Starfish Celebrates 10 Years!

Starfish Ventures is celebrating its 10^th Anniversary.

We sit down with the co-founder John Dyson, to get some insights on what was and what is still to come

Q. How has the venture capital industry changed in the last 10 years?

The World has changed!

It has been a remarkable ten years –
we have seen the tail end of the burst of the internet bubble, the Global Financial Crisis, the boom of social media and most recently the volatility in the international markets.
We have seen first-hand the venture capital industry throughout the world going through a period of restructuring and consolidation – we would expect that there will continue to be a period of constriction in the industries – as there has been a flight of capital to quality and well respected VC managers – with large number of venture capital managers being unable to raise additional capital.

Two days are never the same – it has been a wild journey – a journey that we are still on – and who knows where it might end!

But despite these changes the spirit and the enthusiasm of entrepreneurs continue to shine through in their quest to establish new companies that can compete on the international markets.

We were lucky at Starfish Ventures that we raised our 2^nd major fund in 2007 – as this has allowed us to continue to invest at a time when there has been in reduction in the availability of capital.

The cost of establishing an ITC is a fraction of what was 10 years ago – due to offerings such as SaaS, reduction in the cost of hardware, cloud computing etc – however this is offset by the increasing cost of commercialising life science opportunities.

Q. Where do you see the industry in another 10 years?

I am very optimistic about the industry and feel confident that in another 10 years we will have an industry that offers entrepreneurial capital across the life span of a company – from early stage via friends and family – seed stage through angels and angel networks – and then later stages supported by institutional capital via venture capital managers.

The industry in another 10 years will have an increasing number of success stories to point to – mainly in the IT&C, life science and cleantech industries. These success stories will act as a catalyst for more entrepreneurs to establish new companies, more academics to commercialise their research and more experience managers to leave well paying jobs or expatriates returning to Australia to work for these companies.

Australia will be seen as an attractive location for foreign investors to invest capital leveraging the benefits of starting companies in Australia and using Australia as a base to pursue global opportunities.

What is your vision for Venture Capital in Australia?

An industry that supports the continued development of the technology sector in Australia by providing capital and hands on management for Australian based technology companies – and through this process assist in building a pipeline of globally successful technology companies.

An industry that is sustainable and generates attractive returns for its investors and is supported by local and overseas institutional investors.

Q. How does the venture capital industry in Australia compare to the rest of the world?

Our industry is young and in terms of maturity and development is some way behind the more mature industries of the US and Europe.

There is a natural partnership between the Australian and international markets.

Our approach to investing in Australia is to capitalise on the inherent advantages of starting a company in Australia and achieving initial market engagement – and use this engagement to expand into the global markets. It is at this stage that it is logical for Australian companies to raise international capital from a well regarded VC and tap into the managers connections and relationships which should assist the companies in gaining traction in the international markets.

Q. What are some of the highlights over the last 10 years?

Highlights – too many to remember.

No doubt working with our investees and the great support that we have received from our institutional investors are real highlights.

It is a great honour and a privilege to manage other people’s capital – and the confidence that our investors have shown in us has been fantastic.

It has been a long journey – for us and for many of companies we have yet to reach the finish line. It is not industry where you have success over night – it takes many years to build great companies. We remain motivated and committed to building great companies and deliver attractive returns for our investors.

Sometimes it feels like our companies need to take a couple of steps backwards before moving forward – there are many pot holes and challenges along the way. Wherever possible we try to pass on our expertise and experience to our entrepreneurs to give them the best chance of navigating through these challenges.

Q. What do you enjoy the most about what you do?

There is no doubt that the most exciting and stimulating aspect of our job is working with young enthusiastic and excited entrepreneurs and helping them make their dreams come true. Their enthusiasm is infectious and it is very easy to get wrapped up in their excitement.