Jarrod Robinson operates his global business, ConnectedPE, from Bendigo and has redefined physical education with AI-powered tools.
At Startup Central Victoria’s event held at Clear Dynamic’s Bendigo headquarters on 25 July 2023, Jarrod chatted with the Bendigo Developer Group’s co-founder, Stef Cola.
In conversation they covered Jarrod’s startup journey from humble beginnings. In 2012, long before tech was ‘cool’ and without any business or tech training Jarrod, a young Physical Education Teacher at Boort, designed an app to assist his Outdoor Education students in Year 12.
In the first year alone Jarrod’s free app was downloaded over 15,000 times by VCE students statewide. So began ConnectedPE (described as Netflix for PE Teachers), a business with a worldwide market to tap into. Reluctantly Jarrod gave up teaching and, in 2016, held his first global conference in Dubai.
A decade later, Jarrod now operates his international business and team of designers, content developers, and marketers, from a home office in Bendigo. He continues to develop new apps to add to his portfolio or sell them on. The offline ConnectedPE Conference remains the largest global event for PE teachers.
With a philosophy of outsourcing tasks wherever possible, Jarrod has embraced AI and believes that it has significantly reduced the barriers for Startups.
“This is the era for the solo-preneurs,” Jarrod told us at the conclusion of a fascinating conversation.