{"id":45323,"date":"2023-10-20T15:42:38","date_gmt":"2023-10-20T15:42:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/startupsmart.test\/2023\/10\/20\/why-the-australian-startup-ecosystem-needs-more-lighthouses-startupsmart\/"},"modified":"2023-10-20T15:42:38","modified_gmt":"2023-10-20T15:42:38","slug":"why-the-australian-startup-ecosystem-needs-more-lighthouses-startupsmart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/uncategorized\/why-the-australian-startup-ecosystem-needs-more-lighthouses-startupsmart\/","title":{"rendered":"Why the Australian startup ecosystem needs more &#8220;lighthouses&#8221; &#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\/06\/lighthouses-640x332.jpg\" alt=\"lighthouses\" title=\"lighthouses\"><\/div>\n<blockquote class=\"td_quote_box td_box_center\">\n<p><em>\u201cThe only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven\u2019t found it yet, keep looking. Don\u2019t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you\u2019ll know when you find it.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>\u2013 Steve Jobs<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>When we\u2019re young we crave to be the same as everyone else, and for budding entrepreneurs this often means shunning their creativity and innovative streak.<\/p>\n<p>What would happen if instead we provided these entrepreneurs with a lighthouse, telling them it\u2019s okay to step away from the norm and help them to realise their potential?<\/p>\n<p>Now, I use the word lighthouse as a metaphor for the many different ways we can help these young people. For example, we can:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Guide these young people to networks they don\u2019t know of and don\u2019t have access to<\/li>\n<li>Focus on developing their skills and guiding them towards the solutions they\u2019re seeking now<\/li>\n<li>Be great listeners. Often, these young people need someone to listen to who will embrace and encourage their creativity and innovative ways<\/li>\n<li>Inform them of organisations who are dedicated to sorting information into a form that\u2019s easy to find and access online<\/li>\n<li>Help to cultivate innovation awards and incentives that invite young people to present and hone their new ideas<\/li>\n<li>Host and facilitate events that celebrate creativity and innovation<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The work we do at iGen Foundation tells us that young entrepreneurs are hungry for solutions having identified the problems they\u2019re facing.<\/p>\n<p>More often than not, we\u2019re told they can\u2019t find what they need which means they tend to stumble about looking for information here and there. As you can imagine, this approach is incredibly hit or miss: sometimes they find it, most times they don\u2019t and in most cases, it all just gets too hard and overwhelming.<\/p>\n<p>If you ask me, it\u2019s just a waste when these young people with so much potential stumble. All that energy, enthusiasm, inspiration and traits that define tomorrow\u2019s leaders, flushed down the drain.<\/p>\n<p>Lost because the people who needed to never listened or asked this simple question: <em>&#8220;what do you need?&#8221;<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Solutions for a business problem, someone who believes in them enough to point them in the right direction, access to networks they may be unaware of or can&#8217;t access alone, a person who\u2019s willing to take a step back and consider the real impact of the words, \u2018we\u2019ve always done it this way&#8217;<em>,<\/em> and allocate resources differently, a mentor to help refine their idea and who will encourage resilience when they fall over (after all, every journey has its low points).<\/p>\n<p>Australia needs to facilitate the growth of more startups and increase their likelihood of survival &#8211; they&#8217;re critical to Australia&#8217;s economic engine.<\/p>\n<p>Scale and capability are two factors that are both integral when building a thriving local entrepreneurial ecology. It\u2019s time for us to get real and build both.<\/p>\n<p>We know entrepreneurial performance will shape our future and sustain the lifestyle enjoyed by us all. Students, investors, employees &#8211; the list goes on.<\/p>\n<p>Now, I\u2019ve got a question for you:&nbsp;&#8220;Are you ready to help celebrate these young people and contribute positively so that entrepreneurs swim instead of sink?&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Business leaders, economic workers, youth development workers, councillors, teachers \u2013 whatever you do, you\u2019ve got the power to flick that switch so that your lighthouse shines brightly.<\/p>\n<p><em>This piece was first published on LinkedIn.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Follow StartupSmart on<\/em> <em>Facebook,<\/em>&nbsp;<em>Twitter,<\/em><em>LinkedIn&nbsp;<\/em><em>and&nbsp;<\/em><em>SoundCloud.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cThe only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven\u2019t found it yet, keep<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":58800,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19,27,22,18,1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45323"}],"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\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45323"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45323\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/58800"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45323"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45323"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45323"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}