Joan’s Index

I write a bi-weekly newsletter, featuring essays on tech, humans and economics.

Founder / Writer

MODA DAO

Advisor

Flare

Director Of Communications

Fishburners

Head Of Marketing

Joan Westenberg is a seasoned writer focused on tech and economics. She was honoured as one of the top 100 innovators by the Australian. Joan has written for Wired, The Australian Financial Review, the SF Chronicle, The Saturday Paper, Chainsaw, Yahoo,  TIME, Inc, the ABC, Crikey and others. Beyond her writing, Joan is an advisor to Culture Vault and MODA DAO, fusing her technological expertise with her passion for cultural innovation. Joan has spoken at SXSW, NFTfest, Microsoft Ignite, Web Summit etc.

Joan Westenberg

Founder & Tech Startup Specialist / Startup Success & Community Manager @ Stone & Chalk 🚀

Are you in the early stages of creating an innovative new mobile app, web app, SaaS platform, or any other tech product?

I HELP FOUNDERS LIKE YOU, ACCELERATE THE JOURNEY FROM IDEA TO SUCCESSFUL RELEASE AND BEYOND. 

So, why would you seek help?

When you’re creating a tech product startup, there are many unique challenges that can derail the whole venture, even before it gets off the ground.

The fact is… 91% of all first-time tech founders fail.

Here's the good news… These mistakes are easily avoided and you can 10X your chance of success if you have a proven ‘roadmap’ to guide you.

My goal is to help you defy the odds and become one of the star founders who turn their startup dream into reality.


Let me share a little of my experience.

Over the past four decades, I've been in business. From working in the family company to founding or co-founding over 8 successful startups… Conventional and tech based.

In 2012, I co-founded Buzinga Apps, a small app development company based in Melbourne.

We grew Buzinga to one of the fastest-growing development agencies in Australia, until late 2017 when we sold.

During this period, sadly I witnessed numerous clients fail to achieve commercial success… Many, for reasons I thought were totally avoidable (in retrospect).

This sparked my obsession with success systems for tech startups.

I delved deep into design thinking, lean methodology, lean startup, and exponential growth strategy, among others. And had the opportunity to hang out with a bunch of successful founders, gaining their insights about what it takes.

There are several fundamental steps at each stage of tech business growth that must be completed to have any chance at commercial success.

In the past five years I have coached five tech startups to successful outcomes and impacted more than 120 with advice, guides and training.

If you're a first-time tech founder and could use some help... simply follow me here on LinkedIn.

AND, subscribe to my '10X Founders Edge' newsletter.

Head to my website for more information and resources:  kuboom.com.au

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In 2024, I’ve taken on a new challenge. I’ve joined the passionate team at Stone and Chalk’s Melbourne Hub as ‘Startup Success and Community Manager’.

Stone and Chalk are the largest innovation community in Australia.

If you're the founder of an Emerging Tech Startup and are experiencing some initial traction, be sure to reach out to me…

Let’s explore how we can help you accelerate success and connect you with mentors, customers, investors and other founders in our community.

Graham McCorkill

STARTMATE ARE IN THE HOUSE!
Energy is super high this week at Stone & Chalk here in Melbourne with Startmate's Summer '26 Accelerator program kicking off this week. And, it's their largest cohort ever!

Huge congrats to Emma Grife, Ben Simai, Louisa Lin, Sam Monkhouse and Bell Allen for such a well organised in-person start to their national accelerator... We love having you in the hub!

Dane McFarlane Olivia Grandjean-Thomsen Paulette Parker Liz van Zyl Desmond John Dickie Currer Paz Pisarski 🏵 Sara Singh Tak⚡️ Frances Goh

Tech Startup Specialist / Head of Ecosystem @ Stone & Chalk Melbourne 🚀

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