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.
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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.
Lucy Watson
Teaches: building for a market nobody's serving
Investor
Mengting Cao
Teaches: building for a market nobody's serving
Investor
Tathra Lowe
Teaches: building for a market nobody's serving
Industry
Jamil Tye
Teaches: building for a market nobody's serving
Industry
James Chan
Teaches: building for a market nobody's serving
Industry
Dr Jason Brown
Teaches: building for a market nobody's serving
Industry
What it actually looks like
We bring industry into every program, and they do more than sponsor a banner. Partners set the brief,
sit on judging panels, run workshops, and hand over the cheques at the end of the day. Here is who has
been involved and what they did.
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.
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.
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.
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."
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.”
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.”
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."
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."
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.”
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."
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.”
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.”
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."
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."
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.”
CEO @ Ashan Industries
FUTUREHACK [YEAR]
One email, and we handle the rest.
Our team is here to help you choose the best path based on your goals and interests.
Our Alumni Community
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.
Who should join?
The community is open to anyone who has taken part in a Future Minds program. That includes:
Still building
Your idea outlived the cohort. Get mentors, microgrants and people who will tell you the truth about it.
Working out what's next
Your venture stopped but your journey is just beginning. Find work, study paths and people who took a similar turn.
Ready to give back
Judge a Pitch Night, mentor a team, or run a program in your city. Alumni get first call on paid facilitation work.
Find a Mentor
Tell us what you're stuck on and we'll point you at people in our network who've been there.
Ben Sandhu
Teaches: building for a market nobody's serving
Diana Zhang
Teaches: building for a market nobody's serving
Luke Anderson
Teaches: building for a market nobody's serving
Ongoing Support
We built the alumni community because the program is the easy part. What is hard is the year afterwards,
when the deadline is gone, the mentors have moved on and you are working out whether to keep going.
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.
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.
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.
