Category: IN THE USA

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A Dangerous Idea: The Self Start Nation

Alan Noble is a classic start up entrepreneur. In his early years he got experience in one of the world’s largest tech companies, NEC, in Japan. He then left for Silicon Valley, starting up Netmind from scratch. He exited in 2000, selling the company to Nokia just as the dot com bubble burst. He is also an Australian.

By his own admission, Alan’s career is not without its bumps. He now heads Google Australia’s Engineering team and was deeply involved in the technology behind Google Wave, which was commercially unsuccessful. But it is failure, Alan told me over breakfast today, which breeds success in the world of entrepreneurship. Australians, young, fresh out of University and eager to change the world, could do a lot worse then go into business for themselves and just have a go. Not all change comes from political activism.

I fear we might have lost something of this instinct to create something from nothing in Australia. We’re too happy to let others carry the can. I was interviewed by the ABC about my views on Australian innovation yesterday. The interview will be broadcast at 7.30am on Radio National on the Saturday Extra programme and I’ll be on with Alec Cameron, Dean of the Australian School of Business. They were keen to press this point: what can government do to fix the problem. But is government the audience for this message? I’m inclined to say, in the end, no.

The government can help create an attractive investment environment – tax breaks for start ups, incentives to drive private investment into angel investing. But in the end, it requires the scientist with the kooky ideas to network with the great business brain to produce an Australian company which can lead with world.

This is not a hypothetical. Some are already doing it. But unlike our sportsmen and actors, the successes of our great entrepreneurs are rarely broadcast. Sure, we know the big business guys. But what about the small guys – those who strive from small beginnings to be the next Mark Zuckerberg? Telling their stories shows young guns how the job is done. The Americans do this exceptionally well. The British do as well – the TV show Dragon’s Den is a huge success. I’d like the ABC to start an Australian equivalent of Dragon’s Den which shows the go-to-exit on taking good ideas to market.

That, in the end, is the dangerous idea behind my Festival of Dangerous Ideas appearance tomorrow. Australia is a nation of self-starters. But we have lost that of late. And we should not just wait for the government to start it back up.

I have a piece in the Australian’s Entrepreneur magazine today on how small businesses and entrepreneurs can change the world for the better. See the hard copy.

I have another piece for Fairfax App customers today on how our investment culture can drive private investment in our best and brightest from the bottom up. Read it here

You can also tune into Radio National tomorrow here, or better still wait for the Festival of Dangerous Ideas which will be broadcast nation-wide at some point to discuss the future of Australian industry – here. The pessimists point to the cliff at the end of the mining boom. The optimists are busy building the ladders from the bottom up.

On a not entirely unrelated point, I was on ABC The Drum on this Wednesday defending the freedom of speech, which includes with freedom to make mistakes. You don’t have to agree with someone to acknowledge their right to state their view. Click here to watch it.

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Not Just a Lucky Country

We tend of think of Australia as a lucky country – a land rich with minerals and mining. But it imples we are just lucky. Our wealth comes from something we got for free … not hard work.

Perhaps this values us too lightly? Tonight on ABC radio (Wednesday 24th) I’ll discuss an alternative narrative with Paul Barclay on Australia Talks. Please tune in to Radio National from 6pm to listen. More details here

To my mind, we’re not as bad at innovation as you might expect. The world is changing and there are things about Australia which are to our advantage. We have a highly mobile population. We are heavily invested in public research and education ($7 billion annually). And we have deep pockets – with the world’s fourth largest funds management industry.

But if there is a problem, it’s not the lack of ideas or potential. It’s the importance we place on commercialising them. As the economic producitivty agenda makes headlines, our politicians and journalists turn to two ideas: labour market flexibility and investment in education. But what about capital investment in the hardware of the economy? In Australia Talks I’ll be talking about the widgets and gadgets which are changing our economic landscape one invention at a time.

The Americans have a grand history of venture investment and innovation. The Rockefellers were great venture capitalists after John D. made his fortune in oil. The retail family, the Waltons, are another example. In Australia, we have shown a greater proclivity towards what’s risky over what’s novel. We invest in stocks, and bonds, and property. But private investment in technology – venture capital investment – is shrinking.

Part of the job is for the hard heads of finance – men and women who talk numbers and balance books. Another part  is inspiring a generation of dreamers and entrepreneurs. Recently whilst at a Melbourne jelly to interview some start up entrepreneurs for The Australian, I was told they felt shunned as start up entrepreneurs. Their parents thought they were drop outs.

Americans treat entrepreneurs like we treat sportsmen. They respect their hard work, determination, and willingness to have a go. Maybe we are a lucky country after all. But if we don’t bank that luck wisely, we’ll be lost when it runs out.

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When you’re simply the best

Americans can be a baffling bunch sometimes. Australians and Brits tend to understate a case when they make it. Americans, on the other hand, sometimes get hot under the collar if a point is not made forcefully enough. Like, for example, when a President understates just how ‘exceptional’ a nation you are.

That is apparently the problem with Barack Obama. Obama got in trouble from the Tea Party last year for saying something that sounds reasonable to an Australian ear. “I believe in American exceptionalism, just as I suspect that the Brits believe in British exceptionalism and the Greeks believe in Greek exceptionalism,” he said.

One has to wonder what this attack on Obama is really about. One view is that it is an oblique attack by the ‘Birthers’ on Obama’s legitimacy as an American-born President. Another is that it rides negative sentiment about whether Obama is really deciding in his country’s best interests.

Both might be true, but beneath the surface there may be some disquiet of Obama’s new approach to foreign policy. In a speech he gave late last year, Obama made a statement advocating for “a new era of engagement”. He went on to say:

“I see no contradiction between believing that America has a continued extraordinary role in leading the world towards peace and prosperity and recognizing that leadership is incumbent, depends on, our ability to create partnerships because we can’t solve these problems alone.”

It is a bold and intriguing decision. I’m no expert on US foreign policy or American history, but I’m fascinated by where this superpower finds itself on history’s timeline. If you have any reactions please comment away!

For an interesting podcast on the subject click here.