Macquarie Incubator

Macquarie Incubator Unleash your potential. Join our diverse community of startups, researchers, and business experts 🚀

Earlier this week, Incubator Manager James Linton moderated a discussion with Bernie Brookes, Chairperson at AFGC and Fo...
01/10/2026

Earlier this week, Incubator Manager James Linton moderated a discussion with Bernie Brookes, Chairperson at AFGC and Former CEO & MD of Myer, at the iSoft & Macquarie University Ignite Their Future Innovation Challenge.

Students in the room heard Bernie's insights on pitch structure, storytelling and presentation impact, along with the career and leadership journey that has brought him to where he is today.

Thank you to Bernie for sharing his time and experience, and to iSoft for supporting the next generation of innovators.

Last week, Bar 1880 was packed for our sold-out networking session as part of this year's Spark Festival!A huge thank yo...
29/09/2026

Last week, Bar 1880 was packed for our sold-out networking session as part of this year's Spark Festival!

A huge thank you to our co-hosts, BioNSW, RNA Australia, and Cytiva for helping make it happen. It was great to see so many people from across biotech, RNA, and deeptech in one room.

We hope everyone had a great night and made some valuable new connections.

Thinking about taking your business global? Let's talk export finance. 🌏Next month, we're welcoming Milind Lokhande from...
28/09/2026

Thinking about taking your business global? Let's talk export finance. 🌏

Next month, we're welcoming Milind Lokhande from Export Finance Australia (EFA), the Australian Government's export credit agency, to discuss starting you export journey.

Milind brings 14+ years across banking and finance, and at EFA he works with Australian SMEs who are already exporting or just starting out. He'll walk us through:

✅ How EFA supports exporters, and the loans, bonds and guarantees on offer
✅ What financiers actually look for in an export-ready business
✅ Real case studies from Tidetech, MyVenue and Seed Terminator
✅ Live Q&A with the EFA team, then networking

📅 Wed 14 October, 12–1pm
📍 The Incubator, 8 Hadenfeld Ave, Macquarie Park, or join via Zoom

Best suited to founders and business owners with export ambitions or existing export activity, particularly those with 2+ years' trading history and $250K+ turnover.

This session won't be recorded, so register now:
https://events.humanitix.com/mq-incubator-lunch-and-learn-starting-your-export-journey

Confidence often comes after action, not before it. 🧠Wednesday's Lunch & Learn at the Incubator tackled The Psychology o...
25/09/2026

Confidence often comes after action, not before it. 🧠

Wednesday's Lunch & Learn at the Incubator tackled The Psychology of Entrepreneurial Courage, with Incubator Manager James Linton drawing on psychology, neuroscience and years of watching founders build.

Key takeaways:
→ Fear, doubt and uncertainty are a normal part of building something new
→ Avoidance reinforces fear, while small, deliberate actions build confidence
→ Learn to tell fear that signals danger from discomfort that signals growth

Feel the fear. Interrogate it. And when it's discomfort rather than danger, do it anyway.

Thanks to everyone who joined us in the room and on Zoom!

Recently, we welcomed founders to the Incubator for The Startup Engine Method Workshop, led by Associate Professor of En...
24/09/2026

Recently, we welcomed founders to the Incubator for The Startup Engine Method Workshop, led by Associate Professor of Entrepreneurship at Institut Mines-Télécom Business School in Paris, Todd Davey.

Founders spent the afternoon working through the three pillars of the method:

🔧 Design — mapping how their business creates and captures value, and weighing up revenue model options before locking one in

📊 Simulate — stress-testing financials with the FUEL model, from pricing and margins to break-even points

🗺️ Plan — building a critical-path roadmap toward product-market fit

The result: founders left with sharper clarity on their business model, and a plan to validate it, rather than committing years of effort to the wrong one.

Thanks to everyone who came along, and a big thanks to Todd for bringing his 20+ years of experience advising founders, universities and governments worldwide.

Last Thursday, our researchers pitched for non-equity seed funding to turn world-class research into real-world impact a...
23/09/2026

Last Thursday, our researchers pitched for non-equity seed funding to turn world-class research into real-world impact and this year, we upped the stakes. The funding pool jumped from $20K to $40K. 💰

🏆 First Place ($30K): Dane Zielinski-Nicolson
Sharper Signals, Smarter Drilling - Portable spectroscopy systems delivering high-precision mineral quantification for mining and exploration, even across overlapping rare earth signatures.

🥈 Runner-Up ($10K): Amy Szarkowski
Growing Hearts & Building Skills - Scaling social-emotional development support for deaf children, backed by 20+ years of research and clinical partnership.

Huge congratulations to Dane and Amy, and to all the researchers who pitched on the day! 👏

Thank you to our judges for their time and expertise: Hugh Durrant-Whyte (Chief Scientist and Engineer, NSW State Government), Melissa Mail (Director, Research Ventures & Investment, Macquarie University), and Laura Droessler-Dansie (Investment Manager, Uniseed).

Last week, we marked R U OK? Day with a keynote that hit home for so many of us. 💬Nick Gorman, Founder of Equilibrium at...
22/09/2026

Last week, we marked R U OK? Day with a keynote that hit home for so many of us. 💬

Nick Gorman, Founder of Equilibrium at Work and former Managing Director & Equities Trader, joined the MQ Incubator community to talk about work-life balance, burnout, and the mental health "potholes" we don't always see coming.

Nick shared his Toolkit for Self-Repair, practical tools for both professional and personal reflection, and spoke candidly about his own journey with anxiety and depression. He challenged leaders and managers in the room to think seriously about the role they play in shaping healthy workplace cultures.

A massive thank you to Nick for the honest and eye-opening session!

Ever waited to "feel ready" before doing the scary thing? 🎤Next Wednesday, our very own James Linton is stepping up for ...
16/09/2026

Ever waited to "feel ready" before doing the scary thing? 🎤

Next Wednesday, our very own James Linton is stepping up for his first Lunch & Learn as part of the Spark Festival lineup, and he's tackling something every founder, researcher and procrastinator-with-a-dream knows too well: fear.

Drawing on his background in psychology and neuroscience (plus years watching hundreds of entrepreneurs up close), James will unpack why avoidance keeps fear alive, and how small, deliberate action builds real confidence over time.

Register here: https://events.humanitix.com/the-psychology-of-entrepreneurial-courage

Building a startup? Don't skip the fundamentals. 🛠️Most startups don't fail from a lack of passion — they fail because t...
16/09/2026

Building a startup? Don't skip the fundamentals. 🛠️

Most startups don't fail from a lack of passion — they fail because the basics aren't solid: unclear revenue models, weak financial logic, poor risk understanding, or no clear route to market.

Enter The Startup Engine Method Workshop — a hands-on framework to help you design, test and validate your business model before you commit years to the wrong one.

You'll walk away with:
✅ A clearer picture of your revenue model options
✅ A financial simulation using the FUEL model (pricing, margins, break-even)
✅ A roadmap to product-market fit

Led by A/Prof Todd Davey — 20+ years advising founders, universities and governments (European Commission, UNESCO, and more).

Register here: https://events.humanitix.com/the-startup-engine-workshop

Address

8 Hadenfeld Avenue, Macquarie University
Sydney, NSW
2109

Opening Hours

Monday 9am - 5pm
Tuesday 9am - 5pm
Wednesday 9am - 5pm
Thursday 9am - 5pm
Friday 9am - 5pm

Telephone

+61298506396

Website

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