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The Making it in Melbourne podcast series brings you conversations with Melbourne migrant entrepreneurs who are reshaping our city’s business landscape.
In this series, we hear the stories of migrant startup founders sharing how their cultural backgrounds have shaped their entrepreneurial journeys, offering insights, lessons, and tips for aspiring entrepreneurs.
From creative and social innovations, artificial intelligence, mental health, and people changing careers, these are the stories of people who journeyed across borders to Melbourne, to build something extraordinary.
This podcast series is brought to you by the City of Melbourne. Follow us at @cityofmelbourne across Facebook, Instagram, Linkedin and X.
We support migrant business founders to incubate ideas in our city through grants, specialised programs and connecting with the local community. Find out about upcoming opportunities at www.melbourne.vic.gov.au/startups-and-innovation
Jeanette Chia: [00:00:00] I'm Jeanette Chia, and this is Making It in Melbourne. My guest today is Sri Venkatesan, the co-founder of Next XR Group. Now, Sri was born in India and spent five years in Singapore before moving to Melbourne. She has such an incredible story of starting her business during lockdown with, as she says, a baby in one arm, and her stories of networking and finding her first clients are truly some of the more unusual ones that you might have heard.
Sri's story of resilience, creativity, and technology is really inspiring, and keep an ear out for her very unique hiring strategy. This is how Sri Venkatesan is making it in Melbourne
I'm in the studio with Sri Venkatesan, the CEO and founder of Next XR Group. Thank you for joining me today.
Sri Venkatesan: Thank you, Danielle.
Jeanette Chia: I'm so excited to get to know your story. Your background is incredible. But let's start right at the beginning. I [00:01:00] heard you were running your first business at the age of eight.
What were you doing at eight years old?
Sri Venkatesan: It's a funny story, actually. I would say it was more like a testing ground of entrepreneurship. So it started, like, it started in my balcony. Me and my sister were running a boot camp, summer boot camp-
Jeanette Chia: Uh-huh ...
Sri Venkatesan: for young kids in our neighborhood. So it just started, like, 10, 10 rupees per enrollment.
And it was more like we were running art workshop and theatrical workshop.
Jeanette Chia: That sounds really adorable, and it does sound like you were really testing your own entrepreneurial muscle at the early days. Mm-hmm. Um, I'm curious about the fact that you also then wanted to study psychology first and ended up doing an IT degree instead.
But then you did a fine arts degree. Tell me about this educational background that you have and the mix of skills you gained.
Sri Venkatesan: So I, like, I r- I like to read people. I like to understand their emotions and everything. I, so I wanted to delve into psychology. But my parents were, like, kind of little orthodox, so they were like, "Do engineering," because that was the trend [00:02:00] back then.
So they were like, "Study something in IT, then you can start something on your own," because they knew that I had the passion for it. And art was something I always loved. I still call myself an artist. So I wanted to get some professional qualifications in art. So that's why it happened.
Jeanette Chia: That's why it happened.
Yeah. And so this balcony that you were on at the age of eight, where were you? Where were you physically based?
Sri Venkatesan: So I was based in Delhi, in India
Jeanette Chia: And when did you and your family decide to move to Aus- Australia? What was your journey from Delhi to Melbourne?
Sri Venkatesan: So I got married and moved to Singapore, so there was a pit stop in between India- Ah
and Australia. And then back in, uh, Singapore I was trying for PR, which we didn't get, so we were like, "We'll explore some other options." And Singapore being very hectic life, I wanted something a little laid back, so that's why I was picking countries and I was looking between Australia and Canada. But Canada, because of the harsh weathers, I was like, "Maybe my par- parents will keep visiting me often."
So I was like, "I'll pick something in between," and Australia happened.
Jeanette Chia: Pick [00:03:00] something in between. It's interesting that, uh, Melbourne actually won out because of our weather. I don't think you hear that very often.
Sri Venkatesan: Um, I didn't pick it because of the weather, honestly. I picked it because of the art. Ah.
Because I wanted to start my own art gallery back then. So that was the dream what brought me to Melbourne.
Jeanette Chia: Oh, so our reputation as a global art center- Yes ... drew you here. Well, that's interesting, because you've also written and illustrated not one but three children's books, is that right? Yeah. Tell me about these.
What were these about, and how did you decide that that was what you wanted to do with your time?
Sri Venkatesan: Um, the funny part was I was in my maternity break and I, and COVID happened.
Jeanette Chia: Mm-hmm.
Sri Venkatesan: And then I didn't wanna get back to work. I didn't look for any options for work. Instead I was like, "Why don't I focus on my passion?"
And I used to write poems back when I was in school for my friends' birthdays, so writing was something that was part of me, so I thought, "Why not explore?" So I started fiction writing, and my first book happened when I delivered a baby. So she was just- What? ... one month old. And I [00:04:00] was, like, breastfeeding, typing, breastfeeding, typing.
That's how it was. And it's, so the first book is based on my father's real-life experiences, so it's a bit of fiction and real-life stories.
Jeanette Chia: And targeted for, like, very little kids, or-
Sri Venkatesan: Um, no, it's like young adults I would say.
Jeanette Chia: Okay, wow. Yeah. And people can still find these books somewhere?
Sri Venkatesan: Yeah, they are available on Amazon.
Jeanette Chia: Wow. And so now this writing passion also led you to be, um, collaborative with the Sari Collective here in Melbourne. Yeah. Is that right? Yep. Tell me about the Sari Collective and that c- that relationship that you have with them.
Sri Venkatesan: Um, so I was writing parenting blogs for them because my journey being a migrant mother, which I didn't have much support here.
So I was exploring different angles on what I can do, so I started writing about my journey. That attracted them and they called me whether I can write some blogs for them.
Jeanette Chia: I love the fact that the Sari Collective is this incredible organization for South Asian Australians- Yeah ... to kind of amplify their voices through media.
Yeah. And it sounds like you and the founder- Mm-hmm ... of the collective, uh, got on very well, so, um, that's amazing. [00:05:00] Now, tell me a little bit more about, I guess, your, your journey practically to come to Melbourne. So you, you, you chose it because of its art center, because it's c- you know, maybe a bit closer to home.
Um, the weather wasn't as harsh as Canada. But was there also, I guess, a, a, a visa pathway that you traveled in, into Melbourne on?
Sri Venkatesan: Yeah, I came through skilled migration So I applied for a PR and came here in 2018.
Jeanette Chia: And did you have, um, an employer sponsoring you in that time?
Sri Venkatesan: No.
Jeanette Chia: No?
Sri Venkatesan: Getting an employment was another hard part because, like, everyone will look at your resume and they'll say, "Wow, you have a great resume, but you don't have a local experience."
So that was something I kept hearing again and again.
Jeanette Chia: That must have been really challenging for you.
Sri Venkatesan: It was, but I, I didn't lose hope. So I believe, like, I have lot of talents, so I will explore something or the other.
Jeanette Chia: What I'm hearing immediately is a sense of, I guess, joy of exploration of new things- Yeah
and, and a resilience, you know, which I think a lot of migrants have in common, is we choose to go somewhere else bec- and, [00:06:00] and start a new life there- Mm ... because of the resilience. Now, I have to say the, the fact that you were in lockdown, you just had your first ch- child, you've published a book, and then you've also started NextXR during this time.
So how did the business idea come about, and what were you thinking about when, uh, when you couldn't leave the house and, and coming up with NextXR?
Sri Venkatesan: Um, so I was looking, like... Because it was a maternity break and COVID happened, so I can't go out, so I was just looking at different tech- tech options where I could explore.
Because I, coming from a technology background, I was like, "Okay, I'll explore something, and I'll get some more skills, so then I can look for jobs." But then having little one in my hand, I didn't wanna get back to work. I was like, "Probably this is the time I can start something on my own." And, uh, so I, because COVID gave us a lot of time to reconnect with old people, I was tapping my old networks.
I was talking to one of my friends who owns a VR company back in India. So that kind of gave me an inspiration, because it combines all my skills. So the first [00:07:00] step of VR is storyboarding, where you'd get your art tap, uh, art hat on, you can explore and draw something and create the first l- uh, first level of how the VR module is going to look like.
Mm-hmm. So that's when I was like, "Okay, I'll combine all my skills, and probably this is something I really wanna do."
Jeanette Chia: We're talking about using VR, so virtual reality, and AR, or augmented reality technology, to help people experience skills from theory to practice. Now, could you give me an example of how NextXR does that for clients?
What's a particular, um, project that you've worked on?
Sri Venkatesan: Um, there are so many. I'll t- I'll just give you an example of imagine you're in a manufacturing setup and you have to train your employees. So in a real world setup, there's a lot of wastage, there's lots of safety issues, there's usually incidents that happen.
So with VR, we did, we did the entire simulation of the factory setup, and you can train your employees wearing just a h- a VR headset, and in a very safe and secure way. And it replicates the entire factory setting, so it really looks like you're actually in the real factory. [00:08:00]
Jeanette Chia: And so something like this, and I think one of the examples I saw on your, on your business, was training somebody to work on a wind turbine, right?
Tell me about what that kind of experience might look and feel like to the person e- doing the training.
Sri Venkatesan: You know, wind turbine is actually quite high in, in terms of- So I've seen people tremble legs if you have the fear of heights. So that was the experience. That's how immersive it could get.
Jeanette Chia: That's really vivid, because, I mean, I've
You know, I think we've all played the game where you might see a dinosaur or you're trying to balance on a ledge, and what you're doing is using that sort of immersive experience to help people know what it would be like to work- Mm-hmm ... actually in these challenging environments. What's the span of industries that you've supported with NextXR?
Sri Venkatesan: Um, so initially the plan was, because this can be useful across any industry, then slowly we started developing into industry, and I, I found that construction, manufacturing, and education can be the main things where I really wanna focus.
Jeanette Chia: And does, is Melbourne a particularly good place to build [00:09:00] a training business, do you think?
Like, why, why does this business work particularly well in Melbourne?
Sri Venkatesan: Um, there are a lot of RTOs, and I really see a gap between practical learning, theoretical and practical l- experience, right? We can't really put, uh, newbies in a factory setting because there are chances of incidents happening, so that's where VR can come in.
So you can train all your staff, all your students, in a very safe and secure way without causing any damages.
Jeanette Chia: Oh, so that's really filling a gap of that, uh, that practical experience- Yeah ... that people are looking to gain. Now, it's one thing to come up with this cool idea and understand that it knits together your creative skills and your technology skills.
But I'm wondering about how you went about, you know, leveraging a new network in, in Melbourne when you were starting this business. How did you use your network to make it s- make it go from zero to one?
Sri Venkatesan: Um, that was the hard part. So when the, I started, I wanted to be in Melbourne first, but then our first project was in Egypt.
Jeanette Chia: In Egypt?
Sri Venkatesan: Yeah.
Jeanette Chia: How did that happen?
Sri Venkatesan: No, that was through my, one of my [00:10:00] networks. I was just having a random chat, and he was like, he's in manufacturing, and I was just talking about brainstorming ideas because back then, now today, if you want to see a solution, you give me 10 minutes. Using AI, I can just create a s- prototype.
But back then it was not the same thing, right? Showing everything through videos, and I didn't have enough case studies to showcase then. Mm-hmm. So that was more like brainstorming, "What are the different things? What are the challenges f- you face in manufacturing?" Then I was like, "Why don't you do a safety inspection through VR?"
So that's how it just happened.
Jeanette Chia: Safety inspection through VR. And so this was a, somebody you met at a networking event or a pitch event?
Sri Venkatesan: Um, no. They knew me back from Singapore.
Jeanette Chia: Oh, wow. Yeah. Okay, so you really tapped back into your network. Yeah. And, and how did you actually find building your new networks from scratch in Melbourne?
Did you have a particular strategy that you used to find your next community of people to help you?
Sri Venkatesan: Um, no. That was, like, more like I wanted to get, gain some visibility here because starting a business without a network is hard. So I went to e- each and every event where, that happened in Melbourne. You name it, [00:11:00] I would have been there.
Either me or my partner or somebody from Next XR would have been there. So that's how it started, and I wanted to understand what are the different businesses here, how people face challenges, what are the different ways I can resonate and connect with each other. So I basically wanted to grow my network here first.
I
Jeanette Chia: love the fact that, you know, you were saying you just kept showing up to different things, and I think sometimes what I find is it's the most unexpected places where you find the people to support you. So you had someone from Singapore. I also heard that you had a, a contact from a mother's group, is that correct?
Yeah. So tell me about how that came about.
Sri Venkatesan: You know, my first project in Australia happened through mother's group.
Jeanette Chia: Yeah.
Sri Venkatesan: So this is a very nice initiative which I never knew about until I become a mother.
Jeanette Chia: Uh-huh.
Sri Venkatesan: So you connect with a lot of mothers who are going through the same journey. They talk about with no judgments there, so just talk.
So kind of I validated my idea of business there. And then one of my moth- one of the mothers in that group, her husband was in Etel. So Etel was my first customer in Australia.
Jeanette Chia: That's incredible. I, I think that's a, [00:12:00] it just is such a beautiful illustration of how the personal and the professional can combine, and just because you meet somebody in one context doesn't mean that there can't be flow-on- Yeah
benefits and, and relationships in others. So that's a, thank you for sharing that. Um, and I guess since then, you're now an established founder, and we'll get to the size of your operations shortly, but you've now built a much more broader supportive network. You've engaged with lots of accelerator programs.
Um, what, what have these spaces given you? And I guess, like, can you na- name some of the programs that you've been part of that have helped you on the journey?
Sri Venkatesan: Yeah. Before I actually delved fully into the business, I did an accelerator with SBE Australia. So they gave me an insight of how to run a business in Australia, because every market works differently.
So the skills and whatever I have learned in Singapore was very different from here. So I kind of validated the whole idea of how to scale up and what are the things that may work here and because I knew nothing about investments, so I wanted to understand more. So this program really helped me in that, getting all [00:13:00] the insights about Melbourne and whole of Victoria, I would say.
Yep.
Jeanette Chia: For any migrants listening who are thinking of doing business in Australia, what were some of those particular cultural things that you observed?
Sri Venkatesan: Uh okay. So this is gonna be a tricky one because coming from Singapore, the technology adaptation is very different. So if you talk about a technology, a future tech, people will be ready to try.
But here it wasn't the case. So you literally have to give them entire case study of how, what, ROI, everything. So that was a very huge gap which I saw, and it was a little hard to s- get started here. That's why my first aj- uh, first customer was in Egypt, not in Melbourne. And,
Jeanette Chia: uh, you, you really kind of touch on something interesting because I do hear this quite consistently around the fact that the risk profile of Australian businesses, and maybe even investors, can be a little bit lower than what we see overseas, and that's a really, uh, distinct example of how it can be different, is they're looking for more evidence before they try- Mm
something new. Um, I wonder if that might change [00:14:00] as we, uh, as we continue to grow the innovation ecosystem. Now, I wanna talk about NextXR Group as a company. You now have 50 staff across four different countries, Australia, India, the US, and Singapore. Now, that is a significant operation. Congratulations, first of all.
Thank you. And secondly, you've done this without any external funding. Now, I often get told, "Oh, you have to raise capital. That's the sign of success," but it- you haven't done that. So what does it mean to you to have built this entirely on your own terms?
Sri Venkatesan: Um, this is a proud moment for me, obviously because when I started, I was looking for investments, but I didn't know where to go.
So I was like, "Okay, probably I have a great product, and I know this can scale up." So I started tapping on my network and getting some customers, and slowly, the sales was doing wonders. So I was like, "I don't need funding at this moment." And slowly we start a NextXR Singapore, and then we went to CES. There we start, "Okay, there is a huge opportunity in US."
So we [00:15:00] started US, and I got a grant to start a shop in India. So it was a export market development grant- Mm-hmm ... which helped me start operations in my roots. So that kind of helped me everywhere. So I didn't need investment until now, but now, today, we have a team of 50-plus. It's growing. So we have come to a stage.
We have a product in hand, so we, we are looking for investments now. But to anyone starting, I would say let's not wait for investments. Yeah. Just get started. If you believe in yourself, you should just get started.
Jeanette Chia: I think something that I, I noticed is that having an Australian brand, um, for my company is, is actually quite powerful when we go into other markets.
There's, there's a level of trust associated with the fact that, I mean, we're an Australian education brand. Mm-hmm. And that's got quite a strong, um, international signal. Have you found that as well, and what does having an Australian company mean to your overseas customers?
Sri Venkatesan: Yeah, that adds a huge level of credibility because they see that we do enough due diligence to start a company.
So that's one of the things. And whenever you step in as a [00:16:00] Australian company in any overseas countries, so they see you as real value. So that's one of the aspects, and it immediately changes, saying s- anything else, right?
Jeanette Chia: Isn't it funny, though, 'cause what, uh, earlier when we said, you know, there's a lot of due diligence done on Australian technology and companies, it's almost like the reverse benefit of that is that people then see Australian companies as being trustworthy, like, good performers.
So it's kind of a, it's a double-edged thing, right? More recently, you've actually created the Next XR Hub, which helps, uh, migrant entrepreneurs pitch a software idea and work with your team. Yeah. And, uh, given that you've kind of gone through this journey yourself, what made you want to actually do this and make, add another sort of arm to your business?
Sri Venkatesan: Um, so it was more like I didn't want anyone to go through the struggles which I went. So I, we started Next XR Hub, where anyone coming with a tech idea, we'll help you build a minimum value product which you can take to the market. So that, that kind of help and support, we kind of missed, so [00:17:00] that is something I wanted to give it back to the fellow migrant org- entrepreneurs.
Jeanette Chia: That's incredible. I think after this podcast, you might have an influx of applications. Are there any criteria that people need to meet in order to work with Next XR Hub?
Sri Venkatesan: Um, kind of we validate those ideas, because I can't be building everything, right? So yeah, so one of the interesting, like, which came through Dress, uh, Next XR Hub is Dress AR.
So we are building a product called an app which measures your body size and gives you the right fitting. So it's like a personal dressing assistant, and it's not there for Android yet. So this is gonna be the world's first app that facilitates this pro- thing for Android.
Jeanette Chia: That's very cool, and you're helping somebody bring that to life.
Sri Venkatesan: Yeah.
Jeanette Chia: That's fantastic. Now, I need to just kind of ask you a little bit about your, your mindset and your, the way that you think about yourself as a, as a leader, as an entrepreneur, because the way you're coming across is so confident, it's so self-assured. I- do you feel that all the time, or is it you've, have had moments where you, you [00:18:00] falter, you doubt yourself?
Sri Venkatesan: Um, I kind of don't doubt myself. It was more like being a mother changed the whole narrative, to be very honest, because you only get one-hour or two-hour windows where you have to do everything. So you have to learn to prioritize. So that kind of helped me, that skills I'm putting in, back into my business.
Jeanette Chia: It's really sort of figuring out what is exactly the right thing to do- Yeah ... at the moment.
Sri Venkatesan: Because you get limited time, so what is the exact thing you really wanna focus on?
Jeanette Chia: So that, that sort of creates ... So the time crunch- Yeah ... force prioritization. I really, I really like that as a, as a perspective. And so would you maybe give that advice to other entrepreneurs that are starting out now to kind of i- i- you know, for someone who might not be a parent or has lots of time, how would you help them prioritize what's important?
Sri Venkatesan: You know, like most people when they're starting up, they will be focusing on investments angle. Rather than focusing on investment, if you believe in your product, if you see that there's a real value and there's a real help which you're solving or real problem you're solving, just get started. Start drumming about it.
Start [00:19:00] spinning a story. For me, the shift changed when I t- started talking about my story rather than the product. Initially, it was about, "This is what I do. This is about I build VR and AR solutions." So that was not really resonating with people. When I started talking about my motherhood journey and being a mother and starting my own business, having a little one in the hand, that changed the entire thing.
So it's about spinning your own story rather than just the idea.
Jeanette Chia: So, so leaning into your identity and the different things that make you who you are, in the context of entrepreneurship, you found to be a strength. And did you find that also working in a sales meeting? So you just say you're trying to get a university across the line as a customer.
Did that same kind of storytelling approach work in that sort of sales perspective?
Sri Venkatesan: Yes, it did actually, because, uh, people are more connected, and they find dots to connect with you, and they don't really wanna do business with the company, they wanna do business with you. So they wanna see you as a person, understand you as a person.
So that perspective entirely changes when [00:20:00] you ta- start spinning a story, or start with an episode, or start with a story.
Jeanette Chia: So you're setting culture, you're setting direction. I'm curious about your hiring approach. So how do you decide whether somebody's the right fit for your company? What kind of skills are you looking for?
Do you have a, a great process that you, you'd like to share?
Sri Venkatesan: It was more like a test and trial,
Jeanette Chia: to be very
Sri Venkatesan: honest. Okay. So we started with LinkedIn hiring first, and then I wanted to understand them. So we usually, what we do is we have a unique program. We don't take you as a full-time staff with us. We s- you start as an in- intern with us, and we see if you're fitting in the culture, because right fit is very important, otherwise it'll slow your wh- whole operation.
So we first take you for three months and understand whether... You may be technically sound, but if you're not, you don't have the right mindset and teamwork, then it doesn't fit. So that's something we always look into individual. So they start for three months, train with us, and if they fit, we give them a full-time opportunity, otherwise we just show them the door.
Jeanette Chia: Oh, right. So it's a really, it's [00:21:00] a really sort of a, a trial by that first three months- Mm ... and g- and good training and it's a nice way to, to see if somebody is, is all talk or if they can actually walk the walk. Mm. If you were meeting with someone who's just arrived in Melbourne, they've got a business idea but no network and no funding, how would they start?
What advice would you give them?
Sri Venkatesan: Um, now you have AI, so you can just create your own planner using AI. What are the different startup events happening? Just go there, just show up and meet people.
Jeanette Chia: Okay, so we're using AI, we're meeting lots of people. I have to know, how is AI changing the shape of your business and the way you're looking to the future?
Sri Venkatesan: Um, it's actually making more productive. Like, me- which is making us more efficient. Like back in the days when we started, we started as only AI, I mean, only XR company, and slowly I was looking into the trends and everything. We shifted as XR plus AI, and today we are moving into XR plus AI plus immersive solutions.
So it's all changing. Like, keep looking at the trends, what is happening, because when ChatGPT just started, people were still [00:22:00] reluctant to go through it, and today everyone has something or the other AI using, right?
Jeanette Chia: Now, uh, finally, is there something that you would like to, um... Where are you going next?
What are the big p- Big picture things that you have in mind for NextXR?
Sri Venkatesan: And so, uh, we want- we had a pipe- big pipeline in Middle East, and this war happened, so it's kind of a pause now, and we are looking at scaling up, scaling into more countries. We're looking into getting into Europe. So that's the next plan.
Jeanette Chia: Okay, so we're moving into some new markets again.
Sri Venkatesan: Yes.
Jeanette Chia: That's amazing. Um, this has been a very inspiring conversation. I've learned a lot and, uh, thank you so much for sharing your inspiration, your creativity, everything from children's books to wind turbines, um, all the way through to, to working with a baby in one arm, and that's amazing.
So Sri Venkatesan from NextXR Group, thank you so much for joining me.
Sri Venkatesan: Thank you, Janet. It was wonderful talking to you.
Jeanette Chia: Thank you.[00:23:00]
That was Sri Venkatesan, the co-founder of NEXT XR Group, and gosh, what an incredible story. I particularly love her poise, her confidence. She just knows what she's doing, and sitting next to her and listening to the way she thinks about her team and her growth really inspires me to wanna go to the next level as well.
I'm Jeanette Chea. I've been building my business in Melbourne for the last nine years, and listening to the stories of entrepreneurs is one of the best parts of my job. On the next episode of Making It In Melbourne, I'll be speaking to Alvin Hermanto, the founder of Relab, a product, creative, and design agency helping some of the biggest brands in Australia.
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