{"id":37667,"date":"2023-10-20T14:51:33","date_gmt":"2023-10-20T14:51:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/startupsmart.test\/2023\/10\/20\/jessica-watsons-next-great-adventure-after-sailing-the-world-solo-startupsmart\/"},"modified":"2023-10-20T14:51:33","modified_gmt":"2023-10-20T14:51:33","slug":"jessica-watsons-next-great-adventure-after-sailing-the-world-solo-startupsmart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/uncategorized\/jessica-watsons-next-great-adventure-after-sailing-the-world-solo-startupsmart\/","title":{"rendered":"Jessica Watson\u2019s next great adventure after sailing the world solo – StartupSmart"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Six years ago, a 16-year-old girl set sail from Sydney in a small pink yacht.<\/p>\n

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More than 200 days later she returned with the eyes of a nation on her.<\/p>\n

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Jessica Watson was the youngest person to sail solo and unassisted around the world, and would later pick up Young Australian of the Year and the Order of Australia while she was still a teenager.<\/p>\n

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From someone that achieved such successes at such a young age, Watson was regularly asked a question she was already considering herself.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWhat do you want to do next? – that\u2019s the first question everyone asks me,\u201d Watson tells StartupSmart.<\/i><\/p>\n


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\u201cAnd it\u2019s a valid question.\u201d<\/p>\n

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A new adventure<\/b> <\/b><\/p>\n

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While successfully completing a number of competitive races around the globe, it was another world entirely that she has eventually settled on.<\/p>\n

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Three months ago, Watson took on a position at a startup.<\/p>\n

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\u201cEveryone expects me to go and do another big sailing adventure,\u201d Watson says.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThe problem for me is that would have almost been the easy thing to do. That was my comfort zone, whereas studying and doing this has really been out of my comfort zone.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI\u2019ve really enjoyed challenging myself in a really different way.\u201d<\/p>\n

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After originally hearing about Deckee, an online platform for marine reviews and recommendations<\/a>, Watson reached out to its founder Mike McKiernan recently to say she \u201cloved\u201d the idea and wanted to be involved.<\/p>\n

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It was an easy decision for Watson – she was already immersed in this community and knows of the need for a platform like Deckee.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI absolutely love the way the marine industry is all about word-of-mouth,\u201d Watson says.<\/p>\n

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\u201cYou rock up to a marina somewhere and there\u2019ll be ten people telling you where to go next, what business you should use and all these tiny little technical details, as well as the big ones.<\/p>\n

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\u201cBut there\u2019s just nothing online. You\u2019ve got these beautiful huge big books but they aren\u2019t the most practical things to have on the water to start with. People have been crying out for something online.\u201d<\/p>\n

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For someone that rose to the world\u2019s attention when she was 16 and hasn\u2019t looked back, with a book under her belt and a movie about her journey to come, Watson wants to stay on the move, and Deckee provides an outlet for this boundless enthusiasm.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI get bored easily so it\u2019s fantastic to have something like Deckee to throw my energy into when I do have a couple of days where I\u2019m lacking things non-stop,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThere\u2019s always something different which is fantastic.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The other side<\/b> <\/b><\/p>\n

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At such a young age, Watson faced countless media interviews. But now she\u2019ll be on the other side, taking on a communications role at the startup. It\u2019s a change that she\u2019s very excited about.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI\u2019m completely on the other side of it now,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

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\u201cAnd now I\u2019m talking about something that I really want to be talking about. For a while there, as much as I\u2019ve come to enjoy talking about sailing around the world, I got a bit sick of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

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For Watson, the world-conquering journey is now well in the past – it\u2019s a treasured memory and a point of pride, but it\u2019s not what she wants to define her.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIt\u2019s taken those few years,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI\u2019ve changed so much. That\u2019s what I\u2019m proud of, that I\u2019ve changed and learned different skills in the time since.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Although making the jump into the startup world may be surprising for most, Watson says it was a \u201cnatural decision\u201d. Despite flirting with the competitive sailing world, where she was unsurprisingly successful, Watson says she eventually came to see sailing in itself as a hobby rather than a profession.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI\u2019ve come to realise it\u2019s something I want to do for fun on the weekends,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI want to be around the industry but I don\u2019t want for sailing to be my job, I want it to be a fun thing.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI was realising that I\u2019m not actually competitive. I did have something to prove to myself and I realised I want it to be fun. There\u2019s certainly things I want to do in sailing for the rest of my life but for now it\u2019s a weekend thing, and that\u2019s fantastic.\u201d<\/p>\n

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For McKiernan it\u2019s not just about bringing a big name to his small startup, there\u2019s the wealth of knowledge and industry experience that Watson brings with her too.<\/p>\n

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\u201cShe brings a lot of industry experience for us and she\u2019s really passionate about supporting the growth and development of the boating industry, particularly online,\u201d McKiernan says.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIt\u2019s a perfect way for her to become more actively involved in it.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Watson also sees her role as being more than marketing.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI\u2019m probably bringing a fresh perspective to what we\u2019re doing,\u201d Watson says.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI\u2019m coming to it as a marine user.\u201d<\/p>\n

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A wave of disruption<\/b> <\/b><\/p>\n

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McKiernan first came up with the idea of Deckee two years ago from his own interactions in the industry.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIt comes from my experience working on mariners over a number of years,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI was down there on the docks helping boat owners every day and I realised there was this really strong word-of-mouth culture in the boating community, but there hasn\u2019t been any website that is capturing all those opinions and recommendations that are being shared as a trusted source.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Deckee is all about the community, he says, acting as a Trip Advisor of sorts for an industry that is yet to fully embrace the digital revolution.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThe boating community has been heavily underserved from a technical standpoint for a long time,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThey\u2019re becoming increasingly aware of a need to shift to digital, and we\u2019re going to be well positioned to capitalise on that.\u201d<\/p>\n

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It\u2019s an obvious solution to a clear gap in the marina world, Watson says.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThe thing that struck me was why hasn\u2019t this been done before?\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

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\u201cYou\u2019re dealing with a lot of small businesses that don\u2019t even have their own website. That\u2019s a fantastic opportunity to give them that platform but it\u2019s a long education process.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The platform aims to provide the all the resources that a boat owner would need in one place, filled with reviews from the community. Businesses can join the network for a monthly fee, and the startup will eventually be taking commissions on its referrals.<\/p>\n

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The startup closed a seed funding round of $90,000 late last year and will soon be looking for further funding to accelerate its growth.<\/p>\n

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It\u2019s a large market locally, with an estimated 1 million boat owners spending about $2 billion yearly on storage, services and products. But Australia is just the start, McKiernan says.<\/p>\n

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\u201cAustralia is a really good test market,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThe size of the industry here and the demographics of boating is a perfect way for us to test a lot of ideas we have, but ultimately we\u2019re looking at the global industry and to develop a solution that can really cater for boat owners worldwide.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Another trip around the world<\/b> <\/b><\/p>\n

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No stranger to venturing around the world, Watson says there is huge international potential for the startup.<\/p>\n

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\u201cYou\u2019ve got the same sailing and boating communities all around the world crying out for similar resources and that\u2019s something we\u2019re certainly keeping in the back of mind,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

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\u201cEvery single business needs to know about it and every single boater needs to know this is the place that you can go to find the information you need.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Since then it\u2019s passed through the Slingshot accelerator program and picked up a slew of awards, including the best tourism solution at the NEWi Awards for Digital Creativity and Best Startup at the 2015 Australian Web Award.<\/p>\n

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For next year the focus will be entirely on Australia, but 2017 will see the startup look internationally.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThe next 12 months is really about developing brand awareness here in Australia and building a strong community here,\u201d McKiernan says.<\/p>\n

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\u201cBased on that we\u2019ll be able to see what\u2019s worked and what hasn\u2019t and take it overseas.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Embracing the uncertainty<\/b> <\/b><\/p>\n

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The flexibility and uncertainty of the startup world is ideal for Watson, leaving time for various speaking roles and charity work.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThe fantastic thing is I can keep a bit of flexibility with it,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI\u2019ll keep juggling everything next year. I would like to be putting a full-time effort into it, and that\u2019s the way it\u2019s looking at the moment.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u201cI love that I\u2019m constantly on the road.\u201d<\/p>\n

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She says entering the world of startups and innovation has been another rewarding challenge.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI haven\u2019t had too much exposure to it before,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIt\u2019s exciting and there\u2019s so much happening. It\u2019s awesome to be part of that and part of it in a unique way. This industry just hasn\u2019t been touched or mentioned in startup culture so this s very exciting.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Watson will be finishing a media and communications course in Melbourne over summer and has big plans centred on Deckee for the coming year.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThat\u2019s the exciting thing,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe\u2019re seeing so much progress and so much happening so soon.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIt\u2019s hard to know exactly where we\u2019ll be down the track.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Do you know more on this story or have a tip of your own? Raising capital or launching a startup? Let us know. Follow StartupSmart on <\/i>Facebook<\/i><\/a>, <\/i>Twitter<\/i><\/a>, and <\/i>LinkedIn<\/i><\/a>.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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