MetaStory: A Mission for What’s Up, Adelaide?!

In May 2020, I created this newsletter. Six months on, what is its mission? Clearly, it’s time to reflect on this topic

Photo by Bernard Hermant on Unsplash

In May 2020, I created What’s Up, Adelaide? And along the way, some people asked me why I engaged with the South Australian entrepreneurial community, even if I could not be there physically due to border restrictions. In other words, what is WUA’s mission? Clearly, it’s time to reflect on this topic 🤔!

If you are reading this post and don’t know who I am:

Hello, my name is Rob, and I am a CEO and a co-founder at The Leaf Protein Co, a startup set to unlock Earth’s most abundant source of protein: green leaves🍃. I am also the creator and editor of What’s Up, Adelaide?!, a weekly blog that has become SA’s go-to entrepreneurial newsletter. You can read a proper introduction about me in this post 😎.

Change of plans

Everything changed in March of 2020 when COVID🦠 hit the world and border restrictions were enacted. At the time, my plan seemed perfect: get married in June, move to Adelaide the week after as our honeymoon trip and settle there to establish my family and company.

Instead, COVID forced me to shut down Decoded Trends and delayed our wedding celebrations and relocation plans. Unfortunately, it wasn’t just a nightmare. I woke up one day with the world reshuffled, and I suddenly had to remake my plan from scratch and look for a new business opportunity. Back to the start of the journey...

Why a newsletter?

The first reason why I launched WUA 📝 is that, as a founder, I personally felt a need for a consolidated source of information. In truth, as a migrant entrepreneur, I was at the same time astonished by and lost amid a multitude of programs and opportunities I was finding to support early-stage founders in Australia. Therefore, I created a simple document listing the most relevant programs and events by date.

I initially used this document to organise my work and take advantage of regional, national and international programs for my own company. I realised it became a crucial tool for me, so I just decided to make it public 🎈. I suspected it would be helpful to other funders and it did.

A second reason why I launched WUA is that I am a migrant founder, and I did not have a network in Australia at the time. Furthermore, I learned during my MBA that networking is correlated to entrepreneurial success, as entrepreneurs access crucial resources for a company building through networking activity. 

And the state of my Australian network was appalling. When I visited Australia in January 2019, I had only 3 business contacts in the country. In November, after a short visit for South Start, I had a total of 50 connections. 

Since its launch in May 2020, the newsletter has organically grown to become a community of over 200 readers. And every morning, when I wake up in São Paulo, I have 2 or 3 new LinkedIn invitations in my inbox. 

As a result, my Aussie network has now more than 300 connections. Frankly, they are much more than just connections ❤️. I made new friends and heard inspiring stories from South Australian entrepreneurs. Isn’t it a great way to meet people and build trusting relationships by giving first? 

Finally, I also created WUA to demonstrate leadership potential and simply contribute to building our regional entrepreneurial ecosystem. Unsure how long I would need to wait before being allowed to travel, I bet WUA would help me find my way around the border restrictions. 

What is next

I experienced in the last couple of months what Adam Grant always states: the power of giving 🌊. Through WUA, I have seen entrepreneurs connecting with investors and startups participating and winning innovation competitions. And by helping others, I received enormous support for my own startup, The Leaf Protein Co. 

Six months on, WUA now gained its own life and won its space in the South Australian entrepreneurial ecosystem. Therefore, it deserves to become an institution and a mission:

To inform and promote entrepreneurship and innovation in South Australia.

Would you like to join me on this journey?