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Apple, Kelly Slater, Startup Weekend... TaskWant

Tyson Lundbech has mixed with some of the best and brightest entrepreneurs, including Apple and 11 times world champion surfer Kelly Slater. He's conquered Startup Weekends around the world and then successfully brought the concept to Australia. Now Lundbech's embarked on a start-up of his own.
Written by Mahesh Sharma, Correspondent

Tyson Lundbech has mixed with some of the best and brightest entrepreneurs, including Apple and 11 times world champion surfer Kelly Slater. He's conquered Startup Weekends around the world and then successfully brought the concept to Australia. Now Lundbech's embarked on a start-up of his own.

An accomplished designer, Lundbech honed his craft for almost a decade at Apple, leading the roll-out of the company's ground-breaking store-within-a-store retail presence. Closely aligned with Apple's rise to power on the back of the wildly popular iPod, this push featured in the likes of David Jones, having been brought to Australia shortly after the concept was piloted in San Francisco.

After his stint at what is now the world's biggest technology company, he moved into working at digital agencies, which led to an opportunity to develop the online presence for champion surfer Kelly Slater, who is rated as one of the world's greatest athletes, along with cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar.

Lundbech is himself a keen surfer and has competed on the amateur surfing circuit, and was stoked to be working with his idol and sporting great Slater, an entrepreneur who leverages his brand to create new opportunities and disrupt existing markets.

Similarly, Lundbech is leveraging his brand and expertise to make his mark on the world.

He got his start via the start-up building event, Startup Weekend; after successfully winning the Startup Weekend events in New York and Israel he saw an opportunity to bring it to Australia as a way to nurture the local community.

Along with Olga Titarenko, he organised the inaugural Australian event earlier this year in Melbourne. Over two subsequent Startup Weekends it has grown into a compulsory exercise for any wannapreneur looking to take the plunge into the start-up world.

This year he secured the first prize $5000 cash money from Optus, and SG$10,000 investment from Singapore-based incubator JFDI, as well as sponsorship from Singtel's investment fund Innov8.

He has now leveraged his expertise and presence in the community to create a start-up of his own, TaskWant, which has been described as the "Wimdu of Zaarly" by Adioso founder Tom Howard.

Howard is referring to its twist on the notion of collaborative consumption via an Airbnb-style marketplace for services.

The application allows people to post a task and how much they will pay for it (for example, delivering some Chinese food from the local for $20), which can be fulfilled by a willing community of TaskWant workers.

The application "pivoted" from its original idea, RentWant, a marketplace for people to rent out their unused items. RentWant was one of three ideas successfully approved for the first intake of Melbourne-based incubator AngelCube.

SWOT

Strengths

Tyson Lundbech. His impressive track record demonstrates that he thinks outside the box and can execute on his vision. He has a big vision for this company, eyeing off the Asian market. He's forming a solid team to help him.

Weakness

The product hasn't been launched and is in a race with other start-ups in Melbourne's thriving collaborative consumption scene. He has a lot of commitments on his plate.

Opportunities

The concept has been proven in the States, but these companies are struggling to grow. There is a huge opportunity to take the start-up to Asia, where there is a thriving service culture and supporting market.

Threats

It will need to move quickly into Asia if it wants to be the first to market; staying too long in Australia could cost it a valuable first-mover advantage.

Conclusion

Lundbech's energy and drive will make this a success, coupled with his conviction in his vision. That being said, having already pivoted once so early into its development, I don't expect the final product will resemble its current form.

Verdict: BOOM

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