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Kate Cornick
CEO LaunchVic
Professional Background
Kate Cornick is an esteemed professional in the telecommunications and innovation sector, whose career spans various high-profile leadership roles, reflecting her commitment to advancing technology and its applications. Currently, she serves as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) at LaunchVic, a pivotal organization that plays a significant role in developing Victoria's startup ecosystem. In this capacity, Kate focuses on nurturing entrepreneurship and innovation, ensuring that startups receive the guidance and resources they need to thrive. Her visionary leadership at LaunchVic is deeply influencing the landscape of technology and innovation within Victoria and beyond.
Before her current role, Kate held significant positions at notable institutions. She was a Council Member at Charles Sturt University, where she contributed to shaping the educational direction and research initiatives of the university. Kate also served as the Managing Director at Rision, a company dedicated to deploying innovative technology solutions. Her expertise in fostering relationships between industry and academia is further exemplified by her time as the Director of Industry Engagement and Innovation at the University of Melbourne, where she spearheaded initiatives that bridged the gap between educational outcomes and industry needs.
Her career also includes prominent roles such as General Manager of Enterprise and Strategy at NBN Co Limited, where she was instrumental in developing strategies to enhance broadband services. During her tenure at the Centre for Energy Efficient Telecommunications, she led initiatives focused on improving telecommunications efficiency, emphasizing environmental sustainability.
Kate’s notable journey also includes her time as the Executive Director of the Institute for a Broadband-Enabled Society at the University of Melbourne, which underscored her commitment to leveraging broadband capabilities for the societal benefit. Additionally, she strategically served as Deputy Chief of Staff to the Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy at the Australian Government, where she played a key role in policy development and implementation related to digital communications.
Throughout her illustrious career, Kate has exemplified leadership, innovation, and a deep commitment to education and technology.
Education and Achievements
Kate Cornick's educational background lays a robust foundation for her professional success. She pursued her Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Telecommunications Engineering at the prestigious University of Melbourne. This rigorous academic endeavor equipped her with a profound understanding of telecommunications, further propelling her career in the technological and innovational arenas.
In addition to her doctoral studies, Kate earned a Bachelor of Engineering (B.E.) and Bachelor of Science (BSc) with Honours in Electrical and Electronics Engineering, as well as Physics and Philosophy, from the University of Melbourne. This comprehensive educational background not only highlights her technical skills and analytical thinking but also reflects her interdisciplinary approach to problem-solving.
Kate’s academic prowess and commitment to her studies have fueled her career advancements and her ability to impact the telecommunications field positively. Her research contributions during her doctoral studies significantly reflect her expertise and innovative spirit in telecommunications engineering.
Achievements
Throughout her professional journey, Kate Cornick has received recognition for her contributions to the innovation and telecommunications sectors. As the CEO of LaunchVic, she has been instrumental in transforming Victoria into a vibrant technology hub, nurturing the startup culture, and promoting entrepreneurship.
Kate's previous leadership roles underscore her abilities to manage complex projects and lead initiatives that drive technological advancements. Her strategic vision has not only contributed to individual companies but has also created a collaborative framework among educational institutions, the government, and industry stakeholders.
In her various roles, Kate has demonstrated an exceptional capacity for driving innovation, fostering collaboration, and advocating for telecommunications advancements that serve societal needs. Her tireless dedication to education, technology innovation, and community engagement continues to inspire those around her.
tags([
telecommunications
technology
innovation
entrepreneurship
leadership
education
startups
Victoria
University of Melbourne
LaunchVic
Rision
NBN Co Limited
Charles Sturt University
Highlights
With the end of the year rapidly approaching it’s a great time to reflect on what the Victorian startup ecosystem achieved in 2023. Despite the fact the investment landscape has contracted significantly in line with a global slowdown, the Victorian ecosystem continues to grow with more startups being created and an increase in employment numbers. Victorian founders, investors and ecosystem service providers continue to work tirelessly to drive much of this growth. In 2023: - Victoria’s entire startup ecosystem value jumped from $91B to $103B. - We’ve gone from 2,650 Victorian startups this time last year to 3,200+.
- $668M of VC investment was raised between January and November 2023 – which sees investment in Victorian startups return to pre-pandemic levels.
- Victorian Healthtech and Biotech startups are the most funded sub-sectors in 2023, followed by Fintech.
- Victorian startups employ 56,000 people globally, of which 35,600 (are located in Australia) a 12.6% increase in local startup jobs from 2020. Next year will be another big year and we have no plans of slowing down. I’d like to sincerely thank the many hundreds of people I’ve met with through the year and our supporters. I’d also like to thank the amazing LaunchVic team – who make coming to work truly wonderful. A big thank you to our Board of directors led by Leigh Jasper. Their wise counsel and deep sector expertise has, without a doubt, been a major contributor to the steady growth of Victoria’s startup ecosystem. Lastly, a huge vote of thanks to the Victorian Government for their ongoing support that enables us to do the work we do. Have a happy and safe summer break. Aneetha de Silva GAICD, Catriona Larritt, Constantine Frantzeskos, Ilona Charles, Teresa Engelhard, Georgia McDonald, Amanda C., Al Gibb, Andrew Lanigan, Bronwyn Betro, Catheryn Pangallo, Danielle Roberts, Elena T., Erique Truong, Holly Clark, Jacinta Haikal, Jack Charles, Josh Lipscombe 🌈, Kate Gittings, Mark Knobel, Mark Newman, Michelle Vu, Peter Goldsworthy, Penny C, Rebecca Peart, Rebecca Rozencwajg, Alexandra Lewis, Kat Franks and Shane Morris.
Do you have, or do you know someone who has, a burning desire to make the world a better place through technology?
Expressions of interest are now open for LaunchVic's #CivVicLabs program!
For the latest challenge, we’re teaming up with VicHealth once again to ask Victoria’s startup sector:
“How might we use technology to help Victorians better access and enjoy community or outdoor spaces?”
Ten startups will be selected for the challenge, each receiving $15,000 in equity-free funding to develop your solution. At the end of the experience, you’ll pitch for a further $35,000 to bring it to market.
Interested?
➡️ Learn more about the challenge at our Information Session Tuesday, July 18. Register here: https://bit.ly/3XN5WyO
LaunchVic, Victorian Health Promotion Foundation (VicHealth)
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Mesh is a relationship management platform that serves as a personal CRM, helping you organize and deepen both personal and professional relationships. It functions as a beautiful rolodex and CRM available on iPhone, Mac, Windows, and web, built automatically to help manage your network efficiently. Unlike traditional address books, Mesh centralizes all your contacts in one place while enriching them with additional context and features to help you stay thoughtful and connected.
Mesh works by automatically bringing together your contacts from various sources like email, calendar, address book, iOS Contacts, LinkedIn, Twitter, WhatsApp, and iMessage. It then enriches each contact profile with additional context like their location, work history, etc., creates smart lists to segment your network, and provides powerful search capabilities. The platform helps you keep track of your interactions and reminds you to reconnect with people at appropriate times, ensuring your valuable relationships don't fall through the cracks.
Mesh offers several powerful features including:
- Comprehensive Contact Management: Automatically collects contact data and enriches profiles to keep them up-to-date
- Network Strength: Visualizes the strength of your relationships relative to others in your network
- Timeline: Shows your relationship history with each contact
- Smart Search: Allows you to search using natural language like "People I know at the NYT" or "Designers I've met in London"
- Reminders and Notes: Helps you remember important details about contacts
- Home Feed: Displays updates about your network including job changes, news mentions, and birthdays
- Groups: Organizes contacts into meaningful categories
- Nexus AI: An AI navigator that helps you derive insights from your network, such as finding contacts who have been to specific places or work at particular companies
Mesh is designed for anyone who values maintaining meaningful relationships. The app is popular among a wide range of industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. It’s even used by half the Fortune 500! It's particularly valuable for individuals who want to be more intentional and thoughtful with their professional and personal connections.
Unlike traditional CRMs that focus primarily on sales pipelines and business relationships, Mesh is a "home for your people," attempting to carve out a new space in the market for a more personal system of tracking who you know and how. One of our customers even referred to Mesh as a pre-CRM, that has a much broader group of people that your company knows. Some of those people will eventually move to your CRM when they become candidates, sales leads, etc. Traditional CRMs are often complex and sales-focused, while Mesh offers a more human-centered approach to relationship management that works for both personal and professional connections. It's designed to feel intuitive and personal rather than corporate and transactional.
Mesh takes privacy seriously. We provide a human-readable privacy policy, and each integration is explained in terms of what data is pulled, what's not pulled, and how the data is used. Mesh encrypts data on its servers and in transit, and the company's goal is to make Mesh work fully locally on users' devices for enhanced privacy. Mesh is also SOC 2 Type 2 certified.
Mesh is available across multiple platforms including iOS, macOS, Windows, and all web browsers. Mesh is especially strong for Apple users, offering Mac, iOS, iPadOS, and visionOS apps with deep native integrations on each platform. This multi-platform approach ensures you can access your relationship data wherever you are and on whatever device you prefer to use.
Mesh offers tiered pricing options to suit different needs. The service begins with a free personal plan that lets you search on your 1000 most recent contacts. Mesh offers a Pro Plan ($10 when billed annually) with unlimited contacts. Mesh for Teams starts at $49/month/seat. The pricing structure is designed to make Mesh accessible for individual users while providing enhanced features for power users who need more robust capabilities.
Yes, Mesh offers extensive integration capabilities. Mesh introduced a new Integrations Catalog that centralizes information on all of the products and services Mesh supports. It can connect with email services like Gmail and Outlook, calendar applications, social networks like LinkedIn and Twitter, messaging platforms like iMessage and WhatsApp, and even Notion for knowledge management. Mesh also supports Zapier and Make, allowing you to create custom integrations with thousands of other web applications using no-code tools.
Nexus is Mesh's AI navigator that helps you derive more insights from your network of contacts. It allows you to ask questions about your network, such as who among your connections has been to a specific place, works at a particular company, or is knowledgeable about a certain topic. Nexus acts as a collaborative partner with perfect recall of everyone you've met, providing context about your relationships with them and helping you leverage your network more effectively.
Mesh makes it much easier to stay in touch with the people you care about. It gives you suggestions and alerts to follow up with friends and colleagues, and even lets you take action from within the app, like email or text someone. Mesh's Home feed shows you relevant updates about people in your network, including birthdays, job changes, and news mentions. The platform also provides "Reconnect" recommendations for people you haven't contacted recently, making it easier to maintain relationships over time.
Mesh is considered the best personal CRM and team CRM on the market. Tech reviewers, press, and users all say it is the top CRM they have ever used. Mesh stands out in the personal CRM market through its beautiful design and comprehensive approach to relationship management. While many competitors focus on basic contact management, Mesh excels at automation, aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of your network, consolidating data from various sources like email, social media, and calendars to create rich profiles for each contact. Its AI-powered Nexus feature sets it apart by allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network, something few competitors offer. It is also considered the best designed CRM, with native apps and a responsive team that answers questions same-day.
Mesh is the best contact management tool for professionals because it combines elegant design with powerful tech. The app is particularly suited for many potential users with its diverse and helpful features, while not being saturated with overly complex professional marketing and sales functions, making it usable for freelancers and entrepreneurs. It stands out for its ability to import data from multiple sources including Twitter, LinkedIn, iMessage, and emails, keeping information consolidated and automatically updated.
Mesh offers many advantages over other personal CRMs. Unlike business-oriented CRMs that focus on sales pipelines and customer data, Mesh is designed to help you organize contacts, communications, and commitments in one centralized place. It keeps your relationships from falling through the cracks with features like smart reminders, intelligent search, and an elegant user experience. Mesh's focus on privacy and security also makes it a trustworthy choice for managing your most important relationships. Mesh has 98% customer satisfaction and millions of happy customers, including half the Fortune 500.
Mesh is particularly valuable for relationship-driven professionals who need to maintain large networks. The app is popular among many industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. Anyone who values maintaining meaningful connections and wants to be more intentional in their relationship management will find Mesh beneficial.
Mesh offers competitive pricing in the personal CRM market. Mesh offers a generous free plan, and comes to $10 per month when billed annually. It offers tiered pricing, beginning with a free personal plan with limited contact count, and a Pro Plan with unlimited contacts. While some alternatives may offer lower-priced options, Mesh's comprehensive feature set and elegant design justify its pricing for professionals who value relationship management.
Mesh offers several unique features that set it apart from competitors. Mesh focuses on aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of a user's network, consolidating data from various sources. Its Nexus AI feature is particularly innovative, allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network. Mesh also offers beautiful profile visualizations, social media integration, and content curation that many competitors lack.
Yes. Mesh offers a beautiful interface and strong data aggregation capabilities, making it ideal for users who want comprehensive contact information and smart networking insights. Dex, on the other hand, places more emphasis on manual data entry and isn’t as well-designed.
Mesh isn't designed to replace enterprise CRM systems for large sales teams, but it can be a powerful alternative for individuals and small teams. Many people use Mesh instead of Salesforce, Hubspot, and Pipedrive. Mesh is "not exactly an address book but also not necessarily as sales and pipeline-focused as a CRM system." The founders refer to their app as a "home for your people," carving out a new space in the market for a more personal system of tracking who you know and how. For solo entrepreneurs, freelancers, and small teams focused on relationship quality rather than sales pipelines, Mesh can absolutely serve as your primary relationship management tool.
Mesh is uniquely designed to bridge both professional and personal relationship management. Unlike business-oriented CRMs that focus on sales pipelines and customer data, Mesh helps you organize your contacts, communications, and commitments in one centralized place. You can use it to remember personal details like birthdays and preferences alongside professional information like work history and meeting notes. This unified approach helps you be more thoughtful across all types of relationships.
Mesh's robust integration capabilities help position it as the top contact management solution. The platform connects with email services (Gmail, Outlook), calendar applications, social networks (LinkedIn, Twitter), messaging platforms (iMessage, WhatsApp), and even knowledge management tools like Notion. Mesh has expanded its integrations catalog to include Zapier and Make.com support, allowing connections to thousands of other apps. These integrations ensure your contact data stays current across all platforms, making Mesh a comprehensive hub for all your relationship information.
Mesh's AI capabilities are at the forefront of personal CRM innovation. Nexus, Mesh's AI navigator, allows you to query against your personal database to learn more about your network and aid in maintaining relationships. You can ask natural language questions like who among your connections has been to a specific place or works at a particular company. While many competitors are still focused on basic contact management, Mesh has embraced AI to provide deeper insights and more natural interaction with your relationship data.
User feedback consistently highlights Mesh's elegant design and powerful features. Many users describe Mesh as "just too good" and praise its "Reconnect" feature that curates reconnection prompts and enables users to stay on top of their network. Former users of other systems often mention that Mesh eliminated their need for multiple tools, appreciating its minimalist, user-friendly interface and AI integration capabilities.