A FORMER Scone duo are creating huge waves in the startup world.
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Martin Karafilis and Chris Sampson, both from the Hunter Valley and former Scone High School students, are co-founders of artificial intelligence company Tiliter, along with business partner Marcel Herz.
StartCon, Australia's biggest growth and start conference, hosted the 4th annual Australasian Startup Awards at the end of November and Tiliter walked away the big winners.
The company's COO Martin was named Startup Entrepreneur of the Year while Tiliter picked up the gong for Most Disruptive Startup.
So, what is Tiliter Technology? Imagine this. You walk in to the supermarket and go to self-checkout, but instead of having to scan a barcode or search for your items, the self-checkout automatically identifies your product using its artificial intelligence and smart camera.
It's been dubbed a 'game changer' for supermarkets - saving them millions from fraud, reducing plastic waste, saving customers time, reducing checkout lines and optimising supermarket efficiency.
Except you won't have to imagine it soon. The smart technology has already attracted major customers across the United States, Europe and Australia and will be coming to a supermarket near you as soon as next year.
While Martin and Chris's friendship began in Scone, it continued into later life with the duo both studying at The University of Newcastle, even living and playing in bands together for many years.
They still have a strong connection to the Upper Hunter, with family living here and get back when they can, although with travel commitments and a view to produce globally leading technology and drive the next phase of industry, they admit that is hard.
"With the founders all having a background in engineering, we always wanted to create and implement vision technology and had a few ideas but eventually settled on the one that I think everybody experiences and hates - being supermarket selections," Martin explained.
"We started to research the problems and apart from obviously time spent at the checkout being far too long, we found that supermarkets end up plastic wrapping fruits and vegetables just to put a barcode on the items.
"With millions of tonnes of plastic waste being introduced every year we wanted to create an impact environmentally, socially and financially. So this was the most complete business solution for us."
The team's recent Startcon recognition builds on previous industry awards including being named in Webit Festival's Top 6 Companies Globally, Hello Tomorrow Top 100 Startups Globally, winner of That Startup Show Season 2 and more recently, Grow New York Winners.
Martin said the plaudits were a massive reflection of the hard work the Tiliter team has put in over the past few years.
"I have to pinch myself every now and again to think about the impact our business is making globally," he said.
"We have an absolutely amazing team of 18 people located between our Munich and Sydney locations that put everything they have in to this business and it's a huge success to be named the most disruptive startup of the year.
"It's been a dream come true to setup our operations across Europe and the US as well as Australia and whilst I felt so happy to receive Entrepreneur of the Year I honestly believe the award belongs to the whole founding team, it just has my name on it.
"I'm also super surprised considering all the amazing startups here in Australia."
So, what does it take to be a successful entrepreneur?
Martin had one simple piece of advice for anyone aspiring to give it a go - never stop building meaningful relationships.
"Whether it be customers, employees, investors, family, friends whatever, make sure you always give 100 per cent to the people around you that mean most because the road is a long one and you will always need support to help you succeed," he said.