rebelutionary / 2.0

Life Is A Hire Way: 5 Tips For Startup Hiring

Apologies for the egregious pun (I considered "Hire Way To The Danger Zone" and "Hire Way To Hell" but wisely decided against them), but following hot on the heels of people talking about Aussie startups and Marty's incessant meme flirtation,...

OK, you kinda caught me out ;-)

Actually, I was more genuinely interested in seeing whether anyone cared enough to even reply. That quite a few have is a good start.
This post is a really good one, and it does put things in perspective.

I think we are sometimes too good at calling bullshit, its very much the kind of response I often get from the "corporate bureaucrats" I speak with from time to time (usually to my regret) who are always so quick to find what might be wrong with ideas. What I like about the states is on the whole people will give you a bit of their time (hey it might be measured in minutes), and be constructive, rather than simply look for things to criticize.

Thanks for the thoughtful post!

john

As an Aussie blogger (and founder of two startups), I think we can do our bit by introducing our audiences to new (and not so new) Aussie websites, and getting behind them.

We're all in the same boat when it comes to challenges - some of us are taking on market leaders, some breaking new ground. But we all struggle in getting the word out there, many struggle with funding, and some of us put everything on the line to build a better mousetrap.

Don't you think it would be nice if we all started shouting about "home grown" initiatives?

Jon Yau's Wiki is a great start http://www.australianwiki.com.au/wiki/index.php?viewArticle=4

Mike,

My wife used to work for a bunch Australians in Seattle at a company called GoAhead. The company was founded in Brisbane and later moved to Seattle. The founder, Mike O’Brien, was previously a founder of a company called Stallion Technologies which I’m pretty sure was an Australian company.

In doing a Google search on Stallion I found another founder who has been involved with other Australian startups.

http://www.crn.com.au/story.aspx?CIID=24392

Compared to Iowa, were I’ve been involved with a couple of software startups, I think Australia is a regular hotbed of activity.

-Brian

nail->head

other AU companies that are of a decent size now are Hitwise and Massive (which IIRC was founded in Sydney by a kiwi)

in terms of problems, no government department distinguishes 'startup' from 'small business' - they all assume revenue and more of a classic small busienss model. the tax model just sucks - there should be tax-free thresholds on income for new businesses. I know ausindustry and austrade do a lot but I never bothered because it was just easier to go to the valley, become a US corp and raise capital.

the phsychological issues will take a generation to get over - students today in high schools and universities are being thrown onto the career-conveyor.

If you look at the baltic countries they are only 15 years out of being communist yet they are more entrepreneurial then Australia is. Also in AU the economy is still far too materials/raw industry rather than infoage based because we refuse to let go and adapt

also deregulated should mean exactly that

Mike,

Before I was in computing I worked in insolvency as a Chartered Accountant, so I believe I have some insight into this problem. The Australian Bankruptcy Act and Corporations Law follows the British model which punishes failure. The idea is that you have a good name, then you fail, then you are punished and that is the end of your entrepeneurial life. A director who trades while insolvent becomes personally liable for the corporation's debts. As companies fail, most of them trade while insolvent. The Bankruptcy Act leaves you with the clothes on your back and not much else.

The U.S. has a very different model which enables failures to have another go.

Examples of vilifaction of failures in Australia are Alan Bond and the now deceased Christopher Skase. I was involved in the insolvencies of both of these entrepeneurs.

I strongly believe Australia is a very hostile place to "startup". I remember during the dotCom boom at an awards dinner I was attending, Richard Alston, the then senator for Communications. suggested that Australia's only hope was Telstra. I choked on my drink. There is however a ring of truth there. The way the system is set up, it is mainly large corporations that can risk to create new businesses.

I was in New Zealand a few weeks ago for Kiwi Foo. It was interesting to see that NZ has much the same locally focused companies as Australia. The big ones were House of Travel (their wotif) and TradeMe (their ebay). Other than that, they, like us, are a wash.

I think the other part of the problem is that, with 300 million people, startups in the US can exploit a huge market. Once country, one language and one business system gives US based startups a huge advantage. The very last thing they do is expand overseas for the last part of the growth.

I think there are several reasons:
1) Success is not celebrated enough, except for celebrities & sports people, and the odd startup that makes it really big. This means there is less exposure to people being successful, so people see it as something beyond them - i.e. it doesn't form part of the national psyche. It also leads to "if I don't make it big, then I'm a failure" thinking.

I think all levels of successful startups need to be celebrated more, so people get used to the idea that running even a moderately successful business is better than being an employee.

Since people learn by doing, the more people that start companies, the better we will collectively become at doing it.

2) Instead of being encouraged to take risks and that failure is ok, people have the "getting-a-job-and-buying-a-big-house-is-success" mentality drilled into them by family/school/society as they are growing up. Thats not exactly encouraging people to try starting companies.

3) as others mentioned, the business environment does make it a bit harder.

However, I don't think population size is as big a problem as others think- look at Israel - 1/3rd our population, but tons of startups. Their success is mostly due to attitude (and partly due to the military training - it seems like everyone who leaves the army there starts a technology startup).

Meg - I agree that we can do a better job online to promote Aussie startups, but personally I'm only going to promote those that are _good_. As you may have noticed, I'm very against hand outs as a way to build things for the long term!

On Jon Yau's wiki - I think it would be giving a hand out to promote this, it's extremely poor. Having exhaustive, long lists of things doesn't lead to success.

Wayne - the Israel comparison is a fascinating one. They certainly have more startups than we do and a great startup culture. I'd love to know more about what the Israeli government does to promote startups / entrepreneurs, or is it _just_ a mentality thing?

Hey Mike,

If you thought the list on AustralianWiki was crap, you should see the lists I keep on JIRA! :)

But on a serious note, in a country of relatively low population and even lower population density, the first hurdle is 'Where do I find them?' rather than 'Are these startups any good?'.

Whether or not they are of any use will ultimately lie with the user, which then drives the funding (if relevant). Also, both John A. and yourself have made the assumption that all startups have a profit motive. I'm sure your experience with Kiva will show that this is not the case.

A free plug on AustralianWiki and a leg-up never hurts anyone (and it might even make for some interesting surfing).

Anyway, back to my _Issues_register_...

[ This is mostly just a summary of stuff from http://infoproc.blogspot.com/2005/11/israeli-startups.html and a few others I found during a quick web search ]

The Israeli government has done 3 things:
1) They "primed the pump" by kickstarting startup investment back in the 70's before they could get VC.

2) They've been actively encouraging scientists from the soviet union to emigrate to Israel.

3) Possibly the biggest thing the Israeli government does is force everyone to enter the army. The army picks anyone with a hint of technological ability and funnels them into courses designed to develop their technological abilities.

The interesting thing is that any technology that develops from a project a person works on, isn't automatically owned by the army - incentive for the person to take it out to the real world and develop it.

The enforced technological training they get in the army has lead to them having 2 to 3 times as many engineering types per capita than other places. This also leads to foreign companies wanting skilled people to setup development branches there - people work in those, get more experience and then take that out into a startup.

Beyond that, there are environmental factors:
1) Israel has a small population, so startups can't rely on their home market to support them - they have to be "born global" from the start.

2) Israel doesn't have the natural resources (e.g. land) a country like Australia does, so they need to focus on other forms of value-adding to trade.

3) Their neighbours are all hostile, so they can't rely on them much for trade. e.g. unlike New Zealand, they can't just go to "The West Island" for a bigger market.

In summary, its not just attitude/culture, but also government intervention and environmental factors (both of which also shape the attitudes of people).

I think relying on any Australian federal or state government to do anything is a bit ... useless - they're great for baby bonuses and housing grants, but couldn't find their arses with both hands and a map in the entrepreneurial world.

Comment about tall poppy. My feeling on this is that it's less about success or failure, more about actually 'trying' or the ambition behind trying.

Australians, or at least 2nd generation+ Australians, have a feeling that life is pretty good and you're being greedy if you ask for more. Starting a business or taking a risk is seen as almost being ungrateful. So when you fail it's 'see, why did you bother trying in the first place' and if you succeed it's 'so what, lifes good anyway and I didn't have to try'.

I felt this a lot since my parents ran a business but all my school friends were happily going to live for 80 years where they grew up doing the same things. It wasn't until I got into business that I found friends/mentors that not only felt it was ok to be ambitious, they thought it was the norm and pushed me.

So the mentoring, story telling, successful lives that we live here in Australia have a big impact.

Don't forget Sharman networks in your list. Though they eventually ran afoul of the law, Kazaa was probably the largest p2p network ever.

Thanks for including Sharman or the Sydney based LEF Interactive which managed it. They were without doubt one of the the most talented, passionate and high integrity teams I've every had the pleasure of working with.

Hi Mike

Thanks for giving Minti a mention.
What about ineedhits (www.ineedhits.com) ?
Or maybe that doesnt count any longer as it's 10 yrs old?

Cheers
Clay

In addition to the society trends already mentioned, there is the aging Australian infrastructure. Netflix-style companies will never work here, due to our antiquated postal system, Australia Post. US citizens simply put their DVD in their own mailbox, Australians have to go to a public mailbox, this reduces the convenience and immediacy of the transaction. The government and Telstra talk about Fibre To The Node (FTTN), but some countries already have Fibre To The Home (FTTH). Why are they even thinking of replacing one outdated system with yet another outdated system? Lack of foresight is killing Australia and no government body seems concerned. They should be. As the baby boomers retire and workers become more and more scarce, what real incentive is there for Australians to stay at home? We can go to Asia for better broadband, the USA for better taxes. If the government can't convince citizens to stay here, they have buckleys chance of getting startups to stay.

I’d say there is no established “IT Entrepreneurship culture� here for several reasons:

1. It’s hard for one person to comply with all the regulations and paperwork as well as run their business

2. Our conservative federal government has cut funding to universities by a huge amount in the last 10 years

3. Fewer people each year are studying IT at university because a lot of the IT jobs in big companies have been downsized or outsourced overseas and people don’t see the possibilities for a stable income

4. A lot of Australians setup small businesses but the vast majority of these are “old school� type good/services businesses, not dealing in bit and bytes.

5. Our government and large businesses often award IT projects to overseas companies even when a local company could have done the job better and at less cost and as a result of that and hardware imports we have a huge ICT trade deficit - http://www.itwire.com.au/content/view/11444/53/

Thanks for including Sharman or the Sydney based LEF Interactive which managed it.

Please keep up this great work

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