21–30 of 33 posts
The left-learning government is not supportive of startup business. And the economic indicators are not good. Notable issues include High income earners cannot offset business losses, thus deterring entrepreneurs. IR protections intrude on flexible working. Border protections make labour import difficult, despite the lack of a critical mass for skills. Government spending is high (although less than in the US), at 34…
They didnt mention that a lot of Australians go overseas to work for companies, which could be a boon for us if an ecosystem blooms here, as I know a lot of entrepreneurs would love to move back to australia for the lifestyle.
I think he is vastly overestimating the number of Australians over here.
There are some serious problem with the immigration laws in Australia that would make such ecosystem very fragile. For example, we tried to hire a remote friend to move inland and work with us - and he is over qualified - yet because he's over 30, his chances of making it after 2 years of struggle with immigration are next to none. So as long as this happen, startups will be dead in the water. Australia has a lot of…
Can you describe the problems you've seen? Wife and I were over 30 when we moved to AU from the US. Certainly quite a bit of paperwork, but wasn't all that tough in reality.
I have a MSc in Software Engineering (on the critical skill list), experience on 4 continents and it was nothing short of a nightmare.
The immigration process over here is in a state of change at the moment for residency, hopefully this means it will be a much better process than what I experienced.
The left-learning government is not supportive of startup business. And the economic indicators are not good. Notable issues include High income earners cannot offset business losses, thus deterring entrepreneurs. IR protections intrude on flexible working. Border protections make labour import difficult, despite the lack of a critical mass for skills. Government spending is high (although less than in the US), at 34…
Government spending as a proportion of GDP is lower than in the USA.
The left-learning government is not supportive of startup business. And the economic indicators are not good. Notable issues include High income earners cannot offset business losses, thus deterring entrepreneurs. IR protections intrude on flexible working. Border protections make labour import difficult, despite the lack of a critical mass for skills. Government spending is high (although less than in the US), at 34…
I'd content that Australians' bias isn't against failure, but against making other people wear the cost of your failure.
The reason some failed businesses are held against owners, is because the owners didn't make sure there was enough in company to pay the workers their entitlements (salary, leave and superannuation) when the doors shut. While the typically still wealthy owners hide behind the limited liability of their company, the workers pay a cost they can ill afford. A failed company that meets its obligations to its employees will be admired for "giving it a go".
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Can you describe the problems you've seen? Wife and I were over 30 when we moved to AU from the US. Certainly quite a bit of paperwork, but wasn't all that tough in reality.
It took me 12 months from start of my residency application, 4 years total to get permanent residency in Australia. I was working for an Australian company for those 4 years. I have a MSc in Software Engineering (on the critical skill list), experience on 4 continents and it was nothing short of a nightmare. The immigration process over here is in a state of change at the moment for residency, hopefully this means it…
The left-learning government is not supportive of startup business. And the economic indicators are not good. Notable issues include High income earners cannot offset business losses, thus deterring entrepreneurs. IR protections intrude on flexible working. Border protections make labour import difficult, despite the lack of a critical mass for skills. Government spending is high (although less than in the US), at 34…
b) Australia is on track to deliver a budget surplus which many countries would be envious of. It has one of the lowest GDP to debt ratios out of all major economies and there is no way Australia is at risk of defaulting.
c) Australia has by far the most stable, capitalised and sensibly regulated banking systems in the world. The banks are probably doing TOO well.
d) Australia has been planning for population ageing for decades and we could easily ramp up immigration. The problem is community attitudes and state infrastructure.
e) The problem with startups in Australia isn't the government or banks. It is the VCs and incubators who have this ridiculous notion that the "team is 100x more important than the idea". So we have lots of startups with great teams working on truly pointless products.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
It took me 12 months from start of my residency application, 4 years total to get permanent residency in Australia. I was working for an Australian company for those 4 years. I have a MSc in Software Engineering (on the critical skill list), experience on 4 continents and it was nothing short of a nightmare. The immigration process over here is in a state of change at the moment for residency, hopefully this means it…
3-4 years for permanent residency is pretty common when you're moving into a country on a work visa. It's the same for the 3 commonwealth countries I've lived in and I believe the US as well.
Not only did the original application fee need to be paid but the entire lot of paperwork had to be re-submitted.
All because the business number had changed due to an acquisition, right bang in the middle of my residency application.
The left-learning government is not supportive of startup business. And the economic indicators are not good. Notable issues include High income earners cannot offset business losses, thus deterring entrepreneurs. IR protections intrude on flexible working. Border protections make labour import difficult, despite the lack of a critical mass for skills. Government spending is high (although less than in the US), at 34…
> Business failure is perceived by many as personal failure rather than a learning experience. I'd content that Australians' bias isn't against failure, but against making other people wear the cost of your failure. The reason some failed businesses are held against owners, is because the owners didn't make sure there was enough in company to pay the workers their entitlements (salary, leave and superannuation) when…
They didnt mention that a lot of Australians go overseas to work for companies, which could be a boon for us if an ecosystem blooms here, as I know a lot of entrepreneurs would love to move back to australia for the lifestyle.
They did: "...influx of quality talent into the Australia ecosystem. These talents comes from the successful Australian engineers and designers who have left or will soon leave their careers at huge tech companies such as Facebook or Google to join or start new ventures back at home." I think he is vastly overestimating the number of Australians over here.
I'm one of those Australians who moved to the US to work at Google, and then left to join a startup, Puppet Labs.
There are a lot of Australians in tech in the Bay Area, particularly working in operations, and a regular topic of conversation is "what would I do if I moved back to Australia?"
I'd still probably try to start a new tech company in the US, but I feel much less strongly about that than I did a couple of years ago, and hopefully that trend continues.