Sporting legend John Bertrand will be telling his story of innovation and hustle at Southstart

The parallels between conquering the Americans on the open seas and beating tech giants at their own game will be laid bare as John Bertrand joins the Southstart startup conference next week.

Businessman Alan Bond, skipper John Bertrand and keel designer Ben Lexcen (R), following their America's Cup victory in the yacht "Australia II" at Newport, Rhode Island in 1983.

Back in 1983 a scrappy group of Australians, inspired by the exemplary leadership of skipper John Bertrand and powered by Ben Lexcen’s secret winged keel, faced down 132 years of American dominance to take out the world’s top yachting prize.

That America’s Cup victory, which made instant heroes of Bertrand and the crew of their yacht, Australia II, is a perfect parallel to the start-up world, Southstart co-director Craig Swann says.

The Southstart conference - with 1300 attendees this year arguably the largest start-up and investor conference in the nation - kicks off in Adelaide next week, with speakers including Netflix co-founder and inaugural chief executive Marc Randolph, philosopher and angel investor Peter Singer, and representatives from major investment firms such as Blackbird Ventures and AirTree.

Danielle Seymour and Craig Swann are codirectors of Southstart.

Mr Swann said it was only natural to look beyond ventures traditionally thought of as technology companies in the start-up space when curating this year’s conference line-up.

Hence the inclusion of speakers such as Bertrand, who is very much an entrepreneur both in and out of the boat.

Mr Swann, himself an entrepreneur who moved from the US to Australia in recent years, said he’d delved into the story of Australia winning the America’s Cup and was fascinated by it.

“For me the parallels of what they did with the ethos of a start-up was just incredible,’’ he said.

“In terms of the style, having to build a culture, the resilience and the innovation and the hustle.

“All I saw was this analogy to what it takes to thrive and to succeed as a start-up against all the odds.

“They were innovating on technology, creating this ragtag group of people that we wouldn’t normally put together potentially to run a team like that, but they all had these overlaps which were perfect for what they needed.

“Building a real culture and a team to fight off the big competitor, it’s like going up against an IBM or Microsoft, so I thought the parallels from a leadership perspective would be really interesting to tap into.’’

The America’s Cup win, after which the then prime minister Bob Hawke famously derided any boss who sacked a worker for taking the day off as a “bum”, captured the imagination of the nation, and highlighted the power of innovation and leadership in the face of overwhelming odds.

John Bertrand hoisting the America’s Cup trophy aloft.

Bertrand eventually competed in five America’s Cups and two Olympic Games, was chairman of Swimming Australia from 2013-2020, and also has a Master of Science from MIT.

Mr Swann said the Southstart conference line-up was built with a philosophy that it’s not about technology - it’s about people coming together to solve important problems, which was what drove leaders such as Bertrand.

The Southstart conference runs from Tuesday, March 7, through to the following Friday and includes pitch sessions, keynote talks from Mr Randolph and others, a “takeover” of the Garden of Unearthly Delights, and sessions designed to cater for everyone from high school students keen to learn about the start-up sector to companies looking to raise capital.

Partners include the Atlassian Foundation, PwC, McKinsey & Company and Airwallex.