Sydney trumps Melbourne as most supportive city for start-ups: Study

Sydney has narrowly beaten Melbourne as the most supportive city to start a business in, according to new data that illustrates Australia’s start-up ecosystem.

 

Floq, a Perth-based start-up, is a free app that enables users to gather feedback about their teams, products and companies, and compare those results to others in their industry.

 

It was founded by Jonah Cacioppe and Michael Kruger in a bid to help people “see the bigger picture”.

 

According to Cacioppe, Floq has finally finished its map of Australian start-ups, which reflects the first set of findings from its recent Startup Nation survey of the Australian digital ecosystem.

 

“We invited digital start-ups, VCs and incubators across Oz to help us map the nation’s start-up scene, and find out how important location is in supporting digital entrepreneurship,” he says.

 

“More than 150 start-ups – from digital marketplaces and eCommerce websites to social apps and mobile games – and some of the biggest names in the business responded.”

 

Cacioppe says every participant was asked to rate how supportive their friends, family, mentors, investors and city are, on a seven-point scale from very helpful to very unhelpful.

 

“This first set of results show that mentors and advisors are the most supportive aspect of the start-up community,” he says.

 

“However, investors come out least supportive. In terms of the best place for a start-up to launch its venture, Sydney comes out as most supportive overall city.”

 

According to the survey, Sydney comes out on top in terms of supportiveness across all five aspects – city, family, friends, mentors and investors.

 

A total of 50 respondents rated Sydney as the most supportive city overall, followed by Melbourne (40 respondents) and Perth (18 respondents).

 

Interestingly, there is a major gap between these three cities and the remaining three. Adelaide garnered just seven votes, while Brisbane attracted four and Tasmania trailed with two.

 

The map, in addition to the initial survey on community and success, is part of a bigger Floq initiative, which the team hopes will become a “definitive resource” for the tech start-up scene.

 

“Through quarterly pulse surveys, we’ll aim to create a picture of the different factors that contribute to a vibrant start-up community in Australia,” Cacioppe says.

 

“It’s no secret that Silicon Valley has an unbelievably supportive network… [which] no doubt contributed to the success of start-ups like Facebook.”

 

“It’s questionable whether we do have an ecosystem in Australia to support the next Facebook.”

 

Cacioppe says the big gap appears to be in the financing of start-ups.

 

“While the cost of getting the next Instagram off the ground is dropping, start-ups still need bold investors to put cash into innovative products,” he says.

 

“I think the data points at why many Aussie start-ups feel they should look for more enthusiastic investors and good deal terms in the US.”

 

“We hope that will change dramatically over the next few years as more emphasis is put on the importance of a digital economy.”