Building our Future - Nurturing our Innovators

1n 2002 BSI identified a need to support innovators.... 13 years on, with innovation squarely on the agenda, and 13 years of blood , sweat and tears, helping entrepreneurs and innovators grow, we are looking forward, together with the Superannuation and Investment community,  being a contributor to Australia's future, supporting and nurturing innovation!

Our call for Investment in Startups in 2002.... 13 years on... the time has come!! from Ivan Kaye

Are public companies dinosaurs? Is it better to invest your super in startups and the new economy ? Can the 2 paradigms work together to create a win win win?

Ownership and management

Managers deal with anonymous owners, represented by fund managers who buy and sell shares listed on a stock exchange with no emotion. By trying to align management with stock options aligned to financial returns - short term decisions are made, innovation stifled (you can't go wrong by hiring IBM) and profits tend to be manipulated to manage shareholders expectations (HIH in Australia, Enron, the 2008 banking crisis, what's next?)

Ownership and management of a startup however, is aligned . Founders, staff and backers exert control directly. 

The new way

Young entrepreneurs are creating new firms in shared spaces and collaboration, fuelled by  beer, pizza coffe and dreams- turning dreams into business.

Startups are in every facet of business -  

• spectacles (Warby Parker) 
• finance (Symphony and XERO).
• fashion (BCNU adn Lulu Lemon) 
• Airbnb put up nearly 17m guests over the summer 
• Uber drives millions of people every day. 
• WeWork, an American outfit that provides accommodation for startups, has 8,000 companies with 30,000 workers in 56 locations in 17 cities.

and the list goes on

• Startups exploit new technology, enabling them to go global without being big themselves. They expand  fast and efficiently by outsourcing. 
• They can incorporate online for a few hundred dollars, 
• raise money from crowdsourcing sites such as Kickstarter, 
• hire programmers from Upwork, 
• rent computer-processing power from Amazon, 
• find manufacturers on Alibaba, 
• find designers on 99 designs,  
• arrange payments systems at Square, 
• build their CRms on Zoho and 
• manage their accounting on the phone with Xero, 

and immediately set about conquering the world.

Vizio was the bestselling brand of television in America in 2010 with just 200 employees. WhatsApp was sold to  Facebook for $19 billion with fewer than 60 employees and revenues of $20m.

In Australia ......

Xero , Redbubble. Dimension data,  Rhype, Spectrum Health, 99 designs. Spreets, Canva, Referron, incubation places such as Fishburners and muru-d.

How can ordinary people invest in startups directly through platforms?
There are organisations  who invest in startups such as SeedInvest .

The Australian Government is putting  out a paper in December to encourage this type of investment. WIll let you know... watch this space!

• Is Crowdsourcing sourcing the future? 
• SMSF Investment?
• The ASX and public company can be a brilliant efficient way for startups to scale and give public a chance to share ..... But they will be investing in the people not the machine.

What needs to be done for this to happen?

A change of mindset in the investment community and an ease up on regulations. 

Personally, I am looking forward to the next 10 years to 2025!!!