Queensland VCs Discover Revolutionary Networking Concept: Actually Getting to Know People

Breaking: Local entrepreneurs forced to have personalities beyond their LinkedIn profiles

In what industry experts are calling "the most disruptive innovation in Queensland networking since someone invented the coffee meeting," venture capitalist Fee Barry (Tidal Ventures) and Founder Amrit Rupa (Roar Global and Wall Street Rank) have launched a dinner series with a radical premise: attendees aren't allowed to talk about what they do for work.

The "Remarkable Strangers" dinners, held across three Queensland locations last week, forced local tech entrepreneurs to discover they actually have personalities beyond their elevator pitches. Early reports suggest the experiment was surprisingly successful, with only minimal casualties from founders suffering withdrawal symptoms after being denied the opportunity to mention their "revolutionary AI-powered blockchain solution" for an entire evening.

The Rules of Engagement

The concept is simple yet terrifying for Queensland's startup community: sit down for dinner with strangers, play "Two Truths and a Lie," and try to guess what people do for a living without anyone being allowed to mention their company, their recent funding round, or how they're "disrupting" any particular industry.

"It was genuinely unsettling," admitted one Brisbane attendee who shall remain nameless (mostly because we forgot to ask their name after learning they lie better than they tell the truth). "I kept reaching for my business cards like a smoker reaching for cigarettes. At one point, I almost introduced myself as 'the founder of...' before catching myself."

Queensland's Most Interesting People (Who Aren't Just Their Job Titles)

The dinners revealed that Queensland's tech ecosystem is populated by people with remarkably varied backstories—who knew?

Sunshine Coast Revelations:

• Someone who kicked footballs with David Beckham and hung out with the Spice Girls (casual)

• A person who survived a near-hijacking on a superyacht (Queensland's version of "I climbed Mount Everest")

• An individual who got signed by Ford Models after their girlfriend secretly submitted their photo to a teen magazine (the 90s were wild)

The Sunshine Coast dinner, held at Bask in Peregian Beach, featured the usual suspects: lawyers who built unicorns, military veterans building accessibility tech, and former models now working in defence. You know, typical Sunshine Coast stuff.

Gold Coast Discoveries: At Rick Shores (because of course Fee Barry secured the best table), attendees learned that Gold Coast entrepreneurs have the most eclectic backgrounds in Australia:

• A former government housing resident who built a $100M+ painting empire

• A two-time Muay Thai world champion who also happens to close $32 billion M&A deals

• Someone who created compostable underwear with mantras instead of "Calvin Klein" (we're not making this up)

Brisbane Bombshells: The Brisbane dinner at SK Steak & Oyster revealed that the city's tech leaders are either extremely well-connected or pathological liars:

• Weekly lunch dates with SF tech tycoons (either very impressive or very concerning)

• Someone who was switched at birth (the ultimate pivot story)

• A founder who backed a $100K ARR business that's now tracking toward $24M annually (finally, some actual numbers that make sense)

The Verdict

In a world where networking events typically devolve into pitch-fest competitions and business card exchanges that nobody follows up on, the Remarkable Strangers concept is refreshingly... human. Who would have thought that learning someone survived a lightning strike or built a business empire starting from government housing would be more memorable than their SaaS metrics?

The dinners proved that Queensland's tech ecosystem is populated by genuinely fascinating people—they just happen to also build companies on the side. It's almost as if successful entrepreneurs are interesting humans first and walking LinkedIn profiles second.

Revolutionary concept, really.

Coming Next

The Rocket Advocate has learned that the next Remarkable Strangers dinner will feature an even more challenging rule: attendees must go the entire evening without mentioning Sydney, Melbourne, or Austin, Texas. Early betting suggests this dinner will be held in complete silence.

The Rocket Advocate: Where we tell you about networking events so innovative, they involve actual human connection