If there is one issue the Covid-19 pandemic has made clear, it’s the need for a digital disruptor to enable Australian entrepreneurs and startups to thrive from wherever they are working.
According to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the COVID-19 crisis is proving a particularly challenging time for Australian startups. The current circumstances are challenging their survival and limiting their growth on a worrying scale. But it’s not only existing startups that are feeling the pressure. COVID-19 has also stunted the creation of new businesses.
An OCED report titled Tackling Coronavirus reveals the long-term effects on employment and innovation, and how these setbacks may be mitigated by taking steps to support existing start-ups and the creation of new firms, limiting the negative effects.
Co-working and digital startup community Fishburners has responded to the pandemic by creating a new “Founders Hub” to provide businesses with everything that’s needed to thrive; information, resources, tools, templates, mentors and expertise and a variety of perks.
Entrepreneurs wishing to fast track their success will have access to free advice from Experts in Residence, as well as a huge library of educational content, talks and templates. There’s also plenty of networking and learning opportunities to be found in a supportive environment with access to a global network of investors who might get behind a new idea or innovation.
Fishburners CEO Nicole O’Brien says they’ve had to rethink how they could provide the same level of incubator support that they were providing startups with their physical hubs and find a way to do this remotely.
“So, during the shutdown we developed Fishburners Founders Hub to provide everything a founder needs to start and grow a business at their fingertips, wherever they are,” Nicole says.
“Having worked with entrepreneurs and startups for the last nine years, we know what their challenges and needs are and these became even more acute during COVID with everything being forced into lockdown. With Fishburners Founders Hub, our mission is to make one of the hardest things Founders do easier by combining everything they need on one easy-to-use digital platform.”
Fishburners has pulled together the tools, templates, latest information, learning content and events, so that founders have everything they need to get started and grow. The digital platform is easy to access – and, more importantly, it gives them access to mentors, ‘experts in residence’ and other Founders to provide much needed guidance and support
The platform also allows interns to be listed and matched up with a startup, providing them with much needed work experience and providing startups with the talent and help they need to get a business off the ground.
Fishburners has also developed a free four week online “Founders Bootcamp” to help get new and aspiring founders on their way.
“We are really mindful that there are currently a lot of unemployed and underemployed people out there with great ideas that we hope to help ignite with this free toolkit“, Nicole says.
You can sign up for the Founders Bootcamp and learn more about the Fishburners Founders Hub at Fishburners.org
Looking for more entrepreneurial inspiration? Check out this story about entrepreneurial women in Australian business or the Aussie startup that ranked as the most success kickstarter campaign in 2019.