According to some local start-up luminaries, such as RedBubble
executive chairman Martin Hosking, the community has lost some of
its momentum.
"What's happened is that there was this (relatively brief, in
retrospect) period where people were talking about 'freakonomics',
or free economics," he told bootstrappr in an interview last week.
"You'd just launch something without any economic model at all,
and there was a lot of hype and a lot of noise about this, trying
to get to a million members, and worrying about the economics
later."
That period, according to Hosking, is over.
"There is just far less appetite for that these days, and I
think that means that few things will be launched," he said of the freakonomics model. This,
taken with the fact that it was hard to attract venture capital for
consumer-focused internet ventures in Australia, meant start-ups
would have to think closely about their business model.
"That's not a bad thing at any stage of a business," said
Hosking.
Despite these issues, Mick Liubinskas, co-founder of Australian
start-up consultancy Pollenizer, is optimistic about 2009,
believing the global financial crisis will stimulate new businesses
being formed due to redundancies and a general lack of
opportunities for expansion in existing businesses.
People are
going to have to stay lean for longer, stay focused.
Pollenizer co-founder Mick Liubinskas
"What we'll see this year is a lot of people starting slimline
businesses; there won't be as much news of companies getting
serious funding, or getting huge, but there will be a lot of
companies being started," he said in an interview. "People are
going to have to stay lean for longer, stay focused. Probably a
good thing anyway."
Despite such issues, however, Liubinskas said the local start-up
community was still vibrant. "If anything, in a difficult time, the
community comes closer together," he said. Pollenizer is planning to launch a co-working space for start-ups in
March, and events such as the Silicon Beach Australia Friday night
drinks in Sydney's Grace Hotel were proving popular, he said.
Many start-ups are using micro-blogging service Twitter, which
recently hit an all-time high in terms of Australian usage.
One likelihood this year is that some Australian start-ups will
close their doors. "People are dropping out, I'm certainly seeing
that," said Hosking. Liubinskas said he hasn't seen any close
yet, with most still having capital reserves, but it could change
towards the end of 2009.
"That's the natural way of high-risk businesses," he said.
"You give it a strong go for nine months and then you have to pack it
up and try something else."
"One positive thing that will come out of it this year is that
the Australian start-up scene will become less worried about
failure. Failure is really just a part of being in this business.
We should start respecting it and even cherishing it."
