Welcome to The Never Ending Startup Podcast Episode 8- Startup Journey and Stories. The 1980s and The White Shoe Brigade meets Silicon Valley -The era of Christopher Skase and Alan Bond and its problematic funding and banking interface-  Dr Jon reflects on the 1980s boom and its impact on banking models and venture capital and his involvement with the dynamic CRI development group. The parrallel rise of Silicon Valley and its mutual interaction with  Australian venture and property development capital and the rising era of investment banking.
This JDNEST Episode's Central Question:
What form of wealth will your Startup bring you? And what is the meaning of wealth?

There are many forms of wealth, the most popular being money.

However along with all endeavours and journies many other forms of wealth occur;

Belief, connection, engagement, sharing, friendship, love and wisdom.

Dr Jonathan Drane July 2024
The Never Ending Startup Podcast: Lessons for Modern Startup Journey & Stories of Longevity
The podcast  shares Dr Jon’s insightful entrepreneurial journey, history and inspirations.

It includes interviews with ‘accelerator startups’ from The University of Newcastle’s I2N Innovation Hub about their journey and inspirations.

It also covers the state of Australia’s innovation ecology and lessons for new startups.

The podcast and book build a social and entrepreneurial framework for startup journey and  longevity.

In this episode we concentrate on the theme of transformation and its importance in the startup journey of discovery.
This episode covers: The 1980s era with its impact on development and banking practices  (extract from upcoming book)
In this episode I expand  on how my entry into the world of high rise construction and property development introduced me to entrepreneurship, the concept of risk and return and how to assess potential developments and startup concepts.

In this episode I concentrate on the 1980s boom which was reputed to be the largest boom-bust in Australian history.

I was fortunate to be part of this era which was  loosely recognised in the broader press as the Skase-Bond era and came out of the 1970s and 80s era of the Queensland government at the time.

The Gold Coast developers of this era were called The White Shoe brigade and I worked eventually in the mid 1990s with Brian Ray who was from that era as well as Matrix Constructions who was founded by two ex-Civil and Civic project managers John Davies and Peter Burt.
The White Shoe Brigade meets Silicon Valley
Take time out to view how the Gold Coast development culture influenced Australian development and the world funding models. The rise of Christopher Skase and his Quintex group as well as Alan Bond who ran rings around the banking sector to eventually explode into the dim decade that was the 1990s.

Parrallel with this era came the rise of Silicon Valley which rose from the 1950s to spawn worldwide tech inventions, investments and startups. The rise of venture capital and The Silicon Valley Bank was to shape the future of venture capital
The Rise and Fall of Alan Bond is interviewed by Paul Barry
https://youtu.be/TfoD0tqptxM?feature=shared
What is  The Never Ending Startup Podcast About?
The Never Ending Startup is the story of award winning researcher, writer, innovator, historian  and entrepreneur Dr Jonathan Drane and his journey through the world of  high rise construction, property development and then into  start up ventures, the genesis of which he discovered only recently, had its inception over half a century earlier.
Dr Jon’s Startup Journey and who inspired him
His first start up called Optimum Search was established in 1993 and still stands today with a deep quarter century history of entrepreneurial achievement and ‘catalyst research’ with some failure along the way, the latter being a central part of the DNA of its success.

The story starts in the midst of his post war 1950s upbrin...