Investors eyeing promising Queensland entrepreneurs

One of America’s largest venture capital firms is looking to Australia for the next big thing – and they will be in Queensland this week eyeing promising Queensland entrepreneurs.

Minister for Innovation, Science and the Digital Economy Leeanne Enoch said an impressive line-up of venture capital firms will connect with Queensland entrepreneurs at the three-day Myriad Festival, at Brisbane Powerhouse from today (Wednesday).

“This is an extraordinary opportunity for Queensland innovators – including 123 regional innovators coming to Myriad from communities including Longreach, Walkamin in far north Queensland and Rockhampton to demonstrate their promising products and services,” Ms Enoch said.

“Myriad, the sequel to the 2016 Advance Queensland Innovation and Investment Summit, will open the door for our home-grown talent to take advantage of incredible opportunities through partnerships with world-class venture capital firms.”

Hailed by the Wall Street Journal as one of the largest and most established venture capital firms in America, Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers (KPCB) is one of the many investors coming to Myriad.

San Francisco based investor Dino Becirovic, from KPCB, said he had been tracking developments in Australia for some time and was excited by the burgeoning tech ecosystem.

“After success stories like (enterprise software company) Atlassian, we are excited to meet more Australian entrepreneurs tackling large market opportunities. We hope our presence (at Myriad) will help them develop even more compelling products and services and gain insights to take their ventures to the next level,” he said.

Mr Becirovic said KPCB had helped build and accelerate growth at pioneering companies like Amazon, Google, Nest, Twitter and Uber.

He said he believed the next cohort of great tech companies would emerge from international markets.

“Technology and access to computer science education are quickly becoming democratised, which will drive entrepreneurship around the globe,” Mr Becirovic said.

“My goal (while at Myriad) is to understand the opportunities and challenges for entrepreneurs in Australia, to develop relationships with them, and to connect with other local tech investors. I'm hoping to come across some innovative businesses that are solving big problems.”

Mr Becirovic said he encouraged Queensland innovators to develop “a compelling product that addresses a promising market opportunity”.

“(Innovators) need to be able to convey why they’re positioned for success. I tend to look for unfair competitive advantages – entrepreneurs with unique market insights or experiences, or companies with invaluable assets that no one else has,” he said.

Formerly with Goldman Sachs, Twitter and Nike, Mr Becirovic said common failings of innovators included developing a product with small or non-existent markets or developing a product that was not differentiated enough from existing products.

“If it's not 10 times better, don't even try,” he said.

Mr Becrovic said the common factors of successful entrepreneurs were “passion, perseverance and an undeniable product-market fit – a product or service that the market can’t live without.”

Visit Advance Queensland for more information on Myriad Festival.

ENDS

MEDIA 0437 859 987