Starting up your own business can be a tricky, well … business. While the benefits are many – you get to craft and watch your vision come to life, it’s not without challenges.

It’s also not cheap; from paperclips and coffee cups to staffing and the tech required to get the best product to your customer, it can be an exercise in balancing what you ideally want with what you can afford.

This is where a solid network of like-minded entrepreneurs can become your VIPs for everything from troubleshooting to staying inspired when the going gets tough.

Knowing this, we asked the three winners of last year’s Dell Women’s Entrepreneur Network (DWEN) Australia‘s Dream Tech Competition how their business has been progressing, how they’ve utilised the new tech that was part of their prize, and how being a member of DWEN has worked for them.

Dr Karen Joyce, GeoNadir Image: Credit Harriet Spark/Grumpy Turtle Creative

Dr Karen Joyce, GeoNadir

First-place winner GeoNadir is the culmination of some 20 years of effort into working out how much live coral Australia’s Great Barrier Reef houses. Program creator Dr Karen Joyce says it was when she first started flying drones over the global landmark that she realised the data she could collect was game changing, capable of enabling data-driven decision-making to monitor and protect the Great Barrier Reef and beyond.

At the same, she realised some of the most comprehensive data on the planet was sitting idle on computers across the globe. Today, GeoNadir is pushing ahead with Dr Joyce’s vision to become the world’s first central repository for such data. Her end game? A new era of data-driven environmental policy and management decisions aimed at solving climate problems and saving at-risk ecosystems.

Since winning the Dream Tech competition in 2021, the business has gone from strength to strength. Dr Joyce says they’ve brought on four additional full-time staff – three software developers and a community manager.

“We also have about three times as much data now, and the number of users has increased. We now have 40 countries onboard and growing,” Dr Joyce tells Kochie’s Business Builders.

Dr Joyce says connecting with other similar businesses as they grow is vital, and one of the reasons she joined DWEN.

“It would basically be impossible to do what we do without networking. I’ve just recently finished up a conference that I was the director of, and it reinforced how connections and idea sharing with like-minded people is a core part of what drives our organisation forward,” she adds.

“Networking brings us together to discuss where the gaps are, what issues need solutions, and to then brainstorm with our collective knowledge and skillsets to how we can each contribute to addressing them.”

Dr Alana Wylie, Eye Heart Science

Dr Alana Wylie, Eye Heart Science

A relatively new business and the second place winner, Eye Heart Science was launched not long before COVID hit. Since then, it has been building a love of science with school-aged children for just over three years. So the DWEN networking opportunities and Dream Tech prize came along at the perfect time for Dr Alana Wylie’s startup.

“Our business began pretty much on paper with 30 children. COVID slowed things down, but we had built up to the tune of around 800 students when the opportunity to apply for the Dream Tech competition came along,” Dr Wylie tells us.

“We were in a funny spot where our numbers had grown to 800 students, so we needed to invest in tech to effectively manage bookings, class resources, and general administration. Because we had never really known ‘normal’ given we were impacted by COVID, we were worried that our numbers may have peaked, and we wouldn’t see the investment back.”

The prize, which allowed them to choose their own Dell technology, meant Dr Wylie and her team could make that essential investment without the financial risk to the business.

“We updated the office to help operations run more smoothly, but the rest all went into the 2-in-1 devices that our teachers use with the students to do activities.”

The networking opportunities through DWEN have also been instrumental in supporting the growth of the business.

“I studied science, then I worked in a lab and then in pharmaceuticals,” she says. “I have no study or career experience in business at all. With a networking group, you don’t just get access to one mentor with just one viewpoint and one set of experiences, you get access to many great minds and their expertise, advice and support. For me, it has been crucial to starting a business from scratch.”

Rebecca Wessels, Ochre Dawn

Rebecca Wessels, Ochre Dawn

The past year has been one of massive growth for Rebecca Wessels of Ochre Dawn, an Aboriginal-owned branding and marketing company.

“Sales-wise, I’d say we’ve had about 30 per cent growth, and staff are probably up 40 per cent – we have a total of 13 people now,” Wessels shares.

Both tech and networking are a big part of their success to date, with Rebecca saying items like docking stations, desktops, laptops and all-in-one devices have not only enabled quality production for their clients products, but also created a more seamless working experience for staff.

“With the growth we’ve had in staff numbers, the new tech we received from Dell meant staff were work ready from day one. Knowing we have technology that we can rely on is impactful in ways I can’t really put into words,” she adds.

Likewise, Wessels credits networking with helping drive their success. She says women entrepreneurs have historically faced barriers and can also get in their own way – trying to be all things for all people, looking out for everyone but themselves, and her network of women look out for each other, and check in to make sure everyone is OK.

She says her network is also an invaluable source of advice and brainstorming, bringing together opinions and experience from people she can trust and respects.

“These networks also help us do the best by our clients. Sometimes a client will come to me with a project that I know someone in my network is a much better fit for. I will refer a client to them, and in return, others in my network often refer people to me. It’s not a case of losing a client to them either – it builds trust with my clients when they see I would rather put them in the best hands when appropriate.”

Are you the next Dream Tech winner?

From scientists to marketing professionals to all careers in between, professional networks such as DWEN bring together a broad range of high-calibre, future-focused female entrepreneurs who embrace tech as part of their growth strategy.

Offering networking and resource sharing opportunities, DWEN also offers the annual Dream Tech competition. If you’re a member of the DWEN network (it’s free) with a unique, impactful or game-changing business with growth objectives on your to-do list, you can enter now through their online application. Your business story could be worth up to $40,000 in Dell tech.

The Dream Tech competition is now open and closes on Friday, October 14, so enter now.

This article is brought to you by Kochie’s Business Builders in partnership with Dell Technologies.