B2B Marketer
Issue No. 54 - August/September 2010
Grant me a wish...
by Kimon Lycos and Kimon Lycos
George W is an intellectual giant. I dream of representing Australia in curling. The Federal Government has done something smart and practical for technology SMEs.
These are phrases I could never imagine penning. I would be more likely to entomb my privates in BluTack for a year than to even consider uttering any of the above, especially the last bit.
But the unthinkable has happened. The Federal Government, in a blaze of intelligence has actually done something that will benefit many technology and innovation SMEs, and unleash a heap of neat stuff.
Commercialisation Australia recently launched a range of grants which will play a vital role for many SMEs in commercialising their next big thing. But it’s not just the money; it’s the way the money is provided, and the terms, which has many people around Australia in a lather.
Consider all of this in the context of the “Night of long knives”, the brutal execution of the old Commercial Ready Grant. The Rudd Government upon taking office decimated CRG in a style befitting the ending of the first of the Godfather trilogies. Without much notice, offices were shut down, grant applications torn up and the money stopped. This sent shockwaves through Australian technology companies, many of whom were poised to use the grant money to take the next step, or underpin other forms of capital-raising.
When CRG was ‘put down’, the gnashing of teeth was everywhere. I have no idea how many companies folded or how much technology was shelved, but in my own circle the damage was significant.
The new CA grants fill a capital void. Angel investors have retreated. Venture capitalists, seeing the money Private Equity firms have made, want bigger deals themselves. What has been created is a dead zone of access to capital.
The effort required to raise $100K to $500K is akin to teaching your liver to recite the works of Shakespeare. And to climb up to the +$2 million is a real challenge...
