deloitte’s Online Practice.

Simon Kalinowski from Mandalay Technologies

In 2003, at age 24-years, serial entrepreneur Simon Kalinowski saw an opportunity buying Mandalay Technologies, an ailing company with cumulative losses of about $4 million dollars since inception.

Simon began to turn the company around, concentrating on the culture, the people and the business model of the company, however success wasn’t immediate, with a failed product development nearly bringing down the company.  Learning from those failures, Simon proceeded to invest heavily in building the right team and creating an even stronger organisational culture.

Through Simon’s leadership, Mandalay has grown from strength to strength and is now Australia’s leading provider of weighbridge and data capture software servicing over 350 clients across Australia, NZ and South Africa.

He also has an interest in three other companies across Finance, Media and Entertainment. He is also actively involved in two different social ventures – so he has a wide and deep understanding of business, what it takes to succeed and the personal journey you take on that pathway.

* Register Free at http://www.thehive.org.au & Become a Fan of The Hive Brisbane on Facebook *

See you there!

Mike Boyd, Nick McIntosh & Walter Haas
The Hive Brisbane Team

If you’re on Twitter make sure you follow @TheHive & tweet using the #HiveBris hashtag.

Guy ‘Yug’ Blomberg

Creator and owner of the Mana Bar – http://www.ManaBar.com.au/

The first cocktail and console video game bar in the world – Guy ‘Yug’ Blomberg has managed to bring his passion for drinking and playing video games out of the lounge room and into the public conscious. Makes sense now, but the creation of the Mana Bar is an epic tale of hopes, dreams, conflict, romance, danger, and entrepreneurship.

Not just the pretty face of the Mana Bar however, ‘Yug’ has been a graphic designer for the better part of a decade – working his way up from the depths of the adult industry to the suit & tie respectability as a Creative Director, and everything in between.

He also created and operates one of the largest independent video game websites in Australia – www.AustralianGamer.com, and has been through the highs and lows of bringing a video game network TV show to life – www.GameDamage.net.

Respected as a gaming journalist, acknowledged as an accomplished graphic designer, embraced as a champion for the local game development industry, and unanimously toasted for his crazy ideas that somehow become reality – he guarantees at the very least some entertaining stories and will shout you a drink at his bar!

* Register Free at http://www.thehive.org.au & Become a Fan of The Hive Brisbane on Facebook *

See you there!

Mike Boyd, Nick McIntosh & Walter Haas
The Hive Brisbane Team

If you’re on Twitter make sure you follow @TheHive & tweet using the #HiveBris hashtag.

Nat Duncan from QLD Film Locations

Nat Duncan started her own film locations company in 2006.

With little knowledge of the film industry but a strong desire to test her abilities and “jump off the deep end” she has managed to develop a strong company with an impressive database.  Queensland Film Locations services overseas, interstate and local production companies. Nat is very interested in young entrepreneurs and the approach they take in business and digital life.  She recently co-managed Upload – Young Entrepreneurs Camp in January andJuly 2009 and January 2010.

Blog: QLD Locations

Project: Precinkt

Twitter: @NatDuncan

Web: www.qldfilmlocations.com.au

* Register Free at http://www.thehive.org.au & Become a Fan of The Hive Brisbane on Facebook *

See you there!

Mike Boyd, Nick McIntosh & Walter Haas
The Hive Brisbane Team

If you’re on Twitter make sure you follow @TheHive & tweet using the #HiveBris hashtag.

Tom Potter founder of Eagle Boys Pizza

Tom Potter, founder of Australian owned Eagle Boys Pizza, left school at 15 and found himself jobless at 23. He opened his first pizza shop in Albury, New South Wales in 1987 and proceeded to build the business to become Australia and New Zealand’s largest privately owned pizza company.

Tom is a country boy, starting his business with a minimal education and very little money behind him. Tom built Eagle Boys to become one of Australia’s home-grown retail and franchise successes, through radical change, innovation and at times unusual business and marketing tactics. Along the way, Eagle Boys won various National Franchising Awards and Tom was awarded with the Australian Financial Review’s Young Business Person of the Year. He was chosen to give the valedictorian speech at his graduation class at Harvard Business School.

Tom is one of Australia’s most outstanding retailers, entrepreneurs and inspirational leaders and his straightforward, no nonsense approach endears audiences to be inspired to change and cut through the clutter to achieve higher results at all levels.

Tom’s website is: www.tompotterspeaker.com

We invite you to join Tom and The Hive team at our March event at Greystone Bar (Little Stanley Street- South Bank) on Tuesday, March 30 at 7pm (Sharp!). This event is FREE but you buy your own drinks.

* Register Free at http://www.thehive.org.au *

See you there!

Mike Boyd, Nick McIntosh & Walter Haas
The Hive Brisbane Team

If you’re on Twitter make sure you follow @TheHive & tweet using the #HiveBris hashtag.

Who: Fedele Crisci from

The Sit Down Comedy Club

• Founded Comedy Club with Business Partners at age 21
• Now boasts 20+ venues QLD wide including 3 PNO Oceanliners
• Attracts headline acts from around the globe

At the young age of 21, Fedele Crisci and his business partners founded the Sit Down Comedy Club at Snug Harbour – Dockside Bar & Restaurant, which was begun in an effort to provide alternative entertainment mid-week for a six-week trial, however it proved so successful, it never stopped!

The Sit Down Comedy Club opened in 1992 and was produced as a Thursday night show by entertainment producers and friends Fedele Crisci, Roger Beames, Jenni Kubler and Tony Auckland.

The Sit Down Comedy Club relocated in July 2000 to a larger venue – McGuire’s Paddo Tavern, where it continues to produce high quality comedy shows.

Fedele, Kelli, Anj & Roger

20 years later, Fedele Crisci and his only remaining founding partner, Rodger, now manage over 20 comedy venues around Queensland including 3 permanent shows on PNO Ocean liners.

From a young age Fedele had the entrepreneurial spirit and knew that if he wanted something he had to go out and get it. Starting work at a local Paddington deli at age 12, Fedele, grew to be the first manager of the iconic LA Dolce Vita Restaurant on Park Rd at Milton. Working the hospitality industry was his life outside of university, where he studied degrees in Maths, Drama and Teaching.

The Sit Down Comedy Club presents a new show every week with Local, National and International performers that have featured on Radio or Television. Some of the acts that have graced the Sit Down Comedy stage are Carl Baron, Dave Hughs, Jimoein, Judith Lucy, Mick Molloy, Wil Anderson and many more.

We invite you to join Fedele and The Hive team at our February event at Greystone Bar (Little Stanley Street- South Bank) on Tuesday, February 23 at 7pm (Sharp!). This event is FREE but you buy your own drinks.

*Register Free at http://www.thehive.org.au

See you there!

Mike Boyd, Nick McIntosh & Walter Haas
The Hive Brisbane Team

If you’re on Twitter make sure you follow @TheHive & tweet using the #HiveBris hashtag.

We would like to thank our national sponsors:

Deloitte Digital http://www.deloittedigital.com
RMIT University http://www.rmit.edu.au

You can watch the podcast of the event here

Martin Duncan opened the original Freestyle Tout 13 years ago in Rosalie (tout meaning everything or all), as a gallery and florist with coffee and dessert. Since its inception, Freestyle Tout has grown into a dessert café with an iconic reputation throughout Brisbane and Australia.
www.freestyletout.com.au

In December 2004, Martin opened Freestyle Tout at Emporium, 1000 Ann St in The Valley.

In May 2009, Freestyle Tout in West End opened.

Each calendar month, Freestyle Tout restaurants showcase a new artist.

Martin is a keen advocate for charities such as the Abused Child Trust, Starlight Children’s Foundation and the Children’s Hospital in Brisbane.

He is regularly featured in the media promoting the hospitality industry, consults to several magazines and does radio interviews.

Martin is continually helping to promote QLD food events, such as the Celebration of Australian Food & Wine Noosa Style, Hilton Masterclass and Smartfood.

Queensland Food & Beverage Industry

www.qldfbi.com.au
In March 2005, Martin launched the Queensland Food Beverage Industry (FBI), the perfect vehicle for networking in the hospitality industry.

In 2007 FBI extended to the Sunshine Coast with the events held in both Brisbane and the Sunshine Coast 4 times a year (seasonally) to showcase local produce for each season to chefs, restaurateurs and media.

Freestyle Escape

www.freestyleescape.com.au
Freestyle Escape is located in the Sunshine Coast Hinterland with three private houses, Escape, the Arthouse and Omaroo, providing luxury accommodation to discerning clients. Art classes and special food events are also held on the property.

We invite you to join Martin and The Hive team at our October event at the Star Cafe Bar (Little Stanley Street- South Bank) on Tuesday, October 27 at 7pm. This event is FREE but you buy your own drinks.

*Register Free at http://www.thehive.org.au*

See you there!

Mike Boyd, Nick McIntosh & Walter Haas
The Hive Brisbane Team

If you’re on Twitter make sure you follow @TheHive & tweet using the #HiveBris hashtag.

• Started CarAdvice as a blog with $35
• Now Employs 10 staff
• Largest Independent Auto website in Australia

Having made his first $250 at the age of 12 from selling advertising on his hobby website, Alborz spent the next 10 years running over 20 different websites, a webdesign company and even an internet cafe.

He finally came to the conclusion that in order to be happy and successful he has to mix his love of cars with his specialty in creating online businesses and hence CarAdvice.com.au was born.

Three and a bit years later, CarAdvice now receives over 1,500,000 unique visitors per month and has become one of the largest independent Australian publications for automotive news, reviews and advice. The business has been independently valued at over five million dollars and continues to grow on a monthly basis.

In that time Alborz has flown all over the world and driven the world fastest and most exclusive cars, having his videos aired on discovery channel and free to air TV in Australia, plus over 1 million views on youtube. The business currently has offices in Sydney and Melbourne with other staff also based in Brisbane and Perth.

Alborz says his desire to do what he loves came from an underlying fear of being stuck in an office every day! He now spends his days further developing and expanding the business whilst also test driving his favourite cars.

Mike Boyd, Nick McIntosh & Walter Haas
The Hive Brisbane Team

If you’re on Twitter make sure you tweet using the #hivebris hashtag.

• Mike O’Hagan – Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year 2004 & 2007.
• Started MiniMovers with just $200 and a Ute.
• Annual turnover now exceeds $30million employing 400+ staff.

After being raised on a Dairy Farm in New Zealand, at the age of 18 Mike arrived in Australia with a few hundred dollars in his pocket and a pack on his back. Over the next 8 years he worked for 35 different employers. In his words “I’m a product of the many really bad, and the few good, employers I worked for”.

This background helped to influence Mike to “do it differently” in business.

His business career started with buying and selling goods as a second-hand dealer. Four years later the entrepreneur in Mike surfaced when he launched a short distance furniture removal business. This evolved into MiniMovers.

MiniMovers has evolved into an innovative market leader, growing from an initial investment of $200 and a Ute, to an annual turnover exceeding $30 million with over 400 employees. Now 22 years old, MiniMovers currently moves over 1200 homes and offices a week in Southeast Queensland, Melbourne and Sydney.

Through various government sponsored assistance/mentoring programs Mike has helped many hundreds of businesses. As a result Mike has developed some very alternative views of the success factors that drive people and businesses. Mike sees his strengths in his basic commonsense approach – “out of the box” thinking, leadership, systems, marketing, people management skills, workplace culture, innovative products, and creative customer service strategies.

August 18th 2009

Movember is an entrepreneurial movement that raises money to for prostate cancer and male depression through its participants (Mo Bros and Mo Sistas), by bringing back the ‘Mo’ to generate awareness of two life-threatening diseases which are almost taboo to talk about among most Australian males due to cultural stigma.

Since its inception as a formal charity in 2004 Movember has raised over $60 million globally, significantly increased awareness of prostate cancer and depression in the community, and is continuously working to change the attitude men have about their health. Movember’s mission is each year to develop and deliver an exciting and creative Movember campaign that will forever change the way men think about, discuss and treat their own health issues.

The first Movember was in 2003, and the event first raised funds in 2004 when 262 registered Mo Bros raised just over $55,000. News of Movember spread, and the following year saw 9315 Mo Bros Australia-wide raise an impressive $1.2M. In 2006 Movember exceeded all expectations and by the end of the month, $6.63M had been raised by Mo Bros and Mo Sistas. 2006 was also the year that Movember gained international recognition as a fun way to raise money for a serious cause.

Movember’s original founders, Luke Slattery, Travis Garone, Adam Garone and Justin Coghlan were asked to coordinate additional campaigns in the UK, USA, Canada, Spain and New Zealand, and in 2007 a phenomenal 130,000 Mo Bros and Mo Sistas participated worldwide. In Australia alone there were over 96,000 participants – more than double the previous year.

Luke writes: “Just when we thought it couldn’t get much bigger 2008 rolled along and we had over 124,000 participants in Australia and 170,000 globally.”

In terms of awareness, a recent survey showed that over 70% of Movember participants have become more aware of men’s health issues and have discussed those issues with family members, friends or colleagues. This kind of communication is important for promoting early detection of prostate cancer and breaking down the stigma attached to depression.

Movember has proved that looking at challenges from a different perspective can achieve results never dreamed of.

Registrations for 2009 will open in September 2009 – visit http://au.movember.com/ or call for registration assistance call 1300 GROW MO (1300 4769 66).

It’s been thirteen years since Noodle Box’s doors first opened and the original noodles in a box are more popular than ever. Noodle Box now operates 72 stores nationwide and is the fastest growing noodle franchise in Australia. The company expects to open its 100th store in 2010.

• Josh and Dave established Noodle Box with less than $60,000. The company now turns over more than $42m per annum.
• Noodle Box is still a 100% privately owned Australian business.
• In an average week, more than 75,000 noodle, rice, salad and soup boxes are served at Noodle Box stores across Australia.

Dave, an intrepid traveller in his early twenties, first conceived the idea for Noodle Box while on a working holiday in Europe. He was on a very small wage at the time and could only afford to eat fast food, which � to his delight � was served in convenient, yet quirky boxes.

During a stopover in Singapore, where he witnessed chefs cooking on flaming woks for the first time, Dave uncovered the missing ingredient for his burgeoning business idea. He loved the theatre of the wok�style cooking and realised there was a great opportunity in the Melbourne market for this style of food.

Thirteen years on and with more than 70 Noodle Box stores under his belt, Dave is still as involved in the business as he was back in 1996. He has no regrets and believes the lessons he’s learnt along the way have got him to where he is today.

“Both Josh and I have a genuine appreciation for how much time and work it takes to build a small business. It’s been the greatest learning curve of my life and has supplied me with a great platform for future projects,� Dave said.

In his spare time, Dave loves boating, running, architecture and design. He also has a passion for all things music and regularly attends live gigs and summer music festivals.

Have you ever wondered:

• What makes an Entrepreneur tick?
• Are Entrepreneurs natural born risk takers?
• Is there such a thing as Ethical Entrepreneurship?
• Is it normal for Entrepreneur’s to feel lonely?

Michael Doneman, Director of Edgeware Creative Entrepreneurship will answer all these questions and many more for The Hive Brisbane on Tuesday, June 30.

Michael is the founding Director of Edgeware Creative Entrepreneurship a freelance consultant, facilitator and entrepreneurship coach. Michael is one of Queensland’s best minds in the creative business field and understands all the highs and lows of being in business.

Edgeware recently facilitated an open panel discussion on Creative Entrepreneurship at the Brisbane Ideas Festival and regularly host their own conferences, workshops and retreats for entrepreneurs right throughout Queensland.

Michael has 20 years of experience in education and community cultural development, which inspired work in communities (including Indigenous and rural-remote communities) in enterprise development, vocational education and training, and information technology. In the course of this he developed expertise in informal education, and the just-in-time provision of skills, networks and interactions.

He is a longtime supporter of Denmark’s KaosPilots business school and a member of the KaosPilot International Board. Michael was a Senior Research Fellow at Queensland University of Technology from 2002-2005 and consults with the ATN University network’s e-Grad School on knowledge transfer and research commercialisation. He founded the Edgeware model of ethical entrepreneurship education in 2006, and co-edits Edgeware’s blog, On the Edge.

If you’re in business in Queensland and don’t already know Edgeware… you need to.

Ever wondered what it’s like to grow a business from scratch and wind up in BRW’s Fast 100 list two years in a row? Ever wondered what it takes to win Ernst and Young’s Entrepreneur of the Year award? How about what it’s like to manage a company whose product is consumed A MILLION TIMES EACH DAY by Australians?

Why not ask Phillip Di Bella of Di Bella Coffee at The Hive this month? In the true spirit of The Hive, we’re proud to give our members the opportunity to connect with Phillip’s many years of experience and entrepreneurial wisdom for FREE.

The Hive team is delighted to welcome Phillip as May’s guest entrepreneur. Phillip created his coffee empire from nothing, working alone with only two wholesale clients and using another company’s coffee roasting equipment. After 7 long years he now heads up Australia’s fastest growing coffee company at the ripe old age of 33.

His ability to fill a niche, deliver an integrated service and networking system that allows clients to access products, machines and accessories, training and maintenance all at fair prices has set him apart from his competition. Di Bella Coffee also connects at the ‘grass roots’ level through it’s presence at Jan Power’s Farmers Market, at New Farm every second Saturday and, the weekly Brisbane City Mall Market.

An important aspect of the company is its support of philanthropic and community work globally. This includes sponsoring children in the Philippines, motivational speeches and mentoring at high schools. Di Bella Coffee also donates all coffee products to Cafe One on Wickham, which is a project of Mission Australia.

Watch the podcast of the event here, and read a member review.

Hot off the success of Brisbane’s first ever event in March, The Hive team would like to introduce Andrew Cooper from dstore as April’s guest entrepreneur.

Andrew’s background in online retailing spans the dot-com boom, the subsequent 2001 dot-bomb clean out and continues into the current period of resurgence. In 1998 Andrew and his brother Tim started HotShed, a software house providing ecommerce systems to large retailers including Rebel Sport, Angus & Coote, Blockbuster video and The Perfume Connection.

In 2001 an opportunity arose that saw Andrew and his team leading the charge by purchasing dstore.com.au out of the hands of receivers. After making drastic changes to the business model and applying HotShed’s software and systems the business has risen back near the top of the online retailing tree.

Andrew is an entrepreneur with a varied business background. Along with his software and online retailing businesses he also owns video stores, car washes and property interests. He actively fosters entrepreneurship and is president of the Brisbane branch of Entrepreneur’s Organisation, a global network of over 10,000 entrepreneurs.

We invite you to join Andrew and The Hive team at our April event at the Fox Hotel on Tuesday, April 28 at 7pm. This event is FREE but you buy your own drinks! If anyone is interested in sponsoring the event, please contact us.

If you’re on Twitter make sure you tweet using the #hivebris hashtag.

The Hive Brisbane is very excited to be kicking off the year with guest entrepreneur Richard Eastes from Vroom Vroom Vroom!

Richard took a risk when he spent his life savings on VroomVroomVroom – a travel startup that was booking a mere 20 online car rental reservations per day. He quickly grew it from his Brisbane bedroom into Australia’s fastest growing travel company. Winning various business awards such as Deloitte FAST50, it now generates close to $5m in sales each month. The company is expanding globally and is poised to becoming a great Australian export.

As a project to compliment VroomVroomVroom.com’s carbon neutral car rental, Richard started GreenLogo which has calculated that the internet produces approximately 1200 tonnes of CO2 per hour. GreenLogo reduces this by tracking the CO2 produced by a website and then pays for its carbon credits using sponsors.

Richard loves networking nights, innovative employees, touch rugby, social media sites and is addicted to Twitter. Follow him on twitter at @eastes

Read Ross Hill’s review of the event here, and watch the podcast on Youtube.