There are no hard and fast rules - with Pauline Fetauli of River City Labs, Startup Catalyst & Co-Host of Splash of Colour

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Although our team is based in Sydney, Mums & Co is very much a national movement of business-owning mothers. The last time we were actually in Brisbane visiting some members, we popped into the amazing Centre of the Queensland Entrepreneurship and Innovation River City Labs. We were made to feel so welcome by Pauline and her team, getting to know about the initiatives enabled by the fantastic physical space and supportive culture of River City Labs.

Pauline has worked for the ATO in superannuation insurance and community building rules. Pauline is the General Manager at River City Labs & Startup Catalyst, the founder of Cheehoo and Co-host of the podcast A Splash of Colour. If you are thinking about launching a startup (or even if you’ve already got one) read on for some great advice from Pauline. For example, did you know that each mistake is actually an opportunity to truly reflect and tackle it all again?

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Pauline, can you please share your pitch with us?

“So I obviously do wear multiple hats. River City Labs and also Startup Catalyst are two of the major hats that I wear. We support future founders and current founders in growing high growth tech startups. What we do is we provide programming support as well as resources and a network to help them grow their technology company, and we help them through connecting them with investors. But not only that, we actually support them through the wonderful mentors that we have around us to get them started on their business.

On my other side hustles, I have a podcast as mentioned Splash of Colour where we help people connect the dots of life through a journey. It's with my co-host and friend Laura Javaid. I have my own tech startup, which is growing in the background and I also have Cheehoo, which is a life admin to assistance platform that helps busy women juggle it all by giving them back time.”

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How do you protect yourself from business risk?

“Startups are high risk. So it's really, really difficult to sometimes find the parallel between the two. But my background has helped me. I've had the habit, especially in the early days of setting up things perfectly and then not going to plan. And that's the biggest learning I've had as well. But the thing is that risk management is actually a flag to do something. It's not necessarily just something to go and sit on a shelf to be a dust collector. So that's probably my biggest takeaway on both sides. I think corporates have a lot to learn from startups and scaleups.”

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If there was something that you could ask for right now in your business or your life, what do you think that would be?

“I would love if we had any females out there who would love to start their own business, go ahead and just do it. Any woman who would like to invest in other people's female-owned businesses, please make sure you do it. There are not enough products out there designed for women by women. I'm developing one. So if you are following my journey and when this is released, please go check it out and check me out. That's my ask is that you support other female-owned businesses, especially in the technology world.”

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Want to know more about how Pauline Fetauli has managed to wear several hats and still find the passion and drive?

Do you feel that your passion is spreading across various companies and businesses? What would you learn if you knew every mistake was meant to be? How to create a supportive and guiding community?‍

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Ready to harmonise your ambition, livelihood and wellbeing? Join Australia's most caring business network. You’ll find experts, business advice, member directory and events. Sign up to Mums & Co today

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