{"id":31962,"date":"2023-10-20T14:26:28","date_gmt":"2023-10-20T14:26:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/startupsmart.test\/2023\/10\/20\/how-this-river-city-labs-program-could-grow-your-startup-network-by-600-startupsmart\/"},"modified":"2023-10-20T14:26:28","modified_gmt":"2023-10-20T14:26:28","slug":"how-this-river-city-labs-program-could-grow-your-startup-network-by-600-startupsmart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/uncategorized\/how-this-river-city-labs-program-could-grow-your-startup-network-by-600-startupsmart\/","title":{"rendered":"How this River City Labs program could grow your startup network by 600% – StartupSmart"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Being based in a co-working space is one of the best ways for startups to grow rapidly and build a network around it, River City Labs general manager Josh Anthony says.<\/p>\n

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Applications for the organisation\u2019s CUA Sponsored Entrepreneur Program have just opened, and Anthony says that co-working spaces like River City Labs help effectively build an ecosystem of like-minded people.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThe most valuable thing is to be working next to other companies at a similar stage where you can learn from each other,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

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Anthony says early-stage startups can gain invaluable support in co-working communities because of the abundance of networking and mentoring opportunities.<\/p>\n

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In its three-month Sponsored Entrepreneur Program<\/a>, River City Labs offers a full-time desk membership with access to events, training and mentoring from top entrepreneurs like Steve Baxter and former Wotif.com<\/a> CFO Sam Friend, now an angel investor.<\/p>\n

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Anthony says startups in the program have grown their networks 600%.<\/p>\n

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\u201cPlaydate<\/a>, a social network for mothers\u2019 groups, was very small when it came into the program,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

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\u201cBy the end of it, they had 10,000 users and have grown very fast.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Co-working culture <\/b><\/p>\n

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In addition to quirky social meet-ups like Tuesday juice days, members participate in a range of events to get motivated, develop their ideas and receive coaching.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe have worked really hard on a balance between socialising and getting stuff done,\u201d Anthony says.<\/p>\n

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Finding investors is another critical opportunity offered by co-working communities like River City Labs.<\/p>\n

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He says RiverPitch, one of their biggest investor nights, allows startups to pitch their business in front of a cinema full of investors.<\/p>\n

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It is application-only but open to startups in the program.<\/p>\n

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Tips for applying<\/b><\/p>\n

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With more than half of its startup community being in the tech field, Anthony says applicants will be selected on strong technical skills as well as entrepreneurial attributes such as adapting quickly to change.<\/p>\n

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But the majority of the decision will come down to the team.<\/p>\n

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\u201cYou can grow a business from a basic idea but you can\u2019t do that without a great team,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

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For successful applicants, Anthony shares a piece of advice.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThe biggest thing to be ready for is to grow your network, be part of the startup ecosystem, receive feedback and, most importantly, get stuff done,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

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Follow <\/i>StartupSmart on <\/i>Facebook<\/i><\/a>, <\/i>Twitter<\/i><\/a>, and <\/i>LinkedIn<\/i><\/a>.<\/i> <\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Being based in a co-working space is one of the best ways for startups to grow rapidly and build a<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":62694,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31962"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31962"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31962\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/62694"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31962"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31962"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31962"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}