Australia’s second dot com boom is here

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blog If you’ve been paying attention to Australia’s technology startup sector recently, you might have noticed that it’s absolutely booming. Tens of millions of dollars are being ploughed into new startups, incubators and co-working spaces are popping up all over the place, and successful startups like Freelancer.com are considering massive stock market listings. It’s like it’s 1999 all over again, and spring has definitely broken the long cold winter for the IT startup sector. I chronicle the past five years of the sector in a new article on Delimiter 2.0 this morning (subscriber content). A paragraph from behind the paywall:

“Back in 2008, it would have been hard — impossible, even — for Australia’s tiny cadre of startup entrepreneurs and investors to have imagined that it would be possible for such huge levels of activity, investment and entrepreneurialism to have been developed in only a few years. But then, that is perhaps the definition of a startup, as opposed to a small business — startups are supposed to have revolutionary growth potential — they’re supposed to expand fast.”

If you’re interested to any degree in Australia’s tech startup scene, then I strongly encourage you to check out the Startup Spring festival running over the next several weeks, with over a hundred events planned all around Australia. There is a huge vibrancy to the sector at the moment that is just awe-inspiring to see. So much potential, so much effort, so much energy. It’s hard to imagine that things could have changed so much in just a few years.