STARTUPS ARE 'NOT FOR THE FAINT HEARTED': STEVE BAXTER EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW PART 1

How many startups were recently invited to join River City Labs through the accelerator?

You said you're not going to allow any 'crap' to come through?

So, does that mean you had some start-ups apply that just simply didn't meet your standards?

Were there any key areas where some of those start-ups fell down?

Yes, there would have been. I like accelerators because they're serious programs, with competitive entry processes. As a part of competitive entry, you've got to go through an interview process but you've also got to go to a boot camp. Before you even start you've got to dedicate a weekend to us. That filters a lot of people out who basically don't have the time, the dedication that might sound a bit rude but if they don't have the dedication, it's a serious endeavour. So, over a weekend we actually have about 15 people sit down and we talk to them in various meetings and you know, that filters out a lot of people. I think we took 17 into the boot camp and we offered positions to seven.
 

So, what was it the others couldn't face up to?

It sounds like self-discipline is a value. Do you see that as a value a lot of startups are lacking?

I'm ex-army so I always say yes. For me, if you've got to question a startup's discipline, they're probably not entrepreneurs. It's almost a binary position point, to be honest. To me it's such a disqualifying factor, there's no grading. You're either in it, or you're not. My own startups were six years and almost ten years a piece. The average time for a start-up these days is 8.3 years. So, if you can't even bother to show up for a weekend, guess what? Why bother.

What we're trying to do is encourage more people to start. I think that of the population of startups which begin a journey, there's a proportion of them which will finish successfully and that percentage is probably the same. We need to get more people trying. River City Labs is about getting more people trying. And hopefully biting off bigger problems, global problems, hybrid problems, tech start-up problems.

Do you see the value of the start-up industry in Australia now as having an opportunity for growth?

What are some of the challenges that are hindering that growth?

Do you think that business schools in Australia are giving those students who are graduating the sort of skills that they need in a modern economy, if they were to go out and launch their own start-up?

Do you see some change happening there?

Something you will have been asked a million times, I'm sure, and that's advice for people who want to be start-up entrepreneurs. If they were to think seriously about launching a start-up, what are the key things that you think would be useful for them to know?

It takes ten years, so the sooner you start, the better. My biggest piece of advice is always just do it. I'm 46 years old, I can't give advice on what's going to work. Don't do what I did, I didn't finish high school, I didn't go to university, that's the dumbest way to do it. I lucked my way through it. The smart way is to go and get skills.

If you ever get a chance to talk to Mark Sowerby, talk to Mark Sowerby. He's got a message for entrepreneurs: it's a lifestyle. It's something you do. You can't go back to being an employee. You go to sleep with a pain in your gut, you're risking people's live because you're a startup. It's not for the faint-hearted. If you want to do it, you should give it a go. There are very few quick wins in this.

There's no point sitting in a rocking chair at 65 years old and saying 'I could have done that'. That's a wasted life. Nowadays it's so easy, there's so many online courses, training courses. There's River City Labs there's York Butter Factories, there's God knows what around where you can go and talk to people who understand. You cannot do this blindly.

So just get out there and mix. Every person you talk to has a gem you can take with you. You've got to filter that advice they give you through their life experience and understand the value there. There is at least one person who is going to change your entire life.

Click here to read Part 2 of Business News Australia's exclusive interview with Steve Baxter