Hamish Hawthorn is a mechanical engineer and startup operator who has spent much of his career supporting Australian technology founders. When Day One's documentary on Australian startup history was released in December 2022, he was VP Corporate Development at Propeller Aero.
Earlier in 2022 he was chief operating officer of Curious Thing, a conversational AI company, and he had held the same role at the US digital security company UpGuard. He was chief executive of the Sydney incubator ATP Innovations, which won the National Business Incubation Association's 2014 Incubator of the Year award and was renamed Cicada Innovations after he stepped down in 2016. He also co-founded the angel investment group Sydney Angels.
In his interview for The History of the Australian Startup Ecosystem series, he described Sydney's startup scene in 2005 and how it has changed.
4 episodes
Start hereHamish Hawthorn discusses the evolution of the ecosystemHis full interview, on what Sydney's startup scene looked like in 2005 and how it changed.
Documentary: The History Of The Australian Startup Ecosystem With Mark Pesce, Hayden Williams, Evan Thornley, Tim Fung, Trevor Folsom, Peter Davison, Pete Lead, Terry Hilsberg, Matt Bullock, Allan O'Connor, Rachael Neumann, Maxine Sherrin, Malcolm Turnbull, James Alexander, Alan Jones, Paul Bassat, Alfred Lo, Phil Hayes-St Clair, Cameron Adams, Bruce Tulloch, Matt Barrie, Kate Cornick
Documentary: The History Of The Australian Startup Ecosystem With Jodie Fox, Alfred Lo, Cameron Adams, Evan Thornley, John Allsopp, Malcolm Turnbull, Ian Gardiner, Mick Liubinskas, Matt Barrie, Mark Pesce, Phil Hayes-St Clair, Simon Thomsen, Phil Morle, Silvia Pfeiffer, Dean McEvoy, Alan Noble, Niki Scevak, Alan Jones
Documentary: The History Of The Australian Startup Ecosystem With Simon Thomsen, Tim Boyle, David Burt, Rachel Yang, Sarah Pearson, Bruce Tulloch, Cheryl Mack, Lucinda Hartley, Joshua Flannery, Megan Sebben, Alex Scandurra, Phil Ireland, Julie Trell, Peter Devine, Dean McEvoy, Craig Swann, Colette Grgic, Pete Horsley, Aaron Birkby, Annie Parker, Paul Bassat, Maxine Sherrin, Malcolm Turnbull, James Alexander, Melissa Widner, Lauren Capelin
The History of the Australian Startup Ecosystem - Interview Series Recorded as Chief Operating Officer, Curious Thing
Key moments from Hamish Hawthorn discusses the evolution of the ecosystem.
“The longer I can avoid talking to customers, the more I can live without having to deal with the fact that my baby is incredibly ugly.”
Propeller Aero is a company that specializes in providing drone data processing and analytics solutions for industries such as construction, aggregates and mining, waste…
1 person · 4 episodes
Adam SpencerHost, Documentary: The History Of The Australian Startup Ecosystem 
Mark PesceFuturist & Host, The Next Billion Seconds 
Hayden WilliamsGroup Product Manager, MYOB 
Evan ThornleyCo-Founder & CEO, LongView 
Tim FungFounder & CEO, Airtasker 
Trevor FolsomCo-Founder and Chairman, Investible 
Peter DavisonCo-founder, Fishburners 
Pete LeadCoach, Scalable Leaders Spot something wrong? Suggest a correctionUpdated 29 October 2026
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