(Another) Hopeful Fool - SHR!MP S01E04

14 October 2025

The initial months revealed some interesting challenges. As I ventured into a (for me) new field, I also uncovered some unexpected “unknown unknowns” or simply incorrect assumptions.

AgTech is a genuine Australian future industry and growth opportunity (yes, it is)… but aquaculture is not (although it could be).

Australians love seafood. Australia has a longer coastline than the US. It manages a larger surface area over water than over land, but seafood is the only food category in which we are a net importer. In almost every other agricultural product, we export many times what we consume ourselves. The main consequence for SHRMP is that there is no significant local industry, and without such an industry, there’s little interest in innovation in this sector— and therefore no funding. Also, cheap Asian-import shrimp is... cheap. Too cheap for locally produced or caught options.

I also had a serendipitous and fantastic meeting with a real veteran of the local industry. Long retired, he had great words of encouragement, but also the experience of having seen it all before. Flashback to the 1970s (or so): Onshore aquaculture is gaining hype for the first time as a technological breakthrough for seafood manufacturing in Australia. Many companies spring up, generating a lot of excitement, but it was all followed by a rude awakening. Every single one fails - except for one: MainStream (which apparently had a very tough time getting to where it is today). “Gregor, you have to know how to farm first before you can think about bringing any new technology in.”

The most concerning insight to me, however, as I try to lay the foundations for a future technology company and work in Australia's innovation sector, is the surprisingly high prevalence of short-term thinking I come across. Most people I spoke to seemed unaware or unconcerned about where we're heading in what I think is not too distant a future (after all I can still remember Y2K very clearly). And if it doesn't turn a profit in two years, there's very little interest in it—at least from those I'd talked to during this time.

Could I be on the wrong track entirely?