Welcome to the first edition of the Gatsby Professional Connections Newsletter as we celebrate the new financial year. Firstly, we’d like to sincerely thank everyone who has expressed their interest in our venture, and we look forward to your continued support. The purpose of this newsletter is to provide updates on the development of Gatsby and other activities, as well as keeping the team accountable. We hope you find our content valuable, and please contact us directly if you have any insights or tips to steer us in the right direction.

- Gatsby Co-founders

Recent Achievements

Looking back on our progress in the 2024 financial year, we’ve been very proactive. Some of our recent achievements include:

In February, we onboarded 3 additional team members to our team; which included:

Two software development interns from the ANU College of Computing, Engineering and Cybernetics. After a 12-week term with Gatsby, these interns have been invaluable to our development, and we wish them well in their future endeavours;

Isaac James – our business development and customer relations expert, who has been very proactive in setting up industry contacts around Canberra, Sydney, and Europe.

In April, Gatsby was accepted into the Blackbird VC Giants program. The 10-week program provides 1:1 mentoring, resources, and a community to propel early-stage startups; with a chance to win a $25,000 grant at an investor pitch night.

In May, the business development team acquired Gatsby’s first partnerships with a venue, a local winery, and an award-winning Australian Vodka distillery. Read on for more details.

In June, Gatsby acquired a partnership with Tyro and Triniteq, two of the leading POS system providers in the industry. More details are included below.

Product Development Updates

The changelog below highlights the latest features and improvements to the Gatsby app.

Build version 0.01 available on Apple Testflight

Completed initial UI designs and UX flows for launch

A closed alpha testing party with 15 users was held. It highlighted that users want more simplicity, noting some font changes and recommending features that have previously been conceptualised in during our internal design workshops, ultimately validating the usability of Gatsby.

Interns worked on a range of tasks that contributed directly to key features of the application; including:

Ability to automatically search ticketing platforms to populate Gatsby with events;

A tool to refresh our venue data with the latest information from their web presence;

Improvements to our Spotify recommendation system that analyses event descriptions to help motivate recommendations;

MVP Manufacturer dashboards developed on Power BI

As an MVP for the data and analytics component of Gatsby, the team have created a Power BI sales report using mock data and are currently working with partnered manufacturers to identify what is most valuable for them. Currently, the report provides several insights for manufacturers; including:

total sales by product, venue, and city;

geospatial analysis of product sales;

sales volume by time; and,

product volume by customer gender and age.

Partnerships and Collaborations

Brew and Brew is a Cafe and Bar franchise - serving coffees during business hours, and hosting events and drinks in the evening. This partnership will be a key component to testing our application in a venue that is active all day, creating a great business case for other venues we are currently engaging. Additionally, this allows us to experiment with pushing cafe products through Gatsby, as well as providing connections within the entertainment industry through events.

Selecta Wines is a local winery based in the Wamboin region of New South Wales and is a subsidiary of Norton Road Wines. The partnership between Gatsby and Selecta Wines is aimed to be symbiotic in nature as both entities are currently in the early stages. As such, Selecta Wines have agreed to test the features and value of the manufacturer data and analytics component of Gatsby, as well as promoting the app with their current list of partners and distributors. In exchange, Gatsby aims to facilitate a targeted growth and marketing strategy, and aid Selecta Wines in delivering the best product with the largest impact on their bottom line.

A large-scale vodka manufacturer, a multiple award-winning Australian distillery based in Sydney, with a focus on using local quality grown wheat and rigorous filtration process to achieve a beautiful textural finish and smooth consistency for their products. The partnership with Gatsby and and this manufacturer will focus on optimising value propositions for more established manufacturers such as pricing, current cost structures and cutting opportunities, and utilisation of on-premise (i.e. venues) data. Additionally, this manufacturer has expressed interest in acquiring a share of Gatsby and providing executive guidance.

With POS systems being an essential component of the Gatsby design, our business development team achieved a major milestone by acquiring partnerships with Tyro and Triniteq, two of the leading companies in the industry. Our team has been working closely with the technical product managers and CTOs from both Tyro and Triniteq to work towards a seamless integration with Gatsby. While this integration is still in progress, it promises to significantly expand our footprint in venues across the country, not just in Canberra.

Financial Performance

Gatsby is currently funded by the founding team and has not received any external investments. Naturally, Gatsby is still operating at a loss while in the product development phase. However, the team is expecting a more positive financial position after receiving investment interest from external parties; which, are currently undergoing negotiation. Additionally, the team is optimistic about the completion of the Giants program and current partnerships with manufacturers and venues, with the objective of creating organic revenue within the next financial year.

Community Engagement and User Stories

In May, Gatsby co-founders attended the Blackbird VC Sunrise event, allowing the team to network with other Giant’s Cohort 8 members. It also provided the opportunity to present our business to seasoned start-up professionals and seek feedback.

The event also featured keynote speakers across a variety of topics, ranging from start-up mindset and resilience, angel investing tips, common pitfalls, and the importance of early testing and iterations. This fuelled further discussion within our business on how we can take our business to market optimally.

Our attendance in Sunrise 2024 has ultimately expanded our network, opening the door for discussion with event management businesses, international banking systems, and design leads. These organisations will be integral in taking us closer to our goals.

Closing Remarks

Thank you once again for your time in reading our first investor newsletter. We value your support, and interest and please stay tuned for future updates. Finally, we encourage you to engage with Gatsby by providing feedback or sharing your experiences with similar ideas!

First Edition