Industry Network and Community

Our Industry Network

Founders who have built and sold companies, operators who have scaled them, and investors who decide which ones get funded. The people who make our programs work are the ones who have already done it.

Explore Industry Join the Community

Smiling young man with curly hair in green plaid shirt shows thumbs up while holding notebooks.

OUR INDUSTRY NETWORK

Industry from day one.

Every Future Minds program is taught and judged by people currently building companies, backing them, or running the organisations your students want to work for one day.

Who's in the room

Founders, operators and investors who give their time to this. They run live sessions, sit with teams through the hard part, and judge the pitch finals at the end of the program.

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Katarina Persic

Senior Coordinator

Teaches: building for a market nobody's serving

Investor

Teaching Current

Diogo Assumpcao

Senior Engineer

Teaches: building for a market nobody's serving

Investor

Teaching Current

Usman Iftikhar

CEO

Teaches: building for a market nobody's serving

Founder

Teaching Current

Nicola Charwat

Deputy Dean

Teaches: building for a market nobody's serving

Industry

Teaching Current

Paul Naphtali

Cofounder

Teaches: building for a market nobody's serving

Investor

Past Instructors

Katherine Roan

Cofounder

Teaches: building for a market nobody's serving

Industry

Past Instructors

IN THE CLASSROOM

What it actually looks like

Three sessions we've run, start to finish - including what the teacher had to do, which was almost nothing.

Group of students in classroom collaborating on a project with papers and pens on the table.

ImpactHack

150 students, one day, one real brief.

We partnered with Monash University to put a real brand challenge in front of students. By the end of the day, senior UNIQLO leaders had heard every pitch.

READ

FutureHack

Six weeks, then a room full of investors.

Toyota Community Trust co-funded FutureHack across regional Australia. Students turned ideas into ventures before pitching to Microsoft, Startmate and Toyota.

READ

Young Artists Centre

A creative practice, treated like a career.

Young people turned jewellery, crochet, painting, henna and origami into real businesses, with mentorship, microgrants and a community showcase.

READ

Back the Next Builder Apply for Funding

What people say

From the front of the room and the back of it

“Future Minds gave me the perfect support I needed to launch my business. I wouldn't have been able to do it myself."

Kayya

Founder @ Kayya Crafts

FUTUREHACK [YEAR]

“I’ve grown so much. I've gained the confidence to show my art business and tell my story, and it made me more comfortable applying for future galleries and markets.”

Ruesa

Independent artist

FUTUREHACK [YEAR]

“Future Minds helped us sell at real markets, and we had our best sales day yet. Nearly everyone bought something because they'd come to support us. It was humbling to be so supported and recognised.”

Hadija

Co-founder @ Gumnut Echo

FUTUREHACK [YEAR]

"It's like a kickstarter for your business. I'm making more connections and building more opportunities than I ever expected."

Mona

CEO @ HennaHQ

FUTUREHACK [YEAR]

"It's something you shouldn't miss. The journey of running a business can feel lonely at times, since it's not always seen as a 'stable' path, but the people in this program are truly amazing and inspiring."

Ziggy

Founder @ Floria Touch

FUTUREHACK [YEAR]

“Future Minds surrounds you with people who inspire you to grow, so many incredible connections and really cool people who can genuinely help you.”

Ashutosh

CEO @ Ashan Industries

FUTUREHACK [YEAR]

“Future Minds gave me the perfect support I needed to launch my business. I wouldn't have been able to do it myself."

Kayya

Founder @ Kayya Crafts

FUTUREHACK [YEAR]

“I’ve grown so much. I've gained the confidence to show my art business and tell my story, and it made me more comfortable applying for future galleries and markets.”

Ruesa

Independent artist

FUTUREHACK [YEAR]

Hadija

Co-founder @ Gumnut Echo

FUTUREHACK [YEAR]

"It's like a kickstarter for your business. I'm making more connections and building more opportunities than I ever expected."

Mona

CEO @ HennaHQ

FUTUREHACK [YEAR]

Ziggy

Founder @ Floria Touch

FUTUREHACK [YEAR]

“Future Minds surrounds you with people who inspire you to grow, so many incredible connections and really cool people who can genuinely help you.”

Ashutosh

CEO @ Ashan Industries

FUTUREHACK [YEAR]

Bring us in

One email, and we handle the rest.

Our team is here to help you choose the best path based on your goals and interests.

Book a program See all programs

ALUMNI NETWORK

You finished the program.
That was the start.

Everyone who's been through a Future Minds program stays in the network. No application, no fee, no expiry. Whatever you're figuring out next, someone here has already done it.

Students and a teacher engaging in group discussion around tables in a classroom setting.

Alumni network

Who should join?

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School leavers

Weighing up uni, work, or a venture. Hear from people who chose each path in the last two years.

Students, Years 9-12

Curious, building something, or itching to start. Bring the idea, leave with a clearer picture and people who get it.

Teachers & careers coordinators

Teaching business, STEM or guiding careers. Bring your students, leave with a day they will bring up for the rest of the year.

Mentoring

Find someone who's done it.

Tell us what you're stuck on and we'll point you at people in our network who've been there.

What are you working on right now?

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Ben Sandhu

Co-founder

Teaches: building for a market nobody's serving

Teaching Current

Diana Zhang

CEO

Teaches: building for a market nobody's serving

Teaching Current

Luke Anderson

CEO

Teaches: building for a market nobody's serving

Teaching Current

What alumni get

Things that stay open to you.

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A mentor, when you need one

Ask for an intro to anyone in the industry network. We make it. The only rule is that you turn up to the call you asked for.

The opportunities board

Jobs, internships, grants and programs that alumni have actually been hired through. [Confirm what's live in the portal.]

Alumni events

Reunions, skill sessions and the occasional thing that's just a party. Open to every alum, whichever year you came through.

A reference that means something

We'll write for university, visas, grants and jobs. We know what you actually did, so it isn't generic.

Every resource, kept

Workbooks, canvases and slides from your program stay yours. Come back to them in three years when they finally make sense.

Bring a friend

Nominate someone for a program, or bring a mate to an alumni event. The network grows the way it always has — sideways.

What's next

Doors that only open once you're an alum.

Some of these need an application. All of them are only available to people who've come through a program.

ALUMNI

Been through a program? You're already in.

Open the Alumni Portal Request a Mentor

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Future Minds Community

We can't promise you'll make it.
We can promise the room.

A small group of founders under 30 who actually see each other. Nobody here can guarantee your company works — but you'll stop doing it alone, which turns out to be most of it.

Smiling woman with long dark hair in floral blouse stands against graffiti wall background.

[Member]

[Founder, Company]

[Member]

[Founder, Company]

[Member]

[Founder, Company]

[Member]

[Founder, Company]

[Member]

[Founder, Company]

[Member]

[Founder, Company]

[Member]

[Founder, Company]

[Member]

[Founder, Company]

[Member]

[Founder, Company]

[Member]

[Founder, Company]

01 — Always on

Meet like-minded people who actually reply.

People building right now, not people who built something once. People who'll answer at 11pm because they're up too. People who won't perform at you, won't pitch you, and won't pretend the numbers are better than they are.

It's a group chat, and that's deliberately unglamorous. Intros, hiring, a pricing page nobody can make sense of, someone landing in Lisbon on Tuesday with a free evening. Fast enough to be worth opening, slow enough that you won't mute it.

Tap an answer

MEMBERS · (N) ONLINE

[MEMBER 3]

Anyone know a contract lawyer who doesn't charge startup tax?

YOU

Can someone look at my pricing page?

[MEMBER 5]

Send it over. I'll mark it up tonight.

YOU

Looking for a technical co-founder

[MEMBER 2]

Two people come to mind. Both under 30. Intro coming.

YOU

How do I answer 'what's your traction'?

[Member 9]

Say the real number, then say the rate. Never the vanity one.

Can someone look at my pricing page?

Looking for a technical co-founder

How do I answer 'what's your traction'?

02 — Weekly

Four people who remember what you said last month.

You get put in a small group with founders at roughly your stage. Every week you say what you're going to do. The next week you say whether you did it. That's the whole mechanism, and there isn't a clever part.

It's the least exciting thing we run and by a distance the most effective. Momentum is much easier to borrow from four people who notice when you go quiet than to manufacture alone at 11pm.

Tick one yourself

MASTERMIND · WEEK [N]

Ship the pricing page

MEMBER 1

SAID LAST WEEK

Talk to 5 customers

MEMBER 2

SAID LAST WEEK

Send the investor update

MEMBER 3

SAID LAST WEEK

Actually take a day off

MEMBER 4

SAID LAST WEEK

1 of 4 Done This Week

03 — EVERY FEW MONTHS

Twenty people, one long table, no panel.

We seat twenty. One question goes around to start and after that it runs itself, usually past the point where the restaurant would like us to leave.

Nobody pitches. Nobody presents. The only rule is that you have to say the true version of how it's going, which is harder than it sounds and is exactly why people come back.

Hover a seat — every one is a member

DINNER · [MONTH] SEATING

SEATS

(Member 1) (Founder, Company)

(Member 2) (Co-Founder, Company)

(Member 3) (Founder, Company)

(Member 4) (CEO, Company)

(Member 5) (Managing Director, Company)

(Member 6) (Director, Company)

(Member 7) (Entrepreneur, Company)

(Member 8) (Investor, Company)

(Member 9) (Partner, Company)

(Member 10) (Marketing Head, Company)

(Member 11) (Product Head, Company)

(Member 12) (Technology Head, Company)

(Member 13) (Operations Head, Company)

(Member 14) (Creative Director, Company)

(Member 15) (Business Head, Company)

(Member 16) (Strategy Lead, Company)

(Member 17) (Innovation Lead, Company)

(Member 18) (Community Lead, Company)

(Member 19) (Program Director, Company)

(Member 20) (Founder & CEO, Company)

04— Twice a Month

A desk, and nobody asking what you do for work.

Once ever few months, we take over a space and just work. No talks, no name tags, no agenda. Turn up when it suits you and skip it when it doesn't — it's the most optional thing we run.

The useful part is never the working. It's the twenty minutes at lunch where someone looks at the thing you've been stuck on for a fortnight and says the obvious sentence you couldn't see.

[Melbourne] · free for members · dates move

COWORKING · THIS MONTH

Perks

The unglamorous stuff that helps.

Credits, discounts and memberships we've negotiated so you don't pay full price while you're figuring it out. We add them as we confirm them — and we'll never list one we haven't.

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BEING CONFIRMED

Notion

Startup plan credits for members building on Notion.

SOFTWARE & TOOLS

BEING CONFIRMED

Social Enterprise Australia

Membership at a member rate — [free or discounted, to be confirmed].

MEMBERSHIPS

BEING CONFIRMED

Software partner

What the discount covers, in one plain line.

SOFTWARE & TOOLS

BEING CONFIRMED

Co-working space

Desk access on member days.
Availability varies month to month.

SPACE

BEING CONFIRMED

Design or dev tool

What members get and for how long.

SOFTWARE & TOOLS

BEING CONFIRMED

Legal or accounting

Discounted rate on the boring things that cost the most.

MEMBERSHIPS

Members

Why they keep turning up.

“Future Minds gave me the perfect support I needed to launch my business. I wouldn't have been able to do it myself."

Kayya

Founder @ Kayya Crafts