{"id":40727,"date":"2023-10-20T15:09:38","date_gmt":"2023-10-20T15:09:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/startupsmart.test\/2023\/10\/20\/what-now-pollenizer-co-founder-phil-morle-opens-up-about-the-decision-to-close-the-startup-incubator-startupsmart\/"},"modified":"2023-10-20T15:09:38","modified_gmt":"2023-10-20T15:09:38","slug":"what-now-pollenizer-co-founder-phil-morle-opens-up-about-the-decision-to-close-the-startup-incubator-startupsmart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/uncategorized\/what-now-pollenizer-co-founder-phil-morle-opens-up-about-the-decision-to-close-the-startup-incubator-startupsmart\/","title":{"rendered":"What now? Pollenizer co-founder Phil Morle opens up about the decision to close the startup incubator – StartupSmart"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Pollenizer<\/div>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been nine years coming in a sense, it\u2019s been nine years of growth,\u201d says Pollenizer co-founder Phil Morle.<\/p>\n

This week the 10-year-old startup incubator revealed it will close down at the end of the financial year<\/a>, after attempts to find a sustainable business model were unsuccessful.<\/p>\n

Speaking to StartupSmart<\/em> about the journey to this point, Morle says he looks back on the past decade with pride.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we measure how we\u2019ve gone in terms of impact, we\u2019ve been very successful and we\u2019re very proud of that,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

The problem, he notes, was finding a sustainable and scalable business model that aligned with Pollenizer\u2019s fundamental belief in the potential of startups and entrepreneurs to\u00a0change the world.<\/p>\n

\u201cOver the nine years we\u2019ve had a few different models,\u201d Morle says, recalling how Pollenizer opened its doors as the \u201cfirst Silicon Valley incubator\u201d in the Asia-Pacific region.<\/p>\n

However, the model evolved out of a\u00a0need for more consistent sources of revenue.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe then began to commercialise the Startup Science toolkit,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s the model we\u2019ve been working really hard at for the last three years.\u201d<\/p>\n

The team\u2019s aspirations were to drive large scale impact, but Morle says operating as a boutique consulting business wouldn’t achieve that feat.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe effectively ate our own dog food, ran our own process against the company and came to the conclusion that we have to direct our energy to other things,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

With Pollenizer to close its doors at the end of the financial year, Morle says it still has a \u201clittle bit of money left\u201d and these funds will go towards setting up the infrastructure to support its portfolio companies and fulfil its obligations with commercial partners.<\/p>\n

A big focus for Morle in the coming months will also be his team.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy main key focus is on the team, to make sure that talented group of awesomeness that we\u2019ve got actually do transition into impactful opportunities,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Looking back on Pollenizer’s journey<\/h3>\n

Looking back over the past decade, Morle says his proudest achievement is the positive change Pollenizer has made on people\u2019s lives.<\/p>\n

This includes launching Myanmar\u2019s first startup incubator program<\/a> in 2014.<\/p>\n

Despite entering a market where most people didn\u2019t use a mobile phone or computer, by the end of the year Pollenizer had helped participants set up real companies funded by international angel investors, he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s all about people for me as the top level achievement,” he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve connected through thousands of entrepreneurs.<\/p>\n

\u201cLooking at all the companies that are out there that I can see a little bit of Pollenizer DNA glistening in the light \u2014I\u2019m very very proud of that.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe big driver behind Pollenizer was the fundamental belief that entrepreneurship is a powerful force for the modern world.\u201d<\/p>\n

Startup sector reacts<\/h3>\n

Many members of the startup sector, including FinTech Australia chief executive Danielle Szetho, Angel Cube co-founder Adrian Stone and Investible co-founder Creel Price, have reacted to the Pollenizer’s closing with gratitude and sorrow.<\/p>\n

Szetho called it the \u201cend of an era\u201d<\/a> while Price said Morle and the Pollenizer team should be proud of their impact<\/a> on Australia\u2019s startup sector.<\/p>\n

\n

Thanks @philmorle<\/a> & @liubinskas<\/a>; @pollenizer<\/a> was the pioneer upon which the #Aus<\/a> accelerator & coworking community was built … https:\/\/t.co\/hLiI1BkZhU<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 (((Adrian Stone))) (@SmallTimeVC) March 1, 2017<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

In a statement to StartupSmart\u00a0<\/em>Price said Pollenizer has played a pioneering role in Australia’s startup sector.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to celebrate and acknowledge their early commitment to ensuring Australia established a vibrant startup ecosystem when investors, governments and corporates were left napping,” he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cPollenizer was directly and indirectly responsible for \u2018pollinating\u2019 so many of the startups, accelerators, incubators and venture funds that soon followed.<\/p>\n

\u201cPhil and [co-founder] Mick [Liubinskas] can be proud to have shouldered much of the early burden that others are capitalising on. Though it is another warning that in a more and more crowded space it can be difficult to achieve long-term sustainability without government, corporate support or later stage VC support.\u201d<\/p>\n

What now for Morle?<\/h3>\n

So what\u2019s next for Morle? Only time will tell.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m aware that I\u2019m in a bubble that I\u2019ve taken nine years building and I\u2019m just going to step outside of the bubble a little bit and see what it\u2019s like on the outside,” he says.<\/p>\n

“And I don\u2019t really know what that looks like yet.”<\/p>\n

Follow StartupSmart on<\/em>\u00a0Facebook<\/a>,<\/em>\u00a0Twitter<\/a>,\u00a0LinkedIn<\/a>\u00a0and iTunes<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cIt\u2019s been nine years coming in a sense, it\u2019s been nine years of growth,\u201d says Pollenizer co-founder Phil Morle. This<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":61112,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40727"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40727"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40727\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/61112"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40727"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40727"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40727"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}