Microsoft has announced that Sydney will become the location of the eighth Microsoft ScaleUp program technology startups. Other ScaleUp cities include Seattle, Beijing, Berlin, and London. The new initiative was officially opened by the NSW Premier, the honourable Gladys Berejiklian, today. Microsoft also recently announced that Sydney-based Annie Parker, the former CEO of Fishburners and co-founder of muru-D, has been appointed to lead Microsoft’s startup programs globally, including Microsoft ScaleUp.

One of the biggest roadblocks holding us all back from that awesome business idea is the belief that we don't have enough money. Enough money to kickstart the project, enough money to keep it going and enough money in profits to make it worthwhile. We asked an expert about how to overcome the financial pitfalls that often face budding entrepreneurs.

EnergyAustralia, Spotless Group, Amazon Web Services, Cisco and the Victorian Government are working together to create a new start accelerator that will focus on the some of the disruptive forces hitting our power system. I worked in the power industry for ten years and can tell you this is the sort of thing this highly conservative industry really needs.

Start-ups can operate at a frenetic pace and it feels like everything needs to be done immediately. Time is money for start-ups and these businesses can't afford to stagnate. But trying to do everything at the same time isn't practical and here's where using a 'triage system' to determine which tasks you should prioritise can help.

Every year or so, in order to probably distract us from their complete cluelessness when it comes to digital innovation, Australian governments tell us how they plan to support technology companies buy creating our local answer to California’s Silicon Valley. At a recent conference, I had the chance to ask a panel of four senior managers and leaders of Silicon Valley unicorns what they thought governments could do to create environments where tech start ups can flourish.

A good product can't guarantee the success of a start-up; but it's not all about luck either. According to CreativeHQ, a group that has been guiding start-ups for over a decade, there are critical elements that can determine whether a start-up will survive and thrive. Conversely, there are also clear alarm bells for when a start-up needs to be shelved (referred to by CreativeHQ as "drowning the puppies"). Read on to find out more.

You can have 100 per cent faith that your start-up is a winner but not everybody may think so. A lot of these people's opinions won't matter but if there's one group out there you have to impress, it's the investors. Before you head in to a pitch to investors, here are five questions you should ask yourself about your business.

You've got a great start-up idea and you've been working on your product for the past eight months now but it's just not quite up to scratch yet. You need to know when to stop otherwise you'll never be able to launch your start-up.

At some point in its life, a start-up will need to have investors to help it grow even bigger. If you’re an entrepreneur trying to get investors on your side, save the marketing spiel. Here's why.

The general impression of start-ups is that they're innovative, agile and disruptive in their respective markets. Naturally, many companies adopt the "start-up" label, even if they've well and truly moved beyond that phase and become "scale-ups". So what's the difference? Let's find out.

There's a well-known adage that nine out of 10 start-ups fail. In my time at Leading Teams, my observation is that start-ups frequently fail in their early days, and fail for lots of reasons. But the one we typically don’t hear about is how the team play an important role in ensuring success. And yet CB insights cited that 'lacking the right team' was the third most important reason why start-ups fail, covering a quarter (23 per cent) of the 101 postmortems reviewed earlier this year. Having the dream team and establishing the right company culture is crucial for any start-up or small business to ensure its longevity. Here are few tips for those who want to get started.

Tell a child that things should be done a certain way and you'll likely be greeted with a puzzled looked followed by the question "Why?". As we grow older, we start losing that sense of curiosity and wonder, preferring the comfort of the status quo and accepting the "normal" way of doing things. Many start-ups have cropped up to challenge that status quo in established industries. One start-up founder talks about how maintaining a childish naivety has helped his company achieve unprecedented success against the odds.

Most start-ups rely on using technology to disrupt the market in their chosen industry. Even if your start-up doesn't deal with technology at its core, it would likely involve the use of a mobile app. So can you get away with a founding start-up team with no background in technology? According to a seasoned business investor, the answer is "no". Here's why.

You're a young entrepreneur with a great idea to start a business, but you don't want to go at it alone. It's common for people to partner up with like-minded folks to get a business off the ground. Just be mindful about who you team up with.