A 20-week immersive experience designed for aspiring founders and innovators ready to turn their business ideas into reality
Open to Curtin students, recent graduates, and eligible participants from various backgrounds, this program offers a comprehensive pathway to transform your idea into a viable business. You’ll receive hands-on support from industry mentors, academic experts, and Entrepreneurs-in-Residence through masterclasses, workshops, and personalized one-on-one coaching.
Key Topics Include:
- Product validation and prototyping
- Market fundamentals and strategy
- Business model development
- Financial analysis, legal frameworks, and IP protection
With a strong emphasis on Market Validated Product (MVP) development, customer validation, and startup scaling, you’ll refine your business ideas through real-world feedback and gain the skills needed to launch in a competitive market.
The program features:
- 20 weekly sessions with a dedicated industry mentor, held in Curtin startup space
- Guest speaker sessions with startup founders or industry experts (e.g., software development)
- One-on-one sessions with Entrepreneurs-in-Residence
- Executive education masterclasses
Join us to gain the support and resources you need to succeed in your startup journey!
Program Details
Apply now
Applications Now Open – Apply Today
To apply, submit approximately 150 words explaining your interest in the 20-week immersive startup program, a brief description of your business idea, your entrepreneurial goals, and how the program aligns with your aspirations.
FAQS
About the facilitators
Dr Louis Geneste
Program Lead
Dr Louis Geneste is a Senior Lecturer in Innovation and Entrepreneurship at Curtin University’s Faculty of Business and Law. He leads the undergraduate Management major and specialisations in Innovation and Entrepreneurship, and Small Business Startup. With over 20 years’ experience owning and managing small and medium enterprises, he combines his practical background with his passion for teaching and research in innovation and entrepreneurship. Louis is also involved in school outreach programs, the National Indigenous Business Summer School, and executive education with a focus on design-led innovation and entrepreneurship.
Dr Ben Thomas
Program Lead
Dr Ben Thomas has been a teaching and research academic based in Curtin’s Faculty of Business and Law since 2019. He teaches business strategy and start-up business planning within the Curtin MBA, undergraduate and postgraduate programs and is also the Lead Academic on Curtin’s start-up accelerator programs, Ignition and Accelerate. His research interests include wine industry innovation and wine tourism as well as building innovation and entrepreneurial capability within founders of early-stage ventures. Further, Ben has founder experience as a co-founder of Vine Collective, WA’s first solely online wine marketplace platform, and co-founder of the wine production company, Berserkr Wines.
Conrad Pires
Entrepreneur-in-residence
Conrad Pires is an award winning specialist with a background in emerging technologies, who has worked across a diverse range of industries, both locally and overseas. With a focus on critical thinking, innovation and the customer, he is developing both on- and off-world solutions as founder of a space technology company. He is also a sessional university teacher, supporting entrepreneurs and the start-up industry. He is an MBA, Australian Institute of Company Directors (GAICD), International Space University and AWARD School graduate and sits on boards in the health and space industries.