FEW Australian companies have been part of the boom in Internet stocks which is being fuelled by the aggressive US venture capital industry.
In the US, many Internet start-ups are trebling and quadrupling their stock prices within hours of their first trade.
Blumberg Capital managing director David Blumberg said Australia has a wealth of Internet start-ups which could easily tap into this market if they knew the secrets of a successful venture capital pitch.
“Seven minutes is all you have to impress a venture capitalist,” he said.
Mr Blumberg said the best investors complement dollars with a wide range of benefits, including experience, market insight, contacts and team building skills, and that finding ‘smart money’ is more important than spare cash.
He says Australian IT companies must throw away the rule book when it comes to developing their business and securing the future.
“The traditional notion of slow and steady growth as a basis for floating the company or securing additional capital just doesn’t work in this sector,” he said.
“The US market is looking for the ‘next big thing’ and wants to be able to take a product and go with it in a major way. Australian companies need to be able to pitch their potential in billion dollar terms to even gain the interest of international bankers.”
Mr Blumberg has an impressive track history in assisting start-ups. His company backed multinational security vendor Check Point Software more than five years ago, which is now a market leader with a capitalisation of more than $US1 billion.
Mr Blumberg was recently brought to Australia by min (Multimedia Internet Network) for a series of one-day entrepreneurs workshops.
