As an active contributor to Australia’s innovation ecosystem for the last 15 years, and a native Sydney-sider, I’m stunned by last week’s news that the Sydney Startup Hub will be kicked out of its wonderful Wynyard location in October 2025.
The reason? It’s younger sibling – Tech Central – is struggling and needs propping up.
Sadly, like the clueless couple who killed their golden goose, the government has no comprehension why the Sydney Startup Hub works so well.
Nor does it see the implausibility of its plan to pick it up and plonk it downtown, while expecting the magic to continue because it’s hung out the same shingle.
A tale of 2 tech precincts
Tech Central is soulless steel and concrete. It’s noisy, grotty, inconvenient for business meetings, badly laid out for water cooler chats, and the rent is eye-wateringly expensive.
Some don’t mind Central’s “edgy” vibe, but others feel unsafe in that neighbourhood after dark.
A 2019 vision for the Tech Central precinct in Sydney over the Central Station railway corridor
The last time I was there over lunch, I couldn’t find anywhere to buy a sandwich that wasn’t a 30-minute round trip. At least I could find the front door … but only because I’d been there before.
By contrast, the Sydney Startup Hub has a grand entrance, with a view of Wynyard Green and charming Art Deco heritage. Easy to find, on an prominent city corner, it has internal access to the station and adjacency to the first bus stop from the north side of the bridge.
As a bonus, it’s only a short walk to Barangaroo and the CBD’s “business end.”
The Level 1 coffee shop and public space is regularly packed, as is the Starbucks with the secret doorway next to those iconic oversized escalators that feature in many founder photos.
After dark, there is direct access to the soulful small bars of Wynyard Lane, or the swankier Shell House and Bopp & Tone across the green, and even a late night Maccas down in the station.
For lunch, there’s plenty of choice within a 5-minute walk, including the iconic Condor Japanese that’s been a York Street feature for decades.
The hub’s vertical design co-locates three of Australia’s top co-working spaces – Fishburners, Stone & Chalk and Tank Stream Labs – with the added bonus of Microsoft Reactor and Antler under the same roof.
In short, it just works.
In fact, I prefer my hot desk in the startup hub to my firm’s offices in Chifley Tower.
Tech Central is the favourite child
As StartupDaily reported last week, NSW innovation, science and technology minister Anoulack Chanthivong has said: “Tech Central can empower the innovation ecosystem, as well as play a greater role in supporting housing, creative industries, and the visitor and 24-hour economies”.
An artist’s impression of the Atlassian building currently under construction next to Central railway station as part of Tech Central.
In other words, politically, the government is propping up Tech Central by sacrificing the Sydney Startup Hub, and doubling-down on its weak narrative that NSW startups need proximity to universities and unicorns to succeed.
If only there were some logic (or facts?) to back this up.
Startup success doesn’t happen by hiring a university student to be your intern or appointing a professor to your advisory board.
Nor can you catch it by sitting downwind of Canva and Atlassian!
Founders achieve success by growing a team, building a minimally viable tech product, then going-to-market to earn revenue from paying customers, buffered by grindingly-hard capital raises that puts survival dollars in the bank account.
A plucked goose can’t lay golden eggs
The government’s decision reminds me of the timeless tale of fortune and folly called “The Goose that Laid the Golden Eggs.”
It’s the perfect allegory to explain the alchemy that is the Sydney Startup Hub and a cautionary lesson about not seeing the value in something until after it’s gone.
In the Aesop’s fable, a farmer discovered his goose had laid a golden egg. Unsure of its provenance, his wife confirmed it was indeed pure gold. To their astonishment, the goose laid golden eggs every day, and so from a humble beginning, the couple became very wealthy.
They liked this wealth but became dissatisfied with one egg a day and yearned for more leverageable outcomes like a fancy house and lots of rich visitors.
Having done nothing to earn it, other than give the goose a nice nest, they failed to appreciate and nurture their good fortune.
Instead, they tried to 10x it.
In their ignorance and greed, they killed the goose and cut it open, hoping to pluck the inside source of the gold. However, they only succeeded in losing their source of wealth.
Unpopular & poorly communicated
It’s abundantly clear from the widespread negative reaction in my own network, as well as views expressed online and in media, that this decision is deeply unpopular.
“Expanding networks is one of the toughest challenges for early-stage founders, especially women. Wynyard made that possible for me,” said Claire Waring, cofounder of Gether and a member of Techstars 24 and Blackbird Giants 23.
“I’ve used the startup hub for co-working, attending events and meetings with investors. Having a dedicated space to do business, in the heart of the CBD, has made all the difference. Without it, we’d be back to juggling meetings in cafes and long commutes,” Waring continued.
According to fintech adviser Ben Smith: “Tech Central is such a buzz kill – it’s dead. No energy. No real startup vibe. Nearly all work-related meetings end up requiring a trip up to the business end of the CBD or Barangaroo, which makes Tech Central seem even more disconnected.”
Moreover, the decision has been poorly communicated, and it’s badly timed coming just a couple of weeks out from Christmas, giving tenants less than 12 months’ notice to quit.
Concerningly, the new location remains unspecified, which does not augur well for a smooth transition, nor inspire confidence.
“The only innovation here is trying to force people into an area they do not want to go and will not go because [the government] chose to back a bad plan years ago,” said Steve Grace, cofounder of The Nudge Group and The Pillars AU, who has mooted a rescue plan.
I’m interested to collaborate towards that outcome.
Otherwise, I’ll be spending more time at Chifley Tower.
- Jennifer Harrison is Director, Startups & Scaleups, at creative communications agency Reputation Edge.