SXSW: The attributes every Innovator needs to succeed

Australia punches above its weight when it comes to innovation, with some founders turning ideas born in bedrooms and attics into multibillion-dollar companies envied the world over.

From left: The Australian's technology editor Jared Lynch, Startmate CEO Michael Batko, Rich Data Co founder Ada Guan and Helen Trinca, the editor of The Australian's The Deal, at the Ideas Dome at South by Southwest (SXSW) in Sydney.

Making it as a founder is no easy feat, given that tall poppy syndrome and the tendency to kick a person when they’re down.

But Australia still punches above its weight when it comes to innovation, with some founders turning ideas born in bedrooms and attics into multibillion-dollar companies envied the world over.

What it takes to get there was discussed in the Ideas Dome at South by Southwest (SXSW) on Monday, kicking off the week-long festival of ideas’ second return to Sydney.

Leading the panel were The Australian’s The Deal editor Helen Trinca and technology editor Jared Lynch, alongside Rich Data Co founder Ada Guan and Startmate CEO Michael Batko.

Tenacity was one of the key attributes a founder needed to succeed, said Lynch, kicking off a discussion on what it really takes for founders to survive in an increasingly challenging market. “To a certain point, you’ve got to be as hard as nails and really back your ideas … and not be scared of failure,” he said. “If you do fail, make sure you do it quickly and bounce back up again, and that’s a really hard thing to do.”

The List: The Top 100 Innovators is out on Friday. Picture: Nick Cubbin

Lynch said it was important that founders didn’t let their shortcomings affect their view on the world. “On the flip side, you don’t want to be jaded,” he said, adding it’s awfully hard to sell an idea when it sounds like you don’t quite believe in it yourself.

Mr Batko, the long term boss of Sydney-based start-up accelerator Startmate, agreed. But his key message for founders was to be what he describes as “founder problem fit”. That meant remaining committed to solving the problem they first set out to fix with their business. “What we look for is the founders who care so deeply about customer problems that they will never stop,” he said. “Even if they get rejected or they don’t get their money, it’s the founders who go through all of those hardships, yet they will never stop trying to figure out how to solve the problem.”

Mr Batko said a start-up’s “solution” or product would constantly change but the problem they were trying to solve would remain the same and the founders most obsessed with fixing that problem would succeed.

For Ms Guan, the key was being focused. “Many founders actually are highly intelligent. One issue around intelligent people is that they’re very curious and want to sell multiple things and the result is that you’re not super-focused,” she said.

Ms Guan said she had learned the hard way that focus was crucial and advised new founders to sometimes slow down and focus on a single project.

The Top 100 Innovators List magazine is out this Friday in The Australian. Pick up a copy of the newspaper and magazine to learn which Australians are leading the country into the future.