Built to Scale, Not to Break

The talk
The startup world celebrates hard work, long hours and relentless ambition. But what if the way you're working is actually limiting your business's ability to grow? What if the very habits we associate with success are creating barriers that prevent our businesses from scaling?

A self-described square peg in a round hole, Flic Manning has spent years working within an ecosystem she loves, but one she believes needs to rethink how it operates to achieve real returns on the time, energy and resources invested. Drawing on experiences across Silicon Valley, entrepreneurship and building businesses while living with chronic illness and disability, Flic shares how being forced to work differently shaped her approach to business, productivity and growth. It's a perspective that challenges the idea that success demands constant personal sacrifice and asks whether the systems we've built are actually designed to support the people and ambitions behind them.

In this thought-provoking and practical session, attendees will explore why scaling a business starts with changing how we work, not simply doing more. Through real-world experiences and three practical shifts in thinking, they'll discover opportunities to rethink familiar habits, reduce unnecessary pressure and build systems that support sustainable growth. Whether building solo or leading a team, attendees will leave with a fresh perspective on how to build a business that can scale without requiring themselves or the people around them to break in the process.

Our speaker, Flic Manning
Flic Manning is a Perth-based entrepreneur, speaker, author, and disability advocate focused on sustainable leadership, human-centred systems, and the future of working and startup ecosystems.
Drawing on her lived experience with chronic illness and disability as well as her hands-on experience in Silicon Valley with leaders like Gary Vaynerchuk and Jason Calacanis. Flic has built businesses, coached founders, and worked across industries as diverse as wellbeing, Agrifood and Internet of Things (iOT) to name a few. Her work challenges grind culture and explores how better systems create more sustainable success for individuals, teams, and organisations.

She is a serial entrepreneur, coach, mentor, the author of Living Human, and an award-winning radio broadcaster whose work has been featured across podcasts, radio, media, print media and advocacy platforms. She is an ambassador for organisations including Crohn’s & Colitis Australia and the Mental Health Foundation of Australia, and serves as an advisor to multiple startups across the nation.

Agenda:

7:30 am: Shameless plugs and announcements. Introduce yourself or announce your startup to the Perth startup community!
7:45 am: Talk Built to Scale, Not to Break with Flic Manning
8:30 am: Networking & delicious breakfast treats
9:00 am: Finish

Live stream
This event will also be live streamed by the amazing folks at Perthvideo.com.au, thanks to the Department of Energy and Economic Diversification.

Access the live stream and all our post-event recordings here:
https://perthvideo.com.au/morning-startup-perth/

Coffee, Food and Sponsors
Tell Joey Zaza's you're heading to Morning Startup on the way in for a free coffee courtesy of Purpose Ventures, and enjoy some of their delicious breakfast treats courtesy of Typeset and IdeaToLife!

Thanks to the awesome team at Beacham Group for covering our meetup fees and keeping this meetup alive 🙏 ❤️