Western Australia might be home to some of the most promising tech businesses but more focus must be placed on luring global talent to ensure they remain in the State.
Paula Taylor, co-founder of West Tech Fest, said it was crucial for the State Government and the wider startup sector to consider what infrastructure was needed for Perth’s emerging tech companies to stay put.
“I’d like to see WA attract developers and talent. It’s about how we as a State can make it easy for companies to stay here and build,” she said.
“How do we attract bigger tech companies? Can we make more creative hubs? There’s a need for more talent for founders.”
It comes after Canva co-founder Cliff Obrecht told The West Australian earlier last month the Sydney-based graphic design giant hadn’t ruled out the possibility of a Perth office.
Ms Taylor noted it was also important to create opportunities for founders in the State to accelerate their businesses.
She said West Tech Fest — an annual event that provides a chance for the local startup and tech community to connect — was one way to showcase WA tech founders.
Ms Taylor highlighted that this year’s festival, which kicks off on Sunday, would “scale up” significantly from last year’s event, which saw 3000 attendees throughout the week despite WA’s borders being closed due to COVID-19.
It will also see Perth’s up-and-coming businesses connect with international entrepreneurs such as Samsung Electronics chief strategy officer Young Sohn and former Angry Birds chief marketing officer Peter Vesterbacka.
The festival was first held in 2011 as a competition to identify the best mobile app concept from staff, students and alumni of WA universities.
One of its co-founders, global venture capitalist Bill Tai, acknowledged that there had been immense change in Perth’s tech scene over the past decade with the emergence of innovation hubs such as Spacecubed.
“The first year we did that competition, there was none of the stuff you see today,” he said.
He pointed out that the only tech company he remembers from that time was Fusion Books – the first business established by Canva founders Melanie Perkins and Mr Obrecht.
“When we first held that contest, it was mostly young students pitching ideas, so it was a very raw, blank slate,” Mr Tai said.
US-based Mr Tai – who is scheduled to speak at West Tech Fest – said one of the key challenges WA tech startups faced was its isolated nature, which made it difficult, but not impossible, to connect with customers face-to-face.
“If you’re signing up customers over the internet that’s one thing but if you have to sell business-to-business, in person presence matters,” he said.
“With Perth being as far as it is from most other metropolitan areas, some of those processes are at a bit of a disadvantage.”
However, Mr Tai said the tech companies that thrive over the long-term were ones that learned how to manage remote sales.
There were a number of benefits to basing a business out of WA, Mr Tai said, including the high quality of life.
“It’s a wonderful place to live…we’re now in this era where you can work from anywhere over Zoom, so I think it’s very possible now to live almost anywhere and start a company,” he said.
Ms Taylor said while Perth was an ideal location for tech startups to launch and validate their products, she admitted that increased support was needed for early stage ventures attempting to get their ideas off the ground.
“There’s a need to build the network of angel investors and to also work with high net worth individuals that traditionally invest in the resource industry,” she said.
Ms Taylor added that more work needed to be done to even the playing field for female tech founders who still received disproportionately lower levels of funding.
Research from Deloitte, Techboard and SBE Australia found that only 3.7 percent of startup funding went to female-founded companies between 2017 and 2021.
“I do think the face of Australia’s ecosystem is changing…but globally it’s not an even playing ground and that applies to Australia,” she said.
“I expect to see and hope for change for women over the next few years but there’s definitely a smaller investment pool.”
Ms Taylor said her ultimate hope was that West Tech Fest could bring together groups of entrepreneurs, investors and educators to validate and support WA tech founders.
West Tech Fest will run from December 4 to December 9.
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