Mate - again, I agree with most of the below, I think you're just angling at the wrong things.
I've been around the world (a lot) and spend a lot of time in the Valley. Yes, there are people here with ideas - sure. And some of them are good. Sadly, quite a few are crap and there just aren't enough ideas. Ideas are cheap. They're universal. They're just a lot more plentiful in the US, _because_ of the people and the environment. And yes, there are startup people. There's a lot of people interested in 'startups'. There's even a few who are _good_ at them. Hell, a handful of us meet every Friday to have beers and shoot the shit about startups - and that's fabulous. But it's 5-10 people who gather in a city of _5 million_. Money sloshes towards smart people with good ideas and the ability to execute. The classic idea + people + opportunity = funding equation. If we get the LHS right, we'll get the RHS. You can't _ask_ for more money, you have to _prove_ it's a good place to invest. Funding is definitely part of the equation, I just don't believe it's the biggest issue here. That was my point. m On Mon, Oct 13, 2008 at 4:38 PM, Phil Sim <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Mike, > > 1. I honestly don't think the good ideas are rising to the top. I > think Australians entrepreneurs have difficulty with a) talking up > their businesses and b) asking for money. Put together with the issue > that getting funding is not a highly visible activity in Australia, it > tends to force Aussie entrepreneurs to just tend bootstrap and in > doing so they aren't going to grow fast enough to keep pace with other > start-ups internationally or locally keep up with corporations. > 2. I don't think its a culture of success that is the problem either. > A lot of great innovation comes out of Australia, it just incubates > inside of corporates. We don't have a 'Culture of funding'. I know a > lot of people who have ideas, but wouldn't know how to get funding or > believe they can get funding to get a venture off the ground. I got > made redundant which aside from pissing me enough to swear never to > work for the man again, also gave me enough money for 6 months to go > out and try get something off the ground while still being able to pay > my mortgage. > > I don't think we're going to start getting those successes until we > start better plugging together entrepreneurs or would-be entrepreneurs > with angels or would-be angels. And with the technology available to > us today, it should be a no brainer to do that in a way that is more > suited to the Australian way of doing business. > > I don't know if it can work like this, but next Sydney startup camp if > it is at all possible for me to be there, I would be very keen to get > stuck into a project that would achieve that. > > > > On Oct 13, 1:05 pm, "Mike Cannon-Brookes" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: >> > I've long felt the biggest problem with the Australian start-up >> > community is very low visibility of angel investors/VCs. >> >> Mate - just chiming in. As a part-time angel (who knows a lot of other >> Aussie angels and even VCs) - I certainly don't think this is the >> _biggest problem_. For me, I wouldn't even put it in the top 3 :) >> >> m >> >> PS Before someone asks, I'd say the top 3 are - 1) good quality ideas, >> 2) experienced, committed people (both in the startups and in the >> community) and 3) a culture of success. > > > -- ATLASSIAN - http://www.atlassian.com --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Silicon Beach Australia" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/silicon-beach-australia?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
