Welcome to The Never Ending Startup Podcast Episode JDNEST Ep5- Startup Journey and Stories. A special Interview by Dr Jon with Ryan Muir of RAM Manufacturing the creator of Echidna Strip. Echidna Strip ties down carpet at its edges and is normally called Smooth Edge in the building industry but Echidna Strip provides a more efficient, environmentally friendly product. Ryan  is co-founder of an accelerator startup developing Echidna Strip with the Integrated Innovation Network (I2N) at the University of Newcastle. Dr Jon focuses on key themes of the story so far,  journey, inspiration and the future. Clean Tech Solutions. Built to last.
The Never Ending Startup Podcast: Lessons for Modern Startup Journey & Stories of Longevity
The podcast  shares Dr Jon’s insightful entrepreneurial journey, history and inspirations.

It includes interviews with ‘accelerator startups’ from The University of Newcastle’s I2N Innovation Hub about their journey and inspirations.

It also covers the state of Australia’s innovation ecology and lessons for new startups.

The podcast and book build a social and entrepreneurial framework for startup journey and  longevity.

In this episode we concentrate on the theme of startup journey and story, the inspirations and the future.
This JDNEST Episode’s Central Question:
Will you create your startup on your own or with an enduring business partner?

Sharing a journey with a partner provides a 'dual intelligence model' to the idea creation and weathering process.

Dual intelligence brings natural critique and helps the startup idea grow beyond its infancy and into a concept ready for testing.

Given that the startup is built as an entity rather than a just a concept, two people can form the foundations of that entity.

This is a much more enduring strategy than going it alone.

Doctor Jonathan Drane, July 2027
This episode covers: An Interview with Ryan Muir of RAM Manufacturing Australia and new clean tech carpet solution Echidna Strip
We are also proud to announce  a special interview with Ryan Muir who is the co-founder of Echidna Strip and an accelerator startup with  The University of Newcastle’s I2N Innovation Hub

Echidna Strip ties down carpet at its edges and is normally called Smooth Edge in the building industry.

The standard product across the industry is made of timber plywood and is subject to decay, mould, contamination and can be a health hazard.

It is a time warn material that is no longer of this time.

Echidna strip is a more environmentally relevant offering made from recyclable materials and extruded into a edging strip that is easier to install, safer and does not decay.
What is  The Never Ending Startup Podcast About? Startup Journey and Stories
The Never Ending Startup is the story of award winning researcher, writer, innovator, historian  and entrepreneur Dr Jonathan Drane and his journey through the world of  high rise construction, property development and then into  start up ventures, the genesis of which he discovered only recently, had its inception over half a century earlier.
Dr Jon’s Startup Journey and who inspired him
His first start up called Optimum Search was established in 1993 and still stands today with a deep quarter century history of entrepreneurial achievement and ‘catalyst research’ with some failure along the way, the latter being a central part of the DNA of its success.

The story starts in the midst of his post war 1950s upbringing as a hot housed adolescent who was introduced by his father to a strange mixture of  ‘chemistry sets’ , explorer Jacques Cousteau, physicist Professor Julius Sumner Miller and Australia’s Professor Harry Messel with the latter’s famous blue science book being in nearly every high school class room.
How History of Innovation guided Dr Jon’s startup journey and stories
In this way the story also  provides a lived ‘side history’ of Australia’s post war innovation path,