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As the head of Salesforce’s SMB business, I work daily with phenomenal Australian startups that have used new ideas and business models to scale their revenue and impact quickly.  Last year, I outlined on startupsmart how startups can gain an #unfairadvantage to rapidly grow through technology – key examples include customers such as; eWay, Shoes of Prey and Les Mills...just to name a few!   

The business environment is also a critical factor in growth and StartupAus Crossroads 2015 Report provides an action plan for how Australia can develop an even more vibrant tech startup ecosystem.

Here's why tech startups have a huge impact in the economy:

  • Each new technology-based job created adds 5 additional jobs in other sectors (3x a new job in manufacturing or extractive industries)
  • In the US, three companies (Apple, Facebook & Google) contribute $1.3T to GDP – higher than the value of the entire ASX
  • 73% of a nation’s future wealth can be predicted by its Economic Complexity Index (ECI, a measure of a nation’s ability to produce a range of goods varying in complexity from extracting and selling unprocessed natural resources to building and selling complex industrial products/services). 

"Australia has an amazingly primitive export basket”, according to Harvard Economist Ricardo Hausmann, which would predict low future GDP growth

Not only do tech startups have a huge impact on the economy but also growth of an ecosystem through creating “Unicorns”.  “Unicorns” are tech startups that achieve significant scale before achieving a liquidity event via IPO or acquisition with a market cap of $1B or more. They are key to the growth of an ecosystem. The existence of unicorns raises the profile of entrepreneurship (if they can do it – it must be possible), creates a market of experienced and cashed up employees who create and support new companies, and attracts other hopeful entrepreneurs who want to be where the action’s at.

Australia’s tech ecosystem has seen huge progress over the last few years and with just a few tweaks we could see a massive wave of growth in our local Silicon Beaches. But we need to do more.

"Australians bet more on the Melbourne Cup ($200M, $9 per capita) then the entire venture capital industry invests in startups in a year ($100M, $4.55 per capita)" - Crossroads 2015 Report

The Crossroads Report recommends the following eight action items – already in place in the most advanced startup ecosystems globally:

1. Create a National Innovation Agency

2. Increase the Number of Entrepreneurs

3. Improve the Quality & Quantity of Entrepreneurship Education

4. Increase the Number of People with ICT Skills

5. Improve Access to Startup Expertise

6. Increase Availability of Early Stage Capital to Startups

7. Address Legal and Regulatory Impediments

8. Increase Collaboration and International Connectedness

Across the next few weeks we’ll be sharing some of the initiatives that Salesforce is working on to help build the ecosystem. Let’s start betting on our local unicorns – and not just our horses!

Click here to watch a free demo on how you could kick start or grow your startup with Salesforce. You can also download the free eBook below to get a copy on best practices to grow and enable your unicorn.