New Normal, New Opportunities: Applications Open to Founder Institute Australia & NZ Spring 2022

Founder First, Founder Always. Join us in 2022: Founder Institute is the #1 place in the world to turn ideas into fundable startups, and startups into global businesses.

Today’s economic 'New Normal' is full of reshuffling industries, and new problems in need of solutions - now is a time for entrepreneurs to act.

Whether you need to test and validate early hypotheses before making a large financial commitment to your startup idea, or you are ready to push your startup to the next level through aggressive weekly growth sprints to refine your vision, improve key metrics, and prepare for investor diligence, Founder Institute has the proven processes and network to help you do it.

If you could use a structured process that tells you what to focus on when, and a lifetime of support from Australia's top investors and entrepreneurs, then apply to the Sydney - Australia Spring 2022 Founder Institute today - open to anyone anywhere in Australia & New Zealand or timezones that work for 6pm Sydney time Zoom sessions.

We will be hosting several free startup events in Australia over the coming weeks, where you can learn from top entrepreneurs all from the comfort of home:

Australia Events:

Meet the Sydney Founder Institute Ecosystem (In-Person Networking Event): 5:30pm, May 29, 2025 (Australia/Sydney): https://FI.co/e/368148
Pitch Your Startup Idea to Australian Startup Founders & Investors, Online: 6:00pm, Jun 17, 2025 (Australia/Sydney): https://FI.co/e/368145
[Restricted] Australia Spring 2025 VIP Launch Mixer (In-Person): 5:30pm, Jul 29, 2025 (Australia/Sydney): https://FI.co/e/368129

Global or Regional Events:

Founder Institute Online Information Session: https://FI.co/infosession
Lessons Learned Raising from Top Silicon Valley VCs: AMA with Rajeev Behera: 2:00am, May 30, 2025 (Australia/Sydney): https://FI.co/e/372676
How to Come Up with Great Startup Ideas: 3:00am, Jun 03, 2025 (Australia/Sydney): https://FI.co/e/370921
How to Build Your MVP Using Artificial Intelligence : 3:00am, Jun 05, 2025 (Australia/Sydney): https://FI.co/e/371480
Startup Pitch Practice: Share Your Idea and Get Expert Feedback: 10:00am, Jun 10, 2025 (Australia/Sydney): https://FI.co/e/370732
FI Alumni Panel: Meet Portfolio Companies and Ask Questions: 3:00am, Jun 24, 2025 (Australia/Sydney): https://FI.co/e/371878
Startup Finance & Banking Basics: AMA with Grasshopper Bank: 3:00am, Jun 26, 2025 (Australia/Sydney): https://FI.co/e/372091
Co-Founder Networking: Find a Business Partner: 3:00am, Jul 01, 2025 (Australia/Sydney): https://FI.co/e/371717
Startup Pitch Practice: Share Your Idea and Get Expert Feedback: 3:00am, Jul 08, 2025 (Australia/Sydney): https://FI.co/e/370446

See all upcoming events

Make better, faster business decisions in 2022 by sharing your latest progress, challenges, and strategies for constant feedback and evaluation from our expert mentors and advisors, every step of the way–scale your team, develop new business opportunities, and recruit an amazing advisory board with the world's largest network of international startup founders, CEOs, advisors, and investors.

The Australia accelerator is led by some of the region's top startup leaders, including Benjamin Chong, Cheryl Mack, Chris Clark, Paul Krajewski, and Phoebe Zhang. In addition, some of Australia's top entrepreneurs will be participating as mentors in the program, including:

Adam Long: CEO, TheEthicalCEO.com
Adeline Chu: Entrepreneur-in-Residence, Western Sydney University
Adrian Bunter: Corporate Advisor | Angel Investor | Non-exec Director, Modus Partners
Aivee Robinson: Co-Founder, Catalyser
Albert Bielinko: Venture / growth investor, Titanium Ventures (Former Telstra Ventures)
Alejandro Patterson: Principal Product Manager , Honey Insurance
Alex Samson: Founder & CEO, dvhb
Alex Guyer: Partner Firemark Ventures, Associate Partner Black Nova Venture Capital
Allan Lalic: Co-founder, Kebloom
Amit Verma: Senior Manager, Listings, ASX
Anna Cheng: Head of Growth Marketing, Turo Australia. Ex HealthMatch Ex Brighte Ex Spaceship
Anne Marie Elias: chief disrupter, Founder, PrimeLife Partners, innovating longevity & care
Annie Le Cavalier: Venture Partner, FI and Former GM & Community, Stone & Chalk
Ant Moorehouse: CEO and Co-Founder, EarthTech
Ash Ma: Product Manager, Zip Co.
Asher Vukelic: Chair, Southwest Angels
Ben Pecotich: Design & Innovation Director/Founder, Dynamic4
Benjamin Ranck: Principal, MacroReactor
Benjamin Chong: Partner, Right Click Capital
Bill Trestrail: CEO, Market Momentum Pty Ltd
Bill Trestrail: Venture Partner, Black Nova Venture Capital
Bjorn Halfmann: Founder & Experience Design Director, muteo.co
Brendan Yell: Former Director, Twilio Startups
Brodie Mc Culloch: Founder, Spacecubed, Perth, WA
Brodie Mc Culloch: Founder and Managing Director, Spacecubed
Bronwen Kaspers: Customer Success Coach, Culture Amp cultureamp.com
Cam Walshe: Director, Pitchblak
Carl Maiorana: Founder, Business Growth & Change Consultant, 5Y
Caroline Lepron: CEO & Founder, Skoutli
Cheryl Mack: CEO & Founder, Aussieangels.com + Activator at SheEO™
Chris Clark: Serial Entrepreneur , Teem Inc. www.teem.inc
Chris Clark: Chris Clark, Teem / GeoSnapShot
Chris Braine: Founder, Cellr
Chris Gillings: Venture Capital @ Five V Capital, & Founder @ Cut Through Venture
Christopher Krainer: Director of Hardware Engineering at Zoomo, & co-founder at rk-collective.com
Damien Messina: Manager, Impact Angel Network
Dane Eldridge: Founder & CEO, StackUp www.stackup.tech
Daniel Lohrmann: Managing Director, ikaros
Darsel Keane: Director, University of Auckland
David Kenney: Director, Start Growth Pty Limited
Dean Mc Evoy: Non Executive Director, Investor and Adviser, TechSydney
Debra Taylor: Non Executive Director, Stone and Chalk
Dennis Kibirev: Chief Growth Officer, Mesh Ai
Dylan Mc Donnell: CEO, Foodini
Edward Liu: Mr, EasyIOT
Eitan Bienstock: Managing Director, Techbench Capital
Elizabeth Kaelin: MSc, RDN & Finance Lecturer, UTS Business School
Erwin Van Der Koogh: Founder/CEO, Linc
Franziska Iseli: Founder, Basic Bananas
Gautam Mishra: Founder / CEO, inkl
Gawin Fernando: Co-Founder, CreativeCubes.Co
George Hedon: Founder & CEO, Pause Fest
Greg Campbell: entrepreneur, former Ops Director, information security specialist, Current Head of InfoSec and Compliance
Harshu Deshpande: Start-up & Scale-up Advisor, Google
Hendrik Remigereau: Venture Partner, NZVC
Hugh Treseder: Founder, Floatspace
Jack Qi: Director, William Buck
James Moody: CEO, Sendle
Jane Cockburn: CEO and Founder, Kairos Now
Jeeva Suresh: Founder & CEO, Helix
Jeremy Chetty: Co-founder, Student Edge
Jo Ucukalo: CEO, Handle My Complaint
Jo Ann Suchard: Angel investor, Sydney Angels
Joanne Jacobs: Co-CEO, Disruptor's Handbook
Julian Luca: Startups | Investments | Community Building, Fishburners
Kate Ringvall: Co-Founder, Galactic Cooperative
Katherine Gokavi Whaley: Founder, SheLeads Coaching
Kim McGuinness: Strategic Relationships Director, SBE Australia
Leila Alem: Chief Innovation Officer, ArcSense
Lisa Cotton: Fractional, Advisory and Coaching, Lisa Cotton
Magdalena Reith: Startup- and Business Consultant, Magdalena Reith Pitch Decks
Marshall Hughes: Freight Manager, Freight Companies Australia
Marshall Hughes: Consultant, Freight Companies Australia
Matt Allen: CEO, Tractor Ventures
Matthew Browne: Co-Founder @Upflowy upflowy.com, @Donesafe donesafe.com, @Whispli, Investor @Black Nova Group etc
Michelle Gilmore: CEO, heyjuno.co
Mitchell Pham: Chairperson, NZTech
Neil Smith: CTO, Simple KYC
Oliver Ranck: Co-Founder | CMO | Exec Director, Future Neutral | MYSALE | Octomedia
Paul Wenck: Chair, Co-Founder Checkbox
Paul Krajewski: Product Management professional, Co-Director Founder Institute Australia+NZ
Paul Grimes: CTO & Founder, OK200
Paula Taylor: Executive Director and Co-Founder, West Tech Fest
Pavel Reddy: Former Managing Director, Clearpoint Ventures Pty Ltd (Formerly)
Pete Cooper: Founder, The Start Society
Pete Cooper: Former CIO, KBZ Bank
Peter Van Bruchem: Co-Founder, Techboard
Peter Browne: Owner, Intangible Communications
Prashant Gami: CEO & Founder, x•enabler
Rachel White: CFO, Part time CFO / fractional CFO
Rajeev Gupta: Managing Partner, Alium Capital
Rayn Ong: Director, Ong Heng Investments
Rebecca Dooley: Partner, Addisons
Reheen Guin: Director & Co-Founder, Digital Crew and PandaMetrics
Richard Dale: Committee Member, Sydney Angels Inc.
Roger Do: CEO, Co-Founder, Watchdog Cyber Defense
Romain Bonjean: Founder, CEO, RoseRx
Roman Kovalenko: Chief Data Officer, Reserve Bank of Australia
Ron Hill: Managing Director, sunramp.co
Ruben Martin: Co-Founder, GraniteStack
Ryan Cross: Manager for Prototyping, AWS, ANZ & APAC
Sam Richards: Managing Director, Brightlight Impact Advisory
Sameer Babbar: Director, SVB Group
Sandrina Postorino: Committee Member, Sydney Angels Inc.
Scott Crowe: Lead Recruiter, Canva
Scott Glew: Organizer, Morning Startup Perth
Scott Dommett: Former Investor, Rampersand
Sean Geoghegan: Cofounder and former-CTO, Sendle, Tech and People Leader, Iconoclast.
Simon Litchfield: CTO, and serial Founder
Simone Joyce: CEO/Founder, Paypa Plane
Sorrel Kesby: Head of Global Commercial Operations, GumGum
Srikanth Muthyala: Investor, Melbourne Angels
Stefan Korn: General Manager, Callaghan Innovation
Stuart Reynolds: CEO & Founder, Fullstack Advisory
Tal Rotbart: Former Chief Technology Officer, Marketplacer (until Oct-‘23)
Tim Silverwood: Co-Founder, Ocean Impact Organisation
Timo Kugler: Co-Founder, NASH + BANKS
Tom Dawkins: Founder/CEO, StartSomeGood
Tomaj Bayat: previous founder & previously Growth, beforepay.com.au
Tony Sinclair: Director of Venture Debt, Cataliize
Vanessa Ronan Pearce: Head of Growth, Wych Money
Vern Chan: Certified Startup Coach, Your Pivot
Will Davies: CEO, Car Next Door
Will Ericksson: Director, Trainer/Mentor, Momentum Academy / Momentumgroup.tech
William Mc Cahey: Partner, Think & Grow, and Growth Advisor

And many more to be announced.

Since 2009, Founder Institute’s highly-structured accelerator programs have helped over 7,500 entrepreneurs to grow quickly, know what to do next, and make key connections through the largest community of startup advisors in the world.

It all starts with our renowned ‘FI Core’ accelerator, which pushes founders at the idea and pre-seed stages to reach the milestones needed for investment and sustained growth. Alumni of FI Core then receive free access to our advanced ‘Founder Lab’ accelerators for years to come, and can get matched with prospective investors in the FI Venture Network - a collection of global funds actively investing in the earliest rounds of funding.

The results speak for themselves: FI Alumni have raised over $1.85BN in funding, and are building impactful businesses across 200+ cities and 100+ countries all across the globe. (see the FI 50 Report here).