EightBlack.

Sometimes things like last night come out of left field. I wasn’t expecting it at all.

My good buddy Michael Hewitt-Gleeson invited me to a Churchill Club event. A small, intimate gathering of mainly people in suits. I think it’s billed as a premium networking event. Initially though, I was more interested in the free beer and wine.

According to Brendan Lewis, the Executive Director of The Churchill Club - the club exists as a not for profit entity with the motto for all events being “No Spin. No Hype. No Powerpoint”. Now that has to interest you.

Last night’s informal gathering of about 20 people was titled “Going Global On A Shoestring”.

Then the panel was introduced. Chaired by Adrian Vanzyl. Adrian’s got a bio that would impress the most unreasonable of boards. Here’s a snapshot.

Dr. Adrian Vanzyl has spent his career in Silicon Valley and Australia, working as a technology executive with software, security, advertising driven and social networking internet companies. His experience includes working as VP of Business Development for Eurekster, the leading provider of vertical, community and social network based search. Prior to this he was Entrepreneur in Residence at Blumberg Capital in San Francisco.

Adrian then introduced the panel - 4 people chosen by the Churchill Club to offer insight, expertise and content. The entire team were clearly all addicted, serial entrepreneurs. All had failed. All had gotten up again. And all were willing to talk candidly and without the slightest hint of arrogance.

I knew the night was going to be worth it as soon as Adrian the host introduced the other Adrian - as in Adrian Giles, the co-founder of Hitwise and now a couple of hundred million dollars richer, thanks to some deep pockets at Experian.

Also on the panel, Martin Hosking. Martin’s currently behind a Web 2.0 start up called Red Bubble. In addition, he’s the Chairman of one of Australia’s most watched software company’s - Aconex. Martin’s 15 minutes of fame last night was memorable. He understands the US market and VC culture probably better than anyone I’ve met and it was refreshing to listen to his perspective. He also attended Web 2.0 Expo - along with 10,000 other people (maybe that’s why I didnt run into him).

Sydney Low was also high on content, low on hot air. Finally, here was a guy, based in Melbourne, talking about 3 similtaneous start-ups and then insisting to the audience that the Australian community now has the technical ability to compete in markets such as the US and Europe. I thought it was great that he was aware of Amazon’s S3 service, that he knew where to go for the best solutions in the white hot SMS market and that all the panel engaged in a conversation about Moore’s Law and the rapidly decreasing costs of bandwith and data storage.

These guys were (are) clearly plugged into the digital space. They had war wounds. Some would suggest gaping scars. But they didn’t appear to be to worse for the wear. More importantly, they talked openly, and enjoyed the conversation.

I did too. Immensely. Thats why I’ll be inviting all the panelists to an interview session with me over the course of the next month. Stick around for the content and I’ll let you know as soon as we have the calls confirmed. As always, MP3’s and transcripts will be available.

Digital talent in Melbourne is alive and well. Last night confirmed it.

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This entry was posted on Friday, May 18th, 2007 at 4:05 pm and is filed under People, Web 2.0. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.