Ben Stickland

After finishing top of his entire graduating year at Uni and then going on to complete a Masters Degree, Ben made a last minute decision to turn down the “perfect” graduate role with top four consulting firms, and instead took work as a contract computer programmer whilst pursuing a range of personal projects from youth work to property development.

In his mid twenties, and needing to do ‘something real’, he started a software development and consulting firm and used the profits to fund two successful startups.

His first, Noble Samurai has built a range of products to help online business owners, and boasts 400,000 users and 80,000 paying customers. Ben’s second, Web2TV.com is a specialist in house TV platform for the Aged Care sector used daily by over 10,000 residents around the Australia.

In addition, Ben continues his work as CEO of Alliance Software, a boutique 20 person software development firm where Ben works closely with selected corporate and tech startup owners.

Ben has seen first hand both the ups and downs of the tech startup industry, and his passion is helping Australian tech startups beat the odds through early market validation and the application of “lean” business principles.