Welcome To Startup Ideation
“It’s better to be a pirate than join the navy”
– Steve Jobs
Congratulations on joining Startup Ideation, one of the university’s longest-running and most popular business units.
We are a selective program, and you’ve probably already heard a bit about what we’re going to do, but just in case let’s set the scene:
You have joined a Work Integrated Learning (WIL) program, more like an internship than an academic research subject.
This is designed to be like a startup pre-accelerator, which teaches entrepreneurs how to design, test and pitch good business ideas.
It is based on several real startup pre-accelerators, incubators and accelerators that I run with other groups, all across Australia and with founders around the world.
That’s because I believe it’s better to show you what really works and to push you to make something of your own, rather than analysing and writing about entrepreneurship from a distance.
In Week 11, you’ll be standing up the front of the room presenting a real startup idea to a panel of expert judges and entrepreneurs.
You’ll have five minutes to pitch, then take five more minutes of questions from the panel.
Daunting as this sounds, if we go about the design process in the right way, you’ll have done the hard parts long before Week 11, and will instead just be sharing your work and what you’ve learned.
In order to get there, you’re going to go through the design process from beginning to end.
That means finding problems, topics and causes that interest you, forming teams with people you think are good to work with, coming up with lots of ideas and testing them to see which ones have the most potential.
You’ll build prototypes, mock up a legitimate startup brand, and talk to real customers along the way.
Every week will give you a new piece of your final pitch, and there’s plenty of time to change your mind and restart with a new idea if you come to hate your first concept.
We’re going to look at real-world entrepreneurs, not textbooks, and focus on what businesses are doing right now in order to grow their customer base.
The resources and guest speakers will stick with you for a lot longer than the citations you pretended to read in other academic journals, and you’ll be encouraged to find your own examples of founders whose work inspires you.
There’s really only two things we need from you in order for this to work:
1. Show up ready to work
2. Make an attempt at each step of the process.
That’s it.
You do that, and this program will be one of your favourites by the end.
I don’t mind if you’re a bit late, I don’t mind if you can’t make class when you’re sick (don’t come in!), I don’t mind if your first ideas are weak.
But when you walk in the door each Monday, you’re committing to switching your brain on and making a contribution.
I definitely care about the energy in the room, that you’re being a good teammate and being good to yourself.
You’re agreeing to leave your fear and your ego outside – I want you to ask the silly question, make a mistake, try something weird – don’t mope up the back of the room trying to avoid emotional labour, and don’t tell me that you can skips steps because your ideas are perfect.
The point is for you to feel the feelings and walk the walk of entrepreneurship, just in the world’s safest environment.
We can offer you a lot, and we’re not mind readers.
When you get lost, stuck or unsure, put your hand up and we will get you back on track. The earlier you rip these band-aids, the less painful they’ll be and the better you’ll feel.
From a practical standpoint, there are three things we are asking from you for your assessments:
Attendance and participation in our workshops each week.
Writing or creating a weekly blog about the process, published on your choice of platform, even
a short post is fine.Progress towards a decent startup idea, which you will pitch and also write about in your final assessment tasks.
What these have in common is that they are asking you to turn up and have a go, not for you to be a genius.
Each week we have a three-hour interactive class, and I’ll post slides and resources on our Slack page.
I like to bring in guests, either in person or interstate entrepreneurs via Zoom, and you’ll have a chance to ask them your questions.
We can also schedule Zoom calls with your team during the week to keep your momentum up, or send me your questions/drafts and I’ll send you back a Loom video.
If you’d like something practical to do today, ahead of the unit kicking off, I like to give students a pre-thinking list.
It’s not homework, you don’t have to read anything or watch anything in particular, but start thinking about these questions and make a few notes on your phone:
What brands do you admire?
These can be large or small brands, new or old, capitalist or anti-establishment.
What leaders/entrepreneurs do you admire?
Why?
What sorts of fields do you follow in your spare time?
What industries have always interested you?
What are your friends sick of hearing you talk about?
When you chose this unit, were there some topics you were hoping to explore?
What issues or problems makes you angry?
Complete the following sentence: I can’t believe it’s 2026 and we still…
You don’t have to write any essays or submit this online.
You will, however, be forming teams soon, and it’s much easier to find people with compatible interests if you can articulate what you find interesting.
After the first session, you’ll have the chance to write about yourself, connect with other people and form a group.
Thanks for choosing Startup Ideation, I hope it ends up being one of the most memorable and most valuable parts of your degree.
Cheers,
Isaac