Written by Andrew Mooney and Roland Kulen:
Looking for Unicorns in the Tech Sector is the First Cousin to Looking for Elephants in the Mining Sector!
There is a saying in the mining industry that grizzled old prospectors like to trot out now and again. A saying that is as apt for the tech industry (startup incubators) as it is for the mining industry.
Looking for Elephants in the Mining Industry
If you are looking for elephants, the best place to look is in elephant country.
Chile has 8 of the worlds top 10 copper mines and accounts for 25% of global supply. This is elephant country for copper explorers. Nevada mines 80% of all the gold mined in the USA. And, by itself is the 4th most significant gold producing region on the planet. This is elephant country for gold explorers.
There are 24 producing iron ore mines in the Pilbara region of Western Australia. This is elephant country for iron ore explorers.
The point. Go to that place (including a startup incubator) where success is a reality rather than a dream because it increases your chance of ultimate success.
Looking for Elephants in the US Tech Sector
In the tech sector, there is no bigger elephant than Y Combinator. Based in Palo Alto, Silicon Valley – Y Combinator has funded 2,000+ startups with 246 exits and an exit value of USD $6.1 billion. And what do they give to the startup? For a start, USD $150,000 in exchange for 7% equity.
In addition, Y Combinator created in 2013 the SAFE Note (simple agreement for future equity), a simpler alternative to convertible notes. SAFE Notes allow startups to structure seed investments without interest rates or maturity dates.
But, perhaps more importantly, Y Combinator work closely with their startups to get their offering in shape and get on a path to growth by targeting further investments. And, it obviously works as the 2,000 incubatees have gone on to raise more than USD $34 billion.
Silicon Valley is elephant country. But so is Ireland. And Israel. And Estonia.
Looking for Elephants in the Australian Tech Sector
By comparison, the University of Wollongong iAccelerate Seed Fund provides Co-Founders AUD $180,000 in exchange for 21% equity – a bit rich!? Nonetheless, Australia is undoubtedly elephant country. Look at some Australian success stories: Atlassian, Appen, Afterpay (acquired by Square), Canva, Airtasker to name a few.
And, then, there are those Australian companies who have not gained the spot light, namely:
1) SpeeDx – built a testing protocol and strips used in COVID tests.
2) Morse Micro – created a low-power wi-fi chip.
3) Baraja – invented a new form of LiDAR to give vision to autonomous cars.
Looking for Elephants in Startup Incubators
If you’re Co-Founders and want to work with a Startup Incubator Sydney (or Melbourne) check out this article comparing the Sydney versus Melbourne startup environments.
The point of this comparison is that, for example, Sydney-based Co-Founders should carefully consider which Startup Incubator Sydney is best for them.
For example, does the Startup Incubator Sydney produce a product roadmap via a systemic idea validation process; revenue models; accompanying source code, and most importantly, an MVP for the Co-Founders for presentation to investors?
If not, simply put – reconsider!
For more information on AppCurate email us at info@appcurate.com. Let’s together get on a Faster Path to Commercialization where you’ll be amongst elephants (safely), sooner rather than later.