Dear user

I’m writing to you today because you have shown an interest in docDownload in the past.

Peter Hall, one of @docDownload's long time supporters, recently presented us with a new crowdfunding platform for his new project SIGRIST https://www.onmarket.com.au/offers/sigrist-eoi/?refid=5O2G48QP.

Clearly, ventilation technologies are beyond the expertise of @docDownload. However small manufacturing businesses in Australia are the sort of thing we have always been happy to support. During that time Peter https://www.linkedin.com/in/imhoadvisory/ from @IMHO has been a key small business leader on LinkedIn.

Having a supporter with a new crowdfunding platform has raised the question with my team as to whether we should try to do a similar thing with docDownload? Brain-storming with the techos led to exciting possibilities which I'm happy to talk to you about today.

23 years ago docDownload was founded with the idea of democratising documents. Writing documents was an expensive process and one that required specialist domain knowledge and particular writing skills. Small businesses and individuals rarely had these skills. Nor could they afford the experts required. This was holding many operators engaged in SME in Australia back.

This was addressed directly by docDownload, 23 years ago, by providing DIY do it yourself, only employ the experts after preparing your own first draft from a 'template' looking to provide at least 80% of necessary work prepared with knowledge of local, state, national & international standards. docDownload became a well known site where small business could navigate the AU social, legal and regulatory framework.

If tackling this serious requirement, in the AI age, interests you, contact us. We'll be happy to engage.

AI and docDownload

A lot has changed for docDownload in the last 3 or 4 years. AI has in this short time had a massive impact on our small business workflows. AI also triggers many issues important to small business and docDownload. How to ensure small business access to AI helps it compete? How to ensure quality of output? How to ensure that we don't 'overshare', thereby losing key advantages to 'large models'? How to ensure cost effectiveness? How to ensure that Australian-specific standards are promoted and upheld?

Recently Standards Australia created a working group at https://store.standards.org.au/reader/sa-tr-iso-iec-21221-2026?preview=1 that may also provide a way for us as a group to influence policy to favour small businesses,

We would love to interact with SME players who are currently interested in:

• participating in a crowd funding event.
• providing time & resources to a working group to forward the interests of small business in AI in Australia, (maybe even engaging in helping to generate an international standard focussed specifically on documentation requirements).
• influencing products designed to streamline small business workflow.

What areas are important? Australian content? Having Australia-specific resources? Do you need AI that does not share your business content with other providers using its generation platform? Do you need it to be completely local to your business? Do you still have problems with your workflow, where you need to fix branding and edit which takes away much of the time saving from using AI? Is cost a major issue? Is discovering what documents and processes that are needed still a major pain point? Would you like to share documents with groups of like-minded small businesses operators happy to cooperate outside the needs of big business?

Small businesses should get involved

If you are interested in collaborating with a new AI driven docDownload to help drive small business friendly AI policy and platforms, get in touch.

You can see my support for Australian small business over the last 30 years on LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/steveirons/.
I have been engaged in Small Business Australia on LinkedIn, running a group from Oct 2010. Take a look at
https://www.linkedin.com/groups/3527713/.

Steve Irons - docDownload founder

John Robens - technical director

Suhrid Sheth - finance.