Afonso Firmo journey – Netnada
https://www.netnada.com.au/
Entrepreneurial journey told by five students
Story written by Kelly Zhou
It was Lao Tzu, a renowned Chinese philosopher who said: “The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” And for me, that first step granted me the clarity I needed to embark on the entrepreneurial journey grew to become one of my greatest achievements, both emotionally and in the traditional sense. That first step? It was simply resigning from my corporate job.
I had known for a while now that the corporate world was not for me at all. But I held on…that is, until I landed myself in the hospital! That provided me with the final motivation to cut ties with that world. Looking back now, my biggest regret was clinging on. Soon after, I retreated to ruminate and reflect, contemplate and ponder. I didn’t rush, I simply tried to connect with myself and explore what I’m passionate about. My friends and family kept on insisting that if I were to pursue a venture, it should be something I enjoyed doing. And the answer came to me once I realised just how ecstatic I was whenever my matchmaking skills (yes, in the romantic sense!) succeeded. And they did succeed very often, my friends and family can testify to that, as they were victims of my matchmaking!
So I decided to see if I can take it into business. Dating apps were done and dusted but after much research, I was able to find demand in matching suppliers and buyers. Next came execution. This was where my passion for culture played shone through. Back then, I travelled extensively – but the place I spent the most amount of time was in Japan. I was so enamoured with the culture there and the amount of trust in the business culture. And so, I decided to put trust as the heart of Matchboard, in the effort to create an environment similar to the culture in Japan. In Matchboard, we trust that the clients to contact us upon a successful deal. When I informed those around me, they thought I was crazy for believing that the model will work! But it did! I was a first-hand witness of it in Japan, after all.
So if I were to give one piece of advice, that will be to be bold, travel and learn by immersing yourself into the beauty of cultural diversity! My own entrepreneurial journey was about making use of these amazing experiences and investing them into a worthy cause.
Story written by Mathilda Stocke
I never had a unique passion. I pursued a degree in Environmental Engineering as I wanted to make an investment in education in something I could see as a potential big topic to solve. While at university, I was getting into entrepreneurship through hackathons. I fell in love – once entrepreneurship bites you, you cannot stop. For the rest of my degree, I tried to create businesses on the side.
In the testing process for one of my businesses, I realized that people want more than products. They want advice about sustainability and their impact. That is when NetNada launched. I believe I am driven by the hard problem that I am trying to solve. The harder the problem, the more passionate I am. Even if you are sacrificing short-term financial gains, you have something that you are passionate about to wake up to every day that is meaningful. The hard part of being someone who starts a business in sustainability is that you most likely have a great attachment to the topic, and you might encounter that the market does not react in the same way or have the same values, however, you still have to sell the solution to them. You might be conflicted on a personal level, that not everyone shares the same values about the urgency of climate change.
In the end, it is about human interaction. It does not matter what you are trying to solve. The culture inside the company is about making people feel that they have the support and capability to make their own decisions. That is how you build culture – giving people freedom, flexibility, and knowing that they are being listened to whenever they are at work. I have met a range of brilliant people that have a skill set that does not fit traditional founders. What is beautiful about entrepreneurship is that regardless of your soft skills, you can find a niche that you can be super successful within. I think everyone can be an entrepreneur, but not everyone can be a business owner. Even if one is not an entrepreneur, everyone can benefit from learning about entrepreneurship – because it helps with understanding the different levels of success and ideas; at the end of the day, everyone wants to be working in a better place, have more impact and build better relationships, and learning about entrepreneurship helps you with that.
Story written by Enoah Giberne
I am driven by the problems that I am trying to solve. The reasons why a problem needs a solution pushes my creativity and tests my skills in a way that can’t be compared to a corporate job. At least for me. I’ve worked 9 months in the industry I studied my degree in (Environmental engineering) and was disheartened by the rigidity and traditionality of it all. I’ve realised through my interactions and involvement at university, how much entrepreneurship aligns with the life I want to lead. No amount of stability a corporate job could offer would be enough to get me out of bed in the morning. And so, I cultivated this entrepreneurial spirit, by joining hackathons, interning in startups and later building businesses, which most of them failed but that’s the beauty of being entrepreneur. This idea of almost welcoming failures, or at least dealing with them with grace, as they set a precedent and are here to teach. But I would rather learn from successes! A lot can be drawn and copied from a business venture that succeeded.
I always had this interest in education, my mom was a teacher, and a love for improving and building sustainable solutions. The right cofounder led me to build NetNada, an accessible reporting tool for businesses looking to monitor their carbon emissions. Thus far, some of my biggest challenges, apart from navigating a new business through a pandemic, was to provide value for NetNada’s employees and clients, as well as getting these clients excited in sustainability. Australia is a bit behind on environmental regulations, and I am acutely aware that not everyone client has a passion for climate change. Because I was focusing and expanding on the ‘why I am solving this problem’, it allowed NetNada to position itself as a necessary step to keep ahead of the curve and future legislation regarding sustainable reporting. I want NetNada to be in these business’ minds when they think about sustainability. I want NetNada to be a place where innovations are welcomed, people’s freedom, flexibility and needs are taking into consideration. A place where I would want to work for the next 10 years of my life.
Story written by Aiste Gintautaite
I am Afonso Firmo, Portuguese entrepreneur, sustainability enthusiast and Co-Founder of NetNada, a sustainability software that helps businesses move towards carbon neutrality. Contrary to many entrepreneurial success stories, I have not always dreamt of becoming an entrepreneur. I only developed a passion for the fast-paced and ever-changing environment of entrepreneurship during my time at university when I discovered Hackathons. These 2-day brainstorming programs inspired me to launch my first business in the healthcare sector. After graduating as an environmental engineer and working in corporate for six months, I realised that the entrepreneurial path is the one I want to pursue. Working on my second business selling sustainable products, I discovered that people want more than that. They seek advice and long-term sustainability solutions. This is how the idea behind NetNada was born. When most people think about launching a business, they think about an extensive business plan and business forecasts. Yes, that helps set the path, but I believe that sticking to that will not get you far in this dynamic world. This is all Lean startup methodology is about, and NetNada is based on it. It is all about experimenting.
Constant learning, failing, and working in different sectors taught me valuable lessons that no theory can teach. One of my key learnings is simple – you learn more from doing than not doing. Getting into action and putting yourself out there extends who you are, and you learn a lot from it. Getting your first pitch, getting rejected, and getting feedback are things every entrepreneur has to go through. In fact, after 25 failed businesses, I am even more inspired to create a global go-to solution for organizations that want sustainability to become an integrated part of their strategy. Today, legislation in Australia is not there to push companies to report. We saw the gap and decided to step in and create the sustainability basis when the legislation comes. No matter if it takes us six months, one year or three years to achieve that, we are going to work towards it. I wake up every day knowing that we a’re tackling something meaningful and something that we are passionate about – this is the most motivating, inspiring and rewarding part.
Story written by Joseph Liddell
I was passionate about education and how I could motivate others to learn. I perused a degree in engineering, not because of a unique passion, but because I wanted to make an investment in education which had the potential to solve a real key issue in the world.
When I was 11, I moved to Uruguay – in Latin America and studied there until I was 18. This gave me a global perspective on issues outside of Europe, where I was born in Portugal, and fuelled my ambition to start NetNada – a sustainability software company that uses machine learning and artificial intelligence to automate carbon accounting and footprint calculations for organisations. However, my entrepreneurial journey had a long way still to get to that point. University gave me an introduction to entrepreneurship, and I began to build my network whilst being surrounded by amazing people with productive objectives. Following this, I launched my first company which failed a year later. Here I learnt that failure is a key step in achieving success. It’s what you learn that drives you forward. Once a part of entrepreneurship bites you, you cannot stop.
For the rest of my time at UNSW, I explored every opportunity I had, developing my skills whilst trying to create other businesses on the side.
Graduation saw me follow the typical approach and I joined the corporate ladder as an engineer. After 6 months, I knew this wasn’t my calling in life. Having a dad as an entrepreneur, I wanted to recognise my creative skills and work in a fast-paced environment.
There is a general conception that to be an entrepreneur, you must be very vocal and outspoken. I’ve met a range of brilliant people that have a skill set that doesn’t fit traditional founders. The key to success is to partner with someone who complements your skills.
Having perused around 25 start-ups by this point, that was exactly what I did partnering up with a friend from university. Our entrepreneurial journey with NetNada followed a traditional lean start-up process to get to where we are today – a fantastic team of 8 motivated and passionate individuals. Our mission supports our ethos whilst we aim to solve the problem of climate change one step at a time.