About
Steve Baxter is an Australian tech entrepreneur and investor best known for bringing straight-shooting candor to Shark Tank Australia. Born in 1971 in the outback town of Cloncurry and raised in Emerald, Queensland, he left school at fifteen, tried his luck in the Army’s apprentice-technician program, and never looked back. Over three decades he has launched Internet service providers, built national fibre backbones, and poured both cash and energy into hundreds of young Aussie start-ups. In 2017 the Queensland Government tapped him as the state’s Chief Entrepreneur, a role that let him roam the state encouraging founders to “have a crack” instead of waiting for perfect conditions.
Before Fame
Baxter’s entrepreneurial streak surfaced while he was still soldering circuit boards for the Army’s guided-weapons unit. In 1994 he tipped his entire life savings—about A$11,000—into SE Net, an Internet service he ran from a spare bedroom in Adelaide. The gamble paid off: the company grew to roughly 35,000 customers before being acquired by OzEmail. Seven years later he teamed up with schoolmate Bevan Slattery to start PIPE Networks, building data centres and submarine cables that underpinned Australia’s early broadband boom. PIPE floated on the ASX, then sold to TPG Telecom for A$373 million in 2010. Baxter briefly joined Google in California as a technical program manager before returning home in 2012 to found River City Labs, a Brisbane co-working space that has since graduated more than 1,000 founders.
Trivia
- Nickname: Fans and founders alike call him “Shark Baxter,” a tag he wears with pride.
- Startup Catalyst: In 2014 he bank-rolled trips for young Queensland coders to Silicon Valley, joking that he wanted them to catch “startup ebola” and “infect” their friends with big ideas.
- Pilot at heart: Baxter is an avid flyer; his company Pesca Aviation even waded into politics with a 2023 donation to the “No” campaign during Australia’s Voice referendum.
- Hands-on investor: Through syndicate platform TEN13 he still reviews pitches personally, often reminding founders that “revenue is the best kind of funding.”
- Plain talker: On television he once told a contestant their margins were “thinner than a cane-toad pancake,” a line that trended on Aussie Twitter the next morning.
Family Life
Despite the public spotlight, Baxter keeps home life quietly grounded in Brisbane. He and wife Emily Baxter share three daughters, including twins who arrived just in time for Father’s Day 2017. Weekends often revolve around family bike rides along the Brisbane River or cheering on the Broncos from the couch. Baxter credits Emily’s calm pragmatism for balancing his own risk-taking nature, and he insists the couple’s rule of “no shop talk at dinner” helps separate deals from dad-duty.
Associated With
Baxter’s career has intersected with many of Australia’s best-known business figures. He co-founded PIPE Networks with Bevan Slattery, sits on panels beside fellow Sharks Naomi Simson, Janine Allis, Andrew Banks, and Glen Richards, and frequently collaborates with the Australian Computer Society (ACS), which now steers River City Labs. His investment syndicate TEN13 brings him into deals with global names such as Atlassian’s Mike Cannon-Brookes and Canva co-founder Cliff Obrecht, while mentoring programs put him shoulder-to-shoulder with rising founders across Asia-Pacific. Wherever the next big idea bubbles up, chances are Baxter will be there—ready to back it with frank advice, a cheque, and the belief that Australian grit can play on any stage.
