Supporting Startups in a Challenging Time
Where Sydney founders find mentors, money and networks now

In the space of about a year, Sydney has lost most of its formal startup support infrastructure. The Sydney Startup Hub closed. Techstars Sydney lost its NSW funding and shut. Fishburners went into administration. For early-stage founders, what's gone isn't just desk space. It's the mentors, the networks and the warm introductions that came with it.

This isn't a wake. It's harder out there right now and we'll say so. But the more useful conversation is about where founders can actually find support in the landscape we've got, what's quietly filling the gap, and whether founders building with AI from day one need something different altogether.

We've got two people who see this from very different angles.

Stewart Marshall — Founder and CEO, Software Australia Industry Association
Stewart Marshall is a commercial software specialist, industry advocate, and the founder and CEO of Software Australia Industry Association. He's also an investor, speaker, translator of IT gibberish, and the bestselling author of "Kick Some SaaS – The software leaders' guide to creating global impact" and "Doing IT for Money – A business leader's guide to improving profit per person". Stewart has had a lifelong love of technology and innovation, with over 35 years in ICT and digital transformation, and spent much of his career at the cutting edge of software R&D, creating tools and solutions used by enterprises, governments and thousands of businesses around the world, including Procter & Gamble, Kawasaki, Honda and Kellogg's. Through his writing, coaching, consultancy and speaking, he's helped thousands of software and business leaders cut through the confusion, chaos and complications of the staggeringly immense technology world and put them on a path to an exceptional digital future.

Sinéad Fitzgerald — Technology partnerships leader, angel investor and founder of Vested Impact
Sinéad Fitzgerald is a technology partnerships leader with two decades of experience at global tech companies. Sinéad is deeply engaged in the Australian startup ecosystem, working with founders, investors and advocates across tech and STEM to expand opportunities for women as both funders and founders. Her perspective is shaped by lived experience at the intersection of big tech and early-stage innovation, and by a belief that shifting how capital flows can change who gets to build the future. That belief is also driving her work on Vested Angels, an angel syndicate and community for women who have the means to invest in purpose-driven startups.

Hosted by Mat Wilk, IWST President.

What we'll get into

What's actually been lost, and what was never doing the job anyway
Where the mentors, networks and warm introductions come from now: industry bodies, angel groups, corporates, and communities like this one
Corporate partnerships: a real path for an early-stage founder, or a time sink?
Angel money in a thinner ecosystem, and what investors are looking for now
Do AI-era founders need different support, or just less of it?
What Sydney, and the Inner West, could build that doesn't depend on a government lease

The night
6:00pm Doors open, drinks at the bar
6:30pm Pizza and networking
7:00pm The conversation, then your questions
7:45pm Open networking
9:00pm Close

Pizza is included in your ticket. Drinks are available at the bar.

Who should come
Founders at any stage, people thinking about starting something, investors, operators, and anyone who wants a say in what founder support looks like in Sydney from here.

Inner West Startups + Tech is a community of founders and operators in Sydney's Inner West. We meet monthly at The Red Mill Rum in Rozelle. More at innerwest.tech.

Contact the host of Supporting Startups in a Challenging Time