UNSW Founders 10x accelerator, get ready for your 'aha moment'

Founders 10x Accelerator is is an industry-agnostic accelerator, tailored for high-potential startups led by current UNSW students, staff or alumni. Run once annually, the program comprises 10-weeks intensive programming, followed by 6+ months incubation. Each week comprises approximately 10 hours of programming time which includes: 

• Workshops and panel sessions on topics specific to help scale your startup, like revenue strategy, people and culture, financial management, storytelling and global mindset
• Cohort accountability sessions 
• Professional services office hours 
• Peer learning
• 1:1 Entrepreneur in Residence (EIR) session 
• Sessions to support founder wellbeing 

Find out more and apply for 10x Accelerator here.

Alumni testimonials

Participating in the UNSW Founders Accelerator programs information session held recently, program alumni had this to say about their experience propelling their startups further in the 10x Accelerator program.

Francis Atkins – Givvable

GIvvable is a data-driven technology platform helping businesses source sustainably, socially and with impact. At Givvable, we believe that by tracking the impact of good spending, we encourage more of it.

What did you enjoy most about your participation in 10x?

We got access to people from Google and Atlassian, to investors, to other startups and the EIR, and they are all indulging you with your startup. They want to see you succeed. You really get to focus on every aspect of building a startup, and when I was listening to all these people, I would have all these ah ha moments. I would be thinking about what they were saying, how it related to my startup, and all the time I was seeing things at the back of my mind that we could try this or change that and then see how it worked and test it. 

So, week to week just the calibre of people coming through and wanting to help, for me that was just invaluable. You know I worked in corporate for 10 years before that and you just don’t get access to those types of people that easily. So, to be able to do that in this really condensed period is a great experience. 

What surprised you about yourself on the journey?

One of the things I developed was an ability to recognise that if something wasn’t working, I could try something new, test it, change tact and move on. I think before all of this I would have been a bit of stickler to have seen things through. I think that’s part of the condensed time frame. You don’t have time to do that in a 10-week accelerator. And that surprised me because before that, I wasn’t really like that. 

Also, I think I developed a huge amount of confidence around what we were doing and the ability to just go out to customers; to make cold calls, set up meetings and go out and see them and do that day in day out. At each meeting we learned something new that we could take to the next meeting. It just built and built like that. By the end of 10x we ended up getting around 80 meetings with corporates. And when I think we only had two weeks to do that in, it’s pretty great going. 

In the beginning I thought I’m not going to get anywhere but then the meetings started coming in and coming in fast and since 10x we’ve probably had over 180 meetings with corporates. All of them centre around ensuring we understand the problem from their perspective and that we are close to matching what we are trying to do with our platform to what they need to do on a day-to-day basis. Before the entrepreneurial training [I received at 10x] I don’t think I had ever thought like that. I’ve seen a real shift change in the way I think about problems and the customer. 

Last words

The UNSW Founders community is incredibly supportive and helpful. We stay very close to our cohort, the team at UNSW, and all the resources available. That in itself is an amazing community to be part of. It can be a lonely journey in startup land, so it’s important to create communities around you and your startup so you’ve got people to ask questions, bounce ideas off and be there when things aren’t going so well, and you will have those days for sure.  

Aerofiler – Don Nguyen 

Aeroflier is building a SaaS platform that allows in-house lawyers of SMBs to automate and streamline routine tasks performing them in seconds, instead of hours or days.

What did you enjoy most about your participation in 10x?

We received deep insights that made us think about our product, how we can scale, and how little insights can make a difference at the other end. 

If you show up, fully present and pay attention, each week with each presentation you can pick out that nugget. They are still paying dividends today. I still think back to what I learnt and even though I may not have seen how it fit in at the time, when I was at the right stage I saw how I drew on that wisdom and applied it without having to make a mistake and learn the hard way. 

The cohort was a really big part of the experience. With startups there are a couple of important aspects; the first is you want to grow a big business. It was great to see other founders kicking goals. It really inspires us and got us to lift our game to another level. We were going through with some startups who were literally doing things that would change the world, so it was great to see that and be part of that positive atmosphere. 

On the other side, there are sometimes tough times with startups and it’s great to have other people who have gone through the same thing; who are there to provide support. It’s a lot more challenging to go through those scenarios in a solo environment so the cohort was invaluable to me both on the upside, and the tougher side.

What surprised you about yourself on the journey?

Prior to Aeroflier and 10x I had been in the startup lab, focusing on one particular skill set – mainly the technical side. Going through 10x I learnt that to build a proper and a scalable business you need to be spinning multiple plates at once. You need to be aware of tax concessions, accounting, sales and marketing and juggle six things at once. The fact that I was able to do this with some level of success, that was pleasantly surprising.

Last words

The support is great, and one of the joys for me founding a startup is that you get to work with some incredible brands that everyone knows and loves. Sometimes you think, gee I’m just a little start up, why are these big companies even talking to me. I think UNSW is really generous in sharing their contacts, their resources and providing training and support. That’s an important part of the journey.