CeBIT Sydney 2008 is here and amongst the special guests is Dot-Com and Web 2.0 entrepreneur Jason Calacanis. I had the chance to catch up with Jason for a few minutes in between some of his more formal press interviews.

Jason actually started off his career in New York, a place that Paul Graham claims can’t replicate Silicon Valley and, as such, is the wrong place for tech startups to start. It was because of this, and the fact that in the end Jason did succeed, that I was particularly interested in hearing his thoughts on whether or not Australian’s were really at a big disadvantage when it came to creating successful tech startups.

I felt the main message Jason wanted me to take away from our talk was that the days of needing to be in Silicon Valley are over…kind of.

Instead, there are 2 things that are critical to success in the tech startup industry. Much more critical, that is, than simply being in the Valley: -

1. Do something that adds value
2. Have good networks

The first point is kind of obvious, so I won’t dwell on it too long. One interesting note, however, is that Jason said he believes that companies that create value can overcome any obstacle, such as a lack of tax incentives for early stage investments, or a lack of Government support, or distance (sound familiar?). I will dwell on this point because I think too often in Australia we’ve been guilty of whinging about the environment rather than focusing on creating products and services that create real value. This is a wake up call from someone who is very heavily involved in the global tech startup industry - less talking, more doing.

The second point is also really interesting. What Jason said was that if you’re a young entrepreneur starting off, without any networks in your domestic market, then maybe going to Silicon Valley and spending a year there is a good idea. Other than that, the more business networks you have wherever you happen to be, the less leaving becomes a necessary option.

Make sense? I think so.

It also ties back into the first point by getting people to focus less on the Silicon Valley dream and more on creating valuable products and services that meet market needs. In many cases, those market needs should be local market needs simply because, for most of us, those are the needs that we are best equipped to understand and address.

I should say that this doesn’t mean “don’t think global”. What it means is that if you work hard to create value by meeting local needs then a couple of things could happen - the first is that you build up a good local business, the other is that the local needs you’re trying to meet are cross-cultural and you can start to build a more global presence.

It was only a few minutes with Jason, but I think it put a lot of things into perspective.