
$A100K Equity-Free Startup Grant from Queensland Government - mariusursache
http://www.hotdesq.com.au/application-process#mu
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spiggytopes999
Queensland-based startup here in the fintech space. Having been through the
wringer several times applying for Qld and Federal government grants, I’d be
very cautious before getting too enthusiastic about this offer. Here are my
experiences:

Applied and was offered a $75k COMET (Commercialisation of Emerging
Technologies) grant a few years back. Before accepting, I had a chat with
another recipient, who warned me off. The grant wasn’t a grant at all; you had
to take a government appointed ‘advisor’, and when you raised your first round
they were entitled to take a percentage of the funds (which could have been a
multiple of the original $75k), even if their contribution had been zero. I
declined the funding.

Applied twice for Commercialisation Australia (2010, $200k) and Early Stage
Commercialisation (2014, 100k) grants. Both were grants without taking equity.
Spent several thousand dollars and many weeks crafting the strongest possible
application. Both times we were told we had extremely strong applications
(great market fit, previous entrepreneurial experience, strong interest from
overseas) and were highly likely to get the grant. Both times there was a
change of government two weeks before the final signoff date, and both times
the funding programs were closed down without warning, to be replaced by
something very similar a year later. To cap it off they didn’t even bother
sending out a formal letter to applicants – I got a phone call in the first
instance and a brush-off email in the second.

I’m not saying don’t apply, but personally the time spent in applying for
these grants would have been far better spent working on our product.

~~~
jaaames
CA grant is such a weird premise as you essentially need to be in a position
where you've done the R&D (i.e. spent all the cash) but don't have enough
sales yet.

Having applied for $150k for another STEM related grant in NSW with a very
strong application in hindsight I would rather have spent the time and effort
focusing on the core business.

If you consider grants and applications as an expected value calculation
(grant size * % chance of award * implications of being awarded) a business is
often doing themselves a disservice by applying.

~~~
spiggytopes999
I completely agree. About the only grant program that sounds worthwhile is the
EMDG (Export Market Development Grant) which reimburses some of your sales-
related travel costs - up to 50% from a minimum spend of $15k. Apparently this
isn't too hard to get, but you have to have spent the cash first.

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femto
A similar thing for NSW: $25k without revenue or up to $100k with revenue.

[https://www.jobsfornsw.com.au/how-we-help/start-
ups](https://www.jobsfornsw.com.au/how-we-help/start-ups)

I haven't looked at other states, but the Australian states are competitive
enough that what one does the others often follow.

Edit: Victoria: [https://launchvic.org/funding-
guidelines](https://launchvic.org/funding-guidelines)

~~~
nimchimpsky
wow, having recently moved to nsw that is very interesting.

~~~
albastru
This seems to be from SA: [http://www.innovyz.com/](http://www.innovyz.com/)
according to [https://www.sa.gov.au/topics/business-and-trade/running-a-
bu...](https://www.sa.gov.au/topics/business-and-trade/running-a-
business/funding-and-grants)

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forgottenacc57
All the Australian funding programs are designed to support the community of
leeches that have grown to live off them like incubators and advisors.

Real support would be cash for salaries and then leave the developers alone to
get stuff built from the living room.

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davidnoble
I'm the CEO of a startup based outside Qld. Area of development is bespoke AI
and its application in Health, Social Services, Education, Employment and
Training.

We were looking at moving to California to secure funding but if it's $100K
cold hard cash with no strings we could be persuaded to move to the Sunshine
Coast. Good weather, good surfs. Like California only different. Email me -
david@bdihealth.com

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jonobird1
As someone who lives in Qld, our Gov't only provides funding to those who are
the most connected and don't need the funding. As per the FAQ's section saying
they will give the money not to those who it would benefit most, but those who
are most connected and have the most experience and successful startups.

~~~
kristianp
"Any entrepreneur currently based outside of Queensland with an existing
startup or entrepreneurial experience can apply. "

Note, you have to currently be outside of qld to apply.

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mnbbrown
From someone who's already in the program: [https://medium.com/@hollyc/whats-
hot-desq-really-like-faqs-f...](https://medium.com/@hollyc/whats-hot-desq-
really-like-faqs-from-someone-who-knows-5dc453d86da6)

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empressplay
This is more meant to be an incentive for people to bring (back) an already
successful venture to QLD, not a way to get seed money.

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girvo
It's specifically for founders with existing startups, outside of Queensland,
in case others missed that on first glance.

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glangdale
The gamification-sounding element of accumulating "Network Points" is pretty
entertaining. Aside from that, providing $AUD100K without taking equity is
nice - as long as the process of farming the government isn't so complex that
your startup lives to regret it...

~~~
girvo
Well doing work for Queensland Health (front-end websites and apps for
marketing purposes, not client data or anything) was an exercise in absolute
frustration. But hey, I'll give our gvt the benefit of the doubt for now; we
have to move to a tech economy or we will fail the moment we run out of
resources to pull out of the ground.

Interestingly, a small data centre is being built pretty close to me in
Fortitude Valley, so there is some investment going on. The Advance Queensland
Innovation Summit I attended talked the big talk, let's see how well they've
learned how to walk I guess!

~~~
vacri
Mining is actually not the predominant part of the national income - something
like 8% of GDP. We're not as dependent on it as people think. Might be
different for the state of QLD though.

Another way to look at it - mining has been deflating for the past few years
as demand has dried up a bit, but the nation still hasn't had a recession (two
quarters of negative growth).

~~~
girvo
Yeah sorry I should've been clear, I'm talking specifically about Queensland
(and WA is another state that's at risk, and are were in a recession as of the
beginning of this year, from what I can see).

This doc is a couple years out of date, but worth looking at:
[https://www.treasury.qld.gov.au/economy/the-queensland-
econo...](https://www.treasury.qld.gov.au/economy/the-queensland-economy/qld-
resources-sector.php)

While in raw numbers it might not seem grim, the effects from what I've seen
can be rather outsized; more to the point, a lot of communities in Queensland
are reliant on mining to exist at all and are struggling with the current
downturn in mining investment and work (though, local effects don't generalise
well, of course).

The current effects are having an impact on Brisbane's GDP:

"Significant drags on the Brisbane economy included Professional Services
(-0.3 percentage points) and Mining (-0.3 percentage points)."

[https://www.sgsep.com.au/publications/brisbane-
gdp-2015-2016](https://www.sgsep.com.au/publications/brisbane-gdp-2015-2016)

Anyway, thanks for sending me on a neat research journey :)

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trapperkeeper79
Wish Canada did something like startup chile .. I'd move and do a startup in a
heartbeat.

~~~
nimchimpsky
what ? If you don't live in Canada why would you want to the grant to be there
?

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catmanjan
Sounds like they're buying the time of an already successful startup in the
hopes that their hard work will "rub off" on the rest of the community.

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d_burfoot
You posted this too late:

> Hot DesQ applications will be accepted from 31 March 2017 until midday
> (AEST), 3 May 2017

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desdiv
I assume that he posted it late enough so that there won't be any extra
competition from HN, and yet early enough so that it's still relevant and thus
will yield sufficient internet points.

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movedx
Dammit - I'm already in Queensland, but I do have a startup! Haha!

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grizzles
If anyone's thinking about coming, pls post about your startup.

