Remember, tech startups nearly never pay dividends. Making a ton of profit but no exit = good for founders and employees, big problem for investors.
Remember, tech startups nearly never pay dividends. Making a ton of profit but no exit = good for founders and employees, big problem for investors.
The problem basically comes about because almost all startups here are forced to bootstrap for a long time before they even get the possibility of raising funds from an investor. If as a founder you have managed to get your business to profitability by bootstrapping why would you take on any outside investor who you expect will try and screw you over?
Because in Australia (and NZ, Canada, etc) founders and employees tend to be waiting for privately owned residential real estate to move up in value, a "lifestyle business" in these places doesn't need to get to profitability, it only just needs to keep the founders and employees in a job. Any outside investor that evaluates such a business is already being screwed over by the founders as soon as they start talking.