Summary

Cheryl Mack and Maxine Minter reflect on the year 2023 and discuss the challenges and trends in the startup ecosystem. They talk about the tough environment for founders and investors, with many companies struggling to raise funds and facing down rounds. However, they also highlight the resilience and determination of founders who were able to survive and even thrive in the face of adversity.

The hosts discuss the increase in funding for female founders, although there is still a long way to go in achieving gender parity in the industry. They also touch on the growth of climate tech and AI as key areas of investment, with these sectors propping up the funding ecosystem.

Cheryl and Maxine express cautious optimism for the year 2024, noting the need for continued creativity and resilience in the face of challenges. They also highlight the importance of addressing issues of behaviour and inclusivity in the startup ecosystem.

Key Takeaways

• Challenges in the Startup Ecosystem (2023): The year was marked by difficulties for many companies in raising funds, with instances of down rounds reflecting a challenging environment for the startup ecosystem.
• Resilience of Founders: Success in these tough times was often attributed to the resilience and determination of founders, who demonstrated the ability to navigate through the demanding market conditions effectively.
• Funding for Female Founders: While there was a notable increase in funding for female founders, reaching a historical high, the conversation acknowledges that more efforts are necessary to achieve gender parity in funding.
• Growth of Climate Tech and AI: Both climate tech and AI emerged as standout sectors, drawing significant investments and spearheading innovation despite the broader economic challenges.
• Outlook for 2024: The year ahead is approached with cautious optimism. The emphasis is on the necessity for ongoing creativity and resilience to address and overcome upcoming challenges.

Quotes

- "I think ingenuity was a real theme. I'm excited to dive in today, obviously. Tis the season to be reflecting." - Cheryl Mack

- "The founders that survive this are the ones that we are so excited to back as investors." - Maxine Minter

- "I think optimism and holding on to a sense of optimism won this year. Pairing it with creativity, also really effective." - Maxine Minter

- "I think 2024 is looking cautiously optimistic. Cautiously optimistic." - Maxine Minter

Chapters

00:05 - Introduction to the podcast

00:25 - Reflecting on the year and the challenges faced

02:02 - Difficulty of raising funds and the resilience of founders

04:32 - Founders' determination to survive and adapt

05:08 - Employment Hero becoming a unicorn

06:31 - Tentative re-entry of international investors into the Australian ecosystem

07:38 - Gap between top founders and average deals narrowing

08:49 - Overpaying in the early stages of funding

09:05 - Australian tech facing criticism from the media

10:46 - Turning point in sentiment with SVB collapse and Milk Run

11:18 - Discussion about the impact of FTX and Sam Bankman-Fried's sentencing

12:13 - AI and climate tech propping up the funding industry in 2023

13:56 - AI adoption curve and its impact on the legal tech industry

15:01 - Tight capital environment in Q1 and Q2 of 2023

15:32 - Increase in interest and funding for climate tech

17:10 - Rise of climate tech-focused funds in Australia

18:19 - Lack of AI-focused funds in Australia

20:06 - Creativity in funding and rise of professionalized fund management

21:30 - Optimism about more fund raising in 2024

21:52 - Increase in funding for female founders, but still low overall

22:33 - Matching population demographics

22:48 - Lack of data on women-led...

🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️ episode. Yaniv and Chris are fired up about bad VC investors, and they can't hold it in any longer!

Good Venture Capitalists help founders make the impossible, possible. They are the fuel that allows rocketships to defy gravity.

But bad VC investors will take a founder's dream and grind it into dust.

In this episode, Chris and Yaniv share the ways in which bad investors often undermine a founder's ability to pursue their vision. They then share tips how as a founder to look out for and defend against this type of "dumb money" investor, and how to show traction that is beyond just revenue.

The Pact

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Give us a public shout-out on LinkedIn or anywhere you have a social media following

Key links

• The Startup Podcast is sponsored by UntilNow, a next-generation agency and venture studio https://www.untilnow.com.au/

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The Startup Podcast website: https://tsp.show

Learn more about Chris and Yaniv

• Work 1:1 with Chris: http://chrissaad.com/advisory/

Follow Chris on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrissaad/

Follow Yaniv on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ybernstein/

Mentioned in this episode:

This episode is sponsored by NTP

This episode is sponsored by NTP NTP is the technology recruitment company that values community and who are invested in seeing the growth of Australia's local tech community.

This special bonus episode was recorded live at Fishburners as part of the Spark Festival in October 2022, to celebrate the launch of The History of the Australian Startup Ecosystem documentary. The event included a panel of eight guests, each representing a different corner of the startup ecosystem:

 - Malcolm Turnbull, former Prime Minister

 - Michelle Deaker, Founding Partner of OneVentures 

 - Larry Marshall, CEO of CSIRO 

 - Marina Wu, Co-founder of Earlywork 

 - Niki Scevak, Co-founder of Blackbird

 - Cheryl Mack, CEO of Aussie Angels 

 - Preethi Mohan, Founder of Niceto 

 - Alan Jones, General Partner at M8 Ventures

 - Panel host: Simon Thomsen, editor of Startup Daily

The episode also includes a short panel with members of the Day One.FM team, Adam Spencer, Andy Jones and William Tjo, in which they discuss the creation of the documentary. 

Mentioned in this episode:

NTP Technology Recruitment Company

NTP is the technology recruitment company that values community and who are invested in seeing the growth of Australia's local tech community.

What does the future hold for the Australian startup ecosystem? After five episodes focused on the past, this episode will finally be tackling that question and look towards the future. What are our unique strengths and weaknesses as a country? What are the key challenges and opportunities we face?

From investors, to academics, to government, to corporates and finally, to entrepreneurs - we highlight a variety of perspectives, looking at the individual roles each of us can play. Regardless of what seat we occupy on the bus, there is a place for people of all backgrounds in Australia’s startup community.

This series was made possible by our sponsors and partners.

Thanks to MYOB, AWS Startups, Investment NSW & CSIRO. 

We would like to acknowledge our earliest sponsors who decided to get involved with this story when it was just an idea on a piece of paper. 

Special thanks to UTS Startups & Murray Hurps for being our first sponsor, Western Sydney University’s LaunchPad and the Guild of Entrepreneurs.

ANSTO, Canberra Innovation Network, Curtin University, University of South Australia, LaunchVic, The South Australian Government's Department of Industry, Innovation & Science, The University of Adelaide’s ThincLab, The University of Newcastle’s Integrated Innovation Network, Flinders University’s New Venture Institute, UNSW Founders, UQ Ventures & James Cook University.

And to our promotional partners who have helped get this series in front of the startup community.

Startup Daily, Fishburners, Spark Festival, River City Labs, Stone & Chalk and Spacecubed.

Mentioned in this episode:

NTP Technology Recruitment Company

NTP is the technology recruitment company that values community and who are invested in seeing the growth of Australia's local tech community.

Episode 5 begins during the onset of the Coronavirus Pandemic which disrupted every facet of life as we knew it. As lockdowns and other measures were enacted throughout the country, different markets and industries were affected in different, and sometimes unexpected ways.

We explore the good, the bad and the ugly, looking at the unprecedented ways in which the Australian startup ecosystem grapples with the global pandemic. From frozen immigration and talent, to remote working and digitisation, to impacts on diversity and much more, finally bringing our story to the present day. We briefly look at the identity of our startup ecosystem and current, ongoing events.

This series was made possible by our sponsors and partners.

Thanks to MYOB, AWS Startups, Investment NSW & CSIRO. 

We would like to acknowledge our earliest sponsors who decided to get involved with this story when it was just an idea on a piece of paper. 

Special thanks to UTS Startups & Murray Hurps for being our first sponsor, Western Sydney University’s LaunchPad and the Guild of Entrepreneurs.

ANSTO, Canberra Innovation Network, Curtin University, University of South Australia, LaunchVic, The South Australian Government's Department of Industry, Innovation & Science, The University of Adelaide’s ThincLab, The University of Newcastle’s Integrated Innovation Network, Flinders University’s New Venture Institute, UNSW Founders, UQ Ventures & James Cook University.

And to our promotional partners who have helped get this series in front of the startup community.

Startup Daily, Fishburners, Spark Festival, River City Labs, Stone & Chalk and Spacecubed.

Mentioned in this episode:

NTP Technology Recruitment Company

NTP is the technology recruitment company that values community and who are invested in seeing the growth of Australia's local tech community.

This episode kicks off in September 2015, when Malcolm Turnbull was elected as the 29th Prime Minister of Australia. Unveiling the National Innovation and Science Agenda as the cornerstone of his "Ideas Boom", we unpack the contents of this policy and explore the myriad of ways it impacted the startup ecosystem.

The Australian startup ecosystem continued to enjoy significant growth in the second half of the 2010’s. We look at the increasing visibility of startups during this time, the establishment of prominent diversity and impact-focused organisations, startup conferences and many more.

This series was made possible by our sponsors and partners.

Thanks to MYOB, AWS Startups, Investment NSW & CSIRO. 

We would like to acknowledge our earliest sponsors who decided to get involved with this story when it was just an idea on a piece of paper. 

Special thanks to UTS Startups & Murray Hurps for being our first sponsor, Western Sydney University’s LaunchPad and the Guild of Entrepreneurs.

ANSTO, Canberra Innovation Network, Curtin University, University of South Australia, LaunchVic, The South Australian Government's Department of Industry, Innovation & Science, The University of Adelaide’s ThincLab, The University of Newcastle’s Integrated Innovation Network, Flinders University’s New Venture Institute, UNSW Founders, UQ Ventures & James Cook University.

And to our promotional partners who have helped get this series in front of the startup community.

Startup Daily, Fishburners, Spark Festival, River City Labs, Stone & Chalk and Spacecubed.

Mentioned in this episode:

NTP Technology Recruitment Company

NTP is the technology recruitment company that values community and who are invested in seeing the growth of Australia's local tech community.

In episode 3, we take a deep dive into the birth of the Australian startup ecosystem. Although everyone may have a different perspective on what caused this "cambrian explosion", we discuss 7 key catalysts in this episode.

We shine a spotlight on the who, what, when, where and why of this critical event that formed much of what we see around us today. But underneath all this growth and excitement, we highlight that the ecosystem may perhaps still be far from perfect.

This series was made possible by our sponsors and partners.

Thanks to MYOB, AWS Startups, Investment NSW & CSIRO. 

We would like to acknowledge our earliest sponsors who decided to get involved with this story when it was just an idea on a piece of paper. 

Special thanks to UTS Startups & Murray Hurps for being our first sponsor, Western Sydney University’s LaunchPad and the Guild of Entrepreneurs.

ANSTO, Canberra Innovation Network, Curtin University, University of South Australia, LaunchVic, The South Australian Government's Department of Industry, Innovation & Science, The University of Adelaide’s ThincLab, The University of Newcastle’s Integrated Innovation Network, Flinders University’s New Venture Institute, UNSW Founders, UQ Ventures & James Cook University.

And to our promotional partners who have helped get this series in front of the startup community.

Startup Daily, Fishburners, Spark Festival, River City Labs, Stone & Chalk and Spacecubed.

Mentioned in this episode:

NTP Technology Recruitment Company

NTP is the technology recruitment company that values community and who are invested in seeing the growth of Australia's local tech community.

Episode 2 begins in the aftermath of the dot com bust. We explore the story of LookSmart through the lens of its co-founder, Evan Thornley and the tough choices he had to make. Up until this point, founders largely worked in isolation, however, they began to meet up more frequently after the bust, often in pubs or cafes, thanks to community groups like Innovation Bay. Conferences such as TinSHED and Web Directions would shine a spotlight on the fledgling startup ecosystem. We tell the story of some of Australia's first high growth startups in the early 2000s. The likes of Atlassian in 2003, Campaign Monitor in 2004, Red Bubble in 2006 and many more. Startup infrastructure followed shortly after and we saw the country's first incubators, accelerators and co-working spaces emerge. 

Just as things were finally looking up, another economic crisis had gripped the world once again. The Global Financial Crisis in 2008 undoubtedly caused a lot of grief, however, Australia was spared the worst of it. We highlight how the GFC held some unexpected benefits for Australian startups. As the end of the decade approached, new inventions like smartphones and social media and the mainstream adoption of Wi-Fi would come to touch every aspect of our lives, laying the foundation for a new wave of Australian startups - some of the most disruptive that Australia and the world would come to see.

This series was made possible by our sponsors and partners.

Thanks to MYOB, AWS Startups, Investment NSW & CSIRO. 

We would like to acknowledge our earliest sponsors who decided to get involved with this story when it was just an idea on a piece of paper. 

Special thanks to UTS Startups & Murray Hurps for being our first sponsor, Western Sydney University’s LaunchPad and the Guild of Entrepreneurs.

ANSTO, Canberra Innovation Network, Curtin University, University of South Australia, LaunchVic, The South Australian Government's Department of Industry, Innovation & Science, The University of Adelaide’s ThincLab, The University of Newcastle’s Integrated Innovation Network, Flinders University’s New Venture Institute, UNSW Founders, UQ Ventures & James Cook University.

And to our promotional partners who have helped get this series in front of the startup community.

Startup Daily, Fishburners, Spark Festival, River City Labs, Stone & Chalk and Spacecubed.

Mentioned in this episode:

NTP Technology Recruitment Company

NTP is the technology recruitment company that values community and who are invested in seeing the growth of Australia's local tech community.

In this episode, we explore the seed phase of the Australian startup ecosystem, tracing its roots to some of the earliest catalysts to what we see today. Australian pioneers started innovating well before anything resembled an ecosystem and before the term "startup" was used. We tell the story of trailblazers like the Nucleus Group in 1964, Fairlight in 1975, Computershare in 1978 and much more. 

We look at how the macroeconomic conditions in the late 70s and early 80s encouraged the "first great wave" of Australian startups, only for global capital markets to collapse suddenly in 1987. As the new millennium approached, we highlight how the mainstream adoption of the internet gave rise to some of our most recognisable dot com juggernauts, the likes of Seek, REA and Carsales, leading up to the dot com boom.

This series was made possible by our sponsors and partners.

Thanks to MYOB, AWS Startups, Investment NSW & CSIRO. 

We would like to acknowledge our earliest sponsors who decided to get involved with this story when it was just an idea on a piece of paper.

Special thanks to UTS Startups & Murray Hurps for being our first sponsor, Western Sydney University’s LaunchPad and the Guild of Entrepreneurs.

ANSTO, Canberra Innovation Network, Curtin University, University of South Australia, LaunchVic, The South Australian Government's Department of Industry, Innovation & Science, The University of Adelaide’s ThincLab, The University of Newcastle’s Integrated Innovation Network, Flinders University’s New Venture Institute, UNSW Founders, UQ Ventures & James Cook University.

And to our promotional partners who have helped get this series in front of the startup community.

Startup Daily, Fishburners, Spark Festival, River City Labs, Stone & Chalk and Spacecubed.

Mentioned in this episode:

NTP Technology Recruitment Company

NTP is the technology recruitment company that values community and who are invested in seeing the growth of Australia's local tech community.

Steve Grace is CEO and founder of The Nudge Group, which works with startups and scale-ups to support them through various stages of business growth. Based in Australia, The Nudge Group has expanded globally with offices in the UK and Singapore. Steve also hosts the Give It A Nudge podcast, and is director of YBF Ventures. In his conversation with host Will Tjo, Steve discusses his belief that Australian companies put too much focus into the US and UK markets and too little in neighbouring Asian markets, as well as some of the ways covid has altered the ways companies do business in Australia and globally.

See full show notes: https://w2d1.com/steve-grace

Mentioned in this episode:

This episode is sponsored by NTP

This episode is sponsored by NTP NTP is the technology recruitment company that values community and who are invested in seeing the growth of Australia's local tech community.

Peter Tippett is a serial entrepreneur with decades of experience working in startups both in Australia and around the world. He is currently working on three ventures, all of which he co-founded in the last few years: BodyMindLife, a platform for passionate community creators, educators, teachers and students, Vault3, which provides storage services on blockchain, and KULA, which utilises Web3 technologies to create online communities. In his conversation with host Will Tjo, Peter discusses his first hand experience seeing the internet evolve from Web 1.0 to today, as well as how he sees company ownership and management evolving in the future.

See full show notes: https://w2d1.com/peter-tippett

Mentioned in this episode:

This episode is sponsored by NTP

This episode is sponsored by NTP NTP is the technology recruitment company that values community and who are invested in seeing the growth of Australia's local tech community.

John Allsopp is an author, web developer and conference organiser who’s been working in Australia’s startup ecosystem for nearly three decades. In 2006 he co-founded Web Directions, a conference series for people creating tools for the internet, at a time when the field was still relatively new. In his conversation with Adam, he discusses the very first Web Directions conference, which he sees as being “like the Woodstock of the Australian web industry”, as well as his perspective that over the last few decades the Australian startup ecosystem has evolved from a small “community” into a fully established “industry”.

See full show notes: https://w2d1.com/john-allsopp

Mentioned in this episode:

This episode is sponsored by NTP

This episode is sponsored by NTP NTP is the technology recruitment company that values community and who are invested in seeing the growth of Australia's local tech community.

Lars Rasmussen is a Danish computer scientist and tech angel investor with a long history of working within the startup ecosystem both within Australia and internationally, including as co-founder of Google Maps, and as Director of Engineering for Facebook in London. In 2015, Rasmussen announced his departure from Facebook to co-found a music startup, Weav Musi, with his partner Elomida Visviki. In his conversation with guest host Will Tjo, Lars discusses his love of Sydney, what he sees as key ingredients for successful founders, as well as the difficult balancing act between self belief through adversity and knowing when to quit.

See full show notes: https://w2d1.com/lars-rasmussen

Mentioned in this episode:

This episode is sponsored by NTP

This episode is sponsored by NTP NTP is the technology recruitment company that values community and who are invested in seeing the growth of Australia's local tech community.

Ric Richardson is an Australian inventor who first came to prominence as a result of his invention of Software Activation, a technique used in software anti-piracy. Ric founded the Uniloc Company and entered an agreement with IBM to commercialise the invention, which Ric says has now been used on two and a half billion computers globally. In 2011 a US court awarded Uniloc $388 million in damages after Microsoft was found to have infringed on Ric’s patent, and the subsequent publicity surrounding the case led to the TV program Australian Story creating an episode covering the trial. In his conversation with Adam, Ric discusses the surge of support he received after the Australian Story episode was watched by 2 million people, and what he sees as the contrasting skills and personalities needed for creating an invention, and running a company.

See full show notes: https://w2d1.com/ric-richardson

Mentioned in this episode:

This episode is sponsored by NTP

This episode is sponsored by NTP NTP is the technology recruitment company that values community and who are invested in seeing the growth of Australia's local tech community.

Brad Parsons is CEO and founder of Movus, a company that provides monitoring tools for industrial equipment with the mission of preserving the earth’s resources by improving the efficiency and life of industrial assets. At the time of recording Movius is active in 16 countries, and has ambitions for further growth. In his conversation with guest host Will Tjo, Brad discusses how he has seen an increased emphasis on funding for startups with a focus on environmental sustainability, as well as his belief that Australia’s startup ecosystem suffers from a greater degree of risk aversion than other nations.

See full show notes: https://w2d1.com/brad-parsons

Mentioned in this episode:

This episode is sponsored by NTP

This episode is sponsored by NTP NTP is the technology recruitment company that values community and who are invested in seeing the growth of Australia's local tech community.

Eloise Hall and Isobel Marshall are the founders of Taboo, a social enterprise that sell organic cotton pads and tampons, with all profits going towards eradicating period poverty. The Eloise and Isobel were first introduced to the social enterprise model of business in 2016 while students at high school, and began designing what would become Taboo during the summer holidays before commencing their final year of high school. In their conversation with guest host Will Tjo, Eloise and Isobell discuss how social enterprises fit within the broader startup community, as well as some of the considerations unique to social enterprises when considering various options for raising funds, such as crowdfunding campaigns or more traditional venture capital.

See full show notes: https://w2d1.com/eloise-and-isobel

Mentioned in this episode:

This episode is sponsored by NTP

This episode is sponsored by NTP NTP is the technology recruitment company that values community and who are invested in seeing the growth of Australia's local tech community.

What will the new economy look like? As startups become the new way of life, Australia must become more open and less restrictive to encourage innovation. Hear entrepreneurs' firsthand accounts of their journey and learn what that has meant to the startup world.

This podcast will give you a great insight into Australia’s innovation ecosystem by tracing its history and future. If you're curious as to how it all started, who were the innovators that helped transform it, and how this ecosystem interacts with others both domestically and around the world- this is a must-listen!

This 6-part audio documentary and its accompanying 150+ interviews is a deep dive into the startup scene, both past and present and takes an exciting look at the future of Australia’s technological and economic transformation.

Join us on this exciting journey, celebrating what has been accomplished and asking hard questions about where we’re heading and whether we’re on the right track.

Joshua Flannery is the Founder and CEO of Innovation Dojo, an organisation active in both Australia and Japan which was founded in 2016 to support startups and entrepreneurs. Josh (as he prefers to be called) has had a variety of roles in both Australia and Japan’s startup ecosystems. In his conversation with Adam, Josh discusses what he sees as some key differences between Australia and Japan’s startup ecosystems, as well as his time working as Director of the Sydney Startup Hub.

See full show notes: https://w2d1.com/joshua-flannery

Mentioned in this episode:

This episode is sponsored by NTP

This episode is sponsored by NTP NTP is the technology recruitment company that values community and who are invested in seeing the growth of Australia's local tech community.

Markus Kahlbetzer is CEO and founder of BridgeLane, which labels itself an “alternative investment company” and aims to bring innovation to more traditional industries including agriculture and real estate. Markus also founded Tank Stream Labs, a technology focused coworking space and community hub in Sydney. In his conversation with guest host Will Tjo, Markus discusses how he has seen Australia’s startup ecosystem evolve and grow over the last 10+ years, as well as what he sees as opportunities for government and universities to support the startup ecosystem to a greater extent than they do currently.

See full show notes: https://w2d1.com/markus-kahlbetzer

Mentioned in this episode:

This episode is sponsored by NTP

This episode is sponsored by NTP NTP is the technology recruitment company that values community and who are invested in seeing the growth of Australia's local tech community.

Pauline Fetaui is General Manager at River City Labs, a startup community hub in Brisbane, as well as founder of CheeHoo, a personal assistant app designed to help busy people get things done. Originally from a corporate background, Pauline joined the startup ecosystem when she joined the River City Labs team in 2019. In her conversation with guest host Will Tjo, Pauline discusses what she sees as the difference between the corporate and startup worlds, as well as the differences between the startup communities in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne.

See full show notes: https://w2d1.com/pauline-fetaui

Mentioned in this episode:

This episode is sponsored by NTP

This episode is sponsored by NTP NTP is the technology recruitment company that values community and who are invested in seeing the growth of Australia's local tech community.