There’s no doubt 2020 has been a real shake-up. We’ve all been forced to fundamentally recalibrate the way we work, the way we live, and the way we think about what comes next.
And because none of us know how long we’ll be here, we’ve had to go back to basics, reassess and rebuild – just like all good entrepreneurs.
More than anything, this year has confirmed something I’ve always believed: there’s no better time than the present to become an entrepreneur, but especially right now.
Why? Two reasons: the first is economic, the second is personal.
Startups are good for the economy.
There’s no more important a time to invest in the creation of new startups than in a period of economic hardship or indeed, recession. As a nation we need to value the creation of new and diverse startups, nurture the ideas stage and support them to continue and grow.
We need to stop expecting jobs and uninterrupted growth, and instead be the masters of our destiny by creating those jobs.
Australian startups create a new job for every US$300,000 of investment. While the climate right now is understandably risk-averse, we need to take more steps to future-proof our economy by supporting more grassroots business creation.
Entrepreneurship is empowerment.
One thing we’re all experiencing this year is uncertainty. Dipping your toes in the entrepreneurship pool not only allows you to regain some control, but crucially it also gives you an opportunity to diversify your skill set.
We need to stop expecting jobs and uninterrupted growth, and instead be the masters of our destiny by creating those jobs.
When you’re running your own business, you’re in charge of your future. You decide what you want to work on, and how you want to do it – and there's something truly empowering about being able to take control of what you do day in and day out. You get to create your own career path.
And now is a really really good time to give it a go because there are plenty of gaps in the market, and lots of problems that need to be solved in creative ways.
So, you want to give entrepreneurship a try. Now what?
All you really need is an idea, the desire to become an entrepreneur, and some ambition.
There is no one way to become an entrepreneur. In fact, there are very few people in the startup ecosystem who know exactly what they are doing at every step.
What is most important is having an appetite for learning, a passion for whatever it is that you’re working on, and a willingness to just keep giving things a go: test, play, measure, repeat.
You learn by doing in the startup world, and this may surprise you, but it is highly likely that what you end up working on will be extraordinarily different to your initial idea.
I also recommend you figure out your why at the outset. What impact do you want to have on the world? What type of life and career do you want to build for yourself?
Four simple things you can do to get started:
Listen to podcasts and be inspired by other people who have made the change – here are a few recommendations we put together.
Read some books on entrepreneurship – these are six of our favourites.
Share your idea with those around you. Get some feedback and get used to being challenged on your idea. This is important not only to refine your idea, but to prepare you to focus less on the idea and more on solving a problem.
Try out Find My Idea – an interactive digital experience we created so you can figure out your what, your who and your why.
What if I don’t have a specific idea?
That’s okay, you don’t have to be the ideas person. You might be attracted to the problem-solving element of startups, the process of building a solution and the freedom to forge your own path.
In that case, I’d recommend attending a UTS Startups event we run regularly called Find Your Co-Founder. You can either pitch an idea at this event or come along and meet up with other startup founders and join their team. Come and find your people!
Rethink failure
Like most things in life, not everything you try in entrepreneurship will hit the mark.
The Federal budget announced in October contained wide-ranging economic support, including tax breaks for small businesses, so it’s never been a been a better time to redefine the idea of failure to be a supported learning experience. You’ll need to take risks and you’ll likely make mistakes along the way, but every misstep is a chance to reassess, learn, try again and test something new.
Need some more inspiration?
Look no further than your peers. At UTS Startups we’ve been privileged to help several UTS alumni bring their vision to life.
Alumni like the Espresso Displays team – co-founded by Faculty of Engineering and IT graduates Scott McKeon and Will Scuderi. In 2018 they accidentally stumbled upon a problem (finding a portable, extra display screen on the market), came up with the dream solution (the world’s thinnest USB powered portable monitor), and away they went. Fast forward two years and they’re kicking some serious goals: they won Gold at the 2020 Good Design Awards, Most Inspiring at the 2020 UTS Startup Awards, and have to date raised $650,000 in funding on Kickstarter and IndieGoGo.
There is no one way to become an entrepreneur. In fact, there are very few people in the startup ecosystem who know exactly what they are doing at every step.
There’s also Clipboard – co-founded by Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences graduate Sam Clarke with Ed Colyer. While working as basketball coaches at their old high school, they discovered how complex and archaic the process was for running extracurricular activities and knew there had to be a better way. They created a platform to manage all activities, improving the experience for all involved – students, parents and staff.
When they started, neither of them had any idea how to create an app, but they weren’t deterred because they knew they had identified a problem that could be improved upon. They have since been accepted into leading Australian accelerator programs, employ seven full-time equivalent staff, and recently closed a seed round of $850,000, bringing their total investment to $964,500.
Then there are UTS Business School graduates Sharon Lee, co-founder of automated compliance document generation system Asendium, which has grown 25% month-on-month for past 12 months; Lana Hopkins, co-founder of the world’s first design-your-own leather handbag and accessories brand Mon Purse, who recently shared with us the things she wished she knew back when she was a student; and so many more.
The future is bright.
Entrepreneurship is so exciting because the potential is limitless.
We launched UTS Startups in August 2018 and in just over two years we’ve become the largest community of student launch setups in Australia. To date, we have over 370 active startups and over 750 active members. I’m excited to see this community grow – but I’m even more excited to see them leave us and jump headfirst into the ecosystem.
We see the value and impact of this community in so many different ways. There’s the contribution to the economy by virtue of revenue investment, employees and internships; but there’s also the less tangible impact. The confidence boost experienced by students as they work on their business idea; the 3D-printed breast prosthesis for women who’ve had a mastectomy created by Arula; the hundreds of homeless people whose pets are washed and treated by Ruff Sleepers every week; and the self-perpetuating cycle of people inspiring other people to try entrepreneurship, supporting each other to achieve their dreams.
I’m excited to see more women join the startup community. We sit at around 31% female representation in the UTS Startups community, which I’m proud to say is well above the 26% industry average. But it’s also a long way away from balanced representation, so there’s always room for improvement.
I’m excited to see health tech and med tech startups created by people who don’t even work or study in health – because it proves that all you need is an idea and a passion to get started. I’m particularly heartened to see many of those startups focused on mental health, which is more important now ever before.
Innovation and entrepreneurship are at the heart of what we do at UTS, it should be front and centre of the nation’s recovery from the pandemic, and it could be your next career move. If it is – and one of your founding members was a UTS student in the past 12 months – we might even be able to help.
Byline
Emma Earley is the Operations Manager for UTS Startups. She has a Bachelor of Law (2016) from UTS.