Former Pearcey Entrepreneur of the Year Charlie Gunningham has been appointed to chair of the StartupWA board, bringing more than 25 years of experience to the think tank.
Former Pearcey Entrepreneur of the Year Charlie Gunningham has been appointed to chair of the StartupWA board, bringing more than 25 years of experience to the think tank.
Announced today, Mr Gunningham – an Economics teacher turned entrepreneur – was named chair alongside four new directors, Hayley Boneham, Matthew Larner, Paul Robinson and Kate Spenser.
The new directors will succeed Jason Blachand, who stepped down after four years on the board, including three as chair, and Kay Solanki who served on the board for four years.
Mr Gunningham told Business News his immediate priority was to ensure the New Industries Fund was extended.
Originally from the UK, Mr Gunningham spent eight years in Singapore before arriving in Perth in 1997.
In 1999, he founded aussiehome.com, running the business for 10 years before a successful exit through its sale to REIWA.
Since the exit, Mr Gunningham been a contributor to Business News, the managing editor at the Property Tribune, and most recently a member of the Department of Jobs, Tourism, Science and Innovation’s innovation advisory board.
In his role with JTSI, he oversaw the implementation of the $25.8 million New Industries Fund, which has provided several grants and awards programs for WA innovators.
“(My appointment) comes at a good time, as we’re heading towards both a state and federal election,” he said.
“The New Industries Fund was an election commitment of the McGowan government in 2017, and it was renewed again at the 2021 election through to 2025.
“I think our most immediate concern is making sure that funding is extended again.”
But the NIF isn’t the be all and end all, according to Mr Gunningham, who said another key goal he had in his new role was to advocate for government procurement policies for startups.
“A lot of startup founders have said to me, ‘Charlie, grants are great, but we need contracts’,” he said.
“I think government culture is to not take risks – they’d rather use the consultant or company they used last year, take what they’ve done off the shelf and repeat that, rather than look for a smaller, local operator that’s way cheaper and often has a better product.
“It’s really, really hard – almost impossible – for local innovators to win WA government contracts. It’s ridiculous because there have been quite a few startups which have left the state because they can’t get those sorts of contracts here, only to sign with other states’ governments easily.”
Mr Gunningham believes WA should follow the lead of other states, like South Australia with its Go2Gov program.
The Go2Gov program was based on an innovation challenge format, where the state government would issue public sector challenges to the market and startups were supported to submit unique proposals to address those challenges.
Multiple startups may be funded to work with a state government agency to prove the viability of their proposals.
After the pilot, an agency may directly contract the most successful startup for the provision of that product or service for up to three years.
“There are more than 1000 WA startups that we've verified on Dealroom, collectively worth now about $11 billion, we need to get behind these scalable companies,” Mr Gunningham said.
Outgoing StartupWA chair Jason Balchand said the four years he had spent on the board were some of his most rewarding.
“Being able to hand the reins over to such a strong and passionate team, led by one of the most well-known and respected voices in the ecosystem – Charlie Gunningham – gives a lot of confidence that the next four years will see even stronger advocacy across all areas, new initiatives, and that can only be positive for WA startups,” he said.
The new directors join treasurer Patrick Jodas, secretary Jo Hawkins, and board members Josh van Ross and Lacey Filipich.
