Perth Landing Pad is designed to attract high-growth startups and scaleup ventures from Asia and beyond, providing them with a program, access to events, mentoring, local business connections, coworking and community, as well as guidance for obtaining long-term residency in WA.
Matt Ainsworth is the first founder to join our Perth Landing Pad program. Originally from Sydney, he decided to take the plunge and move to Tokyo in 2014 to study Japanese. Before he knew it, he had an offer on the table for a work sponsorship and after 8.5 years overseas, he finally came back home to Australia, following his partner from Tokyo, Japan.
Below, he discusses how he founded Biz.Mind, what he’s looking to get out of the Perth Landing Pad Program, his goals for the year and what he has to offer to the Spacecubed community.
When asked how his business journey began, Matt shared the following.
“In Tokyo, and after studying Japanese, I started working as a freelance corporate communications trainer. By chance, I stumbled over a blurb about executive coaching in one of the texts I was using, and it caught my curiosity. This led me to enrolling in an executive coaching school in the US to begin my coaching career.”
“Last year I graduated from executive coaching school, and after coaching friends, colleagues and fellow students, my coaching offer, Biz.Mind was born. The idea behind Biz.Mind is all about developing people's business mindset, to better prepare and support them through navigating the challenges of running a business or team.”
“Plus, my freelancing work has led me to work with VCs and startup founders, which is why I focus a lot of my effort on the startup ecosystem.” He continued.
When discussing what he’s most looking forward to getting out of the Perth Landing Pad program, Matt shared the following.
“Over the next 90 days, I aim to increase my reach across the community, from joining events and networking to building my own community through my mindset meetup and other coaching work. There is plenty of work to be done, and many chances to develop the education for founders and others in the community.”
“I am looking to maximise my learning from other founders too, how they currently employ their mindset, what challenges and setbacks they face, and how they overcome adversity.” He continued.
Following this, Matt shared with us his favourite success stories.
"I just arrived in Perth in late December 2022 and since landing, I have already had 2 articles published, one in the local Startup News online publication. I have also launched my own founder mindset meetup group, with our first online event going live on Wednesday 22nd of March, with many more online and in-person events planned in the coming months. I really appreciate all the support and openness of the Spacecubed community too, especially through the Perth Landing Pad program.”
“A major success for me is a new founder I worked with in Tokyo since mid-2022. We met just as he was starting to test some of his initial ideas for a web3 startup. I coached him for around 9 months through major milestones like establishing his company, building a team, and finding a co-founder. But perhaps the most important achievement for him was launching his MVP into the marketplace and supporting him through the journey. Moreover, he is already getting some traction from both local Japanese and global customers too.” He shared.
When asked what his goals are for 2023, Matt shared that he has already reached one of his initial goals, which is building credibility and starting to network across the ecosystem. Other goals he’s working towards include developing founder education around mindset, emphasising the importance of an MVP mindset and looking for ways to bridge the startup communities across Perth and broader Australia with Japan's startup ecosystem.
Matt concluded by sharing that he loves the conversations he gets to have around mindset, as everyone has different opinions and ways of interpreting what it means and the role it plays. So, if you're interested in that kind of discussion, or anything about the ecosystem he’d love to catch up for a coffee. You can get in touch with Matt via his LinkedIn here, or email at matt@bizmindset.jp.
If you’re an international startup founder looking to scale into WA, applications for the Perth Landing Pad program are now open. To learn more and apply, click here.
