“No regrets”: Startup Victoria chief executive Georgia Beattie to lead REA Group’s startup Spacely

Current Startup Victoria chief executive Georgia Beattie has been snaffled by Australian property advertising company REA Group to head up its co-working directory startup Spacely.

Beattie was appointed as the chief executive of the government-run, not-for-profit Startup Victoria’s in July 2016 after a “highly competitive” search for applicants. Prior to that, she was the co-founder of Lupe and Beattie Wines, and approached the new role with excitement, saying she was keen to start “getting into it”.

And now, just under 18 months later, Beattie tells StartupStart her role as chief executive was a fantastic career break while she decided what to “hurl” herself into next, before landing on her newest role as executive manager of Spacely.

“Running a startup then a not-for-profit has been a bit of a recalibration out of the beverage space. I knew I wanted to jump in a helicopter and look at the startup ecosystem, and REA will help me do that,” Beattie says.

“It was an easy decision. I always wanted to get into the tech space and I’ve been working out how best to do that with my skills. This will let me use my entrepreneurial skills within a small startup, supported by a bigger tech company.”

Spacely works similarly to REA Group’s flagship products such as realestate.com.au, allowing individuals or businesses to list available co-working space and have people rent them. The business launched in beta in May last year and has been headed up so far by REA’s executive general manager of commercial and developer Joseph Lyons, who Beattie will report to. Read more

Dominic Powell - Smart Company - 6 Feb 2018