Elias Bizannes: Silicon Beach Australia

Work It Baby is SNOBS’ appreciation page for fine lookin’ Australian men who work hard, and look damn good while they’re at it!

Businessman’s name: Elias Bizannes
Job description: Consultant
Business name: Silicon Beach Australia
Location: Lower north shore, Sydney
Find him online: www.siliconbeachaustralia.org/

Granted, we don’t yet have the budget to send a photographer around Australia for Work It Baby portraits, but… you couldn’t find a friend to snap you?
[laughs] Not on short-notice, and the only other pic I had handy was me in a singlet pointing to the sun in a Greco-Roman kind of way. So I just took a photo of myself in the mirror. I know; it’s lame.

The singlet picture sounds interesting… but we don’t want to upset Mr. Confidential again so onto business matters; you wear a few different “career hats” don’t you?
Yeah, I’m a senior associate at PricewaterhouseCoopers, the vice-chair of DataPortability.org and the creator of siliconbeachaustralia.org

Your website Silicon Beach Australia is about helping to bring the “Australian community together” regarding “communication and technology”. Why?
Australia has a very vibrant tech industry, but it’s also very fragmented. There’s a frustration that Australia is not reaching its potential – entrepreneurs complain there are not enough investors investing while investors complain there are not enough quality entrepreneurs coming up with good ideas. I believe that when you bring smart people together, a lot can happen, which is what I’m trying to do.
My goal is to identify who the dots are in the industry and then connect those dots. I’ve only been at it a few months, but it’s already gained a lot of momentum.

Do people often mistake Silicon Beach Australia for a cosmetic surgery company?
Yes, as you may have guessed, I’m a boob man! [laughs] But seriously, the mainstream media coined the term in 2007 and I put my own twist on it. Rather than any individual city being “Silicon Beach” it should relate to all of Australia as we’re one big island continent anyway.

You also maintain your own blog; what do you write about, and why?
I started my first blog in 2005, to keep in touch with friends and family while I was traveling overseas. I ended up getting a crazy amount of people messaging me during my trip to thank me for stuff I’d written about, which they found to be good advice.
It really struck a chord with me so when I returned to Australia and settled in with my current employer (PwC) I started networking in the industry and began blogging again – with the focus being on the Internet. For example; impacts due to technology, business model disruptions, social consequences, etc.
The act of blogging is enjoyable and I find it clears my head but a massive side benefit I’ve got from it is credibility. I meet people at conferences, for example, and they’ll go and check me out online afterward to see what I’ve written. People usually get back to me asking for a lunch meeting, or to work on a project together.

A lot of business people these days are being advised to “start blogging”. Do you think it’s a good idea for everyone?
You’ve just got to assume these days that people will Google you, so you want them to find something that will impress them. Blogging is hard work, but if you do it right it will help your career in more ways than one. The great thing about blogging is that you will connect with people with similar ideas and passions. It will help you develop your own thoughts, as well as your professional network.

If you know a hottie businessman contact SNOBS. Not only will we all get to look at the cutie you sit next to or buy office supplies from… this is also a great way for dashing gentlemen (and rugged ‘salt of the earth’ types) to score some well-deserved promotion. Go on, do him a favour and submit his details now!