{"id":41446,"date":"2023-10-20T15:14:01","date_gmt":"2023-10-20T15:14:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/startupsmart.test\/2023\/10\/20\/the-five-characteristics-prominent-investor-mick-liubinskas-looks-for-in-a-founder-and-the-three-questions-he-always-asks-startupsmart\/"},"modified":"2023-10-20T15:14:01","modified_gmt":"2023-10-20T15:14:01","slug":"the-five-characteristics-prominent-investor-mick-liubinskas-looks-for-in-a-founder-and-the-three-questions-he-always-asks-startupsmart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/uncategorized\/the-five-characteristics-prominent-investor-mick-liubinskas-looks-for-in-a-founder-and-the-three-questions-he-always-asks-startupsmart\/","title":{"rendered":"The five characteristics prominent investor Mick Liubinskas looks for in a founder and the three questions he always asks &#8211; StartupSmart"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"td-post-featured-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"640\" height=\"332\" itemprop=\"image\" class=\"entry-thumb\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/mickliubinskas-640x332.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"mickliubinskas\"><\/div>\n<p>Prominent Australian founder, entrepreneur and investor Mick Luibinskas says there are three crucial questions he always asks a founder, whether he\u2019s looking to mentor them or invest in them.<\/p>\n<p>In an AMA session run by Blackbird Ventures, the muru-D entrepreneur-in-residence says he has a series of questions to test a founder\u2019s commitment and purpose.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI want to quit what I\u2019m doing now and come join you for 10 years \u2013 should I?\u201d Luibinskas says.<\/p>\n<p>He then offers to buy the business right there for $5 million.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf they want to take it then they want money, not to build something,\u201d Luibinskas says.<\/p>\n<p>And then there\u2019s one final question.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf you build this business and it had the impact but you went bankrupt would you still be happy?\u201d he says.<\/p>\n<p>And there are five key characteristics that he looks for in a founder:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>&#8220;Starts work before being paid;<\/li>\n<li>Cares about it 24\/7;<\/li>\n<li>Has ideas outside their area;<\/li>\n<li>Challenges me, argues, disagrees and makes me think differently but will go with what we agree in the end;<\/li>\n<li>Shares my core principles of integrity, leadership and courage.&#8221;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The Q&amp;A session also included many other lessons and takeaways for Aussie founders from the high-profile member of the local startup community.<\/p>\n<h3>Why you need to be global from day one<\/h3>\n<p>Luibinskas says it\u2019s crucial for Australian startups to have global ambitions.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBuild local, sell global,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf you can sell online like Atlassian, Freelancer, Campaign Monitor and Big Commerce, do that. If you have to sell directly then get on a plane and go to a big market.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>This will make it easier for founders to find funding and reach their true potential, he says.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMore globally ambitious entrepreneurs will bring more globally experienced mentors which will create more globally successful tech companies,\u201d Luibinskas says.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t want every company to be born global but I don\u2019t want a company that wants to be global and the team could do it but didn\u2019t make it because they sat in Australia for three years and missed their chance.\u201d<\/p>\n<h3>Focusing on diversity<\/h3>\n<p>Luibinskas says the startup ecosystem will only be successful if it can improve on the current lack of diversity.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s so important and the base is so bad,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m also an oldish white male so it\u2019s hard for me to be fully aware of my own biases. For me I really, really, really want to do better and appreciate everyone helping me.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn the 90s what I saw and worked with was all blokes in rooms coding, and due to the long-term nature of tech companies what we have now in the experienced parts of the ecosystem is mostly blokes. Though there are amazing people from all cultures and genders.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI actually think we are doing a lot of the right things and we need a combination of impatience for action but patience for results.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are not just changing an industry; we are changing a world culture. That\u2019s a bad excuse but a reality.\u201d<\/p>\n<h3>The state of play when he returns<\/h3>\n<p>Luibinskas is <a href=\"\/advice\/growth\/why-mick-liubinskas-is-moving-to-silicon-valley\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">soon leaving Australia to set up shop in San Francisco<\/a>, where he will still work to assist muru-D\u2019s accelerator program.<\/p>\n<p>But the entrepreneur says he plans to return in a few years, and has lofty expectations of where the local ecosystem will be by then.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI want to be wow, blown out of my mind, unrecognisable,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI want massive density in each city \u2013 cafes pouring out onto the streets with people in startup shirts. I want 100 more quality mentors who have actually built global tech businesses that are full-time driving the ecosystem.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI want five times as many co-working spaces, accelerators and investors. I want to go to events and be in the audience and not see myself or the usual suspects on stage. I want to be a small fish in a big pond.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI want to feel that coming back is not a step back but a step across.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em>Follow StartupSmart on<\/em>&nbsp;<em>Facebook,<\/em>&nbsp;<em>Twitter&nbsp;and&nbsp;<\/em><em>LinkedIn<\/em><em>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Prominent Australian founder, entrepreneur and investor Mick Luibinskas says there are three crucial questions he always asks a founder, whether<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":60891,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41446"}],"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=41446"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41446\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/60891"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41446"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41446"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41446"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}