PRODUCT PIONEERS - Part 1 - Starting The Product From Scratch

Part 1 of a 3 part series offering a peek inside the minds of the builders behind Australia’s most iconic startups.

In a decade of outstanding growth for the Australian ecosystem, what has been the secret to Aussie startup success?

One element is an obsession with building great products that elegantly and effectively solve a customer’s problems. Unlike Australia's last wave of founders, today's startup founders are lucky enough to stand on the shoulders of some all-time product greats.

People like CultureAmp co-founder Rod Hamilton, who led the product from the beginning; Cameron Adams, Canva’s Chief Product Officer; Sam Kroonenburg, who, with his brother, built A Cloud Guru, and Kirsten Mann, who, together with Rob Philpott, created the Aconex platform.

Harnessing that power, Rampersand created the Product Counsel, bringing together exceptional product minds to offer real, battle-tested insight to support the next wave of founders and build the country’s first product community.

This is your invitation to peek behind the scenes in a three-part series that will explore the journey of Australian startup unicorn product builders. Learn about lessons learned and garner advice relevant to building a tech/AI startup today.

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By Rod Hamilton, Venture Partner at Rampersand

While building Culture Amp, I found myself longing for a group of peers who had been there before. Circa 2009/10, there weren’t many startups in Australia who had made the journey at the time, and those on the journey were wrestling with their own distinct challenges.

Product management, in particular, lacked established communities. The existing communities were filled with people interested in exploring it as a potential career path, not people building a product from the ground up. I found myself reaching out to SF-based product leaders for advice. While always helpful, they were working in an entirely different ecosystem from ours.

We forged a path that hadn’t existed before, charting a new course without a map.

Today, Australia’s startup scene looks very different. For the first time in our history, we have a wave of founders, early employees, VCs and advisors who have been successful and are going again. Countries like the US and Israel have long benefited from this cyclical expertise. Now, it’s Australia’s turn. The next generation gets to stand on the shoulders of those who have “been there, done that and made the t-shirts. We have a lot to learn and gain from their success.

On top of a wealth of tried-and-tested experience, this first generation has given us qualities that other ecosystems don’t have. We have a hard-won reputation for building excellent enterprise software at a time when product quality and experience matter. We have the know-how to thrive in capital-constrained and highly selective environments when capital is scarce.

Sharing the scars and collective wisdom from one generation to the next is the driving force behind Product Counsel, an initiative I’ve been running behind the scenes at Rampersand. It’s about creating a safe space for product leaders and builders at portfolio companies to riff off each other and not have to learn everything from first principles to move and build faster.

Some contributors include Sam Kroonenburg, Kirsten Mann and Adam Jacobs; great leaders and founders who have helped build great companies. I asked for their recollections on starting a business from scratch. Here is what they had to say, plus my own two cents.

What was the biggest challenge you faced learning from scratch?

Sam Kroonenburg, co-founder of A Cloud Guru (now Pluralsight) and now co-CEO and co-founder of Cuttable, explains that the groundwork is tedious but necessary:

‘It's boring and not spoken about much, but there is a lot of blocking and tackling of a business that you need to learn. I used to find it super frustrating because it felt like "infrastructure" or "busy work" that didn't contribute to the quality of the product or the value to the customers. Things like accounting, legal, payroll/taxes and real estate. Of course, the number one challenge is building a product that actually solves the customers problem. And deeper than that - getting really clear on who the target customer actually is and what their problem is.’

Getting to product market fit is something we experienced firsthand at Culture Amp.

We needed to build something that people were prepared to use, and it needed to solve a big enough problem that a buyer was prepared to pay for it. We built two products that users liked, but the buyer wasn’t prepared to spend money on and roll out across their company.

In addition, you really need people to take a risk on you. When you’re new and barely have any customers, you’re relying on someone taking a punt and giving you a go.

Adam Jacobs, co-founder of THE ICONIC and now co-founder of Hatch, can also relate to this:

‘The biggest challenge for THE ICONIC wasn’t so much the business model design, as it was a fairly well-understood concept model that had been deployed in other markets. It was convincing Australian partners, particularly fashion brands, who were very reticent to come onboard.’

‘They were very cautious of e-commerce. They weren’t familiar with it. We had to inspire them towards a different future and point to what was already happening in the US and Europe.’

The journey from THE ICONIC to Hatch wasn’t a rinse and repeat.

It demanded a complete recalibration. ‘I often describe THE ICONIC as a bulldozer startup strategy and Hatch as a surgeon’s knife, where we’ve been sculpting bit by bit,’ says Adam.

‘Getting Hatch off the ground couldn’t have been more opposite. It was such a new experience for me. THE ICONIC was a proven model that we implemented quickly and grew immediately. Hatch is a novel model that has not been proven before, so we’ve spent a lot of time testing and iterating to get to where we are today.’

When you’re building from scratch, there is also the relentless pressure of the runway getting shorter as you try to find traction. People using your product always want to be nice, so they tell you positive things, but when they’re not paying, you’re never sure if you’re just a feature or two away from nailing it or losing traction.

A shrinking runway requires rapid yet strategic decision-making, something Prospection Chief Product Officer and former Aconex SVP of Product Kirsten Mann knows all too well:

‘One of the hardest things was feeling like you were already up against the clock. Every decision felt critical because there was no room for wasted time or resources—especially when working with small teams and limited funding. The challenge was balancing speed with thoughtful decision-making, ensuring you weren’t just moving fast but in the right direction.’

In the end, the success of a startup hinges on getting ANYONE to care about your business.

As Sam says, ‘It boils down to this: if you can't make people care, you don't have a business. Not just customers but your team and partners, too. That's the simple, hard truth.’

READ PART TWO HERE.

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