Six steps to making south-east Queensland a startup powerhouse

Brisbane's young businessperson of the year in 2016, Jock Fairweather calls himself "el capitano" of Little Tokyo Two, the company managing space at The Capital, a hub for startup businesses which opened early this year with the support of $5 million of ratepayers' money.

Here, the city's 27-year-old innovation expert explains how he thinks south-east Queensland can become a leader in developing tech startups.

1. Forget 'unicorns'

A "Unicorn" is a term coined to describe startups valued at over $1 billion - a mythical animal to represent the statistical rarity of such successful ventures.

Many people are attracted to joining the startup community for the wrong reasons. Not necessarily the people coming up with the ideas, but those who want to attach their name to a project in the hopes of producing a Unicorn.

But you think of famous Unicorns such as Snapchat and Uber - they're not making any money. It looks great on paper, and the long-term goal is that they hope they can turn on the tap and make a profit. It's all about disruption and innovation rather than sustainability.

Basing a business model on a mythological creature is risky because what it's really saying is that the whole thing is highly unlikely.

I prefer the term "Zebra". A company that is a Zebra has more than one dimension (black and white), is all about protecting the pack, and, most importantly, real.

Zebras make profit and have impact. A local Australian Zebra, albeit a very big one, might be Flight Centre. Flight Centre is completely sustainable, has had very long-term dedicated vision, staff and impactful goals attached.

Rather than using other people's money based on a mythical hypothesis, they have a validated proven model that is investing in building the future, such as artificial intelligence companies. Read more

Jock Fairweather - Brisbane Times - 9 May 2017