{"id":41772,"date":"2023-10-20T15:16:23","date_gmt":"2023-10-20T15:16:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/startupsmart.test\/2023\/10\/20\/im-about-to-throw-my-phone-at-the-tv-atlassian-founder-pans-the-qa-innovation-special-startupsmart\/"},"modified":"2023-10-20T15:16:23","modified_gmt":"2023-10-20T15:16:23","slug":"im-about-to-throw-my-phone-at-the-tv-atlassian-founder-pans-the-qa-innovation-special-startupsmart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/uncategorized\/im-about-to-throw-my-phone-at-the-tv-atlassian-founder-pans-the-qa-innovation-special-startupsmart\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cI\u2019m about to throw my phone at the TV\u201d: Atlassian founder pans the Q&A innovation special – StartupSmart"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/div>\n

This week\u2019s Q&A saw both major parties\u2019 startup representatives and a panel of experts come together to discuss all things innovation, from the fabled brain drain to the NBN.<\/p>\n

But the episode was panned by one of Australia\u2019s most successful entrepreneurs; with Atlassian co-founder Mike Cannon-Brookes pointing out its lack of focus on growing the next generation of founders.<\/p>\n

While much of the discussion on the night centred on funding and tax incentives for startups, the pipeline of entrepreneurs and getting the next generation interested in STEM was barely broached.<\/p>\n

\u201cAbout to throw my phone at the TV,\u201d Cannon-Brookes tweeted.<\/p>\n

\u201cCan someone please say \u2018school\u2019 or \u2018education\u2019?!\u201d<\/p>\n

Cannon-Brookes went on to voice many other issues he had with the program and its choice of topics.<\/p>\n

\n

Flicking channels. @Atlassian got name dropped on #qanda. Then saw Pete Cooper. And @Wyatt_MP. Strange days.<\/p>\n

— Mike Cannon-Brookes (@mcannonbrookes) March 28, 2016<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\n

Startups, capital, incubators… too many mentions. Education? Schools? Near none. Got it backwards. Educated populations innovate. #qanda<\/p>\n

— Mike Cannon-Brookes (@mcannonbrookes) March 28, 2016<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\n

Dropping taxes on startups? WTF? "I was going to start a great company but taxes stopped me." Said no one ever. #qanda<\/p>\n

— Mike Cannon-Brookes (@mcannonbrookes) March 28, 2016<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Here are five other things that we learnt from the Q&A innovation special.<\/p>\n

The startup community doesn\u2019t think it\u2019s getting enough support<\/h3>\n

The first question of the night came from the Start Society and Cooper & Co founder Pete Cooper, who asked assistant minister for innovation Wyatt Roy if the $1 billion in funding over four years included in the innovation statement is enough.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe rest of the world is literally sprinting past us,\u201d Cooper said.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne billion dollars \u2013 while we\u2019re doing that over four years San Francisco has created $500 billion in tech startups. Why are we doing slow lane innovation strategies?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cUber\u2019s doing four times what you put over four years in four months. The money doesn\u2019t match the words, mate.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Roy pointed to the need to create a \u201cuniquely Australian ecosystem\u201d, opposition spokesperson for innovation Ed Husic said he welcome the aggressive style adopted by the questioner.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat type of pointed questioning is necessary,\u201d Husic said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think we\u2019ll ever be able to match the amount of money and that huge volume in the bigger markets, but we can\u2019t just sit on our hands and think it\u2019s too hard for us.\u201d<\/p>\n

The focus can\u2019t just be on Sydney<\/h3>\n

Panellist and Emergent Solutions CEO Holly Ransom described her experiences visiting some of the areas in the US not traditionally associated with innovation and startups, and said Australia needs to do more to ensure the \u2018ideas boom\u2019 reaches more regional areas.<\/p>\n

\u201cMost of our benchmarking is based on Sydney \u2013 two thirds of our entrepreneurship originates out of one city right now,\u201d Ransom said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s important we grow our other capital cities and we think about how we grow our regions as economic and entrepreneurial hubs too.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to move the focus away from just the capital cities.\u201d<\/p>\n

Roy thinks we can have hard and soft-shelled tacos<\/h3>\n

When questioned over the government\u2019s funding of university-backed incubators and accelerators instead of private companies, Roy used the analogy of the renowned taco ad to demonstrate his point.<\/p>\n

\"giphy\"<\/p>\n

\u201cJust because we\u2019re making strong investments into greater industry collaboration around universities and getting that research out into the real world to create these new businesses, products and services doesn\u2019t mean that detracts from what\u2019s happening with startups,\u201d Roy said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI get very frustrated in this debate when people say it\u2019s one versus the other.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy can\u2019t we have both?\u201d<\/p>\n

The brain drain isn\u2019t necessarily a bad thing<\/h3>\n

Both politicians on the panel agreed that the much-talked about brain drain of Australian entrepreneurs leaving the country can be viewed as a positive.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe idea that we have a brain drain is a debate we have to break out of,\u201d Roy said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a very good thing if we have circulation through global innovation hubs. If Aussies are going to Silicon Valley where they\u2019re called the \u2018Aussie mafia\u2019 because they\u2019re taking over the place, then that\u2019s a good thing.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is incredibly good.\u201d<\/p>\n

The current state of the NBN is a \u201ctragedy\u201d<\/h3>\n

The line that drew the most applause on the night came from Husic discussing the current state of the government\u2019s national broadband network.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re going to have an ideas boom once we get through the buffering,\u201d Husic said to much applause and laughter.<\/p>\n

Roy was left as the only panellist supporting the government\u2019s approach to the NBN, with Innovation Clearinghouse founder Sandy Plunkett labelling it a \u201ctragedy\u201d.<\/p>\n

Husic said the NBN is crucial to the future of Australia\u2019s startup and innovation sectors.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we talk about innovation being a national effort then we can\u2019t get everyone involved if our broadband speeds and availability is at what it\u2019s at now,\u201d Husic said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to see change.\u201d<\/p>\n

Follow StartupSmart on<\/em> Facebook,<\/em> Twitter,<\/em> LinkedIn<\/em> and<\/em> SoundCloud.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This week\u2019s Q&A saw both major parties\u2019 startup representatives and a panel of experts come together to discuss all things<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":60697,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41772"}],"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=41772"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41772\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/60697"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41772"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41772"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41772"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}