Open The Pod Bay Doors

Colette Grgic is no stranger to startups. She is the Head of Startup Ecosystem in Australia & New Zealand for Amazon Web Services. In this role, Colette is responsible for the growth of the startup ecosystem at AWS and leads an excellent team who support startups with commercial and technical advice. She also serves as a Director of Heads Over Heels. Prior to her role at AWS, Colette was Chief Innovation Officer at BlueChilli. Colette also founded her own travel tech startup, Arribaa, and managed Autogenie, an internal startup for ASX-listed Smartgroup.In this chat with Ian, Colette shares...What is was like growing up in South Africa and CanadaHow she developed a passion for innovation and startupsThe story of founding her startup Arribaa ("the Airbnb of experiences")The highs and lows of her 6-year journey with BlueChilliHer favourite parts of her role at AWSWhere the magic happens between corporates and startupsHow the AWS Activate program can help startups scaleQuickfire RecommendationsBook: The Alche