F'Up Night at CeBIT reveals the failures that led to success 

THREE of Australia's leading entrepreneurs will share their stories of failures and successes at CeBIT Australia 2018 at ICC Sydney on May 16.

No success in business was ever achieved without failure, from Dyson's umpteen attempts to create a bagless vacuum cleaner to Darrell Lea's famous 'accidental' red liquorice.  

For the first time, CeBIT Australia is joining the global movement that is F’Up Nights. The event will see three successful business professionals take to the stage, Luther Poier, CFO of BlueChilli; Emma Sharley, co-founder and CMO, Shop You; and  Brendan Yell, director of community development Asia-Pacific for Startup Grind and SendGrid.

Al three will be candidly sharing stories of their 'f-ups', what they learnt, how they moved on and how it ultimately led to their business successes.

The global movement was born in Mexico in 2012, F'Up Nights have now been staged in more than 250 cities worldwide, including in Hannover, Germany at the original CeBIT event. The primary purpose of the movement is to address the stigma surrounding failure and to show that failure is an essential part of the path to success.

Garry Williams, creative producer for innovation at the University of Melbourne, and Josh Lipscombe, community lead at LaunchVic, are the co-organisers of F'Up Nights in Sydney and Melbourne and are passionate about start-ups.

"It's not a pathway into self-help courses or preaching, we are igniting the tech start-up community with high-energy stories from local entrepreneurs that motivate change by sharing real obstacles when starting a new business," Mr Williams said.

"It's acknowledging that we are inherently human. We all have flaws, and sometimes it's our mistakes that make us all greater.

"We want attendees at CeBIT Australia to be inspired by the f-ups of some of the business tech industry's most successful. That's our aim, and I guarantee you, it won't be a sugar-coated event. It'll be realistic and motivating,” Mr Williams said.

Each of the three entrepreneurs will have up to 10 minutes to present their f-ups and subsequent learnings, followed by a questions-and-answers session and networking.

Poier has over 20 years’ experience helping build, invest and grow great start-ups to solve some of the world’s biggest problems, while Sharley has over 12 years’ experience working in marketing for iconic brands before starting her own fashion tech start-up, and Yell is highly experienced in the start-up community, directing and advising on a number of start-ups.

Lipscombe said F’Up Nights are not a celebration of failure, but rather an acknowledgement of how these failures have changed their career trajectory and have not stopped or derailed their vision.

F’Up Night will take place during CeBIT Australia on the FutureTech Stage, 5pm - 7pm Wednesday 16 May. The event will be open to all holders of a CeBIT visitor pass.  

For more information about F-Up Night at CeBIT Australia 2018, visit: cebit.com.au/cebit-australia-2018-fup-invite

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