The co-founder of Sydney Dev Camp is attempting to create a directory of the “who’s who” of the Sydney tech start-up ecosystem, after launching a website called The Startup Community.
Peter Argent, who founded Sydney Dev Camp alongside Danila Davidson, says he became inspired to create the website after coming across a start-up map of the US city of Philadelphia.
“I didn’t really set out to make this a business as such. I feel Sydney needs a new, fresh way for start-ups in the city to connect,” Argent told StartupSmart.
Argent is quick to point out the free site is part of a vision he and Davidson share for Sydney Dev Camp.
“We want to help put Sydney on the global map as a new hotspot for tech start-ups,” he says.
“We feel that by fostering a great sense of community and fellowship amongst the people of the tech scene, it will naturally grow and be more successful.
“I thought it would be great to have a fun website where I can start to make a profile for myself and enable others to have the same opportunity.”
In addition to helping entrepreneurs connect with each other, Argent hopes fellow business owners will be able to seek out suitable accountants and legal firms.
“A frequent question in the Silicon Beach Google group is ‘Who knows a good start-up accountant and lawyer?’ This directory will help answer that question in one place,” he says.
One of the main features of the site is a map, which plots the listed start-up businesses.
“I thought it would be great to see on the map where Sydney’s start-up businesses were calling home, and to see which suburbs are popular,” Argent says.
“It might even help new start-ups decide which area they should look for office space.”
Argent says he built the site as a weekend project.
“It has only very basic functionality and design at the moment but I have a list of planned features to add,” he says.
The list includes better map markers, filtering map markers by business type, allowing social feeds for each profile and business, and a recommendation feature.
Argent says while the site only launched yesterday, the reception “has been great”.
“I think there’s already about 10 or more start-ups that have created a profile. It looks good so far… We’re thinking of open sourcing the platform so people in other cities can use it,” he says.
The Startup Community follows in the footsteps of OzFounded, which launched in September last year and is led by Shaun Campbell.
Similar to The Startup Community, the aim of OzFounded is to create a map of the Australian start-up ecosystem for the benefit of all those in it.
“OzFounded connects start-ups and investors, incubators, co-working spaces and each other,” Campbell told StartupSmart in October.
“The main aim of the project is to foster a greater sense of community, and to facilitate networking amongst entrepreneurs and tech companies.”
The key difference between The Startup Community and OzFounded is the former is Sydney-specific. But Argent is not the first to map out a city’s start-up ecosystem.
Sydney-based venture technology agency BlueChilli has created a diagram of the leading Sydney players, while Adelaide-based co-working space The Majoran Distillery is also mapping out the city’s start-up scene.
