“Has Melbourne misplaced its spark”?
Within the tech world, the controversy between Sydney and Melbourne usually mirrors the extra light-hearted rivalry about which metropolis serves the very best espresso.
However with regards to tech ecosystems, the stakes are a lot greater.
The notion {that a} startup scene is “useless” might be deflating for early-stage founders. In fact, notion isn’t the complete story. However the narrative nonetheless influences the place buyers select to position their cash and the place expertise decides to work.
The fact is extra complicated. The query isn’t merely which metropolis is prospering, however how every defines success by itself phrases. And that query deserves house within the broader dialog about Australia’s tech ecosystems.
My Melbourne bias
Regardless of being the founding father of Aussie Founders Membership – a nationwide neighborhood for founders – I’ve constructed it out of Melbourne, and it’s been the bottom the place I’ve examined, learnt, and grown what the neighborhood might be.
Over the previous two years, I’ve hosted 50+ founder-led occasions and was awarded LaunchVic’s $200,000 grant to ship 60 extra founder-focused occasions throughout Victoria over the following three years.
That publicity has given me front-row seats to the heat and connectivity that characterise Melbourne’s ecosystem.
In Melbourne, when you begin exhibiting up, you rapidly really feel that one-degree-of-separation closeness. It fosters collaboration, generosity, and a powerful sense of neighborhood – an setting the place founders, operators, buyers, and neighborhood builders genuinely know one another and often cross paths.
I keep in mind being that one that didn’t know the place to start out – making an attempt to determine which occasions to go to, the place to seek out individuals, and the way to become involved. I nonetheless see others asking those self same questions in the present day. That’s a part of what makes Melbourne’s ecosystem each great and difficult: when you’re in, it’s deeply related, however discovering your means in can take time.
Sydney, San Francisco, and the notion hole
There’s usually a Melbourne vs Sydney narrative, with Sydney seen as the larger, higher place. It’s true that Sydney has traditionally attracted extra enterprise capital consideration, huge funding rounds, and in lots of instances, startup expertise. It’s a louder, quicker, and extra commercially seen ecosystem.
However Melbourne performs a distinct recreation.
Our energy lies in depth; in bodily closeness, cross-community collaboration, and the rising variety of individuals working occasions to create visibility and connection. On the identical time, that closeness can create blind spots. Even with unbelievable founders, world-class buyers, and robust authorities assist, we nonetheless wrestle with visibility, momentum, and ambition.
At a latest occasion, I heard Ivan Zhao, co-founder of Notion, communicate concerning the distinction between Australia and San Francisco. He stated that in San Francisco, every little thing revolves round startups – it’s intense, inspiring, but in addition all-consuming. What struck him about being in Australia was that there’s life past work.
Individuals socialise, they join exterior of their firms, and there’s a way of stability that’s usually lacking within the Bay Space.
That reflection actually stayed with me. Possibly that’s the chance in entrance of us; to construct an ecosystem that’s bold and world-class, however not one-dimensional. One the place individuals might be deeply pushed and nonetheless grounded.
That stability might be Australia’s benefit – and Melbourne, with its tradition of creativity and connection, is completely positioned to guide that shift.
One thing’s effervescent
We don’t want this debate as a result of Melbourne’s ecosystem is damaged. We’d like it as a result of one thing’s effervescent.
There’s momentum, curiosity, and a brand new wave of founders, operators, and applications driving what comes subsequent. From authorities and trade, to VCs, founders who’ve performed it earlier than, and people who merely care; everybody has a task to play in shaping what nice appears like for Victoria.
That’s precisely what The Nice Victorian Startup Debate is about.
This panel brings collectively voices from throughout the ecosystem to ask the actual questions: what does “nice” appear like, who’s accountable for constructing it, and the way can we make sure that each perspective – spicy or not – is heard?
As a result of Melbourne doesn’t want to repeat San Francisco or Sydney to thrive. Its energy lies in defining success by itself phrases – combining human-centred creativity with a clearer sense of shared duty.
Wanting forward
For buyers, policymakers, and founders alike, the takeaway is obvious: Melbourne’s startup ecosystem just isn’t about competing with Sydney or emulating Silicon Valley. It’s about leveraging its distinctive strengths to carve out its personal path to success.
Which means embracing the close-knit neighborhood, supporting native initiatives, and creating an setting the place innovation can really thrive.
As we transfer ahead, let’s cease letting headlines outline us and begin defining ourselves.
Public notion might lag behind the truth on the bottom, however with collaboration, curiosity, and a shared dedication to constructing what’s subsequent, Melbourne can develop into a benchmark for what a thriving, balanced, and founder-first ecosystem appears like.
This debate isn’t only a panel – it’s a stay pulse verify on the place we’re at and the place we’re headed subsequent.
And if you need a entrance seat within the dialog?
The Nice Victorian Startup Debate, hosted by Cremorne Digital Hub, Aussie Founders Membership and supported by LaunchVic, will happen on Thursday, November 13, from 5:30-8pm on the Cremorne Digital Hub.
Let’s take duty for shaping the way forward for Victoria’s startup ecosystem. We will outline what “nice” means for us – and construct it, collectively.