‘It’s easy to get things done’: Inside the Wollongong hub backing the next generation of founders

Detailed summary

Marking 10 years at the University of Wollongong’s (UOW) Innovation Campus, iAccelerate’s impact can be seen in the founders, companies and jobs shaping the startup scene well…

Ideas are everywhere. Sustainable businesses are much harder to build.

Between finding product-market fit, hiring the right people, raising capital and simply working out what to do next, the distance between an idea and a viable company can be enormous.

For more than a decade, iAccelerate has been helping thousands of founders close that gap.

The UOW-backed incubator and accelerator has supported more than 600 startups across clean energy, AI, fintech, healthcare and social enterprise, from early-stage ventures to global companies employing hundreds of people.

As it marks 10 years in its current home at the iAccelerate centre, Australia’s largest purpose built facility, offers a revealing look at what founders really need to turn an idea into something that lasts.

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Across three storeys, founders at various stages work side by side. Its three core programs reflect that progression: Activate helps entrepreneurs test and validate an idea, Accelerate supports startups preparing for market and Advance is designed for businesses as they scale.

But iAccelerate’s purpose extends well beyond the building itself, creating a hub where founders can leverage the region’s existing assets.

“We’ve got a deepsea port, we’re close to the city, we’ve got light and heavy industrial land,” iAccelerate director Dr Tamantha Stutchbury tells Startup Daily. “We’re actually so well connected and, in many ways, easier to grow a company than in a big, high-density city.”

Opening of the article, excerpted from Startup Daily. To read the rest, open the article on the publisher's site.