Startmate’s revamped Office Hours reboots as Open House from next week

Startmate’s Open House program, kicks off next Monday, May 17.

The free, two-week long virtual festival – the former Office Hours – gives budding and early-stage founders the chance to problem-solve and learn from expert founders and operators at some of the region’s top start-ups through 1:1 mentoring, founder-to-founder relationship building, fireside chats and functional workshops.

The upcoming Open House features guest speakers such as Adore Beauty founder and CEO, Kate Morris, discussing her start-up journey, and Atlassian’s VP/Head of Engineering Zak Islam.

Run through Airmeet, Open House is an expanded version of  ‘Office Hours’, the bi-annual program which matches budding founders with the perfect mentor for the problem they’re trying to solve.

Startmate’s Events and Outreach Associate Bronte McHenry said the transformed it into Open House to give founders the chance to access the entire ‘house’.

“Founders will be paired with a been-there-done-that mentor who has first-hand experience suited to the problem they’re trying to solve, meet dozens of other founders, and gain exclusive insights to catapult their startup forward,” she said.

Functional workshops, fireside chats and masterclasses will cover topics such as how to get your product manufactured, getting your first customer, how to pitch your startup, what early-stage investors are looking for, how to recruit the right people and all things pricing and revenue.

These sessions will only be accessible to those early-stage founders who apply for 1:1 mentoring, and have been designed accordingly.

Startmate’s Principal Lauren Capelin said Open House format is geared towards providing future and emerging founders with guidance and expertise

“Mentorship and support are vital if a founder is to realise their ambitions and potential. At the same time,  innovation from Australian and Kiwi founders is going to be fundamental for the future economic prosperity of the region,” she said

Startmate Open House runs between 17-28 May. You have until tomorrow to apply here.