Venom bioapplication development, in some instances, can take over 25 years from toxin isolation to a marketable product, be it for therapeutics, antivenom or agricultural applications. Despite technological advances (e.g. venomics), the path to venom discovery is still long and arduous. I travelled globally on a 2020 Churchill Fellowship to identify the roadblocks and challenges venom researchers face and to explore current overseas innovations to move venom research forward in Australia. My Churchill Fellowship aim is to identify ways in which the development time of venom bioapplications may be reduced, even by a few years. Current innovations include high throughput technologies, artificial intelligence, antibody research and establishing new venom model systems. Challenges universally faced by venom researchers include navigating the Nagoya protocol, conducting clinical trials, and funding models that are no longer effective. I will present key findings of these challenges and innovations gathered through in-house visits to leading institutions and companies during my Churchill Fellowship. I am starting the conversation concerning policy change and ways to widen bottlenecks to alleviate pressures in the discovery process so we can find the path of least resistance for future developments.