Interesting stuff, as a native of Silicon Valley, veteran of countless start-ups, and a recent transplant to Melbourne, I felt obligated to chime in.
There is an old joke list of "You know you from silicon valley when" items, like: "You live on some of the richest farmland in the world, yet all the produce you eat comes from another hemisphere." The flippant response to why SV surpassed Boston's Route 128 in relevancy is "the Mediterranean climate." The real answer is openness. Route 128 and indeed many other "Silicon X's" have an artificial feel about them, big business opens some labs near a fancy tech school and bang! Silicon Isthmus is born! The problem here is that innovation is following money and accordingly secrecy is called for to protect the investment. SV has more the culture of a bunch of geeks hanging out, most importantly innovation precedes the money and total openness and sharing is ok, because there is no money until you've got a winning innovation (and sharing gets you to a winner faster). The whole PARC, Apple, Microsoft fiasco further conveys this openness, where else in the world would you have a situation like that? "Hey, we invented this totally new way to use computers, you guys are starting some computer companies? Feel free to have a look, heck take pictures if you want!" Back to the topic of visas, SV companies maintained a huge number of foreign tech workers, but not in the way that you might think. Once the VC money started to flow, engineers started to get dot com fever and they did one of two things: jumped ship for a start-up or, more frequently, decreased productivity while forming their own start-up. This lead to a dearth of engineers and the visas began to flow to fill those roles. Visas for migrant entrepreneurs is more of the innovation following the money. Speaking from personal experience, innovating is very hard in a new environment. Sure I have countless ideas, but so many things here just don't make sense to me, I'm always left wondering that maybe people like things done in this way that I can't comprehend a reason for. Am I really willing to put in the time and energy (though I do believe that typically SV start-up hours are illegal here?) to shoot in the dark? Maybe I should do market research and focus groups and then innovation is following the money again. Vicious. Thank you all, I've really been enjoying this group and look forward to more stimulating conversations. Cheers, Rob On 02/03/2012 02:57 PM, drllau wrote: > Ecosystem - small word big impact. The 3Ts are talent, technology & > tolerance. I'll expound on the soft culture side here as talent+tech > are usually self-obvious. What makes a great self-perpetuating startup > culture? > > - tolerance of failure > - tolerance of diversity > - tolerance of wierdness (way out ideas) > > Let's compare Taiwan v Singapore. Singapore tried the regional HQ > model in the 70s, hoping to attract anchor tenants. To large extent it > has worked as with efficient ports, clean civil governance and 4 > industry policy it has prospered. However, when I visited, it was > noticeable that they were risk-adverse, the exemplar of a job was a > high-paying civil position so the best and brightest went into gov. > Also the inability to contradict authority means that prevalent logic > pervails, the nail that sticks out gets hammered. It was only recently > that Singapore decriminalised homosexuality. > > Taiwan on the other hand welcomed the mobility of scientists/engineers/ > researchers to/from US. Rather than build national champions, small > family firms occupied strategic niches (eg micro stepper motors for > lithographic machines). Some brands have emerged Acer, and with their > science parks have come up with their own twists on electronic paper. > IMHO more dynamic and responsive than Singapore. > > The raw statistics are interesting, in terms of GDP growth per unit > investment, it can be shown that Singapore has dropped behind so > whilst the economy looks good on paper, they are not getting bang for > buck. Taiwan has more diversity, look at their indigenous film > directors, close links with Japan, under table trade with PRC (still > old poltiical tensions) but the culture makes a big difference in the > innovation eco-system. > > Lawrence > http://nz.linkedin.com/in/drllau > > On Feb 2, 7:13 pm, Nigel Sheridan-Smith <[email protected]> wrote: >> Could you argue that its not a particular country that excels at one thing, >> but that its the whole ecosystem. >> >> In Silicon Valley, there is a very clear ecosystem and support structures >> for any aspect of a IT startup (and in some cases, other types of startups, >> such as biomedical or green energy). >> >> In Australia, the eco-system(s) are beginning to emerge, but there are >> undoubtedly still 'gaps' here and there. For example, web-based startups >> are doing very well at the moment, particularly in Sydney and Melbourne. >> However, startups that focus on other aspects of technology or an entirely >> different industry have bigger struggles because it is harder to convince >> investors, particularly if they are more 'risk adverse' in comparison to >> their overseas counterparts. >> >> The role of government, perhaps, should be 'minimal intervention' but >> focussed on helping the ecosystem to emerge and develop further so that it >> is self-sustaining - focusing on closing out any 'gaps'. For example, >> Startup Chile, has attracted international talent into Chile through small >> funding initiatives purely so that they can pass on their knowledge and >> experience to local startups. This gives an immediate boost to the >> ecosystem and attracts the attention of international investors too. >> >> Visas are one small part of this ecosystem. Whilst I have considered >> starting a business in the USA or UK, the barriers of entry on 'Business' >> Visas are too high - a demonstrable minimum investment of $50k up to $250k >> is typical. You can only do this if you already have the business funded >> somehow. Many founders cannot afford this, without the investors first, and >> the investors will want to keep the business local (unless the market >> opportunity is clearly in another region). The only other option is to get >> a work visa and start the business from there, nominating yourself as an >> 'employee' and meeting all the government requirements. >> >> Cheers, >> >> Nigel >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> On Thu, Feb 2, 2012 at 4:48 PM, drllau <[email protected]> wrote: >>> One wonders whether visa incentives are putting the cart before the >>> horse. If you look at history, creative talent always head to where >>> other creatives are. Paris was THE place to be for artists, poets and >>> sculpturors last century, America went through robber baron era of >>> great industralists, and silicon valley for IT today. >>> I think every country has their own particular strengths in innovation >>> (Australia mining, NZ food) and trying to jump on the bandwagon is >>> trying to chase a MagLev train (accelerating out of sight). I'd be >>> happy for the politicians to take a technology neutral stance (no >>> picking winners) and just work on the basics like education, >>> industrial policies to encourage tech up-skilling, and enforcing >>> competition laws. Not trying to adopt extra-legal procedures without >>> voters input/oversight from federal Free Trade Acts would be a bonus. >>> Smart people will vote with their feet. >>> Look at the wine industry in SA as a classic example of grassroots >>> innovation (though whatever happened to the cask?) >>> Lawrence >>> http:// nz.linkedin.com/in/drllau >>> On Jan 29, 1:46 pm, Liisa Triin Vurma <[email protected]> wrote: >>>> Only few people can actually apply for the Independent Skilled visa as >>> they need to have very specific professions to qualify. >>>> They refer it to as the Skilled Occupation list that mainly consists of >>> medical professionals, engineers or plumbers. >>>> Speaking of experince, it is very hard and often almost impossible to >>> come to Australia as a foreigner to start something on your own. >>>> Liisa >>>> On 29/01/2012, at 11:33 AM, Jonathan Clarke wrote: >>>>> Hi David, >>>>> Sure, there is that option. With the general skilled migration visa >>>>> you are not tied to any specific employer. >>>>> All that faces said prospective entrepreneur is a 8 month to 2 year >>>>> wait (offshore processing), about 4-6k AUD in fees, this isn't taking >>>>> into account the amount you would also need to pay a migration agent. >>>>> Is this really the policy Australia is betting on if it entrepreneurs >>>>> to come to its shores? >>>>> Be aware I'm taking about entrepreneurs who have raised a funding >>>>> round and wish to set up shop (headquarters) in Australia and not >>>>> general migrants. >>>>> The US seems to face a similar problem, I've heard of people heading >>>>> to Singapore or Hong Kong instead when their applications are in >>>>> limbo. >>>>> It's not an easy problem to solve! So I'm guessing my question is >>>>> what Australia be focusing on bringing more entrepreneurs to its >>>>> shores? >>>>> Jonathan >>>>> On Sat, Jan 28, 2012 at 9:38 AM, David Lyon >>>>> <[email protected]> wrote: >>>>>> I'm pretty sure we already have a form of that. >>>>>> I can't cite the program name exactly but I thought it was classed >>>>>> under the Skilled Migration visa class. >>>>>> If somebody wishes to enter Australia, has the money and the >>>>>> skills, then a particular visa class already allows them to do that. >>>>>> -- >>>>>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Silicon >>> Beach >>>>>> Australia mailing list. Visthttp://siliconbeachaustralia.orgformore >>>>>> Forum rules >>>>>> 1) No lurkers! It is expected that you introduce yourself. >>>>>> 2) No jobs postings. You can usehttp://siliconbeachaustralia.org/jobs >>>>>> To post to this group, send email to >>>>>> [email protected] >>>>>> To unsubscribe from this group, send email to >>>>>> [email protected] >>>>>> For more options, visit this group at >>>>>> http://groups.google.com/group/silicon-beach-australia?hl=en?hl=en >>>>> -- >>>>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Silicon >>> Beach Australia mailing list. Visthttp://siliconbeachaustralia.orgformore >>>>> Forum rules >>>>> 1) No lurkers! It is expected that you introduce yourself. >>>>> 2) No jobs postings. You can usehttp://siliconbeachaustralia.org/jobs >>>>> To post to this group, send email to >>>>> [email protected] >>>>> To unsubscribe from this group, send email to >>>>> [email protected] >>>>> For more options, visit this group at >>>>> http://groups.google.com/group/silicon-beach-australia?hl=en?hl=en >>> -- >>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Silicon Beach >>> Australia mailing list. Visthttp://siliconbeachaustralia.orgfor more >>> Forum rules >>> 1) No lurkers! It is expected that you introduce yourself. >>> 2) No jobs postings. You can usehttp://siliconbeachaustralia.org/jobs >>> To post to this group, send email to >>> [email protected] >>> To unsubscribe from this group, send email to >>> [email protected] >>> For more options, visit this group at >>> http://groups.google.com/group/silicon-beach-australia?hl=en?hl=en
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