FOCUS LESS ON STARTING ,MORE ON GROWING

Too much academic literature focuses on business ideas and venture creation, says a published review of research by Tim Mazzarol of the University of Western Australia. The same could be said of the media, which is often dazzled by the idea, not the execution.

This review suggests Australia needs more emphasis on developing entrepreneurial ventures rather than starting them, more research on implementing good ideas rather than creating them and greater insight into how to turn a $10 million business into a $100 million or $1 billion business.

“Australia is quite good at starting businesses but we are not so good at growing them,” says Mike Cannon-Brookes. “We need better mechanisms to help business get to the next level of growth. More favourable tax treatment of employee share option plans and better access to mid-market finance are badly needed here.”

Catcha Group’s Patrick Grove says: “The funding system for early-stage entrepreneurs needs to be greatly enhanced. It’s easy to get angel investing in Australia but after that, it is hard and challenging. Countries such as Malaysia and Singapore recognised the same problem with their own domestic entrepreneurs and created significant funds and ventures to fund early-stage entrepreneurs.

“The Malaysian government is working with Catcha to the tune of $US50 million to fund early-stage entrepreneurs in Malaysia. Australia cannot even come close to this at the moment. We need to develop this type of funding [system] more aggressively.”

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