Innovation: tech-savvy Australians flood Silicon Valley

About 20,000 talented Australian software engineers have relocated to Silicon Valley and we want them back.

Kaggle founder Anthony Goldbloom and wife Merav Bloch in San Francisco. ‘We had to raise awareness that it was possible to make it over here’. Picture: Peter DaSilva

They’re known as the Aussie mafia, a cabal of 20,000 talented software engineers who have relocated to Silicon Valley, the tech epicentre of the world, to follow their dreams of becoming successful entrepreneurs — and we want them back.

As the government this week unveiled its long-awaited $1.1 billion innovation statement, promising a shake-up of the tax system and business laws, one ingredient was missing: the successful tech entrepreneurs who have made it big in Silicon Valley.

But enticing this band of software developers and engineers back to Australia could become a task of Sisyphean proportions as Australia’s embryonic start-up scene struggles to compete with the glitz and big bucks of Silicon Valley.

“There is a sense of guilt that we had to leave but we also had to, to raise awareness that it was possible to make it over here,” said Anthony Goldbloom, the founder of online platform for predictive modelling and analytics, Kaggle.

Mr Goldbloom, a former ­Reserve Bank of Australia economist, launched Kaggle in 2010 from his living room in Melbourne but moved to Silicon Valley in 2011 to pursue capital and big-ticket clients.

“There are two things that a start-up cares about: capital and talent. And while Australia has lots of great, raw talent, we lack the experience of working with true tech companies that build global, scalable businesses,” he said.

Silicon Valley start-ups have been benefiting for years from Australia’s best and brightest tech-heads, with the Australian consulate-general in San Francisco estimating that more than 22,000 Australians are working in tech centres along the west coast of the US.

Favourable working conditions ushered in through E-3 visas have paved the way for thousands of Australians to head to the US, with Silicon Valley emerging as the go-to destination.

While this exodus of Aussies could be construed as hampering the growth of Australia’s tech ecosystem, it also means that thousands of Australians are learning from the best entrepreneurial minds, says Jonathan Barouch, founder and chief executive of ­location-based social analytics company Local Measure.

“You want the ones who have made it to come back and mentor the next wave of entrepreneurs. Perhaps the PM should have a program where he invites them over once a month to give talks and judge competitions — just anything to interact and inspire,” Mr Barouch said.

But Ryan Junee, the San Francisco-based serial entrepreneur and co-founder of fashion technology business Inporia, says when it comes to enticing successful entrepreneurs back to Australia as mentors, the government should stay out of it.

“I’m not sure this is something easily fixed by government policies. I don’t think Australia’s policies are what are causing entrepreneurs to leave for Silicon Valley. I think entrepreneurs leave for Silicon Valley because it is, by orders of magnitude, the most vibrant start-up ecosystem in the world,” he said.

“The best thing the Australian government can do is ensure Australia remains an attractive place for running an engineering office, making sure there are no tax or immigration barriers and that there continues to be a stream of high-quality engineering graduates from Australian universities.”