The History of the Australian Startup Ecosystem: Interview Series

This special bonus episode was recorded live at Fishburners as part of the Spark Festival in October 2022, to celebrate the launch of The History of the Australian Startup Ecosystem documentary. The event included a …

What does the future hold for the Australian startup ecosystem? After five episodes focused on the past, this episode will finally be tackling that …

Episode 5 begins during the onset of the Coronavirus Pandemic which disrupted every facet of life as we knew it. As lockdowns and other measures were enacted throughout the country, different markets and industries were …

This episode kicks off in September 2015, when Malcolm Turnbull was elected as the 29th Prime Minister of Australia. Unveiling the National …

In episode 3, we take a deep dive into the birth of the Australian startup ecosystem. Although everyone may have a different perspective on what caused this "cambrian explosion", we discuss 7 key catalysts in this …

Episode 2 begins in the aftermath of the dot com bust. We explore the story of LookSmart through the lens of its co-founder, Evan Thornley and the tough choices he had to make. Up until this point, founders largely …

In this episode, we explore the seed phase of the Australian startup ecosystem, tracing its roots to some of the earliest catalysts to what we see today. Australian pioneers started innovating well before anything …

Steve Grace is CEO and founder of The Nudge Group, which works with startups and scale-ups to support them through various stages of business growth. Based in Australia, The Nudge Group has expanded globally with …

Peter Tippett is a serial entrepreneur with decades of experience working in startups both in Australia and around the world. He is currently working on three ventures, all of which he co-founded in the last few years: …

John Allsopp is an author, web developer and conference organiser who’s been working in Australia’s startup ecosystem for nearly three decades. In 2006 he co-founded Web Directions, a conference series for people …

Lars Rasmussen is a Danish computer scientist and tech angel investor with a long history of working within the startup ecosystem both within Australia and internationally, including as co-founder of Google Maps, and as …

Ric Richardson is an Australian inventor who first came to prominence as a result of his invention of Software Activation, a technique used in …

Brad Parsons is CEO and founder of Movus, a company that provides monitoring tools for industrial equipment with the mission of preserving the …

Eloise Hall and Isobel Marshall are the founders of Taboo, a social enterprise that sell organic cotton pads and tampons, with all profits going towards eradicating period poverty. The Eloise and Isobel were first …

What will the new economy look like? As startups become the new way of life, Australia must become more open and less restrictive to encourage innovation. Hear entrepreneurs' firsthand accounts of their journey and …

Joshua Flannery is the Founder and CEO of Innovation Dojo, an organisation active in both Australia and Japan which was founded in 2016 to support startups and entrepreneurs. Josh (as he prefers to be called) has had a …

Markus Kahlbetzer is CEO and founder of BridgeLane, which labels itself an “alternative investment company” and aims to bring innovation to more …

Pauline Fetaui is General Manager at River City Labs, a startup community hub in Brisbane, as well as founder of CheeHoo, a personal assistant app …

Kim Heras is Partner at 25Fifteen, a “startup studio” which as Kim describes in the episode is a model of startup support similar but distinct from accelerators and incubators. Kim has contributed to the growth of …

Darryl Lyons is the Entrepreneur in Residence at both James Cook University in Cairns, Queensland, and at Farmers2Founders, a national Agri-tech organisation that helps aspiring entrepreneurs and founders from early …

Emily Casey is the founder and director of What The Health, a health media company and community that aims to fuel the next generation of health innovation in Australia. Emily initially pursued a more traditional career …

Yolanda Redrup is a senior journalist with The Australian Financial Review, with a focus on technology and healthcare. Yolanda first began covering …

Dr Megan Sebben is the Program Manager at CSIRO’s Kick-Start Program, an initiative designed to help innovative Australian startups and small businesses develop their business and grow by providing funding support and …

Alex Scandurra is the founding CEO of Stone & Chalk, a not-for-profit organisation which aims to support Australian startups, scaleups, corporations and governments at every stage of their innovation journey. Alex …

Phil Ireland is Co-Founder and CEO of Hone Carbon, a mission-driven business with the objective of unlocking the potential for carbon storage in …

Dr Dharmica Mistry is Director of Diagnostics and Industry Engagement at MTP Connect, a not-for-profit organisation focused on growing the MedTech, BioTech and pharmaceutical sectors. Prior to this she was the …

Wayne Gerard is co-founder of RedEye, a tech company which manages engineering information for large, complex asset owners such as councils, hospitals, power and water utilities and mining companies. Wayne is also …

Don Wright is the Director of Innovation & Entrepreneurship at Western Sydney University, as well as co-founder of Western Sydney University Launch Pad, a business and innovation support program that provides …

Trevor Folsom is Co-Founder and Chairman at Investible, an early-stage investment group that aims to connect ground-breaking companies with the …

Allan O’Connor is Co-Executive Director for the Centre for Enterprise Dynamics in Global Economies at the University of South Australia, as well as a researcher and teacher for for the undergraduate Bachelor of Business …

Sam Jockel is the founder of ParentTV, which offers hundreds of on-demand videos and courses to support the parenting and care of children from birth to teens. Sam is also the Entrepreneur In Residence at The University …

Alex Carpenter is the founder (or as he puts it, the “Initial Nudger, Steward and Groundskeeper”) of The Guild of Entrepreneurs, an independent organisation that draws on Alex’s experience, as well as that of many …

Dr James Fielding is the Founder and Managing Director of Audeara, a hearing health technology company that produces headphones designed to deliver …

Hayden Williams is Senior Product Manager for Existing Customers at MYOB, a cloud-based business management platform fit for Enterprise, SME & startup businesses. In his conversation with Adam, Hayden discusses the …

Samantha Finnegan is the founder of Madebox, a company which provides customers with gift boxes of curated goods from small regional producers, in …

Emma Fawcett is General Manager, SME at MYOB, a cloud-based business management platform fit for Enterprise, SME & startup businesses. Prior to …

Vicki Engsall is the co-founder of The Jojoba Company, an Australian skincare company which produces a range of products which use jojoba oil, a liquid wax ester extracted from the seeds of the jojoba plant. Vicki’s …

Evan Thornley is a serial entrepreneur with decades of experience founding and leading tech startups, including Australia’s first to be listed on the NASDAQ and reach a more than $1 billion valuation. In 1995 Evan …

Andrew Nunn is the co-founder, Chairman and Executive Director of JBS&G, one of Australia’s largest privately owned environmental consulting …

Lana Weal is the founder of Market Mindfully, a marketing consultancy company that aims to support impact-driven startups in Australia and New …

Arthur Sinodinos is an Australian diplomat and former Liberal Party politician who has served as Ambassador to the United States since February 2020. …

Petr Adámek is the CEO of the Canberra Innovation Network (CBRIN), a not for profit with the mission of empowering entrepreneurs to create positive change. Peter, originally from the Czech Republic, first entered the …

Ashley Baxter is the founder of Monty Compost Co, a clean-tech startup building hardware and software technology for monitoring and managing organic …

Peter Devine is CEO of Uniseed, Australia’s longest running venture fund which works with researchers, businesses and industry to provide the best pathway to commercialise cutting-edge research. Peter has been with …

Tim Fung is founder of Airtasker, a local services marketplace connecting people and businesses who need work done with people wanting to work. He is also co-founder and Director of Tank Stream Labs, a tech startup …

Simon Thomsen is editor of Startup Daily and host of the Startup Daily show which airs on the business streaming service AusBiz.com.au. He is also an investor in early stage startups, and was previously Associate …

Rohit Bhargava runs the podcast The Startup Playbook Podcast, where each week he interviews successful entrepreneurs, investors and industry experts. …

Louise Nobes is the founder and CEO of KIK Innovation, an organisation that aims to end youth unemployment through enterprise. Louise is also the founder of 42 Adelaide, an Australian branch of the global educational …

Darren Winterford is the founder and CEO of EdApp, a mobile focused LMS (learning management system) which allows its users to create learning experiences that can be accessed on mobile devices in bite sized chunks …

Craig Swann is the Event Director for SouthStart, Australia’s first innovation impact festival which brings together entrepreneurs, technologists, …

Serina Bird is the author of The Joyful Frugalista, a personal finance guide, and runs online courses on money and finance. She also founded The …

Moira Were has been involved in many endeavors in the Australian startup ecosystem throughout her long career, with a focus on projects striving for …

Tim Boyle is Director of Innovation & Commercialisation at ANSTO, Australia’s Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation. Tim is also the …

Bill Tai is a global venture capitalist who is based in Silicon Valley and spends part of the year in Perth. Bill has been funding startups as a Venture Capitalist since 1991, and has had 23 of his startups become …

Rohan McDougall is the director of commercialisation at Curtin University, where his team work to identify business opportunities for new products and services that arise research conducted at the university. Rohan has …

Kate Jones is the former Minister for Innovation in the Queensland government, and has spent the last 20 years of her life working in politics. …

Kylie Frazer is co-founder and partner of Flying Fox Ventures, an Australian investment firm with a focus on early stage tech companies. Flying Fox …

James Tynan is Principal at Square Peg, which is currently Australia’s largest independent Venture Capital firm with $1.6 billion under management and offices in Sydney, Melbourne, Singapore and Tel Aviv. Prior to …

Pete Horsley is the founder of Remarkable, a tech accelerator for early stage startups in the disability tech space. Starting his career as a landscape architect, Pete now has more than 10 years’ experience working in …

Mick Liubinskas is the founder of Climate Salad, an organisation that aims to boost climate tech companies in Australia and New Zealand by providing …

Pete Lead is former Head of Programs at tech startup accelerator BlueChilli, the author of the The Startup Guide, a toolkit designed for startup …

Alan Noble is the founder of AusOcean, a not-for-profit organisation with the mission of helping the world’s oceans through technology. Alan also …

Terry Hilsberg is a co-owner and partner in Fork Ventures, an investment firm that primarily focuses its investments in crypto projects. Terry is also a Venture Partner in InnoHub Capital, a global innovation …

Matt Bullock is the CEO and founder of Spinify, a gamification platform that aims to help motivate staff of an organisation through visibility of …

Emily Rich is a co-founder and partner at M8 Ventures, a venture fund that focuses on investing in tech startups during their “pre-seed” stage. Emily is also Director of Startups for APAC, where she has been tasked with …

Peter Bradd was the founding director and initial CEO of Fishburners, one of Australia’s first coworking spaces which has been home to a community of startups since its founding in 2011. Peter has also served as Board …

Leslie is the Indigenous Entrepreneurship Director at Minderoo Foundation, an Australian not-for-profit organisation seeking effective, scalable …

Anthony Ferrier is an innovation and commercialisation specialist, primarily working within the intersection between startups and corporations. Anthony is the head of Innovation and Commercialisation at Swinburne …

Colette Grgic is Head of Startup Ecosystem in Australia and New Zealand at AWS (Amazon Web Service), a role which sees her leading a team that works …

Zoe Piper has been working at the intersection of industry, research and government for two decades, with a diverse and lengthy résumé. She is the …

Phil Hayes-St Clair is co-founder and CEO of Drop Bio, a digital health company with a mission of accelerating the world’s transition to personalised health by increasing consumers and clinicians’ access to data. Phil …

Zrinka Tokic is the director of ThincLab, the University of Adelaide’s business incubator that has its headquarters in Adelaide but also has locations in Singapore and New Zealand. Zrinka is also director of the …

David Burt is the Director of Entrepreneurship at UNSW, where his team helps students, academics, staff and alumni turn their ideas into a startup. …

Rachael Neumann is one of the founding partners of Flying Fox Ventures, an early stage venture capital firm backing startups in Australia and New …

Pete Cooper is a serial founder and mentor who has worked in a wide variety of roles in the technology startup space. He is Director of Cooper & …

Anna Wright is the CEO and co-founder of BindiMaps, a smartphone app that helps anybody find their way around complicated indoor spaces such as shopping centres and hospitals. Their mission is to make every indoor space …

Chad Renando is director of Startup Status, a not-for-profit which aims to help organisations that support entrepreneurs by mapping and measuring the innovation ecosystem across Australia. He is also Managing Director …

Annie Parker is a startup investor and advisor with 20+ years experience in the digital startup, technology and consulting sectors. Currently, Annie …

Brendan Hill is an angel investor and startup mentor and advisor. He is Syndicate Lead at Logan and Wayne, a firm that invest in early stage tech startups. Before becoming an investor, Brendan founded and ran an online …

Lucinda Hartley is an urban strategist and serial entrepreneur. She is the co-founder of Neighbourlytics, a social analytics platform for …

Baden U’Ren is an entrepreneurship educator and innovation professional who has worked in a variety of roles within the Australian startup ecosystem. …

Daniel Flynn is co-founder of Thankyou, a social enterprise that was founded in 2008 and sells consumer products to help end extreme poverty. In 2015 Daniel’s book, Chapter One, became a bestseller and generated $1.4 …

Aaron Birkby is the co-founder of The Unconventional Group, and has over two decades experience working as a founder, advisor, board member, investor and facilitator in the Australian startup ecosystem. He has worked in …

Mark Pesce is the host of This Week In Startups Australia (TWISTA), a podcast which has charted the growth and maturity of Australia’s startup ecosystem since 2014. Born in the US, Mark first worked for a startup in …

Malcolm Turnbull was the 29th Prime Minister of Australia between 2015 - 2018, in which time he launched the National Innovation and Science Agenda …

Jodie Fox co-founded Shoes of Prey, an innovative shoe retail company which at its peak was a global business, with more than 200 staff, six million shoes designed and US $27 million in funding raised. After Shoes of …

James Alexander is the co-founder of Galileo Ventures, which focuses on investing in young, first time startup founders. Prior to this, James founded Incubate, an accelerator program run out of the University of Sydney. …

An Angel Investor and co-founder of multiple startup ventures, Susan Oliver has also served as a board member on over a dozen organisations in her …

Phil Morle is a Partner at Main Sequence Ventures, a venture capital firm founded by the CSIRO which invests in early stage technology companies with …

Dr Silvia Pfeiffer is CEO of Coviu, a video telehealth company which provides software to healthcare providers. Originally from Germany, Silvia moved …

Murray Hurps is the Director of Entrepeneurship at UTS, tasked with growing the number of student-founded startups coming out of the university. With a long list of credentials in the Australian startup ecosystem, …

With a background in management consulting and corporate finance, Rachel Yang is a partner at Giant Leap, Australia’s first venture capital fund …

Ian Gardiner is an Investment Partner at Jelix Ventures, a firm which invests in early stage tech startups in Australia and New Zealand, and a co-founder of Innovation Bay, which works to create and nurture supportive …

Nicole O’Brien is CEO of Fishburners, a not-for-profit co-working space and community hub for tech startup founders with a rich history of supporting …

Dean McEvoy is a seasoned startup founder and angel investor, having founded three startups including Spreets.com, Australia’s first group buying …

Georgie Turner is Principal at Tidal Ventures, a seed-stage focused venture capital investment firm which is based in Australia and has an office in the US. Tidal Ventures invest primarily in B2B software startups. …

Colin Kinner is founder and CEO of Startup Onramp, a training and mentoring program for first time startup founders. With a long history of …

With experience founding and co-founding tech startups since 1995, Alan Jones is a veteran of Australia’s startup ecosystem. An angel investor and advisor, Alan has supported Australian startups independently and …

After practicing as a lawyer for six years, Paul Bassat co-founded Seek with his brother Andrew in 1997, which in 2005 was floated on the Australian …

Melissa Widner is the CEO of Lighter Capital, an investment firm that is based in the US and launched in Australia in 2020. Their novel model …

Hamish Hawthorn has been deeply involved in the development of the Australian startup ecosystem. A qualified mechanical engineer with postgraduate …

Peta Ellis is the founder of EverydayEntrepreneur365.com.au, and an entrepreneur who’d founded 4 companies before 30, and has gone on to spend much …

Alfred Lo is co-founder and Chief Commercial Officer at Harvest B, a tech startup developing a plant-based meat ingredient system. Previously Chief Investment Officer at Cicada Innovations, an incubator for Australian …

Dr Sarah Pearson has a wealth of experience from a wide variety of roles within the science, technology and startup sector. Previously Global Head of …

Michael Batko is the CEO of Startmate, an accelerator that has invested in 170+ startups across Australia and New Zealand with a collective portfolio …

Julie Trell is an American woman who moved to Australia in 2017 to pursue two opportunities in the Australian startup ecosystem: working as head of …

With no experience but a lot of guts and vision, Peter Davison moved to Silicon Valley and started a Venture Capital firm with a friend in 1998. They had several early successes, most famously as early investors in …

Maxine Sherrin is the Program Director of Spark Festival, a not-for-profit festival that aims to grow entrepreneurship in Australia by bringing together people from all corners of the startup world: founders, investors, …

Cameron Adams is a co-founder and Chief Product Officer at Canva, an online design platform with over 20 million users. After starting his own design agency and then working for Google, Cameron founded Fluent with two …

Lauren Capelin is a community strategist and disruptive innovation specialist passionate about the development and application of new business models, corporate social innovation, impact investment and fostering …

Bruce Tulloch is the co-founder and managing director of BitScope Designs, which creates IOT (Internet of Things) and cloud computing tools for …

In 1994, before the terms "startup" or "bootstrapping" were in common use, Steve Baxter started a successful internet service provider, SE Net, from …

Kate Cornick is the CEO of LaunchVic, the Victorian Government’s initiative to accelerate startups and create new jobs in Victoria. Before taking …

Andrea Gardiner is the founder of Jelix, an investment firm which focuses on early stage technology startups in Australia and New Zealand. In her …

Cheryl Mack is passionate about supporting founders and has done so in a variety of roles over the years: as a mentor for programs including …

As CEO of Freelance Limited, Matt Barrie overseas the management of both freelancer.com, a service through which 54 million freelancers offer every type of service you can possibly imagine, as well as escrow.com, a …

Niki Scevak has a long and diverse background in the Australian startup ecosystem. From his entrepreneurial beginnings co-founding two software …

3 interviews will be released each week starting in January. The audio documentary that will tell the story of the Australian startup ecosystem will be released in June 2022.

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