How a morning coffee led to one of Canberra’s fastest-growing cyber tech companies
Aristotle metadata founders Samuel Spencer and Lauren Eickhorst came up with their business idea over coffee
A Canberra coffee conversation led to a multi-million dollar cyber startup collaboration
“Let’s go for coffee.” How often has someone said that to you? And how often do you take them up on it? When Samuel Spencer decided to have coffee with Lauren Eickhorst, who he met at his local coffee shop, it led to them jointly running a fast-growing cyber startup.
APS to launching a startup
Starting his career as a data analyst in the Federal Government, Sam knew from using the existing systems that there was a better alternative to managing and cataloguing data — not just for the Australian Government, but for international agencies. Ambitious from the get-go, Sam had dreamt of climbing the corporate ladder, until he faced a knockback that became a critical decision point in deciding to change careers. While many would have been discouraged, Sam used the experience as fuel to change the way metadata is managed by building user-friendly tools to make data more accessible. This move led Sam to launch tech company Aristotle Metadata in 2018.
While mapping out the minimum viable product (MVP), he talked to lots of people about the product and asked questions that assisted with validating his idea, a process that is common for entrepreneurs following the lean innovation methodology. Through this process, he struck up a conversation with Lauren, a communications major, whom he met at his regular coffee shop. The conversation went so well that Sam invited her along as a cofounder to reframe and build the messaging of the product and the company.
From Data61 to Entry29
United over a common vision, Sam and Lauren were initially working on Aristotle Metadata within Data61 at CSIRO. Building momentum at Data61 led to the recruitment of their first employee, allowing the pair to branch out and establish their first clients via Government programs for enhancing data.
“Working alongside Canberra’s start-up community gave us the experience to grow our skills so that I could focus on building a solid product ”
After developing a strong client base, Sam and Lauren launched out of Data61 and bunkered down at Entry29 (now the Canberra Innovation Network), where they had direct access to Canberra’s innovation ecosystem.
“Working alongside Canberra’s start-up community gave us the experience to grow our skills so that I could focus on building a solid product as Lauren built a company around it”, said Sam Spencer of his experiences at Entry29.
Cyber secure
In a world where government and large corporations have dedicated teams to organise and manage large quantities of data, Aristotle Metadata has developed a state-of-the-art registry that creates data cohesion across large organisations via a secure and easy-to-navigate system.
Sam & Lauren at the International Cyber Expo 2022
“We help our clients catalogue their own data using their own language to make it easier, faster and more secure to access data without sacrificing privacy or speed, and that’s important when it comes to mission-critical commercial and government data”, said Lauren.
Among Aristotle Metadata’s clients is the Workplace Gender Equality Agency, which is using it to document Australia’s Gender Equality Indicators. The Agency is using the Aristotle Metadata to close the wage gap by ensuring a consistent and clear approach to measure progress across six key programs.
Once the data is catalogued into the registry, the user process is streamlined from using appropriate company-wide terminology all the way through to storage. The tool allows businesses and governments to catalogue and find data faster, along with reports that can help them find efficiencies and insights that will lead to better decision-making.
Not only is the team dedicated to ensuring the management of data is secure and streamlined, but it is also focused on educating government and large-scale organisations on the importance of an operational approach to metadata management and governance. Sam and the team have developed the MAST Methodology, which includes a step-by-step framework (IDEAL) that gives data teams a set of easy-to-follow, guiding principles providing confidence to an organisation about the security and storage of their data.
International footprint
Sam and Lauren’s aim is to make Australia cyber-safe. And in doing that, they have built Aristotle Metadata from the ground up without any external investment showing grit, determination, and belief in their vision.
Now, after five years, Aristotle Metadata is a multi-million-dollar tech company — with an international footprint that continues to expand. Its most recent expansion is into Ireland’s government sector, and it has also run proof-of-concepts and pilots in the United States, Switzerland, Canada and New Zealand.
Also expanding is its highly skilled team, in part due to its approach of creating and inclusive and progressive workforce that combines the perks of the public service with the thrill of a startup.
