The tech and innovation ecosystems are dynamic and interconnected networks fuelled by startups, investors, institutions, corporates, individuals and other entities.
Startup Genome suggests that ecosystems are often defined within a 100km radius from a central city, providing governments with data-driven insights to benchmark success and focus their efforts.
But what really happens inside an ecosystem? While venture capital and deal flow dominate traditional metrics, they fail to capture the full picture.
Much like brands, ecosystems are defined by both tangible assets and intangible values—psychological and emotional factors that influence their behaviours and success.
If it takes a village to raise a startup, then that village must nurture fair play, strive for collective success and emotional well-being, rather than focusing solely on metrics or monopoly.
Understanding archetypes within innovation
Every ecosystem has its heroes and villains. Some players act as connectors and builders, laying the foundation for growth and building networks.
Others set barriers, creating obstacles and eroding trust. The most troubling reality is that bad actors often fail to recognise the harm they cause—whether through toxic leadership, unethical practices, exclusionary behaviour or just sheer competition.
Reflecting on these dynamics, I was inspired by a session on personal and team archetypes led by Lisa Johnston, founder of Elements Kit.
It prompted me to consider the archetypes shaping the Australian tech ecosystem. Who they are, how do they influence our collective and personal growth, and how we can navigate their complexities to keep moving forward.
Borrowing the framework from the classic spaghetti western The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, I’ve mapped 15 archetypes shaping an innovation ecosystem.
Each archetype is represented visually by an animal, capturing its essence and behaviour. Let’s explore the zoo!
The Good: Champions of growth
The Builder
Builders create platforms that nurture future opportunities, spotlight emerging leaders and enable knowledge sharing.
They create invaluable spaces for collaboration, deal-making, and celebrating collective success, forming the backbone of their ecosystem.
One example is an event organiser who curates gatherings where ideas flourish, partnerships form and the community thrives.
Guidance: Keep fostering connections and amplifying new voices, but remember to focus on commercial sustainability to ensure your event navigates through challenging times. Celebrate successes, but also adapt to evolving community needs over time.
The Connector
Connectors act as bridges within the ecosystem, bringing together individuals, companies and resources.
They thrive on fostering new relationships by playing matchmaker and introducing people to each other.
Connectors amplify opportunities, acting as network catalysts by aligning people’s skills with their needs.
Guidance: To maximise their impact, connectors should prioritise authentic, non-transactional relationships.
Their value lies in their ability to connect people based on shared goals, complementary skills and purpose for a mutual benefit.
The Visionary
Visionaries are leaders with people skills, bright ideas and the ability to deliver projects.
They organise, inspire and hire the right talent to bring their vision to life.
They can imagine a groundbreaking idea, assemble a team to build it, and navigate around the challenges.
Guidance: Balance your big-picture thinking with regular reality checks. Stay grounded by listening to your team and embrace constructive feedback.
Success comes from aligning your vision with teamwork.
The Mixed: Balancing potential and pitfalls
The Opportunist
Opportunists act swiftly, often capitalising on moments others overlook.
While their agility can create short-term wins, their tendency to prioritise quick gains over long-term purpose may harm trust and damage relationships.
For example, startups that focus solely on growth at all cost without considering customer loyalty can burn out quickly.
Guidance: Opportunists should balance immediate opportunities with long-term goals. By aligning short-term actions with sustainable strategies, they can create lasting value without compromising their trust.
The Dreamer
Dreamers are big on ideas but lack the focus or drive to execute.
Dreamers are natural charmers and inspiring brainstormers but unreliable in delivery.
They pitch bold concepts but fail to create prototypes or secure funding and teams, leaving ideas unrealised.
Guidance: Dreamers should take action and develop discipline, partner with doers or smash sales.
Focus on turning one idea into reality rather than chasing endless possibilities. Execution matters more than imagination.
The Bureaucat
Bureaucats represent institutional inefficiency and misplaced priorities. They often allocate insufficient funding while expecting world-class results or favour a small pool of trusted companies and individuals.
Even worse, some may exploit intellectual property through funding mechanisms and reporting for their own initiatives, sidelining the SME’s they aim to support.
Guidance: To avoid becoming a hindrance, Bureaucats must prioritise long-term success and focus on being enablers.
Providing adequate funding to SMEs, protecting intellectual property, and engaging in open collaboration can transform them into valued contributors rather than obstructive forces and competition.
The Bad: Barriers to progress
The Gatekeeper
Gatekeepers control opportunities, often excluding women and underrepresented groups from leadership or funding.
With only 1.8% of investment going to women founders, biases favouring male-led companies perpetuate the low percentage of women in executive roles.
Guidance: Gatekeepers must review their processes to identify and eliminate any unconscious biases.
Create inclusive pathways for diverse talent to access opportunities they guard. They should recognise that fostering equity strengthens the ecosystem and drives everyone forward.
The Bulldozer
Bulldozers dominate ecosystems through sheer force or groundbreaking inventions, often overwhelming smaller players or markets.
Their tactics, such as flooding markets or monopolising resources can be seen as confronting.
For example, a competitor’s AI system may replicate an existing one and undercut its pricing, leaving the investor community scratching their heads.
Guidance: Bulldozers could be ‘a sputnik moment’ and they should focus on mentorship.
By leveraging their resources to uplift emerging innovators, they propel equitable growth and can act as catalysts for long-term success.
The Collector
Collectors hoard resources, funding and knowledge without redistributing or sharing.
Their behaviour kills collaboration and prevents innovation from flourishing.
For instance, companies that acquire startups solely to shut down their operation hinder the ecosystem’s potential.
Guidance: Collectors must adopt a mindset of generosity and openness.
Sharing resources and insights strengthens the ecosystem, creating reciprocal value and long-term growth.
The Ugly: Threats to Trust and Collaboration
The Shadow
Shadows sabotage others through rumours, badmouthing or obstruction while appearing friendly and knowledgeable.
They manipulate trust to position themselves as the sole authority, often misguiding others due to their lack of expertise.
A mentor may gain trust but provide poor guidance, damaging or slowing down a company’s progress.
Guidance: Control your ego and recognise the limits of your expertise.
Focus on enabling others to access diverse perspectives and credible advice. True leadership comes from collaboration, not control.
The Predator
Predators thrive on exploiting weaknesses. This can include acquiring smaller firms to eliminate competition or leveraging legal loopholes to maintain dominance.
For example, a larger company might use patent claims to hold back a smaller competitor’s groundbreaking product, limiting their potential for innovation.
Guidance: Balance competition with fairness. Healthy rivalry should push everyone to innovate, but exploitation weakens trust and slows down growth.
Seek collaborations that create win-win-win scenarios rather than preying on the vulnerable.
The Sovereign
Sovereigns claim their territory, pushing others out. This could be literal, such as monopolising event space, or metaphorical, like dominating media attention.
A global tech company setting up shop in a smaller ecosystem might out-hire and out-market local players, leaving little room for them to grow.
Guidance: Be a steward of the ecosystem. Instead of occupying space for personal gain, focus on creating an environment where everyone can grow.
Recognise that leadership comes from enabling others to thrive, not ruling over them.
The Shapeshifter
Shapeshifters are chameleons adapting to appear trustworthy and capable, but they often lack consistency and integrity.
Their main focus is self-interest, and they may bend relationships for personal gain, compromising their trust.
For example, a supplier might overpromise high-quality production but deliver flawed results or poor quality, while secretly negotiating deals with your other key clients.
Guidance: Shapeshifters should prioritise authenticity and honest communication to build stronger and more reputable relationships within the ecosystem. Transparency is the key!
The Manipulator
Manipulators are all about personal gain, offering little to nothing in return.
They build relationships selectively, often ignoring or dismissing others unless they see a direct benefit.
For instance, some salespeople may sweet-talk you without delivering real value in return, or appear disinterested, unfriendly, and dismissive — even ghosting you — unless they see an opportunity to benefit from you.
Guidance: Shift your mindset from constant conversions to contributing and engaging. Build genuine, reciprocal relationships by offering value and supporting others.
Acknowledge and respect people consistently, not just when you need something. Your reputation will outlast any short-term gains.
The Idea Thief
Idea thieves claim credit for others’ work, whether from their teams or external sources.
They undermine trust by stealing recognition or IP without any acknowledgment.
This could be a Creative Director presenting a campaign as their own work, neglecting to credit the person who created it, or an executive claiming ownership of a competitor’s IP, passing it off as the company’s innovation.
Guidance: Honor originality and give credit where it’s due. Foster a culture of trust and transparency within your team. Encourage collaboration and openly recognise contributions to create a healthy, idea-vibrant environment where teamwork is a dream work.
Innovation ecosystems thrive on trust, collaboration and equitable opportunity, but are also driven by competition.
While the good archetypes drive growth, the bad and the ugly threaten to undermine these foundations. Recognising, and sometimes even calling out and addressing harmful behaviors is critical to fostering environments where innovation flourishes.
As we enter 2025, let’s champion builders, visionaries and connectors while addressing the pitfalls of gatekeepers, predators and shapeshifters.
Let’s try to build a legacy of collective progress rather than building castles and dominating over small players or markets.
- George Hedon is the founder of Pause Fest & Awards, a community builder, designer and enabler of awesome.
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