It’s not a new story, but the Herald’s latest installment of the Firepower saga highlighted again how incredibly lacking in innovation insight the Australian media has been.
In his own testimony, Firepower founder Tim Johnston admitted that the entire saga was predicated around a product idea that not only would never reach fruition, but that he was able to convince investors that there was no need for there ever to be a product, just that the hype of an “impending” product with a massive possible market was more than enough to ensure riches.
Besides Johnston, there are many, many other guilty parties in this saga.
For starters, the investors. There should be a corporate law stating that any company that sponsors a national sporting team before they generate revenues should have their CEO immediately jailed. Any investors that willingly allow this to happen should join them. Firepower’s sponsorship of (Australian) NBL teams, the Western Force Rugby franchise (and for his implication, a massive shame on Matt Giteau and his management) and other endorsements is an indictment of all involved.
And again, the media. One could argue that the high-profile sponsorships were a brilliant tactic to divert journalistic inquiry away from when or if ever Firepower would actually ship a product. Why, oh why, did nobody in the business media ever ask? Firepower generated so much business press – mostly through star-struck musings about it’s high-profile investors – surely, surely some editorial resource could have asked “Umm, Mr Johnston, could you tell us when you’ll actually ship a product?”.
I’ve written before in disdainful terms of how the business media ignores innovation, Firepower is an example of how little interest there is until there is some sort of showbiz angle about a company – and in this case, all the media interest came at the cost of any form of rational review of Firepower as a business. There are so many good, innovative companies – even in the “green energy” space that Firepower fraudulently occupied – that are absolutely starved of media awareness in Australia.
Maybe too many journalists got good seats at the Basketball so they wouldn’t ask the obvious questions?
I’m also less than impressed with Austrade’s role in promoting Firepower as a successful export company. C’mon guys, you’ve got to be kidding. Even piddling little EMDG application forms require the submission of company accounts – why is nobody in Austrade being fired over their promotion of Firepower? Didn’t anyone ask if there was a product coming along anytime?
Again, maybe the senior bureaucrats were too busy being feted at the football to notice they were promoting a fraud. Pity, as the federal government’s agency charged with promoting Australian innovation overseas they have a pretty strategic mandate to not get conned.
In this case, we award a “fail” mark to all of them.
I’ve arrived in Barcelona for a very, very busy week, spending most of my Friday alternately trying to negate jet lag, perform some company administrative tasks, and prepare for all the demonstrations we are doing at the Mobile World Congress next week.