TestInvest

This is what commercialisation looks like at ThincLab. Real support, for real problem-solvers, addressing real headaches for their customers. Congratulations TestInvest!

Excited to share that TestInvest has been selected as one of 11 companies in the ThincSales Accelerator, delivered by ThincLab at Adelaide University in partnership with Sell Anything. When we started TestInvest, we kept hearing the same thing from hiring managers: "They looked great on paper until they actually had to use the software." Interviews don't reveal that. CVs don't either. We're building the verification infrastructure that changes that with scenario-based software proficiency tests for the tools professionals actually use every day. Being selected for ThincSales is a real milestone. Five weeks to sharpen how we commercialise this, connect with the right people, and accelerate what we're already building. Thank you to Sean Grealy 💰🪓 and the team at Sell Anything and ThincLab for the opportunity. Let's go! 🚀 #ThincSales #Hiring #HRTech #Startups #SoftwareProficiency #Adelaide | Kristen Kubank

We’ve been following this one for a while and it’s great to see it hit the market. We have seen so many CVs with “intermediate Excel” listed - but what does that actually mean?? Being able to test the required skills during the recruitment process and then use the results as part of a development plan is a great advantage. Congrats to Tom Kubank and the team!

Great to see this live. When we started TestInvest, the goal was simple: move beyond resumes and interviews, and actually measure whether someone can use the software they’ll be working in. Cybersecurity is a perfect example of why this matters. In a Security Operations Centre (SOC) environment, there’s no room for “learning on the job” when it comes to core tools like Microsoft Sentinel. Teams need people who can operate from day one. This is why we’ve expanded into cybersecurity testing, starting with Microsoft Sentinel, with more platforms to come. Huge thanks to Bob Smart for his input in reviewing and refining this module. Having Tier-1 experts who’ve built and led security teams shape these assessments is critical to making them genuinely useful. If you're hiring security analysts or building out a SOC team, this is exactly what TestInvest is designed for. 🔗 www.testinvest.com.au

Great to see our co-founder Kristen Kubank at the ThincLab International Women’s Day event yesterday. Kris has spent years working across accounting, technology and business leadership and that experience is a big part of why we built TestInvest. Hiring decisions are still largely based on resumes and interviews, yet many roles depend on real proficiency with complex software tools. Our goal is simple: Make software skills visible, measurable and trusted. Events like this are a great reminder of the incredible women building companies, leading teams and shaping the future of technology and business. Thanks to ThincLab for bringing together such a strong community of inspirational, female founders.

Tonight I was at the Warriors vs Spurs game at Chase Center. It struck me how absurd something would sound in the NBA: “Let’s sign this player. He looks confident. Great interview. Strong résumé.” That’s not how professional sport works. Every contract decision is based on verified performance data: – Shooting percentages – Defensive metrics – Efficiency ratings – Benchmarks against peers Etc. When there’s big money, performance, and momentum on the line, no one relies on self-reported ability. Yet in business? Organisations are still hire based on resumes and interviews. In software-heavy roles, day one performance depends on whether someone can actually operate the systems that businesss relies on. Not whether they can talk about them. As AI accelerates workflows and compresses roles, the cost of hiring mistakes increases exponentially. When one person can now produce the output of two, verification becomes more important… not less! I cannot stress this enough. The real shift happening isn’t just AI adoption. It’s the move from inferred capability to verified capability. The question is: Why do we benchmark athletes but not professionals operating multi-million dollar systems? We’re building TestInvest around that exact insight… verifying real-world software capability before hiring decisions are made. Not replacing interviews. Strengthening them with measurable insights. 🔗 www.testinvest.com.au #SVSIW2026 #SiliconValley #FutureOfWork #AIinBusiness #Startups #FounderStory Kristen Kubank Smart Cities Council Corey Gray

Being in San Francisco this week for Silicon Valley Startup & Investor Week has been a sharp reminder of how fast job roles are compressing as AI moves from “assistive” to embedded. Over here, the conversation isn’t whether AI will be used in workflows, it’s assumed. The real question is who can be trusted to operate increasingly automated systems without breaking things? What’s become very clear is that as software does more of the execution, the cost of human error increases. Mistakes scale faster. Configuration decisions matter more. Judgment becomes the differentiator. Australia has brilliant talent but we’re still a few years behind in how quickly these realities are being internalised across hiring, onboarding, and workforce design. The biggest insight we’ve taken back into TestInvest is this: AI doesn’t remove the need for people, it raises the need for verification. Not resumes. Not self-reported experience. Real proof that someone can safely operate the tools that now run critical business workflows. Being here has been invaluable. It’s sharpened our thinking, pressure-tested our assumptions, and definitely influenced how we’re building the platform. A big thank you to Smart Cities Council and everyone who presented at yesterdays session - Andrew Côté, Corey Gray, Junaid Islam, Kelly Cure, Arthur Mrozowski, Stephania Stavropoulos, Drake Alexander Burciaga, Alex Shevchenko and Dan Isaacs for the conversations, insight, and perspective. Excited to bring these learnings back home and help Australian businesses get ahead of where hiring and work are clearly heading. Still a lot of the week left to go! 🔥 #SVSIW2026 #SiliconValley #FutureOfWork #AIinBusiness #Startups #FounderStory Kristen Kubank

When I was 10 years old, I was delivering papers at 5am in Leicester to help pay for my schooling. This week, I'm in Silicon Valley, sitting across from Andrew Côté and some of the most successful founders and investors in the field, talking about how to scale Reelo into a billion-dollar company. It's surreal. But it's also a reminder of how far we've come - and how far we're going. Smart Cities Council 's Silicon Valley Startup & Investor Week has been everything I needed. The pitch prep, the investor feedback, the conversations with people who've built and scaled companies - it's all been invaluable. But more than that, it's given me clarity. Thank you to everybody in the room, Corey Gray , Junaid Islam , Kelly Cure , Arthur Mrozowski , Stephania Stavropoulos, Dan Isaacs , and Karen Norden for organising this. Grateful to be in the room with incredible founders - the energy and ambition here is contagious. The Bay Area has this energy - everyone believes anything is possible. And for the first time, I truly believe it. Let's go. 🚀 #SVSIW2026 #Reelo #B2BWholesale #FounderJourney

Smart Cities Council’s Silicon Valley Startup & Investor Week continued today with a pitch prep working day. Mind-blowing stuff by a host of specialist presenters: Corey Gray Andrew Cotes Junaid Islam Kelly Cure Arthur Mrozowski Alex Shevchenko LucasRoot.com Dan Isaacs Stephania Stavropoulos, expertly curated by Karen Norden. The big takeaway for us: Silicon Valley backs founders who can solve a world-scale problem, prove a defensible edge — and show the conviction, capability, and credibility to turn vision into reality. That’s exactly why AVVISTA exists. We’re not here to repeat what everyone else is doing - we are solving the problems of water management in ways not done before. We’re building the integrated water management visualisation and intelligence layer that helps utilities and commercial operators move from reactive to proactive. AVVISTA sets the standard as a device and network agnostic smart water management tool putting the resource manager back in control. Great to see inspiring presentations from other delegates including: CompliGenie Helixis Kurrier Inc. Reelo TestInvest Treelyon More to come as the week unfolds. #SVSIW2026 #SmartCities #WaterTech