Mick Liubinskas: Australia’s startup ecosystem would be stronger with a single city leading it

Mick Liubinskas: Australia’s startup ecosystem would be stronger with a single city leading it

Mick Liubinskas: Australia’s startup ecosystem would be stronger with a single city leading it

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Mick Liubinskas is the founder of Climate Salad, an organisation that aims to boost climate tech companies in Australia and New Zealand by providing tools, programs and community support. Mick has a long history working within the startup ecosystem both in Australia and overseas, and notably was co-founder of Pollenizer, one of Australia’s first startup incubators. This is a special episode featuring guest host Alan Jones, an investor and veteran of Australia’s startup ecosystem who has supported Australian startups independently and through BlueChilli, Blackbird Ventures, Pollenizer Ventures and Startmate. In the conversation, Mick and Alan compare notes on the early days of Australia’s startup ecosystem, and discuss Mick’s belief that Australia’s startup ecosystem would be stronger with a single city leading as the central hub for startups within the country.

Chapters

00:00 Introduction to Day One Podcast

00:18 Meet Mick Liubinskas

00:52 Early Days in Marketing and Startups

01:53 Transition from Corporate to Startups

03:17 Overview of Tangler

05:39 Challenges of Non-Lean Approaches

08:39 The Impact of Early Adopters

10:12 Introduction to Pollenizer

12:56 Successes and Learnings from Pollenizer

14:10 Notable Achievements with Spreets

19:40 Commitment to Climate Technology

20:17 Journey to Climate Salad

25:40 Goals and Impact of Climate Salad

29:09 Gaps and Opportunities in the Australian Startup Ecosystem

33:26 The Importance of a Concentrated Startup Community

35:00 Advice for New Entrepreneurs

37:38 The Future of Climate Tech

39:00 Closing Remarks

Resources

Climate Salad: https://www.climatesalad.com/Pollenizer: http://www.pollenizer.com/Mick on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mliubinskas/

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Day One® is a registered trademark of W2D1 Media Pty Ltd. All rights reserved. © 2026 W2D1 Media Pty Ltd.