As a part of the B31 Ballarat Business Festival, Runway HQ is hosting a networking event and live panel discussion with four successful entrepreneurs from startups and established businesses. This panel will be giving us their personal insights into how they have survived and thrived over recent years, discussing everything from their own personal work/life balance, to what changes they had to make within their businesses to survive.

In the panel discussion, you can expect to hear topics covering:

1. How they understood the need to innovate and develop a unique selling proposition
2. What they did to focus on their strengths and knowing their market
3. Their strategies for managing challenging times, such as diversifying to find new markets for their business

There is a small fee of $20 per ticket, where 50% of the proceeds will be donated to CAFS.

Arrival for 17:30 with light refreshments. Formal event starts at 18:00, concluding at 19:00 for networking.

Tickets are limited, so be sure to register early below.

We are excited to introduce the panel joining us for the evening

Nick Stanley is an active entrepreneur with a focus on the success of regional startups…simply put, Nick loves high growth companies.  Tech, startups and innovation are his purpose. Nick’s significant success story to date was Sky Software which he founded in 2011 and led to an acquisition by Tribal Group PLC in March 2014. Sky Software was Nick’s second successful startup exit but since then Nick has co-founded several other successful projects including FitMyCar, Educrowd (now Skills Base), Runway and SettleEasy.  FitMyCar has been recognized as one of the fastest growing companies in the Automotive sector in Australia. Nick also travels significantly spending a large amount of time in the UK / Europe, SE Asia and the US and is a Limited Partner in Silicon Valley VC fund, Maven Ventures, through which he was an early stage investor in Zoom, amongst other high-growth companies.

Tanya Stanley (unrelated to Nick!) is the Co-Founder of Beetanicals alongside her husband, Warren Stanley. They are a third-generation beekeeping family based in rural Victoria, and are proud parents to our two young boys, Cooper (7) and Toby (4). The Beetanicals journey began in 2015 with the birth of their son, Cooper. As a bub, Cooper had very sensitive skin and suffered from a dry skin condition. A search for natural, toxin-free products to soothe, nourish and protect his skin his dry and sensitive skin proved unsuccessful, so they decided to make our own! Beetanicals are passionate in providing families with natural, toxin-free, and effective health and wellness products to soothe, nourish and protect skin, support immune health, and promote general wellbeing. We wholeheartedly believe in the healing properties of the Beetanicals range; harnessing the power of nature’s medicine from our very own beehives.

Trish Kevin  and her partner Chris own and operate Maze House, a tourist attraction halfway between Creswick and Daylesford. Maze House has a traditional 30 year old hedge maze and old time carnival games, set in a five acre country produce garden. The venture has allowed them to use their experience – Trish’s in tree growing and sustainable gardening and Chris’s in event management, while pursuing their passion for the quirky – reimagining outdoor fun and games.

Nick Renters is the co-founder and co-owner of Great Ocean Road Woollen Mill (GORWM) alongside his wife, Isabel. GORWM was established in 2015 about 30km inland from the Great Ocean Road and is a boutique spinning mill, spinning predominantly alpaca and superfine merino into yarn for the craft market. COVID presented some interesting challenges which gave Nick & Isabel the opportunity to expand. However, in order to do so, they had to relocate and chose Ballarat as the optimum destination

At Runway, we have a number of other events coming up over the next month, check them out here