Fishburners’ $2Bn Impact: Building Australia’s Startup Ecosystem w/ Martin Karafilis, Fishburners

Billion Dollar Moves™ with Sarah Chen-Spellings | Global Venture Capital

This week we’re diving into the journey of Martin Karafilis, CEO of Fishburners, Australia's largest and longest-standing startup community. Since 2011, Fishburners has supported over 45,000 entrepreneurs and facilitated more than $2 billion in capital raised.

In our conversation, Martin shares his insights on Australia's evolving venture landscape, the importance of community in startup success, and why global ambitions are essential for local founders. Tune in for stories about pitching at Fishburners’ iconic events, investing in women founders, and lessons learned from building a tech startup to exit!

Timestamps / Key Takeaways

00:00 - Intro

02:06 - The journey of Fishburners and its impact on Australian startups

04:21 - Takes on women-led startups; Why investing in women founders is a smart business decision.

06:41 - Australia’s startup ecosystem: challenges, opportunities, and the rise of domestic capital flow

13:01 - Lessons from a founder-turned-investor; blooming tech scene in Australia startups

17:44 - Importance of community; success stories of Fishburners

21:29 - Martin’s journey as a founder: from funding to exits

30:20 - Billion Dollar Questions

About Martin Karafilis

Critically acclaimed speaker and author with a wealth of knowledge across technology, business, startups, entrepreneurship and investment. As featured in publications such as Forbes, TechCrunch, Business Insider, The Financial Review.

Having founded multiple companies, scaled operations globally, and developed some of the worlds most innovative products, Martin is widely known as one of Australia's leading serial entrepreneurs and business advisors.

Martin maintains a unique lens on end to end operations leveraging both his technical and non-technical backgrounds. A leader for innovation who has a proven track record in strategic & operational planning, sales growth & customer acquisition, capital raising & funding, product design & management, people & culture, marketing, branding & public relations.

Striving to drive emerging technologies, Martin uses his experience from large global corporates and growing startups to introduce world leading technology on local, regional and global levels. Martin follows a strict range of core values when carrying out business with a strong focus on creating environmental and social impact, ultimately trying to shape the world for the better through technology and innovation.

Martin has strong expertise in growing businesses and building exceptional teams with a deep understanding of how political, cultural, social, economic and technological impacts shape international markets.

FOLLOW MARTIN

https://www.instagram.com/martinkarafilis/

https://www.instagram.com/martinkarafilis/

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