AMAG CEO: I am humbled and extremely grateful that AMAG has been selected by Startup City as a Top 10 Australian Startup in 2021. This achievement would not have been possible without key support from numerous key organisations and individuals. First to acknowledge are my co-founders Tarek Sayed and Shimul Haque, who are both courageous for embarking on this journey together and irreplaceable as co-founders and intellectual giants. I also acknowledge our research partner universities–the University of Queensland, the University of British Columbia, and the Queensland University of Technology. These universities provided the essential intellectually challenging and stimulating environments for AMAG co-founders to create amazing technology and also supported early commercialisation of AMAG. Alister Morrison–who championed our cause from within UniQuest, the commercialism arm of UQ, was pivotal to our success, as was his predecessor Ash Ravikumar. Early ‘unsung’ contributors in important ways include Dr. Scott Bourke, Professor Kevin DeSouza, Professor Michael Rosemann, and Shakeel Yusuf–each of whom provided key advice, provided critical feedback on early prototypes and business models, and helped to bring AMAG key talent and contracts. Robin Levison was masterful in recognising the opportunity, providing key advice, and investing in our crucial beginnings. George Fidler, AMAG’s COO, critically saved the academic co-founders from themselves by bringing his vital and informed commercial experience. Early believers in and shapers of AMAG, investing both trust and their valuable time in wacky founder ideas and notions, include Mohsin Rahman, Jared Keller, Craig Lyon, and Karim El-Basyouny. Lastly and perhaps most important of all, this achievement rests squarely upon the dedication, intellect, creativity, and problem-solving skills of AMAGs amazing team: Niloofar Aliakbarzadeh, Ashutosh Arun, Erik Brand, Daniel Coppell, Mohammed Faisal, Maged Gouda, Zili Li, Achin Mandotia, Viraj Pulikottil, Quazi Rahman, Nandita Reshamwala, and Donna Santilli.
