Cameron Reilly to move TPN to the US
What should we call this criminal lack of venture capital for early-stage Australian consumer Internet businesses? Capital cringe? Comes word from Builder AU, of all places, that Cameron Reilly is upping stumps as of October 22 and moving The Podcast Network to the US.
The reaction by journalist portal ITJourno, in its daily Epitome article which was written today by ex-Industry Standard writer Ian Yates, was rather schaedenfreude-laden.
I am sad to see Cameron go, though I don't blame him. I'm getting a new passport myself this week. This decision would have been made more difficult for Cameron since he has a wife and two young children to contend with, so the gamble he's taking has stakes higher than those for unladen single blokes like myself and Tony at Tinfinger, or Ben Barren at Feedcorp. I wish him luck, and I look forward to him presenting his own thoughts on the matter in one of his blogs.
UPDATE: Cam apparently broke this news himself in the last edition of his G'Day World podcast last week, as discussed by TPN member Rooster. Shame on me for not listening!
PPS: Josh Gliddon interviewed the usual suspects for a Bulletin piece on the capital cringe issue.
"I've been talking to investors for the last 12 months in Australia," he told Builder AU. "There's been a high degree of interest, but the challenge that we had was the valuations that we get given by Australian investors is a at significant discount."
The reaction by journalist portal ITJourno, in its daily Epitome article which was written today by ex-Industry Standard writer Ian Yates, was rather schaedenfreude-laden.
Rumours of the demise of mainstream media by the self-boosters of the Web 2.0 brigade may be a tad exaggerated. In this instance a “tad” is approximately the size of an A380 and just as likely to get off the ground any time soon. To confirm the delay comes news of Australia’s own podcast poster-boy, Cameron Reilly, decamping to the USA because local venture capitalists “undervalue” his business. Oh dear, how sad, never mind, better get a real job, eh?
I am sad to see Cameron go, though I don't blame him. I'm getting a new passport myself this week. This decision would have been made more difficult for Cameron since he has a wife and two young children to contend with, so the gamble he's taking has stakes higher than those for unladen single blokes like myself and Tony at Tinfinger, or Ben Barren at Feedcorp. I wish him luck, and I look forward to him presenting his own thoughts on the matter in one of his blogs.
UPDATE: Cam apparently broke this news himself in the last edition of his G'Day World podcast last week, as discussed by TPN member Rooster. Shame on me for not listening!
PPS: Josh Gliddon interviewed the usual suspects for a Bulletin piece on the capital cringe issue.
Labels: Australia, podcasting, tpn, venture capital
posted by Paul Montgomery | 11:54 am
8 Comments:
He's not the first, nor will he be the last heading to the US.
I remember reading some of Nik Cubrilovic's posts on the differences between VCs in Australia and the US.
See:
http://www.nik.com.au/archives/2005/12/12/difference-in-vc-attitude/
and:
http://www.nik.com.au/archives/2006/01/31/omnidrive-update-the-usa-and-the-state-of-australian-venture-capital/
Australia should hang it's head in shame.
But it is a reflection on the state of affairs in Aust when it comes to capital investment in new technology or ideas. Or are people just lazy?
People are scared of failure, rooster.
It would probably be harder on him and the Family if he had actually told them! Rumor has it he has told the trouble and strife yet (but then again he could be kidding, although this is Cam we are talking about!)
Molly
unless cam has a deal stiched up in the US, i think he's in for a big surprise. what's TPN's business model? is TPN even relevant anymore?
why should australia hang its head in shame? what makes TPN a shrewd investment, exactly?
An interesting article - the Bull...etin one, that is. Had lunch with Marty Wells yesterday and got his view on things.
Some of us are very focused on building a Web 2.0/Attention Economy pipeline from Australia and as a former venture guy - some of us most certainly get it.
I'll blog more on this over at Yoick: http://yoick.wordpress.com
What makes it a shrewd investment? The same thing that made YouTube such a pricey jewel for Google - potential.
well, you're half right. youtube was certainly pricey. there's a considerable number of analysts out there who don't think gootube was such a smart move.
as for potential; what is the key differentiator between TPN and any number of other podcast networks? to use your youtube example, the difference between them and, say, grouper, is that youtube has a bajillion more users and is firmly embedded in the public conciousness. is there a similar gap between TPN and every other network/aggregator?
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