I know these are the default complaints about startups in Australia, but to address each point:
The current tax law is a nightmare for those AU startups wishing to dole out equity.
100% true
Lack of talent, the majority of students have steered clear of tech disciplines in university after the dot-com bust, the effect of this is being felt now as engineering talent is needed.
There is talent around if you know where to look.
The government is not focused on the needs of startups preferring to invest heavily in pie in the sky ideas or just digging the dirt out of the ground. There is no decisive strategy from the opposition nor the current gov in power.
Mostly untrue. I've done work for two local startups in the last 18 months, and both received significant government help, to the point where my services were at least partially funded by gov programs. Yes, getting government help can be a slow process, but I doubt anyone would except anything else.
The Shoes of Prey guys spoke specially about this recently at the Google startup event in Sydney. They praised the tax concessions and other gov funding available to startups.
Lack of funding. There are just not enough investors in Australia looking to fund in Australian tech startups.
Mostly untrue. There are plenty of YC-Style accelerator programs giving seed funding, and a decent number of individual investors interested. The VC funds don't seem to be playing the same game as Silicon Valley VCs though (but then - Boston VCs aren't playing that same game either).
A local Australian startup I've done some work for raised a $2 million angle round recently[1] and didn't seem to have a lot of trouble with it.
Comments
I know these are the default complaints about startups in Australia, but to address each point:
The current tax law is a nightmare for those AU startups wishing to dole out equity.
100% true
Lack of talent, the majority of students have steered clear of tech disciplines in university after the dot-com bust, the effect of this is being felt now as engineering talent is needed.
There is talent around if you know where to look.
The government is not focused on the needs of startups preferring to invest heavily in pie in the sky ideas or just digging the dirt out of the ground. There is no decisive strategy from the opposition nor the current gov in power.
Mostly untrue. I've done work for two local startups in the last 18 months, and both received significant government help, to the point where my services were at least partially funded by gov programs. Yes, getting government help can be a slow process, but I doubt anyone would except anything else.
The Shoes of Prey guys spoke specially about this recently at the Google startup event in Sydney. They praised the tax concessions and other gov funding available to startups.
Lack of funding. There are just not enough investors in Australia looking to fund in Australian tech startups.
Mostly untrue. There are plenty of YC-Style accelerator programs giving seed funding, and a decent number of individual investors interested. The VC funds don't seem to be playing the same game as Silicon Valley VCs though (but then - Boston VCs aren't playing that same game either).
A local Australian startup I've done some work for raised a $2 million angle round recently[1] and didn't seem to have a lot of trouble with it.
[1] http://delimiter.com.au/2012/02/23/australian-web-2-0-start-...