The Australian tech industry is still in its infancy by global standards, giving it a chance to shape itself from the ground up, says celebrated entrepreneur and venture capitalist Susan Wu.

Wu, who recently moved to Australia from Silicon Valley, has been involved from the earliest stages of some of the world's largest consumer tech companies, including Twitter, Square, Medium, and Findery, and has appeared in the "10 most influential people in Silicon Valley" list.

Susan Wu: hopes to increase the GDP of the internet. Credit:David Cartier

Wu's current role, based in Melbourne, is working with Stripe, a technology company with a mission to increase the GDP of the internet.

"It's kind of insane when you consider that the web is 20 years old and yet there is still no easy way to buy or sell services or things online," Wu says.