Founders Bootcamp sets minds free for startup success
Back by popular demand, our second Founders Mindset Bootcamp attracted over 90 registrants from the UNSW community of students, researchers, staff and alumni. Braving train strikes and wild weather, 46 startup enthusiasts gathered at the Michael Crouch Innovation Centre for a day-spanning power-up bootcamp led by multiple startup founder, lawyer and marketer, Wenee Yap.
From curiosity, ideas to startup, a community of like-minded founders
Founders Bootcamp attracted startup enthusiasts spanning every stage of a startup, from the curious and intrigued, to those with a big idea or problem worth solving, and founders with a startup in progress looking for inspiration, resilience and practical tools to progress.
Here’s what they learned:
How to work 30 hours a day (without really trying)
How to build a high performance team
How to sell (almost) anything to (almost) anyone
Founders #ama (Ask Me Anything) panel featuring Alinta Furnell (Synbiote), Hayden Smith (pearler) and Holly Richards (Ample Folk)
How to keep calm (when everything is on fire) led by strategic psychotherapist and clinical hynotherapist Kobe Gowland (Level Minds, New Wave top 10 finalist)
Participants came from a diverse array of backgrounds, attracting chemical engineering and finance students interested in entrepreneurship, to molecular biologists wondering where startup skills might take them, to established founders looking for better ways to run and grow their business.
What did participants have to say?
Here is some of the post-session feedback we’ve received:
“It was a very good bootcamp. It was very structured, and gave a lot of tips that I will be able to implement within my own start-up.”
“The experience has opened my mind to habit making and ways to unlock all 24 hours of my day to be productive and start my start up.”
“This was absolutely better than I thought. I learned many valuable ideas.”
“It was great to connect with like-minded people.”
“This was a good introductory level structure that covered some practical and also ‘emotional resilience’ aspects associated with being a founder.”
“Wenee is an amazing speaker. She spoke for the whole day but I didn’t get bored at all. Very engaged with the audience. I met amazing people, some of whom are startup owners.”
“The forum with founders was incredibly useful and inspiring. All the content covered throughout the day was very motivating! I really appreciate Wenee and all the organisers for a fantastic bootcamp.”
Innovation to find a better way
“Entrepreneurship is a tool, like democracy, which can flex to drive change,” said Founders Bootcamp Program Manager Wenee Yap. “It can’t - and shouldn’t - fix all problems. What we can do is storm the beaches to show a better way. That’s what programs like Founders Bootcamp - and indeed, the full breadth of what UNSW Founders offers - can provide. We’re a hub for all things entrepreneurship in the UNSW community, connecting would-be founders and people interested in developing entrepreneurial skills useful to any career to the resources, training and experienced mentors they need to succeed.”
“What UNSW Founders does differently is subtle, but simple: it focuses on problems worth solving. It’s a mandate which means that, just by being involved in the UNSW Founders community, contributing whatever you are best able to do, you’re likely to be a part of startups that deliver scalable solutions to global health challenges, climate and renewable energy fixes, and innovations to an ambitious range of issues and industries.”
“As Australia’s leading university-based entrepreneurship program, UNSW Founders demonstrates the best of what university entrepreneurship can offer; that is, it can mobilise clever, driven people to quickly and effectively solve intransigent problems.”
“As a founder and program manager, Founders Bootcamp is an unmissable opportunity to be a small part of UNSW Founders’ incredibly impressive, friendly and helpful startup community. If we can help inspire the next generation of creative problem solvers and ingenious startup founders, we will have done our job well.”
Missed out? No worries! Join our next Founders Bootcamp 👇
🎥 Take a behind-the-scenes look at Founders Bootcamp!