Plus Eight Sprint is a six-week, skill-building and business growth program. It is exclusive and free for businesses owned or operated in Western Sydney, comprising of 14 local government areas. This program connects founders with a community of successful mentors, investors and advisors to help you take your business idea to the next level and provides the content and environment to grow your skills.
Applications are now open for the 2024 Western Sydney Pre-Accelerator program.
Get started on your application via the form below. Applications close on April 19.
The Plus Eight Sprint program provides you with the connections, support and program content to help scale your startup.
Plus Eight provides tailored made programs for new business owners, meaning that it's all action and no fluff. This program supports you with the skills and action plan to achieve your vision.
We've sourced the most experienced business mentors, investors and advisors to guide you throughout Sprint. Each week new mentors will share their experience and wisdom, giving you the opportunity to learn from those that have been there and done it.
Everything we cover through Plus Eight Sprint can be directly applied to your business and will have a noticeable, positive impact regardless of where you are at in your journey.
We believe some of the best opportunities to grow as a new business is by learning from other businesses going through a similar journey. Sprint provides lots of opportunities to connect and learn from other new businesses going through the program, and emphasises peer-based feedback and reflection.
It takes an entire village to raise a business. We believe being part of a strong community of like-minded business owners and advisors makes you a stronger entrepreneur and gives you the environment for your business to succeed.
Each Sprint session is divided into three sections: mentor presentations; working on your business; and weekly project reviews.
Our experienced panel of mentors draw on real life examples and provide practical takeaways that you can apply to your business through a workshop-style, interactive presentation that focuses on a new business skill area for that week.
The majority of each Sprint session is spent working on your business around the weekly focus area with the support of mentors and other business owners. This includes hands-on activities and is a great opportunity to get feedback, learn from others and immediately apply the lessons to your idea.
Each week, you will be given a specific project to work on before the next Sprint session. These are always practical and aim to give your business a step-change improvement. At the start of each Sprint session, business owners share their progress and get feedback on the previous week's project work.
We draw on the very best contemporary approaches to build sustainable technology businesses, straight from the innovation capitals of the world.
Developed by Google, design sprints is a proven model to test, iterate and improve your product in collaboration with your customers.
The foundation for many modern startup approaches, the Lean Startup is a critical part of any new businesses toolkit.
Developed by Stanford and used by many of the worlds biggest brands, design thinking is an approach to developing products that your customers will love.
Over the 6-week Sprint program you will have the opportunity to focus on your business through a practical curriculum of topics critical to any successful new business . By the end of the program you'll have a stronger business and be a stronger business owner.
Week 0 - May 9th
Orientation Week
Week 1 - May 16th
How to build an enduring business
Business model development
Week 2 - May 23rd
How to make a product your customers will love
Validation and customer testing
Week 3 - May 30th
How to turn your idea into a reality
Product & prototyping
Week 4 - June 6th
How to make your business into a rocketship
Growth & marketing
Week 5 - June 13th
How to stay sane while changing the world
Team, mindset & legal
Week 6 - June 20th
How to keep going up and to the right
Fundraising & pitching
celebration evening
Tuesday, June 25th - From family members, to industry professionals, this is a chance for you to showcase your business and what you've been working on and where you're going.
“The most valuable thing I have taken away from the program has been the sense of belonging I now feel being connected to a community of like-minded people, but also connected to a wider network of mentors, business leaders, other entrepreneurs who I can ask questions, have a coffee with, or collaborate with in the future.”
- Nikki Meller, Founder of CREDuED
Plus Eight Pre-Accelerator Alum