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Ask HN: Sydney or Melbourne for Australian tech/startups?

10 points by cylinder ↗ HN
As a former resident of Melbourne (I'm American), I'm inclined to view Melbourne as the city with more of a hacker/creative/startup feel to it, but Sydney has the money, and it seems like the new crop of angel programs are in Sydney. In addition, Australia's recent tech success stories (Atlassian, Freelancer) are based in Sydney. In my eyes, Sydney does not seem like the place I'd want to do a startup (high costs, logistics, climate).

In the past I have been a critic of the Australian entrepreneurial and tech culture, or lack thereof, and the government policies that discourage entrepreneurship and encourage working for a salary at a large corporation and investing in housing. However, I sense the tides are changing quickly, and that young people will perhaps pursue more tech entrepreneurship.

What are your thoughts?

8 comments

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pinkskip
Sydney does not seem like the place I'd want to do a startup (high costs, logistics, climate)

Climate? I think its much better in Sydney than in Melbourne and I agree with the costs and logistics. I think you will find a better peer startup community in Sydney compared to Melbourne. If I were to pick any other city other than Sydney or Melbourne, I think Perth is not a bad option.

cylinder
Hah, yeah, Sydney's climate is nicer, that's the problem. I feel like colder climates are better for sitting at a desk working a lot. Also, many people find humidity stifles thought and productivity, and I have to agree.

Maybe it's just that Melbourne reminds me a lot more of the SF Bay Area while Sydney reminds me of LA.

Perth would be interesting if you could network amongst the rich mining types there. Could be a nice alternative source of funding. But I'm not sure how much software talent there would be there.

jackgolding
I'd say Melbourne, being from Perth myself (just a graduate though)
goughgough
Perth?

I must be missing something.

There is only 1 hackathon a year in Perth, compared to 2 or 3 per weekend in SV/SF.

I can count the number of co working space on my one hand.

It is a boring town unless you like the 3Bs: Beach, beer, and babes.

There is no culture here.

Sorry, opera theatres do not a cultural city made.

And the traffic jam is getting to be like Los Angeles.

Everything here (almost) is at least twice as expensive as SF.

The government is conservative.

OK, it is nice and safe to bring up a family and to retire.

mrmondo
The DevOps culture in Melbourne is amazing, very modern and inclusive. Check out infrastructurecoders.com
eddyparkinson
I am in OZ,(I'm English). From the media I see, Sydney has more "startup" things going on, that Melbourne. But from the people I talk to, Melbourne gets the thumbs up as an easy and fun place to live.
chewxy
Sydneysider (who happens to love Melbourne damn a lot) here. I think Sydney has a fantastic startup ecosystem, even though they may be a bit out-of-the-norm compared to SV or SF. The really high tech guys are clustered around NICTA, and they're pretty old fashioned. The uber hip ones are clustered around accelerators like Pollenizer, but in my opinion, are not as high valued/disruptive as the high tech ones (that's my personal bias though)

There is a new accelerator out from Melbourne, MURU-D, which may tip the favour for Melb, but right now, I'd stay in Sydney.