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How Australian Tech Companies Can Think About Silicon Valley

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Re: How Australian Tech Companies Can Think About Silicon Valley

#21

Post by ianhowson »

nopassrecover wrote: post #15

The liveability of places like Adelaide (and even Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, and Perth) is such an undersold secret. Personally I'm so torn between wanting to tell everyone how good we have it and wanting to keep it to ourselves. Melbourne, Adelaide, and Perth are all in the top 10 cities to live in the world. Taking Adelaide for example (1.2 million people), we can live within 10-15 minutes of the CBD in a roomy t…

I want to drink your kool-aid.

I feel like they are highly livable if you do not need to work for a living.

Otherwise:

- Adelaide: It's cheap but there are no jobs.

- Brisbane: It's cheap(ish) but there are no(t many) jobs.

- Perth: It's expensive but there are no jobs.

- Sydney: You can't afford it. A one-hour commute is starting to look appealing.

- Melbourne: Can't complain.

They are lovely cities to visit as a tourist. As a worker, there are much better opportunities out there. Australia tech workers have easy access to working visas in practically every country in the world.

Australia will always be there for retirement.

Re: How Australian Tech Companies Can Think About Silicon Valley

#22

Post by danieltillett »

sharkdesk wrote: post #16
danieltillett wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can’t sell remotely from Australia via a US sales team. You either sell directly from Australia (with all the downsides this involves) or you move the management team to the USA.

The third option is to acquire a US competitor, let them sell your product into the US market, and make sure they have the same executive decision making power as the team in Australia

Yes - I am actually considering doing this right now. The difficulty is the massive mismatch in valuation between Australian and US companies makes this difficult.

Re: How Australian Tech Companies Can Think About Silicon Valley

#23

Post by oldandtired »

jlangenauer wrote: post #13

One of the strange things about Australia's startup scene over the last decade or so is the sheer number of what I like to call "meta-entrepreneurs" - people who help other people become entrepreneurs, and present themselves as experts on technology, business, Silicon Valley etc, but have declined to actually do the hard work of setting up a business, let alone growing it to success. So when Australians give advice a…

I find your comments about technical competency of Australians being less than elsewhere interesting. My own experience over the decades is the opposite. I have had to deal professionally with various fly-in gurus (from the US and Europe) and they have had little success in understanding how we implemented the projects we were involved in.

what was more ridiculous was the major discrepancy in pay. If US or European, then you were paid 3+ times the Australian rates. Yet you couldn't solve what we thought were simple problems.

There is no doubt that there are many who claim technological acumen here who have much less than they advertise. But there are many here who have much more technological acumen than what you find overseas.

The biggest problem is the extensive need to use buzzwords in the various technologically based industries. If you are not up with the latest buzzword craze, you are considered backward and inferior, even though those buzzwords are just a renaming of various "stuff" that has been around for decades.

Re: How Australian Tech Companies Can Think About Silicon Valley

#24

Post by brongondwana »

sharkdesk wrote: post #16
danieltillett wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can’t sell remotely from Australia via a US sales team. You either sell directly from Australia (with all the downsides this involves) or you move the management team to the USA.

The third option is to acquire a US competitor, let them sell your product into the US market, and make sure they have the same executive decision making power as the team in Australia

Yeah, that sounds about right...

Re: How Australian Tech Companies Can Think About Silicon Valley

#26

Post by jacques_chester »

I think that an Australian business going deeply into the US market is going to struggle with the E3 visa. It is so easy for a talented technologist to be recruited by a US firm that once someone works it out, you will see a rapid turnover unless you offer US rates.

Re: How Australian Tech Companies Can Think About Silicon Valley

#27

Post by jacques_chester »

danieltillett wrote: post #10
adventured wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Cheaper tech teams with less competition. Australia has a lot of talent in the software space, but without the eye watering wage bills. Since you're referring to all of Australia - those advantages are all neutralized by choosing any of two dozen other US cities to start in. You get the advantages of the vast US market, other cities have far lower real estate costs than you see in most of Australia, you can choose…

You do gain something keeping the tech team in Australia which is Australians are much more “team” orientated than Americans. “Mateship” really is a thing here that means something. A tight team with focus will beat a group of talented individuals every time.

I think the real strength of Australians is our cheerful cynicism and laconic humour; these allow for honest appraisal. We are optimistic ("she'll be right"), but it is a different species from American optimism ("I'm going to build the impossible").

I work in NYC and my office has, at any time, between 5 and 10 Australians working there, out of ~100. It is a tremendous comfort to have that common sense of humour at hand. If I had my way we'd have a few more.

Re: How Australian Tech Companies Can Think About Silicon Valley

#28

Post by jacques_chester »

nopassrecover wrote: post #15

The liveability of places like Adelaide (and even Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, and Perth) is such an undersold secret. Personally I'm so torn between wanting to tell everyone how good we have it and wanting to keep it to ourselves. Melbourne, Adelaide, and Perth are all in the top 10 cities to live in the world. Taking Adelaide for example (1.2 million people), we can live within 10-15 minutes of the CBD in a roomy t…

They may be liveable, but the work on offer is really nothing like the US market.

I tell folk that the NYC technology scene is larger than every Australian technology scene combined. The Bay Area's tech scene is large than every Australian scene multiplied. It is a stark difference.

In Darwin, I could get a job but not, as my father said, a career. In Perth I could get a career, but it would be in moving from backoffice to backoffice, with a lot of pleading for the job in-between. "Why yes, I have 152 years experience in .NET 72.8.1"

Having lived and worked in NYC for a few years, I am pestered by recruiters. Every week I will get one or two emails pitching startups and giants. There is fierce competition for talent -- it's the same position tradies were in during the height of the mining boom.

And I like it here. I am not a beach person, I can buy wine, it's a cultural capital and so on and so forth. I love Darwin, I miss it, but it was never going to be a big enough canvas. I miss my family in Perth but again, not enough of a canvas.

If NYC isn't enough, you are rapidly running out of places to go.

Re: How Australian Tech Companies Can Think About Silicon Valley

#29

Post by danieltillett »

jacques_chester wrote: post #27
danieltillett wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You do gain something keeping the tech team in Australia which is Australians are much more “team” orientated than Americans. “Mateship” really is a thing here that means something. A tight team with focus will beat a group of talented individuals every time.

I think the real strength of Australians is our cheerful cynicism and laconic humour; these allow for honest appraisal. We are optimistic ("she'll be right"), but it is a different species from American optimism ("I'm going to build the impossible"). I work in NYC and my office has, at any time, between 5 and 10 Australians working there, out of ~100. It is a tremendous comfort to have that common sense of humour at…

Australians tend to lack confidence on their own in the greater world, but when put together as a team they think they can beat everyone (and often do).

One thing we don't make is good managers of Americans - cynicism and laconic humour does not come across well with American employees.

Re: How Australian Tech Companies Can Think About Silicon Valley

#30

Post by gsvclass »

In my view with Australia cancelling the 457 visa that a lot of tech talent uses its pretty much over for everything tech related in AU. If you're looking for a fast growing tech city thats less expensive than the valley then head to Toronto

https://www.gostudy.com.au/blog/australian-457-sponsorship-v...

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