Under the radar no longer: Why founders are choosing to open their offices in Brisbane over Sydney

While it’s not unusual for a startup to operate in ‘stealth mode’ for a number of years, it would be unusual for an entire capital city to do the same.

But that’s what an array of Aussie entrepreneurs believe the northern capital of Brisbane has been doing for a while now, and they say it’s time for the hot’n’steamy capital to stop flying under the radar and claim its spot as one of Australia’s bone fide startup hubs.

A number of efforts from the Queensland state government have gone a long way to bolstering the city’s startup community, such as appointing a chief entrepreneur for the state, and initialising the HotDesQ program, which offers local and international startups $100,000 to move their startups to the state.

Furthermore, the government’s Advancing Small Business Queensland Strategy has given over 743 grants worth more than $4.5 million since launching last year.

These initiatives are part of the reason Jarrad Skeen, founder of $4 million recruitment startup Affix, decided to bypass Sydney and choose Brisbane as the site for his company’s first interstate office.

Skeen tells StartupSmart the driving factors determining where Affix would place its next office mainly revolved around the market size and potential for customers, but he says Sydney would have provided that customer base just as easily. In the end, the choice came down to the talent available in the Brisbane ecosystem. Read more

Dominic Powell - SmartCompany - 5 April 2018